劉同功

“鸚鵡螺”號海洋探險(xiǎn)隊(duì)在水深2，994米處的太平洋海底，拍攝到一種海鰓。海鰓還有一個(gè)我們熟悉的名字——海筆。

1 I admit Id never heard of sea pens until today， when I saw a video from the Exploration Vessel Nautilus showing a lovely tentacled （有觸手的） creature with a long thin stalk reaching down to the ocean floor. I was immediately attracted. The Nautilus team called it “an exciting discovery”.

2 The sea pen made its appearance during a visit by a remotely operated vehicle， or ROV， to an unexplored seamount near Johnston Atoll， a remote spot to the west of Hawaii in the Pacific. It was unexpected. This is the first time that this animal has been spotted in the Pacific. Its normally found in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The Nautilus came across two examples during the dive.

3 A video shot at a depth of 9，823 feet （2，994 meters） shows the moment of the discovery， along with a spoken description from excited researchers. “That looks funny，” said one of them after the ROV got a close?up shot of the creatures food?capturing tentacles. For scale， the sea pens stalk is 6.6 feet （2 meters） long.

4 Sea pens are listed as cnidarians（刺胞動(dòng)物）， a broad group of aquatic animals that includes corals and jellyfish. “Further review of the video and this sample will help experts determine if this is the first Pacific unidentified creature or potentially a new species in this ocean basin，” the Nautilus team said on a platform.

5 The research expedition at Johnston Atoll ran from June 20 to July 13 and was focused on studying the biodiversity of the area. The non?profit Ocean Exploration Trust operates the ship and streams many of its ROV dives.

6 The Nautilus has lifted the veils on many wonders of the deep， from a rare jellyfish to a delightful unidentified creature. The team said， “This huge range expansion of sea pens in the Pacific Ocean reminds us how important ocean exploration efforts are to understanding this diversity of our planet.”

1. What makes the discovery of the Nautilus unusual？

A. The creature can make us excited.

B. The creature has a strange shape.

C. The creature was discovered in the Pacific for the first time.

D. The creature was found on the deep sea floor.

2. Whats the Nautilus mission at Johnston Atoll？

A. To save cnidarians.

B. To study biodiversity.

C. To protect the environment.

D. To study climate change.

3. How did the Nautilus team feel about the identity of the creature？

A. Scared.? ? B. Uncertain.

C. Confident.? ? D. Uninterested.

4. Which of the following is stressed in the last paragraph？

A. The Nautilus achievements.

B. The diversity of the Pacific.

C. The wonders of the deep sea.

D. The diversity of our planet.

Ⅰ. Difficult sentences in the text

1. I admit Id never heard of sea pens until today， when I saw a video from the Exploration Vessel Nautilus showing a lovely tentacled creature with a long thin stalk reaching down to the ocean floor. 我承認(rèn)，直到今天，我才聽說過海筆，當(dāng)時(shí)我看到一條來自“鸚鵡螺”號海洋探測船的視頻，里面有一種可愛的觸須生物，它細(xì)長的莖一直延伸到海底。

【點(diǎn)石成金】本句是一個(gè)主從復(fù)合句，主句是I admit，后面是省略了that的賓語從句；when引導(dǎo)的是一個(gè)定語從句，修飾先行詞today。

2. The sea pen made its appearance during a visit by a remotely operated vehicle， or ROV， to an unexplored seamount near Johnston Atoll， a remote spot to the west of Hawaii in the Pacific. 這只海筆是在遙控潛水器到達(dá)約翰斯頓環(huán)礁附近一個(gè)未經(jīng)探索的海底山時(shí)出現(xiàn)的。約翰斯頓環(huán)礁是太平洋上夏威夷西部的一個(gè)偏遠(yuǎn)的地方。

【點(diǎn)石成金】本句是一個(gè)簡單句，a remote spot to the west of Hawaii in the Pacific是一個(gè)同位語成分，對前面的Johnston Atoll做補(bǔ)充說明。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

hear of 聽說

make ones appearance 出現(xiàn)

come across 遇見；偶遇

be listed as 被列為……

be focused on 專注于

lift the veil 揭開……的面紗