完形填空

　　I met Connie the day she was admitted to the Hospice Ward(安养院的病房),where I 　　1　　 as a volunteer．Her husband, Bill, stood 　　2　　 nearby as she was removed from the gurney to the hospital bed．Although Connie was in the final stages of her fight 　　3　　 cancer, she was quick-minded and 　　4　　．We got her settled in, and then asked if she needed 　　5　　．

　　“Oh, yes,” she said, “Would you please show me how to use the TV? I 　　6　　 the soaps so much and I don’t want to get 　　7　　 on what’s happening．”Connie was a romantic．She loved soap operas(肥皂剧), romance novels and movies with a good 　　8　　 story．As we became familiar, she confided how 　　9　　 it was to be married 32 years to a man who often called her “a silly woman”．

　　“Oh, I know Bill loves me,” she said, “but he has 　　10　　 been one to say he loves me, or send cards to me．”She 　　11　　 and looked out of the window at the trees in the courtyard．“I’d 　　12　　 anything if he’d say ‘I love you’, but it’s just not in his 　　13　　．”

　　One day, 　　14　　 coffee in the cafeteria, I got him on the 　　15　　 of women and how we need romance in our lives; how we love to get sentimental cards and love letters．

　　“Do you tell Connie you love her?” I asked, and he looked at me 　　16　　 I was crazy．

　　“I don’t have to,” he said．“She knows I 　　17　　!”

　　“I’m sure she knows,” I said, 　　18　　 over and touching his rough, carpenter’s hands, “but she needs to hear it, Bill．She needs to hear what she has 　　19　　 to you all these years．Please think about it．”

　　We walked back to Connie’s room．Bill 　　20　　 inside, and I left to visit another patient．Later, I saw Bill sitting by the bed．He was holding Connie’s hand as she slept．

阅读理解

　　Oceanography(海洋学)has been defined as“The application of all sciences to the study of the sea．”

　　Before the nineteenth century scientists with an interest in the sea were few and far between．Certainly Newton considered some theoretical aspects of it in his writings, but he was reluctant(不情愿的)to go to sea to further his work．

　　For most people the sea was remote, and with the exception of early intercontinental travelers or others who earned a living from the sea, there was little reason to ask many questions about it, let alone to ask what lay under the surface．The first time that the question“What is at the bottom of the oceans?”had to be answered with any commercial consequence(商业影响)was when the laying of a telegraph cable from Europe to America was proposed．The engineer had to know the depth profile(起伏形状)of the route to estimate(估计)the length of cable that had to be manufactured．

　　It was to Maury of the US Navy that the Atlantic Telegraph Company turned, in 1853, for information on this matter．In the 1840s, Maury had been responsible for encouraging voyages during which soundings(测深)were taken to investigate(调查)the depths of the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans．Later, some of his findings aroused(引起)much popular interest in his book The Physical Geography of the Sea．

　　The cable was laid, but not until 1866 was the connection made permanent(永久的)and reliable．At the early attempts, the cable failed and when it was taken out for repairs it was found to be covered in living growths, a fact which defied contemporary scientific opinion that there was no life in the deeper parts of the sea．

　　Within a few years oceanography was under way．In 1872 Thomson led a scientific expedition(考察), which lasted for four years and brought home thousands of samples from the sea．Their classification and analysis occupied scientists for years and led to a five-volume report, the last volume being published in 1895．