完形填空，阅读下面短文，从各题所给的四个选项中，选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。

　　When a person is curious about something, it means he is 1 in it and wishes to know more about it. There is 2 wrong with curiosity in itself. Whether it is good or bad depends on what people are curious about.

　　Curiosity is 3 silly or wrong. Some persons with nothing to do are full of curiosity about what their 4 are doing. They are 5 to know what they are eating or drinking, what they are 6 home or taking outside, or 7 they have come so early or late. To be interested in these things is 8 because they are 9 at all. It is none of their 10 to know what their neighbors do or are doing. Such curiosity is 11 not only 12 but also harmful. For most probably, it 13 to small talk which often brings harm, shame of disrespect to others, and thus 14 their feelings.

　　On the other hand, there is a 15 curiosity--the curiosity of wise men, who wonder at all the great things and try to 16 all they can about them. Columbus could never have found America if he had not been 17 . James Watt would not have made the steam engine 18 his curiosity about the raising of the kettle lid. All the discoveries in human history have been made 19 a result of curiosity, 20 , the curiosity is never about unimportant things which have few or nothing to do with the happiness of the public.

The Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans that separate the Old World from the New. For centuries it kept the America from being discovered by the people of Europe.

　　The Atlantic Ocean is only half as big as the pacific, but it is still very large. It is more than 4,000 miles (6,000 km) wide where Columbus crossed it. Even at its narrowest it is about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) wide.

　　There is so much water in the Atlantic that it is hard to imagine how much there is. But suppose no more rain fell into and no more water was brought to it by rivers. It would take the ocean about 4,000 years to dry up. On the average the water is a little more than 2 miles (3.2 km) deep, but in some places it is much deeper. The deepest spot is near Puerto Rico. This "deep" measures 30,246 feet --- almost six miles (9.6 km).

　　Several hundred miles eastward from Florida there is a part of the ocean called the Sargasso Sea. Here the water is quiet, for there is little wind. Today the Atlantic is a great highway. It is not, however, always a smooth and safe one. Storms sweep across it and pile up great waves. Icebergs float down from the Far North across the paths of ships. We now have such fast ways of travelling that this big ocean seems to have grown smaller. Columbus sailed for more than two months to cross it. A fast modern steamship can make the trip in less than four days. Airplanes fly from New York to London in only eight hours and from South America to Africa in four!

1. From the third paragraph, we can learn that ______ .

A. the Atlantic will dry up in 4,000 years' time

B. no river flows into the Atlantic ocean　　　

C. it's hard to imagine how much water there is in the Atlantic ocean

D. the Ocean floor is rather flat

2.Suppose it's February 27th, 2000. You take a steamship to cross the Atlantic to North America, when will you probably get there?

A. On March 2nd　         B. On March 3rd 　　

C. On February 28th 　　　  D. In eight hours' time

3. What can you learn from the last paragraph of the passage ?

A. The Atlantic has grown smaller than it used to be.

B. The Atlantic had grown wider than it used to be.

C. Fast ways of travelling make the ocean grow smaller.

D. Fast ways of travelling make the ocean seem to grow smaller.