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Scientists today are making greater effort to study ocean currents （洋流）. Most do it using satellites and other high-tech equipment. However, ocean expert Curtis Ebbesmeyer does it in a special way—by studying movements of random floating garbage. A scientist with many years’ experience, he started this type of research in the early 1990s when he heard about hundreds of athletic shoes washing up on the shores of the northwest coast of the United States. There were so many shoes that people were setting up swap meets to try and match left and right shoes to sell or wear.
Ebbesmeyer found out in his researches that the shoes—about 60,000 in total—fell into the ocean in a shipping accident. He phoned the shoe company and asked if they wanted the shoes back. As expected, the company told him that they didn’t. Ebbesmeyer realized this could be a great experiment. If he learned when and where the shoes went into the water and tracked where they landed, he could learn a lot about the patterns of ocean currents.
The Pacific Northwest is one of the world’s best areas for beachcombing （海滩搜寻） because winds and currents join here, and as a result, there is a group of serious beachcombers in the area. Ebbesmeyer got to know a lot of them and asked for their help in collecting information about where the shoes landed. In a year he collected reliable information on 1,600 shoes. With this data, he and a colleague were able to test and improve a computer program designed to model ocean currents, and publish the findings of their study.
As the result of his work, Ebbesmeyer has become known as the scientist to call with questions about any unusual objects found floating in the ocean. He has even started an association of beachcombers and ocean experts, with 500 subscribers from West Africa to New Zealand. They have recorded all lost objects ranging from potatoes to golf gloves.
1. The underlined phrase swap meets in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
A. fitting rooms
B. trading fairs
C. business talks
D. group meetings
2. Ebbesmeyer phoned the shoe company to find out ______.
A. what caused the shipping accident
B. when and where the shoes went missing
C. whether it was all right to use their shoes
D. how much they lost in the shipping accident
3. How did Ebbesmeyer prove his assumption?
A. By collecting information from beachcombers.
B. By studying the shoes found by beachcombers.
C. By searching the web for ocean currents models.
D. By researching ocean currents data in the library.
4. Ebbesmeyer is most famous for ______.
A. traveling widely the coastal cities of the world
B. making records for any lost objects on the sea
C. running a global currents research association
D. phoning about any doubtful objects on the sea
5. What is the purpose of the author in writing this passage?
A. To call people’s attention to ocean pollution.
B. To warn people of shipping safety in the ocean.
C. To explain a unique way of studying ocean currents.
D. To give tips on how to search for lost objects on the beach.
satellite n . 卫星
random adj . 任意的，随机的
floating adj . 流动的，漂浮的
athletic shoes 运动鞋
shore n . 岸边，海滨
swap meet 旧物交换/买卖会
match v . 使配对
track v . 监测；追踪
pattern n . 形态；类型
reliable adj . 可靠的
golf gloves 高尔夫球手套
1. A scientist with many years’ experience, he started this type of research in the early 1990s when he heard about hundreds of athletic shoes washing up on the shores of the northwest coast of the United States.
本句结构较为清楚，A scientist with many years’ experience为he的同位语，主句后面的when引导定语从句，修饰1990s。
（参考译文） 作为一位有着多年经验的科学家，他在20世纪90年代初开始进行此类研究，当时他听说有数百只运动鞋被冲到了美国的西北海岸。
2. With this data, he and a colleague were able to test and improve a computer program designed to model ocean currents, and publish the findings of their study.
句子的开头处是with引导的状语，主干是he and a colleague were able to test and improve...and publish...。designed to model ocean currents做后置定语，修饰a computer program。
（参考译文） 有了这些数据，他和一位同事就能够测试和改进一个用于模拟洋流的计算机程序，并将他们的研究发现公之于众。