单选题 For millennia man has exploited and often destroyed the riches of the land. Now man covets the wealth of the oceans, which cover nearly three-quarters of the earth. But the scramble for minerals and oil, for new underwater empires, could heighten international tensions and set a new and wider stage for world conflict.
Even the most conservative estimates of sources in the seabed stagger the imagination. In the millions of miles of ocean that touch a hundred nations live four out of five living things on earth. In the seabed, minerals and oil have been proved to exist in great supply. The oceans are a source of pure water and food protein, of drugs and building materials; they are even possibly a living place for man himself and a key to survival for doubling population on the land.
Man may yet learn to use a tiny fraction of this wealth. Unless international law soon determines how it shall be shared, that fraction alone could set off a new age of colonial war. Is the deep seabed, like the high seas, common to all? Or, like the wilderness areas of land, is it open to national claim by the use and occupation of the first or the strongest pioneer? The question of what is to be done to regulate and control exploitation of the seabeds is no longer a theoretical matter. It is a problem of international concern. We must decide how to divide this great wealth equitably among nations. But wealth is not the only thing at stake. We must also learn how to protect the oceans from the threat of pollution.
A few years ago, "practical" men dismissed speculations about wealth in the sea. "That is economic foolishness," they said. It will never be economically profitable to exploit the seabeds, no matter how great the riches to be found there. Unfortunately, they underestimated the temptation of gold as the mother of invention.

单选题 The word "covets"( Line 1, Para1) can be replaced by ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】词义推测题。由该词所在句的意思(如今人类____海洋的财富)及前一句的意思(几千年来人类已经开发且常常破坏了土地的富饶)可知covet应当与exploit一样含有向海洋索取财富的意思，且由下文可知这还只是一种愿望，因此符合这一逻辑的应是[C] 。
单选题 Which of the following statements can best summarize the main idea of the second paragraph?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】主旨题。本题考查的是段落主旨。第二段谈论的主要是海底所蕴含的矿产与其他资源丰富，因此能概括其主旨的是[A] 。
单选题 The third paragraph seems to suggest that ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】分析推理题。第三段第二句指出：Unless international law…a new age of colonial war，强调如果没有国际法律的约束，海底的资源会引发一场新的殖民地战争，而在接下来的几句中，作者用问句表明控制和规范海底开发很有必要。综合这两点可知[A] 对。
单选题 The word "that" in "That is economic foolishness" in the fourth paragraph refers to ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】词义推测题。后面一句对这一句直接引语进行了解释说明，因其中的真正主语to exploit the seabeds对应于引语中的主语that，而表语never be economically profitable则对应于引语中的表语economic foolishness，因此答案为[B] 。
单选题 The last sentence of the text implies that ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】分析推理题。该段前面说一些人认为开发海底资源不划算，而这里说；“不幸的是，他们低估了发明之母黄金的诱惑力。”由常识可知，作者的意思是：开发海底资源是人们所需要的，人们在这种需要的驱动下会想出种种办法来实现这一目标，因此[A] 对。