Experts do not really know when people began keeping fish as pets. But they say that people have been interested in fish for thousands of years. Some say the ancient Sumerians were the first civilization to keep fish in ponds more than four thousand years ago. The Chinese kept and studied carp and goldfish more than one thousand years ago. The ancient Romans kept eels as pets. And the Greek philosopher Aristotle made what is believed to be the first known study of sea life, including sharks and dolphins.
Keeping fish at home in small water tanks called aquariums is extremely popular today. And everyone seems to enjoy visiting huge public aquariums that have opened around the world.
By the middle of the eighteen hundreds, science had shown that plants, fish and other sea creatures could survive together under water. So it was no longer necessary to change the water in a tank for the fish to live there. This led to the building of the first public aquariums.
The first aquariums opened in London, England in 1853. in the next fifteen years, other aquariums opened in Europe and the United States. By 1928, there were about forty-five public aquariums.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has been recognized as the first aquarium in the United States and it shows visitors the underwater life in the bay. The Georgia Aquarium opening in 2005 says it is the largest in the world. It has more than one hundred thousand sea animals in thirty million liters of water including two whale sharks---the world’s largest fish.
Another aquarium re-opened in 2005 in Camden, New Jersey. The Adventure Aquarium first opened in 1992. It spent about fifty million dollars expanding its building and improving its exhibits.
Aquariums provide the public with many chances to experience life under the sea. They can be found in most areas of the world. People might even want to start an aquarium at home and join the millions of people around the world who keep fish as pets.
小题1:Which aquarium opened again after its rebuilding ?
A．The Monterey Bay Aquarium.
B．The Adventure Aquarium.
C．The Georgia Aquarium.
D．The first aquarium in London.小题2:Which of the following is NOT mentioned to have kept fish as pets?
A．The ancient Sumerians.
B．The ancient Romans.
C．The Chinese.
D．The ancient Indians.小题3:Which of the following is correct?
A．People were not interested in fish until the middle of the eighteen hundreds.
B．The Moneterey Bay Aquarium is regarded as the best aquarium in America.
C．Plants, fish and other sea creatures could not survive together under sea.
D．People have to change the water in a tank frequently for the fish to live there.小题4: The passage is written mainly .
A．to tell people the importance of keeping fish as pets
B．to explain why people want to visit aquariums
C．to let people know the development of the aquariums
D．to describe different aquariums小题5:What does the underlined word “aquariums” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A．Exhibition centres where people can watch and enjoy different species of fish.
B．Small boxes made of glass, where people keep fish in, usually at home.
C．Places which shows visitors the underwater life in the bay.
D．Places which provides the public with many chances to experience life under the sea.
