My love affair with the sea began when I was no more than six years old, walking along the sandy beaches. I always wanted to make the first set of footprints in the wet sand.
Unlike many surfers who sought the perfect wave, my interests always lay beneath the sea’s surface in a world I could only imagine and dream of. Soon, wearing a snorkel and a mask, I made my first solo adventures in the deep.
Perhaps the greatest turning point in my life came when I was in high school and I wrote a letter to the famous Scripps Oceanographic Institution, in San Diego, asking how I might learn more about the sea.
A kind scientist answered my letter and told me how to apply to Scripps for a summer scholarship, which I received. During one of their cruises that summer, I met Dr. Robert Norris, a marine geologist. He loved the sea almost as much as I did. Soon he was asking me what my plans were and where I expected to attend college. I told him I didn’t know, so he suggested I consider his school, the University of California in Santa Barbara.
Now my love affair with the sea became a serious endeavor. If I wanted to be an undersea explorer, I needed to learn as much as I could about the laws of the physical world that controlled the environment I wanted to enter. The undersea world is not our natural world. It is unforgiving to those who make mistakes. At its greatest depths the water temperature is near freezing, the pressure is eight tons per square inch, and it is totally dark. It is easy to get lost in such a world. I needed to learn a lot about geography, navigation, meteorology, geology, biology, and many other things. While I was in school, I took a little of everything.
I decided another important thing for me to do was to join the U.S. Navy. If I was going to be an undersea explorer, I would have to lead men and women on dangerous adventures where they might get hurt, and I didn’t want that to happen. In the Navy I learned discipline, organization, and how to motivate and lead people on expeditions so that we could explore the wonders of the deep.
Finally, the time came to put all that I had learned to use, to go forth with a team of men and women and explore an adventure I am still on and hope to be on for many years to come.
小题1:In Paragraph 5, the writer discusses “the laws of the physical world.”Which of the following is an example of one of the laws?
A．Water pressure.
B．Various ocean animal life.
C．The appearance of the water.
D．The different colors of the ocean.小题2:In college, the writer took many different types of courses because he _____.
A．was not sure what he wanted to study
B．was advised to take them by Dr. Robert Norris
C．believed it would help him succeed in the Navy
D．thought they were needed to fully understand the ocean小题3:The writer joined the Navy to _______.
A．develop his leadership skills
B．get along with people under stress
C．learn about the dangers of the ocean
D．gather specific information about ocean life小题4:What would the writer recommend to students who want to be underwater explorers?
A．Spend time examining your talents.
B．Join groups to learn to get along on a team.
C．Interview explorers to see if they are happy.
D．Study as many ocean-related topics as you can.