2012职称英语考试综合A类阅读解析(三)
Before the nineteenth century，scientists with an interest in the sea were few and far between. Certainly Newton considered some theoretical aspects of it in his writings，but he was reluctant to go to sea to further his work．
For most people the sea was remote，and with the exception of early intercontinental travelers or others who earned a living from the sea，there was little reason to ask many questions about it，let alone to ask what lay beneath the surface．The first time that the question “What is at the bottom of the oceans？” had to be answered with any commercial consequence was when the laying of a telegraph cable from Europe to America was proposed．The engineers had to know the depth profile of the route to estimate the length of cable that had to be manufactured.
It was to Maury of the US Navy that the Atlantic Telegraph Company turned，in 1853，for information on this matter．In the 1840s，Maury had been responsible for encouraging voyages during which soundings were taken to investigate the depths of the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans．Later，some of his findings aroused much popular interest in his book The Physical Geography of the Sea.。
The cable was laid，but not until 1866 was the connection made permanent and reliable．At the early attempts， the cable failed and when it was taken out for repairs it was found to be covered in living growths，a fact which defied contemporary scientific opinion that there was no life in the deeper parts of the sea．
“Defied” in the last sentence probably means _____.
A doubted
B gave proof to
C challenged
D agreed to
本题是考查应试者根据上下文进行词义猜测的能力。defied是defy的过去式，根据最后一句可以推测它的词义，但必须完全读懂defied前后部分的意思：前一部分是说从海底捞出的电缆上覆盖着各种各样的生物，后一部分是当时的科学观点认为海底深处是没有生命的。由此可见，前一部分的“事实” （…，a fact which…）是“批驳”后一部分的“观点”。所以，选项C是正确答案。“challenged”这个词的原意是“向……挑战”，因而有“对……持异议”“反对”的意思，其宾语常常是某种意见、观点或权威
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