TEXT B One of the mysteries of
nature is animal communication. Creatures of the sea move through their liquid
element without any hearable sound. Yet they are able to sense the silent
passing or attack of others of their kind. This is because bodies moving in
water create a pressure wave, something like a gust of wind produced by a
passing automobile. A narrow sensor system running along each side of the shark,
from eye to tail, receives and interprets these pressure waves. I have seen
sharks appear swiftly, obviously drawn by the motion of a diver’s hands, which
had sent out strong waves. One might think it impossible to
distinguish odors in water. Yet sharks, surprisingly, are able to follow a scent
across miles of ocean and arrive at its exact source. A diver who spears a fish
and attaches its bloody body to his belt, and then goes on with the hunt,
becomes a natural prey to the shark. I have seen sharks follow a scent exactly
like the dogs of a hunting pack. It is no wonder that the Greeks gave them the
name "hounds of the sea." One of the most widely believed--and
dangerous--legends about the shark is that he has poor eyesight. On the
contrary, the shark is well equipped to see at a distance and to distinguish
among forms. This fact was proved to me one day when I went into the water off
the coast of Africa. I sighted a shark at some distance from me as I was
floating at a very shallow depth. Since I was making no movement, the sound of
bubbles from my diving apparatus would be confused with the light splashing of
the water on a rock. I turned my eyes away for a few seconds, to study the
design of a giant ray just beneath me. I am not sure now whether it was simple
instinct or a feeling of movement, but I turned back abruptly toward the
location of the shark. And, immediately, every muscle of my body tensed. He was
no more than 30 feet away, launched toward me as hard and swift as a
missile. The sight of a shark coming at you head-on is strange.
Obviously it is from this angle that he seems most frightening--the very symbol
of evil, with the half-opened mouth and the three regularly spaced fins (鳍).
When the shark had approached to within two feet of the rubber fins I had thrown
at him as a gesture of self-defense, he turned suddenly and swam back toward the
depths. There had been no sound, no scent. It appears certain that sight alone
was responsible for this approach. The Greeks call sharks "hounds of the sea" because ______.
A.they can follow a scent just like clogs B.they can move swiftly under the sea C.they are hostile to divers D.they have very strong basic instincts