单项选择题
| 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 (26) to go to sea to (27) his work. For most people the sea was (28) , and with the (29) of early international travelers or others who earned a living from the sea, there was little reason to ask many questions about it, (30) alone to ask what lay beneath the surface. The flint time that the question "What is at the bottom of the oceans" had to be answered with any commercial (31) was when the (32) of a telegraph cable from Europe to America was proposed. The engineers had to know the depth profile of the (33) to estimate the length of cable that had to be (34) . It was (35) Maury of the US Navy (36) the Atlantic Telegraph Company turned, in 1853, (37) information on this matter. The cable was laid, but not until 1866 (38) the connection made (39) and reliable. At the early (40) , the cable failed and when it was taken out for repairs (41) was found to be covered in living (42) , a fact which (43) contemporary scientific opinion (44) there was no life in the deeper parts of the sea. Within a few years oceanography was (45) way. |