Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s love of water started at an early age. Born on 11 June, 1910 in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, France, by the age of just four he’d already learned to swim. Though he was pretty bad at school, he had a gift for understanding mechanical objects. As a teenager, he bought a movie camera, took it apart to understand how it worked and then put it back together again. He used it to create home movies.
In 1930, Jacques joined the French Naval Academy and planned to become a pilot, but three years later he had a car accident and got injured. To regain his power, doctors suggested that he swim, and during his travels with the French Navy in 1936 a friend gave him some goggles (护目镜) to help him see underwater. His plans to take to the sky might have been killed but luckily his eyes were opened to a magical world under the sea.
In 1950, Jacques got hold of an old British warship and turned it into a research vessel (船) that he named the RV Calypso. He used it to sail around the world and as a base for exploring underwater habitats and shipwrecks (遇难船) — from the Antarctic to the Amazon. But he soon realized that to collect money for his research he needed to get the public interested, so he began writing books and making TV series about his adventures. He finally won three Oscars for his films.
In the 1960s, Jacques joined in three futuristic projects to build underwater labs, nicknamed Conshelf Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅲ. And in 1963 he and five other researchers spent 30 days living under the sea! During his many explorations, Jacques began to notice the harm humans were doing to the sea, so in 1973 he set up the Cousteau Society for the Protection of Ocean Life.
Jacques spent the rest of his life supporting environmental causes such as banning whale hunting. He died in 1997, but will always be remembered for his pioneering underwater exploration!
【小题1】What opened the door for Jacques to explore the sea?| A．His experience of learning to swim. | B．His experience of traveling with the French Navy. |
| C．His doctor’s encouragement. | D．His friend’s suggestions. |
| A．To afford his trip to Britain. | B．To follow his dreams of filming. |
| C．To raise money for his research. | D．To share his trips with the public. |
| A．Humans knew little about the sea. |
| B．Humans had harmed the sea a lot. |
| C．Humans did a great job in protecting the sea. |
| D．Humans should be spending more money on researching the sea. |
| A．following the time order | B．making comparisons |
| C．examining differences | D．giving examples |
