The Mystery is No Mystery

The area of ocean between Florida, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda, known as the Bermuda Triangle, is the source of much mystery. Over the centuries, reports of ships and planes disappearing 【小题1】 a trace have seized the public attention, leading the zone 【小题2】(nickname) “The Devil's Triangle.” Suggested causes for these mysterious disappearances range front supernatural powers to underwater alien bases. However, there is a more basic question to ask: Do more craft really disappear in the Bermuda Triangle than in any similarly trafficked area? The answer, 【小题3】 it turns out, is no.

The Bermuda Triangle covers a vast700,000 square-kilometer swathe of ocean. Close to the equator(赤道) and near the United States, it is a particularly busy pa tch of sea with heavy traffic. According to Lloyd's of London and the U. S. Coast Guard, 【小题4】you were to compare the number of disappearances to the large quantity of ships and planes that have passed through the Bermuda Triangle, you would find that there 【小题5】 (be) nothing out of the ordinary about the area.

These days, new theories are being put forward, with a bit of scientific truth to them. Some have attributed Bermuda Triangle disappearances to explosive releases of methane (甲烷) gas,【小题6】(trap) as methane hydrate inside water molecules beneath the cold seabed of the deep ocean. Such blowouts could potentially release a giant amount of gas that could cause the sea to bubble like it was boiling, which could possibly sink ships because the resulting bubbles would be much 【小题7】 (thick) than the water on which large ships normally float. The gas could also rise into the sky, 【小题8】 (produce) a mixture of five to 15 percent methane which could explode on contact with the engine exhaust of a hot airplane.

The only problem with this theory is that scientists won't be able to tell with much certainty if this is a factor 【小题9】 the ocean floor is mapped in greater detail. It remains to be seen 【小题10】 they will succeed in their attempt to clear up the Bermuda Triangle “mystery” this time around.

Dr. Millhouse has been doing some research into how the human body reacts in extreme conditions. First of all, we looked at human resilience in hot and cold extreme climates.We trained the experiment’s 【小题1】(participant) to do special 【小题2】(breath) exercises and then they did them in 【小题3】(extreme) low temperatures in our lab. After they’d been doing the breathing exercises 【小题4】 about twenty minutes, we【小题5】(notice) something very interesting - their bodies started to warm up on 【小题6】 (they) own! That’s 【小题7】 (amaze)! When the participants started to feel tired, they stopped doing the exercises properly. Then their body temperature started to fall again. We saw similar effects to those we see in the bodies of athletes 【小题8】 (involve) in doping. But we need to do some more research to find out 【小题9】 this all works exactly.

It is cold and windy in Moscow and snow is still on the ground. 【小题1】 none of that discourages visitors to the famous Moscow Zoo. They want to see the zoo’s two biggest stars: Ru Yi and Ding Ding.

During the summer, more than 30,000 visitors come here on 【小题2】 average day. Even during off-peak parts of the year, there is always a crowd in front of the Panda House. Since their arrival, the two pandas 【小题3】 (be) the stars of the Moscow Zoo, 【小题4】 (attract) thousands of visitors interested to see them, 【小题5】 are among the rarest animals in the world.

Pandas’ reproductive rate is extremely low. Females normally give birth to one or two cubs(幼崽). If twins are born, the mother may only raise the 【小题6】 (strong) of the cubs. A newborn panda baby only weighs about 0.1 percent of the 【小题7】 (weigh) of a fully grown panda, making its survival very difficult.

China and Russia agreed to let both pandas stay here 【小题8】 2034, part of a 15-year scientific program. Very soon, Ru Yi and Ding Ding who have been kept in separate suites will 【小题9】 (introduce) to each other. And the people of Moscow Zoo hope nature will take 【小题10】 (it) course and that baby pandas will be born here soon after.