A ship that has spent decades trying to drill nearer to the earth’s mantle (地幔) is preparing for a new voyage to uncover clues to how life began.

With the plan to deepen a hole drilled nearly 20 years ago, two dozen geologists, microbiologists and other scientists will aboard the Joides Resolution to the Atlantis Massif. The hole won’t be the longest in the seafloor but would push closer than ever to the mantle and explore deeper layers of ocean crust (地壳) that haven’t been reached before. Engineers on the ship intend to lower heavy drilling tools through about 5,400 feet of water to find a hole on the seafloor about 15 inches wide. Joides engineers compared the process to standing on a chair and trying to lower a pencil tied to the end of string into the mouth of a soda bottle with a fan blowing.

Samples from the new depths will be taken to investigate whether a special mix of rock and water, Olivine, could have started life on Earth and possibly other planets. This green and magnesium-rich mineral, abundant at such depths, is critical to serpentinization (蛇纹石化), a reaction that occurs when some minerals encounter seawater. Geochemists think the process of serpentinization generates the energy and geochemical conditions favorable to the creation of organic molecules. “These are the building blocks of life,” said Susan Q. Lang, the expedition’s cochief scientist.

The new depth is thought where serpentinization occurs but where temperatures are beyond the limits at which life is known to exist. “If organic molecules are found there, it could help confirm that serpentinization leads to their creation, which contributed to the origin of life.” Dr. Lang said. Finding organic molecules in samples from serpentinization sites could also inform the search for life on other planets. “The geochemistry of fluids in the plumes of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn (土星), have been inferred by astrobiologists to be similar to the makeup of fluids found at the Atlantis Massif.” she added.

【小题1】How long could it be from the ocean surface to New Target according to the text and picture?

A．14700 feet.

B．12150 feet.

C．11390 feet.

D．10040 feet.

【小题2】What can we learn from the engineers’ example given in paragraph 2?

A．Deepening the hole will be challenging.

B．Engineers will be required to stand high.

C．The size of the drill pipe needs to be large.

D．The task will be affected by the wind from a fan.

【小题3】What is the significance of finding the serpentinization according the text?

A．It may help to find a mineral rich in magnesium.

B．It may help to produce the organic molecules.

C．It may help to obtain the habitat of life on earth.

D．It may help to uncover clues to how life began.

【小题4】What information can we get in the picture?

A．The Joides Resolution could scale with depth.

B．The Wall Street Journal will organize the voyage.

C．The new voyage could be named Moho Moonshot.

D．The ship will leave for Portugal from Ponta Delgada.