It was to Maury of the US Navy that the Atlantic Telegraph Company turned, in 1853, for information on this matter. In the 1840s, Maury had been responsible for encouraging voyages during which soundings (測深) were taken to investigate the depths of the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Later, some of his findings aroused much popular interest in his book The Physical Geography of the Sea.

　　注：

　　1. it was ...that...強(qiáng)調(diào)句型

　　2. turn to sb. for sth. 向某人請教某事

　　3. 出現(xiàn)問題中劃線詞：Maury,1840s

　　3. investigate 調(diào)查， 測量

　　The cable was laid, but not until 1866 was the connection made permanent and reliable. At the early attempts, the cable failed and when it was taken out for repairs it was found to be covered in living growths, a fact which defied contemporary scientific opinion that there was no life in the deeper parts of the sea.

　　注：

　　1.not until 引導(dǎo)的句子要倒裝

　　2.living growth 生物

　　3.a fact 作同位語

　　4.contemporary 當(dāng)代的

　　5.defy 前后意思相反，可以推出24題答案為C

　　24. 'Defied' in the 5th paragraph probably means ________

　　A) 'doubted' B) 'gave proof to'

　　C) 'challenged' D) 'agreed to'

　　注：詞匯題。定位倒數(shù)第二段