7 . The Bermuda Triangle is an area in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean, near Florida in the USA, where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared mysteriously.
①The earliest suggestion of unusual disappearances in the Bermuda area appeared in a September 17, 1950 article. Two years later, published “Sea Mystery at Our Back Door”, covering the loss of several planes and ships, including the loss of Flight 19. Flight 19 alone would be covered again in the April 1962 issue of American Legion magazine. In it, author Allan W. Eckert wrote that the flight leader had been heard saying, “We are entering white water. Nothing seems right. We don’t know where we are.” In the February 1964, the article “The Deadly Bermuda Triangle” argued that Flight 19 and other disappearances were just part of strange events in the area.
②Triangle writers have used a number of supernatural ideas to explain the events. One explanation refers to leftover technology from the mysterious lost continent of Atlantis. Some of the Triangle writers related the events to UFOs. This idea was used by Steven Spielberg for his science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in which the lost Flight 19 aircrews were taken by aliens.
③But there are also some explanation relating to nature. For example, laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that bubbles containing natural gas can sink a large ship by decreasing the density(密度) of the water. Because it has been assumed that the eruption of volcanoes(火山)may produce much natural gas, making large areas of bubbles under sea so that water is no longer able to provide enough supporting power for ships. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very rapidly and without any warning.
④Violent weather is likely to be another reason. Powerful storms forming in tropical(热带的)waters have caused thousands of deaths and caused billions of dollars in damage. These storms have in the past caused a number of incidents related to the Triangle.
1. According to the passage, the loss of Flight 19 was first covered
.
| A．in 1950 | B．in 1952 |
| C．in 1962 | D．in 1964 |
2. The sentence “Persons accepting the Bermuda Triangle as a ‘Death Triangle’ have offered a number of ways to explain it.” should be put in
.
3. According to paragraph 4, which one is
NOT the reason for the disappearance of ships?
| A．the natural gas | B．large areas of bubbles |
| C．the eruption of volcanoes | D．the increase of water density |
4. What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The truth behind the disappearance in the Bermuda Triangle. |
| B．The puzzle of the Bermuda Triangle and its explanations. |
| C．Strange accidents that happened in the Bermuda Triangle. |
| D．The exploration of the Bermuda Triangle in history. |
