英语听力精选进阶版 7193（在线收听）

背景：科学家们打算首次尝试深钻地壳直至其下部的地幔。这些科学家们将从太平洋底部开始钻探，以测试这次行动的可行性。他们称深钻至地幔的尝试或将在2018年开始。

They've selected prospective sites under the Pacific Ocean where the crust is at is thinnest - just six kilometres.

Dr Damon Teagle of the UK's National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, is leading the quest. He likens the bid to the retrieval of Moon rocks by the Apollo programme and says samples from the mantle will tell us how our planet was formed and how it's changing.

Dr Teagle says: "Just as the Moon rocks told us about the composition of the Moon and how that relates to the early formation of the Earth itself, so will these samples as well."

Next month, the team will begin abid to drill nearly two kilometres down through the ocean floor off the coast of Costa Rica. They say an attempt to reach the mantle could begin as early as 2018, funds and technology permitting.

Neil Bowdler, BBC News

Glossary 词汇表

prospective 可能的、预期的 

quest 探索、寻求 

to liken 把…比作 

retrieval 取回、提取 

sample 取样、样品 

composition 构造、构成 

to relate 与…有联系 

bid 尝试 

to drill 钻、钻探 

to permit 允许、准许

Questions and Answers

1. Where do the scientists plan to drill? 

They chose sites under the Pacific Ocean where the crust is just six kilometres.

2. What does the leader of the project compare the initiative to? 

Dr Damon Teagle likened it to the gathering of Moon rocks by the Apollo programme.

3. Why do scientists want to collect samples from under the Earth’s crust? 

Because they want to know how the Earth was formed and how it is changing.

4. How far deep do the scientists want to drill? 

They want to drill nearly two kilometres down.