Unit 3 Inventors and inventions using language课时作业

Ⅰ.阅读理解

　　A

　　The British live on a small island. They are surrounded by the sea, so it is not surprising that the sea has always played an important role in their lives. After the development of large, ocean­going sailing ships in the fifteenth century,the sea became even more important to the country's development. Ships setting sail from England determined to extend Britain's territories, its wealth and its knowledge of the world. Ships returned to England bringing goods, people and new ideas from foreign places. By the nineteenth century, Britain had the largest, most powerful navy in the world.

　　The great sailing ships were so much a part of British life that they even affected the language. Many English expressions we use today were originally nautical (航海的)terms,although most people no longer realize this. For example, people commonly describe an honest and fair business deal as being "above board".This expression was originally used in sailing ship times when secretive, dishonest ship's business would be carried out below decks ( i. e. below the boards) out of public view. On the other hand, honest business was always conducted on deck (above the boards), in the open where everyone could see what was going on.

　　"Pipe down！"， meaning "Be quiet！"， is another common expression that has nautical origins. The ship's boatswain (水手长)would blow a whistle,or pipe, at the end of the day to indicate (表明 )to the sailors it was time to quieten down and go to sleep.

Most native English speakers have heard the expression "not enough room to swing a cat"， but few know that the "cat" does not refer to a small furry animal with four legs and a tail.The "cat"is actually a short form of "cat of nine tails"-a whip with nine, knotted(打结的) tails.A boatswain needed a lot of space in order to swing the whip properly when lashing (鞭打)a poor sailorunder hiscontrol!