Clipper Ships
Clipper ships are small, lightweight vessels with three masts that boast a massive array of sails which allow them to move extremely quickly. The name "clipper" is thought to come from the fact that the bow of such a ship seems to cut through water as it advances, something also true of older types of ship.Certainly, people were using the expression "to go at a good clip" to mean "to travel quickly" long before the advent of the clipper ship, so the explanation seems to make sense. In fact, it is difficult to date the emergence of the first true clipper, since the word was liberally applied to several speedy ships from the early 19th century that did not possess the technical specifications to qualify as clippers under the later definition of the term. What is known, however, is that by the 1840s, several shipyards were engaged in building vessels that were recognizably clipper ships.
The great advantage of the clipper ship was its speeD、A、decently built clipper ship could routinely cover 250 miles per day, and with good winds, would often travel much faster, in some cases surpassing 400 miles per day. This made the clipper ideal for transporting people from one place to another, since prolonged sea voyages at that time were unpleasant and risky. The clippers were also used to transport freight, but in a more limited fashion, since clippers had considerably less cargo space than ordinary freighters of the time. ■
A、This meant that it was often cheaper to transport durable goods, such as furniture and jewelry, on regular ships that could carry a greater amount of cargo, even if it took longer for that cargo to reach its destination. ■
B、However, for perishable goods, such as spices and teas which would lose their potency over time, clippers proved an immensely profitable method of transport. ■
C、Clippers were also pressed into service in situations where time was viewed as more valuable than money. This was the case at the time of theCalifornia gold rush, when gold-crazed individuals were determined to be the first to reach what they hoped would be prime prospecting locations. ■
D、
The clipper ship was also used for less respectable activities.Because its great speed meant that it could outrun or overtake virtually any other type of seafaring vessel known at the time, clippers became the ships of choice for pirates and smugglers. Pirates would use clippers to chase down slower, heavier freighters, then board their victims, transfer the most valuable pieces of cargo to the clipper, and make a speedy getaway before the authorities could get there. Smugglers could more easily conceal small clippers from prying eyes than they could large sloops, and if discovered, they had a much greater chance of successfully fleeing pursuit. This in turn forced coastal and military authorities to make use of clipper ships as well, simply to keep up with the criminal element.As a result, clippers also became favorites of maritime authorities and privateers. The term "privateers" refers to those who
crewed ships that were legally entitled by their governments to attack vessels in the service of foreign powers with whom those governments were at war. Unfortunately, privateers operated essentially unsupervised, and it was not uncommon for clippers initially commissioned to guard the seas to turn pirate if theCrew saw an opportunity for a quick profit.
The era of the clipper was fairly short-liveD、Clippers began being built just before the advent of steam-powered boats. These steam-powered boats quickly replaced clippers as the vessels of choice for traders, not because they were faster, since they initially weren’t, but because they were much more reliable.A、clipper, fast as it was, could only make good time with the wind behind it. Headwinds would slow it considerably, and no wind at all would leave it helplessly adrift.A、steam boat would often t

Fighting in Nature
In nature, fighting is such an ever-present process that its behavior mechanisms and weapons are highly developeD、Almost every animal capable of self-defense from the smallest upwards fights furiously when it is cornered and has no means of escape.
However, in another respect the fight between hunter and hunted is not a fight in the real sense of the word: the stroke of the paw with which a lion kills his prey may resemble the movements that he makes when he strikes his rival, but the inner motives of the hunter are basically different from those of the fighter. The buffalo which the lion fells provokes his aggression as little as the appetizing turkey which I have just seen hanging in the larder provokes mine. The difference in these inner drives can clearly be seen in the expression movements of the animal: a dog about to catch a hunted rabbit has the same kind of excited happy expression as he has when he greets his master or awaits some longed-for treat. Growling, laying the ears back, and other well-known expression movements of fighting behavior occur when predatory animals are afraid of a wildly resisting prey, and even then the expressions are only suggesteD、
The opposite process, the counter-offensive, of the prey against the predator, is more nearly related to genuine aggression. Social animals in particular take every possible chance to attack the eating enemy that threatens their safety. This process is called "mobbing". The survival value of this attack on the hunter is self-evident.Even if the attacker is small and defenseless, he may do his enemy considerable harm. For example, if a sparrow hawk is pursued by a flock of warning wagtails, his hunting is spoiled for the time being.And many birds will mob an owl if they find one in the day-time, and drive it so far away that it will hunt somewhere else the next night.
In some social animals such as jackdaws and many kinds of geese, the function of mobbing is particularly interesting. In jackdaws, its most important survival value is to teach the young inexperienced birds what a dangerous eating-enemy looks like, which they do not know instinctively. For just such educational reasons, geese and ducks may gather together in intense excitement to learn that a fox—anything furry, red-brown, long-shaped and slinking—is extremely dangerous.
Besides this didactic function, mobbing of predators by jackdaws and geese still has the basic, original one of making the enemy’s life a burden. Jackdaws actively attack their enemy, and geese apparently intimidate it with their cries, their thronging and their fearless advance. The greatCanada Geese will even follow a fox overland in a close phalanx, and I have never known a fox in this situation try to catch one of his tormentors. With ears laid back and a disgusted expression on his face, he glances back over his shoulder at the trumpeting flock and trots slowly—so as not to lose face—away from them.
Among the larger, more defense-minded grazing animals which en masse are a match for even the biggest predators, mobbing is particularly effective;A、[■]According to reliable reports, zebras will molest even a leopard if they catch him on plain where cover is sparse.B、[■] Once, when I was out with my dog, I was obliged to jump into a lake and swim for safety when a herd of young cattle half encircled us and advanced threateningly;
C、[■]And when he was in Southern Hungary during the First World War, my brother spent a pleasant afternoon up a tree with his Scotch terrier under his arm, because a herd of half-wild Hungarian swine, disturbed while grazing in the wood, encircled him.D、[■] Fortunately, the swine dispersed after they confirmed that my brother and his dog were not offensive.
The word provoke in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to______.
A、cause
B、

您正在结束答题

请确认是否提交试卷？

继续做题确认提交