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  3. In a few weeks researchers will begin scouring the Florida seafloor for a 177-year-old shipwreck—and the resting place of dozens

In a few weeks researchers will begin scouring the Florida seafloor for a 177-year-old shipwreck—and the resting place of dozens

admin2014-01-07  54
问题     In a few weeks researchers will begin scouring the Florida seafloor for a 177-year-old shipwreck—and the resting place of dozens of slaves who drowned in chains. Despite its drama, the story of the Guerrero remains little-known.
    Around 7 pm on the evening of December 19th, 1827, keeper John Whalton was tending to his lightship, a sort of mobile lighthouse. He was anchored a few miles off Key Largo when, he said later, "I saw the flash and heard the report of seven or eight guns."
    Whalton was about to witness the tragic ending of a desperate chase in the waters off what was then the US Territory of Florida. The Guerrero, with hundreds of Africans enchained in its hold and crewed by 90 Spaniards who were little more than pirates, was fleeing the Nimble, a British warship that was enforcing the international ban on slave trade.
    British officials had gotten a tip that the Guerrero was bound for Cuba, where bribed officials would look the other way while the Guerrero’s human cargo was exchanged for goods worth a fortune in Europe.
    The Nimble and the Guerrero were swapping cannon fire as they skirted much too close to the shore. As Whalton watched, both ships piled onto Carysfort Reef, one of the many reefs that lie three or four miles(about five or six kilometres)off the Florida Keys.
    The Nimble was aground but not badly damaged. The Guerrero, however, struck with such force that its masts snapped and collapsed, and the massive poles plunged into the hold where the Africans were imprisoned. The ship sank immediately in the shallow water, and some 40 captives drowned.
    The men aboard the Nimble could hear the screams from two miles(about three kilometres)away. "The cries of 561 slaves and(Guerrero’s)crew were appalling beyond description," The Niles Weekly Register, a Baltimore newspaper, later reported.
In the fourth paragraph, what does "skirting" mean here?
选项 A、Traveling along the edge.
B、Bounding for.
C、Sailing.
D、Evading by a narrow margin.
答案A
解析 skirt作为动词意思有：“沿着……边缘或形成……的边缘；接近；勉强错过；回避，避免”等等。原文“The Nimble and the Guerrero were swapping cannon fire as they skirted much too close to theshore．”说明两只船都太靠近海岸线航行。所以，skirtinz在文中意思是traveling along the edge，故A正确。
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