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  3. For centuries, explorers have risked their lives venturing into the unknown for reasons that were to varying degrees economic an

For centuries, explorers have risked their lives venturing into the unknown for reasons that were to varying degrees economic an

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问题     For centuries, explorers have risked their lives venturing into the unknown for reasons that were to varying degrees economic and nationalistic. Columbus went west to look for better trade routes to the Orient and to promote the greater glory of Spain. Lewis and Clark journeyed into the American wilderness to find out what the U.S. had acquired when it purchased Louisiana, and the Apollo astronauts rocketed to the moon in a dramatic show off technological muscle during the cold war.
    Although their missions blended commercial and political-military imperatives, the explorers involved all accomplished some significant science simply by going where no scientists had gone before.
    Today Mars looms (隐约出现) as humanity’s next great terra incognita (未探明之地). And with doubtful prospects for a short-term financial return, with the cold war a rapidly fading memory and amid a growing emphasis on international cooperation in large space ventures, it is clear that imperatives other than profits or nationalism will have to compel human beings to leave their tracks on the planet’s reddish surface. Could it be that science, which has long played a minor role in exploration, is at last destined to take a leading role? The question naturally invites a couple of others: are there experiments that only humans could do on Mars? Could those experiments provide insights profound enough to justify the expense of sending people across interplanetary space?
    With Mars the scientific stakes are arguably higher than they have ever been. The issue of whether life ever existed on the planet, and whether it persists to this day, has been highlighted by mounting evidence that the Red Planet once had abundant stable, liquid water and by the continuing controversy over suggestions that bacterial fossils rode to Earth on a meteorite (陨石) from Mars. A more conclusive answer about life on Mars, past or present, would give researchers invaluable data about the range of conditions under which a planet can generate the complex chemistry that leads to life. If it could be established that life arose independently on Mars and Earth, the finding would provide the first concrete clues in one of the deepest mysteries in all of science: the prevalence of life in the universe.
According to the passage, the chief purpose of explorers in going to unknown places in the past was ______.
选项 A、to display their country’s military might
B、to accomplish some significant science
C、to find new areas for colonization
D、to pursue commercial and state interests
答案D
解析 本题为细节题。选择依据为文章第1句话，该句中的reasons即问题所问的purpose。依据第2段前半句话也可知答案为D。该句中的imperative(n. & a.必要的，紧急的，极重要的；命令的)与问题中的purpose对应。A项(显示军威)、C项(寻找新的殖民地)都只是经济和政治因素的一种，探险所肩负的经济、政治使命不一定就是显示军威或寻求新殖民地，所以可排除A、C两项，可从第2段第1句话中看出：过去的探险虽然大都具有一定的科学意义，但这只是探险活动的客观结果，而非探险的主观目的，故B项可排除。
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