A. TERRIFIED B. TOUCHED C. JUDGED D. HEARDTASK 2

80. A. terrified B. touched C. judged D. heard

Task 2: READING COMPREHENSION

Read the passage and choose the best answer for each question below.

Ocean water plays an indispensable role in supporting life. The great ocean basins hold about 300

million cubic miles of water. From this vast amount, about 80,000 cubic miles of water are sucked

into the atmosphere each year by evaporation and returned by precipitation and drainage to the

ocean. More than 24,000 cubic miles of rain descend annually upon the continents. This vast

amount is required to replenish the lakes and streams, springs and water tables on which all flora

and fauna are dependent. Thus, the hydrosphere permits organic existence.

The hydrosphere has strange characteristics because water has properties unlike those of any

other liquid. One anomaly is that water upon freezing expands by about 9 percent, whereas most

liquids contract on cooling. For this reason, ice floats on water bodies instead of sinking to the

bottom. If the ice sank, the hydrosphere would soon be frozen solidly, except for a thin layer of

surface melt water during the summer season. Thus, all aquatic life would be destroyed and the

interchange of warm and cold currents, which moderates climate, would be notably absent.

Another outstanding characteristic of water is that water has a heat capacity which is the highest

of all liquids and solids except ammonia. This characteristic enables the oceans to absorb and store

vast quantities of heat, thereby often preventing climatic extremes. In addition, water dissolves more

substances than any other liquid. It is this characteristic that helps make oceans a great storehouse

for minerals which have been washed down from the continents. In several areas of the world these

minerals are being commercially exploited. Solar evaporation of salt is widely practiced, potash is

extracted from the Dead Sea, and magnesium is produced from sea water along the American Gulf

Coast.