000 HOURS, MORE THAN SEVEN MONTHS, UNDER WATER. FROM HER EARLIEST YE...

6,000 hours, more than seven months, under water. From her earliest years, she took her first plungeintothe open sea as a teenager. In the years since then, she has taken part in a(n) (33)______ of landmark underwater projects, from exploratory expeditions around the world to her celebrated "Jim dive" in 1978, which was the deepest solo dive (34)_____made without cable connecting the diver to a support vessel at the surface of the sea. (35)_____in a Jim suit, a futuristic suit of plastic and metal armor, which was secured (36) _____a manned submarine, Sylvia Earle plunged vertically into the Pacific Ocean, at times at the speed of 100 feet per minute. (37)_____reaching the ocean floor, she was released from the submarine and from that point her only connection to the sub was an 18-foot tether. For the next two and a half hours, Earle (38)_____the seabed, taking notes, collecting (39)_____, and painting a U.S. flag. Consumed by a desire to descend deeper still, in I981she became involved in the design and manufacture of deep-sea (40)______ one of which took her to a depth of 3000 feet. This did not end Sylvia Earle's accomplishments. B. underwaterD. submarineC. undersea