Called Chomolungma （“goddess mother of the world”） in Tibet and Sagarmatha （“goddess of the sky”） in Nepal, Mount Everest once went by the pedestrian name of Peak XV among Westerners. That was before 1._______ （surveyors, examiners, surveillance, evaluators） established that it was the highest mountain on Earth, a fact that came as something of a surprise—Peak XV had seemed lost in the crowd of other formidable Himalayan peaks, many of which gave the 2._______ （inclusion, illusion, allusion, anticipation） of greater height.
In 1852 the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India measured Everest's elevation as 29,002 feet above sea level. This figure remained the officially 3._______ （incepted, accepted, excepted, expected） height for more than one hundred years. In 1955 it was adjusted by a mere 26 feet to 29,028 （8,848 m）。
The mountain received its official name in 1865 in honor of Sir George Everest, the British Surveyor General from 1830—1843 who had mapped the Indian subcontinent. He had some 4._______ （implications, reservations, rejections, conservation） about having his name bestowed on the peak, arguing that the mountain should retain its local appellation, the standard policy of geographical societies.
Before the Survey of India, a number of other mountains ranked supreme in the eyes of the world. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Andean peak Chimborazo was considered the highest. At a relatively unremarkable 20,561 feet （6,310 m）， it is in fact nowhere near the highest, 5._______ （surpassed, reduced, surmised, transposed） by about thirty other Andean peaks and several dozen in the Himalayas. In 1809, the Himalayan peak Dhaulagiri （26,810 ft.; 8,172 m） was declared the ultimate, only to be shunted aside in 1840 by Kanchenjunga （28,208 ft.; 8,598 m）， which today ranks third. Everest's status has been unrivaled for the last century-and-a-half, but not without a few threats.
答案解析
1. surveyors n. 测量员，测量师
examiners, n. 检察官，考官
surveillance, n. 监控，监视
evaluators, n. 评估员
这题的答案比较迷惑人的是evaluator. 我们来看一下这两个词分别的定义。
surveyor: a person who examines the condition of land and buildings professionally. 它侧重的是测量，是一个土地、地理上的专业职位概念。
evaluator: someone whose job is to judge the quality, importance, amount, or value of something. 侧重的则是评估，估价等，是一个商务上的职业概念。
所以显然这题的答案应该是surveyors.
2. illusion, n. 幻觉，错觉，the illusion of… 指…的错觉。
inclusion, n. 包含物，内含物
allusion, n. 暗示，提及
anticipation, n. 希望，预感
3. accepted, officially accepted，官方认可的。
incept, v. 开始，摄取。
excepted, adj. 除外的
expected, adj. 期待的
4. reservations n. 保留，预订， have reservations about sth. 对…持保留意见，是一个固定搭配。
implications, n. 影响，暗示
rejections, n. 拒绝
conservation，n. 保存，保留
5. surpassed, v. 超过，凌驾，在这句话中是说比其他很多山峰都要高，超过了很多其他山峰的高度。
reduced, v. 降低，减少
surmised, v. 猜测，认为
transposed v. 颠倒，调换 |
收藏