TEXT G来源：考试大

　　 First read the question. 54. The purpose of this article is to _____ A. make an advertisement for the new Underwater World Aquarium in Beijing. B. introduce the new aquarium in Beijing. C. introduce aquariums around the world. D. briefly describe the origin and the development of aquariums. Now go though Text G to answer question 34. A Talk Through A World Underwater In Beijing The new Underwater World Aquarium in Being uses the latest technology to enable visitors to walk though the tanks under the water, and view the fish without getting wet. The US 11 million (RMB 91 million) project enables visitors to see thousands of tropical fish swimming around and over them in their natural habitat, unfazed by the hundreds of human eyes watching them. The shell to house the saltwater aquarium has been constructed under an artificial lake in the suburbs of Beijing by the New Zealand company Richina Pacific which has also bought the rights to operate the aquarium. The opening was planned for late 1997. What New Zealand marine engineer/designer Ian Mellsop calls "the age of aquariums" has come to Beijing after being tested in major aquariums around the world. The technology for the heavy wrap-around acrylic viewing tunnel was developed for Kelly Tarltons Underwater World in Auckland, New Zealand. It has since been used in aquarium in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Scotland and now in China. Mellsop says the acrylic tunnel technology opened the way for visitors to walk through an undersea world, rather than simply watching from behind flat panels. It was born, not from some "eureka-like" design discovery, but from Mellsops ever practical drive to reduce costs. The tunnel idea was not new. Straight tunnels had been around since the early 1980s. They were employed in the United States the year before Kelly Tarltons Underwater World opened, with horizontal panels forming the tunnel and a moving walkway carrying visitors down the middle of this tunnel. Kelly Tarltons Underwater World was conceived as an aquarium using straight tunnels, with concrete junction boxes to link them. But Mellsop had found a way to "bend" two-meter diameter concrete pipes and gluing them. Mellsop did some pricing and experimenting and discovered it would be feasible and cheaper to cut and join the acrylic panels themselves, and to use the acrylic pipe itself to turn corners, rather than simply leading the pipe into concrete junction boxes which would act as corners. In using this new method, Mellsop found the idea that would take the aquarium world by storm. "We realized we could make the tunnel meander wherever we wanted it to on the ocean floor," he says. The challenge was to get the tunnel the right size: too and viewers would lose the effect of being underwater; too tight and it would distort the undersea world and create a claustrophobic effect. "We still think that what we did back then is optimal," says Mellsop, referring to the tanks and tunnels under Aucklands Tamaki Drive. Reducing the cost of aquariums created a big for these educational and entertainment centres and counties began to demand aquariums for themselves. Aquariums had once been the preserve of public authorities because of throe huge cost, but they now became viable as paying attractions run by private operators. Instead of the 100 million or so that it was costing to build the big Japanese and American aquariums, because an acrylic tunnel is stronger than a flat panel, requiring less plastic, less concrete, less engineering, as well as providing a much closer experience of undersea life. Although the tunnel have not changed much, there have been advances in other areas, says Mellsop, notably in the life support systems for the marine life. He cites the companys Ellesmere Port Underwater World in Beijing as a good example of cutting-edge aquarium technology. It will be the largest aquarium in the UK "and I hope the best in the world". His most novel assignment was the building of a small aquarium for the Sultan of Brunei. It was situated in a night club at the Royal Brunei Polo Club guest house number four. There seems no end to the possibilities. Mellsop likens aquariums to zoos, with the potential for at least one in every major city in the world. The zoo analogy fits the visitor profile for underwater world: all ages, all types of people. "To heck with virtual reality," says Mellsop," Weve got actual reality, real fish and people just love it."

　　54. The purpose of this article is to _____来源：考试大

　　A) make an advertisement for the new Underwater World Aquarium in Beijing.

　　B) introduce the new aquarium in Beijing.来源：考试大

　　C) introduce aquariums around the world.来源：考试大

　　D) briefly describe the origin and the development of aquariums.