Read the passage below and complete the analytical statements regarding pronoun reference and contextual vocabulary by filling in the missing terms.
Answer:In the mid-nineteenth century, naturalists eagerly sought empirical proof of a primordial organic substance residing in the abyssal depths of the ocean. When initial sediment samples retrieved during deep-sea surveys yielded a gelatinous precipitate, biologist Thomas Huxley identified it as an unarmored, self-sustaining protoplasmic layer covering the seabed, naming it Bathybius haeckelii. Huxley contended that this pervasive material served as the missing evolutionary link between inanimate matter and cellular life. However, during the historic Challenger expedition of 1872–1876, shipboard chemist John Young Buchanan subjected fresh seabed deposits to rigorous chemical scrutiny. Buchanan discovered that the gelatinous substance did not represent an organic entity at all; rather, it was an inorganic precipitate of calcium sulfate produced when the alcohol used to preserve the oceanic mud reacted with dissolved sulfates in seawater. Following Buchanan’s findings, Huxley publicly retracted his hypothesis. Far from discrediting deep-sea exploration, this revelation refined oceanographic methodology, establishing that abyssal sediments were dynamic geochemical environments rather than passive reservoirs of primordial life.
Complete the following statements:
1. In the sentence 'Huxley contended that this pervasive material served as the missing evolutionary link...', the phrase 'this pervasive material' refers directly to the substance identified as 【Bathybius haeckelii】.
2. In the context of the final sentence, the word 'dynamic' is used to characterize abyssal sediments as being chemically 【active】, rather than inert or static.
Complete the following statements:
1. In the sentence 'Huxley contended that this pervasive material served as the missing evolutionary link...', the phrase 'this pervasive material' refers directly to the substance identified as 【Bathybius haeckelii】.
2. In the context of the final sentence, the word 'dynamic' is used to characterize abyssal sediments as being chemically 【active】, rather than inert or static.
Answer
1. Bathybius haeckelii (or the gelatinous precipitate); 2. active (or reactive / changing)
The demonstrative phrase 'this pervasive material' syntactically re-identifies the newly classified gelatinous protoplasm, Bathybius haeckelii. Contextually, 'dynamic' stands in direct opposition to 'passive', signifying that abyssal sediments are active geochemical environments.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Contextual Vocabulary and Pronoun Reference
Estimated Time:2m 0s