Final answer:
Acceleration refers to any change in an object's velocity, which includes speeding up, slowing down, and changing direction, like a ship decelerating and potentially reversing, or a revolving object increasing or decreasing its rotational speed.
Step-by-step explanation:
The acceleration of an object refers to any change in its velocity, which includes speeding up, slowing down (deceleration), and changing direction. In the given context, if a ship is moving forward and begins to slow down, it is decelerating. If it continues this deceleration, it can eventually stop and even reverse direction if the deceleration continues past the point of stopping.
Similarly, for a revolving object, changes in the speed of rotation such as speeding up to 2.0 rev/s or slowing down to 0.01 rev/s also represent acceleration. Whenever an object changes its velocity in any way, including changes in speed or direction, such as a car at a stop sign or a subway train in Sao Paulo, it is accelerating.
In the given scenario, the ship is initially moving forward at a steady rate. Then it decelerates in the forward direction and continues to slow down, but with less deceleration compared to before. Therefore, the correct option would be B) Decelerate.
Therefore answer is A) Accelerate.