What piece of bad luck prevented the Cutty Sark from winning the race?

One of the most famous sailing ships of the 19th century, the Cutty Sark,can still be seen at Greenwich. She stands on dry land and is visited bythousands of people each year. She serves as an impressive reminder of the greatships of the past. Before they were replaced by steam-ships, sailing vesselslike the Cutty Sark were used to carry tea from China and wool from Australia.The Cutty Sark was one of the fastest sailing ships that has ever been built.The only other ship to match her was the Thermopylae. Both these ships set outfrom Shanghai on June 18th, 1872 on an exciting race to England. This race,which went on for exactly four months, was the last of its kind. It marked theend of the great tradition of ships with sails and the beginning of a newera.

The first of the two ships to reach Java after the race had begun was theThermopylae, but on the Indian Ocean, the Cutty Sark took the lead. It seemedcertain that she would be the first ship home, but during the race she had a lotof bad luck. In August, she was struck by a very heavy storm during which herrudder was torn away. The Cutty Sark rolled from side to side and it becameimpossible to steer her. A temporary rudder was made on board from spare planksand it was fitted with great difficulty. This greatly reduced the speed of theship, for there was a danger that if she travelled too quickly, this rudderwould be torn away as well. Because of this, the Cutty Sark lost her lead. Aftercrossing the equator , the captain called in at a port to have a new rudderfitted, but by now the Thermopylae was over 500 miles ahead. Though the newrudder was fitted at tremendous speed, it was impossible for the Cutty Sark towin. She arrived in England a week after the Thermopylae. Even this wasremarkable, considering that she had had so many delays. There is no doubt thatif she had not lost her rudder she would have won the race easily.

New words and expressions 生词与短语

impressive

adj. 给人深刻印象的

steamship

n. 蒸汽轮船

vessel

n. 轮船，大木船

era

n. 时期，时代

Java

n. 爪哇(印度尼西亚一岛)

rudder

n. 舵

roll新概念英语听力下载

v. 颠簸，摇摆

steer

v. 掌握方向

temporary

adj. 临时的

plank

n. 大块木板

fit

v. 安装

Equator

n. 赤道

delay

n. 耽误

本文参考译文

人们在格林威治仍可看到19世纪最有名的帆船之一“卡蒂萨克”号。它停在陆地上，每年接待成千上万的参观者。它给人们留下深刻的印象，使人们回忆起历史上的巨型帆船，在蒸汽船取代帆船之前。“卡蒂萨克”号之类的帆船被用来从中国运回茶叶，从澳大利亚运回羊毛。“卡蒂萨克”号是帆船制造史上建造的最快的一艘帆船。唯一可以与之一比高低的是“塞姆皮雷”号帆船。两船于1872年6月18日同时从上海启航驶往英国，途中展开了一场激烈的比赛。这场比赛持续了整整4个月，是这类比赛中的最后一次，它标志着帆船伟大传统的结束与一个新纪元的开始。

比赛开始后，“赛姆皮雷”号率先抵达爪哇岛。但在印度洋上，“卡萨萨克”号驶到了前面。看来，它首先返抵英国是确信无疑的了，但它却在比赛中连遭厄运。8月份“卡蒂萨克”号遭到一场特大风暴的袭击，失去了一只舵。船身左右摇晃，无法操纵。船员用备用的木板在船上赶制了一只应急用的舵，并克服重重困难将舵安装就位，这样一来，大大降低了船的航速。因为船不能开得太快，否则就有危险，应急舵也会被刮走。因为这个缘故，“卡蒂萨克”号落到了后面。跨越赤道后，船长将船停靠在一个港口，在那儿换了一只舵。但此时，“赛姆皮雷”号早已在500多英里之遥了。尽管换装新舵时分秒必争，但“卡蒂萨克”号已经不可能取胜了，它抵达英国时比“塞姆皮雷”号晚了1个星期。但考虑到路上的多次耽搁，这个成绩也已很不容易了。毫无疑问，如果中途没有失去舵，“卡帝萨克”号肯定能在比赛中轻易夺冠。

(兼职编辑：张博)