What would have happened if only two of the sixteen water-tightcompartments had been flooded?

The great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Southampton on April10th, 1912. She was carrying 1,316 passengers and a crew of 891. Even by modernstandards, the 46,000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship. At that time, however,she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built, but was regarded asunsinkable, for she had 16 watertight compartments. Even if two of these wereflooded, she would still be able to float. The tragic sinking of this greatliner will always be remembered, for she went down on her first voyage withheavy loss of life.

Four days after setting out, while the Titanic was sailing across the icywaters of the North Atlantic, a huge iceberg was suddenly spotted by a lookout.After the alarm had been given, the great ship turned sharply to avoid a directcollision. The Titanic turned just in time, narrowly missing the immense wall ofice which rose over 100 feet out of the water beside her. Suddenly, there was aslight trembling sound from below, and the captain went down to see what hadhappened. The noise had been so faint that no one thought that the ship had beendamaged. Below, the captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was sinkingrapidly, for five of her 16 watertight compartments had already been flooded!The order to abandon ship was given and hundreds of people plunged into the icywater. As there were not enough lifeboats for everybody, 1,500 lives werelost.

New words and expressions 生词与短语

Southampton

n. 南安普敦(英国港市)新概念英语青少版

colossal

adj. 庞大的

watertight

adj. 不漏水的

compartment

n. (轮船的)密封舱

flood

v. 充满水

float

v. 漂浮，飘浮

tragic

adj. 悲惨的

liner

n. 班船

voyage

n. 航行

iceberg

n. 冰山

lookout

n. 了望员

collision

n. 碰撞

narrowly

adv. 刚刚，勉强地

miss

v. 避开

slight

adj. 轻微的

tremble

v. 震颤

faint

adj. 微弱的

horror

n. 恐惧

abandon

v. 抛弃

plunge

v. 投入，跳入

lifeboat

n. 救生船

本文参考译文

巨轮“泰坦尼克”号1912年4月10日从南安普敦起锚驶向纽约。船上载有1,316名乘客与891名船员。即使用现代标准来衡量，45,000吨的“泰坦尼克”号与算得上一艘巨轮了。当时，这艘轮船不仅是造船史上建造的最大的一艘船，而且也被认为是不会沉没的。因为船由16个密封舱组成，即使有两个舱进水，仍可漂浮在水面上。然而，这艘巨轮首航就下沉，造成大批人员死亡。人们将永远记着这艘巨轮的沉没惨剧。

“泰坦尼克”起航后的第4天，它正行驶在北大西洋冰冷的海面上。突然，了望员发现一座冰山。警报响过不久，巨轮急转弯，以避免与冰山正面相撞。“泰坦尼克”这个弯拐得及时，紧贴着高出海面100英尺的巨大的冰墙擦过去。突然，从船舱下部传来一声微颤音，船长走下船舱去查看究竟。由于这个声音非常轻，没人会想到船身已遭损坏。在下面，船长惊恐的地发现“泰坦尼克”号正在急速下沉，16个密封舱已有5个进水。于是，他发出弃船的命令，几百人跳进了冰冷刺骨的海水里。由于没有足够的救生艇运载所有乘客，结果，1,500人丧生。

(兼职编辑：张博)