What would have happened if only two of the sixteen water-tight compartments had been flooded? ??? The great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10th, 1912. She was carrying 1,316 passengers and a crew of 891. Even by modern standards, the 46,000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship. At the time, however, she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built, but was regarded as unsinkable, for she had sixteen watertight compartments. Even if two of these were flooded, she would still be able to float. The tragic sinking of this great liner will always be remembered, for she went down on her first voyage with heavy loss of life. ??? Four days after setting out, while the Titanic was sailing across the icy waters 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 direct collision. The Titanic turned just in time, narrowly missing the immense wall of ice which rose over 100 feet out of the water beside her. Suddenly, there was a slight trembling sound from below, and the captain went down to see what had happened. The noise had been so faint that no one though that the ship had been damaged. Below, the captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was sinking rapidly, for five of her sixteen watertight compartments had already been flooded! The order to abandon ship was given and hundreds of people plunged into the icy water. As there were not enough lifeboats for everybody, 1,500 lives were lost. ??? 巨輪“泰坦尼克”號(hào)1912年4月10日從南安普敦起錨駛向紐約。船上載有1,316名乘客與891名船員。 就是用現(xiàn)代標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來(lái)衡量，45,000 噸的“泰坦尼克”號(hào)也算得上一艘巨輪了。當(dāng)時(shí)，這艘輪船不僅是造船史上建造的最大的一艘船，而且也被認(rèn)為是不會(huì)沉沒(méi)的。因?yàn)榇?6個(gè)密封艙組成，即使有兩個(gè)艙進(jìn)水，仍可漂浮的水面上。然而，這艘巨輪首航就沉了，造成大批人員死亡。人們將永遠(yuǎn)記著這艘巨輪的沉沒(méi)慘劇。 ??? “泰坦尼克”起航后的第4天，它正行駛在北大西洋冰冷的海域上。突然，了望員發(fā)現(xiàn)一座冰山。警報(bào)響過(guò)不久，巨輪急轉(zhuǎn)彎，以避免與冰山正面相撞?！疤┨鼓?克”這個(gè)彎拐得及時(shí)，緊貼著高出海面100英尺的巨大的冰墻擦過(guò)去。突然，從船艙下部傳來(lái)一聲微顫音，船長(zhǎng)走下船艙去查看究竟。由于這個(gè)聲音非常輕，沒(méi)人 會(huì)想到船身已遭損壞。在下面，船長(zhǎng)驚恐的地發(fā)現(xiàn)“泰坦尼克”號(hào)正在急速下沉，16個(gè)密封艙已有5個(gè)進(jìn)水。于是，他發(fā)出棄船的命令，幾百人跳進(jìn)了冰冷刺骨的 海水里。由于沒(méi)有足夠的救生艇運(yùn)載所有乘客，結(jié)果，1,500 人喪生。 ? Southampton??? n.?? 南安普敦（英國(guó)港市） colossal??? adj. 龐大的 watertight??? adj. 不漏水的 compartment??? n.? （輪船的）密封艙 flood??? v.?? 充滿水 float??? v.?? 漂浮，飄浮 tragic??? adj. 悲慘的 liner??? n.?? 班船 voyagen.?? 航行 iceberg??? n.?? 冰山 lookout??? n.?? 了望員 collision??? n.?? 碰撞 narrowly??? adv. 剛剛，勉強(qiáng)地 miss??? v.?? 避開(kāi) slight??? adj. 輕微的 tremble??? v.?? 震顫 faint??? adj. 微弱的 horror??? n.?? 恐懼 abandon??? v.?? 拋棄 plunge??? v.?? 投入，跳入 lifeboat??? n.?? 救生船 ??? 1? sail for,駛往……。 ??? 2? even by modern standards，即使依照現(xiàn)代標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來(lái)衡量。 ??? by作‘’依照”、“按照”講。 ??? 3? regarded as unsinkable，被認(rèn)為是不會(huì)沉沒(méi)的。regard ...as...當(dāng)“把...當(dāng)作...”講· ??? 4? she went down on her first voyage with heavy loss of life，她首航就下沉造成大批人員死亡。go down是“下沉”的意思。 ??? 5? narrowly missing，勉強(qiáng)避開(kāi)。 ??? 6? Below, the captain realized to his horror，在下面，船長(zhǎng)驚恐地發(fā)現(xiàn).below是個(gè)副詞。