新概念美音版第四冊 Lesson 27 The \'Vasa\' “瓦薩”號

 

 

Lesson 27   The 'Vasa' “瓦薩”號
            
First listen and then answer the following question.
 
聽錄音，然後回鷚韻攣侍狻?

What happened to the 'Vasa' almost immediately after she was launched?

    From the seventeenth-century empire of Sweden, the story of a galleon that sank at the start of her maiden voyage in 1628 must be one of the strangest tales of the sea. For nearly three and a half centuries she lay at the bottom of Stockholm harbour until her discovery in 1956. This was the Vasa, royal flagship of the great imperial fleet.
 
    King Gustavus Adolphus, 'The Northern Hurricane', then at the height of his military success in the Thirty Years' War, had dictated her measurements and armament. Triple gun-decks mounted sixty-four bronze cannon. She was intended to play a leading role in the growing might of Sweden.
 
    As she was prepared of her maiden voyage on August 10, 1628, Stockholm was in a ferment. From the Skeppsbron and surrounding islands the people watched this thing of beauty begin to spread her sails and catch the wind. They had laboured for three years to produce this floating work of art; she was more richly carved and ornamented than any previous ship. The high stern castle was a riot of carved gods, demons, knights, kings, warriors, mermaids, cherubs; and zoomorphic animal shapes ablaze with rea and gold and blue, symbols of courage, power, and cruelty, were portrayed to stir the imaginations of the superstitious sailors of the day.
 
    Then the cannons of the anchored warships thundered a salute to which the Vasa fired in reply. As she emerged from her drifting cloud of gun smoke with the water churned to foam beneath her bow, her flags colour, she presented a more majestic spectacle than Stockholmers had ever seen before. All gun-ports were open and the muzzles peeped wickedly from them.
 
    As the wind freshened there came a sudden squall and the ship made a strange movement, listing to port. The Ordnance Officer ordered all the port cannon to be heaved to starboard to counteract the list, but the steepening angle of the decks increased. Then the sound of rumbling thunder reached the watchers on the shore, as cargo, ballast, ammunition and 400 people went sliding and crashing down to the port side of the steeply listing ship. The lower gun-ports were now below water and the inrush sealed the ship's fate. In that first glorious hour, the mighty Vasa, which was intended to rule the Baltic, sank with all flags flying-in the harbour of her birth.
 
      ROY SAUNGERS The Raising of the 'Vasa' from The Listener

New words and expressions 生詞和短語
 
    galleon
n.  大型帆船
    Stockholm
n.  斯德哥爾摩
    flagship
n.  旗艦
    imperial
adj. 帝國的
    hurricane
n.  颶風
    armament
n.  軍械
    triple
adj. 三層的
    mount
v.  架有
    bronze
n.  青銅
    cannon
n.  加農炮

參考譯文
 
    1628年，一艘大帆船在處女航時就沉沒了，這個從容不迫7世紀瑞典帝國流傳至今的故事無疑是航海史上最離奇的事件之一。這艘大船在斯德哥爾摩港口的海底躺了將近幾年來個世紀之後，直到1956年才被發現。這就是“瓦薩”號，帝國大艦的皇家旗艦。
 
    當時號稱“北方颶風”的國王古斯夫斯.阿道爾弗正處在“三十年戰爭”的軍事鼎盛階段，他親自規定了這艘船的規模和武器配備。3層的火炮甲板上裝著眼點4門青銅加農炮，目的就是要在不斷增長的瑞典勢力中起主導作用。
 
    1628年8月10日，“瓦薩”號準備首航時，斯德哥爾摩一片歡騰。人們從斯開波斯布朗和周圍的島嶼前來觀著這艘美麗的戰船揚帆起航，乘風前進。瑞典人辛辛苦苦幹了3年才建成這件水上藝術品，它比以往任何船隻雕刻得都更加精美，裝飾得都更加華麗。高聳的船樓上雕刻了令人眼花繚亂的神仙、妖魔、騎士、國王、武士、美人魚和小天使，還有用紅色、金黃色、藍色繪製的光彩奪目的獸形圖案，象征著勇敢、力量和殘暴，以激起漢時崇尚迷信的水手們的想像。
 
    這時，停泊在港口的其他戰船向“瓦薩”號鳴炮致禮，“瓦薩”號也鳴炮回禮。當“瓦薩”號從彌漫的禮炮煙雲中出現時，船頭下浪花加濺，艦旗迎風招展，三角旗隨風飄動，微風鼓起風帆，金碧輝煌的船樓閃耀著燦爛的色彩。“瓦薩”號展現的壯觀景象是斯德哥爾摩人從未見過的。船上的炮眼開著，炮口虎視眈眈地向外窺視著。
 
    當風力增強時，突然刮來一陣大風，“瓦薩”號奇怪地搖晃了一下，便向左舷傾斜。炮長命令把左舷上所有大炮搬到右舷上來以抵消船的傾斜，但甲板的傾斜度仍在增加。當物口、壓艙物、彈藥和400個人轟地一聲滑向陡斜的左舷時，岸上的觀眾聽到了雷鳴般的轟響。下層炮眼已淹沒在水裏，湧進船艙的水給“瓦薩”號帶來了難以逃脫的厄運。就這樣，想要統治波羅的海的大型戰艦“瓦薩”號，在它壯麗的起航時刻，帶著全身飄揚的彩旗，沉沒在了它誕生的港口。