[朗誦] NCE III - 10 “泰坦尼克”號的沉沒

Lesson 10 The loss of the Titanic 
 

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 that 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 thought 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.

New words and expressions 生詞和短語
Southampton
n. 南安普敦（英國港市）
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
voyage
n. 航行
iceberg
n. 冰山
lookout
n. 了望員
collision
n. 碰撞
narrowly
adv. 剛剛，勉強地
miss
v. 避開
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

參考譯文
巨輪“泰坦尼克”號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。卻使用現代標準來衡量，45,000 噸的“泰坦尼克”號與算得上一艘巨輪了。當時，這艘輪船不僅是造船史上建造的最大的一艘船，而且也被認為是不會沉沒的。因為船由16個密封艙組成，即使有兩個艙進水，仍可漂浮的水麵上。然而，這艘巨輪首航就下沉，造成大批人員死亡。人們將永遠記著這艘巨輪的沉沒慘劇。
 
“泰坦尼克”起航後的第4天，它正行駛在北大西洋冰冷的海麵上。突然，了望員發現一座冰山。警報響過不久，巨輪急轉彎，以避免與冰山正麵相撞。“泰坦尼克”這個彎拐得及時，緊貼著高出海麵100英尺的巨大的冰牆擦過去。突然，從船艙下部傳來一聲微顫音，船長走下船艙去查看究竟。由於這個聲音非常輕，沒人會想到船身已遭損壞。在下麵，船長驚恐的地發現“泰坦尼克”號正在急速下沉，16個密封艙已有5個進水。於是，他發出棄船的命令，幾百人跳進了冰冷刺骨的海水裏。由於沒有足夠的救生艇運載所有乘客，結果，1,500 人喪生。

所有跟帖： 

• 歡迎意見建議 -lilac09- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 00:35:49

• Good job. Have a nice weekend. -婉蕠- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 10:42:15

• Thanks, 婉蕠mm. Have a nice weekend too. -lilac09- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 11:53:27

• These words need improvement -馬奎- ♂ (55 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 13:14:46

• 回複：These words need improvement -lilac09- ♀ (574 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 13:45:42

• 回複 -馬奎- ♂ (558 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 14:07:00

• 回複：回複 -lilac09- ♀ (34 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 14:29:13

• 正確的讀法確實是兩個/i/ -馬奎- ♂ (0 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 17:18:09

• 在學習這篇時，我發現有兩個詞的讀音比較特別 -lilac09- ♀ (310 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 17:40:30

• 我現在已經大徹大悟了 -馬奎- ♂ (104 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 18:27:53

• Can't agree more. -lilac09- ♀ (818 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 19:04:38

• 讀的真好！DAY DAY UP! -blueswan- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 15:22:53

• Thanks for your encouragement. -lilac09- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 17:41:32