一、【Text】课文
The great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10th, 1912. She was carrying 1316 passengers and a
crew of 89l. 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 look-out. 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 life-boats for everybody, 1500 lives were lost.
◆Southampton n. 南安普敦（英国港市）
◆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. 瞭望员
◆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
★Southampton n. 南安普敦（英国港市）