【課文】
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.
【課文翻譯】
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1,316 名乘客與891 名船員。卻使用現(xiàn)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建造的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，仍可漂浮的水面上。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”起航后的第4 天，它正行駛在北大西洋冰冷的海面上。突然，了望員發(fā)現(xiàn)一座冰山。警報響過不久，巨輪急轉彎，以避免與冰山正面相撞?！疤┨鼓峥恕边@個彎拐得及時，緊貼著高出海面100英尺的巨大的冰墻擦過去。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。由于這個聲音非常輕，沒人會想到船身已遭損壞。在下面，船長驚恐的地發(fā)現(xiàn)“泰坦尼克”號正在急速下沉，16 個密封艙已有5 個進水。于是，他發(fā)出棄船的命令幾百人跳進了冰冷刺骨的海水里。由于沒有足夠的救生艇運載所有乘客，結果，1,500 人喪生。
【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. 瞭望員
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
【知識點分析】
詞匯
【colossal】
例句：
1.This is indeed a colossal success.
這確實是個巨大的成功。
2.This massive overbuild is being fuelled by the colossal scale of industrialisation.
大規(guī)模的工業(yè)化正在造成這種過度累積。
近義：huge, tremendous, enormous, massive, macro
【watertight】
tight:密封
例句：
1.Mix all ingredients and store in a tight-lidded jar.
將所有的成分混合在一起并置于密封的罐子中。
2.We recommend storing beans in a clean, dry, air-tight container, in a cool dark place.
我們建議應把咖啡豆保存在干凈、干燥、密封的容器中，并應放在避光的地方。
近義：sealed
【flood】
英英：cover with liquid, usually water
例句：
1.Rain may flood the low-lying land out.
這場驟雨有可能把低洼地淹沒。
2.I'll flood the city in never-ending daylight!
我就能使這座城市充滿無盡的光明!
3.When you do, you have the guarantee that the peace of God will flood your heart and mind.
當你這樣作，便能保證，神所賜的平安會充滿你的心懷意念。
【float】
英英：be afloat; stay on a liquid surface; not sink
例句：
1.From the battlement of the tower float a flag in the soft wind.
在微風中，城堡的雉堞式裝飾墻上飄著一面旗幟。
2.I could float off this floor like a soap bubble if I wish to.
只要我愿意，我可以像肥皂泡一樣，在這間屋子里飄浮起來。
3.Through the open windows snatches of melody float on the night air.
樂曲斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地從敞開的窗戶中飄出，在夜空中回蕩。
【tragic】
追根溯源：tragedy→tragic
例句：
1.The train accident was tragic. Two trainers and ten trainees were dead.
火車事故很慘，造成兩名教練和十名受訓隊員死亡。
2.And with his Irishman's sense of the tragic, she also knew he felt something about such emptiness.
她也知道，憑他的愛爾蘭人對悲劇和敏感性，他已感覺出一些這種空虛。
近義：evil, unfortunate
【collision】
還原：collision→collide
collide:碰撞、沖突
例句：
1.Let us hope that it will not take a direct black hole collision with Earth to determine whether Einstein was right.
我們只希望，不要等到黑洞直接撞上地球的那一刻，才得以證明愛因斯坦是對是錯。
2.There is more to the story than an angry collision between Greek profligacy and German moral superiority.
這件事不僅僅是希臘人的揮霍無度和德國人的道德優(yōu)越感之間的迎頭怒撞。
近義：interference, conflict, war, crash,impact
【narrowly】
追根溯源：narrow→narrowly
narrow:勉強的
例句：
1.Jack flees out a back window, narrowly escaping the agents.
杰克從后窗倉促逃走，勉強地逃過了特工們的追捕。
2.Pittsburgh narrowly avoided bankruptcy in 2003, and was forced into state receivership 2003年匹茲堡市差一點破產(chǎn)，并且被州政府破產(chǎn)監(jiān)管。
近義：closely, grudgingly
【miss】
英英：fail to reach or get to
例句：
1.Aim carefully or you'll miss.
仔細瞄準,否則會擊不中的。
2.I narrowly missed being hurt by a car yesterday.
昨天我差點被汽車撞了。
3.The bullet missed me by a hair's breath.
那顆子彈差一點就打中了我。
近義：lose, let slip
【slight】
例句：
1.She has a slight fever.
她有點兒發(fā)燒。
2. The boss decided to pass over his slight mistakes.
老板決定原諒他的小錯。
短語：
slight fever 微熱，低燒
slight pain 輕微疼痛
slight illness 小病;不適;頭疼腦熱
近義：small,tender
【tremble】
英英：move or jerk quickly and involuntarily up and down or sideways
例句：
1.Now I tremble at your name.
現(xiàn)在我因你的名字而顫動。
2.The leaves tremble in the breeze.
樹葉在微風中搖動。
3.All of a sudden we felt the earth tremble around us.
突然我們感到周圍的大地在顫抖。
近義：roll, rock
【faint】
例句：
1.A faint blush came into her cheek.
她的臉上出現(xiàn)了淡淡的紅暈。
2.There was a faint feeling of unrest at the table.
餐桌上稍微有一種不安的氣氛。
3.Two faint hopes flicker in the sodden gloom left by the cyclone.
在風暴過后的滿目瘡痍里閃爍著兩線模糊的希望。
近義：fuzzy, weak, dark, vague
【horror】
例句：
1.Soon the trenches and the hospital were places of horror.
很快戰(zhàn)壕和醫(yī)院也陷入恐慌。
2.For every visitor, there is one particular bit of horror that he knows he will never forget.
對于每個參觀者來說，都有某些他認為永遠也不會忘記的特別恐怖之處。
【abandon】
英英：leave behind empty; move out of
例句：
1.The crew abandoned the burning ship.
水手們離棄了燃燒中的船。
【plunge】
英英：drop steeply
例句：
1.He ran to the edge of the lake and plunge in.
他跑到湖邊，跳進水里。
2.He didn' t hesitate to plunge into the river to save the child.
他毫不猶豫地跳進河里去救那個孩子。
3.It's interesting to plunge into the cool water in the hot summer.
在炎熱的夏季里跳進涼涼的水里真是有趣呀!