為了方便同學(xué)們的學(xué)習(xí)，為大家整理了新概念英語第四冊學(xué)習(xí)手冊，新概念英語作為一套世界聞名的英語教程，以其全新的教學(xué)理念，有趣的課文內(nèi)容和全面的技能訓(xùn)練，深受廣大英語學(xué)習(xí)者的歡迎和喜愛。希望以下內(nèi)容能夠為大家的新概念英語學(xué)習(xí)提供幫助!
Lesson 25
Non-auditory effects of noise
噪音的非聽覺效應(yīng)
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What conclusion does the author draw about noise and health in this piece? May people in industry and the Services, who have practical experience of noise, regard any investigation of this question as a waste of time; they are not prepared even to admit
the possibility that noise affects people. On the other hand, those who dislike noise will sometimes use most inadequate evidence to support their pleas for a quieter society. This isa pity, because noise abatement really is a good cause, and it is likely to be discredited if it gets to be associated with had science.
One allegation often made is that noise produces mental illness. A recent article in a weekly newspaper, for instance, was headed with a striking illustration of a lady in a state of considerable distress, with the caption 'She was yet another victim, reduced to a screaming wreck'. On turning eagerly to the text, one learns that the lady was a typist who found the sound of office typewriters worried her more and more until eventually she had to go into a mental hospital. Now the snag in this sort of anecdote is of course that onemerely a symptom? Another patient might equally well complain that her neighbours were combining to slander her and ersecute her, and yet one might be cautious about believing this statement.
What is needed in case of noise is a study of large numbers of people living under noisy conditions, to discover whether they are mentally ill more often than other people are. Some time ago the United States Navy, for instance, examined a very large number of men working on aircraft carriers: the study was known as Project Anehin. It can be unpleasant to live even several miles from an aerodrome; if you think what it must be like to share the deck of a ship with several squadrons of jet aircraft, you will realize that a modern navy is a good place to study noise. But neither psychiatric interviews nor objective tests were able to show any effects upon these American sailors. This result merely confirms earlier American and British studies: if there is any effect of noise upon mental health, it must be so small that present methods of psychiatric diagnosis cannot find it. That does not prove that it does exist: but it does mean that noise is less dangerous than, say, being brought up in an orphanage -- which really is mental health hazard.
D.E.BROADBENT Non-auditory effects of noise from Science Survey
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
auditory
adj. 聽覺的
inadequate
adj. 不適當(dāng)?shù)?BR> plea
n. 要求
abatement
n. 減少
discredit
v. 懷疑
allegation
n. 斷言
caption
n. 插圖說明
wreck
n. 殘廢人
snag
n. 疑難之處，障礙
anecdote
n. 軼聞
slander
v. 誹謗
persecute
v. 迫害
squadron
n. 中隊
psychiatric
adj. 精神病學(xué)的
diagnosis
n. 診所
orphanage
n. 孤兒院
參考譯文
在工業(yè)部門工作和在軍隊中服役的許多人對噪聲音有切身的體會，他們認為對這個問題進行調(diào)查中浪費時間，甚至不愿承認噪音可能對人有影響。另一方面，那些討厭噪音的人有時會用不充分的證據(jù)來支持他們希望有一個較為安靜的社會環(huán)境的要求。要求減少噪音是件好事，但是如果與拙劣的科學(xué)摻雜在一起的話，就不會被人們所信任，這是很遺憾的。常見的一種指責(zé)是，噪音能引起精神病。例如，近一家周報刊登了一篇文章，文章上方有一幅引人注目的插圖，是一位表情沮喪的女子。圖的文字說明：“她是又一個受害者，成了只會尖叫的可憐蟲?！?/SPAN>當(dāng)人們急切地看完正文后，便知道這女子是個打字員，辦公室打字機的聲音使她越來越煩，終住進了精神病醫(yī)院。這類奇聞的疑難之處是無法區(qū)別因果關(guān)系。是噪音引起了(精神)病呢，還是(精神)病的癥狀之一是對噪音的抱怨?另有一位病人可能同樣有理由抱怨說，她的鄰居們正在聯(lián)合起來對她進行誹謗和迫害，不過，人們不會輕信她的抱怨。對于噪音問題，需要對大量生活在噪音中的人進行研究，看一看他們是否比其他人更易患精神病。例如，美國海軍前些時候調(diào)查了許多在航空母航上工作的人，這次調(diào)查被稱之為：“安內(nèi)英工程”。即使住在離機場幾英里以外的地方，機場的噪音也會使人難受。因此，如果你能想像出和幾個中隊的噴氣機同在一個甲板上是什么滋味兒的話，你就會認識到現(xiàn)代海軍是研究噪音的好地方。但是，不管進行精神病學(xué)的調(diào)查訪問，還是進行客觀的測試，都不能顯示噪音對這些美國水兵有任何影響。這個結(jié)果只不過證實了美國和英國早些時候的研究結(jié)論：如果噪音對精神健康有影響的話，那也一定是微乎其微，以致現(xiàn)代的精神病診斷方法還發(fā)現(xiàn)不了。這并不是證實不存在噪音對健康的影響。但它確實說明，噪音的危險性 -- 比如說 -- 比在孤兒院長大所受的危害要小一些，孤兒院才是真正危害精神健康的地方。
Lesson 26
The past life of the earth
地球上的昔日生命
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What is the main condition for the preservation of the remains of any living creature?
It is animals and plants which lived in or near water whose remains are most likely to be preserved, for one of the necessary conditions of preservation is quick burial, and it is only in the seas and rivers, and sometimes lakes, where mud and sit have been continuously deposited, that bodies and the can be rapidly covered over and preserved.
But even in the most favourable circumstances only a small fraction of the creatures that die are preserved in this way before decay sets in or, even more likely, before scavengers eat them. After all, all living creatures live by feeding on something else, whether it be plant or animal, dead or alive, and it is only by chance that such a fate is avoided. The remains of plants and animals that lived on land are much more rarely preserved, for there is seldom anything to cover them over. When you think of the innumerable birds that one sees flying bout, not to mention the equally numerous small animals like field mice and voles which you do not see, it is very rarely that one comes across a dead body, except, of course, on the roads. They decompose and are quickly destroyed by the weather or eaten by some other creature.
It is almost always due to some very special circumstances that traces of land animals survive, as by falling into inaccessible caves, or into an ice crevasse, like the Siberian mammoths, when the whole animal is sometimes preserved, as in a refrigerator. This is what happened to the famous Beresovka mammoth which was found preserved and in good condition. In his mouth were the remains of fir trees -- the last meal that he had before he fell into the crevasse and broke his back. The mammoth has now just a suburb of Los Angeles. Apparently what happened was that water collected on these tar pits, and the bigger animals like the elephants ventured out on to the apparently firm surface to drink, and were promptly bogged in the tar. And then, when they were dead, the carnivores, like the sabre-toothed cats and the giant wolves, came out to feed and suffered exactly the same fate. There are also endless numbers of birds in the tar as well.
ERROL WHITE The past life of the earth from Discovery
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
preservation
n. 保存
silt
n. 淤泥
scavenger
n. 食腐動物
vole
n. 野鼠，鼴鼠
decompose
v. 腐爛
inaccessible
adj. 不能到達的
crevasse
n. 縫隙
Siberian
adj.西伯利亞的
palaeontological
adj. 古生物學(xué)的
St. Petersburg
n. 圣彼得堡
sabre-toothed
adj. 長著銳利的長牙
venture
v. 冒險
bogged
adj. 陷入泥沼的，陷入要困境的
參考譯文
只有生活在水中或水邊的動植物尸體有可能被保存下來，因為保存的必要條件之一是迅速掩埋，所以只有在泥沙不停淤積的海洋和江河里，有時在湖泊里，尸體之類的東西才能被迅速地覆蓋而保存下來。
即使是在有利的環(huán)境中，死去的生物中也只有一小部分能在開始腐爛前，或更可能在被食腐動物吃掉之前，被這樣保存下來。因為一切生物都是靠吃別的東西來活命的，不管這種東西是植物還是動物，死的還是活的，因此，生物偶爾才能避免被吃掉的命運。曾在陸地上生活過的動植物的遺體被保存下來的更為罕見，因為陸地上幾乎沒有什么東西覆蓋它們。你可以想象出天上有看得見的飛來飛去、數(shù)不清的鳥，地上有不顯眼的無數(shù)的老鼠和田鼠之類的小動物，但是，除非在路上，很少有人遇到這些動物的尸體，因為它們腐敗之后很快就被風(fēng)化掉，或被別的動物吃掉了。
幾乎總是由于某些特殊的條件，陸地動物的遺體才被存下來，如掉進難以到達的洞穴，或掉進冰河裂縫里，或者像西伯利亞長毛象那樣掉進冰窟中，有時整個動物像被放在冰箱里一樣被保存下來，的那林索夫卡長毛象就是這樣被保存下來的，而且保存得很好。它嘴里還留著冷杉 -- 它掉進冰河裂隙折斷脊椎柱之前的后一頓飯。這頭長毛象已被修復(fù)，現(xiàn)存于圣彼得堡古生物學(xué)博物館。有的動物掉進天然瀝清坑里被保存下來，如在蘭橋.拉.布里 -- 現(xiàn)在是洛杉磯的郊區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)的大象、劍齒虎和許多其他動物。顯然，事情的經(jīng)過是這樣：瀝青坑里積存了水，大象那樣的大動物冒險到似乎堅固的水面上去飲水，立即掉進了瀝青坑。大象死后，一些食肉動物，如劍齒虎和大灰狼就來吃大象，結(jié)果遭到了同樣的命運。瀝青坑里還有無數(shù)只鳥的尸體。
新概念英語4 Lesson 27
The 'Vasa'
“瓦薩”號
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 the 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(fēng)
armament
n. 軍械
triple
adj. 三層的
mount
v. 架有
bronze
n. 青銅
cannon
n. 加農(nóng)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(jì)瑞典帝國流傳至今的故事無疑是航海離奇的事件之一。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(jì)之后，直到1956年才被發(fā)現(xiàn)。這就是“瓦薩”號，帝國大艦的皇家旗艦。
當(dāng)時號稱“北方颶風(fēng)”的國王古斯夫斯.阿道爾弗正處在“三十年戰(zhàn)爭”的軍事鼎盛階段，他親自規(guī)定了這艘船的規(guī)模和武器配備。3層的火炮甲板上裝著眼點4門青銅加農(nóng)炮，目的就是要在不斷增長的瑞典勢力中起主導(dǎo)作用。
1628年8月10日，“瓦薩”號準(zhǔn)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(zhàn)船揚帆起航，乘風(fēng)前進。瑞典人辛辛苦苦干了3年才建成這件水上藝術(shù)品，它比以往任何船只雕刻得都更加精美，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、藍色繪制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(zhàn)船向“瓦薩”號鳴炮致禮，“瓦薩”號也鳴炮回禮。當(dāng)“瓦薩”號從彌漫的禮炮煙云中出現(xiàn)時，船頭下浪花加濺，艦旗迎風(fēng)招展，三角旗隨風(fēng)飄動，微風(fēng)鼓起風(fēng)帆，金碧輝煌的船樓閃耀著燦爛的色彩?！巴咚_”號展現(xiàn)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(dāng)風(fēng)力增強時，突然刮來一陣大風(fēng)，“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(dāng)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里，涌進船艙的水給“瓦薩”號帶來了難以逃脫的厄運。就這樣，想要統(tǒng)治波羅的海的大型戰(zhàn)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。
Lesson 25
Non-auditory effects of noise
噪音的非聽覺效應(yīng)
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What conclusion does the author draw about noise and health in this piece? May people in industry and the Services, who have practical experience of noise, regard any investigation of this question as a waste of time; they are not prepared even to admit
the possibility that noise affects people. On the other hand, those who dislike noise will sometimes use most inadequate evidence to support their pleas for a quieter society. This isa pity, because noise abatement really is a good cause, and it is likely to be discredited if it gets to be associated with had science.
One allegation often made is that noise produces mental illness. A recent article in a weekly newspaper, for instance, was headed with a striking illustration of a lady in a state of considerable distress, with the caption 'She was yet another victim, reduced to a screaming wreck'. On turning eagerly to the text, one learns that the lady was a typist who found the sound of office typewriters worried her more and more until eventually she had to go into a mental hospital. Now the snag in this sort of anecdote is of course that onemerely a symptom? Another patient might equally well complain that her neighbours were combining to slander her and ersecute her, and yet one might be cautious about believing this statement.
What is needed in case of noise is a study of large numbers of people living under noisy conditions, to discover whether they are mentally ill more often than other people are. Some time ago the United States Navy, for instance, examined a very large number of men working on aircraft carriers: the study was known as Project Anehin. It can be unpleasant to live even several miles from an aerodrome; if you think what it must be like to share the deck of a ship with several squadrons of jet aircraft, you will realize that a modern navy is a good place to study noise. But neither psychiatric interviews nor objective tests were able to show any effects upon these American sailors. This result merely confirms earlier American and British studies: if there is any effect of noise upon mental health, it must be so small that present methods of psychiatric diagnosis cannot find it. That does not prove that it does exist: but it does mean that noise is less dangerous than, say, being brought up in an orphanage -- which really is mental health hazard.
D.E.BROADBENT Non-auditory effects of noise from Science Survey
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
auditory
adj. 聽覺的
inadequate
adj. 不適當(dāng)?shù)?BR> plea
n. 要求
abatement
n. 減少
discredit
v. 懷疑
allegation
n. 斷言
caption
n. 插圖說明
wreck
n. 殘廢人
snag
n. 疑難之處，障礙
anecdote
n. 軼聞
slander
v. 誹謗
persecute
v. 迫害
squadron
n. 中隊
psychiatric
adj. 精神病學(xué)的
diagnosis
n. 診所
orphanage
n. 孤兒院
參考譯文
在工業(yè)部門工作和在軍隊中服役的許多人對噪聲音有切身的體會，他們認為對這個問題進行調(diào)查中浪費時間，甚至不愿承認噪音可能對人有影響。另一方面，那些討厭噪音的人有時會用不充分的證據(jù)來支持他們希望有一個較為安靜的社會環(huán)境的要求。要求減少噪音是件好事，但是如果與拙劣的科學(xué)摻雜在一起的話，就不會被人們所信任，這是很遺憾的。常見的一種指責(zé)是，噪音能引起精神病。例如，近一家周報刊登了一篇文章，文章上方有一幅引人注目的插圖，是一位表情沮喪的女子。圖的文字說明：“她是又一個受害者，成了只會尖叫的可憐蟲?！?/SPAN>當(dāng)人們急切地看完正文后，便知道這女子是個打字員，辦公室打字機的聲音使她越來越煩，終住進了精神病醫(yī)院。這類奇聞的疑難之處是無法區(qū)別因果關(guān)系。是噪音引起了(精神)病呢，還是(精神)病的癥狀之一是對噪音的抱怨?另有一位病人可能同樣有理由抱怨說，她的鄰居們正在聯(lián)合起來對她進行誹謗和迫害，不過，人們不會輕信她的抱怨。對于噪音問題，需要對大量生活在噪音中的人進行研究，看一看他們是否比其他人更易患精神病。例如，美國海軍前些時候調(diào)查了許多在航空母航上工作的人，這次調(diào)查被稱之為：“安內(nèi)英工程”。即使住在離機場幾英里以外的地方，機場的噪音也會使人難受。因此，如果你能想像出和幾個中隊的噴氣機同在一個甲板上是什么滋味兒的話，你就會認識到現(xiàn)代海軍是研究噪音的好地方。但是，不管進行精神病學(xué)的調(diào)查訪問，還是進行客觀的測試，都不能顯示噪音對這些美國水兵有任何影響。這個結(jié)果只不過證實了美國和英國早些時候的研究結(jié)論：如果噪音對精神健康有影響的話，那也一定是微乎其微，以致現(xiàn)代的精神病診斷方法還發(fā)現(xiàn)不了。這并不是證實不存在噪音對健康的影響。但它確實說明，噪音的危險性 -- 比如說 -- 比在孤兒院長大所受的危害要小一些，孤兒院才是真正危害精神健康的地方。
Lesson 26
The past life of the earth
地球上的昔日生命
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What is the main condition for the preservation of the remains of any living creature?
It is animals and plants which lived in or near water whose remains are most likely to be preserved, for one of the necessary conditions of preservation is quick burial, and it is only in the seas and rivers, and sometimes lakes, where mud and sit have been continuously deposited, that bodies and the can be rapidly covered over and preserved.
But even in the most favourable circumstances only a small fraction of the creatures that die are preserved in this way before decay sets in or, even more likely, before scavengers eat them. After all, all living creatures live by feeding on something else, whether it be plant or animal, dead or alive, and it is only by chance that such a fate is avoided. The remains of plants and animals that lived on land are much more rarely preserved, for there is seldom anything to cover them over. When you think of the innumerable birds that one sees flying bout, not to mention the equally numerous small animals like field mice and voles which you do not see, it is very rarely that one comes across a dead body, except, of course, on the roads. They decompose and are quickly destroyed by the weather or eaten by some other creature.
It is almost always due to some very special circumstances that traces of land animals survive, as by falling into inaccessible caves, or into an ice crevasse, like the Siberian mammoths, when the whole animal is sometimes preserved, as in a refrigerator. This is what happened to the famous Beresovka mammoth which was found preserved and in good condition. In his mouth were the remains of fir trees -- the last meal that he had before he fell into the crevasse and broke his back. The mammoth has now just a suburb of Los Angeles. Apparently what happened was that water collected on these tar pits, and the bigger animals like the elephants ventured out on to the apparently firm surface to drink, and were promptly bogged in the tar. And then, when they were dead, the carnivores, like the sabre-toothed cats and the giant wolves, came out to feed and suffered exactly the same fate. There are also endless numbers of birds in the tar as well.
ERROL WHITE The past life of the earth from Discovery
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
preservation
n. 保存
silt
n. 淤泥
scavenger
n. 食腐動物
vole
n. 野鼠，鼴鼠
decompose
v. 腐爛
inaccessible
adj. 不能到達的
crevasse
n. 縫隙
Siberian
adj.西伯利亞的
palaeontological
adj. 古生物學(xué)的
St. Petersburg
n. 圣彼得堡
sabre-toothed
adj. 長著銳利的長牙
venture
v. 冒險
bogged
adj. 陷入泥沼的，陷入要困境的
參考譯文
只有生活在水中或水邊的動植物尸體有可能被保存下來，因為保存的必要條件之一是迅速掩埋，所以只有在泥沙不停淤積的海洋和江河里，有時在湖泊里，尸體之類的東西才能被迅速地覆蓋而保存下來。
即使是在有利的環(huán)境中，死去的生物中也只有一小部分能在開始腐爛前，或更可能在被食腐動物吃掉之前，被這樣保存下來。因為一切生物都是靠吃別的東西來活命的，不管這種東西是植物還是動物，死的還是活的，因此，生物偶爾才能避免被吃掉的命運。曾在陸地上生活過的動植物的遺體被保存下來的更為罕見，因為陸地上幾乎沒有什么東西覆蓋它們。你可以想象出天上有看得見的飛來飛去、數(shù)不清的鳥，地上有不顯眼的無數(shù)的老鼠和田鼠之類的小動物，但是，除非在路上，很少有人遇到這些動物的尸體，因為它們腐敗之后很快就被風(fēng)化掉，或被別的動物吃掉了。
幾乎總是由于某些特殊的條件，陸地動物的遺體才被存下來，如掉進難以到達的洞穴，或掉進冰河裂縫里，或者像西伯利亞長毛象那樣掉進冰窟中，有時整個動物像被放在冰箱里一樣被保存下來，的那林索夫卡長毛象就是這樣被保存下來的，而且保存得很好。它嘴里還留著冷杉 -- 它掉進冰河裂隙折斷脊椎柱之前的后一頓飯。這頭長毛象已被修復(fù)，現(xiàn)存于圣彼得堡古生物學(xué)博物館。有的動物掉進天然瀝清坑里被保存下來，如在蘭橋.拉.布里 -- 現(xiàn)在是洛杉磯的郊區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)的大象、劍齒虎和許多其他動物。顯然，事情的經(jīng)過是這樣：瀝青坑里積存了水，大象那樣的大動物冒險到似乎堅固的水面上去飲水，立即掉進了瀝青坑。大象死后，一些食肉動物，如劍齒虎和大灰狼就來吃大象，結(jié)果遭到了同樣的命運。瀝青坑里還有無數(shù)只鳥的尸體。
新概念英語4 Lesson 27
The 'Vasa'
“瓦薩”號
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 the 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(fēng)
armament
n. 軍械
triple
adj. 三層的
mount
v. 架有
bronze
n. 青銅
cannon
n. 加農(nóng)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(jì)瑞典帝國流傳至今的故事無疑是航海離奇的事件之一。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(jì)之后，直到1956年才被發(fā)現(xiàn)。這就是“瓦薩”號，帝國大艦的皇家旗艦。
當(dāng)時號稱“北方颶風(fēng)”的國王古斯夫斯.阿道爾弗正處在“三十年戰(zhàn)爭”的軍事鼎盛階段，他親自規(guī)定了這艘船的規(guī)模和武器配備。3層的火炮甲板上裝著眼點4門青銅加農(nóng)炮，目的就是要在不斷增長的瑞典勢力中起主導(dǎo)作用。
1628年8月10日，“瓦薩”號準(zhǔn)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(zhàn)船揚帆起航，乘風(fēng)前進。瑞典人辛辛苦苦干了3年才建成這件水上藝術(shù)品，它比以往任何船只雕刻得都更加精美，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、藍色繪制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(zhàn)船向“瓦薩”號鳴炮致禮，“瓦薩”號也鳴炮回禮。當(dāng)“瓦薩”號從彌漫的禮炮煙云中出現(xiàn)時，船頭下浪花加濺，艦旗迎風(fēng)招展，三角旗隨風(fēng)飄動，微風(fēng)鼓起風(fēng)帆，金碧輝煌的船樓閃耀著燦爛的色彩?！巴咚_”號展現(xiàn)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(dāng)風(fēng)力增強時，突然刮來一陣大風(fēng)，“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(dāng)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里，涌進船艙的水給“瓦薩”號帶來了難以逃脫的厄運。就這樣，想要統(tǒng)治波羅的海的大型戰(zhàn)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。