New Concept English III - 10 (08/10/09)

Lesson 10

The loss of the Titanic

Listen to the tape then answer the question below.



What would have happened if only two of the sixteen water-tight compartments had been flooded?

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.

所有跟帖： 

• 回复：New Concept English III - 10 (08/10/09) -看那月光- ♀ (178 bytes) () 08/11/2009 postreply 20:35:30

• 回复：回复：New Concept English III - 10 (08/10/09) -eyeyey- ♀ (670 bytes) () 08/11/2009 postreply 20:53:50

• Sounds like a huge commitment to me :-) , and it truely -看那月光- ♀ (122 bytes) () 08/11/2009 postreply 21:05:29

• 你不一定要念课文的，你可以你任何你喜欢的文章。 -任我为- ♂ (0 bytes) () 08/12/2009 postreply 03:52:52

• 我也跟你念念看 -梅石莹玉- ♀ (339 bytes) () 08/11/2009 postreply 21:43:12

• 欢迎回来。我们又能ENJOY你的英国腔。 -任我为- ♂ (0 bytes) () 08/12/2009 postreply 04:01:01

• Good read as usual. -eyeyey- ♀ (43 bytes) () 08/12/2009 postreply 04:39:05

• reading together is fun -梅石莹玉- ♀ (0 bytes) () 08/12/2009 postreply 19:33:59

• 梅石莹玉, welcome back. I am so glad to see you. -紫君- ♀ (0 bytes) () 08/12/2009 postreply 22:05:22

• I am happy to be back -梅石莹玉- ♀ (106 bytes) () 08/13/2009 postreply 19:38:06

• Titanic,what a tragedy. -紫君- ♀ (0 bytes) () 08/13/2009 postreply 05:58:18

• Yes. It is. -eyeyey- ♀ (21 bytes) () 08/13/2009 postreply 12:04:55