首页
登录
职称英语
A disaster of Titanic proportions At 11.39 p.m. on the e
A disaster of Titanic proportions At 11.39 p.m. on the e
游客
2024-01-09
29
管理
问题
A disaster of Titanic proportions
At 11.39 p.m. on the evening of Sunday 14 April 1912, lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee on the forward mast of the Titanic sighted an eerie, black mass coming into view directly in front of the ship. Fleet picked up the phone to the helm, waited for Sixth Officer Moody to answer, and yelled “Iceberg, right ahead! ” The greatest disaster in maritime history was about to be set in motion.
Thirty-seven seconds later, despite the efforts of officers in the bridge and engine room to steer around the iceberg, the Titanic struck a piece of submerged ice, bursting rivets in the ship’s hull and flooding the first five watertight compartments. The ship’s designer, Thomas Andrews, carried out a visual inspection of the ship’s damage and informed Captain Smith at midnight that the ship would sink in less than two hours. By 12.30 a.m., the lifeboats were being filled with women and children, after Smith had given the command for them to be uncovered and swung out 15 minutes earlier. The first lifeboat was successfully lowered 15 minutes later, with only 28 of its 65 seats occupied. By 1.15 a.m., the waterline was beginning to reach the Titanic’s name on the ship’s bow, and over the next hour every lifeboat would be released as officers struggled to maintain order amongst the growing panic on board.
The closing moments of the Titanic’s sinking began shortly after 2 a.m., as the last lifeboat was lowered and the ship’s propellers lifted out of the water, leaving the 1,500 passengers still on board to surge towards the stern. At 2.17 a.m., Harold Bride and Jack Philips tapped out their last wireless message after being relieved of duty as the ship’s wireless operators, and the ship’s band stopped playing. Less than a minute later, occupants of the lifeboats witnessed the ship’s lights flash once, then go black, and a huge roar signaled the Titanic’s contents plunging towards the bow, causing the front half of the ship to break off and go under. The Titanic’s stern bobbed up momentarily, and at 2.20 a.m., the ship finally disappeared beneath the frigid waters.
What or who was responsible for the scale of this catastrophe? Explanations abound, some that focus on very small details. Due to a last minute change in the ship’s officer line-up, iceberg lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee were making do without a pair of binoculars that an officer transferred off the ship in Southampton had left in a cupboard onboard, unbeknownst to any of the ship’s crew. Fleet, who survived the sinking, insisted at a subsequent inquiry that he could have identified the iceberg in time to avert disaster if he had been in possession of the binoculars.
Less than an hour before the Titanic struck the iceberg, wireless operator Cyril Evans on the Californian, located just 20 miles to the north, tried to contact operator Jack Philips on the Titanic to warn him of pack ice in the area. "Shut up, shut up, you’re jamming my signal", Philips replied. "I’m busy." The Titanic’s wireless system had broken down for several hours earlier that day, and Philips was clearing a backlog of personal messages that passengers had requested to be sent to family and friends in the USA. Nevertheless, Captain Smith had maintained the ship’s speed of 22 knots despite multiple earlier warnings of ice ahead. It has been suggested that Smith was under pressure to make headlines by arriving early in New York, but maritime historians such as Richard Howell have countered this perception, noting that Smith was simply following common procedure at the time, and not behaving recklessly.
One of the strongest explanations for the severe loss of life has been the fact that the Titanic did not carry enough lifeboats for everyone on board. Maritime regulations at the time tied lifeboat capacity to ship size, not to the number of passengers on board. This meant that the Titanic, with room for 1,178 of its 2,222 passengers, actually surpassed the Board of Trade’s requirement that it carry lifeboats for 1,060 of its passengers. Nevertheless, with lifeboats being lowered less than half full in many cases, and only 712 passengers surviving despite a two and a half hour window of opportunity, more lifeboats would not have guaranteed more survivors in the absence of better training and preparation. Many passengers were confused about where to go after the order to launch lifeboats was given; a lifeboat drill scheduled for earlier on the same clay that the Titanic struck the iceberg was cancelled by Captain Smith, in order to allow passengers to attend church.
Questions 1-6
Complete the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
[br]
选项
答案
midnight/12.00 a.m.
解析
转载请注明原文地址:http://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3346532.html
相关试题推荐
How’sthetrafficinyourcity? Oh.Atotaldisasterduringrushhoursandfest
ThechartsbelowshowtheproportionsofBritishstudentsatoneuniversityinE
Thechartsgiveinformationabouttheproportionsofboysandgirlsofasch
AdisasterofTitanicproportionsAt11.39p.m.onthee
AdisasterofTitanicproportionsAt11.39p.m.onthee
AdisasterofTitanicproportionsAt11.39p.m.onthee
AdisasterofTitanicproportionsAt11.39p.m.onthee
AdisasterofTitanicproportionsAt11.39p.m.onthee
TacomaNarrowsBridgeDisasterStrikesWhentheTacomaNarrows
TacomaNarrowsBridgeDisasterStrikesWhentheTacomaNarrows
随机试题
[originaltext]TheAmericansbelievethatanybodycanbecomePresidentofth
"Whydidyoustay?"heaskedaswewaitedforthelighttoturngreen.Ialw
[originaltext]Whatdoesthemantellthewoman?[/originaltext]A、Theexamisver
虚拟存储管理系统的基础是程序的_(请作答此空)_理论,这个理论的基本含义是指程序
以下病因引起的视神经萎缩,不属于继发性视神经萎缩的是A.球后视神经炎 B.视乳
不良贷款的处置方式包括( )。A.重组 B.现金清收 C.长期挂账 D.
将平面曲线y=x2分别绕y轴和x轴旋转一周,所得旋转曲面分别记作S1
要求检查澄清度的药物制剂是A.糖浆剂 B.洗剂 C.片剂 D.注射剂 E
人身意外伤害保险从保险人的承保能力角度看可以分为()。A.不可保意外伤害
患者女,25岁。停经3个月,阴道淋漓流血2个月,阴道前壁有胡桃大紫蓝色结节,子宫
最新回复
(
0
)