首页
登录
职称英语
It’s been described as one of the greatest Victorian gothic horror stories o
It’s been described as one of the greatest Victorian gothic horror stories o
游客
2024-12-29
12
管理
问题
It’s been described as one of the greatest Victorian gothic horror stories of all time. Two ships with 129 men on board and fitted with the latest technology, vanish with barely a trace left behind. One hundred and sixty years of searching—one attempt as recent as last month—have failed to find "HMS Erebus" and her sister ship, the somewhat appropriately named "HMS Terror"—the two vessels lost in the Arctic.
In 1845 British Royal Navy captain Sir John Franklin set out with some of the finest sailors of the time on a mission to map the Northwest Passage, Franklin’s expedition wasn’t the first to the region, but it is the most infamous.
"Why did this fail when all the others didn’t," asks William Battersby. "There was something jinxed about the expedition." Battersby is one of many to be transfixed by the mystery of Franklin’s last voyage. "We love adventure stories, of derring-do, win against all odds, but in this story they don’t and we still don’t know why."
The environment of the Northwest Passage is unforgiving. The landscape is vast and deserted, comparable only to Jupiter’s moons. The winters are unrelenting and bleak. Franklin’s men were faced with particularly brutally harsh temperatures and blizzards when they reached the region. Despite the ships being reinforced with steel and holding three years’ worth or provisions, it appears the environment got the better of the crew. "Man proposes, God disposes," says Bob Headland from the Scott Polar Research Institute, who regularly visits the region. "And the ice gods are a fickle lot."
The disappearance of the Erebus and the Terror has prompted the longest search mission in history: Although there have been numerous attempts to find the ships, there has been no sign of them. Ryan Harris from Parks Canada led the most recent mission to try to locate the shipwrecks. Last month, his crews spent hours scouring the ocean floor, searching waters up to 50 meters deep.
"It’s an incredible story. It’s got shipwrecks, the remoteness of the Arctic, putting the might of English industrialism against Mother Nature," says Harris.
Since 1997 Parks Canada has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to locate the "Erebus" and "Terror." The tale of the Franklin expedition has enthralled Canadians—the wreckage has the dubious honor of being the only national historic site in Canada that hasn’t been found yet.
"Once Franklin received his orders that sealed his fate," Harris explains. "In directing them south-west into ultimately the Victoria Strait it took them to the ice choke point. Once they fell into the clutch of that area, their fate was sealed. There’s not much wildlife there and it is isolated."
The last known account of the "Erebus" and "Terror" came in 1848. A rock cairn with a message on it indicated that the harsh conditions had already claimed their first lives, with only 105 men left alive. Franklin was one of the first casualties of his own expedition. That same year the men abandoned their ships, archaeologists believing they began making their way south in a desperate bid to find food. However the harsh environment supported little, and with few animals to hunt and over 100 men to feed, the chance of survival was low. It’s been suggested that the men may have resorted to cannibalism in their last-ditch efforts to survive.
"There were far too many men to live off the environment. What man plans and what nature allows are two different things," says Headland.
Archaeologists have relied heavily upon oral Inuit history to try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Based on their accounts it is thought some of the men lived for another three or four years after abandoning ship. But questions remain over exactly what happened to them. In 160 years only two skeletons and three perfectly preserved bodies have been uncovered. It is likely diseases such as scurvy claimed many lives but Battersby believes it may have been the ships themselves that killed the sailors. His theory is that the men succumbed to lead poisoning derived from the internal pipe system used to melt ice into drinking water. It’s hoped the discovery of the ships will provide answers.
"There’s a charm to the story," acknowledges Harris. "By solving a mystery it takes the allure away." But having said that, Harris is determined the search will go on until the "Erebus" and the "Terror" are found. Parks Canada insists that their searches have not been futile and they’ll continue to gather information to help with future efforts. "I hope we’re the last," says Harris.
But after 160 years it’s possible that this tale may be frozen in time forever. "These are the last of the ghost ships," says Battersby. "It is the world’s biggest ghost story."
From CNN, September 20, 2011 [br] Battersby believes it is______that may have been the fatal cause.
选项
A、lead poisoning
B、melt ice
C、drinking water
D、scurvy
答案
A
解析
本题为细节题。根据文章第十一段It is likely diseases such as scurvy claimed many lives but Battersy believes it may have been the ships themselves that killed the sailors.可得到以下信息:第一,scurvy是一种疾病;第二,Battersby不认为是疾病夺走了船员们的生命,而是轮船本身。由此可判断选项D错误。根据Battersby的理论the men succumbed to lead poisoning derived from the internal pipe system used to melt ice into drinking water可以得知轮船内部有管道系统可以把冰融化转化成饮用水,而这种系统引起了船员们铅中毒,所以判断选项A正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3888919.html
相关试题推荐
It’sbeendescribedasoneofthegreatestVictoriangothichorrorstorieso
GeorgeBernardShawisregardedasthegreatestEnglish______inthe20thcentury
______doesNOTbelongtothemajorpoetsoftheVictorianAge.A、PercyByssheShe
Whichofthefollowingisbelievedtobeaprehistoricsurvivalanddescribedas
The1920sintheUnitedStateswasdescribedasaperiodof______.A、development
Winesburg,Ohioisacollectionof23storiesby______.A、TheodoreDreiserB、Sher
MostofOHenry’sstoriesareaboutthelifeofthepoorin______.A、WashingtonB、
St.Petersburg,theverynamebringstomindsomeofRussia’sgreatestpoets
St.Petersburg,theverynamebringstomindsomeofRussia’sgreatestpoets
St.Petersburg,theverynamebringstomindsomeofRussia’sgreatestpoets
随机试题
Forthepastseveraldecades,itseemsthere’sbeenageneralconsensusonh
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions1-13whicharebasedonReadingP
MyViewonPostgraduateCraze1.目前考研正形成热潮2.分析这股热潮产生的原因3.我的看法
中国有句古话“劳心者治人,劳力者治于人”。这句话反映了中国传统文化中的等级划分,也直接影响到现代人的职业选择。从事脑力劳动的“白领”成为让人羡慕的对象,
基础代谢率的正常值波动的范围是()。A.±10% B.±15% C.±20
简述现代企业人力资源管理各个历史发展阶段的特点。
2011年2月,某企业董事长刘某因涉嫌经济犯罪被警方逮捕,该企业临时更换董事长,
借记卡与信用卡功能上最显著的区别是()。A.信用卡的卡号是凸印的,而借记卡的卡
基础心理学是研究()。 (A)正常成人心理现象的心理学基础学科 (B
银行承兑汇票的承兑银行,应当按照票面金额向出票人收取()的手续费。A:千分之一
最新回复
(
0
)