时差N小时 泰坦尼克号为何会撞上冰川?(上)（在线收听）

Everyone knows the story of the Titanic, the great ocean liner that struck an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the Atlantic.

大家都知道泰坦尼克号的故事，这艘豪华巨轮因撞上冰山，最后沉入了大西洋。

Less widely known is the iceberg's story: where did it come from, and how did it get in the way of the ship?

但很少有人知晓那座冰山的故事：它从哪儿来？它怎么会出现在泰坦尼克号的航线上？

Although the vast majority of icebergs come from the Antarctic region, icebergs found in the North Atlantic,

尽管绝大多数的冰山都来自南极地区，但在北大西洋发现的冰山，

including the one that sank the Titanic, come mostly from the coast of Greenland.

包括撞沉泰坦尼克号的那座冰山，大部分来自于格陵兰岛海岸。

Thousands of years of snowfall on the Greenland ice cap causes the snow to compact and form dense ice sheets and glaciers.

格陵兰岛上的千年积雪导致冰雪不断压缩，形成了厚厚的冰层和冰川。

The weight of the glaciers and sheets forces them to flow down towards the coast where, at the water's edge,

冰川和冰层的重量迫使它们向海岸处漂移，

warm waves and spring weather weaken the ice, causing pieces to break off and enter the sea as icebergs.

而海岸周围的暖流加上春季导致冰川解体形成冰山，最后流向海洋。