【趣谈英语】三只在泰坦尼克上幸存的狗-Three Dogs Survived the Titanic

Pre-Listening Vocabulary

 

ill-fated: doomed¹; unlucky

evacuate²: to leave due to danger

capacity: the ability to safely hold a certain amount of people

undetected: not noticed

kennel³: a confined place where animals are held

disembark: to get off a ship or plane

Three Dogs Survived The Titanic⁴

It is a well-known fact that there weren’t enough lifeboats for the passengers on the ill-fated Titanic. But did you know that three dogs were among the survivors⁵? Two Pomeranians and one Pekingese dog evacuated⁶ safely onto the lifeboats. Some people would call this a crime, since over 1500 humans didn’t make it onto a lifeboat. The reality is that many of the lifeboats were not filled to capacity. Lifeboat 1 carried 12 people though it had a capacity for 40. In addition, these dogs were so tiny that they didn’t take up any space and probably went undetected. About nine other dogs went down with the ship. These dogs were in the ship’s kennel. The captain’s dog normally sailed with him, but his daughter had taken the animal off the ship before it set sail. There is also a rumour⁷ that a cat and her kittens disembarked at Southampton before the Titanic continued its journey towards New York.

1 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

2 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

3 kennel   

n.狗舍，狗窝

参考例句：

• Sporting dogs should be kept out of doors in a kennel.猎狗应该养在户外的狗窝中。
• Rescued dogs are housed in a standard kennel block.获救的狗被装在一个标准的犬舍里。

4 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。

5 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

6 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

7 rumour   

n.谣言，谣传，传闻

参考例句：

• I should like to know who put that rumour about.我想知道是谁散布了那谣言。
• There has been a rumour mill on him for years.几年来，一直有谣言产生，对他进行中伤。