2018年06月四级第2套仔细阅读 Passage 2 原文翻译及答案解析

You probably know about the Titanic, but it was actually just one of three state-of-the-art (先进的) ocean ships back in the day. The Olympic class ships were built by the Harland & Wolff ship makers in Northern Ireland for the White Star Line company. The Olympic class included the Olympic, the Britannic and the Titanic. What you may not know is that the Titanic wasn't even the flagship of this class. All in all, the Olympic class ships were marvels of sea engineering, but they seemed cursed to suffer disastrous fates.

你可能知道泰坦尼克号，但实际上它只是当时三艘最先进的远洋船只之一。奥林匹克级船只由北爱尔兰的哈兰德与沃尔夫造船厂为白星航运公司建造。奥林匹克级包括奥林匹克号、不列颠尼克号和泰坦尼克号。你可能不知道的是，泰坦尼克号甚至不是这一级别的旗舰。总的来说，奥林匹克级船只堪称海洋工程的奇迹，但它们似乎注定要遭受灾难性的命运。

The Olympic launched first in 1910, followed by the Titanic in 1911, and lastly the Britannic in 1914. The ships had nine decks, and White Star Line decided to focus on making them the most luxurious ships on the water.

奥林匹克号于1910年首先下水，随后是泰坦尼克号于1911年，最后是不列颠尼克号于1914年。这些船有九层甲板，白星航运公司决定专注于将它们打造成水上最豪华的船只。

Stretching 269.13 meters, the Olympic class ships were wonders of naval technology, and everyone thought that they would continue to be so for quite some time. However, all suffered terrible accidents on the open seas. The Olympic got wrecked before the Titanic did, but it was the only one to survive and maintain a successful career of 24 years. The Titanic was the first to sink after famously hitting a huge iceberg in 1912. Following this disaster, the Britannic hit a naval mine in 1916 and subsequently sank as well.

奥林匹克级船只长达269.13米，是海军技术的奇迹，大家都认为它们会继续辉煌相当长一段时间。然而，所有这些船只都在公海上遭遇了可怕的事故。奥林匹克号在泰坦尼克号之前就遭遇了损毁，但它是唯一一艘幸存并成功运营了24年的船。泰坦尼克号于1912年因撞上一座巨大冰山而闻名，成为第一艘沉没的船。在这场灾难之后，不列颠尼克号于1916年触雷并随后也沉没了。

Each ship was coal-powered by several boilers constantly kept running by exhausted crews below deck. Most recognizable of the ship designs are the ship's smoke stacks, but the fourth stack was actually just artistic in nature and served no functional purpose. While two of these ships sank, they were all designed with double hulls (船体) believed to make them "unsinkable", perhaps a mistaken idea that led to the Titanic's and the Britannic's tragic end.

每艘船都由几台锅炉提供动力，锅炉由下层甲板上疲惫不堪的船员们不断维持运行。船的设计中最易识别的是船的烟囱，但第四个烟囱实际上只是艺术性的，没有功能性用途。虽然其中两艘船沉没了，但它们都被设计为双层船体，被认为可以使它们“永不沉没”，或许正是这一错误观念导致了泰坦尼克号和不列颠尼克号的悲剧结局。

The Olympic suffered two crashes with other ships and went on to serve as a hospital ship and troop transport in World War I. Eventually, she was taken out of service in 1935, ending the era of the luxurious Olympic class ocean liners.

奥林匹克号曾与其他船只发生过两次碰撞，并在一战期间作为医院船和部队运输船服役。最终，她于1935年退役，结束了奥林匹克级豪华远洋班轮的时代。