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It’s been 100 years since the “unsinkable” Titanic – dubbed the most luxurious ocean liner ever built – hit an
iceberg on 14 April 1912 and sank in just two hours and forty minutes, causing the deaths of 1,514 passengers.
On April 10, 1912, the Titanic embarked on its maiden voyage, sailing from Southampton, England, to New
York City. She had everything from a gymnasium, an indoor swimming pool, libraries, to high-class restaurants and
opulent cabins. She also had a powerful wireless telegraph provided for the convenience of passengers. As a result,
some of the wealthiest people in the world were aboard the ship. They traveled on the upper decks while poor
passengers and the crew on the decks below.
Everything started out smoothly. At 11:40pm on April 14, however, the lookout sounded the alarm and
telephoned the bridge saying "Iceberg, right ahead." The warning came too late to avoid the iceberg and the Titanic
struck it less than 40 seconds later at near top speed of about 20.5 knots. After inspecting the damage, the Titanic's
chief naval architect Thomas Andrews said to Captain Smith that the ship would certainly sink. Six of the watertight
compartments at the front of the ship's hull were breached, five of them flooding within the hour. The Titanic was
designed to stay afloat with only four compartments flooded.
Less than three hours later Titanic lay at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, nearly four kilometers down. One
hundred years later, so many of us are incredibly fascinated and intrigued by Titanic's heartbreaking disaster. Because
of the tragedy, the Titanic became perhaps the best-known ship in the world, capturing the public imagination and
inspiring popular books and movies. After the 1985 discovery of its wreckage, interest in the famed liner only
increased. Some one hundred years after its sinking, the Titanic remains an enduring legend. 【題組】27. How long did the Titanic sail before it sank?
(A) Two hours and forty minutes.
(B) Less than five days.
(C) More than a week.
(D) 1,514 days.
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