The great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10th, 1912. She was carrying 1,316
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and crew of 891. Even by modern standards, the 46,000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship. At the time, however, she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built, but was regarded as
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, for she had sixteen watertight compartments. Even if two of these were flooded, she would still be able to float. The tragic sinking of this great liner will always be
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, for she went down on her first
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with heavy loss of life.
Four days after
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out, while the Titanic was sailing across the icy water of the North Atlantic, huge iceberg was suddenly spotted by a lookout. After the alarm had been given, the great ship turned sharply to avoid a direct
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. The Titanic turned just in time, narrowly missing the immense walk of ice which rose over 100 feet out of the water beside her. Suddenly, there was a slight
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sound from below, and the captain went down to see what had happened. The noise had been so faint that no one thought that the ship had been damaged. Below, the captain realized to his
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that the Titanic was sinking rapidly, for five of her sixteen watertight compartments had already been flooded! The order to
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ship was given and hundreds of people
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into the icy water. As there were not enough lifeboats for everybody, 1,500 lives were lost.
A. prepared B. passengers C. setting D. plunged
E. remembered F. collision G. abandon H. unsinkable
I. horror J. qualified K. presentation L. unbelievable
M. voyage N. beautiful O. trembling