《新版新概念英语第三册(英音)Lesson (25)》歌词

[00:00:01] --- lesson 25 the cutty sark “

[00:00:05] --- listen to the tape then answer the question below.

[00:00:10] --- what piece of bad luck prevented the cutty sark from winning the race?

[00:00:18] one of the most famous sailing ships of the nineteenth century, the cutty sark, can still be seen at greenwich.

[00:00:26] she stands on dry land and is visited by thousands of people each year.

[00:00:32] she serves as an impressive reminder of the great ships of the past.

[00:00:38] before they were replaced by steamships, sailing vessels like the cutty sark were used to carry tea from china and wool from australia.

[00:00:49] the cutty sark was one of the fastest sailing ships that has ever been built.^“

[00:00:54] the only other ship to match her was the thermopylae.

[00:00:58] both these ships set out from shanghai on june 18th, 1872 on an exciting race to england.

[00:01:07] this race, which went on for exactly four months, was the last of its kind.

[00:01:13] it marked the end of the great tradition of ships with sails and the beginning of a new era.

[00:01:20] the first of the two ships to reach java after the race had begun was the thermopylae, but on the indian ocean, the cutty sark took the lead.

[00:01:30] it seemed certain that she would be the first ship home, but during the race she had a lot of bad luck.

[00:01:37] in august, she was struck by a very heavy storm during which her rudder was torn away.

[00:01:44] the cutty sark rolled from side to side and it became impossible to steer her.

[00:01:50] a temporary rudder was made on board from spare planks and it was fitted with great difficulty.

[00:01:56] this greatly reduced the speed of the ship,

[00:01:59] for there was a danger that if she travelled too quickly, this rudder would be torn away as well.

[00:02:05] because of this, the cutty sark lost her lead.

[00:02:10] after crossing the equator, the captain called in at a port to have a new rudder fitted,

[00:02:15] but by now the thermopylae was over five hundred miles ahead

[00:02:20] though the new rudder was fitted at tremendous speed, it was impossible for the cutty sark to win.

[00:02:26] she arrived in england a week after the thermopylae.

[00:02:30] even this was remarkable, considering that she had had so many delays.

[00:02:36] there is no doubt that if she had not lost her rudder she would have won the race easily.