評(píng)論
打印
Without the high quality of its hull,
毫無疑問，如果不是船身質(zhì)地優(yōu)良，特別堅(jiān)固，
the Moravian would surely have split open from this collision and gone down together with those 237 passengers it was bringing back from Canada.
摩拉維安號(hào)被撞以后，一定要把它從加拿大載來的二百三十六名乘客一齊帶到海底去。
This accident happened around five o'clock in the morning, just as day was beginning to break.
事故發(fā)生在早晨五點(diǎn)左右天剛破曉的時(shí)候。
The officers on watch rushed to the craft's stern. They examined the ocean with the most scrupulous care.
船上值班的海員們立即跑到船的后部；他們十分細(xì)心地觀察海面。
They saw nothing except a strong eddy breaking three cable lengths out, as if those sheets of water had been violently churned.
除了有個(gè)六百多米寬的大漩渦—好像水面受過猛烈的沖擊—以外，他們什么也沒有看見，只把事故發(fā)生的地點(diǎn)確切地記了下來。
The site's exact bearings were taken, and the Moravian continued on course apparently undamaged.
摩拉維安號(hào)繼續(xù)航行，似乎并沒有受到什么損傷。
Had it run afoul of an underwater rock or the wreckage of some enormous derelict ship? They were unable to say.
它是撞上了暗礁呢，還是撞上了一只沉沒的破船？
But when they examined its undersides in the service yard, they discovered that part of its keel had been smashed.
當(dāng)時(shí)沒有法子知道。后來到船塢檢查了船底，才發(fā)現(xiàn)一部分龍骨折斷了。
This occurrence, extremely serious in itself, might perhaps have been forgotten like so many others,
這事實(shí)本身是十分嚴(yán)重的，
if three weeks later it hadn't been reenacted under identical conditions.
可是，如果不是過了三個(gè)星期后，在相同的情況下又發(fā)生了相同的事件，
Only, thanks to the nationality of the ship victimized by this new ramming, and thanks to the reputation of the company to which this ship belonged,
它很可能跟許多其他的事件一樣很快被人忘掉了。接著又發(fā)生的那一次撞船的事件，單單由于受害船的國籍和它所屬公司的聲望，
the event caused an immense uproar.
就足以引起十分廣泛的反響。
