關(guān)于泰坦尼克號你不知道的10個事實

　　1. An American ship

　　一艘美國郵輪

　　Though Titanic flew the British ensign, Americans actually owned Titanic. In 1902, financier John Pierpont Morgan had purchased Britain’s Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, better known as the White Star Line, making it the premier company in his huge combine, the International Mercantile Marine Company.

　　雖然泰坦尼克號上飄揚(yáng)著英國國旗，但它卻是美國人的郵輪。1902年，金融家約翰·皮爾龐特·摩根收購了英國海運(yùn)公司(即白星公司)，合建成了首家IMM國際海運(yùn)公司。

　　2. No champagne

　　沒有香檳命名儀式

　　The classic 1958 Titanic film, "A Night To Remember," begins with a woman breaking a bottle of champagne on Titanic’s bow as she names the vessel. No such event took place when Titanic was launched at the Belfast shipyards of Harland and Wolff, Ltd. on May 31, 1911. The White Star Line did not believe in the practice and none of its vessels were christened.

　　在1958年以泰坦尼克號為主題的影片《銘記的夜晚》中，一位女士在船頭開了瓶香檳酒，并為這艘郵輪取名為“泰坦尼克號”。現(xiàn)實中，泰坦尼克號是1911年5月31日在貝爾法斯特的哈蘭德和沃爾夫船廠建成的。白星公司否認(rèn)了影片中的場景，表示旗下沒有一艘船艦舉行過這樣的命名儀式。

　　3. Neither unique nor revolutionary

　　并非獨(dú)一無二、史無前例

　　While many believe there never was another ship like Titanic, there actually were two others. The White Star Line had envisioned a weekly transatlantic service, requiring three vessels. The resulting "Olympic class" consisted of three nearly identical sister ships: Olympic, entering service in October 1910; Titanic, April 1912; and Gigantic, later renamed Britannic, planned for 1915.

　　很多人都誤以為泰坦尼克號是當(dāng)時世界上最大最豪華的郵輪，其實不然。當(dāng)時，白星公司計劃建造三艘大西洋航線郵輪。這三艘奧林匹克級的姊妹艦就是：1910年10月起航的“奧林匹克號”，1912年4月起航的“泰坦尼克號”，以及1915年的“巨人號”(即“不列顛尼克號”)。

　　Nor was Titanic "revolutionary." Nearly every aspect of her design was a repeat of Olympic, which, in turn, incorporated features tested by earlier White Star ships. Titanic was unique in just one way: During her brief life, she was the world’s largest vessel, exceeding Olympic by about 1,000 tons.

　　泰坦尼克號也絕非“史無前例”。它的整體設(shè)計幾乎完全模仿了奧林匹克號，并沿襲了白星公司以往船艦的風(fēng)格。泰坦尼克號唯一與眾不同的是：在那個年代，它是世界最大郵輪，比奧林匹克號還要重1000噸。

　　4. Never a contender

　　并非無與倫比

　　A persistent Titanic myth is that she was "out to break the transatlantic record." In September 1909, the Cunard Line’s Mauretania completed a round trip averaging more than 26 knots, a record that stood for 20 years. Titanic briefly attained a maximum speed of nearly 23 knots, traveling from Cherbourg to Queenstown.

　　人們一直以為，泰坦尼克號會“打破大西洋航行傳奇記錄”。其實1909年9月，卡納德公司的毛利塔尼亞號時速早已達(dá)到26海里，20年來無出其右。而泰坦尼克號從法國瑟堡到昆士敦最大時速也不過23海里。

　　5. Not a treasure ship

　　并非藏寶無數(shù)

　　Despite a passenger list including titans of industry, wealthy families and even a movie actress, Titanic was not filled with priceless jewels. Philadelphia’s Eleanor Widener dropped her celebrated pearl necklace, insured for $100,000, into her pocketbook before boarding her lifeboat. First-class women retrieved their checked jewelry from the purser’s office as evacuation began. A "priceless" jeweled copy of "The Rubaiyat," the Omar Khayyam book of poems, had sold at a London auction for a mere $2,000 — less than half its asking price.

　　雖然泰坦尼克號的乘客不乏工業(yè)巨亨、富家子弟、乃至電影明星，但船上并沒剩下多少無價之寶。費(fèi)城的埃莉諾·威德納已為一條珍珠項鏈投保了10萬美金;船一失事，頭等艙女士們就從事務(wù)辦公室取回了自己的珠寶。唯一“價值連城”的是奧馬·海亞姆的《魯拜集》，倫敦拍賣會上卻只賣了2000美元——連競拍價一半都不到。

　　Cargo also was ordinary. The ship’s stowage plan shows the specie room contained only "opium parcels." The rest was typical commercial shipments ranging from shoes to William Carter’s 35-horsepower Renault sports car, oak beams and an early airplane engine.

　　船上的貨物也很普通。從儲物單上看，倉庫有些鴉片，其余便是一般商品了：鞋子、威廉·卡特的35馬力雷諾跑車、橡木梁，還有老式飛機(jī)引擎。

　　6. No 300-foot gash

　　裂縫沒有300英尺大

　　If the iceberg’s damage had been continuous over a 300-foot length, as depicted in many 1912 publications, the ship would have sunk in minutes. At the British inquiry into the disaster, naval architect Edward Wilding calculated that the damaged area totaled 12 square feet, extending intermittently along the starboard side.

　　如果冰山撞下的豁口真有當(dāng)時報道的那么大(300英尺)，泰坦尼克號幾分鐘就玩完了。在英方調(diào)查下，造船工程師愛德華·威丁計算出豁口總共12平方英尺，零星分布在船舷邊上。

　　7. Locked below?

　　三等艙乘客被鎖在下面?

　　Every Titanic movie depicts third-class passengers trapped behind floor-to-ceiling gates. Careful examination of available plans of Olympic and Titanic reveals no such gates in passenger areas. U.S. immigration regulations required segregation of third class from first and second. On Titanic, waist-high gates separated classes. Stewards nearby prevented gate-jumping. Eventually, they left to help in the evacuation, leaving gates unguarded, explaining a surge of third-class passengers onto the boat deck after most lifeboats had left. One author plotted more than 20 paths from third-class areas to the boat deck.

　　幾乎每部泰坦尼克號電影都展現(xiàn)了三等艙乘客被鎖困在下面的場景。后來，人們仔細(xì)檢查了奧林匹克號和泰坦尼克號構(gòu)造，發(fā)現(xiàn)乘客區(qū)根本沒有這種隔離門。泰坦尼克號上只有齊腰高的隔離門，邊上有乘務(wù)員防止乘客隨便穿越。但大撤離時，門邊上沒人看守。救生艇騰出來后，大批三等艙乘客都涌到了甲板上。有作家甚至計算過，從三等艙到甲板，至少有20條通道吧。

　　8. One wrong turn

　　愚蠢的“左滿舵”命令

　　As Titanic’s grand staircase ascended to the boat deck, it divided into left and right halves. First-class male passengers who chose the left side were doomed; Second Officer Charles Lightoller strictly enforced the "women and children first" rule on the port side, allowing just one male passenger into a boat to help with rowing. Those who turned to the right at the top of the staircase had a chance to survive; First Officer William Murdoch enforced a policy of "women and children first, but men when there were no women."

　　泰坦尼克號一直延伸到甲板的大樓梯將船分成了左右兩部分。失事后，頭等艙男乘客只能呆在左舷等死;二副查爾斯·耐特羅嚴(yán)肅表示“婦孺優(yōu)先”，只留一名男乘客上救生艇搖船。而那些爬上右舷樓梯頂?shù)某丝蜕杏幸痪€生機(jī);可是，大副威廉·默多克強(qiáng)硬表示：“婦孺優(yōu)先，所有婦女全都上救生艇后，才有男人的份。”

　　9. More boats?

　　多一點(diǎn)救生艇?

　　Despite certifying Titanic’s capacity as 3,547 passengers and crew, the British government determined the ship needed lifeboat space for 960.

　　雖然泰坦尼克號能容納3547名乘客及船員，但英國政府規(guī)定的救生艇數(shù)量是960個。

　　Titanic actually carried boats for 1,178, exceeding requirements. Even if more boats had been installed, there would not have been time to launch them; Titanic’s last two boats floated off as the ship sank. Of the available 1,178 seats, 465 were sent away empty.

　　其實，泰坦尼克號還超出限額，配備了1178艘救生艇。但就算救生艇再多，當(dāng)時也沒有足夠時間全部用上。船沉后，還有兩只救生艇就那樣漂走了。1178只救生艇，有465只放下后完全沒用上。

　　10. Titanic’s present and future

　　泰坦尼克號的現(xiàn)狀和未來

　　Titanic lies 12,500 feet below the surface in a lightless, hostile environment. Strong undersea currents press strongly against the ship’s sides, damaging already-weakened areas. Perhaps within a generation, the ship’s upper portions largely will have disappeared. Eventually, only the inch-thick steel hull will remain.

　　現(xiàn)在，泰坦尼克號正躺在12500英尺下的海底，周圍一片黑暗、兇險無常。劇烈的海底洋流沖擊著船身，腐蝕著已然破敗的殘骸?；蛟S幾十年后，大部分現(xiàn)有殘骸都會消失殆盡，最后只剩下一點(diǎn)鋼片了吧。

　　More than 6,000 objects have been retrieved from Titanic’s debris field; no artifacts come from the ship’s interior. As decks collapse, what’s left of Titanic’s interior splendor will be sealed off forever.

　　人們從泰坦尼克號殘骸里找回了6000多件物品，但船內(nèi)的裝飾卻蕩然無存。船體坍塌的剎那，它艙內(nèi)的輝煌就已經(jīng)被永遠(yuǎn)封存了。