Lesson 25

One of the most famous sailing ships of the nineteenth century, the Cutty Sark, can still be seen at Greenwich.
十九世纪最著名的帆船之一“卡蒂萨克”号，现在仍可在格林威治看到。
She stands on dry land and is visited by thousands of people each year.
她站在陆地上，每年有数以千计的人来参观。
She serves as an impressive reminder of the great ships of the past.
她令人印象深刻地提醒着人们那些过去伟大的船只。
Before they were replaced by steamships, sailing vessels like the Cutty Sark were used to carry tea from China and wool from Australia.
在被蒸汽船取代之前，像卡蒂萨克号这样的帆船被用来从中国运送茶叶，从澳大利亚运送羊毛。
The Cutty Sark was one of the fastest sailing ships that has ever been built.
卡蒂萨克号是曾建造过的最快帆船之一。
The only other ship to match her was the Thermopylae.
唯一能与她匹敌的其他船只就是塞莫皮莱号。
Both these ships set out from Shanghai on June 18th, 1872 on an exciting race to England.
这两艘船都于1872年6月18日从上海出发，展开了一场前往英国的激动人心的比赛。
This race, which went on for exactly four months, was the last of its kind.
这场持续了整整四个月的比赛，是同类中的最后一次。
It marked the end of the great tradition of ships with sails and the beginning of a new era.
它标志着帆船伟大传统的终结，以及一个新时代的开启。
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.
在比赛开始后，两艘船中第一艘到达爪哇岛的是塞莫皮莱号，但在印度洋上，卡蒂萨克号占据了领先地位。
It seemed certain that she would be the first ship home, but during the race she had a lot of bad luck.
似乎可以肯定她将会是第一艘回家的船，但在比赛期间，她遭遇了许多厄运。
In August, she was struck by a very heavy storm during which her rudder was torn away.
在八月，她遭遇了一场非常猛烈的风暴，在此期间她的舵被撕裂脱落。
The Cutty Sark rolled from side to side and it became impossible to steer her.
卡蒂萨克号左右剧烈摇晃，以致于无法操纵。
A temporary rudder was made on board from spare planks and it was fitted with great difficulty.
船上用备用木板临时做了一个舵，费了很大劲才把它安装好。
This greatly reduced the speed of the ship, for there was a danger that if she travelled too quickly, this rudder would be torn away as well.
这极大地降低了船速，因为存在一种危险，即如果船行驶得太快，这个舵也将会被撕裂。
Because of this, the Cutty Sark lost her lead.
正因如此，卡蒂萨克号失去了她的领先地位。
After crossing the Equator, the captain called in at a port to have a new rudder fitted, but by now the Thermopylae was over five hundred miles ahead.
在跨越赤道后，船长停靠在一个港口以安装一个新舵，但到目前为止，塞莫皮莱号已经领先了五百多英里。
Though the new rudder was fitted at tremendous speed, it was impossible for the Cutty Sark to win.
虽然新舵以极快的速度安装好了，但卡蒂萨克号已不可能获胜。
She arrived in England a week after the Thermopylae.
她比塞莫皮莱号晚一周到达英国。
Even this was remarkable, considering that she had had so many delays.
考虑到她已经遭遇了这么多延误，甚至这（一点）都是非凡的。
There is no doubt that if she had not lost her rudder she would have won the race easily.
毫无疑问，如果她当时没有失去舵，她本来可以轻而易举地赢得比赛。