Lesson 86

As the man tried to swing the speedboat round, the steering wheel came away in his hands.
当那个男人试图让快艇掉头时，方向盘在他手里脱落了。
He waved desperately to his companion, who had been water skiing for the last fifteen minutes.
他拼命地向他的同伴挥手，他的同伴在过去的十五分钟里一直在滑水。
Both men had hardly had time to realize what was happening when they were thrown violently into the sea.
这两个人还没来得及意识到发生了什么，就突然被剧烈地抛入了大海。
The speedboat had struck a buoy, but it continued to move very quickly across the water.
快艇撞上了一个浮标，但它继续在水面上快速移动。
Both men had just begun to swim towards the shore, when they noticed with dismay that the speedboat was moving in a circle.
两个男人刚刚开始向岸边游去，这时他们沮丧地注意到那艘快艇正在打圈子。
It now came straight towards them at tremendous speed.
它现在以极快的速度直冲他们而来。
In less than a minute, it roared past them only a few feet away.
在不到一分钟的时间内，它从离他们仅几英尺远的地方咆哮而过。
After it had passed, they swam on as quickly as they could because they knew that the boat would soon return.
在它经过之后，他们尽可能快地继续游着，因为他们知道那艘船很快会回来。
They had just had enough time to swim out of danger when the boat again completed a circle.
他们刚有足够的时间游出危险区，那艘船就又绕了一圈。
On this occasion, however, it had slowed down considerably.
然而，在这种情况下，它已经大大减速了。
The petrol had nearly all been used up.
汽油几乎已经全部被用完了。
Before long, the noise dropped completely and the boat began to drift gently across the water.
不久之后，噪音完全消失了，小船开始在水面上轻轻地漂流。