L10 The loss of the Titanic

Summary:

People will always remember the great passenger liner, Titanic, which was built as the largest ship and supposedly unsinkable. Even with sixteen watertight compartments, the ship went down on her maiden voyage in April 1912 with great loss of life. Just four days after setting sail, the Titanic collided with a huge iceberg. Unfortunately, this led to the damage of the boat--five of the sixteen watertight compartments had been flooded. The captain ordered to abandon the ship and hundreds of people tried to escape by jumping into the icy water. As there were not enough lifeboats available, the sunk Titanic took 1,500 lives.

Words & Expressions:

*colossal /$kəˈlɑːsəl-/, used to emphasize that something is extremely large. (giant/gigantic/stupendous)

--There has been a colossal waster of public money.

--It was a colossal disappointment.

*watertight: a.a watertight compartment/container/roof/door etc. does not allow water to get in or out (airtight)//b. an argument, plan etc. that is watertight is made very carefully so that people cannot find any mistake in it.

--a watertight compartment

--His alibi is watertight.

*narrowly, a.by only a small amount // b. in a limited way (OPP:broadly)

--The results narrowly missed analysts' high expectations.

--The law is being interpreted too narrowly.

*given, prep.=considering, taking something into account ( given that)//n.a basic fact that you accept as being true

--Given the circumstances, you’ve done really well.

--She will be late at least 10 minutes -- that is a given.

*iceberg/the tip of an/the iceberg 

--The problems that you see here now are just the tip of the iceberg. There are numerous disasters waiting to happen.

*even if= even though

even if一般引导的是把握不大或者假设的事；而even though引出的是事实

--Even if we achieve great success in our work, we should not be proud.

--Even though she was late, she was not criticized by the teacher.

Pronunciation:

modern /ˈmɑːdərn/

colossal /$kəˈlɑːsəl/

horror /ˈhɔːrərˈhɑː-/

faint /feɪnt/