Gushed out 涌出 escape v.逃离
chunks of 厚块 scampered v.奔跑
radio operator n.电报员 Stepped out 走出去
cabin n.船舱
第三章正文部分
Jack stared at the name of the ship.
“You know what happened to the Titanic , don’t you?” he said softly.
Annie nodded.
“It hit an iceberg and sank,” she said. “But I don’t get it. I thought this ship was unsinkable.”
“That’s what people thought when the Titanic was built,” said Jack. “But they were wrong.”
Suddenly, steam gushed out of the ship’s smokestacks. Then the engines cut off. The Titanic stopped moving.
“We’d better go home,” said Jack. “There’s nothing we can do here. We’ll have to find another lost ship—a safer one.”
“No! We have to stay and help,” said Annie. “We can escape in the tree house anytime we want.”
“But what can we do?” said Jack. “This ship’s going to sink no matter what. We can’t change history. And we can’t take anyone into our time with us.”
“Yeah, but maybe there’s some way we can help,” said Annie.
“How?” said Jack.
“I don’t know,” said Annie. “Let’s look around.” Holding Teddy, she disappeared down a small stairway.
Jack followed her to a lower level.
Annie put Teddy down on the deck. The dog sniffed the chunks of ice that had fallen off the iceberg.
The ship seemed strangely empty.
“Where is everyone?” Annie asked.
“Maybe they’re still asleep,” said Jack. “They probably don’t even know the ship hit something.”
Annie and Jack started toward the front of the Titanic .
“Come on, Teddy,” said Annie.
The little dog scampered after them.
They passed the round windows of different rooms on the ship. Jack looked through them as they went by.
He saw exercise bikes and rowing machines in one room. In another, there were palm trees, bamboo chairs, and tables. Next, they passed a library filled with books.
“This ship is like a town,” said Jack.
Near the end of the deck, they peeked through another round window. Inside a little room, a man was wearing earphones.
Jack heard a clicking noise as the man tapped a lever on a black box.
“What’s he doing?” whispered Annie.
Jack shrugged.
Another man stood nearby. He had a white beard and wore a fancy uniform.
“Send the international call for help,” he ordered the man with headphones. “Tell all ships close by to come at once. We’re sinking.”
“Yes, Captain,” said the man.
“Great, they’re calling for help!” Annie whispered.
Jack shook his head. “I don’t think help will come,” he said.
He shined the flashlight on the book and found a picture of the radio operator.
He read quietly to Annie:
After the Titanic hit the iceberg at 11:40 P.M., the ship’s radio operator sent out an SOS. An SOS is the international distress signal in Morse code. Unfortunately, the only ship near the Titanic had turned off its radio for the night. All the other ships who received the message were too far away to help. When the Titanic sank around 2:20 A.M., she was all alone.
“That’s terrible,” said Annie.
“I wonder what time it is now,” said Jack.
“I don’t know,” said Annie.
Jack pulled out his notebook and wrote:
“He’s leaving,” whispered Annie.
“Hide!” whispered Jack.
He and Annie moved quickly into the shadows.
The captain stepped out onto the deck.
“Tell the men to start loading the lifeboats now,” the captain ordered a deck hand.
“Yes, Captain!” the man answered.
The captain and the deck hand left. Annie turned to Jack.
“At least that’s good,” she whispered. “Everyone can get into the lifeboats.”
“I don’t think it’s good enough,” said Jack. He read from the book again:
On the Titanic , there were 20 lifeboats. To save all the passengers, the ship needed twice as many. But with all the confusion on board, a number of the lifeboats were not even full when they left the ship. Many third-class passengers did not have a chance to get into any of the lifeboats because they were on the lower decks and didn’t know where to go.
Jack wrote in his notebook:
“Hey, I know what we can do to help,” said Annie.
“What?” asked Jack.
“We can help someone find the lifeboats,” she said.
“You’re right!” said Jack. “With our book, we can find our way to a lower deck.”
He turned the page to a map of the ship. He and Annie studied it.
“We’ll start at the grand stairway,” said Jack. He traced a path with his finger. “Then we’ll go down to the third-class cabins this way.”
“Good plan!” said Annie.
Jack looked back through the door. The radio operator was still tapping out his message—over and over and over.
“SOS,” whispered Jack.
He took a deep breath.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”
中文对照
杰克凝视着船上的名字。
"你知道泰坦尼克号发生了什么事吗？"他轻声说道。
安妮点了点头。
"它撞上了冰山，沉没了。"她说道。"但我不明白。我以为这艘船是不会沉的。"
"当泰坦尼克号建造时，人们就是这么认为的。"杰克说道。"但他们错了。"
突然间，蒸汽从船的烟囱喷出来。然后引擎停止了。泰坦尼克号停止了航行。
"我们最好回家。"杰克说道。"在这里我们无能为力。我们必须找到另一艘船——一艘更安全的船。"
"不！我们必须留下来帮忙。"安妮说道。"我们可以随时逃到树屋里。"
"但我们能做什么呢？"杰克说道。"无论如何，这艘船都会沉下去。我们无法改变历史。我们也不能把任何人带到我们的时代去。"
"是的，但也许我们可以有办法帮忙。"安妮说道。
"怎么做？"杰克问道。
"我不知道。让我们四处看看。"安妮抱着泰迪，消失在一个小楼梯中。
杰克跟着她走到下一层。
安妮把泰迪放在甲板上。小狗嗅着从冰山上掉下来的冰块。
船似乎异常空荡。
"大家都去哪了？"安妮问道。
"也许他们还在睡觉。"杰克说道。"他们可能都不知道船撞到了什么东西。"
安妮和杰克朝泰坦尼克号的前方走去。
"来吧，泰迪。"安妮说道。
小狗在他们后面跳来跳去。
他们经过船上不同房间的圆窗户。杰克在经过时透过窗户往里面看。
他看到一个房间里有健身车和划船机。另一个房间里有棕榈树、竹椅和桌子。接下来，他们经过了一个满是书籍的图书馆。
"这艘船就像一个小镇。"杰克说道。
在甲板的尽头附近，他们透过另一个圆窗户窥视进去。在一个小房间里，一个男人戴着耳机。
当男人在一个黑盒子上的杆上轻拍时，杰克听到了一阵咔嗒声。
"他在做什么？"安妮低声问道。
杰克耸了耸肩。
另一个男人站在附近。他长着一把白胡子，穿着一身华丽的制服。
"发出求救的国际呼叫，"他命令戴着耳机的男人说道。"告诉附近的船只立即前来。我们正在沉没。"
"是的，船长。"那个人说道。
"太好了，他们在呼救！"安妮低声说道。
杰克摇了摇头。"我不认为会有帮助到来。"他说道。
他用手电筒照在书上，找到了一个无线电操作员的照片。
他轻声对安妮读道：
在晚上11点40分，泰坦尼克号撞上冰山后，船上的无线电操作员发出了SOS信号。SOS是摩斯密码的国际紧急信号。不幸的是，附近唯一的一艘船已经关闭了无线电。接收到求救信息的其他船只离得太远，无法提供帮助。当泰坦尼克号在凌晨2点20分左右沉没时，她是孤身一人的。
"太可怕了。"安妮说道。
"我想知道现在是几点了。"杰克说道。
"我不知道。"安妮说道。
杰克拿出笔记本，写道：
"他走了。"安妮低声说道。
"躲起来！"杰克低声说道。
他们迅速躲进了阴影中。
船长走出甲板。
"告诉人们立即开始装载救生艇，"船长对一个甲板工说道。
"是，船长！"那个人回答道。
船长和甲板工离开了。安妮转向杰克。
"至少还好，"她低声说道。"每个人都可以进入救生艇。"
"我觉得这还不够好。"杰克说道。他再次从书上读起：
泰坦尼克号上有20艘救生艇。为了拯救所有乘客，船需要两倍的数量。但由于船上的混乱，一些救生艇在离开船时甚至没有装满。许多三等舱的乘客没有机会进入任何一艘救生艇，因为他们在较低的甲板上，不知道该去哪里。
杰克在笔记本上写道：
"嘿，我知道我们可以怎么帮助。"安妮说道。
"什么？"杰克问道。
"我们可以帮助某个人找到救生艇。"她说道。
"你说得对！"杰克说道。"有了我们的书，我们可以找到通往下层甲板的路。"
他翻到了一张船的地图。他和安妮仔细研究着。
"我们从大楼梯开始。"杰克用手指划了一个路径。"然后我们沿着这条路走到三等舱。"
"好计划！"安妮说道。
杰克回头看了看门口。无线电操作员还在不停地发送他的信息——一次又一次地。
"SOS。"杰克低声说道。
他深吸了一口气。
"好吧，"他说道。"我们走吧。"