陳蕙雅思教材 - 雅思閱讀精選 (Treasure in Sunken Ships)

Treasure in Sunken Ships

Of the tens of thousandsof ships on the ocean bottom, only a handful, less

than 1 percent, containnegotiable treasure, such as gold andjewels. Most

give us a differentpriceless treasure

-- history. A sunken shiplies in    trust, preserved in the airless

environment of the seaand those in deep water are especially well

protected. No           dry land sites anywhere -- exceptperhaps Egyptian tombs --

are in a better state ofpreservation  than a  vessel     deepin the ocean. A

sunken ship, therefore,can be a rare window through which a moment in time

is glimpsed.

This is not to imply thatsunken ships are always found intact. Most ships

break up on the way down,hit the bottom at about 100 miles per hour, and

become a chaotic,confusing jumble. I recall the chagrin of a novice diver

who,   after surfacing from an underwater tour of a400-foot ship, asked his

diving buddy, "Wherewas the wreck?" It          takesexperience to actually know a

sunken ship  when one sees it.           But  no matter what its condition on  the

way down, a shipdeteriorates much more slowly as it sinks deeper into    

protective layers of sandand mud. Ancient vessels have been found in

remarkably goodcondition. In 1977 a group of marine archaeologists

excavating a 900-year-oldwreck recovered engraved glassware. Greek coins,

bronze kettles,         and amazingly, Greek jars containingseeds, almonds, and

lentils -- even a platewith chicken bones. 沉船中的寶藏

在數以萬計的海底沉船中，只有極少數，不到百分之一的沉船上有可流 通的財富，如黃金和珠寶。  多數沉船提供給我們的是另一種無價的財富--歷史。  

沉船被海 洋中沒有空氣的環境保管起來，躺在深水中的船隻被保存得尤其完好。  大概除了埃及金字 塔外，陸地上沒有哪些遺跡比深海沉船保存得更完好了。  

因此，每一隻沉船便成為我們探 視歷史的一扇難得的窗戶。 但這並不是說沉船被發現時都完好無損。 大多數船隻在下沉過 程中就已破碎，並以每小時 100

英里的速度撞擊海底，因此成為亂糟糟的一團。  我至今仍 記得一位潛水新手造訪一艘 400 英尺長的海底沉船後浮出水面時的懊喪神情。他問他的潛水

夥伴："沉船在哪兒?"  看到沉船時能知道這是一隻沉船是需要經驗的。  但不管船在下沉時

狀況如何，當它下沉到海底具有保護作用的泥沙層後，船體的朽爛速度比在陸地上要慢得多。 人們曾在海底發現過保存異常完好的古船。  1977

年，一群海洋考古學家們在發掘一只有 900 年歷史的沉船時，找到了雕花玻璃器皿、希臘硬幣、青銅水壺，並令人吃驚地發現一些盛有

種子、杏仁和扁豆等東西的希臘罐子，甚至找到一個盛有雞骨的盤子。