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Text 7.2. Nobody had believed it was possible.
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Exercise 7.2.1. What do these words mean? Before reading the text, can you anticipate what “Nobody had believed…” is about?
iceberg
lifeboat
to sink
passenger
survivor
tragedy
loss
to de in danger
officer
drill
warning
speed
direction
Exercise 7.2.2. Read and translate the text.
In 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg on its first trip across the Atlantic, and it sank four hours later. At that time, the Titanic was the largest ship that had ever traveled on the sea. It was carrying 3307 people, but it had taken on lifeboats for only 1178 people.
When the passengers tried to leave the ship, only 651 of them were able to get into lifeboats.
The Carpathia was 58 miles away when the Titanic called on its radio for help. It arrived two hours after the great ship had gone down, and it saved 705 people.
Some of the survivors had been in the icy water for hours when they were saved.
Most of the passengers hadn’t lived that long; 1502 people had lost their lives. Through the whole tragedy, the Californian was only ten miles away. Its officers were close enough to the Titanic, but they didn’t understand the situation.
They never received the Titanic’s call for help, and they didn’t come to rescue until too late.
Why was there such a great loss of life? Why were there so few survivors?
Why didn’t the California come to help?
First of all, nobody had prepared for such a tragedy. Nobody had believed that the Titanic could sink. The steamship company had thought that its ship would be completely safe in all situations. They had followed an old rule for the number of lifeboats, so they’d supplied lifeboats for only half the people. The passengers had not yet received their lifeboat numbers, nor had they practiced lifeboat drill before the accident. Many of them had not even dressed warmly, for the ship had hit the iceberg late at night, and they didn’t believe they were in danger.
The ship had already received six ice warnings on its radio when it struck the iceberg. Nevertheless, it had not changed its direction or its speed. It was impossible to change direction quickly enough when the iceberg came in sight. When the Titanic hit the iceberg, the radio officer on the Californian had just gone to bed. He’d tried to warn the officers on the Titanic about the ice before he’d gone to bed, but the officers hadn’t listened.
After this accident, ocean travels changed. Now there are always enough
lifeboats for everybody. Ships don’t go so far north in winter, and they watch carefully for ice. Radio officers work 24 hours a day. A tragedy like the sinking of the Titanic should never happen again.
Exercise 7.2.3. Answer each question in the past perfect tense.
Example.
Did the Titanic cross the Atlantic in 1913?
No, it had already sunk in 1913.
1. Did the Titanic have enough lifeboats for its passengers?
2. Did the people on the Carpathia see the Titanic when they picked up the
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survivors?
3. Why were the survivors so cold?
4. Why didn’t the Carpathia pick up more passengers when it arrived?
5. Why hadn’t the steamship company prepared for the tragedy?
6. Why were there so few lifeboats?
7. Why didn’t the passengers know where to go?
8. How did the officers know there was ice on the sea?
9. Was the Titanic traveling carefully
10. Did the radio officer on the California hear the call for help?
Exercise 7.2.4. Read each sentence. Tell what happened first and what happened next.
1. Only 651 people had gotten into lifeboats when the Titanic sank.
First 651 people got into the lifeboats.
Then the Titanic sank.
2. The Titanic had already gone down when the Carpathia arrived.
3. Some passengers had been in the icy water for hours when they were saved.
4. When the Carpathia arrived, about 1500 people had already lost their lives.
5. The passengers had not practiced lifeboat drill when the accident happened.
6. When it hit the iceberg, the ship had already received six ice warnings.
7. The radio officer had just gone to bed when the accident happened.
Exercise 7.2.5. Check your memory. Say as much as you can about the tragedy of Titanic.
Text 7.3. Read and translate the text paying attention to the Past Perfect Tense.
Mary Williams was a clever young lady. She lived alone and had a very
important business job in a big company. She worked very hard in it. She was never absent, she always arrived at her office early and left late, and she often took reports home with her to read. At weekends she seldom went anywhere, and she was always working then too.
Jill Thomas was a friend of Mary’s. In fact, she was Mary’s best friend. They had gone to the same school and both of them were clever women, but Jill was married, and she didn’t want to get a job. “I’m quite happy at home with Len,” she always said. “I don’t want to be too busy to have fun.”
Jill and Len liked walking very much, and nearly every week-end they went to the mountains and walked there. They also liked dancing very much, and they often went out in the evening and danced till the early hours of the next morning. And when they had their holidays, they climbed all the mountains one by one and swam and sailed on a lake and danced nearly all the time.
One year Jill said to Mary, “Would you like to have a holiday with us this
year, Mary?” Mary was very happy, so Jill and Mary and Len had two weeks together. Mary enjoyed her holiday, but she was very tired after they had climbed all the mountains and swum every day and danced every night.
The next summer, Jill offered to take Mary on their holiday again.
“Thank you very much,” answered Mary, “but I’m going to be quite honest with you: I’m sorry that I can’t come, because I’ve worked a lot this year and I’m tired. But I don’t need a holiday: I need a rest!”
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