史上今日：September 4
The Titanic is lying at a depth of 4km1985: Titanic wreck captured on film
England have
The first pictures of the wreck of the Titanic have been released 73 years
after the liner sank with the loss of 1,500 lives.
The wreck was discovered three days ago by a joint American-French
expedition lead by the explorer Dr Robert Ballard.
The ship is lying at a depth of 2.5 miles (4 km) and was filmed by an
unmanned submarine called Argo.
Enhanced images taken from the film have allowed researchers to identify
the ship's boilers sitting on the sea bed.
The research team have sent down more colour cameras, but say they have no
plans to attempt to salvage the wreck or explore its contents.
A survivor of the sinking, Eva Hart, said she was relieved they were not
planning to disturb the site.
"I feel that it's my father's grave, and the grave of 1,500 people," she
said.
Salvage expert Kendall McDonald said it would be impossible to raise the
hull from that depth.
"It couldn't withstand any kind of lifting... It's a scrap yard", he told
the BBC.
It has taken two ships, the assistance of the US Navy, a huge amount of
sophisticated equipment and eight weeks of searching to make the discovery.
The Forth Road Bridge viewed from the north side with the commemorative
plaque to mark its royal opening
1964: Forth Road Bridge opened
Artificially 1969: FilmTheTheAA The Queen has officially opened Europe's
longest suspension bridge linking Edinburgh to Perth across the River Forth.
Tens of thousands of spectators turned up to watch the royal cavalcade
slowly cross the 3,300ft (1,005m) central span of the bridge.
Soldiers of Lowland regiments from the south linked up symbolically with a
Highland brigade from the north to mark the opening of the new crossing, which
cuts more than an hour off the journey-time by road.
The Forth Road Bridge is currently the fourth longest in the world - but it
will be succeeded by the Tagus in Portugal which will be 23ft (7m) longer when
it opens in 1967.
Twenty-five Royal Navy ships fired a salute of guns and after a brief
opening speech from the Queen there was also a fly-past.
The new bridge sits beside the old cantilever rail bridge, opened in 1890
by the then Prince of Wales.
Afterwards the Queen returned across the Forth by ferry, marking the final
trip in the 800-year-old service.
At its peak, the service was running 40,000 trips a year, carrying 1.5m
people.
The four ferryboats have been run by 70 men only 30 of whom will be
re-employed on the new bridge collecting tolls.
Up to 400 men have worked on the bridge sometimes in very dangerous
conditions with winds up to 100mph. Three men lost their lives - others were
saved by the terylene safety nets suspended beneath them.
It took 39,000 tons of steel, 30,800 miles of wire in the suspension
cables, and is 163ft above the river at its highest point.
The bridge will eventually be silver-grey in colour, but work on its final
coat was suspended for the opening ceremony.
Vocabulary:
cavalcade: a procession of people traveling on horseback(队伍)
cantilever: projecting horizontal beam fixed at one end only(悬臂)
terylene: a kind of polyester fabric(涤纶)
页:
[1]