[00:00.32]Lesson 25
[00:02.35]The Cutty Sark
[00:09.48]What piece of bad luck prevented the Cutty Sark from winning the race?
[00:16.14]One of the most famous sailing ships of the nineteenth century, the Cutty Sark, can still be seen at Greenwich.
[00:24.39]She stands on dry land and is visited by thousands of people each year.
[00:30.28]She serves as an impressive reminder of the great ships of the past.
[00:36.09]Before they were replaced by steamships,
[00:39.07]sailing vessels like the Cutty Sark were used to carry tea from China and wool from Australia.
[00:47.25]The Cutty Sark was one of the fastest sailing ships that has ever been built.
[00:53.22]The only other ship to match her was the Thermopylae.
[00:58.15]Both these ships set out from Shanghai on June 18th, 1872 on an exciting race to England.
[01:07.82]This race, which went on for exactly four months, was the last of its kind.
[01:14.61]It marked the end of the great tradition of ships with sails and the beginning of a new era.
[01:22.51]The first of the two ships to reach Java after the race had begun was the Thermopylae,
[01:29.60]but on the Indian Ocean, the Cutty Sark took the lead.
[01:33.88]It seemed certain that she would be the first ship home,
[01:37.67]but during the race she had a lot of bad luck.
[01:41.86]In August, she was struck by a very heavy storm during which her rudder was torn away.
[01:49.43]The Cutty Sark rolled from side to side and it became impossible to steer her.
[01:55.93]A temporary rudder was made on board from spare planks and it was fitted with great difficulty.
[02:03.64]This greatly reduced the speed of the ship, for there was a danger that if she travelled too quickly,
[02:10.86]this rudder would be torn away as well.
[02:14.60]Because of this, the Cutty Sark lost her lead.
[02:18.74]After crossing the Equator, the captain called in at a port to have a new rudder fitted,
[02:25.65]but by now the Thermopylae was over five hundred miles ahead.
[02:30.98]Though the new rudder was fitted at tremendous speed, it was impossible for the Cutty Sark to win.
[02:39.18]She arrived in England a week after the Thermopylae.
[02:43.39]Even this was remarkable, considering that she had had so many delays.
[02:49.29]There is no doubt that if she had not lost her rudder she would have won the race easily.
人们在格林威治仍可看到19世纪最有名的帆船之一“卡蒂萨克”号。它停在陆地上，每年接待成千上万的参观者。它给人们留下深刻的印象，使人们回忆起历史上的巨型帆船，在蒸汽船取代帆船之前。“卡蒂萨克”号之类的帆船被用来从中国运回茶叶，从澳大利亚运回羊毛。“卡蒂萨克”号是帆船制造史上建造的最快的一艘帆船。唯一可以与之一比高低的是“塞姆皮雷”号帆船。两船于1872年6月18日同时从上海启航驶往英国，途中展开了一场激烈的比赛。这场比赛持续了整整4个月，是这类比赛中的最后一次，它标志着帆船伟大传统的结束与一个新纪元的开始。
比赛开始后，“赛姆皮雷”号率先抵达爪哇岛。但在印度洋上，“卡萨萨克”号驶到了前面。看来，它首先返抵英国是确信无疑的了，但它却在比赛中连遭厄运。8月份“卡蒂萨克”号遭到一场特大风暴的袭击，失去了一只舵。船身左右摇晃，无法操纵。船员用备用的木板在船上赶制了一只应急用的舵，并克服重重困难将舵安装就位，这样一来，大大降低了船的航速。因为船不能开得太快，否则就有危险，应急舵也会被刮走。因为这个缘故，“卡蒂萨克”号落到了后面。跨越赤道后，船长将船停靠在一个港口，在那儿换了一只舵。但此时，“赛姆皮雷”号早已在500多英里之遥了。尽管换装新舵时分秒必争，但“卡蒂萨克”号已经不可能取胜了，它抵达英国时比“塞姆皮雷”号晚了1个星期。但考虑到路上的多次耽搁，这个成绩也已很不容易了。毫无疑问，如果中途没有失去舵， “卡帝萨克”号肯定能在比赛中轻易夺冠。