Ancient Italian shipwreck

BBC Learning English 

6 Minute English 

9 Aug 2012 

Ancient Italian shipwreck¹ 

Rob:             Hi and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English, I’m Rob 

                 and with me in the studio today is Chris. 

Chris:           Hello there. In this programme we take a story from the news and pick 

                 out some interesting vocabulary that you may not have heard before. 

Rob:             Our story this week comes from Italy, where some divers² have made a 

                 very exciting discovery… 

Chris:          A shipwreck has been uncovered which could reveal a lot about the 

                 history of humans at sea. Can you tell us what a shipwreck is, Rob? 

Rob:             Sure. It’s a ship which has sunk and now lies on the bottom of the sea. I 

                 bet you can think of a very famous example, Chris… 

Chris:           Of course, the Titanic³ must be the world’s most famous shipwreck. 

Rob:             Well, before we dive into the details of this story, I’ve got a question for 

                 you which is about shipwrecks⁴. 

Chris:           Ok, let’s hear it then. 

Rob:            The United Nations has estimated – or taken a guess at – the number of 

                 shipwrecks which lie on the sea bed. How many wrecked⁵ ships do you 

                 think there are? Is it: 

                 a)  3000 ships 

                 b)  300,000 ships 

                 c)  3 million ships 

Chris:           I’ll hazard a guess and say…  

Rob:             Well we’ll see if you’re right at the end of the programme. Whatever the  

                 number is, we know that there is one extra ship to be counted which has 

                just been discovered! 

Chris:          An ancient vessel⁶ – or ship – has been discovered in the Mediterranean 

                 Sea near Italy, and it’s quite a special find.  

Rob:            Yes, quite a lot of ships have sunk over the years. The Titanic, for 

                 example, sank in 1912. This one is quite a lot older than that. 

Chris:           The newly-discovered shipwreck is thought to be two thousand years old. 

Rob:             So how was it discovered after so long? Listen to this first part of a report 

                 by BBC correspondent Alan Johnston: what did the Italian fishermen find? 

Insert 

For years fishermen believed there was something extraordinary lying in the depths off 

the town of Varazze. They kept finding shards⁷ of pottery⁸ in their nets. Eventually, a unit 

of police divers launched a search. And they’ve just announced the discovery of a cargo⁹ 

ship, which may date back to the last century before Christ. 

Chris:           So what did the fishermen find, Rob? 

Rob:             They kept finding shards – or small pieces – of pottery in their nets. That 

                 gave them a clue that there was something down there at the bottom of 

                 the sea. 

Chris:           The divers believe that it is a cargo ship – that’s a ship which carries  

                 goods for trade, rather than people. 

Rob:             And this particular cargo ship could be from the time of ancient Rome. It’s  

                 been very well preserved in mud and stayed intact – or in one piece. 

Chris:           That means that it could hold a lot of information about how past 

                 civilisations used to trade with one another. 

Rob:             Listen to the second part of Alan Johnston’s report and see if you can hear  

                 a word which means “completely covered with”:   

Insert 

The unit’s spokesman says that what makes this find especially interesting is that the  

vessel seems to be almost intact. She sank into thick mud, which engulfed¹⁰ and 

preserved her. The ship is reckoned to have been sailing a well-travelled route between 

Spain and the coast of what is now central Italy. She was loaded with more than two- 

hundred clay amphoras that are likely to contain wine, oil and grain. 

Chris:           That word was “engulfed.” As the ship was engulfed, or covered in mud, 

                 it’s thought that the cargo on board could still be there.  

Rob:             We heard in the report that the vessel was loaded with two hundred 

                 amphoras, which were large clay jars used to contain wine, oil or grain. 

Chris:           It would be really exciting to find these things on board the ship. So what 

                 are they planning to do with it? 

Rob:             They could either study the ship underwater using teams of divers, or they 

                 could bring the entire ship back up to the surface. 

Chris:           In the final part of the report, listen out for a phrase which means 

                 something is possible to do. 

Insert 

The divers’ spokesman said that study of the vessel could help add to understanding of  

commercial activity at that time and that it might even be possible to bring the entire 

ship to the surface. This would, he said, be technically¹¹ feasible. But it’s now up to the  

Italian authorities to decide whether such a complex and hugely expensive operation 

should be launched. 

Rob:             That phrase was “technically feasible.” Although they could bring the ship 

                 to the surface, it’s likely to be very fragile after all these years – or easily 

                 breakable. 

Chris:           They could also send divers down to retrieve¹² the cargo – or get it back – 

                 but many people think that when a ship sinks, it should be left where it is. 

Rob:             It’s such an exciting discovery, but we’ll have to wait and see if it reveals  

                 further historical treasures! But we don’t have to wait for the quiz 

                 question. I asked you how many shipwrecks lie on the ocean floor. Was it: 

                 a)  3000 

                 b)  300,000 

                 c)  3 million 

Chris:           And I said 300,000. 

Rob:             And you were wrong! The answer is 3 million ships! We’ve just got time to  

                 recap some of the vocabulary we’ve heard in today’s programme.  

Chris:           The words we heard were: 

                 shipwreck 

                 vessel 

                 shards 

                 intact 

                 amphoras 

                 fragile 

                 retrieve 

Rob:             That's all we have time for today, but do join us again for more 6 Minute 

                 English from bbclearningenglish.com. Bye! 

Chris:           Bye! 

1 shipwreck   

n.船舶失事，海难

参考例句：

• He walked away from the shipwreck.他船难中平安地脱险了。
• The shipwreck was a harrowing experience.那次船难是一个惨痛的经历。

2 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

3 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。

4 shipwrecks   

海难，船只失事( shipwreck的名词复数 )； 沉船

参考例句：

• Shipwrecks are apropos of nothing. 船只失事总是来得出人意料。
• There are many shipwrecks in these waters. 在这些海域多海难事件。

5 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

6 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

7 shards   

n.（玻璃、金属或其他硬物的）尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyewitnesses spoke of rocks and shards of glass flying in the air. 目击者称空中石块和玻璃碎片四溅。 来自辞典例句
• Ward, Josh Billings, and a host of others have survived only in scattered shards of humour. 沃德、比林斯和许多别的作家能够留传下来的只是些幽默的残章断简。 来自辞典例句

8 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

9 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

10 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

12 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。