The Cutty Sark“Cutty Sark”是一艘著名的帆船，以其独特的船型和卓越的航海性能而闻名于世。
What piece of bad luck prevented the Cutty Sark from winning the race?是什么倒霉的事情导致“Cutty Sark”号没能赢得这场比赛呢？
One of the most famous sailing ships of the nineteenth century, the Cutty Sark, can still be seen at Greenwich.作为19世纪最著名的帆船之一，“Cutty Sark”至今仍可以在格林尼治博物馆看到。
She stands on dry land and is visited by thousands of people each year.她站在陆地上，每年都有成千上万的人前来参观她。
She serves as an impressive reminder of the great ships of the past.她仿佛是一面令人印象深刻的镜子，让人们想起过去那些宏伟的船只。
Before they were replaced by steamships, sailing vessels like the Cutty Sark were used to carry tea from China and wool from Australia.在它们被蒸汽船取代之前，像“Cutty Sark”这样的帆船曾被用来从中国运输茶叶，从澳大利亚运输羊毛。
The Cutty Sark was one of the fastest sailing ships that has ever been built.“Cutty Sark”是有史以来建造的最快的帆船之一。
The only other ship to match her was the Thermopylae.唯一能与她相媲美的船只就是“Thermopylae”号了。
Both these ships set out from Shanghai on June 18th, 1872 on an exciting race to England.这两艘船都于1872年6月18日从上海出发，参加了一场前往英国的激动人心的竞赛。
This race, which went on for exactly four months, was the last of its kind.这场比赛持续了整整四个月，也是这类比赛中的最后一场比赛。
It marked the end of the great tradition of ships with sails and the beginning of a new era.这标志着帆船这一伟大传统的终结，以及一个新时代的开始。
The first of the two ships to reach Java after the race had begun was the Thermopylae, but on the Indian Ocean, the Cutty Sark took the lead.在比赛开始后，最先抵达爪哇的两艘船只中，第一艘是“Thermopylae”号。但在印度洋上，库蒂·萨克号（Cutty Sark）却取得了领先地位。
It seemed certain that she would be the first ship home, but during the race she had a lot of bad luck.看起来她肯定会成为第一个返回家的“船只”（即第一个完成任务的成员）。但在比赛中，她遭遇了很多不幸（或者说：她遇到了很多麻烦或困难）。
In August, she was struck by a very heavy storm during which her rudder was torn away.八月份，她遭遇了一场猛烈的风暴，风暴中她的舵被彻底损坏（即被风暴中的力量扯掉了）。
The Cutty Sark rolled from side to side and it became impossible to steer her.“Cutty Sark”号开始左右摇晃，根本无法再控制它的航向了。
A temporary rudder was made on board from spare planks and it was fitted with great difficulty.他们在船上用多余的木板制作了一个临时舵，并且安装这个临时舵的过程非常困难。
This greatly reduced the speed of the ship, for there was a danger that if she travelled too quickly, this rudder would be torn away as well.这大大降低了船的速度，因为如果船行驶得太快，就存在危险。这个舵也会被扯掉的。
Because of this, the Cutty Sark lost her lead.正因如此，Cutty Sark失去了领先优势。
After crossing the Equator, the captain called in at a port to have a new rudder fitted, but by now the Thermopylae was over five hundred miles ahead.在越过赤道后，船长停靠在一个港口，更换了船上的舵。但那时，Thermopylae号已经领先了五百多英里。
Though the new rudder was fitted at tremendous speed, it was impossible for the Cutty Sark to win.尽管新的舵被迅速安装上了，Cutty Sark号还是无法赶上它。
She arrived in England a week after the Thermopylae.Cutty Sark号在Thermopylae号之后一周才抵达英格兰。
Even this was remarkable, considering that she had had so many delays.考虑到途中经历了许多延误，这一成绩已经非常了不起了。
There is no doubt that if she had not lost her rudder she would have won the race easily.毫无疑问，如果她没有失去舵，她本可以轻松赢得比赛。