2023届高考英语外刊阅读模拟强化训练：阅读理解专题二十六

高考英语外刊阅读模拟强化训练 阅读理解专题二十六 ① Any excitement coursing through explorers preparing to visit the wreckage of the Titanic is likely to be short-lived once they read the waiver required by the tour firm OceanGate. The document mentions death three times on its first page and reminds those about to attempt the 3,800m descent that the minuscule Titan vessel in which they will travel is unregulated. The disclaimer, shared by a former passenger, reads: “The experimental submersible vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body. Any failure could cause severe injury or death.” While plunging to the floor of the Atlantic to view the world’s most famous shipwreck is surely thrilling, the loss of Titan has raised inevitable questions over safety. OceanGate, based in Seattle, charges divers $250,000 per person to visit the wreck. It says submersible vessels deploy state-of-the-art technology to bring divers to even greater depths. Yet those who have travelled on the 6.7m-long Cyclops 2 model suggest a trip aboard often feels far removed from the cutting edge of innovation. Mike Reiss, a New York-based writer on the TV show The Simpsons who travelled on Titan to the Titanic wreckage last year, said that communication failures were commonplace. He told the BBC: “I have taken three different dives with this company, one at the Titanic and two others, and you almost always lost communication.” Reiss also said it was “remarkable how basic and simple the whole operation is”. “You just sink like a stone and then, once you hit bottom, you steer around on these little propellers that look like a desktop fan, they’re that small. When you touch the bottom, you don’t really know where you are. The compass immediately stopped working, it was just spinning around, so we had to flail around blindly knowing the Titanic was somewhere there, but it is so dark and [it’s] the biggest thing under the ocean, which is 500 yards away. We spent 90 minutes looking for it.” Since the dis