Titanic

On 14 April 1912, a terrible tragedy happened on the high seas. The Titanic hit an iceberg and began to sink. It happened at about 11:40 p.m. while most people were unaware of the icebergs around them. Captain Smith organized the crew to get the passengers into the lifeboats. This was very hard because there weren’t enough boats. The lights went out at 2:18 a.m. and the ship began to tear apart. Survivors report seeing the ship break in two, between the 3rd and4th funnels. Some swimmers were crushed. All the people who were still trapped on the ship either jumped into the water or went down with the ship. Finally, the Carpathia came close enough to rescue the people on the lifeboats. Senator Fletcher was one of those rescued. “We partially rowed and *she partially came some of the way. We saw her at a distance. She stopped and we thought that she was then picking up a boat. I think we were about the 4th or 5th to be picked up,” he reported. Survivor Mary Davis Wilburn said, “The dead came up holding children in their arms. The poor people never had a chance.” In total 1517 people died and 706 people were saved. Everybody thought that the Titanic was unsinkable but were they right?

*In English ships are called ‘she’.

I. Answer these questions:

1. When did the Titanic sink?

2. Did passengers know there were icebergs around them?

3. What was the problem with lifeboats?   

4. What did the people still on trapped on the ship do?

5. What was the name of the ship that rescued people on the lifeboats?

6. How many people died?

II. Find words or phrases in the text that correspond to these definitions:

7.  The parts of the sea that are far away from land:

8. The people who work on a ship, aircraft,etc:

9. To injure or kill people by hitting them very hard:

10. To move a boat through water  using long poles with flat ends:

III. Listen to this short text about the Titanic How much did you understand? Answer the questions or complete the sentences.

1. How many classes were there on The Titanic? Were they together?

2. What were the facilities in first class?

A  ________________

A   ________________  court

A Turkish ________________

________________ and closed promenades
3. How much did a first class ticket cost?

4. How much did a third class ticket cost?

5. How many women and children were saved in first class?

6. How many women and children were killed in third class?

7. The third class cabins were deep below the surface of the ________________

8. Benjamin Guggenheim dressed for ________________and said before dying: ’we’re dressed in our best and are prepared to go down like ________________’


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