创新英语-Virgin Voyage to the Bottom of the Ocean

The boss of the Virgin¹ group Richard Branson has unveiled his latest adventure project. He plans to explore the deepest parts of the ocean in a high-tech² submarine. Virgin Oceanic will conduct five test dives over two years. His team plans to explore the deepest part of any ocean – the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench³. At a depth of almost 11,000 metres, the trench is deeper than Mount Everest is high. Branson showed the specially-built vessel⁴ to reporters at a news conference in California. He plans to pilot one of the dives himself. Branson also said he hoped Virgin Oceanic would one day take wealthy passengers on deep sea dives to explore the ocean depths.

Branson is a famed entrepreneur. He started off by selling used music records at university, which led to his opening of the Virgin Records stores. He has since become well known for pushing things to the limit. He has used his wealth to finance such feats⁵ as hot-air ballooning around the world and has set sailing records. As well as his Virgin airline company, he also operates Virgin Galactic, which will allow tourists to fly into space. He told reporters: "There is just so much to explore, so much to discover. We are going to obviously come across some fascinating creatures and learn some fascinating things that will hopefully be useful for mankind."

 

1 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

2 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

3 trench   

n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕

参考例句：

• The soldiers recaptured their trench.兵士夺回了战壕。
• The troops received orders to trench the outpost.部队接到命令在前哨周围筑壕加强防卫。

4 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。

5 feats   

功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He used to astound his friends with feats of physical endurance. 过去，他表现出来的惊人耐力常让朋友们大吃一惊。
• His heroic feats made him a legend in his own time. 他的英雄业绩使他成了他那个时代的传奇人物。