The Titanic was a very large British passenger ship. It hit an iceberg in the Atlantic ocean on its first journey in 1912 and sank. There were not enough lifeboats for all the passengers, and over 1, 500 passengers died.

    The sinking of the Titanic is well known to most people. There was a{#blank#}1{#/blank#} awful sinking, but it is unknown to many people. It was the sinking of the Lusitania(卢西塔尼亚号). It was one of the biggest and most luxurious ocean liners of its time, but it sank on May 7, 1915.

    After world war I broke out in 1914, ocean voyages(航行) became very dangerous. The German embassy(大使馆) in Washington w{#blank#}2{#/blank#} travelers about the dangers of ocean voyages. However, the Lusitania left New York for Liverpool anyway. There were 1, 959 people on board.

    The Lusitania sailed s{#blank#}3{#/blank#} for the first five days. On May 7, 1915, the Lusitania was a{#blank#}4{#/blank#} to travel fast and make zigzagging(曲折) movements because of enemy's submarine(潜艇). However, because of heavy frog, the captain of the ship reduced its speed and traveled in s{#blank#}5{#/blank#} line. This made the ship an easy target, A German submarine fired at the Lusitania, and there was a big explosion(爆炸). Right after the first one, there was a second explosion. The ship sank in about 18 minutes. Over one thousand passengers died because of this disaster.

    The c{#blank#}6{#/blank#} of the second explosion is still a mystery (迷). Later, divers found large amounts of bullets, shells, gold, and cash in the ship cargo (货物). But why would an ocean liner carry these i{#blank#}7{#/blank#}? The answer is yet to be explained.