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Lost at sea
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(Key words: emergency, lost, rescue, search, vanish, mystery, swallow, triangle)
Suddenly, the radio came alive. An urgent voice was heard. "Emergency!"
The radio operator leaned forward. He was at the Navy air base at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He knew the voice. It belonged to a good pilot Charles Taylor.
The voice was saying again. "I think we're off course... I can't see land."
"What is your position?"
"I'm not sure. We seem to be lost."
Lost? Impossible! Taylor was in command of five planes. They had taken off only two hours ago for a short training flight out over the Atlantic Ocean. The weather was perfect. A beautiful sunny day. How could they be lost?
The radio went dead.
An officer called the nearby rescue (1) station for help. Minutes later, a rescue plane roared into the air. On board were 12 highly trained men.
The plane reached its destination in half an hour. The sun was almost down. The pilot swept low over the sea. Then he radioed the tower.
"No sign of the planes. No wreckage (2). Nothing. We'll continue to search."
The radio fell silent. And it never again returned to life.
Night came. The radio operator tried to contact the rescue plane time and again. Not a single answer was heard. The men in the tower stared at each other. There had been five planes in trouble. Now there were six.
By now, the tower had called for more help. The search on land and sea lasted for days. And it turned up nothing. Six planes and their crews had vanished (3) without a trace. Navy officers could not believe what had happened. One said, "It's impossible. It's as if they flew off to Mars."
The incident took place in 1945. The planes vanished in one of the world's great mystery spots. It is located in the Atlantic Ocean just off the United States coast and covers about 440,000 square miles. It has swallowed up too many planes and ships. Most people know it as the Bermuda Triangle (4). Some call it the Devil's Triangle.
Question
1. Why do people call the Bermuda Triangle the Devil's Triangle?
Notes: 1. (n.) 营救 2. (n.) 残骸 3. (v.) 消失 4. 百慕大三角
(For Unit 16 of Students' Book 2B)
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