The salvage operation had been a complete failure. The small ship, Elkor, which had been searching the Barents Sea for weeks, was on its home. A radio message from the mainland had been received by the ship’s captain instructing him to give up the search.
    搜救工作彻底失败了。这艘叫做“埃尔克”的小船，在巴伦支海搜救了几个礼拜之后，正在返航途中。返航前，一条来自大陆的无线电波传到了船长这里，命令他立刻返航。

    The captain knew that another attempt would be made later, for the sunken ship he was trying to find had been carrying a previous cargo of gold bullion.
    但是船长知道还会有另外的搜救，因为这条船上有一批珍贵的金条，所以他决定再试一次。

    Despite the message, the captain of the Elkor decided to try once more. The sea bed was scoured with powerful nets and there was tremendous excitement on board when a chest was raised from the bottom.
    尽管船长接到了信息，“埃尔克”的船长决定再来一次。他们用结实的网把把海床搜索了一遍。但当一个箱子被捞起来时，大家还是惊呆了。
    PS: Despite the message, 等同于“Despite he received the message”.
    PS++: tremendous excitement, 超大的惊异，译为“惊呆了”

    Though the crew were at first under the impression that the lost ship had been found, the contents of the chest proved them wrong. What they had in fact found was a ship which had been sunk many years before.
    虽然船员们开始以为是沉船找到了，但是箱子里的内容证明他们错了。箱子里的东西说明这船在很多年前就沉了。
    PS: be under the impression that…，在…的印象下，以为

    The chest contained the personal belongings of a seaman, Alan Fielding. There were books, clothing and photographs, together with letters which the seaman had once received from his wife.
    箱子里包含一名叫做“阿兰·菲尔德”的船员的个人物品。有书、衣服和照片，外加一封妻子的来信。

    The captain of the Elkor ordered his men to salvage as much as possible from the wreck. Nothing of value was found, but the numerous items which were brought to the surface proved to be of great interest.
    船长命令船员尽可能从沉船中搜寻更多的东西，虽然没有找到什么值钱的，但是大量打捞上来的东西还是引起了他们的极大兴趣。
    PS: of + 名词相当于形容词， of value相当于valuable，of wealth相当于wealthy, of great importance相当于significant, of little value相当于little value.

    From a heavy gun that was raised, the captain realized that the ship must have been a cruiser. In another chest, which contained the belongings of a ship’s officer, there was an unfinished letter which had been written of March 14th, 1943.
    随着某台大炮的出水，船长意识到这一定是一艘巡洋舰。在另一个沉箱里包含了某位军官的个人物品，这是一封未写完的信，信写于1943年3月14号。

    The captain learnt from the letter that the name of the lost ship was the Karen. The most valuable find of all was the ship’s log book, parts of which it was still possible to read. From this the captain was able to piece together all the information that had come to light.
    船长从信中了解到这艘沉船的名字是“卡伦”。打捞上来最有价值的东西是航海日志，这日志还有部分内容可读。从日志中船长可以将所有已见光的信息拼接在一起。
    PS: piece together，将破碎的东西拼接起来，这里piece作动词。

    The Karen had been sailing in a convoy to Russia when she was torpedoed by an enemy submarine. This was leter confirmed by a naval official at the Ministry of Defence after the Elkor had returned home. All the items that were found were sent to the War Museum.
    “卡伦”号当年在为其他船只护航去往俄国时突然遭到敌人潜水艇的袭击。在“埃尔克”号返航之后，这个消息被国防部的一位海军官员所证实。所有打捞上来的物件都被送去了战争博物馆。