By Sam Wilson, BBC News

媒体英语会带大家一起学习 BBC 撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

Background: 十年前联合国科教文组织(UNESCO)通过法案保护100年前的深海沉船。现存问题是是否应该保护那些历史少于100年，而且有人不幸丧生的船只残骸。

Polish authorities recently banned divers from coming within 500 metres of the Wilhelm Gustloff. The German ship was sunk by a Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea in 1945. More than 9,000 lives are thought to have been lost - the single largest death toll at sea.

Last month, seven European naval associations condemned Dutch salvage firms which they said were desecrating sailors' graves. They'd been searching for scrap metal aboard three British warships torpedoed and sunk off the Netherlands in 1914.

UNESCO's Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which was adopted ten years ago, does not apply in these cases, because it only protects shipwrecks more than 100 years old.

Whether ships and their dead should be left to rest in peace, or are sites of legitimate archaeological interest, can be a vexed and often emotional question.

Archaeologists say their job is the recovery and meticulouspreservation of priceless artefacts. Many of them reject the label "treasure hunters".

But, with deep-sea explorationequipment costing tens of thousands of dollars a day, they need to cover their costs somehow. It's no surprise, then, that a ship laden with gold, silver and other valuables is seen as the greatest prize.

• soviet [´səuviit]   a.苏联的 n.苏维埃   (初中英语单词)
• european [juərə´pi:ən]   a.欧洲的 n.欧洲人   (初中英语单词)
• aboard [ə´bɔ:d]   ad.&prep.在...上   (初中英语单词)
• protection [prə´tekʃən]   n.警戒；护照；通行证   (初中英语单词)
• cultural [´kʌltʃərəl]   a.文化(上)的；教养的   (初中英语单词)
• emotional [i´məuʃənəl]   a.易动感情的；情感的   (初中英语单词)
• equipment [i´kwipmənt]   n.装备，设备   (初中英语单词)
• submarine [´sʌbməri:n]   a.海中的 n.潜水艇   (高中英语单词)
• legitimate [li´dʒitimit]   a.合法的 vt.使合法   (高中英语单词)
• recovery [ri´kʌvəri]   n.重获；获得；恢复   (高中英语单词)
• reject [ri´dʒekt]   vt.拒绝；抵制；否决   (高中英语单词)
• exploration [,eksplɔ:´reiʃən]   n.探索；探险；考察   (高中英语单词)
• polish [´pəuliʃ]   a.波兰(人)的 n.波兰语   (英语四级单词)
• heritage [´heritidʒ]   n.遗产，继承物   (英语四级单词)
• preservation [,prezə´veiʃən]   n.保存；储藏；维护   (英语四级单词)
• divers [´daivə(:)z]   a.&pron.若干个   (英语六级单词)
• baltic [´bɔ:ltik]   a.波罗的海的   (英语六级单词)
• priceless [´praisləs]   a.无价的；贵重的   (英语六级单词)