The Bermuda Triangle Phenomenon 课文结构分析/text structure analysis

   We have found through Text Structure Analysis that many essays are governed by a pattern from a general statement to specific details, reasons, facts or examples. But now, in this article about the Bermuda Triangle, we seem to have the reverse text structure for the first time through the analysis of three books of Reading and Writing, New Horizon College English. This time we have a pattern which starts from specific details to something general, whether they are conclusions, statements, or comments.


    The whole passage can be roughly divided into 3 parts:
1. The first part is made up of 3 paragraphs, from Paragraph 1 to Paragraph 3. Paragraph 1 starts with one shocking event of a mysterious disappearance of planes. Specific details have been included: the time, date of the event, 5 Navy aircraft, under perfect flying weather, only two hours’ flying, a message for help, a rescue plane searching for the missing ones which disappeared without any trace too. Then Paragraph 2 is a general introduction about the area, which tells what and where the Bermuda Triangle is: the Graveyard of the Atlantic, a mysterious area of the Atlantic Ocean. Paragraph 3 is how the public responds to the Bermuda Triangle: a lot of concern and interest but no answers produced.


2. The second part consists of 5 paragraphs, from Paragraph 4 to Paragraph 8. Paragraphs 4 and 5 offer us some more recorded mysterious disappearances in the triangle. This is to confirm that the disappearance is an often-occurring event. Specific details have also been included to the point. From specific details, Paragraphs 6 to 8 are about the general responses to the mysteries. Paragraph 6 is about what the U.S. Navy thinks. It does not recognize the triangle as a danger zone and attributes the majority of disappearances to the swift Gulf Stream current, the unexplored submerged valleys of the Atlantic, the often violent weather or unusual magnetic phenomenon. Paragraph 7 contradicts with the Navy’s thoughts. Government officials argue that no reasonable explanation to date has been made for the vanishings. As a result of that, some people resort to more fantastic explanations. Paragraph 8 is about Charles Berlitz, who examines all the theories and expands upon the theory that a giant solar crystal, the power generator for the legendary lost island Atlantis, sucks passing ships and planes into the ocean.


3. The third part is only one paragraph, Paragraph 9. As the Bermuda Triangle remains a mystery to us, an institute is planning to organize 300 psychics and scientists to look into the mysteries under the sea with further efforts.

More mysteries recorded about the triangle: 1. On July 3, 1947, a U.S. Army airplane disappeared 100 miles off Bermuda without broadcasting any word of difficulty and no wreckage of the plane was found. 2. On January 30, 1948, a British airliner vanished over the triangle with 31 passengers and crew aboard with no trace of the plane or the crew ever found. A year later, the missing airliner’s sister plane disappeared in the same mysterious way. 3. A 500—foot coal ship disappeared on March 4, 1918. Investigations revealed no evidence of bad weather, no messages for help, no wreckage and no sign of the 309 men aboard. 4. Stranger yet are the numerous “ghost” ships that were found floating crewless within the triangle.  Paras. 4— 5 　     Explanations provided:              __________________________________________________             　The U.S. Navy does not recognize the triangle as a danger zone and attributes the majority of disappearances to the unique features of the area’s environment.  Para. 6 On the contrary, officials of another government bureau maintain that no reasonable explanation to date has been made for the vanishings. One author argues that outer space beings have taken most of the missing vessels and their crews on display for study.  Para. 7 Charles Berlitz examines all the theories and expands upon the theory that a giant solar crystal, the power generator for the legendary lost island Atlantis, sucks passing ships and planes into the ocean.  Para. 8  Paras.6-8  Paras. 4-8