在学习新概念的过程中，同学们是否会发现里面有好几篇文章都跟船”有关，尤其是在新概念三中，而且我们发现文中对船的描述用得代词都是“she"或"her"，比如Lesson 10 The loss of Titanic, “At that time, however, she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built, but was regarded as unsinkable, for she had sixteen watertight compartments.", Lesson 25 The CuttySark, "The Cutty Sark was one of the fastest sailing ship that has ever been built. The only other ship to match her was the Thermopylae". Lesson 28 Five pounds too dear, "Small boats loaded with wares sped to the great liner as she was entering the harbor."
      为什么英国人喜欢写跟船有关的文章？为什么他们用she来称呼船呢？是否有什么渊源？
      经过研究，我们会发现，其实并不只是英国人，西方国家对于大型建筑、船舶、汽车火车等比较大型或大型的行动机器都用she来称谓，根据历典有以下几种解释： 1、古罗马时代常以建造船只的方式向某位女神致敬 2、航海民族将船只视为母亲的化身 3、水手们认为船只和女人有许多相似之处，看下面这段话 ：
      "A boat is called a ”she“ because there's always a great deal of bustle around her...because there's usually a gang of men around...because she has waist and stays...because she takes a lot of paint to keep her looking good...because it's not the initial expense that breaks you, it's the upkeep...because she is all decked out...because it takes a good man to handle her right...because she shows her topside, hides her bottom and, when coming into port, always heads for the buoys（与boys同音）." （George Moses in Falmouth, Massachusetts）