高中英语必修模块3课本06

[00:-1.00]The Race to the Pole
[00:-2.00]On I June,1910,Captain Scott left London to begin his Antarctic¹ expedition.
[00:-3.00]On his way,he received a telegram from the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen:
[00:-4.00]"I'm going South."So the race to the South Pole was on!
[00:-5.00]During the polar summer of 1910-1911,
[00:-6.00]both teams organised food depots³ in preparation
[00:-7.00]for their expeditions the following year.
[00:-8.00]Then came the total darkness of the polar winter.
[00:-9.00]Scott and Amundsen waited impatiently⁴ for the first signs of spring.
[00:10.00]Amundsen was the first to leave,on 15 October,1911.
[00:11.00]He had team of dogs pulling the sledges⁵ and all his men were on skis.
[00:12.00]Because of this,he made rapid progress.
[00:13.00]Scott left on 1 November and soon had problems.
[00:14.00]First,his two motor sledges broke down,
[00:15.00]and then the ponies⁶ began to have serious difficulties with the snow and the cold.
[00:16.00]After a while,Scott and his men had to push the sledges themselves.
[00:17.00]Amundsen reached the Pole on 14 December and put a Norwegian flag there.
[00:18.00]Then he prepared for the return journey.
[00:19.00]Scott finally arrived at the Pole with four companions on 17 January.
[00:20.00]They were devastated⁷ when they saw the Norwegian flag.
[00:21.00]Scott wrote bitterly in his diary:
[00:22.00]"Well,we have now lost the goal of our ambition
[00:23.00]and must face 800 miles of hard pushing and goodbye to most of our dreams."
[00:24.00]The return journey was one of the worst in the history of exploration.
[00:25.00]The men were son exhausted⁸ and were running out of food.
[00:26.00]The weather conditions were terrible.
[00:27.00]Scott started to realise their desperate situation:
[00:28.00]"Amongst ourselves we are very cheerful,
[00:29.00]but what each man feels in his heart I can only guess.
[00:30.00]Putting on our shoes in the morning is getting slower and slower."
[00:31.00]Despite this,on their way back they found time to look for rocks and fossils⁹.
[00:32.00]They carried 20 kilos of rocks all the way with them.
[00:33.00]Later,these rocks proved that at one time in the distant past
[00:34.00]Antarctica was covered by plants.
[00:35.00]However,disaster soon struck.
[00:36.00]Edgar Evans had terrible frostbite and died after a bad fall.
[00:37.00]The next to go was Captain Oates,
[00:38.00]who was having great difficulty walking.
[00:39.00]Scott recorded his death:
[00:40.00]"He said,'I am just going outside and I may be some time.'
[00:41.00]We knew that poor Oates was walking to his death,
[00:42.00]but though we tried to stop him,
[00:43.00]we knew that it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman.
[00:44.00]We all hope to meet the end with a similar spirit,
[00:45.00]and certainly the end is not far."
[00:46.00]Scott and two companions carried on
[00:47.00]and got withineleven miles of one of their food depots.
[00:48.00]But then a terrible storm started and they could not leave their tent.
[00:49.00]Scott spent some of his last hours writing.
[00:50.00]He wrote a letter full of sadness to his wife Kathleen:
[00:51.00]"To my Widow,I could tell you lots and lots about this journey.
[00:52.00]What stories you would have for the boy..But what a price to pay."
[00:53.00]Scott's final diary entry told the story of their end:
[00:54.00]"The depot² is only 11 miles away,
[00:55.00]but I do not think we can hope for any better things now.
[00:56.00]We are getting weaker and weaker and he end can't be far.
[00:57.00]It seems a pity,but I do not think I can write more."
[00:58.00]The news of Scott's death shocked the world.
[00:59.00]He had failed to win the race to the Pole,
[-1:00.00]but the remarkable courage shown by Captain Scott and his men made tham into heroes

1 Antarctic   

adj.南极(区)的；n.(the A-)南极洲，南极圈

参考例句：

• The Antarctic is a mountainous area.南极洲是一个多山的地区。
• It is well known that penguins live in the Antarctic.企鹅生活在南极洲是众所周知的。

2 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。

3 depots   

仓库( depot的名词复数 )； 火车站； 车库； 军需库

参考例句：

• Public transportation termini and depots are important infrastructures for a city. 公交场站设施是城市重要的基础设施。
• In the coastal cities are equipped with after-sales service and depots. 在各沿海城市均设有服务部及售后维修站。

4 impatiently   

adv.不耐烦地

参考例句：

• Impatiently he cut short what I was telling him. 他不耐烦地打断了我的话。
• The children wait impatiently for the vacation.孩子们焦急地等待着假期的来临。

5 sledges   

n.雪橇，雪车( sledge的名词复数 )v.乘雪橇( sledge的第三人称单数 )；用雪橇运载

参考例句：

• Sledges run well over frozen snow. 雪橇在冻硬了的雪上顺利滑行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They used picks and sledges to break the rocks. 他们用[镐和撬]来打碎这些岩石。 来自互联网

6 ponies   

矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑

参考例句：

• They drove the ponies into a corral. 他们把矮种马赶进了畜栏。
• She has a mania for ponies. 她特别喜欢小马。

7 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

8 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

9 fossils   

n.化石( fossil的名词复数 )；老顽固；食古不化的人；老古董（老人）

参考例句：

• fossils over two million years old 两百多万年的化石
• The geologist found many uncovered fossils in the valley. 在那山谷里，地质学家发现了许多裸露的化石。 来自《简明英汉词典》