英语听力：自然百科 冰冻星球 前往地球尽头—23

 You’ve got these beautiful clear glass-like pillars and right next to it, it’s really delicate. Look at in them, filament¹ is there. As the cave team explore deeper, each chamber² reveals ice crystals more strange and spectacular than the last. No one on the team imagined a single Antarctic mountain could house so many wonders. 

 

Down at the foot of Mountain Erebus, a third crew, the dive team, plan to explore the volcano's /lower slopes, which extend beneath the frozen sea. On board is / underwater cameraman, Hue³ Miller⁴.

 

Problem is, we don’t actually know what’s under the ice here, so who knows, it’s a problem of adventure. Old-fashioned tools still work best, first a hand chisel⁵ to create an opening, then a saw to widen the hole. Ice diving in the coldest waters on the planet should be taken extremely seriously. 

 

This dive is going to be a lot of things. Warm, is not on that list. Insulated suits will keep them alive under the ice for only sixty minutes. Once a helicopter departs, there's no margin⁶ for error. 

 

The dive team begin to explore the lowest slopes of Erebus, discovering a hidden world rarely seen by humans. Patrolling the icy shores of the volcano are killer⁷ whales, the most southernly in the world. 

 

Tracking them from above is the orca team. They need a helicopter to get ahead of the whales and to land them on the fragile sea ice. Cameraman Jamie Mcpherson must pick his spot carefully. His aim is to get the cameras as close to the killer whales as possible without disturbing them. Yes, clear almost. He uses a film camera to capture the action in slow motion, as the orcas come right by. Even in the extreme cold, a film camera proves to be rugged⁸ and reliable, provided there is enough film in the camera.

 

1 filament   

n.细丝；长丝；灯丝

参考例句：

• The source of electrons in an electron microscope is a heated filament.电子显微镜中的电子源，是一加热的灯丝。
• The lack of air in the bulb prevents the filament from burning up.灯泡内缺乏空气就使灯丝不致烧掉。

2 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

3 hue   

n.色度；色调；样子

参考例句：

• The diamond shone with every hue under the sun.金刚石在阳光下放出五颜六色的光芒。
• The same hue will look different in different light.同一颜色在不同的光线下看起来会有所不同。

4 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

5 chisel   

n.凿子；v.用凿子刻，雕，凿

参考例句：

• This chisel is useful for getting into awkward spaces.这凿子在要伸入到犄角儿里时十分有用。
• Camille used a hammer and chisel to carve out a figure from the marble.卡米尔用锤子和凿子将大理石雕刻出一个人像。

6 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

7 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

8 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。