Life in the Freezer 冰雪童话 - 1

I am at the very center of the great white continent, Antarctica. The South Pole is about half a mile away. For a thousand miles, in all directions, there is nothing but ice. And, in the whole of this continent, which is one and a half times the size of the United States and larger than Europe, there is a year-round population of no more than 800 people. This is the loneliest and the coldest place on earth, the place that is most hostile to life. And yet, in one or two places, it is astonishingly rich.

Penguins¹ come here by the million and endure temperatures of minus 70 degrees centigrade and winds of 120 miles an hour. Other birds fly right to the heart of the continent, even though they have to dig away snow in order to find a place to nest . And here is the nursery for over half the world's seals.

Antarctica is remote from all other continents, surrounded by the vast southern ocean and smothered² by a blanket of ice so immense that it contains over three quarters of the world's freshwater.

All life in the Antarctic is dominated by the ice. All but 2% of the continent is covered by it. Its very whiteness reflects back what little heat there is in the sun's feeble rays. And snow, when it falls, remains³ permanently⁴ frozen. So that now, after accumulating for millions of years, it has formed this gigantic ice cap and the ice beneath my feet is three miles thick.

Submerged beneath it are mountain ranges as high as the Alps, only their summits project through it.

words and expressions

feeble: 微弱的, 薄弱的

project :To extend forward or out; jut out:突出

1 penguins   

n.企鹅( penguin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why can penguins live in cold environment? 为什么企鹅能生活在寒冷的环境中？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Whales, seals, penguins, and turtles have flippers. 鲸、海豹，企鹅和海龟均有鳍形肢。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 smothered   

（使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制

参考例句：

• He smothered the baby with a pillow. 他用枕头把婴儿闷死了。
• The fire is smothered by ashes. 火被灰闷熄了。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。