英语听力：自然百科 冰冻星球 前往地球尽头(18)（在线收听）

They were travelling on foot and their first sight of this mountains must have been daunting indeed. In front of them stretched one of the world's longest ranges, spanning two thousand miles from one side of the continent to the other. The winds uphill are the fastest on earth. They reach speeds of two hundreds an hour. An ice capped mountain bears its cuts of the gales, bizarre sculptures carved from solid ice. It's not only the ice that yields. This sculpture spire is surrender of a mountain that raided from all sides by the ferocious elements. Beyond, a holy unexpected landscape, the dry valleys. Only one percent of Antarctica is free of ice, and most of that bear rock. It's here. The dry valleys are more like the surface of Mars than is any other place on earth. The floor is covered with extraordinary natural sculptures, created by the same winds that help to keep these valleys free of snow. Over time, entire boulders are weathered from the inside out until just a shell remains. At the head of these valleys, ice is making a breakthrough. Millions of tons are tumbling in slow motion into the valley.

他们徒步旅行，第一眼看到这座山脉一定会感到畏惧。在他们前面的是世界上最长的山脉之一,从大陆一端到另一端绵延二千英里。在顶端的风是地球上最快的。它们时速达到每小时两百公里。一个冰覆盖的山顶削减了风的作用,山顶充满了奇形怪状固体冰的雕刻。它不仅是冰的杰作。这座雕塑是因一座山对于四面八方凶猛的因素侵袭的一种妥协才造成的。此外,这里还有一处神圣的意想不到的风景——干谷。南极洲只有百分之一的冰是自由的,并且大部分都是坚硬的岩石。它就在这里。干谷更像是火星表面而非地球上任何其他地方。地上覆盖着非凡的天然雕塑,由相同的风创造,帮助保持这些山谷的自由积雪。随着时间的推移,整个大圆石由内而外风化直到最近的遗迹形成。在这些山谷的源头,冰正在突破。数百万吨的冰慢慢涌进山谷。