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课件网) 新北师大版高中英语必修二Unit5 Humans and Nature Race to the Pole Background knowledge The South Pole It is located on Antarctica, one of the Earth’s seven continents. It is the southernmost point on the Earth. The South Pole has low temperatures and humidity and high elevation, making it an outstanding place to study astronomy. Look at the photos of Antarctica. What difficulties do you think explorers may face there Activate and Share temperature transportation weather terrain ... [t re n] n. 地形 What preparations do the explorers need to make Activate and Share Try to think: How would they get food What’s their way of transportation How would they get over the harsh weather carry or depot enough food, build food bases... sledges, skis... carefully choose the optimal travel time... Here is an account of two teams’ journeys to the South Pole. Read the text and find out when the two journeys began and what happened to the two teams. Read and Explore On 1 June, 1910, Captain Robert Falcon Scott left London to begin his journey to Antarctica. While he was on the way to Antarctica, he received a message from the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen which said he was going south, too. Then the race to the South Pole began! During the polar summer of 1910 — 1911, both teams organised food bases in preparation for their journeys the next year. Then came the total darkness of the polar winter. Scott and Amundsen waited anxiously for spring. Read and Explore Amundsen was the first to leave on 8 September, 1911. He had teams of dogs pulling the sledges and all his men were on skis. Because of this, he made rapid progress. Scott left on 1 November and soon had problems. First, his two sledges broke down and then the horses began to have serious difficulties with the snow and the cold. After a while, Scott and his men had to push the sledges themselves. Amundsen reached the Pole on 14 December, 1911 and put a Norwegian flag there. Then he prepared for the return journey. Amundsen and his team arrived safely back to their starting base on 25 January, 1912, ten days ahead of their planned schedule. Read and Explore Scott finally arrived at the Pole with four team members on 17 January, 1912. They were shocked when they saw the Norwegian flag. Scott wrote in his diary: “Well, we have now lost the goal of our ambition and must face 800 miles of hard pushing — and goodbye to most of our dreams.” The return journey was one of the worst in the history of exploration. The men were soon very tired and were running out of food. The weather conditions were terrible. Scott started to realise their hopeless situation: “We are very cheerful, but what each man feels in his heart I can only guess. Putting on our shoes in the morning is getting slower and slower.” Read and Explore However, on their way back they found time to look for rocks. They carried twenty kilos of rocks all the way with them. Later, ... ...
