綜合類：閱讀判斷The Cold Places

　　The Arctic is a polar region. It surrounds the North Pole.

　　Like Antarctica， the Arctic is a land of ice and snow. Antarctica holds the record for a low temperature reading ---125 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. Reading of 85 degrees below zero are common in both the Arctic and Antarctica. Winter temperatures average 30 d3egrees below zero in the Arctic. At the South Pole the winter average is about 73 degrees below zero.

　　One thing alone makes it almost impossible for men to live in Antarctica and in parts of the Arctic. This one thing is the low temperature --- the killing chill of far North and the polar South.

　　To survive， men must wear the warmest possible clothing. They must build windproof shelters. They must keep heaters going at al times. Not even for a moment can they be unprotected against the below-zero temperatures.

　　Men have a way of providing for themselves. Polar explorers wrap themselves in warm coats and furs. The cold makes life difficult. But the explorers can stay alive.

　　What about animals? Can they survive? Do we find plants? Do we find life in the Arctic and in Antarctica? Yes， we do. There is life in the oceans. There is life on land.

　　Antarctica， as we have seen， is a cold place indeed. But this has not always been the case. Expedition scientists have discovered that Antarctica has not always been a frozen continent. At one time the weather in Antarctica may have much like our own.

　　Explorers have discovered coal in Antarctica. This leads them to believe that Antarctica at one time was a land of swamps and forests. Heat and moisture must have kept the trees in the forests alive.

　　北極地區是個極地的區域，它把北極圍在中間。

　　如同南極洲，北極是一個冰雪覆蓋的大陸。南極洲最低記錄保持在華氏零下125度。無論是在北極還是在南極，華氏零下85度是很常見的。北極的冬天，氣溫平均在攝氏零下30度左右。而在另一端的南極，冬天的平均氣溫則在零下73度左右。

　　只有一件事情足以使得人類幾乎無法生存于南極和北極的一些地區，那就是它們的低氣溫——遙遠兩極要人命的寒冷天氣。

　　為了在兩極生存，人類必須盡可能穿最暖和的衣物，必須建立防風住所。而且必須確保全天候暖氣供應。對付零下的低溫，他們甚至連片刻也不能不作防護。

　　人類是有辦法裝備自己的。到南北極的探險者用溫暖的御寒大衣和皮衣把自己裹得嚴嚴實實的。盡管寒冷天氣使人難以生存，但南北極的探險家卻能夠頑強地生活在這兩片冰凍的大地上。

　　那么其他動物能在此生存嗎?有植物被發現嗎?我們在兩極里能找到生命嗎?是的，我們在冰洋上、雪地里找到了生命。

　　南極洲，在我們看來是一個如此寒冷冰封的大陸，但情況并不總是如此。遠征的科學家們發現，南極洲并不總是一個冰天雪地的大陸。曾經在某個時期，南極洲可能跟我們現在生活的大陸擁有同樣溫暖的氣候。

　　探險家們在南極發現了煤礦。這使他們有理由相信南極洲曾經是一片森林和沼澤。也許曾經溫暖和潮濕的空氣使這里的森林中的樹木茂盛地生長過。

　　★1).The lowest temperature that man has ever known was recorded in Antarctica.-R

　　★2).Winter temperatures average 85 degrees below zero in Antarctica.-W

　　★3).The Arctic and Antarctica are no man’s lands because of their notorious coldness.-W

　　★4).Polar explorers can stay alive without heaters and windproof shelters.-W

　　★5).Despite the hostile environment， both animals and plants can be found in the oceans and on land in polar areas.-R

　　★6).As discovered by expedition scientists， Antarctica has not always been so cold as it is today， so has the Arctic.-N

　　★7).At one time， the weather in Antarctica was so warm and damp that trees grew there.-R