高中英语unit 1 nothing ventured, nothing gained(part 2)--section 2 背景知识

Unit 1 Nothing ventured, nothing gained
Part Two: Teaching Resources
Section 2: Background information for Unit 1 Nothing ventured, nothing gained 1. About Antarctica
Antarctica is a continent surrounding the Earth's South Pole. It is the coldest place on Earth and is almost entirely covered by ice; however, it is also the world's largest desert. It is not to be confused with the Arctic, which is located near the Earth's North Pole on the opposite side of the planet.
Although myths and speculation about a Terra Australis ("Southern Land") go back to antiquity, the first commonly accepted sighting of the continent occurred in 1820 and the first verified landing in 1821 by the Russian expedition of Mikhail Lazarev and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. (See also History of Antarctica.)
With an area of 13,200,000 km², Antarctica is the fifth largest continent, after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. However, it is by far the smallest in population: indeed, it has no permanent population at all. It is also the continent with the highest average altitude, and the lowest average humidity of any continent on Earth, as well as the lowest average temperature.
2. Climate of Antarctica.
Antarctica is the coldest place on earth. Temperatures reach a minimum of between -85 and -90 degrees Celsius in the winter and about 30 degrees higher in the summer months. Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent, leaving the center cold and dry. There is little precipitation over the continent, but ice there can
last for extended time periods. Nearly all of Antarctica is covered by an ice sheet that is, on average, 2.5 kilometers thick.
At the edge of the continent, strong katabatic winds off the polar plateau often blow at storm force. In the interior, however, windspeeds are often moderate. Depending on the latitude, long periods of constant darkness, or constant sunlight, mean that climates familiar to humans are not generally available on the continent. Geography
3. Geography of Antarctica
The continent of Antarctica is located mostly south of the Antarctic Circle, surrounded by the Southern Ocean. Physically Antarctica is divided in two by mountains close to the neck between the Ross Sea and the Weddell Sea. The portion of the continent west of the Weddell Sea and east of the Ross Sea is called Western Antarctica and the remainder Eastern Antarctica, since they correspond roughly to the eastern and western hemispheres relative to the Greenwich meridian. Western Antarctica is 4. Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874 - 1922)
Ernest Shackleton has become an example of brilliant leadership ability. From an early age, Sir Ernest Shackleton knew he would become an explorer: 'I seemed to vow to myself that some day I would go to the region of ice and snow and go on and on till I came to one of the poles of the earth, the end of the axis upon which this great round ball turns.' This dream explains why he didn't become a doctor as his father wanted. Instead, he went to sea at the age of 16, travelling through the Far East and America and by the age of 24 had qualified to become a Master, making him able to captain
a British ship on any sea.
On leave in London in 1900, Shackleton volunteered for Scott's National Antarctic Expedition. Shackleton, having impressed those close to the expedition with his personality, was chosen to go with Scott to the South Pole on the famous Discovery expedition in the summer of 1901.
The trip would be a bittersweet one, as Shackleton became seriously ill on the journey and had to be returned home. It was not an empty journey, however, as Shackleton gained invaluable experience in Antarctic expeditioning. Once recovered, he was asked to take a ship to rescue Scott and dissuade him from continuing for another winter at the Pole. Shackleton declined, wanting not to save Scott, but 'prove himself a better man' with his own expedition.
His dream was realised as commander of the Nimrod Expedition (1907-09), during which his team climbed Mount Erebus, made numerous important scientific discoveries and set a record by coming within 97 miles of the South Pole.
Knighted in 1909, he commanded another voyage from 1914-1916 on the Endurance. The ship was crushed in the ice in 1915, yet he led his men to safety against all odds-making an incredible journey across 800 frozen miles to South Georgia to get aid--a testament to his skill as a leader of men.
Shackleton's last journey would be with the goal of circumnavigating the Antarctic continent. Under great mental and physical stress, Shackleton died on South Georgia Island where his wife insisted he be buried.。