Tonight I'm going to talk to you about that remarkable continent Antarctica - remote, hostile and at present uninhabited on a permanent basis. For early explorers, it was the ultimate survival contest; for researchers like me, it remains a place of great intellectual challenge; while for the modern tourist, it's simply a wilderness of great beauty.
First, some facts and figures. Antarctica is a place of extremes - the highest, coldest and windiest continent and over fifty-eight【Q31】 times the size of the UK. The ice-cap contains almost 70% of the world's fresh water and 90% of its ice, but with very low snowfall, most of the continent technically falls unbelievably into the category of 'desert'!【Q32】 Huge icebergs break off the continent each year, while in winter half the surrounding ocean freezes over, which means its size almost doubles.
Research and exploration has been going on in Antarctica for more than two hundred years, and has involved scientists from many different countries, who work together on research stations. Here science【Q33】 and technical support have been integrated in a very cost-effective way - our Antarctic research programme has several summers-only stations and two all-year-round ones;
I was based on one of the all-year-round ones. The research stations are really self-contained communities of about twenty people. There's living and working space, a kitchen with a huge food store, a small hospital【Q34】 and a well-equipped gym to ensure everyone keeps fit in their spare time. The station generates its own electricity and communicates with the outside world using a satellite link.
Our station - Zero One - had some special features. It wasn't built on land but on an ice-shelf, hundreds of metres thick. Supplies were brought to us on large sledges from a ship【Q35】 fifteen kilometres away at the ice edge.
Living in the Antarctic hasn't always been so comfortable. Snow build-ups caused enormous problems for four previous stations on the same site, which were buried and finally crushed by the weight. Fortunately no-one was hurt, but these buildings became a huge challenge to architects who finally came up with a remarkable solution - the buildings are placed on platforms【Q36】 which can be raised above the changing snow level on legs which are extendable.
Food is one of the most important aspects of survival in a polar climate. People living there need to obtain a lot more energy from their food, both to keep warm and to undertake heavy physical work. Maybe you know that an adult in the UK will probably need about 1,700 kilocalories a day on average; someone in Antarctica will need about 3,500【Q37】 - just over double! This energy is provided by foods which are high in carbohydrate and fat.
Rations for fieldwork present an additional problem. They need to provide maximum energy, but they must also be compact and light for easy transport. Special boxes are prepared, each containing enough food for one person for twenty days. You may be familiar with coffee processed by freeze-drying, which preserves the quality of the food product while making a large saving in weight - well, this type of presentation is ideal in our situation. It wasn't available to earlier polar explorers, whose diet was commonly insufficient for their health.
I think that being at the cutting edge of science has a special appeal for everyone working in Antarctica, in whatever capacity. As a marine biologist, my own research was fascinating; but it's perhaps climate change research that is the most crucial field of study.
Within this general field, surveying changes in the volume and stability of the ice-cap is vital, since these may have profound effects on world sea levels and on ocean currents【Q38】. A second important area is monitoring the size of the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica, since this is an indicator of global ultra-violet radiation levels. Thirdly, bubbles in the ice-sheet itself provide an index of pollution【Q39】 because frozen inside them are samples of previous atmospheres over the past 500,000 years, and these provide us with evidence for the effects of such human activities as agriculture and industry.
There are an increasing number of opportunities for young【Q40】 people to work for a period in Antarctica - not only as research assistants in projects like mine, but also in a wide range of junior administrative and technical positions including vacancies for map-makers. I hope that the insights I've provided will encourage you to take up these opportunities in this fascinating continent.
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
题干定位词是“highest, coldest and windiest”和“times”，通过预测，答案应为数字。原文中说“Antarctica is a place of extremes — the highest, coldest and windiest continent and over fifty-eight times the size of the UK.”南极洲是一个极地——最高、最寒冷、风最大的大陆，其面积是英国的 58 倍。题干中的“more than”被原文中的“over”替换，“as big as”被转换成“...times the size of ”，在这句话中表示倍数。答案为 58。
原文中说“The ice-cap contains almost 70% of the world’s fresh water and 90% of its ice, but with very low snowfall, most of the continent technically falls unbelievably into the category of ‘desert’!”这个被冰覆盖的大洲含有世界上近 70% 的淡水资源和 90% 的冰，但由于降雪量非常小，令人难以置信的是大陆的大部分地区在学术上被列为“沙漠”地带！题干中的“area”和原文中的“continent”为同义转换，题干中的“classified as”被录音中的“category of ”替换，随即出现的“desert”为同义替换。
原文中说“Here science and technical support have been integrated in a very cost-effective way — our Antarctic research programme has several summers-only stations and two all-year-round ones; I was based on one of the all-year-round ones.”这里的科学和技术支持已经被用一种非常经济有效的方式整合——我们的南极研究项目有几个夏天的站点，有两个全年的站点，我在一个全年的站点进行研究。题干中的
“international teams”和原文中的“different countries”意思相近，题干中的“____ is integrated with technical support”和录音中的“science and technical support have been integrated”为同义转换，答案即为 science。
原文中说“There’s living and working space, a kitchen with a huge food store, a small hospital and a well equipped gym to ensure everyone keeps fit in their spare time.”这儿有生活和工作的空间，有一个带有巨大食物储藏柜的厨房、一所小医院和一个装备精良的健身房，以确保每个人都能在自己的闲暇时间里保持健康。题干中的“accommodation”被替换成“living space”，而“work areas”被替换成“working space”，空格前后的“kitchen”和“gym”都在录音中原词重现，答案为 small hospital。
题干定位词是“Zero One”, 通过预测，介词“from”后面可能接地点或时间。原文中说“Supplies were brought to us on large sledges from a ship fifteen kilometers away at the ice edge.”物资是用大雪橇从 15 公里以外的冰面边缘的轮船运给我们的。“sledge”是“雪橇”的意思。答案为 ship。
题干定位词“building”，后面有“on”，预测答案为地点或时间。原文中说“Fortunately no-one was hurt, but these buildings became a huge challenge to architects who finally came up with a remarkable solution—the buildings are placed on platforms which can be raised above the changing snow level on legs which are extendable.”所幸没有人受伤，但这些建筑成为了建筑师的巨大挑战，虽然这些建筑师最终想出来了一个非常好的解决方案——这个建筑被放在平台上，平台可以被能延长的支撑腿抬到时常变化的雪平面以上。答案为 platforms。
这道题的定位词是“average”和“daily requirement”。原文中说“Maybe you know that an adult in the UK will probably need about 1,700 kilocalories a day on average; someone in Antarctica will need about 3,500 — just over double!”也许你知道，一个英国成年人可能平均每天需要约 1700 千卡的热量，在南极洲将需要约 3500 千卡——刚好超过一倍。“approximately”和“about”是同义转换，其后的 3500 为答案。
题干定位词是“ice-cap”，原文中说“Within this general field, surveying changes in the volume and stability of the ice-cap is vital, since these may have profound effects on world sea levels and on ocean currents.” 在这个一般的领域里，对冰盖的量化情况和稳定性的测量是至关重要的，因为这些可能会对世界海平面和洋流产生深远影响。“sea levels”听到后随之便是答案 ocean currents。
原文中提到“Thirdly, bubbles in the ice-sheet itself provide an index of pollution because frozen inside them are samples of previous atmospheres over the past 500,000 years…”第三，冰片中的气泡显示了污染指数， 因为里面冷冻的是过去 50 万年前珍贵的大气样本。题干中的“measure”( 测量 ) 被“provide an index of ”( 提供指数 ) 替换，答案为 pollution。
通过读题，判断空格处要填的是修饰“people”的词。录音中说“There are an increasing number of opportunities for young people to work for a period in Antarctica…”年轻人有越来越多的机会在南极洲工作一段时间。题干中的“opening”和原文中的“opportunities”为同义转换。答案为 young。
