特别广播英语第 312 课：Welcome to the Bottom of the World
南极大陆─世界最后的净土-2

Thus, the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was in Antarctica in July, 1983: 因此，地球上的最低温度记录就是在1983年7月的南极洲：

Soviet scientists shivered through temperatures that fell to minus 89.2 degrees Celsius. 前苏联科学家在降至摄氏零下89.2度的低温中瑟瑟发抖。

For centuries, Europeans wondered about the existence of a South-Polar continent, but no one actually knew for certain Antarctica was there until 1820 when European explorers "discovered" it. 几个世纪以来，欧洲人一直在猜测是否存在南极洲，直到1820年欧洲的探险家"发现"了它，人们才真正确定南极洲的存在。

Since then, men have gone to Antarctica in search of adventure. 从那以后，人们开始去南极洲探险。

Testing their abilities, several teams of explorers set out in 1911 to be the first men to stand at the South Pole. 1911年，几支探险队为了验证自己的能力出发去南极洲，希望能成为站在南极极点的先锋。

Norwegian Roald Amundsen and his men reached the pole; so did Robert F. Scott, an Englishman, but he and his team died on the return trip. 挪威人罗德·阿蒙森和队友抵达了极点。英国人罗伯特·F·斯科特也做到了，不过他和他的队友却在回程中不幸丧生。

Once completely inaccessible, Antarctica has more recently been playing host to adventurers seeking excitement, scientists interested in experimenting, and companies looking to exploit this wild terrain for profit: 曾经遥不可及的南极洲，近来却开始接待寻求刺激的冒险家、有兴趣做实验的科学家和打算开发这片荒原获利的公司。

gold, uranium, and oil are just some of the valuable resources which lie beneath the continent's icy covering. 黄金，铀和石油只不过是埋藏在南极冰层下宝贵资源中的几种而已。