外研社選修8課文英文版

1、必修 8Module 1Deep SouthAntarctica: the Last ContinentAntarctica is the coldest place on Earth. Its also the driest. With annual rainfall close to zero, Antarctica is technically a desert. Covering about 14 million square kilometers around the South Pole, it is the fifth largest continent in the world

2、. A high mountain range,the Trans-Antarctic range, runs from east to west, cutting the continent in two. There are volcanoes too, but they are not very active. Antarctica holds 90% of the world sice, and most of its freshwater (70%) isin a frozen state, of course. 98% of the surface iscovered perman

3、ently in the ice cap.On averageit is two kilometersthick, but in some placesit reachesa depth of five kilometers.Strong winds driven by gravity blow from the pole to the coastline,while other winds blow round the coast. It is difficult to imagine amore inhospitable place.Yet Antarctica is full wildl

4、ife, which hasadapt ed to its extremeconditions. There are different types of penguins, flying birds, seals, and whales. But the long Antarctic winter night, which lasts for 182 days (the longest period of continuous darkness on earth), as wellas the extreme cold and lack of rainfall, means that few

5、 types of plants can survive there. Only two types of flowering plants are found, while there are no trees on the large continent. The rest ofthe plants are made up of mosses, algae and lichen. Some forms of algae have adapted to grow on ice.Most of the ice has been there for thousands of years. As

6、aresult,ithasbecomeawindowonthepast,andcangiveresearchers lots of useful information. Gases and minerals,in theform of volcanic dust trapped in the ice, can tell us a lot about what the world sclimate was like in past ages. Antarctic rocks are also very important for research. Most of them are meteo

7、rites from outerspace. One rock, known as the “Alien ”rock, may contain evidence of extra-terrestrial life.Since most Antarctic rocks are dark in colour, theystand outagainst the white background and are easy to identify and collect.Antarctica was the last continent to be discovered. But morethan tw

8、o thousandyears ago Greek geographersbelievedthatthere was a large land mass in the south whichbalance d the landin the north. They called it Anti-Arktikos, or Antarcica: the opposite of Arcitc. When Europeans discovered the continent of America in15th century, the great age of exploration began. Ho

9、wever, progressto the South ole was slow.Not untilthe late 18 th centurydid theBritish explorer James Cook cross the Antarctic Circle, but he never saw land. Then in 1895, a Norwegian called Carstens Borchgrevink became the first man to set foot on the Antarctic mainland. The race to the pole had be

10、gun. It was finally reached on11th December, 1911 by the Norwegian Roald Amundsen.Today scientists from many countriestravel to Antarcticatostudy its resources. A spirit of international friendship has replacedthe rivalry that existed between many of theearlier explorers.In1961, a treaty signed by 1

11、2 countries, including Britain, France, andthe USA made Antarctica the worlds biggest nature reserve. Theaim of the treaty is to prevent the commercial and military use of thecontinent.In particular , it aims to keepAntarcticafreefromnuclear tests and radioactive waste; topromoteinternationalscienti

12、fic projects; and to end arguments about who owns the land.Today countries representing 80%of the world s populationhavesigned the treaty. Antarctica hasbecomeperhapsthemostsuccessfulsymbol of man s effortsto worktogetherforprogressand peace.How Failure Became SuccessOn 8 th August, 1914, 27 men who

13、 had replied to an advertisement in The Times boarded a ship leaving for the Antarctic. The name ofthe ship was the Endurance and the captain was an Irishman calledErnest Shackleton.The aim of the journey was to cross the frozen continentviathe South Pole journey of 1,800 miles. Shackletonthought th

14、ejourney would last six months.But whenland cameintosight , the Endurancebecametrapped in the ice and began to break up. Shackleton and his menwatched the Endurancesink intothe icy sea. They thenhead ednorth , pulling three lifeboats behind them.After six days, bad weatherforce d them to give upand

15、themen set up camp on a sheet of ice which began slowly movingacross the Antarctic Circle.They survived on the ice for five months. Then, on 16th April,1915, Shackleton saw land. It was Elephant Islandlarge rock withnothing growing on it, but much better than a floating piece of ice.When they reache

16、d the island, Shackletoncame up withan idea it was ariskbut he would have to take it. He and five men wouldtake one ofthelifeboats,andsail 800milestoSouthGeorgia,wheretherewasa permanentcamp. They couldthenreturn torescue the rest of the men.IttookShackleton17days torachSouthGeorgia.Unfortunately he

17、 landed on the wrong side of the island, and had towalk 36 hoursover mountainsto reachthe camp.The whalehunters all the camp couldn tbelieve their eyes when they saw the six men walking down from the mountains.Shackleton kept his promise. More than three months later, he returned to Elephant Island

18、to rescue the crew he had beenforced to abandon. He had failed to reach the pole but he had saved the lives of all his men.Welcome to the South Poles!South Poles? How many are there?In fact, there are three South Poles: a ceremonial Pole, which is onthe moving glacier, a geographical or true Pole, a

19、nd a magnetic Pole which changes its position according to the movement of the Earth.Is it safe?Becausethe South Pole is a high altitudesite, the glareof thesunlight here is very intense . It salso reflected by the snow, so if you go outside, remember to wear sunglasses and use suncream.If you don t

20、there ssevereget badly sunburnt.Is it cold?Yes! Beverycarefuloutrisk that you lldamage your eyesight orin the openair! The temperatureisbetween minus 21 C in the summer and minus 78 C in the winter, and you can become numb with cold without realizing.There s heavy frost even on the warmest summer da

21、ys, and if it quiet you can hear your breath freeze. So if you leave the station, dress warmly and carry dry clothing and a portable radio. Is there anything good about the weather?sThe air is very pure, and it doesntsnow very muchonly aboutfour millimeters a year. Theres very little wind and the sk

22、y is usuallyclear. It s possibly the calmest place on Earth.What sit like to live here?Life is quite abnormal.Sunrise and sunset come once every sixmonths,and in thewinter the total absenceofdaylightcanbetiresome, and for some, depressing. Were totallyisolatedexceptfor radio and electronic communica

23、tions, as noaircraftcan fly herefor about eight months.Where do we live?The SouthPole scientific station is situated on aplatformofice,3,000-4,000 metres high, but under only a few millimetres of snow.We have aminimumof 28 people living here in the winter and amaximumof 125 inthe summer. Theliving q

24、uartersare modest,with fewluxuries, but cosy. There sacomfortabledormitoryforsleeping, the canteen serve great food, and theres a well-stockedlibrary of DVDs and videos.But showers and laundry are limited,becausewaterisveryvaluable.Wediscourageyoufromsmokingexcept in specific areas. Medical assistan

25、ce is availablein case ofan emergency .Any other advice?Remember that conventional equipment doesn talways work as it should do. If you use an electric drill , the power cord will snap . Photography is tricky too, as film is fragile and the camera batterydoesntwork in the cold.Don t leaveanyrubbish,

26、anddont forgetthat theecologyofAntarctica is very delicate, so donttake any souvenirs home withyou, and be careful to leave nothing but footprints.Finally, remember that were all visitors to the South Pole. It sa privilege, not a right to come to this extraordinary place.The Travels of Marco PoloThe

27、 year is 1271 AD. Imagine a 17-year-old boy from Venice Italy, well-educated and trained for life as a rich trader. He sets off withhis father and uncleon a 25-year journey tomysterious, distantlands that most people in Europe have neverheardof. While ontheir journey buyingand selling spices, silksa

28、ndjewels, theybefriendone of the most powerful men on Earth, Kubla Khan.The boy sname was Marco Polo and many years later a bookabout his travels was publishedwhich made him famous. MarcoPolo told his fantastic stories to a writer named Rustichellowhowrote them down for him. This man was well-known

29、for his storiesand romantic tales of the legendaryEnglishKing Arthur, but somany people doubted the reliability of his book the Travels of MarcoPolo. However, Chinese historians have found obscure names andfacts in the book that could only have been known to someoneintimatewith the country.Many of M

30、arco s stories were about China and its people. Hetold stories about the towns, cities and populations in great detail.He described the amazing things he saw in China such as papermoney and black stone that burned (coal).With very little contactbetween China and the West,it is not surprising that pe

31、ople in arich powerful place like Venice could not believe his stories, nor inthe idea of huge, rich city statesinhabitedby millions of people.There could surely be no comparison with Venice?A generalmyth has grown up aroundMarco Polo that heintroduced suchthings as spaghetti and ice cream from Chin

32、a tothe West. There is no truth to any of these claims and actually theyare not mentioned in Marco Polos book.However, Marco Polo s book is still a unique insight for its age.Most importantly it was a great influence for many future travelers. Christopher Columbus left behind a well-worn copy that h

33、e read as inspiration on his own voyages to America.Module 2 The RenaissanceThe RenaissanceFor many people, the Renaissance means 14 th to 16 th century Italy, and the developments in art and architecture, music and literature which took place there all that time. But there is one work which, perhap

34、s more than any other, expresses the spirit of the Renaissance: the Mona Lisa. It is believed to be the best example of a new lifelike style of painting that amazed people when it wasfirst used. Painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the years 1503-1506, the Mona Lisa is a mysterious masterpiece. People wa

35、nt to knowwho Mona Lisa is, and why she is smiling.Even if people do notknowmuchabouttheRenaissance,theyhaveheardof thispainting.But the Renaissance is, of course, more than just Mona Lisa.Renaissanceis a Frenchword which means“rebirth ”and it firstappeared in English in the 19th century. The word w

36、as used to describe a period in European history which began with the arrivalof the first Europeans in America, and age of exploration, and the beginning of the modern world. It was as if Europe was waking up after the long sleep of the Middle Ages. From Italy, the ideas of the Renaissance rapidly s

37、pread northwards to France, Germany, England, and the rest of Europe.Trade with other parts of the world meant that Europe was getting richer, too. This meant that people had money to spend on the arts; and it became easier for artists to find people who couldafford to buy their works or employ them

38、. Leonardo worked for important people such as the Duke of Milan, and, towards the end of his life, the King of France.Renaissance artists found new ideas for their work in classical Greece and Rome. But they looked forward, too, by opening new frontiers in the arts. Painters discovered how to use p

39、erspective and the effects of light; composers put different voicestogether and created polyphony “many voices ”;architects preferred designing buildings with more light which contrasted with the heaviness of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages.The sense of exploration which motiveated the arti

40、sts went had in hand with a new type of philosophy. After centuries of accepting a medieval world view in which human life was considered of little value compared with the greatness of God,philosophersbegan asking questionslike “What is a person? ”or“Why am I here? ” For the first time, they put peo

41、ple, not religion, at the centre of the universe.The Renaissance was a time of scientific invention, too. Leonardo, as well as being one of the greatest painters the worldhas ever known, was also a skilled inventor. Wherever he went, he carried a notebook around with him, in which he wrote down his

42、ideas. They included detailed drawings of the human body, plansfor engineers to build canals and bridges, and astonishing drawings of machines which were not to be built until hundreds of years later, such as aeroplanes, parachutes, submarines and tanks. Towards the end of his life he was employed b

43、y the King of France to do scientific research, and he did not have a lot of time for painting.In short, Leonardo was an extraordinary genius, an exampleof what has beendescribedas “Renaissanceman ”: someoneinterested in everything and with many different talents. But even ifhis only contributionto

44、history had been the Mona Lisa, it wouldhave been genius enough for all time.ThursdayWe arrived on the overnight ferry to the Hook of Holland and took atrain to Amsterdam Central Station. It was only a short ride. Itsnoteasy to find your way around the town. A lot of the roads follow the canals whic

45、h aren tstraight but are shaped like horseshoes. So you can walk along a street for half an hour of so and end up fiveminutes from where you started. However, most people dontwalkthere are three million bikes in town and a good bus and tram system. There are boats, too. About half of them are for to

46、urists, the others are houseboats with people living on them. We spent thewhole day walking. Tomorrow were going to rent bikes.FridayWe spent today looking at houses. The architecture is astonishing,quite different from other Europeancountries we ve been to. Thehouses are tall and thin, and many of

47、them have a fantasticallyornate Renaissanceappearance. In the MiddleAges thehouseswere made of wood. Then, at the end of the 15th century there wasa huge fire and about three quarters of the town wasdestroyed.After that, houses were made of brick. Unlikeotherplaces inEurope, where house owners were

48、taxed onthe sizeof theirwindows, here the taxes depended on the width of the housesothey kept them narrow, but built them tall. Well, thats what Clairesays, and she read it in the guidebook.SaturdayWe visited the VanGogh Museum, insteadof the morefamousRijksmuseum.It was astonishing.I hadn treally l

49、ooked at any ofVan Gogh s paintings before. He seems to have re-invented the art.It doesn tmatter whether he is doing a portrait of a landscapehesa genius. In the last 70 days of his life before he short himselfhe produced 70 paintings, and I reckon theyre almost all masterpieces. Yet in all his lif

50、e Van Gogh only ever sold one painting! We must have spent three hours in that museum. Whenwe came out I told Claire I thought Van Gogh was the greatest painter in history. She reminded me that we were leaving for Paris tomorrow, where we were going to see the most famous painting in the world The p

51、uzzle of the Mona LisaThe Mona Lisa is the subject of many stories, but there is one anecdote which remains a puzzle. Is the painting in the Louvre the authentic work by Leonardo da Vinci or just a copy?The story began one day in 1911 when someone noticed the Mona Lisa was missing. A spokesman said,

52、 “The burglar left the antique frame and the glass behind. He must have gone throughthe basement to the main courtyard. A passerby saw a man with a moustache, carrying a parcel under his arm, dash over the street crossing, along to the crossroads. He then fled down a sideroad.We re appealing to anyo

53、ne who saw the suspect to contact us.”So we stole the Mona Lisa? And why? News about the loss oftheMonaLisa was circulated in allthe French newspapers,andthere was a widespread search for the burglar all over the country.Hepolicesaid, “we don tthinktheburglar wasworkingalone.We re seeking a gang of criminals.”Twoyears later, a man withamoustachewent toanartdealer in Florence in Italy and made a ten