Like Antarctica the Arctic is a land of ice and snow. Antarctica holds the record of a low temperature reading 125 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. Readings of 85 degrees below zero are common in both the Arctic and Antarctica. Winter temperatures average 30 degrees below zero in the Arctic. At the South Pole winter temperature 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 the far North and the polar South.

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

　　 People 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 been 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.

　　1．What does the underlined word "chill" probably mean?

　　 A．Coldness. 　　　　　　B．Coolness.

　　 C．Damp. D．Desert.

　　解析：猜测词义题。根据前面的the low temperature可知这个画线词表示"寒冷"。

　　答案：A

2．One of the reasons why there is no man living in Antarctica and in parts of