Antarctica Land of the Penguins

Antarctica, land of the penguins.

南极洲，企鹅的家园。

What is Antarctica? Antarctica is that magical land at the far south of the world. It's so wild and beautiful that it's hard to describe what it feels like to be there.

南极洲是什么？南极洲是位于世界最南端的一片神奇土地。 它原始又美丽，置身其中的感受简直难以用语言形容。

It is the coldest, windiest place on Earth, with temperatures as low as minus 89 degrees centigrade, minus 129 degrees Fahrenheit. The southern ocean that surrounds it has larger waves and stronger winds than anywhere else on Earth. It seems hard to believe that anything could live in such a place. However, one kind of bird survives there in large numbers. The penguin.

它是地球上最冷、风最大的地方，气温最低可达零下89度 摄氏度，也就是零下129华氏度。环绕它的南大洋有着比地球上其他任何地方都 更汹涌的海浪和更强劲的狂风。 很难相信有生物能在这样的地方生存。不过，有一种鸟类 却在那里大量存活。它就是企鹅。

Antarctica is made up of the Antarctic mainland and the islands around it. The mainland is a huge rocky land covered with snow and ice. It was the last place on earth to be explored, and no humans make it their home. How the Arctic and the Antarctic are different. The Arctic includes the North Pole. No land, only ice floating on water. Polar bears and seals live there, but no penguins. The Antarctic includes the South Pole, a land covered in ice. Penguins and seals live there, but no polar bears.

南极洲由南极大陆和它周围的岛屿组成。南极大陆是 一片被冰雪覆盖的巨大岩石陆地。它是地球上最后一块被探索的地方， 没有人类在这里定居。北极和南极有什么不一样呢？北极包括 北极点。那里没有陆地，只有漂浮在水面上的冰。北极熊和海豹生活在那里， 但是没有企鹅。南极包括南极点，是一片被冰覆盖的陆地。企鹅和海豹 生活在那里，但是没有北极熊。

The Antarctic mainland is enormous. It is 58 times larger than the United Kingdom. In winter it doubles in size as the sea around it freezes. Most creatures can't survive inland during the winter. Some live on the coasts which are warmer, but most move further north to escape the extreme cold. The emperor penguin is one of the few creatures which can cope during these dark and freezing months.

南极大陆非常辽阔。它的面积是英国的58倍。在 冬天，周围的海水结冰，它的面积会扩大一倍。大多数生物无法 在冬天的内陆地区存活。有些住在更温暖的海岸边，但大多数会往更北的地方迁徙 来躲避极端严寒。帝企鹅是少数几种能 熬过这些黑暗又寒冷的月份的生物之一。

A land of snow If you dug down a hundred metres into the snow you would find snow that fell a thousand years ago. This snow has been pressed down and changed into ice. Over thousands of years the ice has built up into sheets that are over three kilometres thick. Some of this ice is half a million years old. Buried far beneath the snow and ice there is land. 70 % of the world's fresh water is trapped as ice. In places mountains poke through the ice.

冰雪之境 如果你往雪地里往下挖100米，你 会找到一千年前落下的雪。这些雪被不断挤压 之后变成了冰。数千年来，冰层不断堆积，厚度可达 3000米以上。有些冰已经有50万年的历史了。深埋在 冰雪之下的是陆地。全球70%的淡水资源都以冰的形态储存 在这里。有些地方的山峰露出了冰面。