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Text 1
It's Tough at the Top
About the text:
Mount Everest: Peak on the crest of the Himalayas, in
Asia. The highest point on earth, with a summit at 8 848 m, it
lies on the border between Nepal and Tibet, China. Numerous
attempts to climb Everest were made from 1921;the summit was
finally reached by E.Hillary of New Zealand and Jenzing Norgay
of Nepal in 1953. In dispute is whether the English explorer
George Mallory had actually reached the peak earlier, in 1924.
Language notes
1. Mount Everest:珠穆朗玛峰.
2.
In simple carefully stitched letters was written: G Mallory.
Stitched letters were the letters written on cloth.
3.
As a climber, to know what Mallory did was phenomenal.
Phenomenal: very unusual.
4.reconnaissance
expedition: refers to a pioneer expedition.
5
…his early enthusiasm began to wane.
Began to wane: became less strong.
6.geologist:地质学家
7.He
threw his lot in with Irvine and the pair set off on their
fatal summit bid.
Their fatal summit bid: their final strife for the summit
which caused their death.
8.hypothermia:
体温过低
9.autopsy:
postmortem.
Text 2
Visions On Ice
About the text:
Wally Herbert is a polar
explorer of International distinction—"the greatest polar
explorer of our time", according to Sir Ranulph Fiennes; a
"phenomenon" according to the late Lord Shackleton, and a man
"whose determination and courage", according to His Royal
Highness, Prince Charles, "are of such heroic proportions that
his country should mark his achievements eventually by having
him stuffed and put on display!"
Meanwhile, in recognition
of his polar achievements, he has received a string of those
more conventional honors and awards: among them the Polar
Medal and bar; the gold medals of several Geographical
Societies, and the highest honor of the Explorers Club (the
so-called Explorers Medal). He has a mountain range and a
plateau named after him in the Antarctic; the most northerly
mountain in the Svalbard Group named after him in the Arctic
and, besides being an explorer with biographical entries in
Who's Who in the World, the encyclopedias and the Guinness
Book of Records, he is also a prize winning author with nine
books so far to his credit, and an artist whose paintings are
now owned by Royals and investors all over the World.
In 1999, Wally Herbert was
knighted in recognition of his achievements.
Language notes:
1.
Shackleton called it a "phenomenon" and HRH Prince Philip,
the expedition's patron, hailed it as "an achievement which
ranks among the greatest triumphs of human skill and
endurance."
In the sentence the word "phenomenon" means "a wonder".
e.g. The huge success of her books makes her
a remarkable phenomenon of the mid-1970s.
2.
Today, among his contemporaries in polar exploration Herbert
is a guru and Sir Ranulph Fiennes says:
Guru: respected or influential teacher
or authority.
3.
His navigation, field craft and logistics are superb and his
awareness of what dogs can and can't do unparalleled.
Logistics:后勤
4.Inverness
，a port city in Britain.
5.In
his environment, Herbert is the Sean Connery of all James
Bonds.
Sean Connery:(1930-) British actor, most recognized for starring
as the sophisticated British secret agent James Bond.
6.It
was precisely the moment that the Astronaut Jack Young took
the famous photograph of the "Earthrise" from the
moon.
Earthrise:地出（从月球或宇宙飞船，地球似从月球的地平线升起）
7.A
physiotherapist would probably tell me that I didn't want
to be a child, which is probably true.
Physiotherapist: a doctor who uses physiotherapeutic methods
to treat patients.
8.Gradually
Herbert achieved historic journeys, mapping some 38 000 square
miles of previously unexplored country in the Nimrod Glacier
region and the Queen Maud Range from 1960-62 and retracing
Amundsen's route on the Axel Hiberg Glacier on the fiftieth
anniversary of his descent of those icefalls in 1952.
The word "map" can be used as a verb which means "to draw a
map of".
9.And
then with soaring ambitions he returned to England to gather
the support of distinguished polar explorers so that the Royal
Geographical Society would approve his expedition to cross
the Arctic Ocean.
Royal Geographical Society:英国皇家地理学会。
10.In
1971 he set out with his wife and baby daughter, Kari for
north-west Greenland to live with the Polar Eskimos.
Polar Eskimos:住在极地的爱斯基摩人。
11.His
youngest daughter Pascale was killed in a freak electrical
accident four years ago which the whole family are struggling
to come to terms with.
Come to terms with: to accept the
reality of.
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