📚 佳佳英语绘本第15期
蓝思值：500L | 适合中高阶英语学习者
Before You Read
Story Topic: A teenager joins her scientist parents at an Antarctic research station and discovers what it takes to live and work at the bottom of the world. Focus Grammar: 一般过去时不规则动词 & 复合句（because / although / when）
The Story: The Antarctic Research Station
The plane came in low over the white landscape. Emma pressed her face to the window and saw nothing but ice — miles and miles of it, shining under a pale sun that never set.
She was fourteen. Her parents had worked at the Antarctic Research Station for three years, and she was finally old enough to join them for the summer break.
The station looked nothing like she had expected. It was not one building but a group of low, connected structures painted red and yellow so they could be seen in snowstorms. Her father stood at the door and waved.
"Welcome to the end of the world," he said with a grin.
The first week was the hardest. The air was so cold that every breath hurt. The sun moved around the sky but never went down, which made sleeping difficult. Although Emma had read books about Antarctica, she had not understood what it would actually feel like to live there.
She learned to dress in layers — thermal undergarment, then wool, then the heavy orange parka that hung by the door. She learned to wipe condensation off her bedroom window every morning because the warm air inside met the cold air outside and turned to ice. She learned to walk carefully on the ice outside, because a fall here could send you sliding toward the ocean.
Her mother's work was the most interesting part. Dr. Chen studied climate change by reading ice cores — long cylinders of ice drilled from deep below the surface. "Each layer tells us the weather story of a different year," she explained. "We can read a thousand years of history in a single cylinder."
One afternoon, Emma went outside with her father to help repair a weather sensor on the hill. The wind came up fast and cold. Although they checked the forecast before they left, the weather at Antarctica has a mind of its own. They made it back to the station just as the whiteout began.
That night, Emma sat by the window and watched the aurora — green and purple light that danced across the sky. She thought about what her mother had said. The ice had a story. Everything had a story. Even her, a fourteen-year-old from California, had become part of the story of this place.
Word Check · 词汇表
| Word | 自然拼读 | 音标 | 中文 | English Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| landscape | landscape | /ˈlændskeɪp/ | 地貌 | the way a place looks from above |
| Antarctica | antarctica | /æntˈɑːktɪkə/ | 南极洲 | the most southern continent on Earth |
| ice | ice | /aɪs/ | 冰 | frozen water |
| pale | pale | /peɪl/ | 苍白的 | light in color |
| research station | research station | /rɪˈsɜːtʃ ˈsteɪʃən/ | 科考站 | a place where scientists work |
| parka | parka | /ˈpɑːkə/ | 派克大衣 | a warm jacket with a hood |
| ice core | ice core | /aɪs kɔː/ | 冰芯 | a long piece of ice taken from deep underground |
| climate change | climate change | /ˈklaɪmət tʃeɪndʒ/ | 气候变化 | long-term changes in weather patterns |
| whiteout | whiteout | /ˈwaɪtaʊt/ | 乳白天空 | a storm where you cannot see anything |
| aurora | aurora | /ɔːˈrɔːrə/ | 极光 | colored lights in the sky near the poles |
| thermal | thermal | /ˈθɜːməl/ | 保暖的 | keeping warmth in |
| layer | layer | /ˈleɪə/ | 层 | a covering of one thing over another |
| cylinder | cylinder | /ˈsɪlɪndə/ | 圆柱体 | a shape with two round ends and flat sides |
| surface | surface | /ˈsɜːfɪs/ | 表面 | the outside or top of something |
Grammar Focus: 不规则动词过去时 & 复合句
不规则动词过去式对照表：
| 现在时 | 过去时 | 含义 | |--------|--------|------| | come | came | 来 | | see | saw | 看见 | | go | went | 去 | | learn | learned | 学习 | | say | said | 说 | | take | took | 拿 | | make | made | 做 | | read | read | 读 | | think | thought | 想 | | stand | stood | 站立 | | learn | learned | 学习 | | wear | wore | 穿 | | write | wrote | 写 |
复合句练习（because / although / when）：
1. Emma came to Antarctica. Her parents worked there. → Emma came to Antarctica because her parents worked there.
2. The weather was cold. They went outside. → Although the weather was cold, they went outside.
3. Emma watched the aurora. She finished her dinner. → Emma watched the aurora when she finished her dinner.
Critical Thinking
1. Why does Emma say the first week was the hardest?
2. What does the ice core tell scientists about climate?
3. How is living in Antarctica different from where you live? What would you find most surprising?