Winter in Antarctica Staying Sane at the Bottom of the World
On Antarctica, the world's coldest continent, the average high temperature is -49 degrees Celsius. In the summer, the sun never sets, and in the winter, it never rises. Keeping sane there is its own special challenge. The McMurdo Station is a research base perched on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf, the world's largest body floating ice. The station is administered by the United States and is the largest community in Antarctica. Capable of supporting more than 1200 residents, the population of the station drops to 150 brave(perhaps foolish) people when winter begins in March. Their task is to maintain the station during the months of total night. The biologists, astronomers, geologists, and climate scientists who were there before, have gone, as any research is impossible in the brutal winter.
Antarctica 南极洲
sane 理智
perch on 坐落于
brutal 严酷的
Every day the remaining staff of maintenance personnel perform
their routine tasks and make repairs when needed. Sometimes they peer through the darkness toward their friends from New Zealand, at Scott Base, about two miles away. Though most of the time they're just voices on the radio, it's nice to have neighbors not too far away. Together, they share a power grid and one coast of a dark forbidding continent.
personnel 员工
power grid 电网
Though the days are dark and freezing cold in the depths of winter, the moon will rest above the horizon for weeks at a time. Its pale light illuminates the cold, craggy landscape as if acknowledging a companion and reaffirming the bonds of life. So even for those who live in the darkest part of the Earth, there's light.
at a time 每次
craggy 峻峭的，轮廓分明的
reaffirm 重申
bonds 纽带
“depths” means “the deepest part,most extreme or serious part of sth”
Chernobyl：lessons for the ...
On April 26,1986, Unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in northern Ukraine, then a part of the Soviet Union, was shut down for an unauthorized safety test. When the nuclear fuel rods hit the cooling water, the fission reaction accelerated out of control due to a sudden power surge. This caused the reactor to overheat and build up pressure until its structure failed and it blew up, releasing large amounts of radiation. It took officials a whole day to comprehend the scale of the disaster and to order an evacuation of the surrounding area. Some 50,000 people had to leave, not knowing that they would never return.
reactor 反应器
Ukraine 乌克兰
the Soviet Union 前苏联
shut down 停下
nuclear fuel rods 核燃料棒
fission 核（裂变）
surge 高峰，波涛
comprehend 理解
evacuation 疏散
In the following months, massive efforts were made to decontaminate the area while increased radiation levels were detected across much of Europe. Fallout from the disaster continues to this day, decades later, and long-term effects such as cancers are still being investigated. Estimates of the number of deaths that will eventually result from the accident vary enormously.
decontaminate 消毒，消除 污染
fallout 放射性坠尘
The forest area near the reactor site is one of the most radioactive places on Earth. Named the Red Forest because its trees turned a reddish-brown color as they died, the forest is trying to make a recovery. Animals such as elk and eagles have been seen in the area. And birch trees grow where the radioactive trees of the forest were bulldozed and buried by the Soviet government.
radioactive 放射性的
reddish-brown 红褐色
elk 驼鹿
birch 白桦树
bulldoze 推倒
Some people have returned as well, mostly former residents who returned illegally after the evacuation. The old company town of Pripyat, once home to 50,000 plant workers is still deserted, but is slowly being reclaimed by the forest. It seems that nature can recover and even thrive where humans cannot. Let's hope that humans can learn from this experience. Chernobyl, and more recently, Fukushima in Japan, have lessons to teach us.
reclaim 开垦