英语听力：自然百科 冰冻星球 前往地球尽头—1

 Over one third of our planet is frozen, and yet the icy worlds of the Arctic and Antarctic are as alien to most of us as the surface of another planet. They are places of superlatives, from ice caps that hold nearly 80% of our planet's fresh water to frozen forests that encircle the entire globe. 

 

These are places that feed our imaginations, places that seem to be borrowed from fairy tales. They are dominated and shaped by the ice, both by its coming and by its going. This is our planet's last true wilderness¹, and one that is changing just as we're beginning to understand it.

 

In this series, we'll be traveling to all parts of these lonely lands both north and south, to witness its wonders perhaps for the last time, and to discover some extraordinary examples of survival against all the odds² as can be found anywhere on the planet.

 

The poles are permanently³ capped with ice. Nowhere is colder, windier or more hostile to life.

1 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

2 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

3 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。