I 55
When Scott was 260 kilometers from the Pole, he sent all but four men back to the base camp. This was probably his most serious mistake. His tent was big enough for only four people, and he had only enough food and fuel for four. Somehow he had to provide for four people plus himself. Also, one man had left his skis
60 behind with some of the supplies. He had to walk in the snow, and this slowed down the whole group.
On January 17, 1912, Scott and his men reached the Pole, only to find a tent and the Norwegian flag. They were not the first people to reach the South Pole. They
65 had lost the race.
The next day, they started the 1,300-kilometer journey back to their base camp, pulling their heavy sleds full of supplies. The trip back was worse than the trip to the Pole. They became weak from hunger. At times, the
70 whiteness every where made them blind. Their fingers and toes began to freeze, and two of the men fell and injured themselves. They didn't have enough fuel to keep warm in their tent. They became exhausted and had
75
80
more and more difficulty pulling their sleds.
Finally, one man died. Then another became so weak that he knew he was endangering the lives of the
others. One night, he left the tent and never returned.
He walked out into the blizzard to die instead of holding back the other three.
Every day, Scott described the terrible journey in his diary. On March 21, the three remaining men were only twenty kilometers from the One Ton Depot, but another blizzard kept them in their tent. On March 29, they were still unable to leave their tent. On that day, Scott wrote
85 his last words in his diary.
A search party found the three bodies eight months later. They also found Scott's diary, excellent
photographs of the expedition, and letters to take back to England. The search party left the frozen bodies
90 where they found them.
Today, the base camp building is still there. Inside are supplies, furniture, and the men's belongings. They have been left just the way they were when Scott's
take C;!l'e of
sometimes not able to see
causing danger to
32 � �������������� U - n - it _ l _ : _ E _ x _ p - lo - re-rs
expedition was there. New Zealand takes care of the
95 building and its contents.
Robert Scott's name lives on in stories of his trip to continues to live
Antarctica, the last part of the Earth that people explored.
He was not the first to reach the South Pole, but he is remembered as one of the great heroes of exploration.
(-i Vocabulary
organization edge
blind
body blizzard extremely
weak
broke down fuel
1. A _______ is a storm with wind and snow.
inland exhausted at times 2. He put the glass too close to the _______ of the table, and it
fell off.
3. A baby has more bones in her _______ than an adult has.
That's because many of our bones grow together as we age.
4. People who grow up near the sea are often unhappy if they have to move
5. A person cannot see.
6. It's very cold in northern Canada, but at the North Pole it's --- cold.
7. His car _______ , and he had to walk five miles to get home.
8. , Burke rode horseback. At other times, he walked.
9. People need to cook and to heat their homes.
10. The United Nations is an important international ______ _
Lesson 4: Robert Scott A Race to the South Pole 33
(bj Vocabulary
weak
broke down belongings
provided lives on edge
inland uneven endangered
exhausted mistake bodies
1. It was a to drive into the city. There were so many cars on the road that we were an hour late for the meeting.
2. When I am traveling, I keep my in a suitcase.
3. If you don't eat for several days, you will probably feel quite
4. When I was a child, my parents--- me with everything I needed.
5. The floor is so that we can't put a table on it.
6. Ali stayed up all night to study for a test, and in the morning he was ______ _
7. She _______ her own life when she jumped off the boat.
8. A famous person's name often in books and articles.
9. Is the city of Boston on the coast or ?
10. The of a knife is very sharp.
[cl Vocabulary Review: Antonyms _
Match each word in the left column with its opposite in the right column.
1. remote a. take apart 2. leave b. exterior 3. get along c. close to a city
4. join d. fight
5. run away e. together 6. include f. having 7. uneven g. leave out 8. separate h. remain 9. interior i. come back 10. lacking j. smooth
34 Unit 1: Explorers
� Multiple Choice
1. The first person to reach the South Pole was __ _ a. English
b. French c. Norwegian
2. Scott was mainly interested in __ _ a. being the first person at the South Pole
b. collecting information about the rocks in Antarctica c. learning about the weather and climate in Antarctica
*3. Amundsen's expedition ate dogs because __ _ a. this is a custom in Norway
b. it was a way for the men to have fresh meat c. there was no other food
*4. Scott's expedition had to travel __ _ a. a shorter distance than Amundsen's b. the same distance as Amundsen's c. farther than Amundsen's
*5. January is a ___ month in Antarctica.
a. summer b. fall c. winter
6. Scott's trip to the Pole was difficult. The trip back was __
a. more difficult b. about the same c. much easier
*7. Scott and his men became exhausted because __ _ a. they didn't have enough fuel and could never get warm b. the sun on the snow blinded them
c. they didn't have enough food and had to pull heavy sleds 8. We know the details abot..t Scott's expedition because __ _
a. he sent reports back to the English government b. he kept a diary and the search party found it c. he wrote detailed letters back to England