The script from this programme:

Michelle: Hello and welcome to On the Town. I'm Michelle.

Helen: And I'm Helen.

Michelle: In today's programme, we'll be travelling to the deepest, darkest South Pole!

Helen: Hang on Michelle! We're not really going all the way to the South Pole. What we're actually doing is talking about an exhibition in London. 在倫敦有一個展覽名為 Scott of the Antarctic. Scott 是一位著名的英國探險家，一百年前他帶隊去南極探險。

Michelle: Yes I got a bit overexcited! The exhibition in the Natural History Museum marks the 100th anniversary of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his team making their epic journey to the South Pole.

Helen: Scott 的團(tuán)隊當(dāng)年想成為第一支成功登陸南極的探險隊，不過一組挪威探險隊捷足先登。As you say Michelle, it was an epic journey 一段英雄旅程 but it was also a doomed one 結(jié)果很悲慘。

Michelle: Yes, it was doomed because after failing to reach the South Pole first, Scott and his team sadly died of exposure on their way back.

Helen: Scott 和他的團(tuán)隊在嚴(yán)寒、疲勞、饑餓和疾病的折磨下最終在回程路上先后死去。So the journey ended in tragedy 是悲慘的結(jié)局。

Michelle: And now one hundred years after the explorers' death, the Natural History Museum is telling their story in a special exhibition, called Scott's Last expedition. We're about to hear from museum curator Douglas Russell talking about Scott's journey, or as calls it, his "polar endeavour".

Helen: “南極奮進(jìn)” 是博物館對Scott 的極地探險的形容。And as we'll hear in this clip, Scott and his team had to face some very extreme conditions 極度惡劣的條件。

Douglas Russell: It's one of the most gallant stories in the history of Polar endeavour. Three men spent five weeks walking across Ross Island in Antarctica in pitch darkness. The temperatures that they endured were extraordinary. It's very difficult, I think, for most people to understand that it's your ability to function at those extraordinarily low temperatures.

Michelle: So did you catch some of the extreme conditions the curator described there Helen?

Helen: Yes he said that the men had to spend five weeks walking in pitch darkness 伸手不見五指。

Michelle: 'Pitch darkness' or as we sometimes say, 'pitch black' means no light at all. And did you hear how he described the temperatures in the South Pole?

Helen: He said that "the temperatures they endured" - 承受了– "were extraordinary" 極低溫度。Brrr it's hard to even imagine how cold it must get in the Antarctic!

Michelle: Well did you know that apparently it was so cold that the men's teeth actually cracked!

Helen: 冷得連隊員的牙齒都凍碎了。So how cold was it?

Michelle: Apparently temperatures dropped to minus forty degrees.

Helen: Wow! Minus forty degrees. 零下40度。That really is extraordinary!

Michelle: But even though we know Scott's endeavour to win the race to the South Pole ended in failure, the Natural History Museum wants to celebrate his achievements.

Helen: Yes, in fact while Scott and his team were in the Antarctic they collected a number of interesting scientific items. 他們采集了寶貴的科學(xué)樣品。

Michelle: For example they collected rocks. And do you know what probably the most famous item they collected was Helen?

Helen: Yeah, I know this one. They collected emperor penguin eggs 帝王企鵝蛋。博物館講解員 Elin Simonson 說當(dāng)時探險隊想帶回已經(jīng)有了帝王企鵝胚胎的蛋 the penguin embryos inside the eggs.

Elin Simonsson: What they were going to do was to collect these penguin embryos, emperor penguin embryos. And they thought that maybe if you studied these embryos you might be able to find a link between birds and reptiles. But of course emperor penguins breed in the middle of Antarctic winters so you would have to go in the middle of the darkest Antarctic winter.

Helen: So the explorers were hoping to collect and study penguin embryos. 探險隊員們希望能通過對企鵝胚胎的研究，看鳥類和爬行動物是否有關(guān)聯(lián)。

Michelle: And also on display is some of the equipment Scott and his team used during their journey.

Helen: 讓我們再聽一下 Elin Simonsson 對探險隊當(dāng)年用的器材的介紹。她提到了隊員當(dāng)年穿戴的一樣?xùn)|西，你知道是什么嗎？

Elin Simonsson: We also have the balaclava that Cherry-Garrard wore, and you can see how he attached a nose piece to the balaclava and he actually writes about it later, talking about how cold it was and he needed to protect his nose.

Michelle: So what was she describing there Helen?

Helen: She was talking about a balaclava. 巴拉克拉法帽，頭耳朵脖子都可以被包起來。And it sounds like this one was specially made to protect the wearer's nose against the freezing weather. 探險隊的巴拉克拉法帽是定做的，這樣可以把鼻子也包起來。

Michelle: That's right. This balaclava was worn by an explorer called Cherry-Garrard who had joined Scott in some of his earlier journeys. So all these items go all the way back to 1912. But even one hundred years on, the story of Scott and his Antarctic expedition continues to live on.

Helen: Scott和他的團(tuán)隊極地探險事隔一百年，而他們的英勇精神還在不斷的激勵著人們。好，這期都市掠影節(jié)目就到這兒。您還可以在我們的網(wǎng)站上下載更多精彩節(jié)目 www.bbcukchina.com. 謝謝收聽。 再見。

Michelle: Bye!