The Cold Places The Arctic is a polar region.Itsurrounds(环绕) the North Pole. Like Antarctica(南极洲),the Arctic is a land of ice and snow.Antarctica holds the recordfor a low temperature reading-125 degrees Fahrenheit(温标)below zero.Readings of 85 degrees below zero are comrrion in both the Arcticand Antarctica.Winter temperatures average 30 degrees below zero in the Arctic.Atthe South Pole the winter average is about 73 degrees below zero. One thing alone makes it almostimpossible for men to live in Antarctica and in parts of the Arctic.This onething is the low temperature-the killing chill of the far North and the polarSouth. To survive,men rriust wear the warmestpossible clothing.They must build windproof shelters.They must keep heatersgoing at all times.Not even for a moment can they be unprotected against the below-zerotemperatures. Men have a way of providing forthemselves.Polar explorers wrap themselves in warm coats and furs.The coldmakes life difficult.But the explorers can stay alive. What about animals?Can they survive? Dowe find plants? Do we find life in the Arctic and in Antarctica? Yes,we do.Thereis life in the oceans.There is life on land. Antarctica,as we have seen,is a coldplace indeed.But this has not always been the case.Expedition (探险考查)scientists have discovered that Antarctica has not always been a frozen continent.ATone time the westher in Antarctica may have been like our own. Explorers have discovered coal inAntarctica.This leads them to believe that Antarctica at one time was a land ofswamps(沼泽) and forests.Heat and moisture must have keptthe trees in the forests alive.10. At one time,the weather in Antarctica was so warm and damp that trees grew there.