[10-20 18:10:12] 来源：http://www.67xuexi.com 高二英语 阅读：85346次
Language Points
1.With annual rainfall close to zero, Antarctic is technically a desert. 南极洲年降雨量几乎为零，严格来说该区域就是一片荒漠。
1).with annual rainfall close to zero 为介词短语，表示原因，由介词“介词＋名词＋形容词（词组）组成，也即with +宾语＋形容词短语构成的复合结构。例如：
With so many students weak in their pronunciation, they started from the beginning.
He sat there quietly with mouth half open, listening to the radio.
He sat there with his eyes fixed on the sky.
He sat there with his hand pointing at me.
He went to the classroom with a lot of homework to do.
2). close to 几乎，近于，靠近
They sat there close to each other.
Their house was close to the church.
Close to a hundred experiments have been made so far.
到目前为止已进行了近百次的试验。
3）technically adv. 严格地；准确地按照法律、词义等的解释；技术上的
①Although technically speaking you may not have lied, but you certainly haven’t told us the whole truth.
尽管严格来说你没有撒谎，但肯定你没把实情都告诉我们。
② Technically, I’m not supposed to do this, but we’re shot-staffed.
严格来说，我不该这么做，可是我们缺少人手。
③Technically the building is a masterpiece, but few people like it.
就技术而言，那座建筑物是个杰作，但却没人喜欢。
2.Covering about 14 million square kilometers around the South Pole, it is the fifth largest continent in the world. 南极洲覆盖了南极圈周围1，400平方公里的面积，是世界第五大洲。
1）covering about…在句子中作状语。
2）the fifth largest continent in the world. 形容词最高级前面的修饰成分为序数词。 Is it the third longest river in the world? 形容词最高级前面还可有其他的成分。It was by far the best university I have visited. It was of the very highest quality.
3.On average it is two kilometers thick, but in some places it reaches a depth of five kilometers. (南极洲)冰层平均厚度为2，000米，但某些地方厚度可以达到5，000米。
词组two kilometers thick,形容词thick 增加了修饰成分two kilometers。例如： The rope is two meters long. The well is 12 meters deep. 但是注意下面情况： It is a 12-meter-long rope. The 12-meter-deep well is the deepest one in our village.
4.Yet Antarctica is full of wildlife, which has adapted to its extreme conditions. 但南极洲仍然栖息着许多野生生物，它们已经适应了那里的恶劣的条件。
1）full of 充满了 The room is full of smoke.
2）adapt ①使适应；使适合（与to连用）。
He could not adapted to his way of life to the company.他的生活方式无法适应公司的要求。
②adapt (oneself) to …适应He is quick to adapt (himself) to the new circumstance.他很快适应了新环境。
③ 改造、修改(为。。。所用)改写（与for 连用）
I adapted our old garage for use as a workshop. 我把我们的旧车库改为工作室用。
They’re trying to adapt this story for the film. 他们正在将这篇小说改编成电影。
5.As a result, it has become a window on the past, and can give researchers lots of useful information. 因此,它已经变成人们了解过去的窗口,可为研究者提供大量有用的信息.
Window 窗户;窗口 在此引申为“获得信息的渠道”
International news broadcasts provide a window on the world.
国际新闻广播节目给人们提供了一个了解他国人民的世界之窗.
6.But the long Antarctica winter night, which lasts for 182 days(the longest period of continuous darkness on the earth ) as well as the extreme cold and lack of rainfall, means that few types of plant can survive there. 但是南极洲冬天的夜晚长达182天(地球上持续时间最长的黑暗时期), 气候极度寒冷降雨量极少,这意味着很少有植物能够在这里生存.
1)which lasts for 182 days… 这是一个非限制性定语从句.
限制性定语从句中, which 有时并不代表一个名词,而是代表前面句子的全部或部分意思: He changed his mind, which made all of us angry.
The students finished the work by themselves, which was encouraging.
2)as well as 是一个并列连接词
He wrote three famous novels as well as some plays.
It is a political as well as an economic question.
3)few 表示很少,几乎没有.
7.Gases and minerals, in the form of volcanic dust trapped in the ice, can tell us a lot about what the world’s climate was like in past ages. 这些以火山灰形式封冻冰层里的气体和矿物质可以告诉我们很多关于远古时期全球气候的状况.
4)in the form of volcanic dust trapped in the ice 是一个介词短语作定语,修饰gases and minerals,可以把它改成一句非限制性定语从句: which are in the form of volcanic dust trapped in the ice.
5)in the form of “以…形式” 或“呈……形状”
a.The man staircase was in the form of a big “S” 主楼梯呈S形.