Over the South Pole

原文

In 1929, three years after his flight over the North Pole, the American explore, R.E. Byrd, successfully flew over the South Pole for the first time. Though, at first, Byrd and his men were able to take a great many photographs of the mountains that lay below, they soon ran into serious trouble. At one point, it seemed certain that their plane would crash. It could only get over the mountains if it rose to 10,000 feet. Byrd at once ordered his men to throw out two heavy food sacks. The plan was then able to rise and it cleared the mountains by 400 feet. Byrd now knew that be would be able to reach the south Pole which was 300 miles away, for there were no more mountains in sight. The aircraft was able to fly over the endless white plains without difficulty.

译文

在1929年，在他飞越北极之后的三年之后，一个美国探险者，R.E.波特成功的第一次飞越南极。尽管事先，R.E.波特和他的队员手头上有很多关于沿路南极冰山的照片，他们很快就碰到了麻烦。在其中一个地点，他们似乎觉得他们的飞机就要坠毁。他们只有升到10,000英尺以上才能飞过那些冰山。R.E.波特开始命令他的队员扔掉两个沉重的食品袋子。于是飞机开始上升飞过冰山仅仅离山顶只有400英尺。飞过冰山之后，R.E.波特知道现在离南极还有300英里远，在前面视野中再也没有冰山。飞机在茫茫的白色世界不再飞行得很困难。