环球英语 — 408：Women at the South Pole

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Hello and welcome to Spotlight 1. I'm Steve Myersco,

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And I'm Marina Santee. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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Imagine lying in your tent and listening to this. Now imagine it is minus thirty degrees Celsius 2 [-30oC] outside. Tomorrow you must continue travelling. You have no car, just your own legs to power you. And you have over 800 kilometres to travel.

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In December 2009 a team of eight women plan to walk to the most southern place in the world, the South Pole. Each woman is from a different country in the world. Together they come from five continents, have six different faiths, and speak seven different languages. Today's Spotlight is about this exciting trip, this expedition to the South Pole. The programme looks at why they are going and hears from some of the women that are involved.

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‘I have never been first in anything. My father always wished this for me. But I never took it seriously enough until now. In everything I do now, I really want to make a difference. I do not think I can explain how honoured I feel - to represent my country in this way. I will be the first woman from Ghana to reach the South Pole. It will be a victorious 3 feeling. I can already imagine the pictures. I will be on my hands and knees. I will be thanking God, with icy tears falling down my frozen 4 face!'

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These are the words of Barbara Yanney. She is one of the women who plan to go to the South Pole in late 2009. Like Barbara, many of the other women will also be either the first person or the first woman from their country to reach the South Pole.

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The trip is called the Commonwealth 5 Women's Antarctic 6 Expedition. The Commonwealth is an organisation 7 of 53 countries from around the world. Together these commonwealth countries have a population of about two billion people. Each woman on the expedition is from one of these commonwealth countries. These are the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Brunei, Jamaica, Singapore, Ghana, India and Cyprus.

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Many years ago, The Commonwealth was known as the British Commonwealth. It was governed by the UK. Today however, every country is an equal member. This change happened in 1949. The women's trip is marking the 60th anniversary 8 of the creation 9 of the Commonwealth.

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Felicity Aston is leading the women's trip to the South Pole. She is from the UK. She knows the trip will not be easy. She says,

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‘We must be prepared for temperatures down to about minus thirty degrees. But they are probably more likely to be about minus fifteen. But even at those temperatures, if your skin is not covered it gets damaged by frostbite. The other danger is holes in the ice. These can be anywhere and can be very very deep. Once you fall into one you will probably die. Then there is general sickness and injury. Other dangers? ... there are lots of them. So it is all about training, training, training and making sure everyone knows the risks.'

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The team did much of the training for the expedition in Norway. For example they learned 10 how to travel on the snow using skis attached to their feet. They also learned how to survive in very cold conditions. This was also the first time that all the women had been together. Kim-Marie from Jamaica describes what it was like to be a part of this international group of women.

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‘Amazing! It is a whole new family - a family that makes you understand that humans all share things in common. This is different to the more narrow national groupings people usually concentrate on. Our team united really well. We were each other's world - my world was eight people. We learned to trust and depend on each other. We also learned to recognise each other's strengths!'

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The team members are now continuing to train in their home countries. One way they are doing this is pulling tyres, taken from car wheels. Pulling these rubber tyres feels like pulling heavy equipment through the snow. Felicity explains how each of the team members has their own way of preparing for the expedition.

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‘Kim in Jamaica is pulling tyres along the sandy beaches. Sophia is in Singapore, which does not have any mountains. So she is running up and down the stairs on tall buildings to improve her fitness 11. Everyone is looking at where they are and doing what they can.'

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The team believes the expedition is important in a number of ways. Barbara from Ghana told Spotlight why she thought the expedition was important. She said,

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‘All over the world, young people are looking for more female 12 role models - women that they can live like. I believe that our expedition and projects like ours awaken 13 the desire for excitement that rests in everyone. It helps people to try to achieve more. As a team of different women, we are the perfect example of the Commonwealth. We are helping 14 people understand that their race, their religion and their sex should not restrict 15 what they can achieve.'

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The women also hope that their expedition will show more people how important the environment is. The team believes it is important to protect areas such as Antarctica from global warming. This is particularly important because the climate in Antarctica can affect the weather in many other parts of the world. Barbara is a Christian 16. She believes that the world is a gift from God that humans should care for. She says,

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‘God gave humans the responsibility to take care of everything on the land and in the sea. Judging from the amount of pollution and other things we humans have not done very well. This expedition will help people see a part of God's Earth - Antarctica. This is a place that people have not taken care of - and for no real reason.'

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The team should arrive in Antarctica on November 10th 2009. A few days later they will begin their walk across the ice and snow to the South Pole. These women from around the world plan to celebrate New Year 2010 together - at the South Pole.