How was the plane able to clear the mountains？
    In 1929， three years after his flight over the North Pole， the American explorer， 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 plane was then able to rise and it cleared the mountains by 400 feet. Byrd now knew that he 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.
    New words and expressions 生詞和短語
    pole n. （地球的）極flight n. 飛行explorer n. 探險(xiǎn)家lie v. 處于serious adj. 嚴(yán)重的point n. 地點(diǎn)seem v. 似乎crash v. 墜毀sack n. 袋子clear v. 越過aircraft n. 飛機(jī)endless adj. 無盡的plain n. 平原
    參考譯文
    美國(guó)探險(xiǎn)家 R.E. 伯德在飛越北極3年之后，于1929年第一次飛越了南極。雖然開始時(shí)伯德和他的助手們拍下了飛機(jī)下面連綿群山的大量照片，但他們很快就陷入了困境。在有個(gè)地方，飛機(jī)似乎肯定要墜毀了。只有在飛至10，000英尺的高度時(shí)，它才能飛過這些山頭。伯德馬上命令他的助手們把兩個(gè)沉重的食物袋扔掉，于是飛機(jī)可以上升了，它在離山頭400英尺的高度飛越了過去。伯德這時(shí)知道他能夠順利飛抵300英里以外的南極了，因?yàn)榍懊嬖贈(zèng)]有山了。飛機(jī)可以毫無困難地飛過這片茫茫無際的白色原野！