填空题 It is probable that until two hundred years ago, Antarctica (南极洲) had never been seen by any human eyes. The 1 people who are known to have seen it were hunters on ships in 1819. Two years later, one of them ma 2 to land there even though conditions prevented him from 3 (explore) very far. Larger scientific expeditions later came to the Antarctic to find out more. By the end of the nineteenth century they had succeeded in mapping the coast of the continent, in spite of the fact that Antarctica is almost entirely covered by a thick 4 of ice which in places stretches far 5 the edge of the land onto the sea.
There was something else which attracted people to Antarctica 6 scientific research. This was the South Pole. A number of art 7 to reach it were made in the early years of the twentieth century, but the first person to get there was the Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, in 1911. 8 (travel) with dogs to pull sledges that carried his party"s supplies, he arrived at the pole five weeks before his rivals, a British group 9 by Robert Scott.
10 the terrible weather conditions, many nations now have scientific bases on Antarctica, carrying out research on a great range of subjects.