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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRead Aloud Book Gr. 2-Lesson 21Imagine a story about people who lived in a bitterly cold and icy place for almost two years. Imagine that they did not have a lot of food. Imagine that they had nowhere warm to sleep. Guess what? This is a true story. In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of twenty-seven men set sail from England to Antarctica. No one had ever traveled across Antarctica before, because it was very cold and dangerous. The crew sailed on a wooden ship called the Endurance. When the voyage began, the men were excited. But later, as they sailed deeper within the Antarctic Circle, the water became more and more icy. When they tried to move forward, they would sail into giant blocks of ice. Finally, a huge block of ice froze around the ship. They did not need to drop their anchor in order to stop—they were trapped by the ice. Everyone aboard the ship hoped they would get free soon. They hoped the ocean current might rock the ship back and forth to break them loose. The crew was scared because they were very cold. They had almost fi nished eating all the food they had brought. But soon, the thick ice began to crush the ship. The crew knew that the Endurance would sink. So they took many things out of the ship and made a camp on the ice. They took tools, weapons, tents, and blankets. They also took lifeboats. The men lived on the ice for fi ve months. The ice block they lived on slowly drifted through the water. At last, they had found water they could sail through! The crew used the lifeboats they had taken from the Endurance to sail away from the ice block. Luckily, they reached a tiny bit of land and set up camp there. This place was called Elephant Island. The bad news, however, was that no other people lived there. The men still needed to fi nd help. Shackleton and fi ve other men went to fi nd help. They sailed in a lifeboat away from the island. After a dangerous trip, the men entered a small bay. On the land near the bay, they were fi nally able to fi nd people to help them. Shackleton borrowed a ship so he could go back to Elephant Island. He found his whole crew there. Everyone was alive. COMPREHENSION What caused the Endurance to sink? Which words about the sea help you understand what happens to the crew of the Endurance? Shackleton’s Amazing Journey 22 23 Antarctica. Have you ever heard of it? Could you fi nd it on a map? If you looked for it, you would see that it is at the bottom of the world. Antarctica is one of the seven continents. It is a special continent for many reasons. One reason is that it is almost completely covered by ice. Another reason is that nobody lives there. Antarctica is one of the only frontiers left on Earth. People cannot live there for long periods of time because the weather is too dangerous. Antarctica is the coldest and windiest place on Earth. Wouldn’t you be curious about a whole continent where nobody lives? What do you think you’d see there? Many people want to fi nd out. They lead expeditions to Antarctica because they hope to learn more about the land. Some teams of scientists want to look for meteorites, or rocks that have fallen from outer space. Other teams of scientists want to study the animals that live there, like penguins. Some people, like explorers, go just for fun! Explorers are people who fi nd areas of wilderness and try to learn more about why nobody lives there. Sometimes explorers are sent as scouts to take notes about everything they see, and then they report back to the group of people who sent them. Most explorers who see a place for the fi rst time will claim it, or say it is part of their country’s territory. Since so many people have claimed different places in Antarctica, the continent belongs to seven different countries! Getting to Antarctica is not easy. You cannot just schedule a fl ight and pack a suitcase. If you really want to go there, you will have to learn more about how to protect yourself from the dangerous weather. Then you will have to fi nd someone to guide you. That person would be an expert, and he or she could help you stay safe. Most people who travel to Antarctica go there to do research. Not many people go there as tourists. Do you want to go and see what it looks like? COMPREHENSION Why can’t people live on Antarctica? Which words about exploring a new land do you hear? In Search of the Unknown 24 25