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The Cold Places The Arctic is a polar region. It surrounds the North Pole. Like Antarctica, the Arctic is a land of ice and snow. Antarctica holds the record for a low temperature reading ----- 125 Fahrenheit below zero. Readings of 85 degrees below zero are common in both the Arctic and Antarctica. Winter temperatures average 30 degrees below zero in the Arctic. At the South Pole the winter is about 73 degrees below zero. One thing alone makes it almost impossible for men to live in Antarctica and in parts of the Arctic.This one thing is the low temperature --- the killing chill of the far North and the polar South. To survive, men must wear the warmest possible clothing. They must build windproof shelters. They must keep heaters going at all times. Not even for moment can they be unprotected against the below-zero temperature. Men have a way of providing for themselves. Polar explorers wrap themselves in warm coats and furs. The cold makes life difficult. But the explorers can stay alive. What about animals? Can they survive? Do we find plants? Do we find life in the Arctic and the Antarctica? Yes, we do. There is life in the oceans. There is life on land. Antarctica, as we have seen, is a cold place indeed. But this has not always been the case. Expedition scientists have discovered that Antarctica may have been much like our own. | 
