五、综合填空。
新素材 社会百科 Antarctica is the most
southern
（south）area of land on earth and is mostly
covered
（cover）with ice. People have never wanted to live there because of
its
（it）lowest temperature. But now
scientists
（science）from all over the world come to study the ice to learn more about the earth's history.
Some scientists live in Antarctica for part of the year.
But
they don't usually stay there for more than six months because there are six months of light and six months of
darkness/dark
（dark）.
Antarctica usually has a good deal of fine weather
without
any wind at all. The strong winds are usually only in some parts of it. It is also
interesting
（interest）to learn that it isn't so wet there. There is very little snow or rain. It snows on the ice in winter, but at other times Antarctica is dry, just like the Sahara Desert.
In winter the sea around Antarctica freezes（结冰）for
thousands
（thousand）of kilometres. But scientists tell us that the earth is getting warmer. So in the future, there may be less ice in the Antarctic sea. When that
happens
（happen）, our weather will never be the same again.
解析：
【分析】本题为英语综合填空题，需结合句子结构、词性要求、语境及固定搭配确定单词的正确形式。解题思路：先通读全文把握主旨，再逐个分析空格处的语法成分（如修饰名词需用形容词/物主代词、被动语态需用过去分词等），结合所给词的适当形式或语境逻辑（如转折关系、对应关系）推导答案，最后检查是否符合语法和语义。
【解析】1. 空格修饰名词area，需用形容词，south的形容词为southern，故填southern；2. 固定搭配be covered with表示“被……覆盖”，此处用cover的过去分词covered；3. 空格修饰名词temperature，需用形容词性物主代词，it的形容词性物主代词为its；4. 此处指“科学家”，scientist是可数名词，结合语境用复数scientists；5. 前句说部分科学家在南极居住，后句说不超过六个月，为转折关系，用连词But；6. 对应前文的light（光），此处表示“黑暗”，用dark的名词形式darkness（或名词dark）；7. 句意表示“没有风”，用介词without；8. 修饰“了解到的这件事”，需用形容词，interest的形容词为interesting；9. 固定搭配thousands of表示“成千上万的”，故填thousands；10. 主语that为单数，一般现在时中动词用第三人称单数形式，故填happens。
【答案】1. southern 2. covered 3. its 4. scientists 5. But 6. darkness/dark 7. without 8. interesting 9. thousands 10. happens
【知识点】英语词形变化、固定搭配、介词连词用法
【点评】本题考查英语基础知识的综合运用，涵盖词性转换、固定搭配、语境逻辑等考点，难度适中，需学生具备扎实的词汇和语法基础。
【难度系数】0.5
