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The first person to reach the South Pole was Ronald Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer.Amundsen was born in Borge, near Oslo, Norway.He attended the University of Christina and then joined the Norwegian navy.
Amundsen made a three-year expedition⑧ in Arctic beginning in 1903.He was the first to navigate⑨ the Northwest Passage, a northern water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific.But Amundsen’s great voyage began in 1910, at the other end of the Earth.
He intended to go to the North Pole, but he heard that Robert Peary had already reached it.So instead, Amundsen headed to the South Pole in his ship, Fram.He learned that a British expedition, led by Robert F.Scott was also on its way there.Amundsen reached Antartica in January, 1911.He and his men had to wait out the bitter cold, windy winter on the edge of the ice before they could head for the South Pole.
In October(Antartica’s spring), they set out, with 52 well-trained dogs to pull their sleges(雪橇).On the way to the Pole, they climbed glaciers(冰山),went around huge cracks in the ice, and survived freezing blizzards(暴风雪).Finally, on December 14, 1911, Amundsen placed the Norwegian flag at the South Pole.Scott and his men found the flag there when they reached the Pole a month after Amundsen’s party.