众所周知：世界上最冷的地方在两极，那里常年都被冰雪覆盖着。两极相比，南极的冰雪要多一些。同是极地，为什么冰雪覆盖率会有这么明显的差异呢？原来，这是有“深”层原因的。什么深层原因呢？就请继续往下看吧！

The Arctic and Antarctic are the coldest places on Earth, where the wind is strong, the temperatures are low and everything is covered in snow. The Antarctic is colder than and has more glaciers than the Arctic because there is land underneath the Antarctic region. The ability of the region to store heat is weak. The heat from summer fades quickly, resulting in an average annual temperature of -56 degrees. In the ocean around the Antarctic, large chunks of floating ice form huge icebergs.

In contrast most of the Arctic region is covered by the Arctic Ocean. Since water can absorb more heat and distribute heat more efficiently than land, the average annual temperature is about 8 degrees. Therefore there are fewer glaciers in the Antarctic and Greenland. The average thickness of the ice in the Antarctic is 1,700 meters, and the thickest point is 4,000 meters. The total volume of the Antarctic Glacier is about 28 million cubic meters. The ice in the Arctic is about two to four meters thick, and the total number of glaciers in the Arctic is one tenth of that in the Antarctic. The tip of the Antarctic is one of the world's freshest water resources. Currently some countries that don't have enough water are trying to find ways to ship the tip of the Antarctic to places that need water.

（北京林业大学通讯员黄典钰供稿 英语点津 Annabel 编辑）