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Battling freezing temperatures, total darkness, and other dangerous flying conditions, a plane left the South Pole on Wednesday after rescuing a sick worker from a U.S. research base. After the patient and flight crew rest, the plane will make its way to South America, where the patient will receive medical care.The daring rescue mission（任务）began last week when two planes flew from Canada to Rother a, a British base on the Antarctic Peninsula. On Tuesday, just one of the planes left Rother a on a 10-hour trip to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, where the sick worker was located.
The station is usually unreachable during Antarctica’s long winter, from February to October. Forty-eight people live at the base, including a doctor and a physician’s assistant. But when the crew there determined the worker needed medical help that couldn’t be provided on site, the emergency rescue mission began.
A small crew, including a pilot, co-pilot, medical worker, and flight engineer, made the 1, 500-mile trip from Rother a in a Twin Otter plane. It is the only type of plane capable of flying in Antarctica’s winter cold. It can operate in temperatures aslowas-103F. The temperature in the South Pole on Tuesday was -73F. In such conditions, an aircraft’s fuel and even its batteries need to be warmed up before it can takeoff.
The pitch-black sky and the threat of high winds and sudden weather changes make such flights extremely risky and rare. This rescue is only the third time an emergency mission has been made to the research base since 1999. The National Science Foundation, which runs the station, has not said who was rescued, or the medical condition of the person. The names of the crew members who made the daring flight have not been made public either. But according to Peter West, a National Science Foundation spokesman, the mission “went all according to plan” .
16. Why did the plane fly to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station?
A.To do scientific research.
B. To transport medicine
C.To rescue a sick worker.
D.To supply necessities
17. What do we know about the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station?
A.It is a British research base.
B. It is U.S. research base.
C. It is a ten-hour flight from Canada.
D.It is a medical center on the Antarctic Peninsula.
18. From the third paragraph we can infer .
A. the doctor there is not experienced
B. the base is lack of medicine
C. the patient asked to betaken back
D.the patient was seriously ill
19. What could be the best title for the passage?
A.A daring rescue
B.An interesting flight
C.Flying to Antarctic
D.Patient receives medical care
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