On 28 of March Richard Byrd stood outside the small house. He shook hands with the men who were leaving. They were heading back to the main camp on the coast of Antarctica (南极洲).
He would 1 to work at the base camp.
"I don't like leaving you here alone," Pete Demas said." I'll be 2,"Byrd replied.
He was looking forward to the challenge of spending the winter at the base camp. He would be recording the weather. There was plenty of food and fuel (燃料) in the tiny house. He felt sure 3would go wrong.
But something did go wrong. Byrd was burning the fuel for 4. But the fumes (有毒气体) were not leaving the house. Slowly he was being poisoned (中毒). On May 31 he broke down.
When he came to, he made himself into his sleeping bag. Three days later he 5it was a
Sunday. The men would be 6 his radio message. Byrd moved hard out of bed and 7 the call. He didn't want the men to know how 8he was. It was too dangerous for them to come to save him.
By will-power alone, Byrd managed to stay alive. He was so 9that he could hardly walk. But he forced himself to do the basics. He 10food and made myself eat. He took 11 of weather and sent radio messages. But by late June, the men 12that something was wrong. Most of the time, Byrd's messages made no sense.
On August 11 Demas and two others reached the base camp. They 13 recognized (认出) Byrd. He was very thin and looked terrible. Byrd 14 them and then fell to the ground. The men had arrived in time. After two months of care, Byrd's good 15 returned. He and his men worked together again.
