The Case of the Arctic Hero

Narrator: Dr. DeLator is talking to his young friend Charles Makin.

DeLator: Don’t tell me Charles; let me guess. You were trying to impress a young lady but your plan backfired and you got your face slapped.

Narrator: Charles nodded glumly, and said:

Charles: This time I was absolutely sure I had my story down pat. Yet something went wrong I can’t figure out what.

DeLator: Well, what happened?

Charles: You’ve heard of Gertrude Morgan? Her grandfather sailed with Admiral Byrd, and her cousin climbed Mount Everest. If you haven’t combed icicles from your whiskers, you don’t rate with her.

DeLator: So what did you do?

Charles: Well,I took her to dinner on Christmas Eve, and it seemed a good time to bring out my Arctic Circle story. I opened by commenting that I had once spent Christmas Eve in less comfortable surroundings. And then I told her about the morning that Lieutenant Craven and I were mushing back to the Navy’s Arctic Observation Weather Station. Suddenly Craven fell and fractured his leg. Ten minutes later the stretch of ice we were crossing broke loose and we began to drift out to sea.

DeLator: That sounds like an impressive story! What then?

Charles: I realized that Craven and I and the dogs would freeze to death unless I started a fire. Alas, we had used up all our matches. I got out a small magnifying glass from our instrument kit. And then I tore off sheets from our reports and laid them on a steel instrument box. By focusing the sun’s rays through the glass onto the paper, I started a good fire. Fortunately, a boat picked us up after twenty-four hours. The captain said I was something of a hero.

DeLator: But I’ll bet Miss Morgan didn’t think so, Charles. And no wonder!

Narrator: What was wrong with Charles’s story?

Exercise 2. Guess the words from the text according to their meanings below:

1. close relative, a child of one’s uncle or aunt

2. solve or understand

3. tapering spike of ice hanging where water has dripped

4. any of the long stiff hair on the face of a cat or other mammal

5. conditions, or scenery around a person, place, or thing

6. lines or narrow beams of light

7. material made in sheets from wood pulp or other fibers

8. state of combustion producing heat, flames, and smoke

9. day-to-day meteorological conditions of a place

10. small vehicle for traveling across water

11. the highest mountain in the world

12. mass of salt water covering three quarters of the earth’s surface

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