Question:
What surprised the author most about Antarctica? (from 'Journey to the End of the Earth')
What surprised the author most about Antarctica? (from 'Journey to the End of the Earth')
Updated On: Sep 24, 2026
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Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Context:
In 'Journey to the End of the Earth' by Tishani Doshi, the author travels to Antarctica aboard the ship Akademik Shokalskiy as part of a student expedition programme.
Step 2: What surprised her most:
The author was most struck by Antarctica's geological history — that this now permanently ice-covered continent was once part of the supercontinent Gondwana, joined with India, Australia, South America, and Africa, and was once warm enough to support life. She was also struck by how starkly Antarctica reveals, through 200,000-year-old ice-core samples, the direct evidence of human-caused climate change over just the last 200 years.
Final Answer:
She was most surprised by learning Antarctica's deep geological history as part of Gondwana, and by the direct, dramatic evidence of human-driven climate change visible in its ancient ice cores.
In 'Journey to the End of the Earth' by Tishani Doshi, the author travels to Antarctica aboard the ship Akademik Shokalskiy as part of a student expedition programme.
Step 2: What surprised her most:
The author was most struck by Antarctica's geological history — that this now permanently ice-covered continent was once part of the supercontinent Gondwana, joined with India, Australia, South America, and Africa, and was once warm enough to support life. She was also struck by how starkly Antarctica reveals, through 200,000-year-old ice-core samples, the direct evidence of human-caused climate change over just the last 200 years.
Final Answer:
She was most surprised by learning Antarctica's deep geological history as part of Gondwana, and by the direct, dramatic evidence of human-driven climate change visible in its ancient ice cores.
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- Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
It is clear that language is used for more than one purpose. The man who hits his thumb nails with a hammer and utters a string of curses is using language to relieve his feeling and needs no audience but himself. But when a philosopher uses language to clarify his ideas on a subject, he is using it as an instrument of thought. When two women gossip over the fence or two men exchange greetings as they pass in the street, language is being used to strengthen the bonds between the members of society. Language, it seems, is a multipurpose instrument. One function, however, seems to be basic — language enables us to influence people's behaviour and thereby makes human co-operation possible. Some animals co-operate especially the social animals like bees and ants, but human co-operation is more thorough, more detailed, more effective than that found anywhere in the animal kingdom. The human co-operation would be unthinkable without language.
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It is clear that language is used for more than one purpose. The man who hits his thumb nails with a hammer and utters a string of curses is using language to relieve his feeling and needs no audience but himself. But when a philosopher uses language to clarify his ideas on a subject, he is using it as an instrument of thought. When two women gossip over the fence or two men exchange greetings as they pass in the street, language is being used to strengthen the bonds between the members of society. Language, it seems, is a multipurpose instrument. One function, however, seems to be basic — language enables us to influence people's behaviour and thereby makes human co-operation possible. Some animals co-operate especially the social animals like bees and ants, but human co-operation is more thorough, more detailed, more effective than that found anywhere in the animal kingdom. The human co-operation would be unthinkable without language.
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It is clear that language is used for more than one purpose. The man who hits his thumb nails with a hammer and utters a string of curses is using language to relieve his feeling and needs no audience but himself. But when a philosopher uses language to clarify his ideas on a subject, he is using it as an instrument of thought. When two women gossip over the fence or two men exchange greetings as they pass in the street, language is being used to strengthen the bonds between the members of society. Language, it seems, is a multipurpose instrument. One function, however, seems to be basic — language enables us to influence people's behaviour and thereby makes human co-operation possible. Some animals co-operate especially the social animals like bees and ants, but human co-operation is more thorough, more detailed, more effective than that found anywhere in the animal kingdom. The human co-operation would be unthinkable without language.
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It is clear that language is used for more than one purpose. The man who hits his thumb nails with a hammer and utters a string of curses is using language to relieve his feeling and needs no audience but himself. But when a philosopher uses language to clarify his ideas on a subject, he is using it as an instrument of thought. When two women gossip over the fence or two men exchange greetings as they pass in the street, language is being used to strengthen the bonds between the members of society. Language, it seems, is a multipurpose instrument. One function, however, seems to be basic — language enables us to influence people's behaviour and thereby makes human co-operation possible. Some animals co-operate especially the social animals like bees and ants, but human co-operation is more thorough, more detailed, more effective than that found anywhere in the animal kingdom. The human co-operation would be unthinkable without language.
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