The book I read: "Night without end" by Alistair MacLean

An airplane crashed on the ice cap far from its route. Peter Mason, Jackstraw and Joss, members of a scientific station based near the crash site go out to rescue the surviving passengers and take them to their station. The team finds that one passenger and most of the flight crew are dead and one of the pilots has been killed by a gun. The radio of the station, the only way of contacting with the outside world, is seemingly destroyed in an accidental manner.

Soon Dr Mason realizes that there will be not enough food for everyone and no hope of rescue, so he decides to reach the nearest settlement on the shore. Meanwhile the pilot who was shot and was in a coma is suffocated.

Dr Mason orders the radio operator, Joss, to stay at the station and repair the radio so that the members who were away on an expedition inland can be contacted. He also finds that the dead passenger was a military courier and that all the passengers had been drugged before the crash.

Dr Mason leaves with the group along with Jackstraw and remains in contact with the other scientists by a short range radio and they inform him that a massive military mobilization has happened to locate the crashed plane which carried something very important and secret.

Dr Mason decides to go on with the journey because any attempt to return will induce the killers to act and keeps this new development to himself and Jackstraw. Almost at the same time, he is informed that the military courier carried a top secret missile guidance mechanism and that it looks like a tape recorder. Dr Mason remembers that one of the passengers picked up something similar at the crash site. But this precipitates the killers into action and they take over the group.

The criminals soon abandon all of them save the stewardess and the father of a passenger who is a boxer. In the process, one of passengers is killed. The group try to reach anyway the shore in the arctic blizzard guided by the sledge dogs. Soon they come across the abandoned sled that contains rocket sondes. They use it to guide the rest of the scientific expedition to them and give chase of the criminals.

They go near the shore where a fishing boat waits the killers, who are surrounded by the intervention of navy and after a combat between the protagonists and the criminals, the mechanism and the hostages are rescued.

NEW WORDS:

- wreckage = rottami;

- disbelievingly = incredulo;

- to fill = riempire;

- close = vicino;

- "damn" = "accidenti!";

- layer = strato;

- fur = pelliccia;

- to bang = colpire, battere;

- to gasp = boccheggiare;

- bitter = pungente, aspro;

- blancket = coperta;

- "for God's sake" = per amor di Dio;

- unwilling = riluttante, non disposto;

- to growl = ringhiare;

- pole = palo;

- hiss = sibilo;

- to tear apart = fare a pezzi;

- to breathe = respirare;

- wing = ala;

- slippery = scivoloso;

- to dare = osare;

- painkiller = antidolorifico;

- to moan = lamentarsi, gemere;

- slightly = leggermente;

- to daze = stordire;

- odd = strano, bizzarro;

- to shiver = tremare;

- pale = pallido;

- to lower = calare;

- keen = desideroso;

- stove = stufa;

- to hang up = appendere;

- wound = ferita;

- to be aware of = essere consapevole di qc.;

- to nod = fare un cenno con il capo;

- sleeve = manica;

- flood = fiume, inondazione;

- duty = dovere;

- to agree = essere d'accordo;

- to blame = incolpare;

- stiff = indolenzito, rigido;

- stiff = cadavere;

- enemy = nemico;

- to bury = seppellire;

- grave = tomba, fossa;

- sorrowful = addolorato;

- sickly = pallido, malaticcio;

- fortnight = 2 settimane;

- properly = correttamente;

- cheek = guancia;

- bruise = livido;

- sharp = affilato, tagliente;

- tear = lacrima;

- stain = macchia;

- thread = filo;

- navy blue = blu scuro;

- to lift = alzare;

- fear = timore, paura;

- to hurry = affrettarsi;

- still = fermo, immobile;

- to curse = maledire;

- to aim at = puntare contro;

- to spin round = girare su sé stesso;

- dreadful = terribile;

- to rid = liberare, sbarazzare;

- awkward = imbarazzante, inopportuno;

- further = più lontano;

- weak = fiacco, debole;

- to bump= urtare, sbattere;

- crowd = gran quantità, folla;

- capable = capace;

- to tighten = tendere, stringere;

- to faint = svenire;

- guilt = colpa;

- hatred = odio, astio;