阅读理解

　　A desert is a very dry land where there is hardly any rain．In the day, it can be so hot that you could fry an egg on the ground．But during the night it is sometimes so could that water would turn into ice．

　　Many desserts are covered in sand．But some have mountains, rocks, or lakes that have dried up in the heat．The Great American Dessert has cliffs(悬崖)that have been made into amazing and beautiful shapes by the wind．The Sahara Desert in Africa is mostly sand．The Australian Desert has red sand．

　　Sometimes it does not rain for a whole year in the desert．But there is water deep under the ground and some plants have roots that go very deep to find it．Other plants have roots that spread out(延伸)a long way so they can suck up the rain as soon as it falls．

　　One desert plant is the cactus, which has long, spreading roots．The cactus stores water inside its hard skin．This skin protects it from heat and cold．

　　Camels are a bit like cactus plants! They store water too－inside their bodies．They have special fur which protects them from the sun during the day and keeps them warm at night．

　　Some other animals live in deserts, too．They have to be very good at seeing and hearing because most of them only come out at night．This is why many desert animals have extra big eyes or ears．

　　A desert fox has bigger ears than a normal for．A gerbil has huge eye, so that it can see at night．It stays cool in the day by staying underground, like most desert animals．

　　Some people live in the desert but they always make their homes near an oasis．An oasis is where water comes from an underground river．Near an oasis, people can grow lots of plants and keep animals．

　　Life is hard in the desert, for people, animals and plants．But desert people like to live there．

阅读理解：

　　A fish that lives in America can live out of water for months at a time, similar to how animals got used to land millions of years ago, a new study shows．

　　The Mangrove Rivulus, a kind of little fish, lives in small pools of water．When their living place dries up, they live．on the land, said Scott Taylor, a researcher in Florida．

　　The fish can grow as large as three inches．They group together and breathe air through their skin before they can find water again．

　　The new scientific discovery came during a trip．

　　"We were travelling for fun．and one day I kicked over a log(圆木)and the fish came out," Taylor told reporters by telephone．He said he would make his study on the fish known to the public in an American magazine early next year．

　　In lab tests, Taylor said he found the fish can live up to 66 days out of water without eating．

　　Some other fish can live out of water for a short period of time．The walking catfish found in Southeast Asia can stay on land for hours at a time, while lungfish(肺鱼)found in Australia, Africa and South America can live out of water, but only in a not active(活波的)way．But no other known fish can be out of water as long as the Mangrove Rivulus and keep active, according to Patricia Wright, a biologist at a Canadian University．

　　More studies of the fish may tell how animals changed over time．

　　"These animals live in conditions similar to those millions of years ago, when animals began to move from water onto land," Wright said．