Many deserts are covered in land．But some have mountains, rocks that have dried up in the heat．The Great American Desert 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 comes out at night．This is why many desert animals have extra big eyes or ears．

　　A desert fox has bigger ears than a normal fox．A gerbil(沙鼠)has huge eyes, so that it can see at night．It says 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(绿洲)．An oasis is where water comes from an underground river．Near an oasis, people can grow lots of plants and keep animals．