Since water is the basis of life, composing the greater part of the tissues of all living things, the crucial problem of desert animals is to survive in a world where sources of flowing water are rare. And since man’s inexorable necessity is to absorb large quantities of water at frequent intervals, he can scarcely comprehend that many creatures of the desert pass their entire lives without a single drop.

   Uncompromising as it is, the desert has not eliminated life but only those forms unable to withstand its desiccating effects. No moist- skinned, water-loving animals can exist there. Few large animals are found. The giants of the North American desert are the deer, the coyote, and the bobcat. Since desert country is open, it holds more swift-footed running and leaping creatures than the tangled forest. Its population is largely nocturnal, silent, filled with reticence, and ruled by stealth. Yet they are not emaciated.

   Having adapted to their austere environment, they are as healthy as animals anywhere else in the word. The secret of their adjustment lies in the combination of behavior and physiology. None could survive if, like mad dogs and Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun; many would die in a matter of minutes. So most of them pass the burning hours asleep in cool, humid burrows underneath the ground, emerging to hunt only by night. The surface of the sun-baked desert averages around 150 degrees, but 18 inches down the temperature is only 60 degrees.

According to the passage, creatures in the desert ...........

Câu hỏi liên quan

• Which of the following statement is supported by the passage?

• It can be inferred from the passage that the principal cause of California’s population surge between 1940 and 1950 was ..........

• Pollution in water is noticed .............

ZUNIA12

• According to the passage, Mantle could ______.

• The word "vulnerable" in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to .............

• Why do people say that African women’s lives are hard?

• Most people are afraid of being operated on ............

• According to the passage, all of the following contributed to the spread of English around the world EXCEPT .............

• Playing American football is the most similar to playing .........

• Which of the following is NOT true?

• The word "thrive" is closest in meaning to ........

• Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an activity of relaxation in the countryside of Britain?

• What might be the most suitable title for this reading passage?

• The word “elaborate” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ...........

• What does the passage mainly discuss?

• All activities mentioned in the passage are household chores EXCEPT .................

• The word “denotes” in line paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to_______.

• When education first reached women, they were ..............

• According to paragraph 4, what makes it possible for students in Germany to attend different universities during their undergraduate studies?

• It can be inferred from the passage that John Adams was: