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.

The word “emaciated” in the passage mostly means .......

Câu hỏi liên quan

• The word "innate" in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to __________.

• Which of the following can be inferred from the first paragraph?

• The expression get out of hand is closest in meaning to_________.

ZUNIA12

• According to the passage Moore wrote about all of the following EXCEPT ________

• Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

• The phrase “these years” in the third paragraph refers to ________.

• What form of street lighting was used in London when link boys used to work there?

• It can be inferred from paragraph 4 that ..............

• Why did John read about aeroplane?

• According to paragraph 4, which of the following is the most fascinating to booklovers?

• The author indicates that a hummingbird’s wings are different from those of other birds because .........

• According to the passage, which type of memory is the shortest?

• Artificial refrigeration involves all of the following processes EXCEPT .................

• The author mentions the “ shoesbox under the bed” in order to ___________.

• The word "grip" in the passage means to ..........

• In the United States, Thanksgiving is ______.

• The pronoun “they” in the second paragraph refers to_____.

• The word “they” in line 17 refers to ......

• With which of the following statements would the author agree?

• What is the passage mainly about?