阅读理解

     Most of you know this mathematical game, of course. You and your friend draw crosses and circles on a sheet of paper. You do it one after another. The first pupil who gets three marks in a row wins. But do you know that you can play this game another way and it will become more interesting? You must try to make your friend win. If you get your three marks in a row, you don't win — you lose!

     It is more difficult to play this game the other way. The second pupil can always win (if he plays the right way), but he may not win if the first pupil begins with his mark in the center. Then if the first pupil always takes a place on the other side of his friend's mark, nobody will win.
     If your friend does not know the secret which we have explained, you must play each time so as to leave him the greatest number of ways to win. You may try a few games and you will see how interesting it is to play the game this way.

    Do you know what the hump(驼峰) of a camel is used for? If you answered to store water, guess again. In fact, a camel's hump is a place for storing fat.

    Most animals, including humans, store fat throughout their bodies, under their skin. But camels store their fat in one place, their hump. A hump can weigh as much as 80 pounds. Why do camels keep their fat this way? The answer is most likely because of their environment. Camels can go up to two weeks without eating because they have this fat to live off.

    Also camels are great at handling(处理，应付) changes in body temperature. Their humps can help the camels keep cooler. Their coats also help them adapt(适应) to the heat. While the coat is thick, it reflects(反射)the sunlight and protects the camel from the heat that rises off the desert sand.

    There are two kinds of camels, those with one hump and those with two humps. Camels with one hump are called Dromedary or Arabian camels. They live in the dry deserts in West Asia. Camels with two humps are called Bactrian camels. They live in Central and East Asia.

    Besides their humps, camels have a lot of interesting facts. They can live between 40~50 years. They can carry about 400 pounds and run up to 40 miles per hour. It's true that camels can go long time without drinking water, and they can drink about 26 gallons of water at a time. Camels can also close their nostrils(鼻孔). So whether a camel has one hump or two, it is one amazing animal that is very well adapted to its environment.

    At midnight (半夜) Mr. King coughed again. He got up and took some medicine. Before he lay down again, he smoked. And he couldn't go to sleep any longer. He found the medicine book and began to read it. He was afraid he had lung cancer(肺癌). He seemed to see death was waiting for him. Tears (眼泪)ran down his face. He didn't see his wife was standing by him.

    “What's wrong with you, dear?”asked the woman.

    “Nothing,” the old man answered and covered his face with his hands.

The old woman opened the book and understood at once. She said, “You must stop smoking right now.”

    “I began to smoke when I was nine, you know. How can I do that?”

    “But I think health is more important.”

    Mr. King coughed again and his wife said, “Go to see a doctor tomorrow. He will be able to help you, I think.”

    The doctor told Mr. King to have an X-ray examination（X光检查）of his lungs. And then he looked at the X-ray carefully for a long time.

    “Tell me the truth, doctor.” said Mr. King, “Do you see any shadows (阴影) in my lungs?”

    “No, I don't see anything.”

    “Yes?” the old man said happily. “Really?”

    “Yes. Your lungs are turning black. How can I see any shadows?”

    Fraser Island is in Queensland, Australia, about 200 kilometers north of Brisbane. It is about 120 kilometers long and 240 kilometers wide. It is a very important island because it is completely made of sand. In fact, it is the largest sand island in the world. There is no airport on the island, but there is a long beach along the east coast. Planes arrive and leave from here.

    The sand makes unusual shapes. There are hills made of sand called sand blows. Nothing grows on them. They move one or two meters a year from the northwest towards the southeast of the island, getting bigger and bigger. At other places on the island, such as Rainbow Gorge, The Cathedrals and Red Canyon, the sandy rocks have different colors. Sometimes the rocks are so brown that they turn the sea brown, like coffee.

    Surprisingly, the sandy island has a lot of different plants and animals. There are dark forests—eucalyptus woods, beautiful flowers and over a hundred lakes. There are many kinds of birds, like owls and curlews. There are many animals there, too, such as crocodiles, flying foxes and wild dogs called dingoes.

    About 500,000 people visit the island every year to see the island's beauty and nature. People enjoy camping and hiking（徒步）there. Unluckily, the visitors create problems. They damage plants and frighten animals. Their sun cream（防晒霜）makes the water dirty. So it is necessary to manage the visitors. For example, people may not use motor boats or go fishing in the lakes, and they need official papers to drive there.

    You know how much your telephone has changed over the past 10 years? Your car will change even more than that in the next 10 years. One of the biggest changes is that cars will drive themselves.

    "We certainly have the technology for it now." says Andrew Poliak of automotive(机动车辆的)technology supplier QNX." We expect self-driving cars to be a mainstream thing between 2020 and 2025."

    The American company Google has been working on self-driving cars for years. These cars are already on the roads in the United States and are truly self-driving. They have to steering wheels(方向盘）or pedals(踏板). Last week, the police ordered one of Google's cars to stop for driving too slowly on a public road. The car was not breaking any law, so no one was punished.

    Another American company, Tesla, added an "Autopilot" feature to its cars last month. With the Autopilot turned on, the vehicle drives itself. The car will speed up, slow down, brake and drive by itself. You can take over driving any time by turning the steering wheel or touching a pedal. The car uses sensors to know when driveway changing is safe and whether it should speed up or slow down.

    Tesla Autopilot is made for cross-country driving. It keeps you in the driveway and helps you avoid hitting other cars. It does not work well on local roads, for it will not stop at a red light or stop sign.

    Reporter Carolyn Nicander Mohr tried the Autopilot feature of a Tesla earlier this month. She had a hard time trusting the car to do what it should do. She thought about disabling the Autopilot feature many times during her trip. She wanted to take control at every bend in the road and hit the brake when the car in front of her slowed down. Yet the car drove perfectly.

    Other companies are working on self-driving cars, too. Marcedes-Benz, Audi, BMW. Volvo and Toyota all have plans for such vehicles.