A

    Many people think the camel stores water in its hump (驼峰), but it does not. Instead, the camel stores something else there—food. The camel's hump is really a hump of fat (脂肪). The camel is often called "a ship of the desert". When the camel is not travelling and is in a place where there is much food and water, it eats and drinks a lot. As it does so, its hump rises from the fat its body makes. Then, when the camel is travelling through the desert and when there is no food, it can live off the stored fat.

    A camel can go on for days or weeks with little food or water. However, when its hunger reaches the starvation (饿死)point, its hump shrinks (收缩) and may even slip off its back and hang down its side.

    Camels are not fussy (挑剔的) about what they eat. Thorny (多刺的) plants don't hurt their mouths, grass of any kind will do and so will hay, dry grain and cactuses (干草, 干粮, 仙人掌).

There are one­ hump camels and two­ hump camels. Camels with one hump are called Arabian camels. They come from North Africa. Camels with two humps are from Asia.

D

    It is reported that some developed countries have shipped broken parts of computers to China. Last month Hong Kong officers found 131,000 kilograms of broken computers, TVs and phones sent from Japan.

    Things like these are called electronic waste, or e-waste. Dealing with them is not an easy job. Every time an old computer breaks down, it needs to be dealt with safely. What is worse, at present, broken computer parts are usually buried. It may be hundreds of years before they are really g one in the earth.

    Many places in China are polluted by e-waste. Guiyu in Guangdong Province is one of them. This town is named as "the e-waste capital of the world". It has to deal with 1.5 million kilograms of e-waste each year, from which it makes 75 million yuan. But it comes at a cost. Many of the poisons in e-waste find their way into the environment. An environmental group has found the air, the earth and the rivers in Guiyu badly polluted.

    Luckily, the Chinese government wants to change the situation. This year, China passed a new environmental protection law. Computer companies like Lenovo and Dell will be asked to take back their old computers. Hopefully, the problem with e-waste will be solved in the near future.

    The best time to collect green leaves is early in the leafing season but not so early．The months of June and July provide the best leaf samples（样品），but you can find great leaf samples throughout the summer．To make a fall color collection，you have to collect the leaves in autumn．

    I have seen many beautiful fall color collections．

    When you choose leaves for your samples，try to choose leaves of about the same size and shape on the tree．Make sure you collect the entire（完整的） leaves．

    Remember，some leaves have only one blade（叶片） or leaflet（小叶）．Some leaves have a few or many leaflets．You must know these two kinds of leaves．Good leaf collections contain the entire leaves．

    You should dry the collected leaves carefully before putting them in a leaf press（压）．When you collect leaves in the field，you can put them between the pages of book to protect them．And then，press them as soon as possible before you take them from this book．Finally，you should write down each leaf's name and put them in a leaf press．

    My name is Wei Hua and I'm a sporting robot of the 23rd century. I'm clever at high flying exercises. I jump from spaceships and as I fall, I turn, dive, circle and dance until I softly land as close as I can to the finishing line.

    Robot competitions in the 23rd century are truly a popular sport. Fans from all over China watch their hand—held TVs when a competition comes on. Last time I took part in the 78th Olympics and I won the silver medal for my performance. This year I was very proud to be chosen again. I wanted to meet robots from other countries and explore ideas about our sport. However, my programmer fell ill the week before we were leaving. It was very painful for her and I felt very scared. I didn't feel so confident that I would win.

    The day of the competition was rather cold for my legs and my special oil began to freeze. I stopped for a moment(which I shouldn't) before I jumped from the starting place on a little spaceship, then I began my performance. At the correct moment I tried to open my parachute(降落伞)but there was a problem. It only opened a little. I began to fall faster and faster so that I could not turn, dive, circle or dance. My heart stopped beating as I landed heavily on a mountain covered with snow.

    This is why I am writing to you from my hospital bed with two broken legs and a weak head. I did not win anything at the Olympics after all. I need the factory to build me two new legs and an even bigger head. Then I will be able to compete once more. Let's hope for greater success in the next Olympics!