In the deserts(沙漠)of North Africa and Saudi Arabia lives the smallest fox with the largest ears. This animal is the fennec fox.

Fennec foxes have ears that are 5 to 6 inches long. That's big for an animal that weighs less than four pounds. Their ears help shed (去除) body heat. And, as you may have guessed, they also provide great hearing.

    It's also interesting to think about the hair of fennec foxes. Why would a fox that lives in the desert need a thick, fur coat? Actually, the desert isn't always warm. During the nighttime, a desert can be terribly cold! A fennec fox's fur keeps them warm during those desert nights. They also have long bushy tails that they use as a blanket. And the hair on their feet protects them from the hot sand in the daytime.

    Fennec foxes live in small communities of dens (兽穴).They spend most of the day sleeping in their dens, out of the hot sun. Then, when night comes, they come out in search of food. In addition to(除……之外) their great hearing, fennecs also use their great sense of smell and big eyes to track down dinner.

    Fennecs eat both meat and plants. They like eating birds, eggs, insects, snails, fruit and leaves best. Fennec fox mothers have one to five babies at a time. Sometimes they are in danger. They have to be careful with predators (捕食性动物), such as caracals (a type of wild cat) , jackals, eagle owls, hyenas and humans. Humans catch them for their fur and to sell as pets.

    On June 26th, 2000, two scientists, called Francis Collins and Craig Venter, told the world that they could now read the whole “map” of the human body: DNA. DNA is something that all humans have, and it tells the body what to do. DNA is the reason that we look like our mother and father, because we get some of their DNA to make our own. Now we can read some of this “map”, and so we can find out more about how our bodies work.

    People have been trying to understand the human body for a long time. In 1860, Gregory Mendel discovered that there is a special reason why we look the same as other people in our family. It is because of small things called “genes” that we have in our body. In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick made another discovery and found out that those small parts are really messages written in the DNA with a special language.

    In 1961, Marshall Nirenberg and Johann Matthaei found the first “word” that they could understand in that language, showing how DNA tells the cell to build its parts. This meant that one day we would be able to read all the messages that a human body gets from its parents' bodies. Scientists have now found all the words in DNA map, but we still do not understand what they all do. By understanding what just one “word” means, we can help save people from several diseases. So the more we understand, the more doctors will be able to do.

    Most people hope that this will help to make better medicine and help people who are very ill. Other people worry about that when we learn more words and find out lots of other information, we still use it in the wrong way, just to make people more attractive, or stop sick people getting jobs.

    Sue and Bessie are sisters. They are Americans. They live in the mountain village. Sue is 104 years old and Bessie is 102 years old now

    Here is some of their advice for living a long and healthy life.

    Get up early. They get up at 6:30 in the morning.

    Have a good breakfast. The sisters eat oatmeal (燕麦片),half a banana, bran (麸皮) and eggs with a little cheese.

    Take exercise every day. The sisters like to do yoga (瑜伽).They also walk every afternoon.

    Eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, especially apples. Apple is good for your health.

    Don't eat a lot of salt and fat (脂肪). These things are bad for your body.

    Don't get married (结婚). The sisters have no husbands or children to worry about.

    Don't always listen to the doctors. Most of the doctors don't know what to do with us. When something is wrong with us, they don't know how to treat (治疗) us. They are always surprised (感到惊奇) to see us live so long.

    Do you agree with the sisters?

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    I have a pet. His name is Lucky. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} My parents love him too. He is also one of our family members.

    When he was a small dog, he was very shy and he seldom barked. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Maybe the dog just wanted to play with him, but he stayed behind me and looked at me sadly. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    However, my little dog barked loudly when there was a fire in the kitchen. I was very curious at that time why he became so excited and ran around me all the time. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    There is an old saying about pets in my hometown: to love your pet is to love yourself. I can't agree with it more. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} When we stay together, we enjoy ourselves very much. Life is just like this: we need a friend with us till the end.

    On the second Sunday in May is Mother' Day, American children of all ages give their mothers to something special. It is the one day children, young and old, try to show their love to mothers. It is the day to celebrate motherhood and to thank her for all small and big things she has done for her children. However, did you know that Mother's Day celebration is no recent thing?

    In the United States, Mother's Day became an official holiday in1910. An American girl, Anna, asked her governor to set a festival for mothers for their love. And they set the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day and a year later all the other states celebrated it.

    On Mother's Day morning some American children serve their mothers breakfast in bed. Other children will give their mothers presents which they have made themselves or bought in stores. Adults give their mothers red carnations(康乃馨), the official Mother's Day flower. If their mothers left the world they may bring white carnations to their grave sites(墓地). This is the busiest day of the year for American restaurants. On her special day, family members do not want Mom to cook dinner!

I went to Grand Canyon (大峡谷) National Park in July 2012 for the firsttime and I knew I wanted to work there as a park ranger（管理员）. Park rangers protect the park's animals, plants, land, buildings, andpeople.

Now, as a park ranger forGrand Canyon National Park, I share the science, history and beauty of this parkwith thousands of visitors from around the world.

National parks are like outdoormuseums. Park rangers have all kinds of jobs, depending on where they work and whatthey studied during college. I teach school field trips（实地考察）, work at visitor centers and helppeople stay safe during their visit.

My favorite part of my jobis showing children their first look at the Grand Canyon during school field trips.Children are often amazed at the canyon's size and colors. Sometimes, they thinkit looks like a painting.

Being a park ranger requiresa lot of energy. I walk several miles and talk with hundreds of people each day.Park rangers must enjoy working with people and speaking in front of groups. Nearly5 million people visit Grand Canyon National Park every year.

Park rangers must also beprepared for any situation. Recently, I broke a traffic jam(堵塞). It was caused by a huge elk（麋鹿）standing in the road. Elks can become dangerous when they get scared,so I asked visitors to stop their cars and take pictures from far away. Believeit or not, I also help protect people from monkeys. It is not allowed to feed animalsin national parks. But sometimes, visitors try to feed monkeys.