Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 6 to 12.

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 dessert 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 America 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 populations are 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 in the world.

The secret of their adjustment lies in a 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.

(Source: ―Reading Challenge 2‖, Casey Malarcher & Andrea Janzen, Compass Publishing)

What is the topic of the passage?

• A. Life underground
• B. Animal life in a desert environment
• C. Desert plants
• D. Man’s life in the desert

• Câu 2: Mã câu hỏi: 44532

  The word “desiccating” means_______.

  • A. humidifying
  • B. killing
  • C. drying
  • D. life threatening

• Câu 3: Mã câu hỏi: 44533

  The phrase “those forms” refers to all of the following EXCEPT________.

  • A. water – loving animals
  • B. moist – skinned animals
  • C. many large animals
  • D. the bobcat

• Câu 4: Mã câu hỏi: 44534

  The author states that one characteristic of animals that live in the desert is that they _____.

  • A. are less healthy than animals that live in different places
  • B. are smaller and fleeter than forest animals
  • C. can hunt in temperature of 150 degrees
  • D. live in an accommodating environment

• Câu 5: Mã câu hỏi: 44535

  Which of the following generalizations are supported by the passage?

  • A. All living things adjust to their environments.
  • B. Healthy animals live longer lives.
  • C. Water is the basis of life.
  • D. Desert life is colorful.

• Câu 6: Mã câu hỏi: 44536

  The word “they” in paragraph 3 refers to .

  • A. large animals
  • B. the forest animals
  • C. water – loving animals
  • D. the desert population

• Câu 7: Mã câu hỏi: 44537

  The author mentions all the following as examples of the behavior of desert animals EXCEPT________.

  • A. they dig home underground
  • B. they are noisy and aggressive
  • C. they are ready to hunt after sunset
  • D. they sleep during the day