All About the Sonoran Desert(認識索諾蘭沙漠)

今天Kitty帶你讀的繪本來自英國海尼曼Heinemann分級閱讀系列中的科普故事 All About the Sonoran Desert(認識索諾蘭沙漠），本故事適用於一般現在時的拓展閱讀。閱讀中，當你遇到新單詞時，請你通過圖片，猜一猜其意思！讀完故事後，請你留言告訴Kitty老師，Can birds live in the Sonoran Desert?(索諾蘭沙漠有鳥在哪生活嗎？）

[背景知識]索諾蘭沙漠（The Sonoran Desert），是北美洲的一個大沙漠，位於美國和墨西哥交界。它是北美地區最大和最熱的沙漠之一，總面積達311,000平方公裡。索諾拉沙漠是世界上生物品種最多的沙漠，是世界上最完整、最大的旱地生態系統之一。這個大沙漠裡生活著60種哺乳動物，350種鳥，20種兩棲類物種，100種以上爬行動物，30種當地魚類，並有超過2000種當地的植物。（選自百度百科）

The Sonoran Desert（沙漠） is very hot

and very dry（乾旱）.

For most of the year,

it does not get any rain.

Yet many plants and animals

live in this desert.

This tall plant is a cactus（仙人掌）.

The cactus can live here

because it stores（存儲） water

in a special（特別） way.

When it rains, the cactus

roots（根部） soak up(吸收） water.

The plant swells up（腫脹）

and gets bigger.

The cactus uses the water

until it rains again.

This small plant is a cactus, too.

When the cactus is little,

it grows in the shade（樹蔭）

of a taller plant.

A plant that helps a cactus grow

is called a 「nurse」 plant!

The cactus has very long spines（刺）.

The spines help shade the plant

from the hot sun.

This desert plant has no leaves（leaf-leaves葉子）.

The plant dropped（丟掉） its leaves

to save water.

Here is the same kind of plant after the rain.

Now the plant is covered（布滿）

with new green leaves.

Many animals make their homes

in the Sonoran Desert.

The animals find ways

to stay cool on very hot days.

Some animals find places

to hide（躲藏） when the sun is very hot.

The desert tortoise

may dig deep into the dirt（泥土）

to stay cool.

The tortoise also finds shade

under large rocks（巖石）.

These desert animals

have a different way to stay cool.

They have long ears

that let out the heat（高溫）.

Desert birds have other ways to cool off.

This bird lifts up its feathers（羽毛）

to stay cool.

Some birds make nests（巢）

inside a cactus plant.

They stay inside the cactus

during the heat of the day.

They come out at night

to hunt（狩獵） for food.

The Sonoran Desert doesn’t get much rain.

But when rain does fall,

desert plants burst into bloom（開花）.

Then the desert is full of（充滿） color!

如果你想了解更多的沙漠動物與植物，請你進一步上網搜索哦！

下面，我們來寫一下讀書筆記吧！

[閱讀致謝：本資源僅供分享學習，不作商業用途，如有侵犯您的權益，請與我們聯繫刪除，謝謝！]