A. Look at the photo.

What do you think the article is about?

a. plants in the desert

b. what a desert is

c. what is in cold place

FULL OF LIFE

When you hear the word “desert,” what words do you think of? Many people think of the word “hot.” The hottest weather ever recorded, 57°C, was ina desert called Death Valley, U.S.A. However, not all deserts are hot. There are also cold deserts. Antarctica has the largest desert in the world, and it’s very cold there.

What other words do you think of? A lot of people say “nothing,” or “empty,” but this isn’t true either. About 15 percent of the world’s population live in deserts. There are also insects, birds, and other animals that live there—like snakes and lizards.

So what makes a desert? Well, scientists agree that all deserts are dry. They say a genuine desert gets no more than 25 centimeters of rain or snow a year. This means people, animals, and plants have very little water to drink. They have to learn to live in these extreme places.