1 . On a September night almost anywhere in southern Europe, you might see beech trees rustle (发出沙沙声) with activity. If you shine a light into the branches，you may see animals with large eyes and bushy tails.
They are called fat dormice. Despite their name, all types of dormice are more closely related to squirrels than mice. That explains their bushy tails and why they hang out in trees and bushes. But most squirrels are active during the day. Like other dormice, fat dormice come out at night.
Once the sun sets, fat dormice go to work filling themselves with beech seeds until they grow fat. These animals add at least half their body weight in just a few weeks. They’re preparing for a winter sleep. Lots of animals hibernate (冬眠),but fat dormice do so for seven or eight months. After putting on plenty of eight, a fat dormouse makes a nest. There it will spend the winter. Its body uses the stored fat for energy while it hibernates. But seven months is a long time,so the dormouse needs to use its energy slowly.
Everything in a fat dormouse’s body slows down when it hibernates. That’s true of all hibernating animals. They breathe more slowly and their hearts beat less often. Those changes help the animals survive several months without eating. But in fat dormice, the bodies slow down even more than the bodies of other hibernating animals that live in similar environments. At temperatures well above freezing (15℃), hibernating fat dormice may breathe only once every 10 minutes. During a midwinter freeze, they breathe only once an hour. Hibernators such as little brown bats and squirrels breathe more often. Their hearts beat more often, too. But those animals hibernate for only five or six months. Fat dormice have to stretch their energy supply for two or three months longer.
Over seven or eight months, the fat dormouse slowly uses up the fat it stored in the fall. In May, it finally wakes up. It is much thinner, very hungry, and ready to make the most of its short summer before it is time to hibernate again.
1. What is a characteristic of fat dormice?| A．They feed on insects. | B．They look the same as mice. |
| C．They enjoy staying underground. | D．They are active during the night. |
| A．To fight against enemies. | B．To protect their families. |
| C．To survive during the winter. | D．To feed baby fat dormice. |
| A．Fat dormice are super energy savers. |
| B．Fat dormice are good food searchers. |
| C．Fat dormice store more energy than other hibernators. |
| D．Fat dormice breathe more quickly in midwinter than in summer. |
| A．To compare several kinds of animals. |
| B．To introduce a champion of hibernation. |
| C．To explain how fat dormice earned their name. |
| D．To show how hibernating animals spend the winter. |
