What is the largest animal that lives on land？You most likely say，“The elephant．”You are correct．（In the animal kingdom，only the whale is larger．）There are two kinds of elephants．The first is the African elephant．The second is the Asian or Indian elephant．They are related．But they look different．The African elephant is bigger．Its ears are about four feet wide．Its tusks are about six to eight feet long．【小题1】

An African male elephant is about 11.5 feet at the shoulder．It weighs from 12,000 to 14,000 pounds．The largest ever measured stood 13 feet 2 inches tall．

The elephant has thick skin．It’s about one inch thick．It’s heavy．【小题2】 Yet it is tender．The bite of a horsefly will draw blood．Elephants like to cover themselves with mud clay（泥土）．This protects their skin from bites by flies．

【小题3】 It weighs about 300 pounds．The elephant uses the trunk in many ways．It smells，drinks，and feeds itself with its trunk．

【小题4】 Only two thirds of each tusk sticks out．The rest is in the skull．Tusks are used to dig for food．They are also used to fight．When trained，elephants can lift as much as one ton with their tusks．The molars are about one foot long．Elephants have four molars．Each weighs eight to nine pounds．

The mother elephant gives birth after 20 to 22 months．【小题5】 It is already about three feet tall．It drinks its mother’s milk until it is three or four years old．

A six-month-old corgi being trained to become the first of his breed to work as a police dog in China, made his first public appearance recently at the open day of a police camp in Weifang, Shandong Province.

His appearance challenges the stereotype (固有模式) that “little short legs” cannot join the police force. Fu Zai,whose name means “Lucky Boy”, has made waves on social media with his iconic smile,short legs and wagging tail.

As a reserve police dog, Fu Zai faces a heavy workload. Training, scheduled for every morning and afternoon, involves a variety of subjects, such as obedience exercises, bomb searches and scent (气味) tracking. He began training when he was two months old and has stood out and outperformed many of his peers.

“His strong environmental adaptability, insensitivity, his desire to possess items and his fondness for food are particularly favorable in our training,” said Wang Yanan, head of the police dog base at the Weifang Public Security Bureau.

Following four months of training, Fu Zai can now take advantage of his short legs to go beneath cars and easily search tight spaces. He can also improve interactions between police dogs and the public because of his adorable appearance.

Fans on social media joked about Fu Zai. One of them wrote, “Corgis can be plainclothes police, for they attract less attention than German Shepherds.”

“Police dogs are not only cute, but trainers have made a lot of efforts to train them to be professional,” Wang said.

Fu Zai is still a fresh hand and must undergo a period of further training to adapt to complex environment before officially entering service.

My folks bought their first house in the early 1940s after Dad got a better job in Marquette, Michigan. We lived just inside the city limits in what was still a rural area.

In the spring of 1948, when I was 6 years old, my parents bought a calf (小牛) to replace our cow, which had been killed the year before. So one day we drove to a local farm and returned with a white and brown calf we named Tubby.

We didn’t own a truck, so Tubby rode home in the backseat of Dad’s car with my 9-year-old brother, Steve and me. As you can imagine, the trip was a lot of fun for us kids.

Later that summer, Mom thought it would be cute to take a picture of me sitting on Tubby’s back. All went well until the flashlight of the camera sent Tubby charging off on a run, with me holding on for dear life and my heart pulled to my throat.

I lasted for about 30 feet before I hit the ground. Mom was quick enough to shoot a follow-up picture, so we had photos of me both on and off Tubby!

When summer had passed, the day arrived for poor Tubby to fill our freezer (冰柜). I must have been somewhere else with my mom on the fateful (决定性的) day, because I have no memory of what happened. All I knew was that the barn (畜棚) was empty, and that we had plenty of meat for dinners.

I hadn’t lived on the farm like my mother, so I didn’t understand that what had happened to Tubby was not unusual. Livestock (家畜) aren’t meant to be pets, and most farm kids know and accept the truth.

Whenever we had beef for dinner, I would tearfully ask, “Is this Tubby?” This went on for a couple of months until Dad had enough and declared, “No more cows!” That made me feel better about poor Tubby.