Can plants eat people? Probably not,but there are many plants that eat meat. Some of them are big. And they can eat small animals. One famous meat-eating plant is the Venus flytrap(捕蝇草).

The Venus flytrap is a very strange plant. It grows in dry parts of the United States. Its leaves are like the pages of a book. They can open and close very quickly. Inside the leaves,there are three small hairs. If a fly touches one of the hairs,the leaf closes quickly. The fly cannot get out. In about half an hour,the leaf presses the fly until it is dead. Then,the plant covers the fly. Slowly, the plant eats the fly.

Why do plants do it? Most plants get what they need from the sun,the air,and the ground. In some places,the ground is very poor. It doesn’t have all these important things, specially nitrogen(氮). Animal meat has a lot of nitrogen, so some plants eat meat to get what they need. Let’s hope that some of the bigger plants don’t get the same idea!

Some people say dolphins （海豚）are smart like humans （人类）. They can think, understand and learn things quickly. In fact, dolphins have big brain （大脑）-to-body size ratio （比例）, which is second only to humans. Dolphins use brains differently from the way humans do. But scientists say dolphins are like humans in some ways. How?

Like humans, every dolphin has its own “name”. The name is a special sound. Each dolphin chooses a special sound for itself at birth. Dolphins are like people in other ways, too. They “talk” with others in their own groups about a lot of things—such as their age, and how to find food. They also use sounds and body languages to talk. Understanding dolphin words is not easy for humans. No one speaks dolphin words, but some scientists are trying to learn.

Dolphins are also social （社会） animals. They live in groups, and often join others from different groups to play games and have fun—just like people. Scientists believe playing together is something only smart animals do.

Both humans and dolphins make plans for getting things they want. For example, when there are fish near a boat, dolphins jump high to ask the fishermen to put their nets （网）, and then the men can catch a lot of fish. Why do dolphins help the men? Because they can get some fish that run away from the net.

Animals do many different, amazing things to get through the winter. Some of them migrate. They travel to other places where the weather is warmer or where they can find food. Many birds migrate in autumn. Because the trip can be dangerous, some travel in large groups. For example, geese fly in noisy “V”-shaped groups. Other kinds of birds fly alone.

Some animals stay active in winter. They must change themselves as the weather changes. For example, snowshoe rabbits grow white fur to help them hide in the snow.

Water makes good protection for many animals. When the weather gets cold, they move to the bottom of lakes and rivers. There, frogs and many fish hide under rocks or fallen leaves. Cold water holds more oxygen than warm water, and frogs can breathe through their skin.

Every kind of insect has its own life cycle and that is the way it grows and changes. Different insects spend the winter in different forms of their lives. Some insects also spend the winter without moving. Some insects spend the winter as pupae (蛹). Other insects die after laying eggs in autumn. The eggs change into new insects in spring and everything begins all over again.