Y YOOU U K KN NO O

DD I I DD Occupations
Occupations WW? ?

11 Read
Whichthis text about
animals barcodes.
do you think can survive in the Sahara desert?
Make a list.
Barcodes Then
are all readus.the
around textofand
Most the see
time,ifyou
youprobably
guesseddon’t
correctly.
notice
them. But think for a moment. When you buy a CD, a pair of jeans or a
packet of biscuits, the shop assistant scans the product. The name and
price appear automatically on the screen. All of that information is
in the barcode.

How does a scanner read a barcode?

There are twelve digits in a barcode. Each digit has seven black and white
bars. The scanner recognizes and identifies these digits. They look like this:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Animal life in the Sahara desert
Look at this picture of camels in the Sahara. It is almost impossible to imagine that life can exist
there. But many mammals, reptiles, and over 300 species of birds survive.
Mammals
There
What doarethemany
twelve species of mammals in the Sahara desert.
digits mean?
Mammals must keep the same body temperature at all times. If they get too hot, they breathe
• very
Before
fast thebut
firstthey
digitlose
there
a lotis a of
Start Code.
water whenIt tells
theythedoscanner where
this. This is ato start. in the desert, so
problem
• mammals
The first two digits represent the country. For example, the
try to stay cool. Small mammals hide under the sand or under UK is usually 50 and Spainduring
rocks is usually
the 84.
day to
• avoid
The next four
the hot sun. digits represent the manufacturer, or maker.
• The next five digits identify the product.
• Most desert
The final digitmammals only eatsum
is a mathematical grass andonplants,
based but this
the eleven digits.gives
The them
scanner all the liquid they need. In
fact, gazelles do not need to drink at all.
uses it to check that the code is correct.
Birds
Birds, of course, have a great advantage. They can fly long distances to find food and water. Their
feathers
2 Answer these protect them from the heat of the sun. Most desert birds live on insects, but some also
questions.
eat seeds and small mammals.
1 Look at the first part of the barcode on
Reptiles
these trainers.
Reptiles survive Write
verythewellfirst six desert. In fact, there are nearly
in the
Barcode on trainers
100 species of reptiles in the
digits in the boxes.
Sahara. Reptiles have very thick skin and lose water from their bodies very slowly. This is a big
2 advantage
Now look atinthe thefirst two They are also cold-blooded, so their body temperature goes up and down
desert.
with the temperaturedo
digits. Which country outside. However, reptiles do not like to be too hot, so they move from one
shaded areacome
the trainers to another.
from? The largest reptile in the Sahara is the desert monitor lizard which can be
1.6m long.

2 Read the text again and match the sentences with the
animals in the box.

gazelles birds reptiles small mammals

start code

1 They have feathers to protect them from the hot sun. birds
2 They are cold-blooded.
3 They hide under rocks and in the sand during the day.
3 Why do you
4 They think
do not barcodes
need are important?
to drink.

3 Which animals live in your country? How have they adapted to their environment?
D •
TE E E
SI AD L
EB LO B
W N IA
M OW P
RO D CO

1/1 This page has been downloaded from www.onestopclil.com.

N TO

Written by Katherine Stannett. © Copyright Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2010.

F BE
O
H
•P
CA