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 可愛臉孔，危險殺手 Funny-Looking, but Dangerous! |
Hippos are large African mammals. They live in rivers and look quite funny with their little ears and big, round, gray bodies. But in fact, they are one of the world's most dangerous animals. Hippos get angry very easily. They have large teeth. And they can run really fast. Every year, they kill around 500 people in Africa. Some people also say hippos sweat blood! Scary, right? Yes, if it were true. A hippo's sweat is red, but it isn't blood. It is actually a type of oil. This special oil protects a hippo's skin from the hot African sun. I first saw the word hippo in a book about Africa. I had to look it up in a dictionary because I didn't know what it meant. I found the word on a page in the H section. Take a look at some of the other words on that page. They all start with the letters "hi–." 
河馬是大型的非洲哺乳類動物，牠們棲息於河邊，有著小巧的耳朵與偌大渾圓的灰色身軀，長得十分逗趣。然而事實上，河馬可說是世上最危險的動物之一。河馬性格易怒、牙齒巨大，還能跑得飛快，非洲每年死於河馬攻擊的有將近五百人。 有些人說河馬會流血汗！聽起來很可怕吧？假如是真的，那當然很可怕。河馬的汗水雖然是紅色的，但那並不是血，其實是一種特殊油脂，能保護河馬的皮膚不被非洲的艷陽曬傷。 我第一次看到「hippo」（河馬）這個字是在一本非洲相關書籍裡。因為不懂這個單字的意思，我當時去查了字典，並在「H」開頭的區塊找到這個字。現在看看那頁裡的其他單字，這些字都是以「hi」開頭的。 |
| ──────選自《讀出英語核心素養1：九大技巧打造閱讀力（16K+MP3）》 |
