We've talked about snails (蜗牛) and their slow move. But much of the time snails don't move at all. They're in their shells —sleeping .
Hot sun will dry out a snail's body. So at the least sign of hot sun, a snail draws its body into its shell and closes the opening with a thin cover. Then it goes to sleep. A snail will die in a heavy rain. So whenever it rains, it goes inside its shell house and goes to sleep. A snail can sleep for as long as it needs to. It can take a short sleep. Or it can sleep for days at a time. And it spends all the winter months in its shell, asleep.
In spring the snail wakes up. Its body, about three inches long, comes out of from the shell. When hungry, the snail looks for food. It can't see very well. Its eyes, at the ends of the top feelers are very weak. But its sense of smell is very strong. It helps the snail to the new greens. Then the snail's little mouth goes to work.
A snail's mouth is no longer than the point of a pin(针). Yet it has 256,000 teeth! The teeth are so small that you can't see them. But they do their work. If you put a snail in a hard paper box, it will eat its way out. And if a snail wears out its teeth, it will grow new ones.
Mostly, a snail looks for food at night .But on cloudy days it eats in the daytime. It eats all day long. A snail can go on eating for hours and never feel full.
