河北發現4,300多個恐龍腳印

山東 李全忠

河北省自然資源廳發布古生物化石調查成果，經過調查評價，河北地質調查人員在張家口宣化發現的大型恐龍足跡化石群共有恐龍腳印4,300多個。

主題語境：考古 篇幅：329詞 建議用時：6分鐘

More than 4,300 dinosaur footprints have been discovered in Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei Province,the most such markings found in one site in the country,according to the Department of Natural Resources of Hebei,which disclosed related survey results.

From the footprints, scientists can determine how dinosaurs walked, calculate their length,weight and size,and even estimate their walking speed.“The footprints not only reflect dinosaurs' living habits and behavior, but also explain the relation between dinosaurs and their living environment at the time,”said Xing Lida,a dinosaur researcher from China University of Geosciences.

Li Jianjun, a researcher from Beijing Museum of Natural History, echoed Xing's view.“Dinosaur bones become fossils after their death, while dinosaur footprints are left from when they were alive, which provide wonderful insights into how dinosaurs lived. The footprints can provide a lot of information about their behavior,as well as information on paleogeography(古地理學)and paleoenvironment.Therefore,dinosaur footprints play an irreplaceable role,”Li said.

The footprints in Zhangjiakou were found in April,2020 in an area of more than 9,000 square meters in the city's Xuanhua District,the largest area with dinosaur footprints found in the country, Li said. The sharp-looking footprints are about 10 centimeters long. Among them, the largest is 37.5 centimeters in length. Based on this, we can learn that the dinosaur's body length was four to five meters.

Scientists have discovered dinosaur footprints of four different genera along more than 70 tracks at the site. The footprints are located on fine sandstone that dates back 150 million years and was covered by thick volcanic ash, providing good conditions for the preservation of the footprints.

A great number of dinosaur fossils and footprints have been found in Zhangjiakou and Chengde in Hebei in recent years, showing that the two places once saw frequent dinosaur activity hundreds of millions of years ago.

“At present, our research on paleontological fossil resources including dinosaur footprints in the two places is underway,”said Sun Xiao,a chief engineer at the Regional Geological Survey Institute.

Reading Check

1.What can scientists learn about dinosaurs from their footprints?

A.They know what dinosaurs ate.

B.They know why dinosaurs died out.

C.They know dinosaurs'behavior.

D.They know dinosaurs'hobbies.

2.What did Li Jianjun think of Xing Lida's words?

A.He agreed with Xing Lida.

B.He disagreed with Xing Lida.

C.He thought them useless.

D.He thought them unusual.

3.What can we know from paragraph 4?

A.Dinosaurs lived only in the Xuanhua District.

B.There're 4,300 dinosaur footprints in China.

C.The largest footprint is 5 meters in length.

D.Dinosaurs'footprints are sharp.

4.Where can we most probably read this text?

A.In a novel. B.In a newspaper.

C.In a travel guide. D.In a history textbook.

Language Study

Ⅰ.Difficult sentence in the text

More than 4,300 dinosaur footprints have been discovered in Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei Province,the most such markings found in one site in the country,according to the Department of Natural Resources of Hebei,which disclosed related survey results.河北省自然資源廳公布了相關調查結果，中國北方的河北省張家口市發現4,300多個恐龍腳印，這是在同一個地點發現最多的一處。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句，found in one site in the country 是過去分詞短語作后置定語；which disclosed related survey results 是非限制性定語從句，修飾先行詞the Department of Natural Resources of Hebei。

Ⅱ.Text-centered chunks

according to 根據

not only...but also...不但……而且……

as well as 也；還

play a role 起作用；扮演角色

more than 多于；超過

be based on 以……為根據

a great number of 許多；大量

hundreds of millions of 幾億

at present 目前；現在