英语听力精选进阶版 14428

'Biggest dinosaur¹ ever' discovered

Summary

19 May 2014

Fossilised bones of a dinosaur believed to be the largest creature ever to walk the Earth have been found in Argentina, palaeontologists say. Based on its huge thigh² bones, it measured 40m long and 20m tall.

Reporter:

Palab Ghosh

Report

These creatures have yet to be given a name, but they belong to a group known as Titanosaurs. They had long necks and tails and are claimed by those who discovered them to have been the largest creatures ever to have walked the Earth. At full stretch, they were the height of a seven-storey building and weighed more than ten full-grown elephants. Yet they were probably not fearsome, but mild-mannered vegetarians³.

The giant dinosaurs⁴ lived 100 million years ago, in what is now Patagonia. Dr Bill Sellers, a palaeontologist at the University of Manchester, says it's a very exciting discovery:

"This is an amazing find because they've got so many dinosaurs there. I mean, this is seven individuals and these things are enormous! And actually it's really important because we don't know very much about these. We actually have very very few complete skeletons, and it looks like they've got quite a lot of bones here. So I think we will be able to piece together what's a real animal rather than a sort of composite."

So far more than 200 bones have been found. The discovery should increase our understanding of how these magnificent creatures evolved.

1 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

2 thigh   

n.大腿；股骨

参考例句：

• He is suffering from a strained thigh muscle.他的大腿肌肉拉伤了，疼得很。
• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。

3 vegetarians   

n.吃素的人( vegetarian的名词复数 )；素食者；素食主义者；食草动物

参考例句：

• Vegetarians are no longer dismissed as cranks. 素食者不再被视为有怪癖的人。
• Vegetarians believe that eating meat is bad karma. 素食者认为吃肉食是造恶业。

4 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》