103.An Exact Number

　　A tourist was visiting New Mexico and was amazed at the dinosaur¹ bones lying about.

　　"How old are these bones?" the tourist asked an elderly Native American, who served as a guide.

　　"Exactly one hundred million and three years old.

　　"How can you be so sure?" inquired the tourist.

　　"Well," replied the guide, " a geologist² came by here and told me these bones were one hundred million years old, and that was exactly three years ago.

Notes:

　　(1) New Mexico 新墨西哥（美国州名）

　　(2) be amazed at 对…感到惊诧

　　(3) dinosaur n.恐龙（已绝迹的巨大爬行动物）

Exercises:

根据短文判断下列句子正（T）、（F）：

　　① The tourist was frightened by the dinosaur bones lying about.

　　② The elderly native American served as a guide.

　　③ The guide knew exactly how old the bones were.

　　④ The guide told the tourist the history of the bones.

　　⑤ The guide believed what the geologist had said.

103.准确数字

　　一位游客在新墨西哥游览。他对随处可见的恐龙化石甚感惊奇。

　　“这些化石有多长的历史？”游客问一个上了年纪的当地美国人。他是作向导的。

　　“整整十亿零三年了。”

　　“你怎么这么肯定？”游客问道。

　　“哦，”向导回答道，“一个地质学家来过这儿，他告诉我说这些化石有十亿年了，再加上那是整整三年前的事了。”

练习参考答案：

①F②T③F④F⑤T

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 geologist   

n.地质学家

参考例句：

• The geologist found many uncovered fossils in the valley.在那山谷里，地质学家发现了许多裸露的化石。
• He was a geologist,rated by his cronies as the best in the business.他是一位地质学家，被他的老朋友们看做是这门行当中最好的一位。