英语听力精选进阶版 7351（在线收听）

在俄罗斯西伯利亚地区发现的一组最新的恐龙化石表明恐龙羽化现象可能比原来科学家们想象中更早而且更普遍。这项研究已在《科学》杂志中发表。

The creature was about a metre long with a short snout, long hind legs, short arms and five strong fingers. Until now, fossilised evidence of feathery dinosaurs has come from China, and from a meat-eating group called theropods.

The latest discovery – in Russia – is from a completely separate group of plant-eating dinosaurs called ornithischians.

The new find takes the origin of feathers millions of years further back in time than had previously been thought. And, according to the researchers, completely changed ideas about how dinosaurs evolved.

Instead of thinking of them as dry, scary scaly creatures, a lot of species, especially when very young, actually had a fluffy, downy covering like feathers on a chick, they say. And did so when dinosaurs first emerged.

Glossary 词汇表

snout （某些动物的）长鼻子，口鼻部

hind （常指动物腿）后面的，后部的

evidence 证据

evolved 进化了

scaly 有鳞的

downy 绒毛状的，柔和的

emerged 出现