河北发现4,300多个恐龙脚印

李全忠

More than 4，300 dinosaur footprints have been discovered in Zhangjiakou， North Chinas 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 Xings 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 citys 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 dinosaurs 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 Lidas 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. Therere 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 Chinas 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. 河北省自然資源厅公布了相关调查结果，中国北方的河北省张家口市发现4，300多个恐龙脚印，这是在同一个地点发现最多的一处。

【点石成金】本句是一个主从复合句，found in one site in the country是过去分词短语作后置定语；which disclosed related survey results是非限制性定语从句，修饰先行词the Department of Natural Resources of Hebei。

Ⅱ. Text⁃centered chunks

according to 根据

not only...but also... 不但……而且……

as well as 也；还

play a role 起作用；扮演角色

more than 多于；超过

be based on 以……为根据

a great number of 许多；大量

hundreds of millions of 几亿

at present 目前；现在