考古學傢們在蘇格蘭斯凱島發現瞭一個新的翼龍物種。這種獨特的飛行爬行動物生活在1.68 – 1.66億年前。
This flying reptile soared over the heads of dinosaurs when Scotland was part of a sub-tropical island in the Middle Jurassic period. Scientists found its wings, shoulders, leg and backbone embedded in limestone rock on a beach. Only the skull was missing. To protect it, the fragile fossil was transported from Skye in the researchers’ backpacks.
在侏羅紀中期，當時蘇格蘭仍是亞熱帶島嶼的一部分，這種飛行爬行動物就曾在恐龍頭頂上空飛翔。科學傢們在一片海灘上的石灰巖中發現瞭它的翅膀、肩膀、腿部和脊骨部分的化石。隻有頭骨不見蹤影。為瞭保護它們，這些脆弱的化石被裝進研究人員的背包中進行運輸。
This creature is called Ceoptera meaning mist in Scottish Gaelic. Fossils from this era are extremely rare, and the discovery changes what’s known about the flying reptiles. Experts now believe they lived much earlier and had a global distribution. It had been thought that they mostly lived in China. The fossil was found in 2006, but it took years of painstaking work to extract it from the hard rock for classification.
這種新發現的翼龍被命名為 “霧翼龍（Ceoptera）”，在蘇格蘭蓋爾語中指 “薄霧”。侏羅紀中期時代的化石極其罕見，這一發現改變瞭人們對該時期飛行爬行動物的認識。專傢們現在認為，翼龍生活的時期比預想得更早，而且它們曾遍佈全球各地。早前人們一直認為翼龍大多生活在中國。盡管這些化石於2006年被發現，但考古學傢們在經過多年的辛勤工作後才得以將化石從堅硬的巖石中提取出來以對其進行分類。
詞匯表
soared 飛翔，翱翔
embedded 嵌入…之中的
fossil 化石
distribution 分佈
painstaking 極其仔細的，艱苦的
classification 分類
閱讀理解：請在讀完上文後，回答下列問題。
1. What was Scotland like in the Middle Jurassic period?
2. Was the pterosaur skeleton complete?
3. Where had it been thought that pterosaurs lived?
4. When was the fossil discovered?
答案
1. What was Scotland like in the Middle Jurassic period?
Scotland was part of a sub-tropical island in the Middle Jurassic period.
2. Was the pterosaur skeleton complete?
No, the skeleton’s skull was missing.
3. Where had it been thought that pterosaurs lived?
It had been thought that pterosaurs lived mostly in China.
4. When was the fossil discovered?
The fossil was discovered in 2006.
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