Question

    We usually see ancient plants or insects in amber(琥珀). But recently, a group of researchers found something unusual in amber — a feathered tail!

The tail includes bones, soft tissue and even feathers. It is 37 mm long, which is about the length of a matchstick. It looks like a plant at first sight. But researchers later identified(确定) it as part of the tail of a dinosaur that couldn’t fly almost 100 million years ago.

Xing Lida of Beijing’s China University of Geosciences discovered the amber in a market in Myanmar in 2015. “It is an amazing fossil(化石) and the finest details of feathers can be seen in 3-D.” he said.

The researchers note in their paper that this finding is particularly special because, although dinosaur feathers have been found in amber before, we don’t know which dinosaurs they came from. But this time researchers know more.

The tail is likely to belong to a tiny dinosaur called coelurosaur. Famous coelurosaurs include the T-rex(霸王龙) and Velociraptor(迅猛龙) — the latter of which would finally evolve into birds.

So with the “once in a lifetime” finding, can we hope for the possibility of a real Jurassic Park (侏罗纪公园)? In the movie series, scientists bring dinosaurs back to life by getting their DNA from blood found in amber.

But Canadian scientist Ryan Mckellar said that although soft tissue and blood of the tail were found in the amber, no genetic material was kept. “The Jurassic Park answer is still a ‘no’ — this is in the science fiction.” he said.

1.What do you know about the amber?

a. It is about 100 million years old.      b. It was discovered in Myanmar.

c. It was discovered this year.    d. It is a valuable fossil.

A.ab B.bc C.ac D.bd

2.What does the underlined phrase “evolve into” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A.come into B.break into C.grow into D.get into

3.The movie Jurassic Park is mentioned to ________ .

A.talk about the use of DNA in this area B.call on people to watch it

C.compare different dinosaurs D.talk about science fiction

Answer

1.D

2.C

3.A

【解析】

这是一篇新闻报道类阅读，主要介绍我们通常在琥珀中看到古老的植物或昆虫。但是最近，一群研究者发现琥珀中有一种不寻常的东西——羽毛尾巴。它可能是一种小型恐龙的尾巴。科幻电影里科学家通过从琥珀中发现的血液中获取DNA，使恐龙复活。但是现实中科学家说，这是不可能的。

1.细节理解题。根据“Xing Lida of Beijing’s China University of Geosciences discovered the amber in a market in Myanmar in 2015.”可知，琥珀是在缅甸发现的；根据“It is an amazing fossil(化石)”可知，它是一种有价值的化石。故选D。

2.词义猜测题。根据“But researchers later identified(确定) it as part of the tail of a dinosaur that couldn’t fly almost 100 million years ago.”可知，以前这些恐龙不会飞；根据“the latter of which would finally evolve into birds.”后来成为鸟，会飞，这表示进化了，成长为鸟。故选C。

3.细节理解题。根据“In the movie series, scientists bring dinosaurs back to life by getting their DNA from blood found in amber.”句子谈到：从琥珀中发现的血液中获取DNA，使恐龙复活。可知，讨论的应该DNA方面的使用。故选A。