原文呈现

ANIMAL EXTINCTION①

Many animals have disappeared during the long history of the earth.The most famous of these animals are dinosaurs②.They lived on the earth tens of millions of years ago，long before humans came into being③and their future seemed secure at that time.There were many different kinds of dinosaur and a number of④ them used to live in China.The eggs of twenty－five species have been found in Xixia County，Nanyang，Henan Province.Not long ago a rare new species of bird－like dinosaur was discovered in Chaoyang County，Liaoning Province.When scientists inspected⑤ the bones，they were surprised to find⑥that these dinosaurs could not only run like the others but also climb trees.They learned this from the way the bones were joined together．

Dinosaurs died out⑦suddenly about 65 million years ago.Some scientists think it came after an unexpected⑧incident⑨when a huge rock from space hit the earth and put too much dust⑩into the air.Others think the earth got too hot for the dinosaurs to live on⑪any more.Nobody knows for sure⑫why and how dinosaurs disappeared from the earth in such a short time．

We know many other wild plants，animals，insects and birds have died out more recently.According to⑬a UN report，some⑭844 animals and plants have disappeared in the last 500 years．The dodo is one of them.It lived on the Island of Mauritius and was a very friendly animal.Please listen to a story of the dodo and how it disappeared from the earth.

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①extinction/Ik'stIŋkʃn/n.灭绝；消亡

extinct adj.不再存在的；已灭绝的

②dinosaur/'daInəsɔː/n.恐龙

③come into being形成；产生，相当于come into existence，无被动语态。

④a number of许多(后接可数名词的复数形式)

a great/large number of tourists大量的游客