DINOSAURS

100 million years = FAILURE?

(I) (1) TODAY WHEN PEOPLE think of dinosaurs, they often think of something which is big and extinct – an
animal which was not suited to the conditions to the conditions of life on earth. We even speak of people as being
dinosaurs meaning exactly the same thing – that they are old fashioned, survivors from another age who cannot function
in the modern world. We also speak of things, such as factories or cars, as being dinosaurs, and again me mean that
( 5 ) they are failures, oddly out of place in today’s world.

( II ) And yet, dinosaurs lived on all the continents of the earth except Antarctica. They were ideally adapted to
the conditions that existed on the land in the Mesozoic Era: a warm climate, plenty of water, and luxuriant vegetation. And
they dominated the world for more than 100 million years ( the first man appeared perhaps 4 million years ago ). In term of
evolutionary history of the world, the dinosaurs certainly were NOT failures; they were a major success story.

( III ) ( 10 ) The name dinosaur means terrible lizard, and we probably have a clear picture of what these reptiles
were like: huge, ferocious, carnivorous ( meat-eating ) beasts. But dinosaurs were, in fact, very varied in their appearance
and in their habits. Some were huge Camarosaurus was about 25 meters long and weighed about 50 tons. Some were
ferocious-Tyrannosaurus, which lived at the end of the dinosaur period, weighed about 8 tons and was probably the most
terrible animal that ever lived. But some dinosaurs were as small as a rooster, some were very docile, and most of the big
( 15 ) dinosaurs were herbivorous ( plant eating ).

( IV ) Some people find the diversity among the dinosaurs interesting. However, what fascinates most of us is
the mystery of why dinosaurs disappeared from the earth so suddenly about 65 million years ago, there are many different
theories. One theory suggests that the dinosaurs died because they ate the new flowering plants, which contained
substances that were poisonous. Another claims that temperatures on earth became too hot and the dinosaurs could not
( 20 ) reproduce: yet another says that the new, small mammals ate the dinosaurs’ eggs.

(V) Nevertheless, for scientists, probably the most interesting and exciting theory suggests that a large
meteorite hit the earth about 65 million years ago. The theory says that this caused a huge cloud of dust to block out the
sun. Because of this, the earth’s climate changed and the dinosaurs ( and many other kinds of animals ) died out because
they could not adapt to these changes.

( VI ) ( 25 ) Even so, was 100, 000, 000 years of domination a failure for the dinosaurs? Will man dominate the earth
for another 96 million years?
 DINOSAURS
100 million years = FAILURE?

Completa el siguiente esquema con ideas principales e ideas de apoyo.

Párrafo I
Idea principal: Cuando la gente piensa en dinosaurios, a menudo piensa en algo grande que se extinguió, en un animal
que no se adaptó a la condiciones de vida en la tierra.
Ideas de apoyo:
a) Llamamos dinosaurios a las personas que no están actualizadas.
b) ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Párrafo II
Idea principal: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Ideas de apoyo:
a) ______________________________________________________________________________________________
b) Los dinosaurios estaban completamente adaptados a las condiciones de la tierra en la era Mesozoica.
c) ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Párrafo III
Idea principal: _____________________________________________________________________________________
a) algunos eran enormes y otro pequeños.
b) ______________________________________________________________________________________________
c) _______________________________________________________________________________________________

Párrafo IV
Idea principal: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Ideas de apoyo:
a) ______________________________________________________________________________________________
b) ______________________________________________________________________________________________
c) Nuevos mamíferos pequeños se comieron los huevos de los dinosaurios.