Listening

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Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. gigantic
    • ex. The scientists discovered a gigantic bone that can’t be moved without a machine.
  2. a paleontologist
    • ex. As a paleontologist, he often works in the field, digging in the ground, studying old bones, and learning about animals that lived a long time ago.
  3. document
    • ex. She is documenting her experiment results in the notebook.
  4. abundance
    • ex. Grapes and strawberries grow in abundance in the valley.
  5. a fossil
    • ex. The children saw a fossil of a dinosaur bone in the museum.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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Scientists have found a gigantic number of dinosaur footprints in Toro Toro, a village and national park in the Bolivian Andes. People once thought the strange prints came from monsters. Now, paleontologists say they were made by theropods, or two-legged dinosaurs, that lived more than 60 million years ago. The site is famous for its huge collection of footprints.

A team of researchers from California’s Loma Linda University spent six years visiting the site and carefully documenting 16,600 footprints. This is the highest abundance of theropod footprints in the world. The prints also show that some dinosaurs tried to swim in lakes, pressing their footprints into the mud. Experts say these fossils of footprints are very well-preserved.

It is not clear why so many dinosaurs came to this area. Some scientists think they visited a large lake. Others think they were moving to find new places to live. Researchers will continue studying the area, and more footprints may be discovered. This discovery gives a rare look at how dinosaurs lived in the past.

This material was based on an article by The Associated Press.
Photo Credits: The Associated Press

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Dinosaurs and Their Footprints

  • Are you interested in dinosaurs? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • If you find dinosaur fossils, what would you do? Discuss.
  • Do you think it is important for people to study how dinosaurs lived millions of years ago? Why or why not? Discuss.

Paleontologists

  • In your opinion, is working as a paleontologist interesting? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Do you think you would be a good paleontologist? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • If you could spend a year working as a paleontologist anywhere in the world, where would you go? Discuss.