义务教育教科书·英语八年级上册 Unit1 Reading

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was an Italian painter, inventor, musician, engineer and scientist. Da Vinci was extremely intelligent, and he was unusually talented in many different fields. He was a true genius① , and his paintings and inventions changed the way we think about art and science. Leonardo da Vinci was born in the countryside in Italy. From an early age, he showed great intelligence and artistic talent. As he grew older, he learnt to do many different things. His paintings are very famous, and one, the Mona Lisa, is perhaps the most famous painting in the world. He also had many inventions. For example, his notebooks include some interesting drawings of flying machines and other vehicles. Dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a type of prehistoric animal. They are related to crocodiles② , snakes and lizards③ . They are also the ancestors④ of today’s birds. Dinosaurs first appeared around 245 million years ago. The word “dinosaur” comes from two Greek words, and it means “terrible lizard”. Dinosaurs lived on land and walked on either two or four legs. Many dinosaurs ate plants, but some ate meat. Dinosaurs came in different sizes. Some were as small as chickens, and others were as big as ten elephants. Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for more than 180 million years. About 66 million years ago, dinosaurs suddenly died out. Scientists are not completely sure why. However, they are learning more and more about dinosaurs by studying their fossils.