9.
阅读理解
Once people thought that dinosaurs were brown or gray in colour, but the
answer is to be found out. After examining the remains of a dinosaur,
scientists say the colour of the feathers is bright. American and Chinese
scientists rebuilt the feathers of a flightless(不能飞的)dinosaur
that lived about 150 million years ago, and researchers studied
melanosomes(黑素体)in the feathers. The researchers
compared them to the melanosomes that control the colour of feathers on modern
birds. They were then able to make out the colours of dinosaurs' feathers.
Richard Prum, a biologist(生物学家)at Yale University, said
the dinosaur would be a beautiful creature if it were still alive. The
discovery is useful to scientists in another way. It helps them better
understand not only how dinosaurs looked but also how they lived in their daily
life. Some researchers plan to use this way to study the colours of other
feathered dinosaurs.