In this non-fiction essay, we learn why dinosaurs disappeared from the earth.
很久很久以前，地球上有恐龙。恐龙非常大，非常强壮。它们在地球上生活了很长很长时间。但是后来，它们都消失了。为什么？
科学家说，大约六千六百万年前，一块非常大的石头从天上落下来，撞到了地球。这块石头非常非常大——比一座城市还要大。它撞到地球的时候，发出了很大很大的声音，周围的一切都被摧毁了。
但是最大的问题不是撞击本身。石头撞到地球以后，天上出现了很多很多的灰。这些灰遮住了太阳。没有太阳，地球变得非常冷，植物也不能生长了。
恐龙需要吃很多东西。有些恐龙吃植物，但是植物没有了。有些恐龙吃别的动物，但是那些动物也没有食物了。慢慢地，恐龙越来越少，最后全部死了。
但是有一件很有意思的事：不是所有动物都死了。小动物活下来了，因为它们不需要吃很多东西。科学家说，今天的鸟就是恐龙的后代。所以恐龙没有完全消失——它们变成了另外一种动物，现在还在我们身边。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 恐龙 | kǒnglóng | dinosaur |
| 消失 | xiāoshī | to disappear |
| 科学家 | kēxuéjiā | scientist |
| 撞 | zhuàng | to hit/crash into |
| 摧毁 | cuīhuǐ | to destroy |
| 灰 | huī | dust/ash |
| 遮住 | zhēzhù | to block/cover |
| 生长 | shēngzhǎng | to grow |
| 后代 | hòudài | descendant/offspring |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 久 | jǐu | (of a period of time) long |
| 以前 | yǐ qián | before; formerly; previous; ago |
| 地球 | dì qíu | the earth |
| 上 | shǎng | used in 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1] |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is; (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional) |
| 非常 | fēi cháng | very; really; unusual; extraordinary |
| 大 | dà | big; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3]); greatly; freely; fully; (dialect) father; (dialect) uncle (father's brother) |
| 强 | qiāng | strong; powerful; vigorous; better; to force (qiang3); stubborn (jiang4); surname Qiang |
| 壮 | Zhuàng | Zhuang ethnic group, the largest ethnic minority in China |
| 它 | tā | it; it (pronoun for an animal) |
| 们 | men | plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals |
| 在 | zài | to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress) |
| 生 | shēng | to grow; to give birth; to produce; to be born; to arise; to occur; to light (a fire); to live; to be alive; life; raw; uncooked; unprocessed; unfamiliar; strange; (bound form) stu… |
| 活 | huó | to live; alive; living; work; workmanship |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); (bound form) clear in one's mind; to understand clearly |
| 长 | cháng | long; (bound form) length; (bound form) strong point; forte; (bound form) to be good at; (literary) surplus; spare (Taiwan pr. [zhang4]) |
| 时间 | shí jiān | (concept of) time; (duration of) time; (point in) time |
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still; merely; only; just |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4] |
| 后 | Hòu | surname Hou; back; behind; rear; afterwards; after; later; post- |
| 来 | lái | to come; (used as a substitute for a more specific verb); hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5]); ever since (as in 自古以來|自古以来[zi4 gu3… |
| 都 | Dū | surname Du |
| 为 | wéi | as (in the capacity of); to take sth as; to act as; to serve as; to behave as; to become; to be; to do; by (in the passive voice); variant of 為|为[wei2] |
| 什 | shén | what |
| 么 | má | exclamatory final particle; variant of 麼|么[me5] |
| 说 | shuì | to persuade; variant of 說|说[shuo1] |
| 大约 | dà yuē | approximately; probably |
| 六 | lìu | six; 6 |
| 千 | qiān | thousand; used in 鞦韆|秋千[qiu1 qian1] |
| 百万 | bǎi wàn | million |
| 年前 | nián qián | by the end of the year; at the end of the year; shortly before New Year |
| 一块 | yī kuài | a piece; a chunk; (fig.) (coll.) (typically preceded by a specifier such as 這|这[zhe4]) aspect; area; dimension (Example: 情感這一塊|情感这一块[qing2 gan3 zhe4 yi1 kuai4] "the emotional aspec… |
| 的 | de | of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to… |
| 石 | Shí | surname Shi; abbr. for Shijiazhuang 石家莊|石家庄[Shi2 jia1 zhuang1], the capital of Hebei |
| 头 | tóu | head; hair style; the top; end; beginning or end; a stub; remnant; chief; boss; side; aspect; first; leading; classifier for pigs or livestock; CL:個|个[ge4] |
| 从 | cóng | variant of 從|从[cong2]; surname Cong |
| 天上 | tiān shàng | the sky; the heavens |
| 落下 | luò xià | to fall; to drop; to land (of projectile) |
| 到了 | dào liǎo | at last; finally; in the end |
| 这 | zhè | (pronoun) this; these; (bound form) this; the (followed by a noun); (bound form) this; these (followed by a classifier) (in this sense, commonly pr. [zhei4], esp. in Beijing) |
| 块 | kuài | lump; chunk; piece; classifier for pieces of cloth, cake, soap etc; (coll.) classifier for money and currency units |
| 比 | Bǐ | Belgium; Belgian; abbr. for 比利時|比利时[Bi3 li4 shi2] |
| 一 | yī | one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out … |
| 座 | zuò | seat; base; stand; (bound form) constellation; (archaic) suffix used in a respectful form of address (e.g. 師座|师座[shi1 zuo4]); classifier for large immovable objects such as buildin… |
| 城市 | chéng shì | city; town; CL:座[zuo4] |
| 还 | Huán | surname Huan |
| 要 | yāo | (bound form) to demand; to coerce |
| 到 | dào | to reach; to arrive; to leave for; to go to; to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point); (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point); considerate; thoug… |
| 时 | shí | old variant of 時|时[shi2]; surname Shi |
| 候 | hòu | to wait; to inquire after; to watch; season; climate; (old) period of five days |
| 发出 | fā chū | to issue (an order, decree etc); to send out; to dispatch; to produce (a sound); to let out (a laugh) |
| 声音 | shēng yīn | sound; voice |
| 周围 | zhōu wéi | environs; surroundings; periphery |
| 一切 | yī qiè | everything; every; all |
| 被 | bèi | quilt; to cover (with); (literary) to suffer (a misfortune); used to indicate passive voice (placed before the doer of the action like "by" in English passive-voice sentences, or, … |
| 最 | zuì | variant of 最[zui4]; old variant of 最[zui4]; (before an adjective or verb) to the highest degree; (the) most ...; -est; (after 之[zhi1]) best or most extreme example (e.g. 世界之最[shi4 jie4 zhi1 zui4] "the greatest in the world") |
| 问题 | wèn tí | question; problem; issue; topic; CL:個|个[ge4] |
| 不是 | bù shì | no; is not; not |
| 击 | jī | to hit; to strike; to break; Taiwan pr. [ji2] |
| 本身 | běn shēn | itself; in itself; per se |
| 以 | yǐ | old variant of 以[yi3]; abbr. for Israel 以色列[Yi3 se4 lie4] |
| 出现 | chū xiàn | to appear; to arise; to emerge; to show up |
| 多 | duō | many; much; more; a lot of; too many; in excess; (after a numeral) ... odd; how (to what extent) (Taiwan pr. [duo2]); (bound form) multi-; poly- |
| 这些 | zhè xiē | these |
| 太阳 | tài yang | sun; sunlight; sunshine; temple (on the side of the human head) (abbr. for 太陽穴|太阳穴[tai4 yang2 xue2]) |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | haven't; hasn't; doesn't exist; to not have; to not be |
| 变得 | biàn de | to become |
| 冷 | Lěng | surname Leng |
| 植 | zhī | to plant |
| 物 | wù | (bound form) thing; (literary) the outside world as distinct from oneself; people other than oneself |
| 也 | Yě | surname Ye |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- |
| 能 | Néng | surname Neng |
| 需要 | xū yào | to need; to want; to demand; to require; needs |
| 吃 | chī | to eat; to consume; to eat at (a cafeteria etc); to eradicate; to destroy; to absorb; to suffer (shock, injury, defeat etc); variant of 吃[chi1] |
| 东 | Dōng | surname Dong |
| 西 | Xī | the West; abbr. for Spain 西班牙[Xi1 ban1 ya2]; Spanish |
| 有些 | yǒu xiē | some; somewhat; rather; a bit |
| 别的 | bié de | else; other |
| 动物 | dòng wù | animal |
| 那些 | nà xiē | those |
| 食物 | shí wù | food |
| 慢 | màn | slow |
| 地 | de | -ly; structural particle: used before a verb or adjective, linking it to preceding modifying adverbial adjunct |
| 越 | Yuè | generic word for peoples or states of south China or south Asia at different historical periods; abbr. for Vietnam 越南 |
| 少 | shǎo | few; less; to lack; to be missing; to stop (doing sth); seldom |
| 全部 | quán bù | whole; all |
| 死 | sǐ | to die; impassable; uncrossable; inflexible; rigid; extremely; damned |
| 件 | jiàn | item; component; classifier for events, things, clothes etc |
| 有意思 | yǒu yì si | interesting; meaningful; enjoyable; fun |
| 事 | shì | matter; thing; item; work; affair; CL:件[jian4],樁|桩[zhuang1],回[hui2] |
| 所有 | suǒ yǒu | all; to have; to possess; to own |
| 小 | xiǎo | small; tiny; few; young |
| 下 | xià | down; downwards; below; lower; later; next (week etc); second (of two parts); to decline; to go down; to arrive at (a decision, conclusion etc); measure word to show the frequency … |
| 因为 | yīn wèi | because; owing to; on account of |
| 今天 | jīn tiān | today; the present time; now |
| 鸟 | diǎo | variant of 屌[diao3]; penis |
| 就是 | jìu shì | exactly; precisely; only; simply; just; (used correlatively with 也[ye3]) even; even if |
| 所以 | suǒ yǐ | therefore; as a result; so; the reason why |
| 完全 | wán quán | complete; whole; totally; entirely |
| 变成 | biàn chéng | to change into; to turn into; to become |
| 另 | lìng | other; another; separate; separately |
| 外 | wài | outside; in addition; foreign; external |
| 一种 | yī zhǒng | one kind of; one type of |
| 现 | xiàn | to appear; present; now; existing; current |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 身边 | shēn biān | at one's side; on hand |
A very, very long time ago, there were dinosaurs on Earth. Dinosaurs were very big and very strong. They lived on Earth for a very, very long time. But later, they all disappeared. Why?
Scientists say that about 66 million years ago, a very large rock fell from the sky and hit the Earth. This rock was extremely big – even bigger than a city. When it hit the Earth, it made a very loud sound, and everything around it was destroyed.
But the biggest problem was not the impact itself. After the rock hit the Earth, a lot of dust appeared in the sky. This dust blocked the sun. Without the sun, the Earth became very cold, and plants could no longer grow.
Dinosaurs needed to eat a lot of food. Some dinosaurs ate plants, but the plants were gone. Some dinosaurs ate other animals, but those animals had no food either. Slowly, there were fewer and fewer dinosaurs, and finally they all died.
But there is something very interesting: not all animals died. Small animals survived because they didn’t need to eat very much. Scientists say that today’s birds are the descendants of dinosaurs. So dinosaurs didn’t completely disappear – they changed into another kind of animal, and they are still around us today.