Unit 1 Reading

Look it out! Here are two articles from an encyclopaedia.

向下看！下面是从百科全书两篇文章。

Da Vinci, Leonardo

达芬奇o莱昂纳多

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian painter, inventor, musician, engineer and scientist.

达芬奇o莱昂纳多（1452-1519）是意大利画家、发明家、音乐家、工程师和科学家。

Da Vinci was born in the countryside.

达芬奇出生在农村。

From an early age, he showed great intelligence and artistic ability.

从很小的时候，他就表现出极大的智慧和艺术能力。

As he grew older, he learnt to do many different things.

随着年龄的增长，他学会了做很多不同的事情。

His paintings are very famous, and one, the Mona Lisa, is perhaps the most famous painting in the world.

他的画是非常有名的，还有《蒙娜丽莎》——也许是世界上最有名的画作。

He also had many inventions.

他还有许多发明。

For example, his notebooks include some interesting drawings of flying machines. (See Art)

例如，他的笔记本里有一些关于飞行器的有趣的图纸。 （见艺术）

Dinosaurs

恐龙

Dinosaurs lived on Earth more than 60 million years before human beings.

恐龙比人类早 60 多万年就生活在地球上。

They lived everywhere on Earth.

他们遍布在地球上的每一个地方。

Some dinosaurs were as small as chickens. Others were as big as ten elephants. Some could even fly.

有些恐龙如鸡那么小，有些则有十头大象那么大，有些甚至会飞。

Many dinosaurs ate plants. However, some dinosaurs liked to eat meat.

许多恐龙是吃植物的，但有些恐龙又很喜欢吃肉。

Dinosaurs lived on Earth for more than 150 million years.

恐龙在地球上的生活超过了 150 多万年。

Then, suddenly, they all died out. Nobody knows why.

但是，突然之间，他们灭绝了。没有人知道为什么。

However, we can learn about them from their fossils. (See Earth history)

不过，我们可以从它们的化石去了解他们。 （见地球的历史）