女孩發現巨齒鯊牙齒

谷戰峰

據報道，一個9歲的女孩在美國馬里蘭州的卡爾弗特海灘戲水時，發現了一塊1，500萬年前的巨齒鯊牙齒化石。

Girl finds 15?million?year?old

megalodon tooth in US

A nine?year?old girl has discovered an ancient and rare megalodon （巨齒鯊） shark tooth at the beach.

In a viral post on a social media platform， fourth grader Molly Sampson was pictured holding in her small hand a 15?million?year old megalodon tooth after she discovered the rare treasure during a family visit to Calvert Beach in Maryland in the US.

“Look at the size of the tooth Molly just found，” her mother said in the online post. “This tooth was in the water. Thanks to her waders （高筒防水靴），she got the best part of her present！”

Lucky Molly found the massive tar coloured tooth belonging to the now extinct Otodus megalodon shark species while splashing around in chilly and knee?deep water.

Megalodon， meaning “big tooth” in Ancient Greek， lived in waters around the world but died out at least 3.5 million years ago.

The animals stretched up to more than 20 meters in length， one of the largest fish to have existed.

“She told me that she was wading in knee?deep water when she saw it and dove in to get it，” Ms Sampson said.

“She said she got her arms all wet， but it was so worth it.”

Molly had already found more than 400 teeth， albeit much smaller than this discovery. But she always hoped to find a “meg”.

The family took Mollys amazing discovery to the Calvert Marine Museum， whose palaeontology experts confirmed the sharks identity and congratulated the “future palaeontologist” on social media.

“People should not get the impression that teeth like this one are common along Calvert Cliffs，” said the museums manager， Stephen Godfrey. “And she didnt have to dig into the cliffs to find the tooth. It was out in the water.”

Mr Godfrey said amateur fossil hunters typically found about 100 megalodon teeth on Calvert Cliffs each year. But most of them were much smaller than Mollys huge find.

The largest megalodon tooth ever found was almost 19 centimeters long and was discovered in the Ocucaje Desert in Peru.

1. What do we know about the old megalodon tooth Molly found？

A. It was found when Mollys family visited Peru.

B. It was found when Molly visited her family.

C. It was found with Mollys mothers help.

D. It was found to have a very long history.

2. What does the underlined word “albeit” mean in paragraph 9？

A. Moreover.

B. Though.

C. And.

D. So.

3. What does Stephen Godfrey think of Mollys huge find along Calvert Cliffs？

A. It is common.

B. It is typical.

C. It is unusual.

D. It is imaginative.

4. Why does Mr Godfrey say Mollys discovery is special？

A. The megalodon tooth Molly found is much bigger.

B. Molly found the largest megalodon tooth ever found.

C. Molly is too young to be a palaeontologist.

D. Molly is the best amateur fossil hunter of all.

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

In a viral post on a social media platform， fourth grader Molly Sampson was pictured holding in her small hand a 15?million?year old megalodon tooth after she discovered the rare treasure during a family visit to Calvert Beach in Maryland in the US. 在一篇在一個社交媒體平臺風靡一時的帖子中，四年級學生莫莉·桑普森被拍到用她的小手拿著一顆1，500萬年前的巨齒鯊牙齒。她是在全家在美國馬里蘭州的卡爾弗特海灘游玩時發現了這一稀世珍寶。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句，句中的holding in her small hand是現在分詞短語作主語補足語；after引導的是一個時間狀語從句。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

at the beach 在海灘上

thanks to 多虧

belong to 屬于

more than 多于

dig into 挖掘