Old Animal Poop Shows Ancient Life
古生物糞便揭示古代生命
Introduction
Scientists found very old animal poop in the frozen ground of Canada. They found DNA from many different animals in it.
科學家在加拿大的凍土中發現了非常古老的動物糞便，並在其中發現了許多不同動物的 DNA。
Main Body
The scientists looked at poop from small ground squirrels. This poop is very old. Some of it is 700,000 years old. The cold ice kept the DNA safe.
科學家研究了地松鼠的糞便。這些糞便非常古老，有些甚至有 70 萬年的歷史。寒冷的冰層保護了 DNA 的完整性。
Ground squirrels eat many things. They eat plants and other animals. Because of this, their poop has DNA from many animals. Scientists found DNA from mammoths, bison, horses, and wolves.
地松鼠雜食，牠們吃植物和其他動物。因此，牠們的糞便中含有許多動物的 DNA。科學家發現了猛犸象、野牛、馬和狼的 DNA。
New technology helped the scientists. They can now see the DNA clearly. They used volcanic ash to find the exact age of the samples. This is better than looking at old bones.
新技術為科學家提供了幫助。他們現在可以清晰地觀察 DNA。他們利用火山灰來確定樣本的準確年代，這比研究古老骨骼的方法更有效。
Conclusion
This study shows that squirrel poop is a great way to learn about old animals.
這項研究表明，研究松鼠糞便是一種了解古代動物的絕佳方式。
Vocabulary Learning
🧊 The 'Keeping' Word
In the text, we see: "The cold ice kept the DNA safe."
What is happening here? Someone or something (the ice) made a condition stay the same.
How to use it (A2 level):
KEEP + OBJECT + DESCRIPTION
- Ice kept DNA safe.
- I keep my room clean.
- You keep the food cold.
🔍 Simple Comparison: Bone vs. Poop
Look at this sentence: "This is better than looking at old bones."
When we compare two things to say one is 'more' than the other, we use Better Than.
- A is better than B.
- Example: "The bus is better than the train."
- Example: "The squirrel poop is better than the bone."