Pterosaurs were an ancient group of winged reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs. Many pterosaurs were very large, some as large as a giraffe and with a wingspan of over 12 meters. Paleontologists have long wondered whether large pterosaurs were capable of powered flight (flying by flapping their wings) or whether they were able only to glide. Several arguments have been made against powered flight. Doubters point out that since modern reptiles are cold-blooded, ancient reptiles such as pterosaurs were probably cold-blooded as well. Cold-blooded animals typically have a slow metabolism and are unable to produce a lot of energy. Powered flight is an activity requiring a lot of energy, which is why all modern vertebrates that fly are warm-blooded, not cold-blooded. It seemed unlikely that pterosaurs would have been able to generate the energy needed to fly.
Second, there is a limit to the weight of animals that can be kept airborne by powered flight. Pterosaurs that were as large as a giraffe were probably so heavy that they would not have been able to flap their wings fast enough to stay aloft for any length of time.
Third, all animals with powered flight are able to take off from the ground. For example, birds take off by jumping from their legs or running to gain speed and then jumping. But these methods would not have worked for large pterosaurs. Large pterosaurs would have needed big, powerful muscles in their back legs to launch themselves into the air, and we know from fossilized bones that their back leg muscles were too small and weak to allow the pterosaurs to run fast enough or jump high enough to launch themselves into the air.
The reading passage contends that pterosaurs would not have been capable of powered flight and presents several evidences that seem to uphold the claim. However, the lecture disapproves the reading passage by claiming that recent research indicates that pterosaurs were actually capable of performing powered flight. The points made in the lecture will be elaborated in more detail below.
First of all, the lecture counterpoints the reading passage, which asserts that pterosaurs were probably cold-blooded animals and would have been unable to produce enough energy for the powered flight, by mentioning that several fossils of pterosaurs had dense hair-like covering, much like fur. Furs are a typical physical feature of warm-blooded animals, and would have helped animals in maintaining a stable metabolism during airborne. Moreover, it would have supplied enough energy needed for powered flight.
Secondly, while the reading passage maintains that pterosaurs would have been too heavy to stay in the air by powered flight, the lecture refutes this reason by commenting that they had an anatomical feature. They were unusually light despite their large size due to having a hollow, lightweight bone. Due to such lightweight bone, they would have been lighter than expected, and would have been able to stay airborne by flapping their wings.
Last but not least, the reading passage contends that pterosarus would not have been able to take off from the ground to perform powered flight because they had small back leg muscles. However, the lecture disputes this assertion by explaining that they did not take off as birds do. Unlike birds, which use two legs in order to take off, pterosaurs walked on all four limbs and used all their legs to push off from the ground. Using all four legs would have allowed them to run fast and jump high enough to launch into the air.
- If you walk into your local library these days you may notice evidence of a disturbing trend Libraries are stocking fewer books today than they have in the past due to a lack of respect for the history found in older books a shift towards other media reso 80
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement People today spend too much money on clothing to improve their appearance Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer Be sure to use your own words Do not use memorized examples 73
- As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasonin 58
- Governments should focus on solving the immediate problems of today rather than on trying to solve the anticipated problems of the future Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain y 66
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement The rules that societies today expect young people to follow and obey are too strict Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer 3
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, but, first, however, moreover, second, secondly, so, while, first of all
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 11.0 10.4613686534 105% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 10.0 5.04856512141 198% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 7.30242825607 96% => OK
Relative clauses : 12.0 12.0772626932 99% => OK
Pronoun: 22.0 22.412803532 98% => OK
Preposition: 41.0 30.3222958057 135% => OK
Nominalization: 1.0 5.01324503311 20% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1575.0 1373.03311258 115% => OK
No of words: 305.0 270.72406181 113% => OK
Chars per words: 5.16393442623 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.17902490978 4.04702891845 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.43179247053 2.5805825403 94% => OK
Unique words: 166.0 145.348785872 114% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.544262295082 0.540411800872 101% => OK
syllable_count: 472.5 419.366225166 113% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 3.25607064018 92% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.51434878587 132% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 2.5761589404 39% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 13.0 13.0662251656 99% => OK
Sentence length: 23.0 21.2450331126 108% => OK
Sentence length SD: 59.5235520986 49.2860985944 121% => OK
Chars per sentence: 121.153846154 110.228320801 110% => OK
Words per sentence: 23.4615384615 21.698381199 108% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.30769230769 7.06452816374 89% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 4.19205298013 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 2.0 4.45695364238 45% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 7.0 4.27373068433 164% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.145464000367 0.272083759551 53% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0587280660239 0.0996497079465 59% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0557172418767 0.0662205650399 84% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0987755819637 0.162205337803 61% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.039307037004 0.0443174109184 89% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.6 13.3589403974 109% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 56.59 53.8541721854 105% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.1 11.0289183223 101% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.94 12.2367328918 106% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.35 8.42419426049 99% => OK
difficult_words: 69.0 63.6247240618 108% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.5 10.7273730684 126% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.2 10.498013245 107% => OK
text_standard: 15.0 11.2008830022 134% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 80.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 24.0 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.