The Oviraptor’s Mistaken Identity

(Published in an HKCEE Reviewer for English as a Second Language ESL. Published in 2007 by Witman Publishing, HK)




The Gobi Desert is an endless dry wilderness and high mountains. It _____(1)_____ across a region in northern China and southern Mongolia over an area of a half-million square miles. For many palaeontologists, the Gobi Desert is _____(2)_____ a Mecca, the Nirvana and Woodstock all _____(3)_____ into one. True to its name’s meaning in the Mongolian language, the Gobi is "very large and dry". Its climate is proof of great extremes, often combining rapid changes of temperature not only within a period of the year but even _____(4)_____ 24 hours. Average winter temperatures at the Gobi Desert have been recorded a frigid -40 °C (-40 °F) _____(5)_____ summertime temperatures are warm to hot, with its high ranging up to 45 °C (113 °F).

In 1923, an American named Roy Chapman Andrews was sent by the American Museum of Natural History to the Gobi Desert as part of the Central Asiatic Expeditions. An _____(6)_____, an adventurer and a naturalist, Andrews is _____(7)_____ because of his discoveries of the first dinosaur nests and the world’s first-documented fossil dinosaur eggs. He is as “the real person that the movie character of Indiana Jones was _____(8)_____ after”, Andrews’ close encounters and Houdini escapes from whales, sharks, pythons, and armed Chinese bandits have made him some kind of a palaeontology _____(9)_____. In _____(10)_____ expedition, Andrews found dinosaur nests among remains of herds of horned dinosaurs called Protoceratops. Some dinosaurs, _____(11)_____ were in some cases like modern birds, built nests and laid eggs. Right by these “supposed” Protoceratops eggs lay the fossil of a toothless meat eater called the Oviraptor, which lived in the late Cretaceous Period, between 80 to 70 million years ago. It was believed that the Oviraptor had been buried in a sandstorm while digging up the eggs. Due to the circumstances of how it was discovered, the Oviraptor was _____(12)_____ with its name, which means 'egg thief' in Latin.

As in other things, _____(13)_____ the decades came advances in palaeontology. Later evidences unearthed by other palaeontologists dared to challenge Andrews’ theory on the “character” of the Oviraptor he found. Another group of palaeontologists from the American Museum of Natural History and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences found more skulls of dinosaurs, mammals, and lizards in the same region in 1993. It is the biggest Cretaceous fossil locality ever discovered.

_____(14)_____ these finds was the fossil of an adult Oviraptor crouching and incubating a nest of 15 eggs. _____(15)_____ dinosaur embryos are extremely rare, this batch was identical to those found by Andrews in 1923. This caused a _____(16)_______ as the palaeontology community corrected themselves saying, the first nests Andrews found did not belong to the Oviraptor’s prey, but _____(17)_____ housed its own offspring!

The result of this confusion even pervades pop culture. In the opening scene of the 2000 Disney feature film, ‘Dinosaur’, a gangly, crested, beaked Oviraptor was shown stealing the Iguanodon egg that would later become the film's protagonist. But, _____(18)_____, in 1999, author and illustrator James Gurney, in his book ‘Dinotopia’, conceived of an animal based on Oviraptors. Because he no longer considered it a _____(19)_____ of eggs, he renamed the animal "Ovinutrix", which means "egg nurse".


(ANSWER KEY)

The Oviraptor’s Mistaken Identity

The Gobi Desert is an endless dry wilderness and high mountains. It (1) stretches across a region in northern China and southern Mongolia over an area of a half-million square miles. For many palaeontologists, the Gobi Desert is (2) considered a Mecca, the Nirvana and Woodstock all (3) rolled into one. True to its name’s meaning in the Mongolian language, the Gobi is "very large and dry". Its climate is proof of great extremes, often combining rapid changes of temperature not only within a period of the year but even (4) within 24 hours. Average winter temperatures at the Gobi Desert have been recorded a frigid -40 °C (-40 °F) (5) while summertime temperatures are warm to hot, with its high ranging up to 45 °C (113 °F).

In 1923, an American named Roy Chapman Andrews was sent by the American Museum of Natural History to the Gobi Desert as part of the Central Asiatic Expeditions. An (6) explorer, an adventurer and a naturalist, Andrews is (7) legendary because of his discoveries of the first dinosaur nests and the world’s first-documented fossil dinosaur eggs. He is as “the real person that the movie character of Indiana Jones was (8) patterned after”, Andrews’ close encounters and Houdini escapes from whales, sharks, pythons, and armed Chinese bandits have made him some kind of a palaeontology (9) icon. In (10) his expedition, Andrews found dinosaur nests among remains of herds of horned dinosaurs called Protoceratops. Some dinosaurs, (11) which were in some cases like modern birds, built nests and laid eggs. Right by these “supposed” Protoceratops eggs lay the fossil of a toothless meat eater called the Oviraptor, which lived in the late Cretaceous Period, between 80 to 70 million years ago. It was believed that the Oviraptor had been buried in a sandstorm while digging up the eggs. Due to the circumstances of how it was discovered, the Oviraptor was (12) christened with its name, which means 'egg thief' in Latin.

As in other things, (13) with the decades came advances in palaeontology. Later evidences unearthed by other palaeontologists dared to challenge Andrews’ theory on the “character” of the Oviraptor he found. Another group of palaeontologists from the American Museum of Natural History and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences found more skulls of dinosaurs, mammals, and lizards in the same region in 1993. It is the biggest Cretaceous fossil locality ever discovered.

(14) Among these finds was the fossil of an adult Oviraptor crouching and incubating a nest of 15 eggs. (15) Although dinosaur embryos are extremely rare, this batch was identical to those found by Andrews in 1923. This caused a (16) stir as the palaeontology community corrected themselves saying, the first nests Andrews found did not belong to the Oviraptor’s prey, but (17) surely housed its own offspring!

The result of this confusion even pervades pop culture. In the opening scene of the 2000 Disney feature film, ‘Dinosaur’, a gangly, crested, beaked Oviraptor was shown stealing the Iguanodon egg that would later become the film's protagonist. But, (18) on the other hand, in 1999, author and illustrator James Gurney, in his book ‘Dinotopia’, conceived of an animal based on Oviraptors. Because he no longer considered it a (19) predator of eggs, he renamed the animal "Ovinutrix", which means "egg nurse".

1. A. stretches
B. extend
C. widens
D. range

Options C and D are wrong because matching these with the next word, ‘across’ results in an awkward sentence. Option B can not be used because the Gobi Desert is a singular subject.


2. A. regard
B. deem
C. considered
D. judge

Options A, B, and D are wrong because although these four options are synonyms, only C is written in its proper tense.


3. A. merge
B. rolled
C. mixed
D. combining

Only option ‘rolled’ collocates with ‘into’.


4. A. for
B. during
C. throughout
D. within

Of all prepositions provided, option D is the better choice to option C for the purpose of parallelism to the preceding clause, ‘often combining rapid changes of temperature not only within a period of the year but even …’


5. A. likewise
B. furthermore
C. while
D. hence

All options provided are conjunctions used to connect words, phrases or clauses. However, Option D introduces clauses to indicate result while options A and B indicate additional ideas. Only Option C is able to connect contrasting ideas.




6. A. explorer
B. adventurous
C. spelunker
D. daredevil

Options C and D may have been noun options except the word is preceded by the article ‘an’ which can only collocate with a noun beginning with a vowel.


7. A. fabulous
B. mythical
C. legendary
D. romanticized


Among options A, B and C, the most appropriate adjective to define Roy Chapman Andrews is Option C. While a verb may be used in the space provided, Option C is still a better choice over D.


8. A. inspired
B. imitated
C. model
D. patterned

Options A and B do not collocate with ‘after’. Option C will only work if it was rendered in past tense form.


9. A. idol
B. icon
C. symbol
D. darling

In general, all options may be classified as synonymous to one another. However, contextually, option B is the most appropriate to use.



10. A. her
B. its
C. their
D. his

Option B is the correct form of the pronoun replacing ‘(Mr. Roy Chapman) Andrews’.


11. A. who
B. whom
C. which
D. whose

All options are relative pronouns that refer back to a noun a preceding clause. The answer must be a non-impersonal relative pronoun. Option A, B define the relative pronoun for a personal subject and a personal object or complement of preposition respectively. Option D is a possessive personal relative pronoun.


12. A. christened
B. entitled
C. designation
D. dubbed

Option C is unacceptable because the answer requires a verb and not a noun. Options A, B, D may be seen as thesaurus entries for the verb ‘named’. However, option A is the best since the idea is about giving birth to a new dinosaur name.


13. A. in
B. on
C. at
D. with

All options are prepositions used to show the relationship of a noun or pronoun to some other words in the sentence. Only option D satisfies the need for a pronoun that indicates a relationship (i.e. decades, advances in palaeontology going toward the same ‘direction’).


14. A. also
B. amidst
C. between
D. among

Option B may have the same meaning but it is still preferable to use option D.


15. A. In spite of
B. Although
C. Except that
D. Provided that

All options are conjunctions that join clauses together to state a condition, option B is the best choice to show that regardless of the fact that dinosaur embryos are extremely rare, a batch identical to Andrews’ find were found.

16. A. uproar
B. excitement
C. stir
D. movement

The options are synonymous but the answer must collocate with the indefinite article ‘a’. The answer must therefore begin with a consonant.


17. A. more or less
B. somewhat
C. just
D. surely

All adverbs provided may be used to illustrate degree, but option D is the best adverb to provide an affirmation.


18. A. predator
B. hunter
C. killer
D. collector

Earlier, in line xx the term ‘prey’ was used. As such, predator is the best choice for a counterpart.



19. A. at first hand
B. on the other hand
C. upon one’s hands
D. on one hand

Option B is the correct presentation of the contrastive adverb phrase, which illustrates something ‘from another point of view’, or ‘from another aspect’.