Read the text. are the statements true (t) or false (f)? the dakar rally you’ve probably heard of the off-road motor vehicle rally called the dakar rally, but do you know where is finishes? before you say dakar, the capital of senegal, think again! the last time the rally finished in dakar itself was in 2007. in 2008, because of concerns about security, the rally was cancelled and a shorter, less challenging race called the central europe rally was held in its place. and since 2009, the dakar rally has been held in south america due to the increasing risk of terrorism in senegal. the first dakar rally was held in 1978. during a race in 1977, a french competitor, thierry sabine, had got lost on his motorcycle in the libyan desert. having been rescued, he returned to france convinced that the desert landscape would provide a fantastic challenge for an international competition. the dakar rally began the next year, and for the next fifteen years, hundreds of drivers and motorcyclists competed in the annual long-distance race. competitors would drive from paris to the mediterranean, then across the north-western corner of africa to the senegalese capital, trying to avoid getting lost in the desert sandstorms. then things became complicated: the region became more and more politically unstable, and officials have had to change the starting point, rally route and finishing line of the race nearly every year since 1994. the dakar rally has always been highly competitive. each year, more than 350 car and truck drivers and motorcycle riders enter the rally, about 80 per cent of whom are amateurs. unsurprisingly, the majority of winners have been professionals. the most successful dakar competitor is stephane peterhansel, who won the rally six times riding a motorbike, before switching to a car and winning a further four titles between 2004 and 2012. the rally has been subject to a lot of criticism. many people have protested against it because of the impact it has on the environment. others are upset by the fact that the race passes through countries where many people make less money in their whole lives than a wealthy competitor spends during a single rally. nevertheless, the famous race remains as popular as ever. among rally drivers and car companies, as well as fans who enjoy the thrill of following the progress of their favourite competitors, the dakar rally is still one of the most important off-road racing competitions in the world. 1 although some people think differently, the dakar rally has never finished in dakar. 2 thierry sabine had to be helped home from the desert. 3 the route has often changed because it is too easy to get lost in the desert. 4 the rally has only been won by professionals. 5 the rally is in danger of being cancelled as more and more people protest against it.

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Dinosaurs were a group of animals that ruled our world for about 150 million years. They lived during the geologic middle ages of the Earth's history, in a time that is called the Mesozoic era. Dinosaurs were reptiles and belonged to the greatest animals on Earth.

The age of dinosaurs

The Mesozoic era is often called the Age of Dinosaurs. It began about 250 million years ago and ended about 65 million years ago. Geologists divide it into 3 parts:

• the Triassic
• the Jurassic
• the Cretaceous

During the Mesozoic period the Earth consisted of only one single mass of land. About 200 million years ago this huge continent, Pangaea, broke into many pieces, which started to drift apart. Continents moved slowly into the position they are today.

The climate during the Age of Dinosaurs was different than today's. It was warmer and there was more vegetation. The land was full of swamps, green plains, rivers and lakes. The first forests, mostly conifers that had cones on them emerged. Ferns and mosses also appeared on the Earth.

Physical features of dinosaurs

Dinosaurs were land animals that lived in almost all parts of the world, from tropical regions to deserts. They came in many different sizes and had different body shapes. Some were huge creatures, up to 40 meters long and a hundred tons in weight. Others were as small as a chicken.

Most dinosaurs had a scaly skin with no hair on their bodies. Although we often think dinosaurs were grey, dull creatures, experts think that some of them could have been really colorful.

Until today scientists don’t really know if dinosaurs were cold- or warm-blooded animals. They had their own way of regulating their body temperature.

Some dinosaurs were able to walk on their two hind legs and stood upright. They had hollow, light bones which enabled them to move quickly. Others had strong bones to support their massive weight. They moved slowly on all four legs.

Some types of dinosaurs had powerful jaws with sharp teeth made for eating meat and tearing apart their prey while others had long necks and ate leaves off of trees and other plants.

Most dinosaurs laid eggs. After they hatched, baby dinosaurs grew very quickly. They reached their full size after 7 or 8 years. It is still unclear how long dinosaurs lived, but some may have survived up to a hundred years. Fossils show that some dinosaurs lived in herds for at least parts of the year.

Dinosaurs were able to protect themselves in many ways. Some of them used their horns for protection; others drove enemies away with their massive size.

Groups of dinosaurs

Dinosaurs are divided into two basic groups.

Ornithischians were dinosaurs that had bird-like hips and other features that you can find in modern birds. Many had a skin made of plates and most of them were plant eaters. The Stegosaurus, for example, was a plant-eating dinosaur with a small head. It reached a length of up to 10 meters.

Saurischians were dinosaurs that had hips like lizards. Some of them belonged to the largest creatures that ever roamed the Earth.

The Brontosaurus, for example, was an enormous animal. It had a long neck, a small head and ate plants from trees. It moved slowly because it was so heavy. Some Saurischians were meat-eating dinosaurs. The fiercest of all was the Tyrannosaurus rex, the king of lizards. The T. rex was almost 4 meters tall and had sharp teeth. It had short front legs but very strong and massive hind legs. Tyrannosaurs roamed across North America and Central Asia towards the end of the Mesozoic period.

Why dinosaurs died out

Dinosaurs became extinct towards the end of the Mesozoic era, about 65 million years ago. Although there are still some mysteries left most scientists think that a drastic change in climate killed them. Winters became too cold for dinosaurs to survive.

Another theory says that a huge asteroid hit the Earth at that time. It whirled so much dust and gas into the atmosphere that sunlight was blocked out for millions of years. Dinosaurs probably starved to death because there was no food.

Other scientists maintain that dinosaurs may have evolved into birds. Some modern birds, like ostriches may have come from dinosaurs like the archaeopteryx.

Tyrannosaurus lived throughout what is now western North America. Fossils are found in a variety of rock formations dating from 67 to 65.5 million years ago. Tyrannosaurus was a bipedal carnivore with a massive skull balanced by a long, heavy tail. Relative to the large and powerful hindlimbs, Tyrannosaurus forelimbs were small, though unusually powerful for their size, and bore two clawed digits. It was the largest known tyrannosaurid and one of the largest known land predators, measuring up to 12.8 m (42 ft) in length, up to 4 metres (13 ft) tall at the hips, and up to 6.8 metric tons (7.5 short tons) in weight. Modern representations in museums, art, and film show Tyrannosaurus rex with its body approximately parallel to the ground and tail extended behind the body to balance the head. Since it was first described in 1905, Tyrannosaurus rex has become the most widely recognized dinosaur species in popular culture. It is the only dinosaur that is commonly known to the general public by its full scientific name - Tyrannosaurus rex. It has been frequently represented in film and on television, in literature, and on the internet.