When we look at the sky and see a bright light moving quickly across it or coming towards

When we look at the sky and see a bright light moving quickly across it or coming towards the earth, we talk about seeing a “shooting star” or a “falling star”. These moving lights are not, in fact, stars at all. They are small pieces of matter from outer space, which burn up as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere. The correct name of them is meteoroids. Any pieces that make it to the Earth’s surface without completely burning up are known as meteorites. A meteor is actually the name given to the light we see when a meteoroid is burning up.
When a meteorite hits the Earth at speeds between 11 and 72 kilometers a second, it can do amazing damage. A very large meteorite could knock the earth out of its orbit. If this happened, all life on Earth would probably become extinct（灭绝）. The path we follow around the Sun would change and as a result the Earth would become either much hotter or much colder. This change in temperature would affect sea levels and the amount of water in rivers. There would either be huge floods, which would cover most of the land with water, or the oceans would dry up and there would be a drought, which means a long period of time without rain. Either way, nothing could survive. If a large meteorite landed in the sea it would almost certainly cause tsunamis, which would race towards the land, destroying everything in their paths.
Although it is unlikely the Earth will be struck by a meteorite large enough to do that kind of damage, there is evidence of fairly large meteorites hitting the Earth in the past. In 1908 a large area of forest in Tunguska, Siberia was destroyed by a meteorite that came apart just before it hit the ground. The moon, however, has about three billion craters陨石坑caused by meteorites impacting影响 its surface. The reason more meteorites have reached the surface of the moon than the surface of the Earth is that the moon does not have enough atmosphere for the meteorites to burn up in. some of the meteorites that have reached the Earth’s surface have done considerable damage. Some scientists believe it was a change of climate caused by meteorites hitting the Earth that resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs and other large prehistoric animals.
Scientists are especially interested in meteorites because they contain information about the solar system. It is widely believed by scientists that most meteorites are produced by collisions（碰撞） between asteroids (small planets). These collisions probably happened many billions of years ago. This means the physical and chemical structure of a meteorite can give scientists information about the early days of the universe.
【小题1】The story is about . A．floods caused by meteorsB．matter from outer spaceC．life on Earth millions of years agoD．meteorites that have damaged the moon【小题2】The Earth has . A．three billion cratersB．fewer craters than the moonC．more craters than the moonD．a thinner atmosphere than the moon【小题3】Some scientists believe the dinosaurs became extinct because . A．they were hit by meteorsB．meteorites landed on their nestsC．meteorites landed and changed the climateD．they could no longer breathe the atmosphere【小题4】Meteors are . A．small planetsB．the same as asteroidsC．from broken parts of asteroidsD．the light we see when meteoroids hit our atmosphereB

(答案→)B 解析：文章介绍了来自外太空的陨石撞击地球可能会导致地球环境的巨大变化，导致物种灭绝。【小题1】B 主旨大意题 文章讲述的是来自外太空的物质——陨石。故B正确。【小题2】B 细节题 根据第三段五，六行. The reason more meteorites have reached the surface of the moon than the surface of the Earth is that the moon does not have enough atmosphere for the meteorites to burn up in.可知地球的陨石坑比月球要少。【小题3】C 推理题、根据文章第三段第五行开始的内容可知人们认为恐龙的灭绝是因为陨石撞击地球，导致地球的环境发生巨大变化，最后恐龙灭绝了。【小题4】D 细节题。根据文章第一段最后一句. A meteor is actually the name given to the light we see when a meteoroid is burning up.可知D正确。

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