Unit 8 学霸新视野时文阅读-【拔尖特训】2023-2024学年九年级上册英语 人教版

学霸新视野 时文阅读 ▶ “答案与解析”见P29 [热点素材](2023·原创) 天外来客———陨石 A firebal lit up the sky on the evening of Dec. 15, 2022 in Zhejiang. Instead of making wishes on this outer space object, some people were frightened, as the firebal was described as moving at high speed, according to viewers􀆳 comments. Qin Hongyi thought the firebal with brightness far beyond the ful moon was most possibly a meteorite(陨石). Qin said the object might be over 10 centimeters wide, and that it might not burn out completely during its fal. It was time of the Geminid meteor shower(双子座 流星雨) activity recently, so the object might come from it, reported The Paper. The remains of the firebal were later found in rural areas. Zheng Yongchun examined the remains and said that the meteorite has great value in investigating the earth􀆳s early history. According to NASA, scientists estimated (估计) that about 48.5 tons of materials, such as meteorites, fal on the earth each day. Almost al the materials are vaporized(蒸发) in the earth􀆳s atmosphere, leaving bright trails caled shooting stars. Several meteors per hour can usualy be seen on any given night, which are often caled meteor showers. ▲ According to NASA, meteoroids, often seen as space rocks, enter the earth􀆳s atmosphere at high speed and burn up, and then meteors occur. When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it􀆳s caled a meteorite. It is estimated that less than 5 percent of meteoroids can make it to the earth􀆳s surface, and the size of th