READING Task 1. Read the text and choose the right answer.
The end of life on Earth?
It weighed about 10,000 tons, entered the atmosphere at a speed of 64 000 km/h and exploded
over a city with a blast of 500 kilotons. But on 15 February 2013, we were lucky. The meteorite
that showered pieces of rock over Chelyabinsk, Russia, was relatively small, at only about 17
metres wide. Although many people were injured by falling glass, the damage was nothing
compared to what had happened in Siberia nearly one hundred years ago Another relatively
small object (approximately 50 metres in diameter) exploded in mid-air over a forest region,
flattening about 80 million trees. If it had exploded over a city such as Moscow or London,
millions of people would have been killed By a strange coincidence, the same day that the
meteorite terrified the people of Chelyabinsk, another 50m-wide asteroid passed relatively close
to Earth Scientists were expecting that visit and know that the asteroid will return to fly close
by us in 2046, but the Russian meteorite earlier in the day had been too small for anyone to
spot. Most scientists agree that comets and asteroids pose the biggest natural threat to human
existence. It was probably a large asteroid or comet colliding with Earth which wiped out the
dinosaurs about 65 million years ago. An enormous object, 10 to 16 km in diameter, struck the
Yucatan region of Mexico with the force of 100 megatons. That is the equivalent of one
Hiroshima bomb for every person alive on Earth today. Many scientists, including Stephen
Hawking, say that any comet or asteroid greater than 20 km in diameter that hits Earth will
result in the complete destruction of complex life, including all animals and most plants. As we
have seen, even a much smaller asteroid can cause great damage
The Earth has been kept fairly safe for the last 65 million years by good fortune and the
massive gravitational field of the planet Jupiter. Our cosmic guardian, with its stable circular
orbit far from the sun, sweeps up and scatters away most of the dangerous comets and asteroids
which might cross Earth's orbit. After the Chelyabinsk meteorite, scientists are now monitoring
potential hazards even more carefully but, as far as they know, there is no danger in the
foreseeable future
Choose the best option to complete these sentences.
1. The damage caused by the Russian meteorite
A) could have been much worse
B) was huge
C) was greatly reduced by the early warning system
D) was much worse than the one in Siberia one hundred years ago
2. The Siberian meteorite
A) hit a forest
B) hit a big city
C) caused glass to shower over people
D) damaged trees when it exploded
3. On the same day as the meteorite exploded over Chelyabinsk,
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