The Reading Room - What are the chances of an asteroid hitting you?

Nov 19, 2025 - What are the chances of an asteroid hitting you?

Questions

1. a(b)

2. ba(c)cb(a)b(c)

3. asteroid, wipe out, near-misses, planetary defence, nuclear bomb

Vocabulary

1. asteroid - n. 小行星；海星 adj. 海星的

2. catastrophic - adj. 灾难性的

3. astronomer n. 天文学家

   astronaut n. 宇航员

   astronomy n. 天文学

4. collide - v. 碰撞 hit

5. nuclear bomb - an explosive device powered by a nuclear reactor

6. impact - n. 碰撞 the force or action of one object hitting another v. 碰撞、着弹；造成强烈影响

7. lose sleep - worry

8. spot - n. 圆点；（一个特定的）地点；现货交易系统 spot market 现货交易市场；spotlight 聚光灯的缩写 v. 发现、注意到（很难被搜索到的东西）；用点作标记；将球放在起始点

9. fragments - pieces of something

10. orbit - n. 轨迹（指天体或航天器绕星球的椭圆轨道运动）follow a curved path around a planet or star；领域；眼眶 v. 绕…旋转（按椭圆轨道）

11. systematically - done in a way that follows and agreed method or plan

12. penetrate - v. （强行地）穿过、贯穿、穿透（某物）

13. intact - adj. 完好的、无损的 complete; in its original state

14. Siberia - 西伯利亚

15. near-miss - 险些发生的事故、未遂事故 a situation where something almost hits something else

16. wipe out - completely destroy