英闻天下——283 An Asteroid Misses Earth, Causes No Public Panic

 　　Meanwhile, a 45-meter wide asteroid¹ has hurtled safely past earth after it came within 27-thousand kilometers, making it the closest known flyby for a rock of its size.

 

　　The asteroid, named 2012 DA14 came closer to earth than many communication and weather satellites.

 

　　Scientists have been monitoring its movement all year round. Jim Green is Planetary Science Division Director at the American space agency NASA.

 

　　"We are safe. DA14, we call it, was discovered last year. We've been monitoring its movement all throughout the solar system."

 

　　Green said NASA was currently monitoring more than nine-thousand asteroids², of which scientists believe 1,800 are reasonably large.

 

　　The 2012 DA14 asteroid was too small to see with the naked eye even at its closest approach over the Indian Ocean near Sumatra.

 

　　The best viewing locations, with binoculars³ and telescopes, were in Asia, Australia and Eastern Europe.

 

　　Daniel Hestroffer, an astronomer⁴ at the Paris Observatory⁵, said it is not necessary to worry about large asteroids having disastrous⁶ collision with earth in the near future.

 

　　"For the larger one, now we start to be more confident, to predict almost all for the very big ones, and we have been able to predict that there will be no catastrophic collision with the earth for the next century. But for the intermediary sized ones, we still need to work hard on it."

1 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

2 asteroids   

n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 )；海盘车，海星

参考例句：

• Asteroids,also known as "minor planets",are numerous in the outer space. 小行星，亦称为“小型行星”，在外太空中不计其数。
• Most stars probably have their quota of planets, meteorids, comets, and asteroids. 多数恒星也许还拥有若干行星、流星、彗星和小行星。

3 binoculars   

n.双筒望远镜

参考例句：

• He watched the play through his binoculars.他用双筒望远镜看戏。
• If I had binoculars,I could see that comet clearly.如果我有望远镜，我就可以清楚地看见那颗彗星。

4 astronomer   

n.天文学家

参考例句：

• A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
• He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。

5 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

6 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。