英文短篇故事（纽约）413 The Sky Is Falling

 　　An asteroid¹ hurtled past Earth. It was 13 times closer to Earth than the moon is. Then a huge meteorite² exploded above a city in Russia. The shock wave shattered thousands of windows. Then a white fireball over San Francisco startled witnesses. Then thousands saw a yellow fireball over Miami. All this happened within a week. "I'm moving," said Lorne. His sister asked, "Moving? Why?" Lorne said, "Don't you watch the news? Meteorites³ are bombarding Earth. This was just the first wave. More are coming. I'm getting out of here while the getting's good." She asked, "Where will you go?" He said, "To outer space. Another planet." She said, "That's interesting. There are no nearby planets that have oxygen and water. Even if there were, you don't own a rocket ship." He said, "You're right. Perhaps I'll just stay here and ignore meteorite news." She said, "That works for me."

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 meteorite   

n.陨石；流星

参考例句：

• The meteorite in Jilin Exhibition Hall is believed to be the largest in the world.吉林展览馆的陨石被认为是世界上最大的。
• The famous Murchison meteorite smashed into the Australian ground in 1969.1969年著名的默奇森陨石轰然坠落在澳大利亚。

3 meteorites   

n.陨星( meteorite的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Small meteorites have left impact craters all over the planet's surface. 这个行星的表面布满了小块陨石留下的撞击坑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• One theory about the existence of extraterrestrial life rests on the presence of carbon compounds in meteorites. 地球外存在生命的理论是基于陨星上存在碳化合物质这一事实的。 来自《简明英汉词典》