ACADEMIC LISTENING TEST PRACTICE
APOPHIS - KILLER ASTEROID?
APOPHIS - KILLER ASTEROID?
For Students Preparing for Academic Tests / IELTS and TOEFL
Listen as you read the script.
Playing Time: 2 minutes 26 seconds
How old will you be on Friday, April 13th, 2029? I'm asking you because that's how old you will be when a large asteroid, called Apophis, comes very, very close to our planet. Apophis is an ancient Greek name for an Egyptian deity, or god, the god of destruction and chaos. Asteroids, meanwhile, are rocks that circle the sun in space and sometimes come close to Earth and even hit it. Fortunately, most asteroids are very small and, if you are lucky enough, you can sometimes see them in the night sky. These are commonly referred to as ‘falling stars’. Some people believe that, when you witness a falling star, you can make a wish and it'll come true.
Nevertheless, not all falling stars are lucky. Most scientists believe that one particularly large asteroid, about six to twelve kilometers across, hit the earth and killed all the large dinosaurs about 66 million years ago. Not only did it kill the dinosaurs, it killed about 75 percent of all the species of life on earth. Apophis is also big. Scientists discovered it in 2004 and they say that it is about 300 meters across. That’s about the size of a large sports stadium. An asteroid this size, according to scientists, is not as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs, but it is still large enough to destroy several cities. It will probably miss the earth, they say, but not by very much – it will miss us by about only 35,000 kilometers – that’s much closer than our moon, which is about 240,000 kilometers away. Think about it like this. If it were to arrive just a few minutes earlier, then it would surely strike our planet.
And if you don’t find that scary, then, well, consider this: the same asteroid will visit earth just a few years later, in 2036. Again, on this second fly-by, it will miss our planet, but again by only a very small distance. Probably. The only thing we are 100 percent sure of is that all the eyes, and all the telescopes, in every country in the world, will be watching the skies on those two days.
Nevertheless, not all falling stars are lucky. Most scientists believe that one particularly large asteroid, about six to twelve kilometers across, hit the earth and killed all the large dinosaurs about 66 million years ago. Not only did it kill the dinosaurs, it killed about 75 percent of all the species of life on earth. Apophis is also big. Scientists discovered it in 2004 and they say that it is about 300 meters across. That’s about the size of a large sports stadium. An asteroid this size, according to scientists, is not as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs, but it is still large enough to destroy several cities. It will probably miss the earth, they say, but not by very much – it will miss us by about only 35,000 kilometers – that’s much closer than our moon, which is about 240,000 kilometers away. Think about it like this. If it were to arrive just a few minutes earlier, then it would surely strike our planet.
And if you don’t find that scary, then, well, consider this: the same asteroid will visit earth just a few years later, in 2036. Again, on this second fly-by, it will miss our planet, but again by only a very small distance. Probably. The only thing we are 100 percent sure of is that all the eyes, and all the telescopes, in every country in the world, will be watching the skies on those two days.
Note: For more cool ESL resources about space and asteroids, visit my All Things Topics site.
