The planets aren’t the only wanderers(漫游者) of the sky. There’re some things even farther and longer. Long after people were no longer afraid of planets, they still thought the comets(彗星) were bad objects that traveled in the sky. They were afraid that the comets would suddenly land on the earth and hurt them.
But, in fact, even if a comet did hit the earth, nothing much happened. A comet is really a harmless （无害的）thing.
Comets have round heads and long tails , and they are very bright. Sometimes they look like heads with long hair flying with them. That’s why they’re called comets. Comet means long-haired.
Like the stars and planets, comets are far away. But we can know its size. The head of a small comet is as wide as the Pacific Ocean. And a big comet’s head is ten times as big as the earth. Its tail is millions of kilometers long. Then why wouldn’t the great big thing hurt us if it hit the earth? Because it isn’t solid. It’s thin like cloud. Its tail is nothing but bright gas. And its head is made of small pieces and they could not hurt the earth.
Some comets can be seen for a few months. Then they go away. Some of them come back in a certain number of years. Some are never seen again.
Perhaps these comets that never return have broken into pieces. For some astronomers think that shooting stars(流星) are pieces of broken comets.
小题1:People were afraid ________.
A．comets are different from planets
B．comets travel in the sky
C．comets are much bigger than the earth
D．comets could hit the earth小题2:Comets have long tail like ________, so we call them comets.
A．long hair
B．round heads
C．round dishes
D．wide wings小题3:From the passage we know the tails of comets are made of ________.
A．water
B．solid
C．gas
D．small stones小题4:The underlined word “astronomers” may mean ________ in Chinese.
A．心理学家
B．艺术家
C．天文学家
D．考古专家小题5:Which of the following is TRUE ?
A．A comet is a kind of planets.
B．Comets are all ten times as big as the earth.
C．People can hardly see comets.
D．Shooting stars may come from the broken comets.
