2月17日午间英语新闻：天降“火球”好吓人！人被陨石砸中的概率大约是多少

> China's first batch of sniffer squirrels to begin work soon
全国第一批缉毒松鼠准备上岗！ 

China's first batch of six trained sniffer squirrels will begin work soon. Trained by the police dog training department of the Hechuan District Criminal Police Detachment in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, the six rodents are Eurasian red squirrel, Chongqing police revealed this week.
本周，重庆警方证实，我国首批6只缉毒松鼠即将上岗。它们由重庆市合川区公安局刑警支队警犬技术大队培训，品种均为“魔王松鼠（即欧亚红松鼠,）”。

Their trainer, Yin Jin, was a police dog trainer. In 2018, Yin was invited to national key R&D projects on sniffer animals' training methods and sniffer squirrel breeding. The projects were successful, and a batch of sniffer squirrels was trained, and they can be used to sniff out drugs.
2018年，它们的训导员尹劲受邀参加国家重点研发计划课题——《新型缉毒动物及训练方法与配套设备》,及子课题《缉毒鼠的培育及其配套装备的研发与应用》的研发，该项目取得了成功，一批缉毒鼠被训练出来，它们可以嗅出毒品。

Squirrels actually have an excellent sense of smell. Using a self-developed training system on rodents, the results were just as successful as on dogs. The sniffer squirrels can quickly recognize targeted drugs, Yin said in an interview. 
尹劲在接受采访时称，松鼠的嗅觉相当灵敏，警犬大队将自主研发的“搜爆犬自主学习训练系统”应用在啮齿动物的搜毒训练后，和训练警犬一样，缉毒松鼠也可以快速的识别毒品目标物。

The Eurasian red squirrels have a rather small build but are very fast. They can be tasked to sniff out drugs in complex areas such as logistics warehouses, courier stations, and high-altitude places. When drugs are detected, the squirrels scratch the trainer to alert him.
缉毒松鼠体型较小，动作敏捷，适合搜索一些环境复杂的物流仓库、快递站等场景，或是高处搜毒。松鼠会在找到毒品后，使用抓挠的方式告诉训导员，此处可能存在毒品。

> 48.5 tons of materials from the space fall on Earth each day
天降“火球”好吓人！人被陨石砸中的概率大约是……

A fireball lit up the sky on the evening of Dec 15, 2022, in Zhejiang. Instead of making wishes on this outer space object, some people were frightened, as the “fireball” was described as moving at a “very fast speed and very bright”, according to viewers’ comments on Weibo.
2022年12月15日晚，一个“火球”照亮了浙江的天空。微博上有目击者留言称，“火球”滑落时“速度极快、异常明亮”，因此人们都被这个外星来物吓坏了，并没有对其许愿。

Qin Hongyi from the Zhejiang Astronomical Association assessed it as a “fireball” with a brightness far beyond the full moon, most likely a meteorite. Qin said the object is over 10 centimeters wide, and it may not burn out completely during its fall. The remains of the “fireball” were later found in rural areas. An expert from the Chinese Society of Space Research examined the remains and said the meteorite has great value in investigating Earth’s early history.
浙江省天文学会理事秦鸿翼称，这个“火球”亮度超过满月，很可能是一颗陨石。他表示，“火球”的星体尺寸应该超过10厘米，在下落过程中可能不会燃烧殆尽。后来，在农村地区有人发现了这个“火球”的残骸。中国空间科学学会的专家检查了这些残骸，称这块陨石在研究地球早期历史方面具有巨大价值。

According to NASA, scientists estimated that about 48.5 tons of materials, such as meteorites, fall on Earth each day. Almost all the material is vaporized in Earth’s atmosphere, leaving a bright trail called “shooting stars”.
据美国国家航空航天局表示，科学家估计，每天约有48.5吨陨石等物质落在地球上。而几乎所有物质都会在地球大气层中蒸发，并留下一条明亮的痕迹，我们称之为“流星”。

How does a meteorite land on Earth? According to NASA, meteoroids, often seen as space rocks, enter Earth’s atmosphere at high speed and burn up, creating meteors. When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite. It is estimated that only 5 percent of meteorites can make it to Earth’s surface, and these can range from the size of a pebble to a fist.
陨石是如何降落在地球上的？据美国国家航空航天局称，流星体，也就是我们通常所说的太空岩石，高速进入地球大气层并燃烧，由此产生了流星。一个流星体穿过大气层并撞击地面时，就被称为陨石。据估计，只有5%的陨石能到达地球表面，这些陨石的尺寸从鹅卵石到拳头大小不等。

Even knowing the science behind this alien event, you may still worry about the chances of being hit by a meteorite. According to UK media Mirror, the chance is pretty small – about one in 840,000,000. There is only one record of a person being hit by a meteorite, which took place in 1954 in the US. The meteor crashed through the window and landed on the “lucky” lady Ann Hodges.
虽然知道了天降“火球”背后的科学原理，但你仍可能会担心有多大概率被陨石砸中。据英国媒体《镜报》报道，陨石击中人的可能性非常小，约为8.4亿分之一。从历史记录上看，世界上只有一个人曾被陨石击中，事情发生在1954年的美国，当时流星穿过窗户，落在了“幸运的”安·霍奇斯女士身上。

重点词汇：
meteorite
英/ˈmiːtiəraɪt/ 美/ˈmiːtiəraɪt/
n.陨石，陨星；流星

pebble
英/ˈpeb(ə)l/ 美/ˈpeb(ə)l/
n.鹅卵石，砾石；水晶透镜
vt.用卵石铺
adj.<非正式>（眼镜片）很厚的，凸起的