The world is not coming to an end on December 21, 2012, the US space agency insisted Monday in a rare campaign to dispel widespread rumors fueled by the Internet and a new Hollywood movie.

The latest big screen offering from Sony Picture, 2012, arrives in theaters on Friday, with a 200-million-dollar production about the end of the world supposedly based on myths backed by the Mayan calendar. It is claimed that the end of time will come as a Planet X---or Nibiru---heads toward or collides with the Earth.

Some websites accuse NASA of hiding the truth on the planet’s existence, but the US space agency condemned such stories as an “Internet hoax”. “There is no factual basis for these claims,” NASA said in a question-and-anwser posting on this website. “If such a cllision were real, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” it insisted. “After all, our planet has been getting along just well for more than four billion years,” added NASA.

There is another planet, Eris, floating in space. But the small planet similar to Pluto will remain safely fixed in the outer solar system and it can come no closer than four billion miles to the Earth, according to NASA.

Earlier theories set the disaster for May 2003, but when nothing happened the date was moved forward to the winter in 2012 to coincide with the end of a cycle of the ancient Mayan calendar.

NASA insisted the Mayan calendar in fact does not end on December 21, 2012, as another period begins immediately afterward.

And even if the planets were to line up as some have forecast, the effect on our planet would be “negligible(unimportant)”, NASA said

“And while comets and asteroids (小行星) have always hit the Earth, big hits are very rare,” NASA noted. The last major impact was believed to be 65 million years ago, resulting in the end of dinosaurs.

“We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs,” the space agency said.

49. ______ played a key role in the spread of the rumors.

   A. A new book              B. The Internet and a new Hollywood movie

   C. NASA                   D. An Indian calendar

50. We can infer that ______.

   A. people didn’t take the rumor seriously

   B. Planet X --- or Nibiru does exist

   C. astronomers have been tracking Planet X for over ten years

   D. the rumor caused a panic among some people

51. NASA thinks that Eris ______.

   A. might have a threat to the Earth

   B. dosen’t have any threat to the Earth

   C. is too far away to be visible

   D. is similar to our planet, where life might exist

52. Which of the following is the best title?

   A. New Hollywood movie 2012

   B. December 21, 2012, Not the end of the world

   C. End of the ancient Mayan calendar

   D. How rumors came into being

    If you go to Juliano’s restaurant in San Francisco,you can’t get a cup of coffee or a hot cheese sandwich.All the food in the restaurant is raw,including the pizza and the rice.

    Juliano thinks that cooked food makes us sick. “Food is alive,like you and me.When you cook food,you take away some of the vitamins,”he says,Juliano never eats food that is over 50 degrees.His restaurant doesn’t have a stove(火炉) or a microwave(微波炉).But he has lots of clever ideas for making raw food taste great.Instead of heat,Juliano uses water to prepare foood.He puts foods in water to make them soft.For example,he places beans in water for a few days and rice in water for two or four weeks.

    Everything at the restaurant is cold,and the pizza and the rice taste good.So do the fruit and vegetable juices made from carrots ,apples,oranges and so on.Juliano’s restaurant doesn’t serve meat,but some people who cat raw food also eat raw meat.Juliano has three friends who ate raw meat.They all got very sick..One of them is still sick.

    Juliano eats mostly fruits,vegetables,nuts,rice and beans.He says he feels very healthy. “Raw food gives you lots of energy,”he says,Juliano says he needs only six hours of sleep a night,and he never gets sick..

61.What is the main idea of the passage?

A.A man who eats only raw food.               B.A special restaurant in San Francisco.

C.Raw food is better than cooked food.          D.How to make raw food taste good.

62.How is the food in Juliano’s restaurant prepared?

A.Foods are put into water to make them soft.

B.Foods are cooled in a fridge.

C.Foods are heated on a stove to a certain degree.

D.Foods are boiled and then cooled.

63.What is NOT served in Juliano’s restaurant?

A.Carrot juice.         B.Cold pizza.          C.Raw rice.          D.Hot meat.

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