1. Read the following report on this most recent event
Last Friday morning, a 1meteor weighing about 210,000
tons fell from the skies and exploded over the
3
Chelyabinsk region of 4Russia.
It was a 5dramatic event. According to 6NASA, the meteor
had the 7intensity of 30 8Hiroshima bombs as it entered
the Earth‟s 9atmosphere. When it shattered 1018 to 32
miles above the ground it released several kilotons of
energy above the 11Ural mountains.
12
Sonic booms from the blast were so 13intense they
shattered countless windows in buildings, injuring
approximately 1,000 people. Tiny fragments of the
meteor were found in a nearby lake, while damages to
buildings are estimated at 14$33 million.
Weston meteorite
Compared to the Russian meteorite, the circumstances
surrounding the Weston meteorite of 1807 aren‟t nearly
as dramatic — at first blush anyway. But in the end, the
two events have one very few striking similarity.
The “Weston Fall” happened 205 years ago and is an
important part of history because it was the first recorded
meteorite strike in America.
The event was documented by Yale professors Benjamin
Silliman and James L. Kingsley in volume XV of

2. the Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and
Sciences, written in 1810. 15Their report was based on
eyewitness accounts.
According to their findings, on Dec. 14, 1807, a massive
red fireball was spotted in the sky around 6:30 a.m., in
Rutland, Vt. Within about 30 seconds, it had streaked
across Massachusetts.
What would later be proven to be a meteor, fell
predominantly over 16Weston, which is why it was called
the “Weston meteorite.” At the time, Weston
encompassed the town of Easton. Ironically, most of the
fragments from the meteorite were found in Easton and
other nearby towns. None were actually found in what is
Weston today.
The professors interviewed Nathan Wheeler, an attorney
who lived on property across the street from the Easton
Post Office. Mr. Wheeler reported seeing a “globe of fire”
in the sky that morning, about “one half or two thirds” the
diameter of the moon. He reported hearing three loud
explosions followed by noise that sounded like a
“cannonball rolling over the floor.” The noise was heard
as far as 40 miles away.
In 2007, Weston student Sam Weyrauch designed this
winning logo for the 200th anniversary of the famous
Weston meteorite.
Stones were reported to have fallen from the sky
following the explosions, and six impact sites were
reported for the meteorite. The majority of stones were

3. found in the Easton part of Weston. Other sites included
Trumbull and Fairfield.
One Weston/Easton resident, a “Mr. Prince,” reportedly
found a 35-pound stone fragment from the meteorite in
his yard. He and others immediately broke it into tiny
pieces with hammers hoping to find it full of silver and
gold.
The professors spoke with regret about the actions of the
townspeople. “From the descriptions we have heard, it
must have been a noble specimen, and men of science
will not cease to regret, that so rare a treasure should
have been sacrificed to the dreams of avarice, and the
violence of ignorant and impatient curiosity.”
An estimated 350 pounds of the meteorite fell to the
ground during the Weston Fall, including one that
weighed 200 pounds before it was broken. A 30-pound
fragment of the meteor was saved and now resides in the
Peabody Museum at Yale University.
At the time of the Weston Fall, there was public
disagreement about whether stones could indeed “fall
from the sky.” After doing a chemical analysis of the
stone fragments, the professors established two facts: “1.
These bodies did not originate from the Earth. 2. They
have all come from a common source, but that source is
unknown.”
The efforts by the Yale professors marked the beginning
of meteorite science in the United States, and their work
proved that meteorites came from outer space.

4. Russian meteorite
With 17modern technology advancements, the world did
not have to wait long to learn about the Russian
meteorite. The meteor‟s bright glow and smoky trail
across the bright blue sky was caught in all its
18
splendour on hundreds of videos, many shot from
dashboard cameras in Russian cars.
At its peak, the Russian meteor was brighter than the
sun, and its trail was visible for about 30 seconds. That
description matches the same reports about the Weston
meteor.
But the most striking 19similarity between the Weston and
Russian meteorites has nothing to do with the meteors
themselves.
Just as Americans in 1807 thought they would find silver
and gold in “them thar stones,” by smashing them to bits
with hammers, 20the Russians too smell money.
Published reports say a “Gold Rush” has started in
Chelyabinsk with people hunting high and low to find
fragments of space rock which they can potentially sell
for thousands of dollars.
“School children and villagers are raking through snow
and ice collecting bags full of stones,” reported Andrew
E. Kramer in the New York Times.
Anyone lucky enough to find pieces of the meteorite,
probably won‟t crack them with a hammer this time.
Laura Modlin, Hersam Acorn Newspapers
correspondent, contributed to this story.

5. Find the number in the passage and complete the instruction carefully.
1. Use a dictionary and write down the scientific definition for this word.
2. Can you give me an example (visually – as big as the Burj Khalifa? or as much
as 50 elephants) of how big something is that weighs 10,000 tons.
3. Use google maps, find the town and pin it on the world map provided.
4. On which continent is Russia? Can you name all the other continents and
oceans?
5. Describe what a dramatic event is.
6. a. NASA stands for ? Where will you find this organisation and what is there
main purpose?
6. b. Do you think it is worth spending so much money on space research if there
are so many people dying of hunger? –Please motivate your answer. You are
welcome to use the internet to research this question or to ask some people their
opinion about it!
7. Use the word in your own sentence to explain what it means.
8. When, where and why did Hiroshima happen?
9. What does the atmosphere consist of?
10. Change 18 t0 32 miles in to km.
11. Use google maps to find the Ural mountains and show them on the world map
provide.

6. 12. Can you define Sonic booms?
13. Use intense in a sentence to clarify the meaning.
14. How many noughts do we need to write million in numbers?
15. What does „eyewitness accounts‟ mean?
16. Please show Weston on the map!
17. Name the modern technology you the people use the most today. Could you
research and find out if your answer is correct.
18. Use the word in a good sentence.
19. Why do you think that the similarity between the two events were about
money?
20. What does this expression mean?