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And then world changed forever.

There was an explosion of noise and light

in the sky. An asteroid – a rock, ten kilometers in

diameter that had been traveling through space

for billions of years, fell out of the sky and struck

the Earth.

Where the asteroid hit, everything died

right away. The impact threw huge amounts of

burning rocks and dust into the air. As the

burning rocks fell back to the ground, they

made the air temperature so hot that forest

around the world caught fire. Dust, dirt, and

smoke filled the air and circulated around the

world on hot winds. Soon all the sunlight was

blocked, and the sky turned black.

We don’t know when the asteroid will

strike the Earth again, so we need to keep alert.