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.

　　Initial 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”， 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.

　　[语篇解读]　好莱坞灾难大片《2012》使网络上盛传的“2012年12月21日为世界末日”这一所谓的玛雅预言再次进入人们的视野。为此，美国宇航局重申，2012年12月21日并不是世界末日，传言中的X星球将与地球相撞也并不属实。

　　1．________played a key role in the spread of the rumors.

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