2004年高考英语湖北卷 - 阅读理解E

The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet is heading towards the Earth. Most of it will miss our planet, but two pieces will probably hit the southern half of the Earth.
今年是2094年。据报道，一颗彗星正在撞向地球。大部分星体不会撞上我们的星球，但有两小块可能会撞上地球的南半球。

On 17 July, a piece four kilometers wide enters the Earth's atmosphere with a massive explosion. About half of the piece is destroyed, but the remaining part hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and a huge hole is made in the sea bed. Huge waves are created and spread outwards from the hole. The wall of water, a kilometer high, rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned.
7月17日，一块4公里宽的碎片进入地球大气层，引发大规模爆炸。大约一半的碎片被摧毁，残余的部分以200倍的声速撞击南大西洋。海水沸腾，海床上形成了一个巨大的坑，生成巨大的海浪，从坑里向外传播。一公里高的水墙以每小时800公里的速度冲向南部非洲。非洲海岸的城市被彻底摧毁，数百万人被淹死。

Before the waves reach South America, the second piece of the comet lands in Argentina. Earthquakes and volcanoes are set off in the Andes Mountains. The shock waves move north into California and all around the Pacific Ocean. The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tokyo are completely destroyed by earthquakes. Millions of people in the southern half of the earth are already dead, but the north won't escape for long. Because of the explosions, the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. The sun won’t be seen again for many years. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later, no more than 10 million people remain alive.
在海浪到达南美洲之前，第二块彗星碎片降落在阿根廷。地震和火山在安第斯山脉爆发，冲击波向北移动至加利福尼亚州和整个太平洋。洛杉矶、旧金山和东京被地震彻底摧毁。南半球的数百万人已经死亡，北半球也不会幸运太久。由于爆炸，太阳被尘云遮住，世界各地的温度几乎降至零度。庄稼被毁，长年见不到太阳。各国为食物而战，战争爆发。一年后，活着的人不超过1000万。

Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the Earth. The dinosaurs were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a piece of object in space. The dinosaurs couldn’t live through the cold climate that followed and they died out. Will we meet the same end?
这真的会发生吗？事实上，这在地球历史上已经发生过不止一次了。恐龙在地球上生存了超过1.6亿年。6500万年前，它们突然消失了。许多科学家认为地球被太空中的一块物体击中。恐龙无法在之后的寒冷气候中生存，就此灭绝。我们会遭遇同样的结局吗？