- Early Marine Life in the Shallow Seas The Trilobite Age
- The First Continental Flood Stage The Invertebrate-Animal Age
- The Second Great Flood Stage The Coral Period—The Brachiopod Age
- The Great Land-Emergence Stage The Vegetative Land-Life Period The Age of Fishes
- The Crustal-Shifting Stage The Fern-Forest Carboniferous Period The Age of Frogs
- The Climatic Transition Stage The Seed-Plant Period The Age of Biologic Tribulation
59:0.1 (672.1) WE RECKON the history of Urantia as beginning about one billion years ago and extending through five major eras:
59:0.1 (672.1) 我們認為，玉苒廈的歷史大約始於十億年前，並歷經了五個主要時代：
59:0.2 (672.2) 1. The prelife era extends over the initial four hundred and fifty million years, from about the time the planet attained its present size to the time of life establishment. Your students have designated this period as the Archeozoic.
59:0.2 (672.2) 1. 前生命時代持續了最初的四億五千萬年，大約從行星達到其現在的大小開始，直到生命創建之時。你們的學者將這個時期命名為太古代。
59:0.3 (672.3) 2. The life-dawn era extends over the next one hundred and fifty million years. This epoch intervenes between the preceding prelife or cataclysmic age and the following period of more highly developed marine life. This era is known to your researchers as the Proterozoic.
59:0.3 (672.3) 2. 生命發端時代持續了接下來的一億五千萬年。這個時期介於之前的前生命或災變時代與之後的較高級海洋生命時期之間。你們的研究者將這個時代稱為原生代。
59:0.4 (672.4) 3. The marine-life era covers the next two hundred and fifty million years and is best known to you as the Paleozoic.
59:0.4 (672.4) 3. 海洋生命時代涵蓋了接下來的兩億五千萬年，你們最熟悉的名稱是古生代。
59:0.5 (672.5) 4. The early land-life era extends over the next one hundred million years and is known as the Mesozoic.
59:0.5 (672.5) 4. 早期陸地生命時代持續了接下來的一億年，被稱為中生代。
59:0.6 (672.6) 5. The mammalian era occupies the last fifty million years. This recent-times era is known as the Cenozoic.
59:0.6 (672.6) 5. 哺乳動物時代占據了過去的五千萬年。這個近期的時代被稱為新生代。
59:0.7 (672.7) The marine-life era thus covers about one quarter of your planetary history. It may be subdivided into six long periods, each characterized by certain well-defined developments in both the geologic realms and the biologic domains.
59:0.7 (672.7) 由此看來，海洋生命時代涵蓋了你們行星歷史的大約四分之一。它可細分為六個漫長時期，每個時期都以地質和生物領域中某些明確的發展為特征。
59:0.8 (672.8) As this era begins, the sea bottoms, the extensive continental shelves, and the numerous shallow near-shore basins are covered with prolific vegetation. The more simple and primitive forms of animal life have already developed from preceding vegetable organisms, and the early animal organisms have gradually made their way along the extensive coast lines of the various land masses until the many inland seas are teeming with primitive marine life. Since so few of these early organisms had shells, not many have been preserved as fossils. Nevertheless the stage is set for the opening chapters of that great “stone book” of the life-record preservation which was so methodically laid down during the succeeding ages.
59:0.8 (672.8) 在這個時代開始時，海洋底部、廣闊的大陸架以及眾多淺水近岸內灣都覆蓋著茂密的植被。較簡單和原始的動物生命形式，已經從先前的植物有機體中發展出來，早期的動物有機體沿著各大陸板塊的廣闊海岸線逐步蔓延，直至許多內陸海域都充滿了原始的海洋生命。由於這些早期生物中很少有殼，因此作為化石保存下來的並不多。盡管如此，為那部保存生命記錄的偉大「石書」之開篇的舞臺已經搭好，這部巨著在隨後的時代裏如此井然有序地編纂而成。
59:0.9 (672.9) The continent of North America is wonderfully rich in the fossil-bearing deposits of the entire marine-life era. The very first and oldest layers are separated from the later strata of the preceding period by extensive erosion deposits which clearly segregate these two stages of planetary development.
59:0.9 (672.9) 北美大陸蘊藏著極為豐富的整個海洋生命時代的含化石沉積物。最原始、最古老的岩層與前一時期的後期地層之間，存在著大量的侵蝕沉積物，這些沉積物將這兩個行星發展階段清晰地分隔開來。
三葉蟲時代
59:1.1 (673.1) By the dawn of this period of relative quiet on the earth’s surface, life is confined to the various inland seas and the oceanic shore line; as yet no form of land organism has evolved. Primitive marine animals are well established and are prepared for the next evolutionary development. Amebas are typical survivors of this initial stage of animal life, having made their appearance toward the close of the preceding transition period.
59:1.1 (673.1) 當地球表面這段相對平靜的時期開始時，生命僅存於各內陸海及海洋沿岸；此時尚未進化出任何形式的陸地生物體。原始海洋動物已頗具規模，並為下一次進化發展做好了準備。在前一個過渡期結束時出現的變形蟲，是動物生命初期階段的典型幸存者。
59:1.2 (673.2) 400,000,000 years ago marine life, both vegetable and animal, is fairly well distributed over the whole world. The world climate grows slightly warmer and becomes more equable. There is a general inundation of the seashores of the various continents, particularly of North and South America. New oceans appear, and the older bodies of water are greatly enlarged.
59:1.2 (673.2) 400,000,000年前的海洋生命，無論植物還是動物，都廣泛地分布在世界各地。全球氣候略微變暖，並變得更加穩定。各大洲的海岸線，特別是北美洲和南美洲的海岸線，普遍被洪水淹沒。新的海洋出現，原有的水域顯著擴大了。
59:1.3 (673.3) Vegetation now for the first time crawls out upon the land and soon makes considerable progress in adaptation to a nonmarine habitat.
59:1.3 (673.3) 此時，植物首次爬上了陸地，並很快在適應非海洋棲息地方面取得了相當大的進展。
59:1.4 (673.4) Suddenly and without gradation ancestry the first multicellular animals make their appearance. The trilobites have evolved, and for ages they dominate the seas. From the standpoint of marine life this is the trilobite age.
59:1.4 (673.4) 突然，且沒有漸變的祖先，第一批多細胞動物出現了。三葉蟲進化出來了，並在漫長的歲月裏主宰著海洋。從海洋生命的角度來看，這是三葉蟲時代。
59:1.5 (673.5) In the later portion of this time segment much of North America and Europe emerged from the sea. The crust of the earth was temporarily stabilized; mountains, or rather high elevations of land, rose along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, over the West Indies, and in southern Europe. The entire Caribbean region was highly elevated.
59:1.5 (673.5) 在這一時段的後期，北美洲和歐洲的大部分地區從海中露出。地殼暫時穩定下來；在大西洋和太平洋沿岸、西印度群島和南歐，山脈，或者更確切地說是高海拔的陸地，拔地而起。整個加勒比地區都擡得很高。
59:1.6 (673.6) 390,000,000 years ago the land was still elevated. Over parts of eastern and western America and western Europe may be found the stone strata laid down during these times, and these are the oldest rocks which contain trilobite fossils. There were many long fingerlike gulfs projecting into the land masses in which were deposited these fossil-bearing rocks.
59:1.6 (673.6) 390,000,000年前，陸地仍在擡升。在美洲東部和西部以及西歐的部分地區，可以找到這些時期沉積的岩層，這些是含有三葉蟲化石的最古老的岩石。許多細長的指狀海灣伸入陸地，在這些海灣中沉積了這些含有化石的岩層。
59:1.7 (673.7) Within a few million years the Pacific Ocean began to invade the American continents. The sinking of the land was principally due to crustal adjustment, although the lateral land spread, or continental creep, was also a factor.
59:1.7 (673.7) 幾百萬年後，太平洋開始侵蝕美洲大陸。盡管橫向陸地擴張或大陸漂移也是一個因素，但陸地下沉主要是由地殼調整造成的。
59:1.8 (673.8) 380,000,000 years ago Asia was subsiding, and all other continents were experiencing a short-lived emergence. But as this epoch progressed, the newly appearing Atlantic Ocean made extensive inroads on all adjacent coast lines. The northern Atlantic or Arctic seas were then connected with the southern Gulf waters. When this southern sea entered the Appalachian trough, its waves broke upon the east against mountains as high as the Alps, but in general the continents were uninteresting lowlands, utterly devoid of scenic beauty.
59:1.8 (673.8) 380,000,000年前，亞洲正在下沉，而所有其他大陸都經歷了短暫的浮升。但隨著這個時代的發展，新出現的大西洋對所有鄰近的海岸線都造成了廣泛的侵蝕。當時，北大西洋或北冰洋與南部的海灣水域相連。當這片南方的海洋湧入阿巴拉契亞的低谷時，它的波浪在東邊拍打著與阿爾卑斯山一樣高的山脈，但總的來說，這些大陸都是乏味的低地，完全沒有優美的風景。
59:1.9 (673.9) The sedimentary deposits of these ages are of four sorts:
59:1.9 (673.9) 這些時期形成的沉積岩共有四種類型：
59:1.10 (673.10) 1. Conglomerates—matter deposited near the shore lines.
59:1.10 (673.10) 1. 礫岩——沉積在海岸線附近的物質。
59:1.11 (673.11) 2. Sandstones—deposits made in shallow water but where the waves were sufficient to prevent mud settling.
59:1.11 (673.11) 2. 沙岩——在淺水但波浪足以阻止泥沙沉澱的地方形成的沉積物。
59:1.12 (673.12) 3. Shales—deposits made in the deeper and more quiet water.
59:1.12 (673.12) 3. 頁岩——在較深、較平靜的水中形成的沉積物。
59:1.13 (673.13) 4. Limestone—including the deposits of trilobite shells in deep water.
59:1.13 (673.13) 4. 石灰岩——包括深水中三葉蟲殼的沉積物。
59:1.14 (673.14) The trilobite fossils of these times present certain basic uniformities coupled with certain well-marked variations. The early animals developing from the three original life implantations were characteristic; those appearing in the Western Hemisphere were slightly different from those of the Eurasian group and from the Australasian or Australian-Antarctic type.
59:1.14 (673.14) 這一時期的三葉蟲化石呈現出某些基本的一致性，以及某些明顯的變異。從三個原初生命植入地發展而來的早期動物是有特征的；那些出現在西半球的動物與那些歐亞類的動物以及澳大拉西亞或澳大利亞-南極洲類型的動物略有不同。
59:1.15 (674.1) 370,000,000 years ago the great and almost total submergence of North and South America occurred, followed by the sinking of Africa and Australia. Only certain parts of North America remained above these shallow Cambrian seas. Five million years later the seas were retreating before the rising land. And all of these phenomena of land sinking and land rising were undramatic, taking place slowly over millions of years.
59:1.15 (674.1) 370,000,000年前，北美洲和南美洲發生了大規模且幾乎完全的淹沒，隨後非洲和澳大利亞也下沉了。只有北美洲的某些部分還留在這些寒武紀的淺海之上。五百萬年後，海水退卻，陸地上升。所有這些陸地沉降和上升的現象都是不起眼的，它們在數百萬年中緩慢地發生著。
59:1.16 (674.2) The trilobite fossil-bearing strata of this epoch outcrop here and there throughout all the continents except in central Asia. In many regions these rocks are horizontal, but in the mountains they are tilted and distorted because of pressure and folding. And such pressure has, in many places, changed the original character of these deposits. Sandstone has been turned into quartz, shale has been changed to slate, while limestone has been converted into marble.
59:1.16 (674.2) 除中亞以外，各大洲到處都露出這個時代含三葉蟲化石的岩層。在許多地區，這些岩石是水平的，但在山區，由於壓力和褶皺，它們是傾斜和扭曲的。在很多地方，這種壓力已改變了這些沉積物的原始特征。沙岩變成了石英，頁岩變成了板岩，而石灰岩則變成了大理石。
59:1.17 (674.3) 360,000,000 years ago the land was still rising. North and South America were well up. Western Europe and the British Isles were emerging, except parts of Wales, which were deeply submerged. There were no great ice sheets during these ages. The supposed glacial deposits appearing in connection with these strata in Europe, Africa, China, and Australia are due to isolated mountain glaciers or to the displacement of glacial debris of later origin. The world climate was oceanic, not continental. The southern seas were warmer then than now, and they extended northward over North America up to the polar regions. The Gulf Stream coursed over the central portion of North America, being deflected eastward to bathe and warm the shores of Greenland, making that now ice-mantled continent a veritable tropic paradise.
59:1.17 (674.3) 360,000,000年前，陸地仍在上升。北美洲和南美洲顯然都露出海面了。西歐和不列顛群島逐漸浮現，只有威爾士的部分地區仍深埋於水下。那些時期還沒有巨大的冰川。在歐洲、非洲、中國和澳大利亞，與這些地層相關的所謂冰川沉積物是由於孤立的山地冰川或後來形成的冰川碎片的位移造成的。世界氣候為海洋性氣候，而非大陸性氣候。當時的南方海域比現在溫暖，它們向北延伸，越過北美洲直到極地地區。墨西哥灣暖流流經北美洲的中部，向東偏轉，滋潤並溫暖了格陵蘭島的海岸，使這片如今被冰雪覆蓋的大陸變成了名副其實的熱帶天堂。
59:1.18 (674.4) The marine life was much alike the world over and consisted of the seaweeds, one-celled organisms, simple sponges, trilobites, and other crustaceans—shrimps, crabs, and lobsters. Three thousand varieties of brachiopods appeared at the close of this period, only two hundred of which have survived. These animals represent a variety of early life which has come down to the present time practically unchanged.
59:1.18 (674.4) 世界各地的海洋生命大體相同，包括海藻、單細胞生物、簡單的海綿、三葉蟲和其他甲殼類動物——蝦、蟹和龍蝦。在這一時期結束時，出現了三千種腕足類動物，但只有兩百種存活了下來。這些動物代表了一個早期生命的種類，這一種類延續至今，幾乎沒有改變。
59:1.19 (674.5) But the trilobites were the dominant living creatures. They were sexed animals and existed in many forms; being poor swimmers, they sluggishly floated in the water or crawled along the sea bottoms, curling up in self-protection when attacked by their later appearing enemies. They grew in length from two inches to one foot and developed into four distinct groups: carnivorous, herbivorous, omnivorous, and “mud eaters.” The ability of the latter group largely to subsist on inorganic matter—being the last multicelled animal that could—explains their great increase and long survival.
59:1.19 (674.5) 但三葉蟲是當時占主導地位的生物。它們是有性別的動物，並以多種形式存在；由於遊泳能力差，它們只能緩慢地漂浮在水中，或沿著海底爬行，當受到後來出現的敵人攻擊時，它們會蜷縮起來進行自我保護。它們的長度從五厘米到三十厘米不等，並發展成四個不同的類別：食肉的、食草的、雜食的，和「食泥的」。後一類動物是最後一種能夠主要依靠無機物生存的多細胞動物，它們的這種能力解釋了它們的數量大幅增長，並能長期存活的原因。
59:1.20 (674.6) This was the biogeologic picture of Urantia at the end of that long period of the world’s history, embracing fifty million years, designated by your geologists as the Cambrian.
59:1.20 (674.6) 這就是玉苒廈在跨越五千萬年的漫長世界歷史時期結束時所呈現的生物地質圖景，你們的地質學家稱這段時期為寒武紀。
無脊椎動物時代
59:2.1 (674.7) The periodic phenomena of land elevation and land sinking characteristic of these times were all gradual and nonspectacular, being accompanied by little or no volcanic action. Throughout all of these successive land elevations and depressions the Asiatic mother continent did not fully share the history of the other land bodies. It experienced many inundations, dipping first in one direction and then another, more particularly in its earlier history, but it does not present the uniform rock deposits which may be discovered on the other continents. In recent ages Asia has been the most stable of all the land masses.
59:2.1 (674.7) 這些時期特有的周期性陸地擡升和下沉現象，都是平緩且不起眼的，幾乎或完全沒有火山活動。在所有這些接連不斷的陸地隆起和凹陷中，亞洲母大陸與其他陸地板塊的歷史並不完全相同。它曾多次遭受洪水侵襲，尤其是在其早期歷史中，那時它先朝一個方向傾斜，然後朝另一個方向傾斜，但並未出現在其他大陸上可能發現的均勻岩石沉積物。近代以來，亞洲一直是所有陸地板塊中最穩定的。
59:2.2 (675.1) 350,000,000 years ago saw the beginning of the great flood period of all the continents except central Asia. The land masses were repeatedly covered with water; only the coastal highlands remained above these shallow but widespread oscillatory inland seas. Three major inundations characterized this period, but before it ended, the continents again arose, the total land emergence being fifteen per cent greater than now exists. The Caribbean region was highly elevated. This period is not well marked off in Europe because the land fluctuations were less, while the volcanic action was more persistent.
59:2.2 (675.1) 350,000,000年前，除中亞以外所有大陸的大洪水時期開始了。陸地板塊多次被水淹沒；只有沿海高地仍位於這些淺卻廣闊的動蕩內陸海之上。這一時期發生了三次大洪水，但在結束之前，大陸再次隆起，陸地總面積比現在多出百分之十五。加勒比地區被顯著擡高。在歐洲，這個時期很難明確劃分，因為陸地起伏較小，而火山活動卻更為持久。
59:2.3 (675.2) 340,000,000 years ago there occurred another extensive land sinking except in Asia and Australia. The waters of the world’s oceans were generally commingled. This was a great limestone age, much of its stone being laid down by lime-secreting algae.
59:2.3 (675.2) 340,000,000年前，除亞洲和澳大利亞外，其他地區再次發生了大規模陸地沉降。世界各大洋的水體普遍地混合在一起。這是一個偉大的石灰岩時代，其中大部分岩石由分泌石灰的藻類沉積形成。
59:2.4 (675.3) A few million years later large portions of the American continents and Europe began to emerge from the water. In the Western Hemisphere only an arm of the Pacific Ocean remained over Mexico and the present Rocky Mountain regions, but near the close of this epoch the Atlantic and Pacific coasts again began to sink.
59:2.4 (675.3) 幾百萬年後，美洲大陸和歐洲的大片區域開始浮出水面。在西半球，只有太平洋的一小片海域仍覆蓋著墨西哥和現今的落基山地區，但在這個時代接近結束時，大西洋和太平洋沿岸又開始下沉。
59:2.5 (675.4) 330,000,000 years ago marks the beginning of a time sector of comparative quiet all over the world, with much land again above water. The only exception to this reign of terrestrial quiet was the eruption of the great North American volcano of eastern Kentucky, one of the greatest single volcanic activities the world has ever known. The ashes of this volcano covered five hundred square miles to a depth of from fifteen to twenty feet.
59:2.5 (675.4) 330,000,000年前標誌著全球進入相對平靜的時期，很多陸地再次浮出水面。在這個陸地安穩的時期，唯一的例外是肯塔基州東部大北美火山的噴發，這是世界有史以來最大的單次火山活動之一。這座火山的灰燼覆蓋了一千三百平方公裏，厚度達五至六米。
59:2.6 (675.5) 320,000,000 years ago the third major flood of this period occurred. The waters of this inundation covered all the land submerged by the preceding deluge, while extending farther in many directions all over the Americas and Europe. Eastern North America and western Europe were from 10,000 to 15,000 feet under water.
59:2.6 (675.5) 320,000,000年前，這個時期的第三次大洪水發生了。此次洪水淹沒了先前洪水所淹沒的所有陸地，同時向美洲和歐洲的許多方向延伸得更遠。北美東部和西歐地區被3,000至4,500米深的水淹沒。
59:2.7 (675.6) 310,000,000 years ago the land masses of the world were again well up excepting the southern parts of North America. Mexico emerged, thus creating the Gulf Sea, which has ever since maintained its identity.
59:2.7 (675.6) 310,000,000年前，除北美洲的南部外，世界大陸板塊再次大幅擡升。墨西哥浮出水面，由此形成了墨西哥灣，此後它一直保持著其獨特性。
59:2.8 (675.7) The life of this period continues to evolve. The world is once again quiet and relatively peaceful; the climate remains mild and equable; the land plants are migrating farther and farther from the seashores. The life patterns are well developed, although few plant fossils of these times are to be found.
59:2.8 (675.7) 這個時期的生命仍在持續進化。世界再度歸於平靜且相對安寧；氣候依然溫和而穩定；陸地植物正不斷向離海岸線越來越遠的地方遷移。盡管這個時期的植物化石極為罕見，但生命模式卻已充分發展。
59:2.9 (675.8) This was the great age of individual animal organismal evolution, though many of the basic changes, such as the transition from plant to animal, had previously occurred. The marine fauna developed to the point where every type of life below the vertebrate scale was represented in the fossils of those rocks which were laid down during these times. But all of these animals were marine organisms. No land animals had yet appeared except a few types of worms which burrowed along the seashores, nor had the land plants yet overspread the continents; there was still too much carbon dioxide in the air to permit of the existence of air breathers. Primarily, all animals except certain of the more primitive ones are directly or indirectly dependent on plant life for their existence.
59:2.9 (675.8) 這是單個動物有機體進化的偉大時代，盡管許多基本變化，例如從植物到動物的轉變，早已發生。海洋動物群已發展到一定的程度，在這些時期沉積下來的岩層化石中，展現了低於脊椎動物級別的所有生命類型。但所有這些動物都是海洋生物。除了幾種沿海岸線穴居的蠕蟲外，陸地動物尚未出現，陸地植物也尚未在各大洲蔓延開來；空氣中的二氧化碳含量仍然過高，無法支持空氣呼吸者的生存。基本上，除某些較原始的動物外，所有動物的生存都直接或間接地依賴於植物生命。
59:2.10 (676.1) The trilobites were still prominent. These little animals existed in tens of thousands of patterns and were the predecessors of modern crustaceans. Some of the trilobites had from twenty-five to four thousand tiny eyelets; others had aborted eyes. As this period closed, the trilobites shared domination of the seas with several other forms of invertebrate life. But they utterly perished during the beginning of the next period.
59:2.10 (676.1) 三葉蟲仍占主導地位。這些小動物以成千上萬種形態存在著，它們是現代甲殼類動物的前身。有些三葉蟲擁有二十五至四千只微小的單眼；另一些則有著發育不全的眼睛。在這個時期結束時，三葉蟲與其他幾種無脊椎動物共同統治著海洋。但它們在下一個時期的初期便徹底消亡了。
59:2.11 (676.2) Lime-secreting algae were widespread. There existed thousands of species of the early ancestors of the corals. Sea worms were abundant, and there were many varieties of jellyfish which have since become extinct. Corals and the later types of sponges evolved. The cephalopods were well developed, and they have survived as the modern pearly nautilus, octopus, cuttlefish, and squid.
59:2.11 (676.2) 石灰分泌藻類分布廣泛。珊瑚的早期祖先有數千種。海蠕蟲數量眾多，還有許多種類的水母，如今它們都已滅絕。珊瑚和後期類型的海綿逐步形成。頭足類動物發育良好，並作為現代鸚鵡螺、章魚、烏賊和魷魚延續至今。
59:2.12 (676.3) There were many varieties of shell animals, but their shells were not then so much needed for defensive purposes as in subsequent ages. The gastropods were present in the waters of the ancient seas, and they included single-shelled drills, periwinkles, and snails. The bivalve gastropods have come on down through the intervening millions of years much as they then existed and embrace the mussels, clams, oysters, and scallops. The valve-shelled organisms also evolved, and these brachiopods lived in those ancient waters much as they exist today; they even had hinged, notched, and other sorts of protective arrangements of their valves.
59:2.12 (676.3) 當時有許多種貝類動物，但它們的貝殼不太需要像後世那樣用於防禦目的。腹足類動物曾棲息於遠古海洋的水域中，其中包括單殼的鉆孔螺、玉黍螺和海蝸牛。雙殼類腹足動物歷經數百萬年的漫長歲月，其形態基本未變，它們包括貽貝、蛤蜊、牡蠣和扇貝。瓣殼類生物也進化了，這些腕足類動物在遠古水域中的生存狀態與今日別無二致；它們的瓣殼上甚至還有鉸鏈式、鋸齒式及其他類型的防護措施。
59:2.13 (676.4) So ends the evolutionary story of the second great period of marine life, which is known to your geologists as the Ordovician.
59:2.13 (676.4) 至此，海洋生命第二個偉大時期的進化歷程就此結束，你們的地質學家稱之為奧陶紀。
59:3.1 (676.5) 300,000,000 years ago another great period of land submergence began. The southward and northward encroachment of the ancient Silurian seas made ready to engulf most of Europe and North America. The land was not elevated far above the sea so that not much deposition occurred about the shore lines. The seas teemed with lime-shelled life, and the falling of these shells to the sea bottom gradually built up very thick layers of limestone. This is the first widespread limestone deposit, and it covers practically all of Europe and North America but only appears at the earth’s surface in a few places. The thickness of this ancient rock layer averages about one thousand feet, but many of these deposits have since been greatly deformed by tilting, upheavals, and faulting, and many have been changed to quartz, shale, and marble.
59:3.1 (676.5) 300,000,000年前，又一個大規模的陸地淹沒時期開始了。古老的誌留紀海洋向南和向北侵蝕，即將吞噬歐洲和北美洲的大部分地區。這片陸地並未高出海洋太多，因此海岸線附近沉積物並不多。海洋中到處都是石灰殼類生物，這些殼沉入海底後逐漸堆積成很厚的石灰岩層。這是第一個廣泛分布的石灰岩沉積層，它幾乎覆蓋了整個歐洲和北美洲，但僅在少數地方露出地表。這個古老岩層的平均厚度約為三百米，但其中許多沉積物後來因傾斜、隆起和斷層而發生嚴重變形，許多已轉變為石英、頁岩和大理石。
59:3.2 (676.6) No fire rocks or lava are found in the stone layers of this period except those of the great volcanoes of southern Europe and eastern Maine and the lava flows of Quebec. Volcanic action was largely past. This was the height of great water deposition; there was little or no mountain building.
59:3.2 (676.6) 除南歐和東緬因州的大火山以及魁北克的熔岩流外，這個時期的岩層中未發現火山岩或熔岩。火山活動已基本結束。這是大型水沉積物的高峰期；山脈的形成幾乎或完全沒有。
59:3.3 (676.7) 290,000,000 years ago the sea had largely withdrawn from the continents, and the bottoms of the surrounding oceans were sinking. The land masses were little changed until they were again submerged. The early mountain movements of all the continents were beginning, and the greatest of these crustal upheavals were the Himalayas of Asia and the great Caledonian Mountains, extending from Ireland through Scotland and on to Spitzbergen.
59:3.3 (676.7) 290,000,000年前，海洋已基本從大陸退去，周圍海洋的海底正在下沉。陸地板塊幾乎沒有變化，直到它們再次被淹沒。所有大陸的早期造山運動開始了，這些地殼隆起中最雄偉的是亞洲的喜馬拉雅山脈，以及從愛爾蘭延伸到蘇格蘭，再到斯匹次卑爾根島的加裏東山脈。
59:3.4 (677.1) It is in the deposits of this age that much of the gas, oil, zinc, and lead are found, the gas and oil being derived from the enormous collections of vegetable and animal matter carried down at the time of the previous land submergence, while the mineral deposits represent the sedimentation of sluggish bodies of water. Many of the rock salt deposits belong to this period.
59:3.4 (677.1) 正是這個時期的沉積物中蘊藏著大量天然氣、石油、鋅和鉛，天然氣與石油源於之前陸地淹沒時期被沖刷下來的龐大動植物殘骸堆積物，而礦物沉積層則代表了緩流水體的沉積。許多岩鹽沉積物都屬於這個時期。
59:3.5 (677.2) The trilobites rapidly declined, and the center of the stage was occupied by the larger mollusks, or cephalopods. These animals grew to be fifteen feet long and one foot in diameter and became masters of the seas. This species of animal appeared suddenly and assumed dominance of sea life.
59:3.5 (677.2) 三葉蟲迅速衰落，較大的軟體動物，或頭足類動物占據了舞臺中央。這些動物長到五米長、直徑三十厘米，並成為海洋的霸主。這個種類的動物突然出現，並奪取了海洋生物的主導地位。
59:3.6 (677.3) The great volcanic activity of this age was in the European sector. Not in millions upon millions of years had such violent and extensive volcanic eruptions occurred as now took place around the Mediterranean trough and especially in the neighborhood of the British Isles. This lava flow over the British Isles region today appears as alternate layers of lava and rock 25,000 feet thick. These rocks were laid down by the intermittent lava flows which spread out over a shallow sea bed, thus interspersing the rock deposits, and all of this was subsequently elevated high above the sea. Violent earthquakes took place in northern Europe, notably in Scotland.
59:3.6 (677.3) 這個時代的大規模火山活動發生在歐洲地區。億萬年來，從未發生過如此猛烈而廣泛的火山噴發，如今卻在地中海海槽周圍，尤其在不列顛群島附近上演。這片流經不列顛群島地區的熔岩，如今呈現為厚度達八千米的熔岩與岩石交疊層。這些岩石是由間歇性熔岩流形成的，熔岩流蔓延至淺海海底，從而穿插在岩石沉積物之間，隨後整個岩層被擡升到海平面之上。歐洲北部，尤其是蘇格蘭，發生了強烈地震。
59:3.7 (677.4) The oceanic climate remained mild and uniform, and the warm seas bathed the shores of the polar lands. Brachiopod and other marine-life fossils may be found in these deposits right up to the North Pole. Gastropods, brachiopods, sponges, and reef-making corals continued to increase.
59:3.7 (677.4) 海洋性氣候依然溫和穩定，溫暖的海水浸潤著極地大陸的海岸。在那些一直延伸到北極的沉積物中，可以找到腕足類動物及其他海洋生命的化石。腹足類動物、腕足類動物、海綿以及造礁珊瑚持續增多。
59:3.8 (677.5) The close of this epoch witnesses the second advance of the Silurian seas with another commingling of the waters of the southern and northern oceans. The cephalopods dominate marine life, while associated forms of life progressively develop and differentiate.
59:3.8 (677.5) 這個時代的末期，誌留紀海洋第二次擴張，南北大洋的水體再次混合。頭足類動物主宰著海洋生命，而相關的生命形式則逐漸發展並分化。
59:3.9 (677.6) 280,000,000 years ago the continents had largely emerged from the second Silurian inundation. The rock deposits of this submergence are known in North America as Niagara limestone because this is the stratum of rock over which Niagara Falls now flows. This layer of rock extends from the eastern mountains to the Mississippi valley region but not farther west except to the south. Several layers extend over Canada, portions of South America, Australia, and most of Europe, the average thickness of this Niagara series being about six hundred feet. Immediately overlying the Niagara deposit, in many regions may be found a collection of conglomerate, shale, and rock salt. This is the accumulation of secondary subsidences. This salt settled in great lagoons which were alternately opened up to the sea and then cut off so that evaporation occurred with deposition of salt along with other matter held in solution. In some regions these rock salt beds are seventy feet thick.
59:3.9 (677.6) 280,000,000年前，各大洲已基本從第二次誌留紀洪水中浮現。這次淹沒形成的岩石沉積層在北美稱為尼亞加拉石灰岩，因為這正是尼亞加拉瀑布現在流經的岩層。這個岩層從東部山脈延伸到密西西比河谷地區，但除了向南之外，並未再向西延伸。有幾個岩層延展到加拿大、南美洲部分地區、澳大利亞以及歐洲大部分地區，這種尼亞加拉岩層的平均厚度約為兩百米。在許多地區，可發現一些礫岩鹽、頁岩鹽和岩鹽直接覆蓋在尼亞加拉沉積層之上。這是第二次沉降形成的堆積物。這種鹽沉積於廣闊的瀉湖中，這些瀉湖時而與海洋連通，時而又被阻隔，因此，在蒸發過程中，海水中所含的鹽與其他物質一起沉澱下來。在某些地區，這些岩鹽礦床的厚度可達二十多米。
59:3.10 (677.7) The climate is even and mild, and marine fossils are laid down in the arctic regions. But by the end of this epoch the seas are so excessively salty that little life survives.
59:3.10 (677.7) 氣候平穩而溫和，在北極地區也沉積了海洋生命化石。但到這個時代結束時，海水的鹹度極其高，幾乎沒有生物能夠存活。
59:3.11 (677.8) Toward the close of the final Silurian submergence there is a great increase in the echinoderms—the stone lilies—as is evidenced by the crinoid limestone deposits. The trilobites have nearly disappeared, and the mollusks continue monarchs of the seas; coral-reef formation increases greatly. During this age, in the more favorable locations the primitive water scorpions first evolve. Soon thereafter, and suddenly, the true scorpions—actual air breathers—make their appearance.
59:3.11 (677.8) 在最後一次誌留紀淹沒臨近結束時，正如海百合石灰岩沉積物所證明的那樣，棘皮動物，即海百合數量急劇增加。三葉蟲幾乎絕跡，軟體動物依然稱霸海洋；珊瑚礁的形成大幅增加。在這個時代，在較適宜的地方，原始水蠍首次進化出來了。不久之後，突然，真正的蠍子——實際的空氣呼吸者——出現了。
59:3.12 (678.1) These developments terminate the third marine-life period, covering twenty-five million years and known to your researchers as the Silurian.
59:3.12 (678.1) 這些發展標誌著第三個海洋生命時期的終結，這個時期持續了兩千五百萬年，並被你們的研究者稱之為志留紀。
59:4.1 (678.2) In the agelong struggle between land and water, for long periods the sea has been comparatively victorious, but times of land victory are just ahead. And the continental drifts have not proceeded so far but that, at times, practically all of the land of the world is connected by slender isthmuses and narrow land bridges.
59:4.1 (678.2) 在陸地與海洋的持久較量中，海洋長期占據相對優勢，但陸地取勝的時間即將到來。大陸漂移尚未行進到很遠，有時世界上幾乎所有的陸地都通過細長的地峽和狹窄的陸橋相連。
59:4.2 (678.3) As the land emerges from the last Silurian inundation, an important period in world development and life evolution comes to an end. It is the dawn of a new age on earth. The naked and unattractive landscape of former times is becoming clothed with luxuriant verdure, and the first magnificent forests will soon appear.
59:4.2 (678.3) 隨著陸地從最後一次志留紀洪水中浮現，世界發展與生命進化的一個重要時期結束了。地球上一個新時代正在來臨。昔日荒蕪貧瘠的景觀正披上蔥郁的綠裝，首批壯麗的森林即將出現。
59:4.3 (678.4) The marine life of this age was very diverse due to the early species segregation, but later on there was free commingling and association of all these different types. The brachiopods early reached their climax, being succeeded by the arthropods, and barnacles made their first appearance. But the greatest event of all was the sudden appearance of the fish family. This became the age of fishes, that period of the world’s history characterized by the vertebrate type of animal.
59:4.3 (678.4) 由於早期物種的分離，這個時代的海洋生命非常多樣化，但後來所有這些不同種類之間有了自由混合與關聯。腕足動物很早就達到鼎盛時期，隨後被節肢動物取代，甲殼動物也首次出現了。但最重大的事件莫過於魚類家族的突然出現。這便進入了魚類時代，即世界歷史上以脊椎類動物為特征的時期。
59:4.4 (678.5) 270,000,000 years ago the continents were all above water. In millions upon millions of years not so much land had been above water at one time; it was one of the greatest land-emergence epochs in all world history.
59:4.4 (678.5) 270,000,000年前，所有大陸都在水面之上了。億萬年來，從未出現過如此多的陸地同時露出水面；這是世界歷史上最重大的陸地浮現時期之一。
59:4.5 (678.6) Five million years later the land areas of North and South America, Europe, Africa, northern Asia, and Australia were briefly inundated, in North America the submergence at one time or another being almost complete; and the resulting limestone layers run from 500 to 5,000 feet in thickness. These various Devonian seas extended first in one direction and then in another so that the immense arctic North American inland sea found an outlet to the Pacific Ocean through northern California.
59:4.5 (678.6) 五百萬年後，北美洲、南美洲、歐洲、非洲、亞洲北部及澳大利亞的陸地區域曾短暫地被淹沒，北美洲在某些時期幾乎完全被淹沒；由此形成的石灰岩層厚度在150至1500米之間。這些不同的泥盆紀海先朝一個方向延伸，然後又朝另一個方向擴展，因此巨大的北美極地內陸海通過北加利福尼亞州找到了通向太平洋的出口。
59:4.6 (678.7) 260,000,000 years ago, toward the end of this land-depression epoch, North America was partially overspread by seas having simultaneous connection with the Pacific, Atlantic, Arctic, and Gulf waters. The deposits of these later stages of the first Devonian flood average about one thousand feet in thickness. The coral reefs characterizing these times indicate that the inland seas were clear and shallow. Such coral deposits are exposed in the banks of the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky, and are about one hundred feet thick, embracing more than two hundred varieties. These coral formations extend through Canada and northern Europe to the arctic regions.
59:4.6 (678.7) 260,000,000年前，在這個陸地下沉期接近尾聲時，北美洲部分地區被海洋覆蓋，這些海域同時與太平洋、大西洋、北冰洋和墨西哥灣的水域相連。第一次泥盆紀洪水的這些後期階段所形成的沉積物，它們的平均厚度約為三百米。這些時期典型的珊瑚礁表明，內陸海是清澈而平緩的。在肯塔基州路易斯維爾附近的俄亥俄河畔，這樣的珊瑚沉積層暴露在外，厚度約為三十米，包含兩百多個不同的種類。這些珊瑚群落穿過加拿大和北歐，一直延伸到北極地區。
59:4.7 (678.8) Following these submergences, many of the shore lines were considerably elevated so that the earlier deposits were covered by mud or shale. There is also a red sandstone stratum which characterizes one of the Devonian sedimentations, and this red layer extends over much of the earth’s surface, being found in North and South America, Europe, Russia, China, Africa, and Australia. Such red deposits are suggestive of arid or semiarid conditions, but the climate of this epoch was still mild and even.
59:4.7 (678.8) 這些淹沒之後，許多海岸線顯著擡升，導致早期的沉積物被泥漿或頁岩覆蓋。還有一層紅色沙岩層，它標志著泥盆紀的沉積作用之一，這種紅色岩層覆蓋了地球表面的大部分區域，在北美洲、南美洲、歐洲、俄羅斯、中國、非洲和澳大利亞都有發現。這種紅色沉積物暗示了幹旱或半幹旱的環境，但這個時期的氣候依然溫和而平穩。
59:4.8 (679.1) Throughout all of this period the land southeast of the Cincinnati Island remained well above water. But very much of western Europe, including the British Isles, was submerged. In Wales, Germany, and other places in Europe the Devonian rocks are 20,000 feet thick.
59:4.8 (679.1) 在整個這段時期，辛辛那提島東南部的陸地始終保持在水面之上。但西歐的大部分地區，包括不列顛群島，都被淹沒了。在威爾士、德國及歐洲其他地區，泥盆紀的岩石層厚度達6,000多米。
59:4.9 (679.2) 250,000,000 years ago witnessed the appearance of the fish family, the vertebrates, one of the most important steps in all prehuman evolution.
59:4.9 (679.2) 250,000,000年前見證了魚類家族，即脊椎動物的出現，這是前人類進化中最重要的裏程碑之一。
59:4.10 (679.3) The arthropods, or crustaceans, were the ancestors of the first vertebrates. The forerunners of the fish family were two modified arthropod ancestors; one had a long body connecting a head and tail, while the other was a backboneless, jawless prefish. But these preliminary types were quickly destroyed when the fishes, the first vertebrates of the animal world, made their sudden appearance from the north.
59:4.10 (679.3) 節肢動物，或者甲殼類動物，是最初脊椎動物的祖先。魚類家族的先驅是兩種改型的節肢動物先祖：一種擁有連接頭部與尾部的長型軀體，另一種則是無脊椎、無頜的前魚類。但當動物界最早的脊椎動物魚類從北方突然出現時，這些初始類型很快就被摧毀了。
59:4.11 (679.4) Many of the largest true fish belong to this age, some of the teeth-bearing varieties being twenty-five to thirty feet long; the present-day sharks are the survivors of these ancient fishes. The lung and armored fishes reached their evolutionary apex, and before this epoch had ended, fishes had adapted to both fresh and salt waters.
59:4.11 (679.4) 許多體型最大的真魚類都屬於這個時代，其中某些長著牙齒的種類可達八至十米長；現今的鯊魚正是這些遠古魚類的幸存者。肺魚和甲魚達到了進化的頂峰，在這個時代結束之前，魚類已經適應了淡水和鹹水環境。
59:4.12 (679.5) Veritable bone beds of fish teeth and skeletons may be found in the deposits laid down toward the close of this period, and rich fossil beds are situated along the coast of California since many sheltered bays of the Pacific Ocean extended into the land of that region.
59:4.12 (679.5) 在該時期末形成的沉積層中，可發現真正的魚齒與魚骨骼堆積層，而加利福尼亞海岸沿線則分布著豐富的化石層，因太平洋的許多避風海灣曾延伸到該地區的內陸。
59:4.13 (679.6) The earth was being rapidly overrun by the new orders of land vegetation. Heretofore few plants grew on land except about the water’s edge. Now, and suddenly, the prolific fern family appeared and quickly spread over the face of the rapidly rising land in all parts of the world. Tree types, two feet thick and forty feet high, soon developed; later on, leaves evolved, but these early varieties had only rudimentary foliage. There were many smaller plants, but their fossils are not found since they were usually destroyed by the still earlier appearing bacteria.
59:4.13 (679.6) 地球正被新的陸地植被種類迅速覆蓋。在此之前，除了靠近水邊的地方，陸地上幾乎沒有植物生長。現在，繁茂的蕨類家族突然出現，並迅速在世界各地快速上升的陸地表面蔓延開來。六十厘米粗、十二米高的樹木種類很快便生長起來；後來，葉片進化出來了，但這些早期樹種只有簡單的葉片。還有許多較小的植物，但無法找到它們的化石，因為它們通常被更早出現的細菌所摧毀。
59:4.14 (679.7) As the land rose, North America became connected with Europe by land bridges extending to Greenland. And today Greenland holds the remains of these early land plants beneath its mantle of ice.
59:4.14 (679.7) 隨著陸地擡升，北美洲通過延伸至格陵蘭島的陸橋與歐洲相連。如今，格陵蘭島的冰蓋之下，仍保留著這些早期陸生植物的遺骸。
59:4.15 (679.8) 240,000,000 years ago the land over parts of both Europe and North and South America began to sink. This subsidence marked the appearance of the last and least extensive of the Devonian floods. The arctic seas again moved southward over much of North America, the Atlantic inundated a large part of Europe and western Asia, while the southern Pacific covered most of India. This inundation was slow in appearing and equally slow in retreating. The Catskill Mountains along the west bank of the Hudson River are one of the largest geologic monuments of this epoch to be found on the surface of North America.
59:4.15 (679.8) 240,000,000年前，歐洲、北美洲和南美洲部分地區的陸地開始下沉。這次沉降標志著志留紀最後一次、也是最小規模洪水的出現。北冰洋再次向南推移，淹沒了北美大部分地區，大西洋淹沒了歐洲和西亞的大片區域，而南太平洋則淹沒了印度的大部分地區。這場洪水蔓延得非常緩慢，退去時也同樣緩慢。哈德遜河西岸的卡茨基爾山脈是北美地表上發現的這個時期最大的地質遺跡之一。
59:4.16 (679.9) 230,000,000 years ago the seas were continuing their retreat. Much of North America was above water, and great volcanic activity occurred in the St. Lawrence region. Mount Royal, at Montreal, is the eroded neck of one of these volcanoes. The deposits of this entire epoch are well shown in the Appalachian Mountains of North America where the Susquehanna River has cut a valley exposing these successive layers, which attained a thickness of over 13,000 feet.
59:4.16 (679.9) 230,000,000年前，海洋繼續退去。北美洲大部分地區浮出水面，聖勞倫斯地區發生了劇烈的火山活動。蒙特利爾的皇家山，就是其中一座火山風化後的火山口。整個地質時期的沉積物在北美洲的阿巴拉契亞山脈中得到充分展現，薩斯奎哈納河在此切出一個峽谷，露出了這些層層疊疊的岩層，它們的厚度達4,000多米。
59:4.17 (680.1) The elevation of the continents proceeded, and the atmosphere was becoming enriched with oxygen. The earth was overspread by vast forests of ferns one hundred feet high and by the peculiar trees of those days, silent forests; not a sound was heard, not even the rustle of a leaf, for such trees had no leaves.
59:4.17 (680.1) 大陸繼續擡升，大氣正變得富含氧氣。地球上覆蓋著高達三十米的廣袤蕨類森林，以及那些年代特有的樹木，即寂靜的森林；萬籟俱寂，連一片樹葉的沙沙聲都沒有，因為那些樹根本沒有葉子。
59:4.18 (680.2) And thus drew to a close one of the longest periods of marine-life evolution, the age of fishes. This period of the world’s history lasted almost fifty million years; it has become known to your researchers as the Devonian.
59:4.18 (680.2) 至此，海洋生命進化的最漫長時期之一，即魚類時代即將結束。世界歷史的這個時期持續了近五千萬年；你們的研究者稱之為泥盆紀。
59:5.1 (680.3) The appearance of fish during the preceding period marks the apex of marine-life evolution. From this point onward the evolution of land life becomes increasingly important. And this period opens with the stage almost ideally set for the appearance of the first land animals.
59:5.1 (680.3) 前一時期魚類的出現標志著海洋生命進化的頂峰。從這一刻起，陸地生命的進化變得日益重要。而這個時期伊始，幾乎已為首批陸生動物的出現提供了理想的舞臺。
59:5.2 (680.4) 220,000,000 years ago many of the continental land areas, including most of North America, were above water. The land was overrun by luxurious vegetation; this was indeed the age of ferns. Carbon dioxide was still present in the atmosphere but in lessening degree.
59:5.2 (680.4) 220,000,000年前，許多大陸地域，包括北美洲的大部分地區，都在水面之上。陸地被茂密的植被所覆蓋；這確實是蕨類植物的時代。在大氣中，二氧化碳仍然存在，但濃度正在降低。
59:5.3 (680.5) Shortly thereafter the central portion of North America was inundated, creating two great inland seas. Both the Atlantic and Pacific coastal highlands were situated just beyond the present shore lines. These two seas presently united, commingling their different forms of life, and the union of these marine fauna marked the beginning of the rapid and world-wide decline in marine life and the opening of the subsequent land-life period.
59:5.3 (680.5) 不久之後，北美洲中部地區被淹沒，形成了兩個巨大的內陸海。大西洋和太平洋沿岸的高地都位於現今的海岸線之外。這兩片海洋現已合而為一，它們不同的生命形態相互交融，而這些海洋動物群的融合標志著海洋生命在全球範圍內迅速衰退的開始，以及隨後陸地生命時代的開啟。
59:5.4 (680.6) 210,000,000 years ago the warm-water arctic seas covered most of North America and Europe. The south polar waters inundated South America and Australia, while both Africa and Asia were highly elevated.
59:5.4 (680.6) 210,000,000年前，溫暖的北極海域覆蓋了北美洲和歐洲的大部分地區。南極的海水淹沒了南美洲和澳大利亞，而非洲和亞洲則被擡升得很高。
59:5.5 (680.7) When the seas were at their height, a new evolutionary development suddenly occurred. Abruptly, the first of the land animals appeared. There were numerous species of these animals that were able to live on land or in water. These air-breathing amphibians developed from the arthropods, whose swim bladders had evolved into lungs.
59:5.5 (680.7) 當海洋達到最大範圍時，一種新的進化發展驟然發生。突然間，第一批陸地動物出現了。這些動物種類繁多，它們能夠在陸地或在水中生活。這些空氣呼吸的兩棲動物由節肢動物發展而來，它們的魚鰾已進化為肺。
59:5.6 (680.8) From the briny waters of the seas there crawled out upon the land snails, scorpions, and frogs. Today frogs still lay their eggs in water, and their young first exist as little fishes, tadpoles. This period could well be known as the age of frogs.
59:5.6 (680.8) 從鹹澀的海水中，蝸牛、蠍子和青蛙爬上了陸地。如今青蛙仍將卵產於水中，其幼體最初以小魚，即蝌蚪的形式存在。這個時期完全可以稱為蛙類時代。
59:5.7 (680.9) Very soon thereafter the insects first appeared and, together with spiders, scorpions, cockroaches, crickets, and locusts, soon overspread the continents of the world. Dragon flies measured thirty inches across. One thousand species of cockroaches developed, and some grew to be four inches long.
59:5.7 (680.9) 不久之後，昆蟲便首次出現，並很快與蜘蛛、蠍子、蟑螂、蟋蟀和蝗蟲一起，遍布了世界各大洲。蜻蜓的翅展達七十五厘米。蟑螂發展出了上千種，其中有些長到十厘米長。
59:5.8 (680.10) Two groups of echinoderms became especially well developed, and they are in reality the guide fossils of this epoch. The large shell-feeding sharks were also highly evolved, and for more than five million years they dominated the oceans. The climate was still mild and equable; the marine life was little changed. Fresh-water fish were developing and the trilobites were nearing extinction. Corals were scarce, and much of the limestone was being made by the crinoids. The finer building limestones were laid down during this epoch.
59:5.8 (680.10) 兩類棘皮動物發展得特別好，它們實際上是這個時期的標志化石。以貝類為食的大型鯊魚同樣高度進化，在超過五百萬年的時間裏，它們統治著海洋。氣候依然溫和而穩定；海洋生命幾乎沒有變化。淡水魚正在進化，三葉蟲則瀕臨滅絕。珊瑚稀少，大部分石灰岩是由海百合形成的。優質的建築石灰石形成於這個時期。
59:5.9 (681.1) The waters of many of the inland seas were so heavily charged with lime and other minerals as greatly to interfere with the progress and development of many marine species. Eventually the seas cleared up as the result of an extensive stone deposit, in some places containing zinc and lead.
59:5.9 (681.1) 許多內陸海水中含有大量石灰及其他礦物質，嚴重阻礙了許多海洋物種的進化和發展。最終，隨著大規模的局部含鋅和鉛的岩石沉積，海水變得清澈起來。
59:5.10 (681.2) The deposits of this early Carboniferous age are from 500 to 2,000 feet thick, consisting of sandstone, shale, and limestone. The oldest strata yield the fossils of both land and marine animals and plants, along with much gravel and basin sediments. Little workable coal is found in these older strata. These depositions throughout Europe are very similar to those laid down over North America.
59:5.10 (681.2) 這些早期石炭紀的沉積物厚度在150至600米之間，由沙岩、頁岩和石灰岩組成。最古老的地層中含有陸地和海洋動植物的化石，以及大量礫石和盆地沉積物。這些較古老的地層中幾乎找不到可開采的煤炭。這些遍布歐洲的沉積物與北美洲的沉積物非常相似。
59:5.11 (681.3) Toward the close of this epoch the land of North America began to rise. There was a short interruption, and the sea returned to cover about half of its previous beds. This was a short inundation, and most of the land was soon well above water. South America was still connected with Europe by way of Africa.
59:5.11 (681.3) 在這個時期即將結束時，北美洲的陸地開始上升。短暫的中斷之後，海水又重新覆蓋了大約先前海床的一半。這是一場短暫的洪水，大部分陸地很快便浮出水面。南美洲仍通過非洲與歐洲相連。
59:5.12 (681.4) This epoch witnessed the beginning of the Vosges, Black Forest, and Ural mountains. Stumps of other and older mountains are to be found all over Great Britain and Europe.
59:5.12 (681.4) 在這個時期，孚日山脈、黑森林和烏拉爾山脈開始形成。其他更古老山脈的殘余在大不列顛和歐洲各地隨處可見。
59:5.13 (681.5) 200,000,000 years ago the really active stages of the Carboniferous period began. For twenty million years prior to this time the earlier coal deposits were being laid down, but now the more extensive coal-formation activities were in process. The length of the actual coal-deposition epoch was a little over twenty-five million years.
59:5.13 (681.5) 200,000,000年前，石炭紀真正活躍的階段開始了。在此之前的兩千萬年間，早期煤層已經形成，但此時更廣泛的煤層形成活動正在進行。實際的煤沉積時期長達兩千五百多萬年。
59:5.14 (681.6) The land was periodically going up and down due to the shifting sea level occasioned by activities on the ocean bottoms. This crustal uneasiness—the settling and rising of the land—in connection with the prolific vegetation of the coastal swamps, contributed to the production of extensive coal deposits, which have caused this period to be known as the Carboniferous. And the climate was still mild the world over.
59:5.14 (681.6) 由於海底活動引起的海平面持續波動，這片陸地周期性地起伏升降。這種地殼的不穩定——陸地的沉降與上升——加上沿海沼澤地帶的茂密植被，共同促成了大規模煤炭沉積物的形成，因此這個時期被稱為石炭紀。當時全球氣候依然溫和。
59:5.15 (681.7) The coal layers alternate with shale, stone, and conglomerate. These coal beds over central and eastern United States vary in thickness from forty to fifty feet. But many of these deposits were washed away during subsequent land elevations. In some parts of North America and Europe the coal-bearing strata are 18,000 feet in thickness.
59:5.15 (681.7) 煤層與頁岩、岩石和礫岩交替出現。這些分布於美國中部和東部的煤層厚度在十二至十五米之間。但在隨後的地殼擡升過程中，這些沉積物中有許多被沖刷殆盡。在北美洲和歐洲的部分地區，含煤地層厚度達5,400米。
59:5.16 (681.8) The presence of roots of trees as they grew in the clay underlying the present coal beds demonstrates that coal was formed exactly where it is now found. Coal is the water-preserved and pressure-modified remains of the rank vegetation growing in the bogs and on the swamp shores of this faraway age. Coal layers often hold both gas and oil. Peat beds, the remains of past vegetable growth, would be converted into a type of coal if subjected to proper pressure and heat. Anthracite has been subjected to more pressure and heat than other coal.
59:5.16 (681.8) 樹木生長時其根系存在於現今煤層下方的黏土層中，這證明煤炭就是在其現今發現的地方形成的。煤炭是生長於遠古時代的沼澤及濕地岸邊的速生植被，經水保存和壓力改變後的殘留物。煤層中通常含有天然氣和石油。泥炭層，即過去植物生長的殘留物，在適當的壓力和溫度下，會轉化為一種煤。無煙煤比其他煤炭承受的壓力和熱量更高。
59:5.17 (681.9) In North America the layers of coal in the various beds, which indicate the number of times the land fell and rose, vary from ten in Illinois, twenty in Pennsylvania, thirty-five in Alabama, to seventy-five in Canada. Both fresh- and salt-water fossils are found in the coal beds.
59:5.17 (681.9) 在北美洲，不同礦床中的煤層數量表明了陸地升降的次數，從伊利諾伊州的十層、賓夕法尼亞州的二十層、阿拉巴馬州的三十五層，到加拿大的七十五層不等。在煤層中，即可找到淡水化石，也可找到鹹水化石。
59:5.18 (682.1) Throughout this epoch the mountains of North and South America were active, both the Andes and the southern ancestral Rocky Mountains rising. The great Atlantic and Pacific high coastal regions began to sink, eventually becoming so eroded and submerged that the coast lines of both oceans withdrew to approximately their present positions. The deposits of this inundation average about one thousand feet in thickness.
59:5.18 (682.1) 在整個時期，南北美洲的山脈都很活躍，安第斯山脈和南部的古落基山脈都在上升。大西洋和太平洋沿岸的高地開始下沉，最終遭受嚴重侵蝕並沉入海底，致使兩大洋的海岸線退回到大約現在的位置。這次洪水沉積物的平均厚度約為三百米。
59:5.19 (682.2) 190,000,000 years ago witnessed a westward extension of the North American Carboniferous sea over the present Rocky Mountain region, with an outlet to the Pacific Ocean through northern California. Coal continued to be laid down throughout the Americas and Europe, layer upon layer, as the coastlands rose and fell during these ages of seashore oscillations.
59:5.19 (682.2) 190,000,000年前，北美洲石炭紀海向西延伸，越過現今的落基山脈地區，並通過北加利福尼亞州匯入太平洋。在這些海岸線起伏的年代裏，隨著海岸地帶的升降，煤層在整個美洲和歐洲一層又一層地持續沉積。
59:5.20 (682.3) 180,000,000 years ago brought the close of the Carboniferous period, during which coal had been formed all over the world—in Europe, India, China, North Africa, and the Americas. At the close of the coal-formation period North America east of the Mississippi valley rose, and most of this section has ever since remained above the sea. This land-elevation period marks the beginning of the modern mountains of North America, both in the Appalachian regions and in the west. Volcanoes were active in Alaska and California and in the mountain-forming regions of Europe and Asia. Eastern America and western Europe were connected by the continent of Greenland.
59:5.20 (682.3) 180,000,000年前，石炭紀結束，在此期間，煤炭已在世界各地形成——包括歐洲、印度、中國、北非和美洲。在煤炭形成期結束時，北美洲的密西西比河谷東部擡升，此後該地區的大部分一直保持在海平面之上。這個陸地擡升時期，標志著北美在阿巴拉契亞地區和西部地區現代山脈的形成。在阿拉斯加和加利福尼亞，以及歐洲和亞洲的山脈形成地區，火山十分活躍。美東與西歐通過格陵蘭大陸相連。
59:5.21 (682.4) Land elevation began to modify the marine climate of the preceding ages and to substitute therefor the beginnings of the less mild and more variable continental climate.
59:5.21 (682.4) 陸地擡升開始改變先前時代的海洋性氣候，取而代之的是大陸性氣候的雛形，這種氣候不太溫和且變化更劇烈。
59:5.22 (682.5) The plants of these times were spore bearing, and the wind was able to spread them far and wide. The trunks of the Carboniferous trees were commonly seven feet in diameter and often one hundred and twenty-five feet high. The modern ferns are truly relics of these bygone ages.
59:5.22 (682.5) 這些時期的植物都是帶有孢子的，風能將它們播撒到四面八方。石炭紀樹木的樹幹通常直徑為兩米，高度常達三十八米。現代蕨類植物實為這些過去時代的活化石。
59:5.23 (682.6) In general, these were the epochs of development for fresh-water organisms; little change occurred in the previous marine life. But the important characteristic of this period was the sudden appearance of the frogs and their many cousins. The life features of the coal age were ferns and frogs.
59:5.23 (682.6) 總體而言，這些是淡水生物發展的時期；此前的海洋生命幾乎沒有發生變化。但這一時期最重要的特征是青蛙及其許多近親的突然出現。石炭時代的生命特征是蕨類植物和蛙類。
種子植物時期
生物患難時代
59:6.1 (682.7) This period marks the end of pivotal evolutionary development in marine life and the opening of the transition period leading to the subsequent ages of land animals.
59:6.1 (682.7) 這一時期標志著海洋生命關鍵進化發展的終結，以及通向後續陸地動物時代之過渡時期的開啟。
59:6.2 (682.8) This age was one of great life impoverishment. Thousands of marine species perished, and life was hardly yet established on land. This was a time of biologic tribulation, the age when life nearly vanished from the face of the earth and from the depths of the oceans. Toward the close of the long marine-life era there were more than one hundred thousand species of living things on earth. At the close of this period of transition less than five hundred had survived.
59:6.2 (682.8) 這是一個生命極度貧瘠的時代。數千種海洋物種滅絕，而陸地上的生命幾乎還未建立起來。這是一個生物遭遇磨難的時期，一個生命幾乎從地球表面和海洋深處消失的時代。在漫長的海洋生命時代即將結束之際，地球上曾存在著超過十萬種生物物種。在這段過渡期結束時，只有不到五百種幸存下來。
59:6.3 (682.9) The peculiarities of this new period were not due so much to the cooling of the earth’s crust or to the long absence of volcanic action as to an unusual combination of commonplace and pre-existing influences—restrictions of the seas and increasing elevation of enormous land masses. The mild marine climate of former times was disappearing, and the harsher continental type of weather was fast developing.
59:6.3 (682.9) 這個新時期的特殊性，與其說是源於地殼冷卻或長期缺乏火山活動，不如說是源於通常且已存在的影響因素——海洋萎縮與巨大陸地持續擡升——的非同尋常的結合。昔日溫和的海洋性氣候正在消逝，更為嚴酷的大陸性氣候正迅速形成。
59:6.4 (683.1) 170,000,000 years ago great evolutionary changes and adjustments were taking place over the entire face of the earth. Land was rising all over the world as the ocean beds were sinking. Isolated mountain ridges appeared. The eastern part of North America was high above the sea; the west was slowly rising. The continents were covered by great and small salt lakes and numerous inland seas which were connected with the oceans by narrow straits. The strata of this transition period vary in thickness from 1,000 to 7,000 feet.
59:6.4 (683.1) 170,000,000年前，整個地球表面發生了巨大的進化轉變與調整。隨著海底不斷下沉，世界各地的陸地都在上升。孤立的山脊出現了。北美洲東部高聳於海面之上；西部則在緩慢上升。各大陸布滿了大大小小的鹽水湖和大量內陸海，它們通過狹長的海峽與海洋相連。這個過渡時期的地層厚度從300至2,000米不等。
59:6.5 (683.2) The earth’s crust folded extensively during these land elevations. This was a time of continental emergence except for the disappearance of certain land bridges, including the continents which had so long connected South America with Africa and North America with Europe.
59:6.5 (683.2) 在這些陸地擡升過程中，地殼發生了大規模褶皺。這是一個大陸浮現的時期，除了某些陸橋消失外，其中包括那些長期將南美洲與非洲、北美洲與歐洲連接起來的陸橋。
59:6.6 (683.3) Gradually the inland lakes and seas were drying up all over the world. Isolated mountain and regional glaciers began to appear, especially over the Southern Hemisphere, and in many regions the glacial deposit of these local ice formations may be found even among some of the upper and later coal deposits. Two new climatic factors appeared—glaciation and aridity. Many of the earth’s higher regions had become arid and barren.
59:6.6 (683.3) 世界各地的內陸湖和內陸海正逐漸幹涸。孤立的山脈和區域冰川開始出現，尤其在南半球，而在許多地區，這些局部冰層形成的冰川沉積物甚至可以在一些上層及晚期煤層中發現。兩個新的氣候因素——冰凍和幹旱出現了。地球上許多海拔較高的地區已變得幹燥貧瘠。
59:6.7 (683.4) Throughout these times of climatic change, great variations also occurred in the land plants. The seed plants first appeared, and they afforded a better food supply for the subsequently increased land-animal life. The insects underwent a radical change. The resting stages evolved to meet the demands of suspended animation during winter and drought.
59:6.7 (683.4) 在氣候變化的時期，陸地植物也發生了巨大變化。種子植物首先出現，為隨後增長的陸地動物生命提供了更好的食物來源。昆蟲經歷了重大變化。休眠期的進化是為了滿足冬季和幹旱期間停止活動的需求。
59:6.8 (683.5) Among the land animals the frogs reached their climax in the preceding age and rapidly declined, but they survived because they could long live even in the drying-up pools and ponds of these far-distant and extremely trying times. During this declining frog age, in Africa, the first step in the evolution of the frog into the reptile occurred. And since the land masses were still connected, this prereptilian creature, an air breather, spread over all the world. By this time the atmosphere had been so changed that it served admirably to support animal respiration. It was soon after the arrival of these prereptilian frogs that North America was temporarily isolated, cut off from Europe, Asia, and South America.
59:6.8 (683.5) 在陸生動物中，蛙類在上個時代達到鼎盛後迅速衰落，但它們活了下來，因為即使在那些遙遠而極其艱難時期的幹涸池塘和水潭中，它們也能長期生存。在這個蛙類衰退的時代，它們向爬行動物進化的第一步發生在非洲。由於大陸板塊仍連在一起，這種前爬行動物——一種空氣呼吸生物——便分布到整個世界。此時大氣已發生了很大變化，足以極好地支持動物的呼吸。就在這些前爬行動物青蛙抵達後不久，北美洲便與歐洲、亞洲和南美洲斷開，處於暫時的孤立狀態。
59:6.9 (683.6) The gradual cooling of the ocean waters contributed much to the destruction of oceanic life. The marine animals of those ages took temporary refuge in three favorable retreats: the present Gulf of Mexico region, the Ganges Bay of India, and the Sicilian Bay of the Mediterranean basin. And it was from these three regions that the new marine species, born to adversity, later went forth to replenish the seas.
59:6.9 (683.6) 海水的逐漸冷卻對海洋生命的毀滅起到了很大作用。那些年代的海洋動物暫時在三個適宜的避難所尋求庇護：現今的墨西哥灣地區、印度的恒河灣以及地中海盆地的西西裏灣。正是從這三個地區出發，這些在逆境中誕生的新海洋物種，後來走出去，重新填滿了海洋。
59:6.10 (683.7) 160,000,000 years ago the land was largely covered with vegetation adapted to support land-animal life, and the atmosphere had become ideal for animal respiration. Thus ends the period of marine-life curtailment and those testing times of biologic adversity which eliminated all forms of life except such as had survival value, and which were therefore entitled to function as the ancestors of the more rapidly developing and highly differentiated life of the ensuing ages of planetary evolution.
59:6.10 (683.7) 160,000,000年前，陸地大部分覆蓋著適合支持陸地動物生命的植被，大氣也變得非常適合動物呼吸。海洋生命縮減的時期就此結束，那些充滿生物逆境的考驗歲月也已過去，這段時期淘汰了除具有生存價值以外的所有生命形態，而這些幸存者因此有資格作為後續行星進化時代中，那些發展更迅速、分化程度更高的生命的祖先。
59:6.11 (684.1) The ending of this period of biologic tribulation, known to your students as the Permian, also marks the end of the long Paleozoic era, which covers one quarter of the planetary history, two hundred and fifty million years.
59:6.11 (684.1) 這個被你們的學者稱為二疊紀的生物患難時期的結束，也標志著漫長的古生代的結束，古生代涵蓋了地球歷史的四分之一，即兩億五千萬年。
59:6.12 (684.2) The vast oceanic nursery of life on Urantia has served its purpose. During the long ages when the land was unsuited to support life, before the atmosphere contained sufficient oxygen to sustain the higher land animals, the sea mothered and nurtured the early life of the realm. Now the biologic importance of the sea progressively diminishes as the second stage of evolution begins to unfold on the land.
59:6.12 (684.2) 玉苒廈生命的巨大海洋育嬰室已完成其使命。在漫長的歲月裏，當陸地尚不適宜維持生命，當大氣層中尚未蘊含足夠的氧氣來維持高等陸生動物的生存時，海洋孕育並滋養了地球的早期生命。如今，隨著進化的第二階段在陸地上展開，海洋的生物學重要性正逐漸減弱。
59:6.13 (684.3) [Presented by a Life Carrier of Nebadon, one of the original corps assigned to Urantia.]
59:6.13 (684.3) [由一位內巴頓的生命載運者呈獻，他是被派到玉苒廈的最初團隊的成員之一。]