第60篇		Paper 60
玉苒厦(Urantia)的早期陆地生命时代		Urantia During the Early Land-Life Era
60:0.1 (685.1) 独有的海洋生命时代已经结束了。陆地的抬升，逐渐冷却的地壳以及逐渐冷却的大洋，海洋的受限以及随之发生的变深，加之北纬地区陆地的极大增加，这一切共同作用到一起，大大改变了远离赤道带的所有地区的世界气候。		60:0.1 (685.1) THE era of exclusive marine life has ended. Land elevation, cooling crust and cooling oceans, sea restriction and consequent deepening, together with a great increase of land in northern latitudes, all conspired greatly to change the world’s climate in all regions far removed from the equatorial zone.
60:0.2 (685.2) 先前时代的结尾时期的确是蛙类的时代，但这些陆地脊椎动物的始祖不再占主导地位了，而只以大为减少的数量幸存下来。历经先前生物灾难时期的严峻考验之后，只有极少物种活了下来。甚至连孢子植物也近乎灭绝了。		60:0.2 (685.2) The closing epochs of the preceding era were indeed the age of frogs, but these ancestors of the land vertebrates were no longer dominant, having survived in greatly reduced numbers. Very few types outlived the rigorous trials of the preceding period of biologic tribulation. Even the spore-bearing plants were nearly extinct.
1. 早期爬行动物时代 ^top		1. The Early Reptilian Age ^top
60:1.1 (685.3) 这一时期的侵蚀类沉积物，主要是砾岩、页岩和砂岩。在美洲和欧洲各处，这些沉积物中遍布石膏层和红色岩层，表明那时这些大陆的气候是干燥的。这些干燥地区，受到周围高地猛烈的周期性大暴雨的严重侵蚀。		60:1.1 (685.3) The erosion deposits of this period were mostly conglomerates, shale, and sandstone. The gypsum and red layers throughout these sedimentations over both America and Europe indicate that the climate of these continents was arid. These arid districts were subjected to great erosion from the violent and periodic cloudbursts on the surrounding highlands.
60:1.2 (685.4) 在这些岩层中几乎找不到化石，但却可以看到许多陆地爬行动物的砂岩足迹。在许多地区，这一时期三百多米厚的红砂岩沉积物里竟没有一块化石。只有在非洲某些地区，陆地动物生命是绵延不断的。		60:1.2 (685.4) Few fossils are to be found in these layers, but numerous sandstone footprints of the land reptiles may be observed. In many regions the one thousand feet of red sandstone deposit of this period contains no fossils. The life of land animals was continuous only in certain parts of Africa.
60:1.3 (685.5) 这些沉积物岩层的厚度从3,000 到 10,000英尺（1,000到3,000多米）不等，在太平洋海岸，甚至厚达18,000英尺（5,500多米）。后来，熔岩挤进了许多这样的岩层中间。哈德逊河边的岩壁，就是由这些三迭纪地层间的玄武岩熔浆喷发物形成的。火山活动在世界各地都很广泛。		60:1.3 (685.5) These deposits vary in thickness from 3,000 to 10,000 feet, even being 18,000 on the Pacific coast. Lava was later forced in between many of these layers. The Palisades of the Hudson River were formed by the extrusion of basalt lava between these Triassic strata. Volcanic action was extensive in different parts of the world.
60:1.4 (685.6) 整个欧洲，尤其是在德国和俄罗斯，都可以找到这一时期的沉积物。在英格兰，新红砂岩就属于这一时期。在阿尔卑斯山南部，海洋的入侵导致了石灰岩的沉积，现在在那些地区可以看到奇特的白云质石灰岩壁、山峰和柱林。这种岩层在非洲和澳洲随处可见。卡拉拉大理石就出自于这样的改型石灰石。在南美洲的南部地区未发现这一时期的任何遗存，因为那一部分的陆地当时保持在水面以下，因而只留下了与先前和之后时期相衔接的海水沉积物。		60:1.4 (685.6) Over Europe, especially Germany and Russia, may be found deposits of this period. In England the New Red Sandstone belongs to this epoch. Limestone was laid down in the southern Alps as the result of a sea invasion and may now be seen as the peculiar dolomite limestone walls, peaks, and pillars of those regions. This layer is to be found all over Africa and Australia. The Carrara marble comes from such modified limestone. Nothing of this period will be found in the southern regions of South America as that part of the continent remained down and hence presents only a water or marine deposit continuous with the preceding and succeeding epochs.
60:1.5 (686.1) 150,000,000（一亿五千万）年前，地球历史中的早期陆地生命时代开始了。总的来说，生命发展也并不顺利，但比起艰难险恶的海洋生命时代末期来说却好多了。		60:1.5 (686.1) 150,000,000 years ago the early land-life periods of the world’s history began. Life, in general, did not fare well but did better than at the strenuous and hostile close of the marine-life era.
60:1.6 (686.2) 当这一时代开启时，北美洲的东部和中部、南美洲的北半部、欧洲大部以及整个亚洲，都完全露出了水面。北美洲首次在地理上被隔离开来，但不久白令海峡陆桥又一次出现了，将该大陆与亚洲连接了起来。		60:1.6 (686.2) As this era opens, the eastern and central parts of North America, the northern half of South America, most of Europe, and all of Asia are well above water. North America for the first time is geographically isolated, but not for long as the Bering Strait land bridge soon again emerges, connecting the continent with Asia.
60:1.7 (686.3) 与大西洋和太平洋海岸相平行的诸多大峡谷在北美洲逐渐形成。东康涅狄格大断层出现了，其中一侧最终下沉了三千多米。这些北美洲的峡谷中有很多，还有山区淡水湖、咸水湖所形成的洼地，后来都被侵蚀类沉积物所充填了。再后来，这些充填的洼地被发生于地下的熔岩流大幅抬升了。许多地区的石化林就属于这一时期。		60:1.7 (686.3) Great troughs developed in North America, paralleling the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The great eastern-Connecticut fault appeared, one side eventually sinking two miles. Many of these North American troughs were later filled with erosion deposits, as also were many of the basins of the fresh- and salt-water lakes of the mountain regions. Later on, these filled land depressions were greatly elevated by lava flows which occurred underground. The petrified forests of many regions belong to this epoch.
60:1.8 (686.4) 在历次大陆沉没期间通常高于海面的太平洋海岸这时也都沉没了，除了加利福尼亚南部及当时存在于现今太平洋中的一个大岛以外。这片远古的加利福尼亚海富含海洋生物，并向东延伸而与中西部地区的古老海盆相连接。		60:1.8 (686.4) The Pacific coast, usually above water during the continental submergences, went down excepting the southern part of California and a large island which then existed in what is now the Pacific Ocean. This ancient California sea was rich in marine life and extended eastward to connect with the old sea basin of the midwestern region.
60:1.9 (686.5) 140,000,000（一亿四千万）年前，仅凭着先前时期在非洲发展的两种准爬行动物类祖先的些微迹象，爬行动物便以成熟的形态突然出现了。它们发展迅速，很快出现了鳄鱼和有鳞的爬行动物，并最终出现了巨大的海蛇和会飞的爬行动物。它们的过渡类祖先则很快地消失了。		60:1.9 (686.5) 140,000,000 years ago, suddenly and with only the hint of the two prereptilian ancestors that developed in Africa during the preceding epoch, the reptiles appeared in full-fledged form. They developed rapidly, soon yielding crocodiles, scaled reptiles, and eventually both sea serpents and flying reptiles. Their transition ancestors speedily disappeared.
60:1.10 (686.6) 这些迅速进化的爬行类恐龙，很快便成为了这一时代的主宰。它们是卵生动物，并因其小脑而与所有动物区别开来，它们要用不足一磅（四百五十克）重的脑子去控制后来重达四十吨的躯体。然而更早期的爬行动物则会小些，食肉，并像袋鼠一样用后足行走。它们具有像鸟类的中空骨骼，并随后发展为后足只有三趾，它们的许多化石足迹被误认为是巨大鸟类的化石足迹。后来，食草类恐龙演化出来了。它们用四肢行走，这类中的一支发展出了一种防护性甲壳。		60:1.10 (686.6) These rapidly evolving reptilian dinosaurs soon became the monarchs of this age. They were egg layers and are distinguished from all animals by their small brains, having brains weighing less than one pound to control bodies later weighing as much as forty tons. But earlier reptiles were smaller, carnivorous, and walked kangaroolike on their hind legs. They had hollow avian bones and subsequently developed only three toes on their hind feet, and many of their fossil footprints have been mistaken for those of giant birds. Later on, the herbivorous dinosaurs evolved. They walked on all fours, and one branch of this group developed a protective armor.
60:1.11 (686.7) 几百万年后，最早的哺乳动物出现了。它们没有胎盘，并被证实为一次即时的失败；它们无一幸存下来。这是一次改进哺乳动物类型的实验性努力，但在玉苒厦(Urantia)上并没成功。		60:1.11 (686.7) Several million years later the first mammals appeared. They were nonplacental and proved a speedy failure; none survived. This was an experimental effort to improve mammalian types, but it did not succeed on Urantia.
60:1.12 (686.8) 这一时代的海洋生命本已凋敝，但随着新的海洋入侵又迅速得以改善，这一入侵再次形成了广阔的浅水海岸线。由于欧洲和亚洲周围有更多浅水水域，这些大陆周围发现的化石层也就最丰富。今天，如果你们要研究这一时代的生命，那就去考察喜马拉雅山脉、西伯利亚、地中海地区以及印度和南太平洋海盆诸岛。海洋生命一个突出特征，便是成堆美丽菊石的存在，在世界各处都会找到它们的化石遗留。		60:1.12 (686.8) The marine life of this period was meager but improved rapidly with the new invasion of the sea, which again produced extensive coast lines of shallow waters. Since there was more shallow water around Europe and Asia, the richest fossil beds are to be found about these continents. Today, if you would study the life of this age, examine the Himalayan, Siberian, and Mediterranean regions, as well as India and the islands of the southern Pacific basin. A prominent feature of the marine life was the presence of hosts of the beautiful ammonites, whose fossil remains are found all over the world.
60:1.13 (686.9) 130,000,000（一亿三千万）年前，各个海洋鲜有变化。西伯利亚和北美洲由白令海峡陆桥相连接起来。一类艳丽而独特的海洋生命在加利福尼亚的太平洋海岸出现了，在那儿，一千多种菊石从较高等类型的头足类动物发展而来。这一时期的生命变化尽管是过渡性和渐进性的，但的确又是革命性的。		60:1.13 (686.9) 130,000,000 years ago the seas had changed very little. Siberia and North America were connected by the Bering Strait land bridge. A rich and unique marine life appeared on the Californian Pacific coast, where over one thousand species of ammonites developed from the higher types of cephalopods. The life changes of this period were indeed revolutionary notwithstanding that they were transitional and gradual.
60:1.14 (687.1) 这一时期延续了两千五百多万年，并被称为三叠纪。		60:1.14 (687.1) This period extended over twenty-five million years and is known as the Triassic.
2. 后期爬行动物时代 ^top		2. The Later Reptilian Age ^top
60:2.1 (687.2) 120,000,000（一亿两千万）年前，爬行动物时代的一个新的阶段开始了。这一时期的大事是恐龙的演化和衰退。陆地动物生命就大小而言，达到了其最大的发展，而到这一时代结尾时，它们又差不多从地表灭绝了。恐龙演化成各种大小，从一类不到六十厘米长的恐龙，到长达二十三米的庞大非肉食类恐龙，后者在体型上是任何生物都无可匹敌的。		60:2.1 (687.2) 120,000,000 years ago a new phase of the reptilian age began. The great event of this period was the evolution and decline of the dinosaurs. Land-animal life reached its greatest development, in point of size, and had virtually perished from the face of the earth by the end of this age. The dinosaurs evolved in all sizes from a species less than two feet long up to the huge noncarnivorous dinosaurs, seventy-five feet long, that have never since been equaled in bulk by any living creature.
60:2.2 (687.3) 最大的恐龙起源于北美洲西部。这些巨大的爬行动物葬身于整个落基山脉地区，沿着北美的整个大西洋海岸，及于西欧、南非和印度，只除开澳大利亚。		60:2.2 (687.3) The largest of the dinosaurs originated in western North America. These monstrous reptiles are buried throughout the Rocky Mountain regions, along the whole of the Atlantic coast of North America, over western Europe, South Africa, and India, but not in Australia.
60:2.3 (687.4) 随着这些巨型生物越长越大，它们变得不那么活跃和强壮了；但它们需要如此巨大的食量，而陆地又如此被其所充斥，以致毫不夸张地说，它们是饥饿至死而最终灭绝的 -- 它们缺乏应付这种情况的智能。		60:2.3 (687.4) These massive creatures became less active and strong as they grew larger and larger; but they required such an enormous amount of food and the land was so overrun by them that they literally starved to death and became extinct—they lacked the intelligence to cope with the situation.
60:2.4 (687.5) 到这一时期，已抬升了很长时间的北美洲东部的大部地区，又降低而没入了大西洋，以至于此处海岸线比如今又往外进一步延伸了几百英里。这个大陆的西部仍位于海面以上，但即便是这些地区，在后来也受到北部海洋和太平洋的入侵，后者向东延伸至达科他州的黑山地区。		60:2.4 (687.5) By this time most of the eastern part of North America, which had long been elevated, had been leveled down and washed into the Atlantic Ocean so that the coast extended several hundred miles farther out than now. The western part of the continent was still up, but even these regions were later invaded by both the northern sea and the Pacific, which extended eastward to the Dakota Black Hills region.
60:2.5 (687.6) 这是一个以众多的内陆湖为特征的淡水时代，就像科罗拉多州、蒙大拿州、怀俄明州的所谓莫里森地床丰富的淡水化石所表明的那样。这些兼具咸水和淡水沉积层的厚度，从2,000到 5,000英尺（600到1,500米）不等；但这些地层中极少存有石灰石。		60:2.5 (687.6) This was a fresh-water age characterized by many inland lakes, as is shown by the abundant fresh-water fossils of the so-called Morrison beds of Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming. The thickness of these combined salt- and fresh-water deposits varies from 2,000 to 5,000 feet; but very little limestone is present in these layers.
60:2.6 (687.7) 往下远远延伸过北美洲的极地海洋，同样也覆盖了整个南美洲，只除开不久以后出现的安第斯山脉。中国和俄罗斯的大部也被淹没了，但海水侵袭在欧洲最为严重。德国南部美丽的印版化石就是在此沉没期间沉积而成的，在那些地层中，像古代昆虫最为纤细的翅膀这类化石都被保存得宛如是昨日一般。		60:2.6 (687.7) The same polar sea that extended so far down over North America likewise covered all of South America except the soon appearing Andes Mountains. Most of China and Russia was inundated, but the water invasion was greatest in Europe. It was during this submergence that the beautiful lithographic stone of southern Germany was laid down, those strata in which fossils, such as the most delicate wings of olden insects, are preserved as of but yesterday.
60:2.7 (687.8) 这一时代的植物群与先前时代的极为相似。蕨类植物存留了下来，而针叶树和松树则变得越来越接近今日的种类。一些煤层正在沿着地中海北岸逐渐形成着。		60:2.7 (687.8) The flora of this age was much like that of the preceding. Ferns persisted, while conifers and pines became more and more like the present-day varieties. Some coal was still being formed along the northern Mediterranean shores.
60:2.8 (687.9) 海洋的回归改善了天气。珊瑚蔓延到了欧洲水域，证明气候仍然温和匀调，但它们却再也没有在逐渐变冷的极地海洋中出现过。这些时期的海洋生命有了极大的改进和发展，尤其是在欧洲水域。珊瑚和海百合一时以前所未有的巨大数量出现了，但菊石仍主导着海洋中的无脊椎动物，它们的平均尺度是七至十厘米，虽然其中一种达到了两米半的直径。海绵到处都是，墨鱼和牡蛎都在继续演化着。		60:2.8 (687.9) The return of the seas improved the weather. Corals spread to European waters, testifying that the climate was still mild and even, but they never again appeared in the slowly cooling polar seas. The marine life of these times improved and developed greatly, especially in European waters. Both corals and crinoids temporarily appeared in larger numbers than heretofore, but the ammonites dominated the invertebrate life of the oceans, their average size ranging from three to four inches, though one species attained a diameter of eight feet. Sponges were everywhere, and both cuttlefish and oysters continued to evolve.
60:2.9 (688.1) 110,000,000（一亿一千万）年前，海洋生命的潜势继续有所显露。海胆是这一时期突出的变种之一。蟹类、龙虾和现代甲壳类动物发展到了成熟阶段。鱼类家族中发生了显著变化，鲟鱼类首次出现了，但源于陆地爬行动物的凶猛海蛇，仍然扰乱着所有的海域，它们威胁着整个鱼类家族的生存。		60:2.9 (688.1) 110,000,000 years ago the potentials of marine life were continuing to unfold. The sea urchin was one of the outstanding mutations of this epoch. Crabs, lobsters, and the modern types of crustaceans matured. Marked changes occurred in the fish family, a sturgeon type first appearing, but the ferocious sea serpents, descended from the land reptiles, still infested all the seas, and they threatened the destruction of the entire fish family.
60:2.10 (688.2) 很显然，这仍是恐龙的时代，它们在陆地上是如此泛滥，以致其中两种在先前的海洋入侵时期转入水中觅食。这些海蛇代表着演化中的一个退步。在一些新物种前进的同时，某些物种停滞不前，还有一些则移向倒退，回到从前的形态。这便是在这两种爬行动物背弃陆地时所发生的事情。		60:2.10 (688.2) This continued to be, pre-eminently, the age of the dinosaurs. They so overran the land that two species had taken to the water for sustenance during the preceding period of sea encroachment. These sea serpents represent a backward step in evolution. While some new species are progressing, certain strains remain stationary and others gravitate backward, reverting to a former state. And this is what happened when these two types of reptiles forsook the land.
60:2.11 (688.3) 随着时间流逝，海蛇由于长到如此庞大，以致变得非常笨拙，而最终归于灭绝，因为它们没有足够大的大脑为它们庞大身躯提供防护。尽管这些巨大的鱼龙常常长到十五米长，大部分个体超过十米长，但它们的大脑却不到六十克重。海洋鳄鱼也是陆地类爬行动物的一种倒退，但跟海蛇不同的是，这些动物总是回到岸上产卵。		60:2.11 (688.3) As time passed, the sea serpents grew to such size that they became very sluggish and eventually perished because they did not have brains large enough to afford protection for their immense bodies. Their brains weighed less than two ounces notwithstanding the fact that these huge ichthyosaurs sometimes grew to be fifty feet long, the majority being over thirty-five feet in length. The marine crocodilians were also a reversion from the land type of reptile, but unlike the sea serpents, these animals always returned to the land to lay their eggs.
60:2.12 (688.4) 在两种恐龙为求自保而徒劳无功地移居水中后不久，有另外两种被激烈的陆地生存竞争驱赶到了空中。但这些飞行类翼手龙并不是随后各时代真正鸟类的始祖。它们从骨骼中空的跳跃类恐龙演化而来，其双翼具有蝙蝠似的构造，展开后长六到七米。这些古老的飞行类爬行动物能长到三米多长，它们具有与现代蛇类十分相似的可开合的颌部。这些飞行类爬行动物一度看似是一种成功，但它们却未能沿着可以使其作为空中飞行者而生存下来的路线而演化下去。它们代表了鸟类祖先未能存活下来的血缘。		60:2.12 (688.4) Soon after two species of dinosaurs migrated to the water in a futile attempt at self-preservation, two other types were driven to the air by the bitter competition of life on land. But these flying pterosaurs were not the ancestors of the true birds of subsequent ages. They evolved from the hollow-boned leaping dinosaurs, and their wings were of batlike formation with a spread of twenty to twenty-five feet. These ancient flying reptiles grew to be ten feet long, and they had separable jaws much like those of modern snakes. For a time these flying reptiles appeared to be a success, but they failed to evolve along lines which would enable them to survive as air navigators. They represent the nonsurviving strains of bird ancestry.
60:2.13 (688.5) 最早出现在北美洲的海龟在这一时期增多了。其祖先通过北部的陆桥自亚洲前来。		60:2.13 (688.5) Turtles increased during this period, first appearing in North America. Their ancestors came over from Asia by way of the northern land bridge.
60:2.14 (688.6) 一亿年前，爬行动物时代渐近结束了。恐龙，因其巨大体型而几乎是无脑的动物，缺乏智能来提供充足食物以滋养如此巨大的躯体。这些行动迟缓的陆地爬行动物，就这样以不断增加的数量而灭绝了。自此以后，演化不再遵循体块的增长，而是遵循大脑的增长，大脑的发展将会成为每个相继动物演化时代和星球进步时代的表征。		60:2.14 (688.6) One hundred million years ago the reptilian age was drawing to a close. The dinosaurs, for all their enormous mass, were all but brainless animals, lacking the intelligence to provide sufficient food to nourish such enormous bodies. And so did these sluggish land reptiles perish in ever-increasing numbers. Henceforth, evolution will follow the growth of brains, not physical bulk, and the development of brains will characterize each succeeding epoch of animal evolution and planetary progress.
60:2.15 (688.7) 这一包含了爬行动物巅峰期和开始衰落期的时代，延续了将近二千五百万年，并被称为侏罗纪。		60:2.15 (688.7) This period, embracing the height and the beginning decline of the reptiles, extended nearly twenty-five million years and is known as the Jurassic.
3. 白垩纪 开花植物时代 鸟类时代 ^top		3. The Cretaceous Stage The Flowering-Plant Period The Age of Birds ^top
60:3.1 (688.8) 伟大的白垩纪时代，其名字得自于海洋中盛产白垩的有孔虫的突出地位。这一时代将玉苒厦(Urantia)带到了爬行动物长期主宰地位的终了，并见证到了陆地上开花植物和鸟类生命的出现。这些时期也是大陆西向和南向漂移终结的时期，并伴随着巨大的地壳变形以及随之而来的广泛熔岩流动和剧烈火山活动。		60:3.1 (688.8) The great Cretaceous period derives its name from the predominance of the prolific chalk-making foraminifers in the seas. This period brings Urantia to near the end of the long reptilian dominance and witnesses the appearance of flowering plants and bird life on land. These are also the times of the termination of the westward and southward drift of the continents, accompanied by tremendous crustal deformations and concomitant widespread lava flows and great volcanic activities.
60:3.2 (689.1) 在先前地质时期接近尾声时，虽然还没有出现山峰，但多数大陆板块已在水面之上了。但随着大陆板块继续漂移，它在深邃的太平洋底遇到了第一个巨大的障碍。这次地质力的较量促成了整个广大南北走向山脈的形成，它从阿拉斯加往下穿过墨西哥而一直延伸到合恩角。		60:3.2 (689.1) Near the close of the preceding geologic period much of the continental land was up above water, although as yet there were no mountain peaks. But as the continental land drift continued, it met with the first great obstruction on the deep floor of the Pacific. This contention of geologic forces gave impetus to the formation of the whole vast north and south mountain range extending from Alaska down through Mexico to Cape Horn.
60:3.3 (689.2) 这一时期由此成为了地质史上的现代造山运动阶段。在此之前少有山峰存在，只有大宽度的抬升陆脊存在。此时太平洋海岸一带正开始抬升，但它位于现今海岸线一千一百公里以西。诸多山脊开始形成，它们含金的石英地层是这个时期熔岩流的产物。在北美洲东部，大西洋的压力对陆地抬升也在起着作用。		60:3.3 (689.2) This period thus becomes the modern mountain-building stage of geologic history. Prior to this time there were few mountain peaks, merely elevated land ridges of great width. Now the Pacific coast range was beginning to elevate, but it was located seven hundred miles west of the present shore line. The Sierras were beginning to form, their gold-bearing quartz strata being the product of lava flows of this epoch. In the eastern part of North America, Atlantic sea pressure was also working to cause land elevation.
60:3.4 (689.3) 100,000,000（一亿）年前，北美大陆和欧洲的一部分均位于海面之上。美洲大陆的翘曲继续着，导致了南美洲安第斯山脉的变形，以及北美洲西部平原的逐渐抬升。墨西哥大部分沉到了海面以下，南大西洋侵入到了南美洲东海岸，最终接近现今的海岸线。那时的大西洋和印度洋，已与今日的情形大抵相当。		60:3.4 (689.3) 100,000,000 years ago the North American continent and a part of Europe were well above water. The warping of the American continents continued, resulting in the metamorphosing of the South American Andes and in the gradual elevation of the western plains of North America. Most of Mexico sank beneath the sea, and the southern Atlantic encroached on the eastern coast of South America, eventually reaching the present shore line. The Atlantic and Indian Oceans were then about as they are today.
60:3.5 (689.4) 95,000,000（九千五百万）年前，美洲和欧洲陆地板块又一次开始沉没。南面的海洋开始侵入北美洲，并逐渐向北扩展而与北冰洋相连，造就了第二次陆地大沉没。当这片海洋最后消退时，它留下了大抵如今这样的大陆。在这次大沉没开始之前，东面的阿巴拉契亚高地，已经几乎完全没入水面之下。现在用于陶器制作的许多纯黏土的有色地层，就是该时期在大西洋海岸地区沉积下来的，它们的平均厚度大约是2,000英尺（600多米）。		60:3.5 (689.4) 95,000,000 years ago the American and European land masses again began to sink. The southern seas commenced the invasion of North America and gradually extended northward to connect with the Arctic Ocean, constituting the second greatest submergence of the continent. When this sea finally withdrew, it left the continent about as it now is. Before this great submergence began, the eastern Appalachian highlands had been almost completely worn down to the water’s level. The many colored layers of pure clay now used for the manufacture of earthenware were laid down over the Atlantic coast regions during this age, their average thickness being about 2,000 feet.
60:3.6 (689.5) 在阿尔卑斯山脉南部，以及现今加利福尼亚沿岸山地一带，发生了剧烈的火山活动。在墨西哥发生了千百万年中最为剧烈的地壳变形。在欧洲、俄罗斯、日本和南美洲南部，也发生了巨变。气候变得日益多样化。		60:3.6 (689.5) Great volcanic actions occurred south of the Alps and along the line of the present California coast-range mountains. The greatest crustal deformations in millions upon millions of years took place in Mexico. Great changes also occurred in Europe, Russia, Japan, and southern South America. The climate became increasingly diversified.
60:3.7 (689.6) 90,000,000（九千万）年前，被子植物从这些早期的白垩纪海洋中出现了，并迅速蔓延到各个大陆。这些陆生植物与无花果树、木兰科植物、郁金香属植物突然一起出现。这一时期后不久，无花果树、面包果树和棕榈树就遍及了欧洲和北美洲西部平原。其间未出现新的陆地动物。		60:3.7 (689.6) 90,000,000 years ago the angiosperms emerged from these early Cretaceous seas and soon overran the continents. These land plants suddenly appeared along with fig trees, magnolias, and tulip trees. Soon after this time fig trees, breadfruit trees, and palms overspread Europe and the western plains of North America. No new land animals appeared.
60:3.8 (689.7) 85,000,000（八千五百万）年前，白令海峡闭合了，隔断了北面海洋来的冷水流。在那以前，由于大西洋海湾水域和太平洋水域的水温变化，它们的海洋生命都大为不同了，此时这两个水域的水温变得一致了。		60:3.8 (689.7) 85,000,000 years ago the Bering Strait closed, shutting off the cooling waters of the northern seas. Theretofore the marine life of the Atlantic-Gulf waters and that of the Pacific Ocean had differed greatly, owing to the temperature variations of these two bodies of water, which now became uniform.
60:3.9 (689.8) 这一时代之得名，是出于白垩和绿砂泥的沉积。这些时期的沉积物又是多样化的，包含了白垩、页岩、砂岩和少量石灰石，以及劣质煤或是说褐煤，在许多地区，它们还含有石油。这些地层的厚度，从有些地方的六十米，到北美西部和欧洲多地的三千米不等。沿着落基山脉东部边沿，也可以在高起的山麓小丘中看到这些沉积物。		60:3.9 (689.8) The deposits of chalk and greensand marl give name to this period. The sedimentations of these times are variegated, consisting of chalk, shale, sandstone, and small amounts of limestone, together with inferior coal or lignite, and in many regions they contain oil. These layers vary in thickness from 200 feet in some places to 10,000 feet in western North America and numerous European localities. Along the eastern borders of the Rocky Mountains these deposits may be observed in the uptilted foothills.
60:3.10 (690.1) 全世界的这些地层都充满了白垩，这些多孔的半岩石地层，从上边土壤中汲取水分，再把它向下传输，为地球上现今许多干旱地区供水。		60:3.10 (690.1) All over the world these strata are permeated with chalk, and these layers of porous semirock pick up water at upturned outcrops and convey it downward to furnish the water supply of much of the earth’s present arid regions.
60:3.11 (690.2) 80,000,000（八千万）年前，地壳发生了巨大的变动。西进的大陆漂移逐渐停了下来，而更后面大陆板块的缓慢冲力所产生的巨大能量，挤皱了南北美洲的太平洋海岸，也在亚洲的太平洋沿岸引发了深远的反响变化。这段形成了当今山脉系列的环太平洋陆地隆起，有四万多公里长。伴随其诞生而产生的剧变，是玉苒厦(Urantia)生命出现以来所发生的最为剧烈的地表变形。地面以上和地面以下的熔岩流，都十分广泛而又普遍。		60:3.11 (690.2) 80,000,000 years ago great disturbances occurred in the earth’s crust. The western advance of the continental drift was coming to a standstill, and the enormous energy of the sluggish momentum of the hinter continental mass upcrumpled the Pacific shore line of both North and South America and initiated profound repercussional changes along the Pacific shores of Asia. This circumpacific land elevation, which culminated in present-day mountain ranges, is more than twenty-five thousand miles long. And the upheavals attendant upon its birth were the greatest surface distortions to take place since life appeared on Urantia. The lava flows, both above and below ground, were extensive and widespread.
60:3.12 (690.3) 75,000,000（七千五百万）年前，标志着大陆漂移的结束。从阿拉斯加到合恩角，绵延不绝的太平洋海岸山脉形成了，但却很少有几座高峰。		60:3.12 (690.3) 75,000,000 years ago marks the end of the continental drift. From Alaska to Cape Horn the long Pacific coast mountain ranges were completed, but there were as yet few peaks.
60:3.13 (690.4) 停止的大陆漂移所产生的反冲力，使得北美洲的西部平原继续抬升。而在东边，大西洋海岸地区沉在水下的阿巴拉契亚山脉这时却几乎未带一点倾斜地从水下笔直挺立而起。		60:3.13 (690.4) The backthrust of the halted continental drift continued the elevation of the western plains of North America, while in the east the worn-down Appalachian Mountains of the Atlantic coast region were projected straight up, with little or no tilting.
60:3.14 (690.5) 70,000,000（七千万）年前，发生了与落基山地区最大抬升相关联的地壳变形。在不列颠哥伦比亚，一大段岩层被上冲二十四公里而达至地表；在这里，寒武纪的岩石被倾斜地推到了白垩纪地层之上。在落基山脉东坡，加拿大边界附近，还有另一个壮观的上冲层；在这里可以发现前生命时代的岩层被推挤到了其后形成的白垩纪沉积物之上。		60:3.14 (690.5) 70,000,000 years ago the crustal distortions connected with the maximum elevation of the Rocky Mountain region took place. A large segment of rock was overthrust fifteen miles at the surface in British Columbia; here the Cambrian rocks are obliquely thrust out over the Cretaceous layers. On the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, near the Canadian border, there was another spectacular overthrust; here may be found the prelife stone layers shoved out over the then recent Cretaceous deposits.
60:3.15 (690.6) 这是一个火山活动遍及世界的时代，导致了众多小而孤立的火山锥。海底火山在水下的喜马拉雅山地区爆发了。亚洲的其它许多地方，包括西伯利亚，也都还在水面之下。		60:3.15 (690.6) This was an age of volcanic activity all over the world, giving rise to numerous small isolated volcanic cones. Submarine volcanoes broke out in the submerged Himalayan region. Much of the rest of Asia, including Siberia, was also still under water.
60:3.16 (690.7) 65,000,000（六千五百万）年前，发生了所有时期以来最大的一次熔岩流。这些熔岩流及先前熔岩流形成的沉积层，在整个美洲、南非和北非、澳大利亚，以及欧洲部分地区都可得以发现。		60:3.16 (690.7) 65,000,000 years ago there occurred one of the greatest lava flows of all time. The deposition layers of these and preceding lava flows are to be found all over the Americas, North and South Africa, Australia, and parts of Europe.
60:3.17 (690.8) 陆地动物变化不大，但由于较大规模的陆地浮现，特别是在北美，它们便迅速繁殖起来。北美是这些时期陆地动物进化的主要场地，而欧洲的大部却还在水下。		60:3.17 (690.8) The land animals were little changed, but because of greater continental emergence, especially in North America, they rapidly multiplied. North America was the great field of the land-animal evolution of these times, most of Europe being under water.
60:3.18 (690.9) 气候仍是温暖而匀调。那时北极地区的气候，极像现今北美中部和南部的气候。		60:3.18 (690.9) The climate was still warm and uniform. The arctic regions were enjoying weather much like that of the present climate in central and southern North America.
60:3.19 (690.10) 伟大的植物生命进化正在发生着，在诸多陆地植物中间，被子植物占据着主导地位，许多现今的树种也首次出现了，包括山毛榉、桦树、橡树、胡桃树、梧桐树、枫树及现代棕榈树。各种果类、草类和谷类十分丰富，这些带种的草类和树类之于植物界，恰如人类祖先之于动物界一样 -- 它们在进化的重要性方面仅次于人类本身的出现。突然间，在毫无先前渐变的情况下，开花植物的大家族突变了。这一新的植物群很快遍布了整个世界。		60:3.19 (690.10) Great plant-life evolution was taking place. Among the land plants the angiosperms predominated, and many present-day trees first appeared, including beech, birch, oak, walnut, sycamore, maple, and modern palms. Fruits, grasses, and cereals were abundant, and these seed-bearing grasses and trees were to the plant world what the ancestors of man were to the animal world—they were second in evolutionary importance only to the appearance of man himself. Suddenly and without previous gradation, the great family of flowering plants mutated. And this new flora soon overspread the entire world.
60:3.20 (691.1) 60,000,000（六千万）年前，尽管陆地爬行动物已经走向衰落，但恐龙依然是陆地之王，此时占据着首要位置的，是食肉恐龙中较小型跳跃类袋鼠变种里更为灵活敏捷的类型。但在此之前，曾出现过几种新的食草性恐龙，其数量由于陆地植物的草类家族的出现而激增。其中一种新的食草恐龙是一种真正的四足动物，有两只角和一个角状的肩凸。一种体长六米的陆地龟类出现了，现代鳄鱼和真正的现代蛇类也出现了。鱼类以及其它形式的海洋生命中间也发生了巨大的变化。		60:3.20 (691.1) 60,000,000 years ago, though the land reptiles were on the decline, the dinosaurs continued as monarchs of the land, the lead now being taken by the more agile and active types of the smaller leaping kangaroo varieties of the carnivorous dinosaurs. But sometime previously there had appeared new types of the herbivorous dinosaurs, whose rapid increase was due to the appearance of the grass family of land plants. One of these new grass-eating dinosaurs was a true quadruped having two horns and a capelike shoulder flange. The land type of turtle, twenty feet across, appeared as did also the modern crocodile and true snakes of the modern type. Great changes were also occurring among the fishes and other forms of marine life.
60:3.21 (691.2) 会涉水、会游泳的早期准鸟类，以及会飞的恐龙，都未能成功在空中生活。它们是短命的物种，很快就灭绝了。它们遭受了与恐龙同样的命运，由于拥有相对于体形而言太小的脑容量而灭绝了。这一试图造出能够翱翔天宇类动物的第二次尝试失败了，就像在这个时期和前一时期试图造出哺乳动物的尝试也失败了一样。		60:3.21 (691.2) The wading and swimming prebirds of earlier ages had not been a success in the air, nor had the flying dinosaurs. They were a short-lived species, soon becoming extinct. They, too, were subject to the dinosaur doom, destruction, because of having too little brain substance in comparison with body size. This second attempt to produce animals that could navigate the atmosphere failed, as did the abortive attempt to produce mammals during this and a preceding age.
60:3.22 (691.3) 55,000,000（五千五百万）年前的演化进程以第一种真正鸟类的突然出现为标志，一种像鸽子般的小生物就是所有鸟类生命的始祖。这是地球上出现的第三种会飞的生物，它直接源自爬行动物类别，而非源自同时代会飞的恐龙，也非源自有齿的早期陆地鸟类。因此这既被称为一个爬行动物衰落的时代，又被称为一个鸟类的时代。		60:3.22 (691.3) 55,000,000 years ago the evolutionary march was marked by the sudden appearance of the first of the true birds, a small pigeonlike creature which was the ancestor of all bird life. This was the third type of flying creature to appear on earth, and it sprang directly from the reptilian group, not from the contemporary flying dinosaurs nor from the earlier types of toothed land birds. And so this becomes known as the age of birds as well as the declining age of reptiles.
4. 白垩纪末期 ^top		4. The End of the Chalk Period ^top
60:4.1 (691.4) 伟大的白垩纪行将结束，它的结束标志着海洋对陆地大举侵入的结束。这对于北美洲而言尤为确切，那里整整经历了二十四次大淹没。虽然在此之后还有小规模的淹没，但再没有一次能与这一时代及前几个时代如此广泛而又漫长的海洋侵入相比了。这些海陆交替占据主导地位的时期，是以百万年的周期发生的。海床和陆地的这种升降伴随着一种持久性的节奏。这些有节奏性的地壳运动，将会从此时起继续下去而贯穿于整个地球史，只是发生的频度和幅度会逐渐减小。		60:4.1 (691.4) The great Cretaceous period was drawing to a close, and its termination marks the end of the great sea invasions of the continents. Particularly is this true of North America, where there had been just twenty-four great inundations. And though there were subsequent minor submergences, none of these can be compared with the extensive and lengthy marine invasions of this and previous ages. These alternate periods of land and sea dominance have occurred in million-year cycles. There has been an agelong rhythm associated with this rise and fall of ocean floor and continental land levels. And these same rhythmical crustal movements will continue from this time on throughout the earth’s history but with diminishing frequency and extent.
60:4.2 (691.5) 这一时期也见证到了大陆漂移的结束，以及玉苒厦(Urantia)现代山脉的形成。但大陆板块的压力及其持久漂移而生的反冲力并非形成山脉的独有影响。决定山脉位置的主要及潜在因素是事先存在着的低地或低谷，它们已被前几个时代陆地侵蚀和海洋移动所产生的相对较轻沉积物填满了。这些较轻的陆地区域时常有15,000到 20,000英尺（4,500米到6,000米）厚；因此，无论地壳受到什么原因引起的压力，这些较轻区域首先会褶皱、折叠及抬升，以便为地壳中或地壳下相互作用的各种冲突对抗力及压力提供补偿性调整。有时这些陆地的上冲不会发生折叠。但在涉及到落基山的抬升时，却发生了巨大的折叠和倾斜，并伴随着地下和地表各个岩层的大规模上冲。		60:4.2 (691.5) This period also witnesses the end of the continental drift and the building of the modern mountains of Urantia. But the pressure of the continental masses and the thwarted momentum of their agelong drift are not the exclusive influences in mountain building. The chief and underlying factor in determining the location of a mountain range is the pre-existent lowland, or trough, which has become filled up with the comparatively lighter deposits of the land erosion and marine drifts of the preceding ages. These lighter areas of land are sometimes 15,000 to 20,000 feet thick; therefore, when the crust is subjected to pressure from any cause, these lighter areas are the first to crumple up, fold, and rise upward to afford compensatory adjustment for the contending and conflicting forces and pressures at work in the earth’s crust or underneath the crust. Sometimes these upthrusts of land occur without folding. But in connection with the rise of the Rocky Mountains, great folding and tilting occurred, coupled with enormous overthrusts of the various layers, both underground and at the surface.
60:4.3 (692.1) 世界上最古老的山脉坐落在亚洲、格陵兰以及欧洲北部那些较古老的东西走向山系中。中古期的山脉存在于环太平洋山系和几乎与其同时产生的欧洲第二条东西走向山系中。这条巨大的山系几乎长达一万五千公里，从欧洲一直延伸到西印度高地。最年轻的山脉存在于落基山山系中，在那儿，陆地的升高总是继之又被海水所覆盖，尽管有些较高的陆地以岛屿形式留了下来。在中古期山脉形成后，一片真正的山脉高地升起了，它随后注定要被各种自然力量的综合工艺雕凿成现今的落基山脉。		60:4.3 (692.1) The oldest mountains of the world are located in Asia, Greenland, and northern Europe among those of the older east-west systems. The mid-age mountains are in the circumpacific group and in the second European east-west system, which was born at about the same time. This gigantic uprising is almost ten thousand miles long, extending from Europe over into the West Indies land elevations. The youngest mountains are in the Rocky Mountain system, where, for ages, land elevations had occurred only to be successively covered by the sea, though some of the higher lands remained as islands. Subsequent to the formation of the mid-age mountains, a real mountain highland was elevated which was destined, subsequently, to be carved into the present Rocky Mountains by the combined artistry of nature’s elements.
60:4.4 (692.2) 现今的北美落基山地区并不是原先的那块高地；那一片高地早就被侵蚀成平地了，而后又被重新抬升起来了。现今山脉的前岭是原来被抬升山岭的残留。派克斯峰和朗斯峰是这次造山活动的杰出代表，这次活动延续了两代乃至更多代山脉生命世代。在先前几次淹没期间，这两座山峰都傲然挺立于海面之上。		60:4.4 (692.2) The present North American Rocky Mountain region is not the original elevation of land; that elevation had been long since leveled by erosion and then re-elevated. The present front range of mountains is what is left of the remains of the original range which was re-elevated. Pikes Peak and Longs Peak are outstanding examples of this mountain activity, extending over two or more generations of mountain lives. These two peaks held their heads above water during several of the preceding inundations.
60:4.5 (692.3) 从生物学和地质学的角度来讲，无论是在陆上还是水下，这都是一个重要而活跃的时代。海胆增多了，而珊瑚与海百合减少了。在前一时期具有突出影响的菊石也急剧减少了。在陆上，蕨类植物森林在很大程度上被松树和其它现代树种（包括高大的红杉）所取代了。到这一时代末期，尽管有胎盘的哺乳动物尚未演化出来，但生物舞台已充分搭建起来，准备好迎接随后时代未来哺乳动物类早期祖先的出现。		60:4.5 (692.3) Biologically as well as geologically this was an eventful and active age on land and under water. Sea urchins increased while corals and crinoids decreased. The ammonites, of preponderant influence during a previous age, also rapidly declined. On land the fern forests were largely replaced by pine and other modern trees, including the gigantic redwoods. By the end of this period, while the placental mammal has not yet evolved, the biologic stage is fully set for the appearance, in a subsequent age, of the early ancestors of the future mammalian types.
60:4.6 (692.4) 就这样，从最初陆地生命的出现，到人类及其旁支直系祖先的较晚近时期，一个绵长的全球演化时代结束了。这个白垩纪涵盖了五千万年，并将陆地生命的前哺乳动物时代带至结束，该时代延续了一亿年的时期，并被称为中生代。		60:4.6 (692.4) And thus ends a long era of world evolution, extending from the early appearance of land life down to the more recent times of the immediate ancestors of the human species and its collateral branches. This, the Cretaceous age, covers fifty million years and brings to a close the premammalian era of land life, which extends over a period of one hundred million years and is known as the Mesozoic.
60:4.7 (692.5) [由一位配属到撒旦尼亚、目前在玉苒厦(Urantia)运作的内巴顿(Nebadon)生命载运者所呈献。]		60:4.7 (692.5) [Presented by a Life Carrier of Nebadon assigned to Satania and now functioning on Urantia.]