Mother Sea：The Gray Beginnings
Beginnings are apt to be shadowy， and so it is with the beginnings of that great mother of life， the sea． Many people have debated how and when the earth got its ocean， and it is not surprising that their explanations do not always agree． For the plain and inescapable truth is that no one was there to see， and in the absence of eyewitness accounts there is bound to be a certain amount of disagreement． So if I tell here a story of how the young planet Earth acquired an ocean， it must be a story pieced together from many sources and containing many whole chapters the details of which we can only imagine． The story is founded on the testimony of the earth's most ancient rocks， which were young when the earth was young；on other evidence written on the face of the earth's satellite， the moon； and on hints contained in the history of the sun and whole universe of star-filled space． For although no man was there to witness this cosmic birth， the stars and the moon and the rocks were there，and， indeed， had much to do with the fact that there is an ocean．
大海母亲——混沌初开
事物的起源往往模糊不清，伟大的生命之母——大海的起源也是如此。不少人曾讨论过，地球上的海洋怎样形成，在什么时候形成。对于这个问题，众说纷坛，这不足为怪。因为，道理非常简单，没有人目睹过大海的形成，这是无可否认的事实。没有见证人的证词，当然会产生各种各样的见解。所以，如果我在此议论在混沌初开的大地上，海洋是如何如何形成的话，那么这种论述只能是由许多资料拼凑而成，并且其中的一些大量完整的章节内包含的细节我们只能凭想象。地球上最古老的岩石就是海洋形成过程的见证人，当时它们和地球一样年轻；地球的卫星月亮的表面上留下的痕迹提供了另外的证据；而太阳和那布满星星的茫茫天宇的历史也提供了线索。虽然没有人能够目睹宇宙的形成，但是，星星、月亮和岩石却存在着，并且的确与海洋的形成密切相关。
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