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Meanwhile the plants had increased in number and they had to search for new dwelling places. There was no more room for them at the bottom of the sea.
與此同時，植物的數量也在不斷滋長，海底的空間已經不夠容納它們了。
Reluctantly they left the water and made a new home in the marshes and on the mudbanks that lay at the foot of the mountains.
為了生存，它們不得不開辟新的棲息地，很不情愿地在沼澤和山腳下的泥岸上安了新家。
Twice a day the tides of the ocean covered them with their brine.
每天早晚的潮汐淹沒了它們，讓它們品嘗到故鄉的咸味。
For the rest of the time, the plants made the best of their uncomfortable situation
除此之外的時間里，它們不得不學習如何適應不舒適的環境，
and tried to survive in the thin air which surrounded the surface of the planet.
爭取在覆蓋地球表面的稀薄空氣里生存下來。
After centuries of training, they learned how to live as comfortably in the air as they had done in the water.
經過長時間的訓練，它們終于學會了如何自在地生活于空氣里，就像以前在水中一樣。
They increased in size and became shrubs and trees
它們的體形逐漸增大，變成了灌水和樹林。
and at last they learned how to grow lovely flowers which attracted the attention of the busy big bumble-bees and the birds
最后，它們還學會如何開出美麗的花朵，將忙碌的大黃蜂和鳥兒吸引過來，
who carried the seeds far and wide until the whole earth had become covered with green pastures, or lay dark under the shadow of the big trees.
并將它們的種子帶到遠方，使整個陸地都布滿碧綠的原野和大樹的濃蔭。
But some of the fishes too had begun to leave the sea, and they had learned how to breathe with lungs as well as with gills.
此時一些魚類也開始遷離海洋。它們學會既用鰓，也用肺呼吸。
We call such creatures amphibious, which means that they are able to live with equal ease on the land and in the water.
我們叫它們兩棲動物，意思是，它們在水里和陸上都能活得同樣悠游自在。
The first frog who crosses your path can tell you all about the pleasures of the double existence of the amphibian.
你在路邊看見的第一只青蛙就能告訴你身為兩棲動物穿梭于水陸之間的樂趣。
Once outside of the water, these animals gradually adapted themselves more and more to life on land.
一旦離開了水，這些動物會變得越來越適應陸上生活。
Some became reptiles (creatures who crawl like lizards) and they shared the silence of the forests with the insects.
其中的一些成為了爬行動物（那些像蜥蜴一樣爬行的動物），他們與昆蟲們一起分享森林的寂靜。
That they might move faster through the soft soil,
為便于更迅速地穿過松軟的土壤，
they improved upon their legs and their size increased until the world was populated with gigantic forms
它們逐漸發展自己的四肢，體形也相應地增大。最終，整個世界都被這些身高三十到四十英尺的龐然大物占領。
(which the handbooks of biology list under the names of Ichthyosaurus and Megalosaurus and Brontosaurus)
這些龐然大物就是被生物學手冊稱為魚龍、斑龍、雷龍等等的恐龍家族。
who grew to be thirty to forty feet long and who could have played with elephants as a full grown cat plays with her kittens.
若它們跟大象 玩耍，就如同體形壯碩的成年貓逗弄自己的小惠子。
Some of the members of this reptilian family began to live in the tops of the trees, which were then often more than a hundred feet high.
后來，這些爬行動物家族中的一些成員開始到上百英尺高的樹頂會生活。
They no longer needed their legs for the purpose of walking, but it was necessary for them to move quickly from branch to branch.
它們不必再用腿來走路，可迅速地從一棵 樹枝躍到另一棵樹枝，卻變成了樹上生活的必需技能。
And so they changed a part of their skin into a sort of parachute, which stretched between the sides of their bodies and the small toes of their fore-feet,
于是，它們身體兩側和腳趾間的部分皮膚逐漸變成一種類似降落傘的肉膜，
and gradually they covered this skinny parachute with feathers and made their tails into a steering gear and flew from tree to tree and developed into true birds.
這些薄薄的肉膜上又長出了羽毛， 尾巴則成為了方向航。就這樣，它們開始在樹林間飛行，最終進化成真正的鳥類。
