until there perhaps was one big ocean covering the whole world. 直到形成了一个巨大的海洋覆盖在世界上。

But the World still kept on cooling and cooling, and as it cooled it shrank and shriveled and wrinkled and crinkled and puckered like the outside of a prune.  但是世界还在继续变凉，它在变凉的同时开始收缩、枯萎、起皱、卷缩、皱缩，最后变成像梅子干的外皮那样。

You know a prune was once smooth and round when it was a plum.  你知道梅子干或梅子是光滑滑圆溜溜的。

These little wrinkles and crinkles rose up out of the ocean and were the continents and mountains,  地球上的这些小皱褶从海洋上升起变成了大陆和高山，

so you see how big the wrinkles and crinkles really are.  这下你就明白这些皱褶有多么的大了。

The earth is still wrinkling a bit even now, and when it does so it shivers and shakes and we say there has been an earthquake.  我们的地球甚至现在还在一点点地皱缩，当它皱缩的时候，会摇晃、震动，我们就说是发生地震了。

But the earthquakes nowadays are as nothing to what may have been the tremendous shudder when the continents rose out of the first single ocean.  但是和陆地在巨大的抖动中从最初的一整片海洋中升起的时候相比，现在的地震根本不算什么。

The thunderous roar of that quake may have reached the stars with a stupendous and appalling boom of a bursting, cracking, rending, groaning World,  当时的地震肯定发出了轰隆隆的呼啸声，世界发出了大得惊人的、可怕的爆裂声、割裂声和呻吟声，这声音大得都能传到星星上去了，

as if the last day had come.  好像世界末日来临一样。

Don't you know what stupendous and appalling boom means? 你不知道什么是大得惊人的、可怕的轰隆声吗？

Why, it means stupendous and appalling boom. 嗯，那就是可怕的、大得惊人的轰隆声。

But that's all guess—for the continents may have risen out of the sea as softly, slowly,silently as a blade of grass grows out of the ground.  但这都是我们的猜测，因为也许陆地是非常轻柔地、缓慢地、悄悄地升出了海面呢，就像一片小草叶悄悄地钻出了地面一样。

No one knows. 没有人知道。

We only know the continents did rise out of the water—we can find seashells on the tops of high mountains,  我们唯一确定的就是陆地确实是从水下升上来的，因为我们能在高山顶上找到贝壳，

and we know they could only have been made under the water when the mountain was under the water. 而我们知道那只能是高山还在水下的时候形成的。