III. Translate the following passage into Chinese:
What was the origin of the oil which now drives our motor-carsand aircraft? Scientists are confident about the formation ofcoal, but they do not seem so sure when asked about oil. Theythink that the oil under the surface of the earth originated in thedistant past, and was formed from living things in the sea.Countless billions of minute sea creatures and plants lived and sank to the sea bed. They werecovered with huge deposits of mud, and by processes of chemistry, pressure and temperaturewere changed through long ages into what we know as oil. For these creatures to become oil, itwas necessary that they should be imprisoned between layers of rock for an enormous length oftime. The statement that oil originated in the sea is confirmed by a glance at a map showing thechief oilfields of the world; very few of them are far distant from the oceans of today. In someplaces gas and oil come up to the surface of the sea from its bed. The rocks in which oil is foundare of marine origin too. They are sedimentary rocks, rocks which were laid down by the action ofwater on the bed of the ocean. Almost always their remains of shells, and other proofs of sea life,are found close to the oil. A very common sedimentary rock is called shale, which is a soft rock andwas obviously formed by being deposited on the sea bed. And where there is shale there is likely tobe oil.
參考答案：
我們現(xiàn)在開(kāi)汽車、開(kāi)飛機(jī)使用的油是怎樣形成的呢?科 學(xué)家確知煤是怎樣形成的，但若問(wèn)到石油是怎樣形成的，似乎就不那么有把握了。他們認(rèn)為地下的石油在遠(yuǎn)古時(shí)期就已經(jīng)形成，而且是由海中生物形成的。億萬(wàn)個(gè)數(shù) 不清的微小動(dòng)物和植物在海水中生長(zhǎng)并沉入海底，上面覆蓋著大量沉積的泥沙，經(jīng)過(guò)一系列的化學(xué)變化、壓力和溫度的影響，經(jīng)過(guò)漫長(zhǎng)的歲月，變成了現(xiàn)在我們所說(shuō) 的石油。這些小動(dòng)物必須在一層層巖石之間密封起來(lái)，經(jīng)過(guò)極長(zhǎng)的一段時(shí)間才能變成石油。石油是在海里形成的，這種說(shuō)法，只要看一下世界主要油田分布圖，就可 以得到證實(shí);大油田離開(kāi)今日的海洋很遠(yuǎn)的極少。有些地方，天然氣和石油從海底浮上水面。含有石油的巖層也是在海里形成的。這種巖層是沉積巖，是在海水的作 用之下沉積在洋底的。在有石油的地方，附近幾乎總可以發(fā)現(xiàn)貝殼的殘片以及海洋生物的其它遺跡。有一種很普通的沉積巖，叫做頁(yè)巖。這是一種松軟的巖石，顯然 是在海底沉積而成的。凡是有頁(yè)巖的地方，就可能有石油。