Tommotian and Burgess Shale formations give clues about Precambrian evolution.

早间，Tommotian和伯吉斯页岩化石群为前寒武纪进化提供了线索。

But red in tooth and claw the Precambrian was not—for neither teeth nor claws existed.

但是前寒武纪时期却不是腥牙血爪，因为那个时候牙齿和爪子都没有出现。

The schoolboy turned it in to a paleontologist at the University of Leicester, who identified it at once as Precambrian.

那位小生把化石交给了斯特大的一位古生物家。他马上认出那是寒武纪之前的东西。

They're going to get the Precambrian period.

他们将会经历前寒武纪时期。

On this scale, according to John McPhee in Basin and Range, the distance from the fingertips of one hand to the wrist of the other is Precambrian.

按照这个比，翰·麦克菲在《海洋和山脉》一书中说，一只手的指尖到另一只手的手腕之间的距离代表寒武纪以前的年代。

Follow-up work by Dr Zhu, in nine other sections of the Doushantuo formation, suggests this surge started just after the final Precambrian glacial period about 560m years ago, and went on for 9m years.

后续的工作由朱博士完成，有九个其他的陡山沱构造说明这个激增仅仅是在最后一次前寒武纪冰川之后，大5.6亿年前，并且持续了900万年。

Nowadays, and speaking very generally, geological time is divided first into four great chunks known as eras, Precambrian, Paleozoic, from the Greek meaning old life, Mesozoic, middle life, and Cenozoic, recent life.

现在, 一般来说, 地质时间首先分为四个大块, 称为时代, 前寒武纪, 古生代, 来自希腊语, 意思是旧生活, 中生代, 中生代和新生代, 最近的生活。