雙語科技百科(天文) 第1期:萬物起源
The Origi of Things
The Theory of Five Elements
五行說The anaent Chinese people tended to refer to supematural power for an explanation of any natural phenomena that they could not understand or control.
中國古代先民對於無法理解和控制的自然現象，歸諸於主宰萬物的超自然力。
Such supernatural power had different names in different periods in Chi-nese history,
此超自然力量在中國不同歷史時期有不同的稱呼，such as Shang di ( God) in the Shang Dynasty (1600BC～1046) and Tian ( Heaven);in the Zhou Dynasty (1046BC一 256 BC).
商代（前1600～前1046）叫“上帝”，周代（前1046～前256）起改爲“天”，The Tian, Zi ( Emperor)therefore was designated by the heaven to govem the world.
而所謂的“天子”則受天之命來統治人間。The Theory of Vitality
精氣說In the middle of the Warring States Period (475BC～221BC) , Song Xing and Yin Wen, two famous philosophers at that time,brought forward the theory of vital-ity, explaining the world with the tiny primitive substance of Yuan Qi (vitality).
戰國（前475～前221）中期，宋釺、尹文兩位哲學家提出“精氣”學說，以無法直接感受的精微原始物質“元氣”解釋世界。Ac-cording to them, Yuan Qi, invisible and untouchable, existed everltwhere, and when combined, gave rise to all things in the world.
元氣看不見、摸不着，但存在於任何地方，聚集起來即可成萬物。The Theory of Chaos
渾沌陰陽說As early as in the Warring States Period, there already existed philosophers who beiieved the heaven and earlh came into being as a result of the mutual effects of Yin and Yan,g.
戰國時期，認爲天和地是在渾沌中陰陽作用而誕生的見解已經存在。The book Hu,ai Ahn Zi , written by Liu An and so on during the Western Han Dynasty(206BC— AD24 ),was the earliest to elaborate on the ori-gin and evolvement of the hecwen, earth, and celestial bodies.
而最早明確論述天地和日月星辰起源和演化的，應推溯至西漢（前206～公元24）時期淮南王劉安等人寫成的《淮南子》。
