We do not have a detailed knowledge of the processes that led to the appearance of life on Earth. In this review we bring together some of the most important results that have provided insights into the cosmic and primitive Earth environments, particularly those environments in which life is thought to have originated. To do so, we first discuss the evidence bearing on the antiquity of life on our planet and the prebiotic significance of organic compounds found in interstellar clouds and in primitive solar system bodies such as comets, dark asteroids, and carbonaceous chondrites. This is followed by a discussion on the environmental models of the Hadean and early Archean Earth, as well as on the prebiotic formation of organic monomers and polymers essential to life. We then consider the processes that may have led to the appearance in the Archean of the first cells, and how these processes may have affected the early steps of biological evolution. Finally, the significance of these results to the study of the distribution of life in the Universe is discussed.

中文翻译：

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地球生命的起源和早期进化

我们对导致地球上生命出现的过程没有详细的了解。在这篇综述中，我们汇集了一些最重要的结果，这些结果提供了对宇宙和原始地球环境的见解，特别是那些被认为是生命起源的环境。为此，我们首先讨论与地球上生命的古老有关的证据，以及在星际云和原始太阳系天体（如彗星、暗小行星和碳质球粒陨石）中发现的有机化合物的生命前意义。随后讨论了冥界和早期太古宙地球的环境模型，以及生命所必需的有机单体和聚合物的益生元形成。然后我们考虑可能导致第一个细胞出现在太古代的过程，以及这些过程可能如何影响生物进化的早期步骤。最后，讨论了这些结果对研究宇宙中生命分布的意义。