万物简史 第434期:小生物的世界(5)

 They have been found living in boiling mud pots and lakes of caustic¹ soda², deep inside rocks, at the bottom of the sea, 我们还发现细菌生活在沸腾的泥潭里和烧碱池里，岩石深处，大海底部，

in hidden pools of icy water in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, 南极洲麦克默多干谷隐蔽的冰水池里，

and seven miles down in the Pacific Ocean where pressures are more than a thousand times greater than at the surface, 以及太平洋的11公里深处——那里的压力比海面上高出1000多倍，

or equivalent to being squashed beneath fifty jumbo jets. 相当于被压在50架大型喷气式客机底下。

Some of them seem to be practically indestructible. 有的细菌似乎真的是杀不死的。

Deinococcus radiodurans is, according to the Economist³, "almost immune to radioactivity." 据美国《经济学家》杂志主，嗜放射球菌“几乎不受放射作用的影响”。

Blast its DNA⁴ with radiation, and the pieces immediately reform "like the scuttling⁵ limbs of an undead creature from a horror movie." 要是你用放射线轰击它的DNA，那些碎片几乎会立即重新组合，“就像恐怖电影里一个不死的人到处乱飞的四肢那样”。

Perhaps the most extraordinary survival yet found was that of a Streptococcus bacterium⁶ 迄今为止发现的生存能力最强的也许要算是链球菌。

that was recovered from the sealed lens of a camera that had stood on the Moon for two years. 它在摄影机封闭的镜头里在月球上停留了两年仍能恢复生机。

In short, there are few environments in which bacteria aren't prepared to live. 总而言之，很少有什么环境是细菌生存不下去的。

"They are finding now that when they push probes into ocean vents⁷ so hot that the probes actually start to melt, there are bacteria even there," Victoria Bennett told me. 维多利亚·贝内特对我说：“他们发现，娄把探测器伸进灼热的海底喷气孔里，连探测器都快熔化的时候，那里也还有细菌。”

In the 1920s two scientists at the University of Chicago, Edson Bastin and Frank Greer, 20世纪20年代，芝加哥大学的两位科学家埃德森·巴斯廷和弗兰克·格里尔宣布，

announced that they had isolated⁸ from oil wells strains of bacteria that had been living at depths of two thousand feet. 他们已经把一直生活在600米深处的油井里的细菌分离出来。

The notion was dismissed as fundamentally preposterous—there was nothing to live on at two thousand feet, 这个观点被认为压根儿是荒唐的——600米深处没有东西能活下去，

and for fifty years it was assumed that their samples had been contaminated with surface microbes. 在50年时间里，大家一直认为他们的样品受到了地面细菌的污染。

1 caustic   

adj.刻薄的，腐蚀性的

参考例句：

• He opened his mouth to make a caustic retort.他张嘴开始进行刻薄的反击。
• He enjoys making caustic remarks about other people.他喜欢挖苦别人。

2 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

3 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

4 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

5 scuttling   

n.船底穿孔，打开通海阀（沉船用）v.使船沉没( scuttle的现在分词 )；快跑，急走

参考例句：

• I could hear an animal scuttling about in the undergrowth. 我可以听到一只动物在矮树丛中跑来跑去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• First of all, scuttling Yu Lung (this yuncheng Hejin) , flood discharge. 大禹首先凿开龙门（今运城河津市），分洪下泄。 来自互联网

6 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

7 vents   

（气体、液体等进出的）孔、口( vent的名词复数 )； （鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的）肛门； 大衣等的)衩口； 开衩

参考例句：

• He always vents his anger on the dog. 他总是拿狗出气。
• The Dandelion Patch is the least developed of the four active vents. “蒲公英区”在这四个活裂口中是发育最差的一个。

8 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。