时差N小时 外星球上有生命吗?(下)（在线收听）

Not sugar as in the stuff in those little packets, mind you.

注意，这里的糖可不是那种用纸包的糖果。

We're talking about carbohydrates simple molecules made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen which are the simplest forms of sugar.

我们所说的是由糖的最基本形式---碳、氢、氧所组成的碳水化合物简单分子。

But the simple sugars that the astronomers detected, called glycoaldehydes, are thought to be one of the building blocks of life.

但是天文学家发现，一种名为甘油醛的单糖是生命的重要组成部分之一。

So how do these simple sugars form in space?

这些单糖如何在宇宙间形成？

Scientists suspect that they form on ice covered dust grains in interstellar clouds.

科学家们猜测，它们是在星际云中由冰包裹的尘土颗粒所形成。

The really exciting thing is that discovering these molecules near a sun like star means that the basic building blocks of life may be present around new stars even before planets form.

真正令人兴奋的是，在太阳这样的恒星附近发现这些分子意味着，生命的基本组成部分在星球形成前就出现在新恒星周围了。

Again, this doesn't prove anything, but it's one more clue about how life might have begun on Earth–and how and why it might exist elsewhere in the universe.

虽然这不足以证明什么，但对于人们了解地球如何出现生命以及宇宙的其他地方也可能出现生命的原因和发展提供了线索。