VOA慢速英语2020 木卫二卫星上的海洋可能支持生命存活

（单词翻译）

New research from the United States space agency, NASA, suggests that

美国宇航局NASA的一项新研究表明， 

the ocean under the surface of Jupiters moon Europa may have been able to support life.

木星的卫星木卫二表面下的海洋可能支持生命生存。 

Researchers found that the ocean could have been formed when some minerals broke down and released water.

研究人员发现，海洋可能是在一些矿物质分解并释放水分时形成的。 

Europa is a little smaller than Earths moon, but still one of the largest moons in our solar system.

木卫二比地球的卫星略小，但仍是太阳系中最大的卫星之一。 

Observations of Europa by NASA spacecraft have shown that an ocean exists there beneath a thick layer of ice.

美国NASA航天器对木卫二的观测表明，在厚厚的冰层下存在着海洋。 

Scientists estimate Europas ocean to be 65 to 160 kilometers deep.

科学家估计木卫二的海洋有65到160公里深。 

It may contain twice the water of Earths oceans.

它的含水量可能是地球海洋的两倍。 

The new findings came from ocean models of Europa created by NASA.

新的发现来自于NASA创建的木卫二海洋模型。 

The results were reported in a study presented at a recent conference of Goldschmidt, a geoscience research organization.

这项研究结果在最近的Goldschmidt会议上发表，Goldschmidt是一个地球科学研究组织。 

Mohit Melwani Daswani is a planetary scientist with NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

莫希特·梅尔瓦尼·达斯瓦尼是NASA加州喷气推进实验室的行星科学家。 

He led the study.

他领导了这项研究。 

Daswani told the Reuters news agency his team believes Europas ocean "may have been habitable early when it formed."

达斯瓦尼告诉路透社，他的团队相信木卫二的海洋“在它形成的早期可能是适宜居住的”。 

This is because the research suggests the water had a low level of acid and contained carbon dioxide.

这是因为研究表明，水的酸性较低，并且含有二氧化碳。 

Daswani said the study suggests it may have been possible for some microorganisms to use carbon dioxide in the ocean for energy to survive.

达斯瓦尼说，这项研究表明，一些微生物可能利用海洋中的二氧化碳来维持生命。 

Some bacteria on Earth receive life-giving energy from carbon dioxide.

地球上的一些细菌从二氧化碳中获得生命所需的能量。 

"The availability of liquid water is the first step to habitability," Daswani said.

“液态水的可用性是实现可居住性的第一步，”达斯瓦尼说。 

"In addition, chemical exchange between the ocean and the rocky interior may have been significant in the past,

“此外，海洋和岩石内部之间的化学交换在过去可能是重要的， 

so potential life may have been able to use chemical energy to survive," he added.

所以潜在的生命可能能够利用化学能生存，”他补充说。 

In other words, Daswani said, the makeup¹ of Europas ocean may have been very similar to oceans on Earth.

换句话说，达斯瓦尼说，木卫二海洋的构成可能与地球上的海洋非常相似。 

"We believe that this ocean could be quite habitable for life."

“我们相信这片海洋可能适合生命生存。” 

The new study examined whether Europa was habitable in the past, but did not look at its present ability to support life.

新的研究检查了木卫二过去是否适合居住，但没有观察目前维持生命的能力。 

Daswani said that is a question researchers are now exploring.

达斯瓦尼说，这是研究人员正在探索的问题。 

He added, however, just because a planet or moon is believed to be habitable does not mean that life is actually present.

他补充说，然而，仅仅因为一颗行星或卫星被认为是宜居的，这并不意味着生命确实存在。 

"Just that the conditions could allow for the survival of some extremely hardy² forms of life that we know of on Earth," he noted³.

“只是这些条件可能符合我们所知的地球上某些极难生存的生命体存活，”他表示。 

The researchers believe Europa offers one of the best chances of finding life in our solar system.

研究人员认为，木卫二是太阳系中最可能支持生命存活的天体之一。 

In the future, however, they say they will seek to create models to study other moons.

然而，他们表示，未来他们将寻求创建模型来研究其他卫星。 

These could include Europas neighbor, Ganymede - the largest moon in our solar system - and Saturns⁴ moon, Titan.

这些可能包括木卫二的邻居木卫三——太阳系中最大的卫星——和土星的卫星土卫六。 

Im Bryan Lynn.

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