地球太危險，快回火星吧！

08-10

地球太危險，快回火星吧！

來自專欄通過新聞報紙學英語

地球太危險，快回火星吧！

原創：林立豐 BUMBLEBEE英語課堂 6天前

火星上發現液態水湖能喝不？不能！

來自義大利的30多名科學家，對歐洲航天局「火星快車」探測器上的雷達設備，在2012年5月到2015年12月間的觀測數據進行分析發現：在火星南極冰蓋地區的雷達信號出現了明顯異常，這種異常存在於冰蓋表面以及南極層狀沉積以下。

科學家說，這片液態水不是岩石和冰層之間融化的水，而是一座湖。不過目前，雷達還無法確定湖水的深度，根據科學家估計，水深至少有2到3米。

科學家還發現，這座液態水湖的溫度大約在零下68攝氏度。為什麼還能保持液態呢？科學家解釋說，水中可能溶有鎂、鈣、鈉等火星岩石中的金屬鹽，這些金屬鹽像防凍劑一樣，加上冰蓋帶來的壓力，使這個湖泊在冰點下保持液態。這也就意味著，這種極度寒冷的濃鹽水，對生命來說是個極大的挑戰。

今天讓我們來探索火星吧！

新聞來源有：

1 CCTV ENGLISH Scientists identify lake of liquid water under surface of Mars

2 SCIENCE Liquid water spied deep below polar ice cap on Mars

A study published on Wednesday in the journal Science has confirmed that liquid water is present on Mars.

Italian researchers using radar to probe the planets polar ice caps have detected a lake of liquid water under the Martian ice, stretching 20 kilometers across, according to the study.

The detection was made using the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on the Mars Express spacecraft, launched by the European Space Agency in 2003.

MARSIS sent radar pulses that penetrated the surface and ice caps of the planet, then measured how the radio waves propagated and reflected back to the spacecraft, providing scientists with what lies beneath the surface.

Between May 2012 and December 2015, Roberto Orosei with International Astronomical Union and his Italian colleagues used MARSIS to survey a region called Planum Australe, located in the southern ice cap of Mars.

They obtained 29 sets of radar samplings, mapping out an area exhibiting a very sharp change in its associated radar signal, about 1.5 kilometers below the surface of the ice and extending sideways about 20 kilometers.

【注釋】

1 probe: （v）調查，探究，探測，搜尋；（n）調查，探頭探針；航天探測器；to probe is to investigate or examine with great thoroughness
2 Martian ice: Mars的形容詞形式是Martian（火星的，與火星有關的）；我們知道火星是MARS，太陽系中全部九大行星（距太陽距離由近及遠）的英語依次是：水星（Mercury）金星（Venus）地球（Earth）火星（Mars）木星（Jupiter）土星（Saturn）天王星（Uranus）海王星（Neptune）冥王星（Pluto）

3 launch:
① 發射（火箭、導彈或衛星） to launch a rocket, missile, or satellite means to send it into the air or into space.
② 開展（重大活動）；發起，發動（軍事襲擊等） to launch a large and important activity, for example a military attack, means to start it.
③ 退出，發布（新產品） If a company launches a new product, it makes it available to the public.
4 propagete
① 宣傳，傳播；使普及； If people propagate an idea or piece of information, they spread it and try to make people believe it or support it. 在外媒上經常見到這個用法，大多是抨擊zf的公眾宣傳。
② 繁殖，培植（植物） If you propagate plants, you grow more of them from the original ones.
但是上文中的propagate不是以上兩種意思。於是我找了半天，才在Websters New World College Dictionary中找到對應的意思：
③ 傳播； to transmit (esp. sound waves or electromagnetic radiation) through a medium.

Although the temperature is expected to be below the freezing point of pure water, they suggested that dissolved salts of magnesium, calcium, and sodium, known to be present in Martian rocks, could be dissolved in the water to form a brine.

【注釋】

1 freezing point: 冰點；凝固點； melting point: 熔點；
2 dissolved salts: 溶解鹽；
dissolve: ①(使)溶解； ② 解散（團體或機構）；③ 解除（婚姻關係），終止（商業協議）；④ （使）消失，消散； If sth such as a problem or feeling dissolves or is dissolved, it becomes weaker and disappears.
3 brine: (腌制食品的)鹽水，滷水；
briny: (adj) 鹹的；of or like brine; very salty;

(Science) Far beneath the deeply frozen ice cap at Mars』s south pole lies a lake of liquid water—the first to be found on the Red Planet. Detected from orbit using ice-penetrating radar, the lake is probably frigid and full of salts—an unlikely habitat for life. But the discovery, reported online today in Science, is sure to intensify the hunt for other buried layers of water that might be more hospitable. 「It』s a very exciting result: the first indication of a briny aquifer on Mars,」 says geophysicist David Stillman of Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, who was not a part of the study.

【注釋】

1 hospitable:
① 好客的，熱情友好的；
② （氣候、環境）有利的，適宜的；它的反義詞是什麼呢？大家想想吧！
2 aquifer: 地下蓄水層；砂石含水層；
3 geophysicist: 地球物理學家；還有一個更常用的geopolitical: 地緣政治（學）的；

魯迅說點下那個大拇哥，會有幸運降臨。男生個子變高，女生皮膚變好。不知道你們信不信，反正我信了。不信？你戳下試試！

長按二維碼，關注哦！

http://weixin.qq.com/r/Jy8FHdfEsYrOrZN_93o1 (二維碼自動識別)

http://weixin.qq.com/r/sS_dmULEKopWKQb6b3o1 (二維碼自動識別)

微信掃一掃

關注該公眾號