NASA:
Strong Evidence of Liquid Water on Mars
VOA News
Last updated on: September 28, 2015 12:47 PM (source)
NASA: Strong
Evidence of Liquid Water on Mars
美國國家航空暨太空總署：火
星上有液態水的證據
VOA News
Last updated on: September 28, 2015 12:47 PM
NASA scientists have found strong evidence of salt water streams on
Mars, at least during the red planet's summer, the space agency
announced Monday.
美國國家航空暨太空總署(NASA)科學家發現強大的證據，
可證明火星至少在夏季時有鹽水流。此消息於周一時由太空署公佈。
The lines of "hydrated"
salt minerals found would require water for their creation, and where
there’s liquid water, there could be life, even if it's in microbial
form.
科學家們發現「含水的」(“hydrated”)鹽份
礦物質的痕跡，而這種痕跡需要有水才能產生。有水的地方可能就有生命，即使只是微生物的(microbial)型
態。
"Today we are revolutionizing our understanding of this planet," Jim
Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters, said during
a news conference releasing the findings.
「今天我們徹底改變了
(revolutionize)我們對這個星球的認知」，NASA總部(headquarters)的行星科學部主任吉姆葛林(Jim
Green)在發佈新發現的記
者會(news conference)上如此表示。
Amid
speculation before the announcement, Doug McCuistion, the former head
of NASA’s Mars program, told the Boston Herald, "If they are announcing
that they have found easily accessible, freely flowing liquid water
under the surface, which is one of the theories we have been hearing
for years and years, that has massive implications
both for the potential for life on that planet and sustainability
of humans."
在消息發佈前引起的諸多猜測之中(amid
speculation)，有前NASA火星計畫的主持人道格麥克奎斯遜(Doug
McCuistion)刊登在《波士頓先驅報(Boston Herald)》的看法：「他們可能會公佈在火星表面下找到了容易接近(accessible)、
自由流動的液態水，這是過去好
幾年間(for years and years)不斷聽到的理論。這個消息潛藏重大的意義(massive
implication)，這表示火星上可能有生命，也意味著人類在火星上有持續發展和生存
(sustainability)的可能。」
Taking part in the conference were: Green; Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars
Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters; Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of
Technology in Atlanta; Mary Beth Wilhelm of NASA's Ames Research Center
in Moffett Field, California and the Georgia Institute of Technology;
and Alfred McEwen, principal investigator for the High
Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) at the University of
Arizona in Tucson.
與會者除葛林之外，還有NASA總部火星探索計畫的首
席科學家麥可梅爾(Michael Meyer)、亞特蘭大的喬治亞科技大學的盧金德拉歐嘉(Lujendra
Ojha)、NASA於加州莫非特場的艾姆斯研究中心(Ames Research Center)與喬治亞科技大學的瑪莉貝斯威廉(Mary
Beth Wihelm)，與杜桑的亞利桑那大學高解析度成像科學實驗的計畫主持人(principal
investigator)麥克尤恩(Alfred McEwen)。
NASA has found evidence of water on Mars in the past. In March, NASA
said there was once more water on Mars than in Earth's Arctic Ocean.
NASA發現火星過去曾有水的證據。今年三月時，NASA曾
宣布火星一度有比地球北極海(Arctic Ocean)還多的水量。
NASA researchers wrote in the journal Science that they compared the ratio of two
different types of water found in the Martian atmosphere to the ratio
of those waters trapped in a Martian meteorite
dating back 4.5 billion years.
根據NASA研究員在期刊《科學
(Science)》的文章，他們比較了火星大氣中和45億年前鎖在火星隕石(meteorite)內
的兩種型態的水的比例
(ratio)。在發表於期刊《科學 (Science)》的文章裡，NASA 研究員將兩種不同型態的水在目前火星大氣中的比例(ratio)與45
億年前它們鎖在火星隕石
(meteorite)內時的比例做比較。
They say more than 4 billion years ago, Mars was covered with water 137
meters deep and that nearly all of it has since evaporated
into space.
他們認為，在40億年前，覆蓋火星的水深度達137公尺，而
從那時開始，大部分火星上的水都蒸
發(evaporate)散逸到了太空。
Language Notes
hydrated
[‵haɪdretɪd] (a) 含水的 *dehydrate (v) 脫水；使乾燥
microbial [maɪ‵krobɪəl] (a)
微生物的 *microbe (n) 微生物
amid
[ə‵mɪd]
(prep) 在. . .之中
accessible
[æk‵sɛsəbl̩] (a) 可以取得的；可以接近的
implication
(n) 含意；暗示
sustainability
(n) 持續性；能維持性
ratio
(n) 比；比率
meteorite
[‵mitɪərˏaɪt] (n)
隕星；流星
evaporate
(v) 蒸發；揮發
Check your vocabulary!
Fill
in the blanks with a word or phrase from the list above. Make necessary
changes. After you finish, select the text above to reveal the hidden
answers.
1. The sun evaporates moisture on
the leaves.
2. We lost our companions amid the
storm and the darkness.
3. The ratio of nursing staff to
doctors is 2:1.
4. There is a church which is easily accessible
from my home.
5. After you run, drink plenty of water to stay well hydrated.
編譯：簡嘉呈
|
These
dark, narrow, 100-meter-long streaks called recurring slope lineae
flowing downhill on Mars are inferred to have been formed by
contemporary flowing water. See more on VOA.
