冰與地球生命的起源 ⏲️ 6分鐘英語：英語精讀講義

Six Minute English from bbclearningenglish.com.

來自 bbclearningenglish.com 的六分鐘英語。

Hello, this is Six Minute English from BBC Learning English.

大家好，這裡是 BBC 英語教學的《六分鐘英語》。

I'm Sam.

我是薩姆。

And I'm Neil.

我是尼爾。

Have you ever made a snowman or enjoyed a cold drink on a hot summer's day? 文法

你曾經堆過雪人，或者在炎熱的夏日裡享受過冷飲嗎？

Slippery in winter and cooling in summer,

在冬天很滑，在夏天很涼爽，

ice is made when water gets so cold it freezes. 文法

冰是水變得太冷結冰時形成的。

But there's much more to ice than skiing holidays and cold drinks. 表達脈絡

但冰的意義遠不止於滑雪度假和冷飲。

Yes, in an exciting discovery

是的，在一項令人興奮的發現中，

the James Webb Space Telescope recently detected the coldest ices ever in outer space, 用詞

詹姆斯·韋伯太空望遠鏡最近在外太空探測到了有史以來最冷的冰，

something NASA scientists think could explain the origins of life on Earth. 文法

美國宇航局（NASA）的科學家認為這可以解釋地球生命的起源。

For years scientists have debated how life started on our planet.

多年來，科學家們一直在爭論我們星球上的生命是如何開始的。

Billions of years ago,

數十億年前，

long before the dinosaurs, animals, or even plants existed, 文法

早在恐龍、動物甚至植物存在之前，

the Earth had a watery environment of oxygen-free gases and chemicals known as the primordial soup. 講解

地球就有一個充滿了無氧氣體和化學物質的水環境，被稱為「原始湯」。

It had the potential for life to develop, 片語搭配

它具有孕育生命的潛力，

but something was missing.

但缺少了某些東西。

So, how did we jump from the primordial soup 慣用語

那麼，我們是如何從原始湯跨越到

to the first living plants, animals, and eventually humans?

第一批活著的植物、動物，並最終成為人類的呢？

And how does ice fit into the story? 慣用語

而冰在這個故事中又扮演了什麼角色呢？

That's what we'll be finding out in this program. 表達脈絡

這就是我們要在本期節目中尋找的答案。

And as usual,

和往常一樣，

we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

我們還會學習一些有用的新詞彙。

But first, I have a question for you, Neil.

但首先，我有一個問題要問你，尼爾。

We know ice is frozen water,

我們知道冰是凍結的水，

but do you know the chemical symbol for water?

但你知道水的化學符號嗎？

Is it A, H2O, B, HO2, or C, H2O2?

是 A，H2O，B，HO2，還是 C，H2O2？

Well, I really hope I get this right. 語氣意圖

嗯，我真的希望能答對。

I think the answer is H2O.

我認為答案是 H2O。

Okay.

好的。

We'll find out or check if you're right later in the program. 片語動詞

我們稍後會在節目中揭曉或檢查你是否答對了。

Astronomer Professor Melissa McClure worked with the NASA scientists who found ice on Europa, 文化背景

天文學家梅麗莎·麥克盧爾教授與在木衛二上發現冰的 NASA 科學家合作，

one of Jupiter's moons.

木衛二是木星的衛星之一。

Here she explains to BBC World Service program Science in Action

在這裡，她向 BBC 世界頻道節目《科學行動》解釋了

one theory linking ice to the beginnings of life on Earth. 片語搭配

一個將冰與地球生命起源聯繫起來的理論。

There are sort of these two alternatives for how you could have had life arise on Earth, 講解

關於地球上生命是如何產生的，有兩種可以說是替代的理論，

and one is that the very basic building blocks like water and methane and CO2,

其中一種是，像水、甲烷和二氧化碳這些非常基本的生命基石，

like those molecules were definitely brought to Earth by ices and comets. 文法

這些分子肯定是冰和彗星帶到地球上的。

And maybe once they were on Earth, 文法

也許一旦它們到達地球，

then they reacted with either geothermal heat or some kind of lightning strike 文法

它們就會與地熱或某種閃電發生反應，

to form more complex molecules.

形成更複雜的分子。

Earth's primordial soup lacked the building blocks of life, 慣用語

地球的原始湯缺乏生命基石，

a phrase describing the most basic biological and chemical units needed to support living things,

這個短語用來描述支持生物所需的最基本的生物和化學單位，

elements like oxygen and carbon.

比如氧和碳等元素。

Professor McClure thinks these missing elements were brought to Earth in comets, 文化背景

麥克盧爾教授認為這些缺失的元素是由彗星帶到地球上的，

large bright balls of dirt and ice which travel around the Sun in outer space.

彗星是在外太空圍繞太陽運行的由泥土和冰組成的明亮大球體。

It's possible that when comets hit Earth billions of years ago, 文法

這可能是因為數十億年前彗星撞擊地球時，

elements in the ice were scattered and struck by lightning,

冰中的元素被散落並被閃電擊中，

a bright flash of light produced by electricity moving in the atmosphere.

閃電是由大氣中移動的電產生的明亮閃光。

This resulted in the complex molecules needed for life on Earth. 片語搭配

這產生了地球生命所需的複雜分子。

Exactly how this happened is not known, 文法

這究竟是如何發生的確切過程尚不清楚，

but it involves biomolecules, 用詞

但它涉及生物分子，

molecules like DNA, which are found in living things.

比如在生物體內發現的 DNA 這樣的分子。

Ice is not a biomolecule,

冰不是生物分子，

but when it mixes with carbon, 表達脈絡

但當它與碳混合時，

the atoms in ice molecules change to produce complex molecules,

冰分子中的原子會發生變化，產生複雜的分子，

and that's when interesting things start to happen. 表達脈絡

而這正是奇妙的事情開始發生的時候。

Here's Professor McClure again explaining more to BBC World Service's Science in Action.

再次請麥克盧爾教授向 BBC 世界頻道的《科學行動》解釋更多細節。

If they have a carbon atom in them, 文法

如果它們裡面含有碳原子，

then they're complex organic molecules.

那麼它們就是複雜的有機分子。

So things like very simple alcohols like methanol or ethanol,

所以像甲醇或乙醇這樣非常簡單的醇類，

like what you would drink,

就像你會喝的那些，

are complex organic molecules.

都是複雜的有機分子。

And these molecules could react

而且這些分子可能會發生反應，

and start sort of a reaction chain that would eventually lead to something like a biomolecule.

並開始一種反應鏈，最終導致類似生物分子的東西產生。

Ice can react with other elements to create organic molecules, 片語搭配

冰可以與其他元素反應，創造出有機分子，

for example, the alcohol methanol.

例如，醇類中的甲醇。

Here, the adjective organic means related to living plants and animals. 用詞

在這裡，形容詞有機（organic）指的是與活著的動植物相關的。

That's different from how we use the word to talk about organic food,

這與我們談論有機食品時使用這個詞的方式不同，

meaning food that hasn't been grown using artificial chemicals.

後者指的是沒有使用人造化學物質種植的食物。

When these organic molecules met the primordial soup,

當這些有機分子遇到原始湯時，

so the theory goes, 表達脈絡

根據這個理論，

it produced a chain reaction, 用詞

它產生了連鎖反應，

a series of chemical reactions in which one change causes another.

這是一種一個變化引起另一個變化的系列化學反應。

It was this chain reaction which created the first living cells and eventually humans. 文法

正是這種連鎖反應創造了第一個活細胞，並最終創造了人類。

Quite impressive for a little piece of frozen water. 表達脈絡

對於一小塊凍結的水來說，這真是令人印象深刻。

Speaking of water, Sam, 表達脈絡

說到水，薩姆，

what was the answer to your question about the chemical symbol for water?

關於水的化學符號的問題，你的答案是什麼？

I said it was H2O.

我說它是 H2O。

Which was the right answer, Neil.

那是正確的答案，尼爾。

Each molecule of water and ice contains

每一個水分子和冰分子包含

two atoms of H, that's hydrogen,

兩個 H 原子，那是氫，

joined to one atom of oxygen.

連接到一個氧原子。

Okay, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from the program 表達脈絡

好的，讓我們回顧一下我們從節目中學到的詞彙，

starting with primordial soup.

從原始湯（primordial soup）開始。

The environment on Earth before there were any plants or animals,

這是地球上沒有任何動植物之前的環境，

which created the conditions for life.

它創造了生命的條件。

The phrase the building blocks of life

生命基石（the building blocks of life）這個短語

refers to the most basic biological and chemical units 片語搭配

指的是最基本的生物和化學單位

needed to support living plants and animals.

這些單位是維持活的動植物所必需的。

A comet is a large object traveling in space

彗星（comet）是在太空中旅行的大型天體，

which orbits the Sun and has a bright burning tail.

它圍繞太陽運行，並帶有一條明亮燃燒的尾巴。

Lightning is a flash of bright light produced by electricity moving in the atmosphere.

閃電（lightning）是由大氣中移動的電產生的明亮閃光。

The adjective organic means relating to living plants and animals,

形容詞有機（organic）意思是與活著的動植物相關的，

and organic food means food which has been grown without using chemicals.

而有機食品（organic food）是指不使用化學物質種植的食物。

And finally,

最後，

a chain reaction is a series of chemical reactions

連鎖反應（chain reaction）是一系列的化學反應，

in which one change causes another,

其中一個變化引起另一個變化，

which in turn causes another. 片語搭配

進而又引起另一個變化。

Once again, our six minutes are up.

我們的六分鐘又到了。

Goodbye.

再見。

Bye-bye.

拜拜。

Six Minute English from the BBC.

來自 BBC 的六分鐘英語。