離開
進入中英對照讀新聞》Scientists grow plants in lunar dirt, next stop moon 科學家從月球土壤中種出植物 下一步登月種植
美國學者在月球土壤中成功種植阿拉伯芥。（路透檔案照）
◎孫宇青
《中英對照讀新聞》
Scientists grow plants in lunar dirt, next stop moon
科學家從月球土壤中種出植物 下一步登月種植
For the first time, scientists have grown plants in soil from the moon collected by NASA’s Apollo astronauts.
科學家從美國航太總署阿波羅登月計畫太空人收集的月球土壤中，成功種出植物，這是史上首見。
Researchers wanted to see if the moon soil could be used to grow food by the next generation of lunar explorers. The results stunned them.
研究員希望了解月球土壤能否被下一個世代的月球探索者用於栽培糧食作物，而實驗結果令他們大為驚喜。
"Holy cow. Plants actually grow in lunar stuff. Are you kidding me?" said Robert Ferl of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
佛羅里達大學食物和農業科學研究所的羅伯特‧費爾讚嘆：「我的天啊，月球土壤居然真的長出植物，不是在說笑吧？」
Ferl and his colleagues planted thale cress in moon soil returned by Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and other moonwalkers, and all of the seeds sprouted.
費爾和同事從阿波羅11號計畫的尼爾‧阿姆斯壯、伯茲‧艾德林和其他登月者帶回的土壤中栽種阿拉伯芥，而且所有種子都發芽了。
The downside was that after the first week, the coarseness and other properties of the lunar soil stressed the small, flowering weeds so much that they grew more slowly than seedlings planted in fake moon dirt from Earth. Most of the moon plants ended up stunted.（AP）
壞消息是，1週過後，月球土壤的粗糙和其他特性，讓這種小型開花植物承受極大壓力，其生長速度比人造月球土中的幼苗還慢，且大多數發育不良。（美聯社）
新聞辭典
stun：動詞，使震驚。例句：The divorce of the celebrity couple has stunned the world.（這對明星夫妻離婚的消息震驚全世界。）
stunt：動詞，阻礙發育。例句：Lack of enough sleep will stunt a child.（缺乏足夠睡眠會阻礙小孩成長。）
sprout：動詞，發芽。例句：It takes about three weeks for the seeds to sprout.（這些種子大概3週才會抽芽。）
