双语新闻：中国科学家将类似月球的土壤变成肥沃的农业土壤

If humans are to establish long-term bases on the moon, they will need food resources.

如果人类要在月球上建立长期基地，他们将需要食物资源。

In recent years, scientists have been taking steps toward making moon agriculture possible.

近年来，科学家们一直在采取措施使月球农业成为可能。

Researchers in China said this month that they have found a way to turn soil, that is similar to lunar soil, fertile. They found that introducing special bacteria into the soil can increase the amount of phosphorus, an important nutrient for plants.

中国的研究人员本月表示，他们已经找到了一种使类似月球土壤的土壤变得肥沃的方法。他们发现，向土壤中引入特殊细菌可以增加磷的含量，磷是植物的一种重要营养物质。

The Chinese scientists grew a plant that it is related to the tobacco plant in a laboratory in China. They used volcanic soil from the Changbai Mountains in Jilin province that is similar to moon soil, which scientists call lunar regolith. They treated the moon-like soil with three different kinds of bacteria. The researchers found that the plants raised in the bacteria-treated soil grew better than plants that grew in moon-like soil without the bacteria.

中国科学家在中国的一个实验室里种植了一种与烟草有关的植物。他们使用了来自吉林省长白山的火山土壤，这种土壤与月球土壤相似，科学家称之为月球风化层。他们用三种不同的细菌处理了类似月球的土壤。研究人员发现，在细菌处理过的土壤中生长的植物比在没有细菌的类似月球的土壤中生长的植物生长得更好。

The researchers said the bacteria made the soil more acidic. This permitted phosphate from minerals to dissolve, making the nutrient available to the plants.

研究人员说，细菌使土壤变得更酸。这使得矿物质中的磷酸盐得以溶解，为植物提供养分。

Researcher Xia Yitong of the China Agricultural University in Beijing was the lead writer of the study published in Communications Biology. Xia said the importance of these findings is that scientists may be able to use the bacteria in lunar regolith to grow crops in future greenhouses on the moon.

北京中国农业大学的研究员夏义通是发表在《通讯生物学》上的这项研究的主要作者。夏说，这些发现的重要性在于，科学家们可能能够利用月球风化层中的细菌在未来的月球温室中种植作物。

In a study published last year, researchers in the United States grew a flowering plant called Arabidopsis thaliana in small containers. Each container had a gram of moon soil collected during the NASA missions to the moon more than 50 years ago.

在去年发表的一项研究中，美国的研究人员在小容器中种植了一种名为拟南芥的开花植物。每个容器都有一克月球土壤，这些土壤是50多年前美国宇航局登月任务期间收集的。

Arabidopsis, also called thale cress, is a plant widely used in scientific research. In the earlier study, Arabidopsis did grow, but not as well in soil from the moon as it did in volcanic ash from Earth, which the researchers used for comparative purposes. Their study suggests that soil from the moon could become more fertile with improvements.

拟南芥，又称芥蓝，是一种广泛用于科学研究的植物。在早期的研究中，拟南芥确实生长了，但在月球土壤中的生长不如在地球火山灰中的生长，研究人员用地球火山灰进行比较。他们的研究表明，随着改良，月球土壤可能会变得更加肥沃。

The new research involved benth, or Nicotiana benthamiana, another plant often used in research.

这项新的研究涉及了另一种经常用于研究的植物——底叶烟叶。

In the most recent study, the scientists said they used volcanic material from the Changbai mountains to create soil with similar chemical and physical properties to lunar regolith.

在最近的研究中，科学家们表示，他们使用长白山的火山物质来制造具有与月球风化层相似的化学和物理性质的土壤。

The names of the three bacteria used in the study are: Bacillus mucilaginosus, Bacillus megaterium and Pseudomonas fluorescens. The researchers tested other bacteria as well, but those did not produce the same effects.

研究中使用的三种细菌的名称是:粘液芽孢杆菌、巨芽孢杆菌和荧光假单胞菌。研究人员还测试了其他细菌，但这些细菌没有产生同样的效果。

Xia said carrying food, oxygen, and water to people on the moon would be too costly. Xia added, "A greenhouse for plant cultivation on the moon could greatly reduce the need of Earth-moon transportation."

夏说，向月球上的人运送食物、氧气和水的成本太高了。夏补充说:“在月球上建造一个用于植物种植的温室可以大大减少地月运输的需求。”

A plant cultivation system on the moon could help meet long-term food and oxygen requirements for humans on the moon, Xia added. Plants produce oxygen from carbon dioxide in the process they use to create energy, called photosynthesis.

夏补充说，月球上的植物种植系统可以帮助满足月球上人类对食物和氧气的长期需求。植物在产生能量的过程中从二氧化碳中产生氧气，这一过程被称为光合作用。

Xia said other plans to grow food on the moon that do not require soil are more costly because they require materials to be transported from Earth.

夏说，其他在月球上种植不需要土壤的食物的计划成本更高，因为它们需要从地球运输材料。

Xia said his team's study met, "...the same goal [of plant cultivation] with much less consumption of carrying capability" compared to other plans.

夏说，他的团队的研究发现，“……与其他计划相比，同样的目标(植物种植)，承载能力的消耗要少得多。”