Aesop’s Fables《伊索寓言》

張祖平

A new study has revealed that a tiny， water-living creature is likely to live until the end of the Earth. The near indestructible1 tardigrade2， also known as water bear， looks like a short caterpillar3 with eight legs. It is just one-tenth of a millimeter4 in size but has the physiological5 makeup to be able to survive in any extreme conditions. The microscopic6 water bear can survive without food for three decades. It can also exist in bitterly freezing temperatures of -272oC and in furnace-like7 temperatures of 150oC. Water bears can also survive the crushing pressure of deep oceans， the vacuum8 of outer space， nuclear war， global warming， or any other extreme meteorological9 event that would doom humans.

一項新的研究顯示，一種微小的水生生物很可能會一直活到地球滅亡之時。這種幾乎長生不死的緩步動物也被稱為水熊蟲，外觀與長著八條腿的毛蟲極為相似。雖然它只有十分之一毫米大小，但是它擁有能夠在最惡劣的條件下生存的生理構成。這種微小的水熊蟲能夠在沒有食物的情況下存活三十年。它能夠抵御-272oC低溫的酷寒和煉爐似的150oC高溫。它還能夠在深海下的巨大壓強下、外太空的真空中、核戰爭及全球變暖等條件下或者其他足以毀滅人類的極端氣象災害下生存。

Scientists say water bears are so hardy and resilient10 that the only thing that would wipe them out for good is if the Sun boils all the Earths oceans away. The study says this is likely to happen in several billion years from now. The new study states that complex life is very difficult to destroy and could exist on other planets. A researcher said： “Tardigrades are as close to indestructible as it gets on Earth， but it is possible that there are other resilient species examples elsewhere in the Universe.” He added， “There is a real case for looking for life on Mars and in other areas of the Solar System. If tardigrades are Earths most resilient species， who knows what else is out there？”

科學家說水熊蟲如此堅強、有耐力，只有太陽把地球上所有的海洋蒸發掉才能消滅它。該研究稱，這種情況很可能在今后的幾十億年里發生。這項新的研究顯示，復雜的生命是極難被摧毀的，它還能在其他星球上生存。一位研究者說：“緩步類動物在地球上難以毀滅，而很可能宇宙中還有其他類似的耐力極強的物種。”他補充說：“這是在火星和太陽系的其他地方尋找生命的實例。如果水熊蟲是地球上最有耐力的物種，誰知道在地球之外會有什么呢？”endprint