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Life finds a way. It seems wherever we look, microbes are there, whether high in the sky or more than a kilometer deep underground.
生命自有其法。在我们所能观察到的所有地方，无论是高空中还是地下一千米深处似乎都有微生物的身影。
And now scientists have found signs of life more than 11 kilometers beneath the ocean's surface. Even at that crushing, frigid depth, there's eating going on. That's what a study in the journal Nature Geoscience finds.
目前科学家在海平面以下11千米的地方发现了生命的迹象。即使是在如此压迫而又严寒的深处，觅食活动仍在继续。这项研究发表在《自然地球科学》期刊上。
A deep-sea lander with oxygen sensors found signs of microbial metabolism at the Challenger Deep, the oceans' deepest spot. A video camera also saw shrimp-like creatures called amphipods busy scavenging. And sediment samples brought carefully to the surface were found to contain bacteria and archaea.
一个装有氧传感器的深海探测器在海洋最深处——挑战者深渊发现了微生物新陈代谢的迹象。摄像机也拍摄到了一种形似虾类的甲壳生物正忙着捕食。科学家还发现从深海小心翼翼带到地表的沉积物样本里含有细菌和古代细菌。
The scientists suggest that life this deep is possible because the region is a nutrient trap—the researchers found that the sediment at Challenger Deep is richer in food supplies than sediment at more shallow depths nearby.
科学家认为生命之所以能存在于这样的深度，是因为该地区富含营养物质——研究人员发现挑战者深渊的沉积物比附近较浅深处的食物供应更充足。
The research also shows that James Cameron was flat out wrong during his pioneering dive to this dark depth last year. He opined that he was looking out on a "sterile, almost desert-like place" but hardly anything on Earth is sterile, including deserts. That may hold true for Mars as well. Whatever the conditions, don't bet against the microbes.
研究人员还表示，去年詹姆斯·卡梅隆开创性地潜入这个深邃的地方，他对这里的看法是完全错误的。他认为他看到的是“像沙漠一样的不毛之地”，然而即使是在沙漠也不可能完全没有生命。也许这一观点也适用于火星。无论在什么条件下，都不要轻视微生物的生存能力。
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