这篇文章主要讲的是土星与地球最像，但是那的空气寒冷。土星上有液态甲烷，科学家想要确定这种液体能否转化成膜性混合物。在目前状况下还不能实现，但是科学家会继续研究。下面前程百利小编带大家看一下这篇托福听力背景材料中出现的生词，正在备考托福听力的同学可以参考一下。
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has a thick atmosphere. Clouds. Complex organic molecules(有机分子). NASA has called it "one of the most Earth-like worlds we have found to date." With one glaring(耀眼的) exception. "It's awfully cold down there. It's about 94 degrees Kelvin. Which means that water would be a rock."
Paulette Clancy, a chemical engineer (化学工程师)at Cornell University. At temperatures that cold—minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit(华氏摄氏度)—one of the most basic biological structures, the cell membrane(细胞膜), can't exist. Because to form, the oily membranes (油脂细胞膜)depend on the presence of liquid water.
That said, Titan does have plenty of liquid to go around—but it's liquid methane(液态甲烷). So Clancy and her colleagues used computer models to determine whether any molecules (分子)on Titan might mimic(模仿) the membrane-forming compounds here on Earth. Based on a catalog(目录) of organics observed by NASA's Cassini mission, they found a candidate: acrylonitrile(氰乙烯). Its internal electrical charge distribution(电荷分布) would allow it to self-assemble into membranes(细胞膜), just like phospholipids(磷脂质) do here on Earth. It's similarly flexible and stable. And there's a lot of it on Titan. The findings are in the journal Science Advances.
Of course just because a cell membrane could form, does not mean it will. And actual life is a good deal more complicated than just a membrane. Still, Clancy says we might do well to expand the search for life beyond just places with liquid water. "I think we tend to look for things that we know and understand. If we were more broad-minded we might find different kinds of life elsewhere. And maybe that would be fascinating too.”
疑难词汇：
Glaring adj. 耀眼的;瞪视的;炯炯的
Membrane n. 膜;薄膜;羊皮纸
Methane n. [有化] 甲烷;[能源] 沼气
Mimic vt. 模仿，摹拟n. 效颦者，模仿者;仿制品;小丑adj. 模仿的，模拟的;假装的
Acrylonitrile 聚丙烯
Phospholipids 磷脂质
好了，以上就是前程百利小编为大家整理的从天文学土星这篇托福听力背景材料中学单词的内容，希望在备考的路上助大家一臂之力。最后，小编祝大家在托福考试中取得好成绩！
您还可能关注：
