day 1 words and expressions
1. palaeontology 古生物学，化石学
2. interstellar 星际的
3. stromatolite 叠层
4. debut： n/ v. to perform or be introduced to the public for the first time: 初次登台
eg. The Broadway show debuted last year to great acclaim.
5. intrigue n/v
v. to interest someone a lot, especially by being strange, unusual, or mysterious: 引起兴趣
eg. Throughout history, people have been intrigued by the question of whether there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.
n. (the making of) a secret plan to do something, especially something that will harm another person:
eg. a tale of political intrigue
6. swathe 带子
7. basalt 玄武岩
8 outcrop 露出地面的岩层
9. quartz 石英
10. nodules: 结节
11. hematite 赤铁矿
12. filament 细丝
13. corkscrew 螺旋形的
14. hydrothermal 热液的
15. crenellated 有雉堞的
16. tectonic 地壳构造的
17. coiled 盘绕的
18. pore 毛孔
19. gradient 梯度
20. paleobiologist 古生物学家
21. one-off 一次性事物
22. microbe : 微生物
23. scrutiny: the careful and detailed examination of something in order to get information about it: 仔细审查
eg. The government's record will be subjected to/come under (close) scrutiny in the weeks before the election.
day 2：神句练习 & 思维导图
神句练习
1. The team contends that these bear more than a passing resemblance to the networks of bacteria that live in hydrothermal vents--towering, crenellated structures that form in the deep ocean above the boundaries between tectonic plates, where superheated mineral-laden water spurts up from beneath the seabed.
帕皮诺教授及其团队认为他们发现的岩石与生活在热液喷口的细菌群落在结构上的相似之处绝非偶然。热液喷口本身是高耸、有雉堞的结构，这些结构形成于地表各构造板块分界出上部深海，是过热的海水从海底喷射出来冷却之后形成。滚烫的海水里还携带着大量矿物质。
2. Such a find is doubly intriguing because hydrothermal vents are seen as a plausible candidate for the cradle of life.
帕皮诺教授的发现更是激发了人们的兴趣因为热液喷口被认为是最有可能的生命起源之地。
3. Although the sorts of bacteria apparently found by Dr. Papineau and his colleagues are too complicated to reveal much about the very earliest organisms, the suggestion that hydrothermal vents have played host to life for so long is a strike in the theory’s favor.
帕皮诺教授团队发现的多种细菌都太过复杂，显然不能准确反映出最早生命形式的特点。但是热液喷口中一直存在着生命，这一可能性可以支持帕皮诺教授的理论。
思维导图
day 3
小结
The article mainly talks about when does life begin, which scientists are less surer about, compared with the time that the Earth came into being. The evidence for stromatolites last year suggests life began with photosynthesising bacteria 3.7 bilion years ago. But accordign to the evidence from the rocks found by Dr. Papineau and his team, which resembles the networks of bacteria living in hydrothermal vent, a plausible candidate for the cradle of life, life might begin even earlier, between 3.8 and 4.3 bilion years ago. Although the evidence is not conclusive, the finding is rather intruging. If confirmed, it can bring about other important implications. The earlist life was sustained not by photosynthesis but by the energy from the reactions between the dissolved chemicals that well up from the crust since sunlight could not penetrate so deep in the oceans. Alongside that, if the Earth began host life within its early stage of formation is firmed, it wll futher cause the argumentation about whether life is an inevitable and common consequence of the law of the chemistry or a lucky one-off only on Earth.
最开始只发现全文生词太多了，读不懂，有点蒙。后来经过一个一个环节的练习，逐渐掌握了文章主要脉络。听完笃师的讲解之后，疑惑基本疏通。然后做了一个英文的小结，加深一下印象，顺便检验一下自己是否确实已明白文章的要点。感觉收获颇丰。每天领取任务会有一丝期待，打卡的时候满满的成就感。再接再厉嗷嗷。