2025年06月六级第3套选词填空原文翻译及答案解析

No beast on Earth is tougher than the tiny tardigrade (缓步类动物). It can __26__ being frozen at -272°Celsius, being exposed to the vacuum of outer space and even being __27__ with 500 times the dose of X-rays that would kill a human. In other words, the creature can endure conditions that don't even exist on Earth. And researchers are looking to the microscopic animals to learn how to prepare humans and crops to handle the __28__ of space travel.

地球上没有比微小的缓步类动物更坚韧的动物了。它能在零下272摄氏度的冷冻下生存，能暴露在外部空间的真空中，甚至能承受足以杀死人类的500倍X射线剂量。换句话说，这种生物能够忍受地球上甚至不存在的条件。研究人员正试图从这些微观动物身上学习如何让人和作物为应对太空旅行的严酷条件做好准备。

The tardigrade's indestructibility stems from its __29__ to its environment—which may seem surprising, since it lives in __30__ comfortable places, like the cool, wet patches of moss (苔藓) that dot a garden wall.

缓步类动物的不可摧毁性源于它对环境的适应——这似乎令人惊讶，因为它生活在看似舒适的地方，比如点缀在花园墙壁上的凉爽、潮湿的苔藓斑块。

But it turns out that a tardigrade's damp, mossy home can dry out many times each year. Drying is pretty __31__ for most living things. It does damage to cells in some of the same ways that freezing, vacuum and radiation do. Tardigrades, however, have __32__ special strategies for dealing with these kinds of damage.

但事实证明，缓步类动物潮湿、苔藓般的家园每年可能会干涸多次。对大多数生物来说，干燥是相当灾难性的。它对细胞的损害方式与冷冻、真空和辐射有些相同。然而，缓步类动物已经进化出应对这类损害的特殊策略。

As a tardigrade dries out, its cells produce several strange proteins that are unlike anything found in other animals. In water, the proteins are shapeless. But as water disappears, the proteins self-assemble into long fibers that fill the cell's __33__. The fibers support the cell's membranes (细胞膜) and proteins, preventing them from breaking or __34__.

当缓步类动物干燥时，其细胞会产生几种奇怪的蛋白质，这些蛋白质与其他动物中发现的任何东西都不同。在水中，这些蛋白质是无形状的。但随着水分消失，这些蛋白质自行组装成长纤维，填充细胞内部。这些纤维支撑着细胞的膜和蛋白质，防止它们破裂或展开。

Emulating tardigrades could one day help humans colonize outer space. Food crops could be engineered to produce tardigrade proteins, allowing these organisms to grow more efficiently on spacecraft where levels of radiation are elevated compared with on Earth.

模仿缓步类动物可能有朝一日帮助人类殖民外太空。可以工程化改造粮食作物以产生缓步类动物蛋白质，使这些生物体在航天器上更有效地生长，因为那里的辐射水平比地球高。

So if humans ever succeed in reaching the stars, they may accomplish this __35__, in part, by standing on the shoulders of the tiny eight-legged endurance specialists in your backyard.

因此，如果人类成功到达恒星，他们可能部分地通过站在你后院里微小的八足耐力专家的肩膀上来完成这一壮举。