1 . In a tiny, lab-grown garden, the first seeds ever sown in lunar dirt have come up. This small crop, planted in samples (样本) returned by Apollo tasks, offers hope that astronauts could someday grow their own food on the moon.
But plants planted in lunar dirt grew more slowly and were thinner than others grown in volcanic(火山的) material from Earth, researchers report 12 May in Communications Biology. That finding suggests that farming on the moon would take a lot more than a gardening skills.
“Ah! It’s so cool!” says a botanist (植物学家) Richard Barker. “Ever since these samples came, back, there’s been botanists that wanted to know what would happen if you grew plants in them,” says Barker, who wasn’t involved in the study. “But everyone knows those precious samples are priceless, and so you can understand why NASA was unwilling to publish them.”
The team planted seeds in tiny pots that each held about a gram of dirt. Four pots were filled with samples returned by Apollo 11, another four with Apollo 12 samples and a final four with dirt from Apollo 17. Another 16 pots were filled with earthly volcanic material used in past experiments to copy moon dirt. All were grown under LED lights in the lab and watered with nutrients.
“Nothing really compared to when we first saw the seedlings as they were coming up in the lunar dirt,” says Anna-Lisa Paul, a plant biologist. “That was a moving experience. We could not speak when we watched the very first plants growing in unique materials.”
Plants grew in all the pots of lunar dirt, but none grew as well as those planted in earthly material. “The healthiest ones were just smaller,” Paul says. The moon-grown plants were tiny. Faced with that, explorers need to do more research to let plants grow strongly on the moon. I believe we will succeed in time.
1. What does the research on plants grown in the lunar dirt show?| A．Growing foods on the moon is necessary. |
| B．Skills are the key to farming on the moon. |
| C．Farming’ on the moon needs many factors. |
| D．Astronauts want to grow food on their own. |
| A．Some plants need planting in special soils. |
| B．Botanists are interested in studying new things. |
| C．It is a selfish action for NASA to keep the secret. |
| D．The samples brought from the moon are valuable. |
| A．It is practical. | B．It is hopeful. |
| C．It only attracts astronauts. | D．It challenges most experts. |
| A．The First Plant Has Been Grown in Moon Dirt |
| B．Astronauts Have Brought Things Worth Spreading |
| C．Botanists Have Found a New Kind of Plant Lately |
| D．Farming on the Moon Has Been Accepted by People |
