高频通用词 第 285 级 · 阅读短文

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A young researcher took soil samples from a farm sprayed with herbicide for years.一位年轻研究者从一座多年喷洒「除草剂」的农场取了土壤样本。 The substrate there was predominantly clay, and it tested strongly acidic.那里的「基底」以黏土为主，测出来酸性很强。 An old axiom says such harsh chemistry should leave an empty matrix of dead clay, down to its very marrow.有一条古老的「公理」说，这样强烈的化学作用会让土地只剩一层死黏土的「基质」，一直深入到「骨髓」。

Her first counts, however, seemed to confound that expectation.但她最初的计数似乎「推翻了」那个预期。 One sample returned a null result, and the rest were unstable.有一个样本给出了「无效的」结果，其余样本的读数也「不稳定」。 They drifted each time she ran the same test again.每次她重做同一个测试，数字都会漂移。

Back in the lab, she studied how the herbicide might affect the sperm of earthworms.回到实验室后，她研究了这种「除草剂」会怎样影响蚯蚓的「精子」。 Reproduction is often the first thing to suffer when the soil changes.土壤一变，繁殖往往是最先受影响的。 She also compared the treated plots with an untreated field nearby.她还把处理过的地块与附近一块未处理的地做了比较。 The difference was smaller than she had expected.差异比她预想的要小。

So far the work has raised more questions than answers.到目前为止，这项工作带来的问题比答案更多。 She suspects that the acid itself is not the whole story.她怀疑，酸本身并不是故事的全部。 Next spring she will take samples from a second farm.明年春天她将从第二座农场取样。 Good science, she says, is mostly patience.她说，好的科学多半靠耐心。