在太空种辣椒

Ashley Strickland

近年来，科学家一直在研究如何在太空种菜，并取得了一些成绩。第一批在太空种植的辣椒也迎来了收获。

主题语境：太空种植篇幅：347词建议用时：7分钟

Humans have been living and working onthe space station for 20 years. Most of their mealsare prepackaged， though sometimes astronautsreceive fresh treats from resupply missions. Thelonger that packaged food is stored， the more itloses nutrients like vitamin C and vitamin K.

Astronauts have successfully grown 10different crops on the space station since 2015 and had the chance to sample each one. TheInternational Space Station hosted a taco party for astronauts on Friday as they celebratedthe harvest of the first chile peppers grown in space. The crew finally had a chance to tastethe peppers after initially kicking off the plant experiment on the space station in July.

Plant Habitat?04 is one of the most complex plant experiments on the orbiting laboratoryto date because peppers take much longer to grow than the previous experiments，which included various types of lettuce， flowering zinnias （百日菊） and even radishes（萝卜）.

After growing for four months， the peppers were harvested on Friday by NASA astronautMark Vande Hei. Next， they were cleaned before the crew settled in to taste some ofthe red and green chiles and take surveys about the flavor and texture.

Peppers provide a great source of vitamin C as well as other key nutrients. Pepperplants self?pollinate， so they are easy to grow， and they are a pick?and?eat crop that doesnthave to be cooked. They also contain low microbial （微生物的） levels， so they are safe toeat raw.

Forty?eight pepper seeds launched in a carrier on a resupply mission to the space stationin June. The carrier was placed inside the labs Advanced Plant Habitat， which isabout the size of a microwave. The habitat can be monitored and controlled from KennedySpace Center in Florida， including watering， lighting and turning on fans to promote pollen（花粉） transfer.

A side effect of life in zero gravity is that astronauts often lose some of their tasteand smell， so spicy or well?seasoned foods are a favorite. Adding fresh greens or pep?pers to the menu allows astronauts to liven up their regular meals.

LanguageStudy

Difficult sentence in the text

A side effect of life in zero gravity is that astronauts often lose some of their taste andsmell， so spicy or well?seasoned foods are a favorite. Adding fresh greens or peppers to themenu allows astronauts to liven up their regular meals. 失重生活的一个副作用是宇航员经常会失去一些味觉和嗅觉，所以辛辣或調味丰富的食物是他们的最爱。在菜单中加入新鲜的蔬菜或辣椒可以让宇航员的日常饮食更有活力。

【点石成金】that引导的是表语从句；Adding fresh greens or peppers在句中作主语，谓语动词用第三人称单数。