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.
该团队声称，这与生长在热液口附近的细菌构造不只是简单的相似。热液口是高耸的雉堞构造，形成于深海之下地壳板块边缘地带。在这里富含矿物质的过热海水经热液口从海床底部喷薄而出。
Such a find is doubly intriguing because hydrothermal vents are seen as a plausible candidate for the cradle oflife.
这项发现愈发显得引人注目，因为人们认为热液口也有可能是生命的摇篮之一。
Although the sorts of bacteriaapparentlyfound 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.
虽然帕皮诺博士和他的同事发现的细菌种类显然太过复杂，揭示的关于早期有机体的信息十分有限，但是热液口长期存在生命的依据为其理论形成有力支撑。
