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And what they'll look for specifically in the soil is amino acids.
具体在土壤里要找的（成分）是氨基酸。
Amino acids, as you may know, are the building blocks of proteins.
正如你们所知，氨基酸是蛋白质的基础材料。
In fact, there are twenty standard amino acids involved in making proteins and lots more that aren't.
事实上，能形成蛋白质的标准氨基酸有20种，别的则不能。
And here's the important thing: amino acids are what we call handed.
重要的是：氨基酸具有手性（特征）。
They can exist in two forms, which are mirror images of each other like hands.
氨基酸有两种存在形式，这两种形式是彼此的镜像，就像手一样。
Right and left hands have the same number of fingers in the same order plus one thumb.
右手和左手都有相同数量的手指，顺序也一样，还有一个拇指。
But right and left hands are not the same; they are mirror images.
但右手和左手是不一样的；它们是镜像。
Well, like hands, amino acids can be right or left-handed.
就像手一样，氨基酸也可以是“右撇子”或“左撇子”。
And the twenty that make up the proteins on Earth are all left-handed.
地球上能形成蛋白质的20种氨基酸都是“左撇子”。
Now, one reason the M.O.A., the organic analyzer is so impressive is that it tests not just for the presence of amino acids but also for the handedness of amino acids.
M.O.A.，即有机分析仪如此让人惊叹的其中一个原因，是因为它不仅测出有没有氨基酸，还能测出氨基酸的手性。
If amino acids are found, it would be especially interesting if they show a prevalence of one type of handedness, either left, like amino acids on Earth, or right.
假如真的发现有氨基酸，且在氨基酸中一种手性显得特别流行，左手性（就像地球上的氨基酸）或右手性，这就变得很有意思了。
See, other physical processes in space, processes that don't involve living organisms, can create amino acids.
在太空中的其它物理过程，（即使是）没有生物体参与的过程，也能产生氨基酸。
But the ones synthesized through abiotic processes, which is to say not involving microorganisms, occur in equal numbers of right- and left-handed.
但其合成是非生物过程的（氨基酸），即没有微生物参与，会生成同样数量的“右撇子”和“左撇子”。
So, a prevalence of left-handed amino acids would indicate they were biological in origin, which would be amazing!
那么，“左撇子”氨基酸占大多数的话，就说明了这些氨基酸根源上说是具有生物性的，这就太棒了。
A prevalence of right-handed ones…well, that would be really amazing!
“右撇子”占大多数……这就更棒了！
Because the organisms that created them would be unlike anything we have on Earth, which produce only left-handed ones.
因为创造“右撇子”氨基酸的生物体和我们在地球上的所有生物体都不一样，地球上的生物体只会生成“左撇子”。
