中國女學者首登NASA發佈會

Dong Yaxue, a Chinese researcher working for NASA said she finds great pleasure in both exploring Mars and eating hot pot.

在美國國家航空航天局工作的華人研究員董亞雪，接受採訪時表示她十分熱愛探索火星與吃火鍋。

Born in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, 30-year-old Dong is currently a member of NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) team.

董亞雪出生於中國西南部四川省成都，30歲的她現在是美國國家航空航天局馬文號（火星大氣與揮發演化）研究團隊的成員。

On Nov 5, Dong was invited to speak at a NASA news conference, in which the organization said the atmosphere on Mars can be stripped by solar winds. She is the first Chinese female scientist to participate in a NASA news conference.

11月5號，董亞雪被邀請在美國國家航空航天局新聞發佈會發言，美國國家航空航天局表示火星大氣層在太陽風下的作用下逐漸消散。她是中國首位工作於美國國家航空航天局的女科學家。

Dong graduated from Chengdu's Shishi High School in 2003 and was later admitted by University of Science and Technology of China. She got her master's and doctor's degree in astrophysics from Rice University in the United States.

董亞雪2003年畢業於成都石室中學，隨後考入中國科學技術大學。並於美國萊斯大學獲得天體物理學碩士與博士學位。

Last year, Dong joined the Laboratory for Atmospherics and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado and began working for MAVEN after handing in her resume and taking part in a phone interview. Now her main job is to analyze satellite data and compare the results to theoretical predictions.

去年，董亞雪加入了美國科羅拉多大學大氣與空間物理實驗室，通過投簡歷和電話面試之後，她開始了馬文號的工作。現在她主要的工作是分析衛星數據並和理論預測進行比較。

"The findings released during the news conference are very important and may change the content of school textbooks," Dong told the Chengdu Business Daily. "It has also provided new information and guidance for future Mars exploration."

董亞雪向成都商報說道：“新聞發佈會上公佈的調查結果非常重要,可能會改變教科書的內容。” “這也將爲未來的火星探索提供新的信息與導向。”

While working in the US, Dong said that she feels as if she had never left Chengdu. She usually comes back every one or two years.

雖然在美國工作，但是她說道她似乎從未感到離開過成都，她時常一兩年回來一次。

"No matter what job I do, I'm always an ordinary girl," said Dong, adding that she is a fan of Harry Potter and loves hot pot, Maocai, and Danhonggao, all famous foods from Chengdu.

“無論我做什麼工作，我一直是個普通的女孩。”董說道，並補充道她是哈利波特的粉絲，並熱愛所有的成都名吃，火鍋，冒菜與蛋烘糕。

"Indeed, I'm only one of the many postdoctoral researchers in this field. This is the first time that my job got so much attention."

“事實上,我只是這個領域中的一位博士後研究人員。這是第一次,我的工作受到這麼多的關注。”

He Jianming, Dong's high school teacher, said that physics is difficult for many girls but not for Dong Yaxue. As a middle school student, she won first prize in the national physics contest.

董亞雪的高中老師何建明說道許多女生感到物理難學，但是她不會。中學時代，她獲得國家物理競賽一等獎。

He said Dong was not the top student in her school. "She never got first in the class, usually ranking tenth to twentieth. But her scores of all subjects were even."

他說道她並不是學校最拔尖的學生。“她沒有考過第一，通常排在第10到20名。但是她各科成績都特別均衡。”