In this video, we are going to be talking about one of the most fascinating and complex features of life on Earth, cells.

在本視頻中，我們將討論地球上生命最迷人、最複雜的特徵之一--細胞。

But before we do, I'd like to take us way back to when I was a little kid.

但在此之前，我想帶大家回到我小時候。

Now, I know that for me at least, I had a great time playing with toy building blocks and creating things out of them.

現在，我知道至少對我來說，玩玩具積木和用積木創造東西是我的一大樂趣。

I used blocks of different shapes and sizes to make all kinds of things like houses, cars, even spaceships and airplanes.

我用不同形狀和大小的積木製作各種東西，比如房子、汽車，甚至飛船和飛機。

You're probably thinking, what does this have to do with cells?

你可能會想，這和細胞有什麼關係？

Well, cells are considered the building blocks of life.

細胞被認為是生命的組成部分。

Like my blocks, cells can come in a variety of shapes and they have different features too.

就像我的積木一樣，細胞也有各種各樣的形狀和特徵。

They can also stand alone or they can come together to build something larger.

它們既可以單獨存在，也可以組合在一起，形成一個更大的整體。

So let's dive deeper into this fascinating topic of cells.

那麼，讓我們深入探討一下細胞這個引人入勝的話題吧。

So all living things or organisms like you, me, your pet dog, the birds in the sky, the basic units called cells.

是以，所有生物或有機體，如你、我、你的寵物狗、天空中的鳥兒，都是被稱為細胞的基本組織、部門。

Take this moss plant for example.

以這種苔蘚植物為例。

If we zoom way in, we can see that it's actually made up of many smaller units.

如果我們把鏡頭拉近，就會發現它實際上是由許多更小的單元組成的。

These units are cells.

這些單元就是細胞。

Each cell contains a flurry of activity as it works to carry out the functions that keep the organism alive.

每個細胞都活動頻繁，發揮著維持生物體生命的功能。

In fact, cells are the smallest unit that can carry out all the tasks necessary for use energy and interact with the things around them in their environment.

事實上，細胞是能夠執行所有必要任務以利用能量並與周圍環境中的事物相互作用的最小組織、部門。

These functions plus many others that cells carry out are what make life possible.

細胞的這些功能和許多其他功能使生命成為可能。

There are many different kinds of cells.

細胞有很多種。

For instance, take a look at these cells that make up an onion's outer skin or these really cool red blood cells or even these bacterial cells.

例如，看看這些構成洋蔥外皮的細胞，或者這些很酷的紅細胞，甚至這些細菌細胞。

This type of bacteria is called E.

這種細菌被稱為 E.A.。

coli, which you might have heard can be a safety hazard found in our food.

您可能聽說過大腸桿菌，它可能是食物中的一種安全隱患。

So cells are fascinating to look at, but we generally can't see them with our eyes alone.

是以，細胞的外觀令人著迷，但我們通常無法僅靠眼睛看到它們。

Most cells are so small that we need a microscope to see them.

大多數細胞都非常小，我們需要用顯微鏡才能看到它們。

In fact, all of these pictures of cells here were taken with the aid of microscopes.

事實上，這裡所有的細胞照片都是藉助顯微鏡拍攝的。

And something else that I find really cool is that some organisms are made up of only a single cell while others are made up of many cells.

還有一點我覺得很酷，那就是有些生物只有一個細胞，而有些生物則由許多細胞組成。

So organisms that are made up of one cell are called unicellular and organisms that are made up of many cells are called multicellular.

是以，由一個細胞組成的生物稱為單細胞生物，由多個細胞組成的生物稱為多細胞生物。

Uni telling us that there is only one cell and multi telling us that there are many cells.

單細胞告訴我們只有一個細胞，多細胞則告訴我們有許多細胞。

So an example of a unicellular organism would be the E.

是以，單細胞生物的一個例子就是 E.A.。

coli bacteria that I mentioned a minute ago.

我剛才提到的大腸桿菌。

Each bacterium is a single cell that's responsible for taking in nutrients, reproducing, and doing all the things that it needs to stay alive.

每個細菌都是一個單細胞，負責吸收養分、繁殖，並完成其生存所需的所有工作。

So an example of a multicellular organism would be you, me, or most any other organism that you can see with the naked eye.

是以，多細胞生物的例子就是你、我或其他大多數你能用肉眼看到的生物。

And the cells of multicellular organisms are often specialized to carry out specific functions.

而多細胞生物的細胞往往是專門用來執行特定功能的。

So for example, some cells help the organism absorb nutrients while others transmit information or defend against bacteria and viruses.

例如，一些細胞幫助生物體吸收營養，而另一些細胞則傳遞信息或抵禦細菌和病毒。

So going back to our comparison between building blocks and cells, specialized cells are like different building blocks of different sizes, shapes, and colors.

是以，回到積木和細胞之間的比較，特化細胞就像不同大小、形狀和顏色的積木。

And these different blocks can come together to build something larger like this airplane here.

這些不同的積木可以組合成更大的東西，比如這架飛機。

Similarly, cells with different structures and functions come together to make something larger, an organism like this adorable kitten right here.

同樣，具有不同結構和功能的細胞組合在一起，就會形成更大的生物體，就像這隻可愛的小貓。

So to sum up cells and organisms, today we learned that cells are the smallest unit of life.

是以，總結細胞和生物體，今天我們學習了細胞是生命的最小組織、部門。

We talked about how all organisms are made up of cells and that organisms can be So I hope that now you have a good understanding of cells and organisms as well as a new perspective about building blocks, not the toys, but the cells that make up life itself.

是以，我希望你們現在對細胞和生物體有了很好的瞭解，並對積木有了新的認識，不是玩具，而是構成生命本身的細胞。