每日英语书摘（每日英语之--LIFE）

Life is a characteristic that distinguishes physical entities that have biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased (they have died), or because they never had such functions and are classified as inanimate. Various forms of life exist, such as plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria. The criteria can at times be ambiguous and may or may not define viruses, viroids, or potential synthetic life as "living". Biology is the science concerned with the study of life.

生命是一种特征，它将具有生物过程(如信号和自我维持过程)的物理实体与没有生物过程的物理实体区分开来，这要么是因为这些功能已经停止(它们已经死亡)，要么是因为它们从未具有这些功能，并被归为无生命。存在着各种各样的生命形式，如植物、动物、真菌、原生生物、古细菌和细菌。这些标准有时是模糊的，可能定义病毒、类病毒或潜在的合成生命为“活的”，也可能不定义。生物学是一门研究生命的科学。

There is currently no consensus regarding the definition of life. One popular definition is that organisms are open systems that maintain homeostasis, are composed of cells, have a life cycle, undergo metabolism, can grow, adaptto their environment, respond to stimuli, reproduce and evolve. However, several other definitions have been proposed, and there are some borderline cases of life, such as viruses or viroids.

关于生命的定义，目前尚无共识。一个流行的定义是，生物体是一个开放的系统，它保持体内平衡，由细胞组成，有一个生命周期，经历新陈代谢，能够生长，适应环境，对刺激做出反应，繁殖和进化。然而，也有一些其他的定义被提出，并且存在一些生命的边缘情况，例如病毒或类病毒