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

在美国国家航空航天局工作的华人研究员董亚雪，接受采访时表示她十分热爱探索火星与吃火锅。

Born in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, 30-year-old Dong is currently a member of NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile¹ Evolution) team.

董亚雪出生于中国西南部四川省成都，30岁的她现在是美国国家航空航天局马文号（火星大气与挥发演化）研究团队的成员。

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号，董亚雪被邀请在美国国家航空航天局新闻发布会发言，美国国家航空航天局表示火星大气层在太阳风下的作用下逐渐消散。她是中国首位工作于美国国家航空航天局的女科学家。

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.

董亚雪2003年毕业于成都石室中学，随后考入中国科学技术大学。并于美国莱斯大学获得天体物理学硕士与博士学位。

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 analyze² satellite data and compare the results to theoretical predictions.

去年，董亚雪加入了美国科罗拉多大学大气与空间物理实验室，通过投简历和电话面试之后，她开始了马文号的工作。现在她主要的工作是分析卫星数据并和理论预测进行比较。

"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."

董亚雪向成都商报说道：“新闻发布会上公布的调查结果非常重要,可能会改变教科书的内容。” “这也将为未来的火星探索提供新的信息与导向。”

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.

虽然在美国工作，但是她说道她似乎从未感到离开过成都，她时常一两年回来一次。

"No matter what job I do, I'm always an ordinary girl," said Dong, adding that she is a fan of Harry³ Potter and loves hot pot, Maocai, and Danhonggao, all famous foods from Chengdu.

“无论我做什么工作，我一直是个普通的女孩。”董说道，并补充道她是哈利波特的粉丝，并热爱所有的成都名吃，火锅，冒菜与蛋烘糕。

"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."

“事实上,我只是这个领域中的一位博士后研究人员。这是第一次,我的工作受到这么多的关注。”

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.

董亚雪的高中老师何建明说道许多女生感到物理难学，但是她不会。中学时代，她获得国家物理竞赛一等奖。

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."

他说道她并不是学校最拔尖的学生。“她没有考过第一，通常排在第10到20名。但是她各科成绩都特别均衡。”