Lesson 54 Instinct or cleverness? 是本能還是機(jī)智

　　We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them asunnecessary creatures that do more harm than good. We continually wage war onthem, for they contaminate our food, carry diseases, or devour our crops. Theysting or bite without provocation; they fly uninvited into our rooms on summernights, or beat ageist our lighted windows. We live in dread not only ofunpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless one like moths.Reading about them increases our understanding without dispelling our fears.Knowing that the industrious ant lives in a highly organized society doesnothing to prevent us from being filled with revulsion when we find hordes ofthem crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch. No matter how much welike honey, or how much we have read about the uncanny sense of direction whichbees possess, we have a horror of being stung. Most of our fears areunreasonable, but they are impossible to erase. At the same time, however,insects are strangely fascinating. We enjoy reading about them, especially whenwe find that, like the praying mantis, they lead perfectly horrible lives. Weenjoy staring at them, entranced as they go about their business, unaware of our presence. Who has not stood in awe at the sight of a spiderpouncing on a fly, or a column of ants triumphantly bearing home an enormousdead beetle?

　　Last summer I spent days in the garden watching thousands of antscrawling up the trunk of my prize peach tree. The tree has grown against a warmwall on a sheltered side of the house. I am especially proud of it, not onlybecause it has survived several severe winters, but because it occasionallyproduces luscious peaches. During the summer, I noticed that the leaves of thetree were beginning to wither. Clusters of tiny insects called aphides were tobe found on the underside of the leaves. They were visited by a large colony ofants which obtained a sort of honey from them. I immediately embarked on anexperiment which, even though if failed to get rid of the ants, kept mefascinated for twenty-four hours. I bound the base of the tree with stickytape, making it impossible for the ants to reach the aphides. The tape was sostick that they did not dare to cross it. For a long time. I watched themscurrying around the base of the tree in bewilderment. I even went out atmidnight with a torch and noted with satisfaction that the antswere still swarming around the sticky tape without being able to do anythingabout it. I got up early next morning hoping to find that the ants had given upin despair. Instead, I saw that they had discovered a new route. They wereclimbing up the wall of the house and then on to the leaves of the tree. Irealized sadly that I had been completely defeated by their ingenuity. The antshad been quick to find an answer to my thoroughly unscientific methods!

　　我們自幼就在對(duì)昆蟲(chóng)的懼怕中長(zhǎng)大。我們把昆蟲(chóng)當(dāng)作害多益少的無(wú)用東西。人類(lèi)不斷同昆蟲(chóng)斗爭(zhēng)，因?yàn)槔ハx(chóng)弄臟我們的食物，傳播疾病，吞噬莊稼。它們無(wú)緣無(wú)故地又叮又咬;夏天的晚上，它們未經(jīng)邀請(qǐng)便飛到我們房間里，或者對(duì)著露出亮光的窗戶亂撲亂撞。我們?cè)谌粘Ｉ钪?，不但憎惡如蜘蛛、黃蜂之類(lèi)令人討厭的昆蟲(chóng)，而且憎惡并無(wú)大害的飛蛾等。閱讀有關(guān)昆蟲(chóng)的書(shū)能增加我們對(duì)它們的了解，卻不能消除我們的恐懼的心理。即使知道勤奮的螞蟻生活具有高度組織性的社會(huì)里，當(dāng)看到大群螞蟻在我們精心準(zhǔn)備的午間野餐上爬行時(shí)，我們也無(wú)法抑制對(duì)它們的反感。不管我們多么愛(ài)吃蜂蜜，或讀過(guò)多少關(guān)于蜜蜂具有神秘的識(shí)別方向的靈感的書(shū)，我們?nèi)匀皇趾ε卤环潋?。我們的恐懼大部分是沒(méi)有道理的，但去無(wú)法消除。同時(shí)，不知為什么昆蟲(chóng)又是迷人的。我們喜歡看有關(guān)昆蟲(chóng)的書(shū)，尤其是當(dāng)我們了解螳螂等過(guò)著一種令人生畏的生活時(shí)，就更加愛(ài)讀有關(guān)昆蟲(chóng)的書(shū)了。我們喜歡入迷地看它們做事，它們不知道我們就在它們身邊。當(dāng)看到蜘蛛撲向一只蒼蠅時(shí)，一隊(duì)螞蟻抬著一只巨大的死甲蟲(chóng)凱旋歸時(shí)，誰(shuí)能不感到敬畏呢?

　　去年夏天，我花了好幾天時(shí)間站在花園里觀察成千只螞蟻爬上我那棵心愛(ài)的桃樹(shù)的樹(shù)干。那棵樹(shù)是靠著房子有遮擋的一面暖墻生長(zhǎng)的。我為這棵樹(shù)感到特別自豪，不僅因?yàn)樗冗^(guò)了幾個(gè)寒冬終于活了下來(lái)，而且還因?yàn)樗袝r(shí)結(jié)出些甘甜的桃子來(lái)。到了夏天，我發(fā)現(xiàn)樹(shù)葉開(kāi)始枯萎，結(jié)果在樹(shù)葉背面找到成串的叫作蚜蟲(chóng)小蟲(chóng)子。蚜蟲(chóng)遭到一窩螞蟻的攻擊，螞蟻從它們身上可以獲得一種蜜。我當(dāng)即動(dòng)手作了一項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)，這項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)盡管沒(méi)有使我擺脫這些螞蟻，卻使我著迷了24小時(shí)。我用一條膠帶把桃樹(shù)底部包上，不讓螞蟻接近蚜蟲(chóng)。膠帶極粘，螞蟻不敢從上面爬過(guò)。在很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間里，我看見(jiàn)螞蟻圍著大樹(shù)底部來(lái)回轉(zhuǎn)悠，不知所措。半夜，我還拿著電筒來(lái)到花園里，滿意地發(fā)現(xiàn)那些螞蟻還圍著膠帶團(tuán)團(tuán)轉(zhuǎn)。無(wú)能為力。第二天早上，我起床后希望看見(jiàn)螞蟻已因無(wú)望而放棄了嘗試，結(jié)果卻發(fā)現(xiàn)它們又找到一條新的路徑。它們正在順著房子的外墻往上爬，然后爬上樹(shù)葉。我懊喪地感到敗在了足智多謀的螞蟻的手下。螞蟻已很快找到了相應(yīng)的對(duì)策，來(lái)對(duì)付我那套完全不科學(xué)的辦法!

　　Lesson 54 Instinct or cleverness? 是本能還是機(jī)智

　　We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them asunnecessary creatures that do more harm than good. We continually wage war onthem, for they contaminate our food, carry diseases, or devour our crops. Theysting or bite without provocation; they fly uninvited into our rooms on summernights, or beat ageist our lighted windows. We live in dread not only ofunpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless one like moths.Reading about them increases our understanding without dispelling our fears.Knowing that the industrious ant lives in a highly organized society doesnothing to prevent us from being filled with revulsion when we find hordes ofthem crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch. No matter how much welike honey, or how much we have read about the uncanny sense of direction whichbees possess, we have a horror of being stung. Most of our fears areunreasonable, but they are impossible to erase. At the same time, however,insects are strangely fascinating. We enjoy reading about them, especially whenwe find that, like the praying mantis, they lead perfectly horrible lives. Weenjoy staring at them, entranced as they go about their business, unaware of our presence. Who has not stood in awe at the sight of a spiderpouncing on a fly, or a column of ants triumphantly bearing home an enormousdead beetle?

　　Last summer I spent days in the garden watching thousands of antscrawling up the trunk of my prize peach tree. The tree has grown against a warmwall on a sheltered side of the house. I am especially proud of it, not onlybecause it has survived several severe winters, but because it occasionallyproduces luscious peaches. During the summer, I noticed that the leaves of thetree were beginning to wither. Clusters of tiny insects called aphides were tobe found on the underside of the leaves. They were visited by a large colony ofants which obtained a sort of honey from them. I immediately embarked on anexperiment which, even though if failed to get rid of the ants, kept mefascinated for twenty-four hours. I bound the base of the tree with stickytape, making it impossible for the ants to reach the aphides. The tape was sostick that they did not dare to cross it. For a long time. I watched themscurrying around the base of the tree in bewilderment. I even went out atmidnight with a torch and noted with satisfaction that the antswere still swarming around the sticky tape without being able to do anythingabout it. I got up early next morning hoping to find that the ants had given upin despair. Instead, I saw that they had discovered a new route. They wereclimbing up the wall of the house and then on to the leaves of the tree. Irealized sadly that I had been completely defeated by their ingenuity. The antshad been quick to find an answer to my thoroughly unscientific methods!

　　我們自幼就在對(duì)昆蟲(chóng)的懼怕中長(zhǎng)大。我們把昆蟲(chóng)當(dāng)作害多益少的無(wú)用東西。人類(lèi)不斷同昆蟲(chóng)斗爭(zhēng)，因?yàn)槔ハx(chóng)弄臟我們的食物，傳播疾病，吞噬莊稼。它們無(wú)緣無(wú)故地又叮又咬;夏天的晚上，它們未經(jīng)邀請(qǐng)便飛到我們房間里，或者對(duì)著露出亮光的窗戶亂撲亂撞。我們?cè)谌粘Ｉ钪校坏鲪喝缰┲?、黃蜂之類(lèi)令人討厭的昆蟲(chóng)，而且憎惡并無(wú)大害的飛蛾等。閱讀有關(guān)昆蟲(chóng)的書(shū)能增加我們對(duì)它們的了解，卻不能消除我們的恐懼的心理。即使知道勤奮的螞蟻生活具有高度組織性的社會(huì)里，當(dāng)看到大群螞蟻在我們精心準(zhǔn)備的午間野餐上爬行時(shí)，我們也無(wú)法抑制對(duì)它們的反感。不管我們多么愛(ài)吃蜂蜜，或讀過(guò)多少關(guān)于蜜蜂具有神秘的識(shí)別方向的靈感的書(shū)，我們?nèi)匀皇趾ε卤环潋?。我們的恐懼大部分是沒(méi)有道理的，但去無(wú)法消除。同時(shí)，不知為什么昆蟲(chóng)又是迷人的。我們喜歡看有關(guān)昆蟲(chóng)的書(shū)，尤其是當(dāng)我們了解螳螂等過(guò)著一種令人生畏的生活時(shí)，就更加愛(ài)讀有關(guān)昆蟲(chóng)的書(shū)了。我們喜歡入迷地看它們做事，它們不知道我們就在它們身邊。當(dāng)看到蜘蛛撲向一只蒼蠅時(shí)，一隊(duì)螞蟻抬著一只巨大的死甲蟲(chóng)凱旋歸時(shí)，誰(shuí)能不感到敬畏呢?

　　去年夏天，我花了好幾天時(shí)間站在花園里觀察成千只螞蟻爬上我那棵心愛(ài)的桃樹(shù)的樹(shù)干。那棵樹(shù)是靠著房子有遮擋的一面暖墻生長(zhǎng)的。我為這棵樹(shù)感到特別自豪，不僅因?yàn)樗冗^(guò)了幾個(gè)寒冬終于活了下來(lái)，而且還因?yàn)樗袝r(shí)結(jié)出些甘甜的桃子來(lái)。到了夏天，我發(fā)現(xiàn)樹(shù)葉開(kāi)始枯萎，結(jié)果在樹(shù)葉背面找到成串的叫作蚜蟲(chóng)小蟲(chóng)子。蚜蟲(chóng)遭到一窩螞蟻的攻擊，螞蟻從它們身上可以獲得一種蜜。我當(dāng)即動(dòng)手作了一項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)，這項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)盡管沒(méi)有使我擺脫這些螞蟻，卻使我著迷了24小時(shí)。我用一條膠帶把桃樹(shù)底部包上，不讓螞蟻接近蚜蟲(chóng)。膠帶極粘，螞蟻不敢從上面爬過(guò)。在很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間里，我看見(jiàn)螞蟻圍著大樹(shù)底部來(lái)回轉(zhuǎn)悠，不知所措。半夜，我還拿著電筒來(lái)到花園里，滿意地發(fā)現(xiàn)那些螞蟻還圍著膠帶團(tuán)團(tuán)轉(zhuǎn)。無(wú)能為力。第二天早上，我起床后希望看見(jiàn)螞蟻已因無(wú)望而放棄了嘗試，結(jié)果卻發(fā)現(xiàn)它們又找到一條新的路徑。它們正在順著房子的外墻往上爬，然后爬上樹(shù)葉。我懊喪地感到敗在了足智多謀的螞蟻的手下。螞蟻已很快找到了相應(yīng)的對(duì)策，來(lái)對(duì)付我那套完全不科學(xué)的辦法!