Lesson 54 Instinct or cleverness?
We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them as unnecessary creatures that do more harm than good. Man continually wages war on them, for they contaminate his food, carry diseases, or devour his crops. They sting or bite without provocation; they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights, or beat agaist our lighted windows. We live in dread not only of unpleasant 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 does nothing to prevent us from being filled with revulsion when we find hordes of them crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch. No matter how much we like honey, or how much we have read about the uncanny sense of direction which bees possess, we have a horror of being stung. Most of our fears are unreasonable, but they are impossible to erase. At the same time, however, insects are strangely fascinating. We enjoy reading about them, especially when we find that, like the praying mantis, they lead perfectly horrible lives. We enjoy staring at them, entranced as they go about their business, unaware (we hope) of our presence. Who has not stood in awe at the sight of a spider pouncing on a fly, or a column of ants triumphantly bearing home an enormous dead beetle?
Last summer I spent days in the garden watching thousands of ants crawling up the trunk of my prize peach tree. The tree has grown against a warm wall on a sheltered side of the house. I am especially proud of it, not only because it has survived several severe winters, but because it occasionally produces luscious peaches. During the summer, I noticed tat the leaves of the tree were beginning to wither. Clusters of tin insects called aphids were to be found on the underside of the leaves. They were visited by a large colony of ants which obtained a sort of honey from them. I immediately embarked on an experiment which, even though if failed to get rid of the ants, kept me fascinated for twenty-four hours. I bound the base of the tree with sticky tape, making it impossible for the ants to reach the aphids. The tape was so stick that they did not dare to cross it. For a long time. I watched them scurrying around the base of the tree in bewilderment. I even went out at midnight with a torch and noted with satisfaction (and surprise) that the ants were still swarming around the sticky tape without being able to do anything about it. I got up early next morning hoping to find that the ants had given up in despair. Instead, I saw that they had discovered a new route. They were climbing up the wall of the house and then on to the leaves of the tree. I realized sadly that I had been completely defeated by their ingenuity. The ants had been quick to find an answer to my thoroughly unscientific methods!
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
insect
n. 昆蟲
wage
v. 進行（鬥爭）
contaminate
v. 弄髒
provocation
n. 惹怒
spider
n. 蜘蛛
wasp
n. 黃蜂
moth
n. 飛蛾
ant
n. 螞蟻
revulsion
n. 厭惡
horde
n. 群
uncanny
adj. 神秘的，不可思議的
erase
v. 擦，抹去
praying mantis
螳螂
entranced
adj. 出神的
beetle
n. 甲蟲
sheltered
adj. 傷不著的，無危險的
luscious
adj. 甘美的
cluster
n. 一簇
aphid
n. 蚜蟲
underside
n. 底麵，下側
colony
n. 一群
sticky
adj. 粘的
scurry
v. 小步跑
swarm
v. 聚集
ingenuity
n. 機靈
參考譯文
我們自幼就在對昆蟲的懼怕中長大。我們把昆蟲當作害多益少的無用東西。人類不斷同昆蟲鬥爭，因為昆蟲弄髒我們的食物，傳播疾病，吞噬莊稼。它們無緣無故地又叮又咬；夏天的晚上，它們未經邀請便飛到我們房間裏，或者對著露出亮光的窗戶亂撲亂撞。我們在日常生活中，不但憎惡如蜘蛛、黃蜂之類令人討厭的昆蟲，而且憎惡並無大害的飛蛾等。閱讀有關昆蟲的書能增加我們對它們的了解，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裏，當看到大群螞蟻在我們精心準備的午間野餐上爬行時，我們也無法抑製對它們的反感。不管我們多麽愛吃蜂蜜，或讀過多少關於蜜蜂具有神秘的識別方向的靈感的書，我們仍然十分害怕被蜂蜇。我們的恐懼大部分是沒有道理的，但去無法消除。同時，不知為什麽昆蟲又是迷人的。我們喜歡看有關昆蟲的書，尤其是當我們了解螳螂等過著一種令人生畏的生活時，就更加愛讀有關昆蟲的書了。我們喜歡入迷地看它們做事，它們不知道（但願如此）我們就在它們身邊。當看到蜘蛛撲向一隻蒼蠅時，一隊螞蟻抬著一隻巨大的死甲蟲凱旋歸時，誰能不感到敬畏呢？
去年夏天，我花了好幾天時間站在花園裏觀察成千隻螞蟻爬上我那棵心愛的桃樹的樹幹。那棵樹是靠著房子有遮擋的一麵暖牆生長的。我為這棵樹感到特別自豪，不僅因為它度過了幾個寒冬終於活了下來，而且還因為它有時結出些甘甜的桃子來。到了夏天，我發現樹葉開始枯萎，結果在樹葉背麵找到成串的叫作蚜蟲小蟲子。蚜蟲遭到一窩螞蟻的攻擊，螞蟻從它們身上可以獲得一種蜜。我當即動手作了一項試驗，這項試驗盡管沒有使我擺脫這些螞蟻，卻使我著迷了24小時。我用一條膠帶把桃樹底部包上，不讓螞蟻接近蚜蟲。膠帶極粘，螞蟻不敢從上麵爬過。在很長一段時間裏，我看見螞蟻圍著大樹底部來回轉悠，不知所措。半夜，我還拿著電筒來到花園裏，滿意地（同時驚奇地）發現那些螞蟻還圍著膠帶團團轉。無能為力。第二天早上，我起床後希望看見螞蟻已因無望而放棄了嚐試，結果卻發現它們又找到一條新的路徑。它們正在順著房子的外牆往上爬，然後爬上樹葉。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的對策，來對付我那套完全不科學的辦法！
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