54_Instinct_or_Cleverness

54 Instinct or Cleverness¶

We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them as unnecessary creatures that do more harm than good. We continually wage war on them, for they contaminate our food, carry diseases, or devour our crops. They sting or bite without provocation; they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights, or beat against our lighted windows. We live in dread of not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones 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 that the leaves of the tree were beginning to wither. Clusters of tiny 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 it 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 sticky 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!

Words¶

contaminate /kənˈtæməˌnet/ 弄脏
devour /dɪˈvaʊɚ/ 吞食
provocation /ˌprɑvəˈkeʃən/ 惹怒
spiders /ˈspaɪdɚz/ 蜘蛛
wasps /wɑsps/ 黄蜂
moths /mɔθs/ 飞蛾
industrious /ˌɪnˈdʌstriəs/ 勤勉的
ant /ænt/ 蚂蚁
revulsion /rɪˈvʌlʃən/ 厌恶
hordes /hɔrdz/ 群
uncanny /ənˈkæni/ 神秘的，不可思议的
erase /ɪˈres/ 擦，抹去
mantis /ˈmæntɪs/ 螳螂
entranced /ɪnˈtrænst/ 出神的
beetle /ˈbitəl/ 甲虫
sheltered /ˈʃɛltɚd/ 无危险的
luscious /ˈlʌʃɪs/ 甘美的
wither /ˈwɪðɚ/ 枯萎
Clusters /ˈklʌstɚz/ 一簇
aphids /ˈæfɪdz/ 蚜虫
underside /ˈʌndɚˌsaɪd/ 底面，下侧
colony /ˈkɑləni/ 一群
sticky /ˈstɪki/ 粘的
scurrying /ˈskɝiɪŋ/ 小步跑
swarming /ˈswɔrmɪŋ/ 聚集
ingenuity /ˌɪndʒəˈnuəˌti/ 机灵

Expressions¶

be brought up to do sth. 从小被培养做某事
regard...as 把……视为
wage war on 向……发动斗争
in dread of 害怕
stand in awe 敬畏
embark on 开始，着手
get rid of 摆脱，除掉
in bewilderment 困惑地
give up in despair 绝望地放弃