Lesson 54 Instinct or cleverness? 是本能還是機智

   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 (wehope) 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 (and surprise) 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。人類不斷同昆蟲斗爭，因為昆蟲弄臟我們的食物，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里，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，而且憎惡并無大害的飛蛾等。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里，當看到大群螞蟻在我們精心準備的午間野餐上爬行時，我們也無法抑制對它們的反感。不管我們多么愛吃蜂蜜，或讀過多少關于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，不知為什么昆蟲又是迷人的。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(但愿如此)我們就在它們身邊。當看到蜘蛛撲向一只蒼蠅時，一隊螞蟻抬著一只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里觀察成千只螞蟻爬上我那棵心愛的桃樹的樹干。那棵樹是靠著房子有遮擋的一面暖墻生長的。我為這棵樹感到特別自豪，不僅因為它度過了幾個寒冬終于活了下來，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，結果在樹葉背面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，螞蟻不敢從上面爬過。在很長一段時間里，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里，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，我起床后希望看見螞蟻已因無望而放棄了嘗試，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墻往上爬，然后爬上樹葉。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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