sheltered adj .伤不着的，无危险的
provocation n.惹怒
luscious adj .甘美的
spider n .蜘蛛
cluster n .一簇
wasp n.黄蜂
aphid n .蚜虫
moth n .飞蛾
underside n .底面，下侧
ant n .蚂蚁
colony n .一群
revulsion n .厌恶
sticky adj .粘的
horde n .群
scurry v .小步跑
uncanny adj .神秘的，不可思议的
swarm v .聚集
erase v .擦，抹去
ingenuity n .机灵
praying mantis 螳螂
Passage:
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 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?
我们自幼就在对昆虫的惧怕中长大。我们把昆虫当作害多益少的无用东西。人类
不断地同昆虫斗争，因为昆虫弄脏我们的食物，传播疾病，吞噬庄稼。它们无缘
无故地又叮又咬；夏天的晚上，它们未经邀请便飞到我们房间里，或者对着露出
亮光的窗户乱扑乱撞。我们在日常生活中，不但憎恶如蜘蛛、黄蜂之类令人讨厌
的昆虫，而且憎恶并无大害的飞蛾等。阅读有关昆虫的书能增加我们对它们的了
解，却不能消除我们的恐惧心理。即使知道勤奋的蚂蚁生活在具有高度组织性的
社会里，当看到大群蚂蚁在我们精心准备的午间野餐上爬行时，我们也无法抑制
对它们的反感。不管我们多么爱吃蜂蜜，或读过多少关于蜜蜂具有神秘的识别方
向的灵感的书，我们仍然十分害怕被蜂蜇。我们的恐惧大部分是没有道理的，但
却无法消除。同时，不知为什么昆虫又是迷人的。我们喜欢看有关昆虫的书，尤
其是当我们了解到螳螂等过着一种令人生畏的生活时，就更加爱读有关昆虫的书
了。我们喜欢入迷地看它们做事，它们不知道（但愿如此）我们就在它们身边。
当看到蜘蛛扑向一只苍蝇时，一队蚂蚁抬着一只巨大的死甲虫凯旋而归时，谁能
不感到敬畏呢？
Notes:
1 do more harm than good，害多益少。
2 wage war on ，对……开战。
3 does nothing to prevent，不能阻止……。
4 go about…，做……。
5 stand in awe，肃然起敬。
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!
去年夏天，我花了好几天时间站在花园里观察成千只蚂蚁爬上我那棵心爱的桃树
的树干。那棵树是靠着房子有遮挡的一面暖墙生长的。我为这棵树感到特别自豪，
不仅因为它度过了几个寒冬终于活了下来，而且还因为它有时结出些甘甜的桃子
来。到了夏天，我发现树叶开始枯萎，结果在树叶背面找到成串的叫作蚜虫的小
虫子。蚜虫遭到了一窝蚂蚁的攻击，蚂蚁从它们身上可以获得一种蜜。我当即动
手作了一项试验，这项试验尽管没有使我摆脱这些蚂蚁，却使我着迷了 24 小时。
我用一条胶带把桃树底部包上，不让蚂蚁接近蚜虫。胶带极粘，蚂蚁不敢从上面
爬过。在很长一段时间里，我看见蚂蚁围着大树底部来回转悠，不知所措。半夜，
我还拿着电筒来到花园里，满意地（同时惊奇地）发现那些蚂蚁还在围着胶带团
团转，无能为力。第二天早上，我起床后希望看到蚂蚁已因无望而放弃了尝试，
结果却发现它们又找到一条新的路径。它们正在顺着房子的外墙往上爬，然后爬
上树叶。我懊丧地感到败在了足智多谋的蚂蚁手下。蚂蚁已很快找到了相应的对
策，来对付我那套完全不科学的办法！
54.2【阅读理解】 Instinct or cleverness?
Step 2: Comprehension questions.
1 What have we been brought up to fear? (Insects.)
2 Do we regard them as unnecessary creatures? (Yes, we do.)
3 Do they do more harm than good? (Yes, they do.)
4 We continually wage war on them. Why? What do they do? (They contaminate our
food, carry diseases and devour our crops.)
5 When do insects fly uninvited into your rooms? (On summer nights.)
6 Does reading about insects dispel our fears? (No, it doesn't but it increases our
understanding.)
7 How do most of us feel when we find hordes of ants crawling over a carefully
prepared picnic lunch? (We are revolted.)
8 How do many of us feel about bees? We have a horror of —what? (Of being stung.)
9 Are most of our fears reasonable? (No, they are unreasonable.)
10 At the same time, however, are insects fascinating? (Yes, they are.)
11 Which insect does the writer describe that leads a horrible life? (The praying
mantis.)
12 When did the writer spend days in his garden watching ants? (Last summer.)
13 What were they doing? (Crawling up the trunk of his prize peach tree.)
14 Why is the writer proud of the tree? (It has survived several severe winters and it
occasionally produces luscious peaches.)
15 What were to be found on the undersides of the leaves? (Tiny insects called
aphids)
16 What were they visited by? (A large colony of ants.)
17 What did the writer do to prevent the ants from reaching the aphids? (He bound the
base of the tree with sticky tape.)
18 Why didn't the ants dare cross the tape? (Because it was so sticky.)
19 Did the ants scurry round the base of the tree? (Yes, they did.)
20 When did the writer go out to find the ants still swarming round the tape? (At
midnight.)
21 Next morning, what did he find that the ants had discovered? (A new route.)
22 Had he been defeated by their ingenuity? (Yes, he had.)
54.3【拓展写作】 Instinct or cleverness?
Step 3: Composition
Write a composition in about 300 words on the following topic:
• Describe man’s efforts to control pests.
Key to composition
A possible answer
Title: Our efforts to control pests
Introduction: What are 'pests'? — see dictionary definition—always been difficult to
control or exterminate them
Development: Insects: ants, wasps, locusts, beetles that damage woodwork... damage
property, devour our crops, …— other pests — mice, rats—eat food—spread disease
—efforts to control pests—insecticides and pesticides—poison—traps
For farmers, even certain birds are pests — gulls, pigeons, etc. — follow at sowing
time and eat seeds—scarecrows to frighten birds
Conclusion: Tried almost everything — some pests held in check — other still a
major problem (e.g.locusts)
Composition
According to my dictionary, pests' are 'small animals or insects that harm or
destroy food supplies'. But for me, they are more than that: they are insects and small
animals that spread disease and damage property, too. Whatever they do and however
you define them, pests have been a major problem to man throughout history. Man
has tried to control or exterminate these creatures, but never with very much success.
In some ways, insects are the worst pests. Ants, locusts and beetles damage
property, woodwork, crops and harvest, and in this century, we have sprayed crops
with insecticides and pesticides to protect them from insects. The problem now is that
there are some insects that have become immune to pesticides. Rats and mice eat our
food supplies too and spread disease, and people have tried to kill or catch them with
poison or traps. But again, they are still with us. We haven't managed to exterminate
them.
Let's not forget, however, that for farmers, certain birds are pests' too. In Britain,
seagulls, pigeons and other birds often fly down in their hundreds (or even thousands)
to pick up seeds when farmers are planting crops. Years ago, farmers used to stand
scarecrows in the fields to frighten away birds, but I'm not sure how effective they
were.
We have tried different things, then, to control pests, and we have managed to hold
some pests in check. However, some are a big problem, both in the major industrial
nations and in the Third World. While locusts are a terrible problem in countries like
Sudan and Ethiopia, rats are still a problem in most large cities in the world. We
might control pests to a certain extent, but we shall never get rid of them.
(292 words)
课外练习：
1 We may learn more about the behaviour of insects .
(a) and become so fascinated by them that we are no longer moved by them
(b) but we are no less likely to lose our irrational fear of them
(c) provided they remain unaware of our presence while we observe them
(d) as long as they only harm each other and not us
2 The ant is an insect which .
(a) will eat its way through anything from picnic lunches to aphids
(b) lives in a highly organized society which we find disgusting
(c) once it has killed its prey, will bear it home in a triumphal column
(d) shows great ingenuity at finding its way round any obstacle in its path
3 Had the peach tree been planted on the opposite side of the house .
(a) it might not have survived the severe winters
(b) the writer would not have spent days looking at it
(c) the ants would have had further to go before reaching it
(d) the ants would not have found another route of access to the leaves
4 The reason for the ants' swarming up and down the tree was that .
(a) they collected a kind of honey from the leaves
(b) they fed on a kind of honey contained in the sap of the tree
(c) they were milking a kind of honey from the aphids on the leaves
(d) they needed to go back to their nest in the branches of the tree
5 By reading about them, we may increase our understanding but dispel our
fears.
(a) we will not
(b) it does not
(c) this will not
(d)not
6 Most of our fears are unreasonable, but we find .
(a) it impossible to erase them
(b) that they cannot erase
(c) them to erase impossible
(d) erasing them impossible
7 - an experiment which, failure to get rid of the ants, kept me fascinated.
(a) even though it was
(b) in spite of the
(c) despite its
(d) was a
8 long to find an answer to ... (ll. 30-31)
(a) The ants have not been
(b) The ants had not been
(c) The ants had not spent
(d) It had not taken the ants
9 Even when we know that the ant is an industrious creature which leads a highly
organized life, we cannot being filled with ... (11.8-10)
(a) refuse
(b) help
(c) prevent
(d) lose
10 -we have read about the sense of direction which bees possess…
(a) unknown
(b) mysterious
(c) infinite
(d) disabled
11 The tree occasionally produces fruit.
(a) deliciously fresh
(b) sweet and juicy
(c) tender
(d exotic
12 I had been completely defeated by the .
(a) speedy swarms
(b) hungry hordes
(c) inventive creatures
(d) ingenuous insects
答案：1b 2d 3a 4c 5c 6a 7c 8d 9b 10b 11b 12c