明知道不應該，還是忍不住要踩死的——蜘蛛

I know it may be hard to convince you, but let me try: Don't kill the next spider you see in your home.

我知道這很難說服你，但是讓我試試：不要殺死你家里看到的下一個蜘蛛。

People like to think of their dwellings as safely insulated from the outside world, but many types of spiders can be found inside. Some are accidentally trapped, while others are short-term visitors. Some species even enjoy the great indoors, where they happily live out their lives and make more spiders. These arachnids are usually secretive, and almost all you meet are neither aggressive nor dangerous. And they may be providing services like eating pests - some even eat other spiders.

人們天真地以為，自己的住所能夠完全隔絕外部世界。但其實，你會在家里發(fā)現(xiàn)許多種蜘蛛——其中，有些蜘蛛是不小心闖進來的，有些蜘蛛則是短期訪客。有些蜘蛛品種非常享受室內(nèi)環(huán)境，它們可以幸福地生活，并繁衍更多蜘蛛。通常，這些蜘蛛行蹤隱秘。你看到的幾乎所有蜘蛛都既不危險、也沒有攻擊性，而且它們或許還能夠提供額外服務，例如吃掉害蟲——有些甚至還會吃其它蜘蛛。

My colleagues and I conducted a visual survey of 50 North Carolina homes to inventory just which arthropods live under our roofs. Every single house we visited was home to spiders. The most common species we encountered were cobweb spiders and cellar spiders.

美國研究人員調(diào)查了北卡羅來納州的50戶家庭，發(fā)現(xiàn)每戶家庭都存在蜘蛛，最常見的種類是球蛛科和幽靈蛛科。

Business InsiderBoth build webs where they lie in wait for prey to get caught. Cellar spiders sometimes leave their webs to hunt other spiders on their turf, mimicking prey to catch their cousins for dinner.

它們都會結(jié)網(wǎng)，然后躺在其中靜靜等待獵物落網(wǎng)。有時候，幽靈蛛會離開自己的網(wǎng)，在自己的地盤里捕捉其它蜘蛛。

Although they are generalist predators, apt to eat anything they can catch, spiders regularly capture nuisance pests and even disease-carrying insects - for example, mosquitoes. There's even a species of jumping spider that prefers to eat blood-filled mosquitoes in African homes. So killing a spider doesn't just cost the arachnid its life, it may take an important predator out of your home.

雖然蜘蛛不太挑食，捕到什么就吃什么;但它們常常捕到害蟲，甚至攜帶疾病的昆蟲(如蚊子)。在非洲，有一種跳蜘蛛甚至偏愛吃吸飽血的蚊子。因此，殺害蜘蛛不僅奪走一條生命，也帶走了家里的重要捕蟲能手。

It's natural to fear spiders. They have lots of legs and almost all are venomous - though the majority of species have venom too weak to cause issues in humans, if their fangs can pierce our skin at all. Even entomologists themselves can fall prey to arachnophobia. I know a few spider researchers who overcame their fear by observing and working with these fascinating creatures. If they can do it, so can you!

害怕蜘蛛很正常。它們毛茸茸的，長著好多條腿，而且?guī)缀醵寄軌蚍置诙疽?mdash;—不過，大多數(shù)品種的毒性太弱，就算毒牙完全刺進人體皮膚，也無法引發(fā)疾病。有時候，連昆蟲學者都有蜘蛛恐懼癥。我認識好幾個蜘蛛研究人員，他們通過觀察和相處克服了這種恐懼。如果他們能做到，我相信你也可以!

Spiders are not out to get you and actually prefer to avoid humans; we are much more dangerous to them than vice versa. Bites from spiders are extremely rare. Although there are a few medically important species like widow spiders and recluses, even their bites are uncommon and rarely cause serious issues.

其實，蜘蛛不想攻擊你，而且更傾向于躲避你，因為我們對它們比它們對我們要危險得多。此外，蜘蛛咬人的情況非常罕見——就算是黑寡婦和褐隱蛛這種劇毒蜘蛛也很少咬人、很少引發(fā)嚴重后果。

If you truly can't stand that spider in your house, apartment, garage, or wherever, instead of smashing it, try to capture it and release it outside. It'll find somewhere else to go, and both parties will be happier with the outcome.

如果你實在無法忍受家里出現(xiàn)蜘蛛，那也請你不要殺害它們，最好的解決方法是：捕捉它們并放生戶外，它們會另找去處的。