英語聽力文摘長壽的昆蟲

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Methuselah Insect

昆蟲的壽命相對于地球上的其他生物而言，算比較短的，不過有一種昆蟲的壽命相當長，那就是一種能17年的蟬。蟬壽命雖長，卻要在土里面沉睡17年，當它睡醒之后，從土里鉆出來，在太陽下享受生活，僅五個星期的時間就老死了。這種壽命長達17年的蟬只有美國才有。其他種類的蟬大部分壽命只有兩年。

What insect has the longest life span of them all? Find out on this Moment of Science.

What insect has the longest life span of them all? Well ,I know the life spans of most insects are shorter than a year. This is in part because they’re cold-blooded and thus poorly equipped for winter. Some do live much longer, though, and my guess is that the (1)periodic cicada holds the record.

They can live for a whopping seventeen years. And all but about two weeks of that time is spent in immaturity under ground. When they finally do rise from under the ground, their adult lives are over before they’ve hardly begun.

At least one species of long-horned beetle (2)beats out the cicada with its ability to survive in its larval form in dead wood for thirty-five to fifty years. But the insect with the longest life span, as far as we know, is the African mound-building termite queen.

These termites are known in part for the large mounds they build. They look something like haystacks, but more solid, like stone. Inside the mounds lives a highly sophisticated society of insects.

You can possibly be telling me that this termite queen live longer than fifty years.can you? Try,sixty years.sixty?

Some scientists think they may live even longer than that. One thing’s for sure, she’s not lying around watching television all those long years. She’s laying eggs constantly, up to something like thirty-five thousand a day.

譯文：

長壽的昆蟲

什么昆蟲的壽命最長呢?嗯，我知道大多數(shù)的昆蟲壽命都沒有一年。這在某種程度上是因為它們是冷血動物，不能很好的適應冬季。但是仍有一些動物活得比較久，我猜周期蟬能夠保持這個記錄。

它們可以存活17年。但是它們差不多有兩周的時間都處于地底下的不成熟狀態(tài)。當它們終于從地底下爬出來的時候，它們的成年生活也差不多結(jié)束了。

有一種天?？萍紫x擊敗了周期蟬，它們能夠以幼蟲的形態(tài)在枯木中生活35年到50年。但是目前我們知道的壽命最長的昆蟲是非洲建造土堡的白蟻后。

這些白蟻以它們建造的大型土堡出名。這些土堡看起來像干草堆，但是它們?nèi)鐜r石一般牢固。在這些土堡里居住著高度復雜的昆蟲社會。

你不會告訴我這些白蟻后能夠生存50多年吧?是的，它們能夠生存60年。60年?

一些科學家認為它們可能活的更久。不過有一件事是可以確定的，它們不會在這些年里天天臥著看電視。它會不停的產(chǎn)卵，一天能夠產(chǎn)35000個卵。

Notes:

(1)periodic cicada: 周期蟬 (“十七年蟬”或“周期蟬”(Magicicada)。原產(chǎn)于美國東部地區(qū)，這些蟬在地下蟄伏十三或十七年，然后破土而出。)

(2)beat out ['bi:taut] 搞清;敲平;使筋疲力盡

He beat out another firm in bidding.