新概念英語(yǔ)第三冊(cè)：Instinct or cleverness?

所屬教程:新概念英語(yǔ)文章

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2015年01月27日

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掃描二維碼方便學(xué)習(xí)和分享

新概念一直被視為英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)的經(jīng)典教材，為了讓同學(xué)們能夠更加全面完善的學(xué)習(xí)新概念英語(yǔ)第三冊(cè)，新東方網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)頻道將幫助同學(xué)們一起總結(jié)知識(shí)點(diǎn)。

Instinct or cleverness? 是本能還是機(jī)智

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 one 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?

我們自幼就在對(duì)昆蟲(chóng)的懼怕中長(zhǎng)大。我們把昆蟲(chóng)當(dāng)作害多益少的無(wú)用東西。人類(lèi)不斷同昆蟲(chóng)斗爭(zhēng)，因?yàn)槔ハx(chóng)弄臟我們的食物，傳播疾病，吞噬莊稼。它們無(wú)緣無(wú)故地又叮又咬;夏天的晚上，它們未經(jīng)邀請(qǐng)便飛到我們房間里，或者對(duì)著露出亮光的窗戶亂撲亂撞。我們?cè)谌粘Ｉ钪?，不但憎惡如蜘蛛、黃蜂之類(lèi)令人討厭的昆蟲(chóng)，而且憎惡并無(wú)大害的飛蛾等。閱讀有關(guān)昆蟲(chóng)的書(shū)能增加我們對(duì)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(huì)里，當(dāng)看到大群螞蟻在我們精心準(zhǔn)備的午間野餐上爬行時(shí)，我們也無(wú)法抑制對(duì)它們的反感。不管我們多么愛(ài)吃蜂蜜，或讀過(guò)多少關(guān)于蜜蜂具有神秘的識(shí)別方向的靈感的書(shū)，我們?nèi)匀皇趾ε卤环潋?。我們的恐懼大部分是沒(méi)有道理的，但去無(wú)法消除。同時(shí)，不知為什么昆蟲(chóng)又是迷人的。我們喜歡看有關(guān)昆蟲(chóng)的書(shū)，尤其是當(dāng)我們了解螳螂等過(guò)著一種令人生畏的生活時(shí)，就更加愛(ài)讀有關(guān)昆蟲(chóng)的書(shū)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(dāng)看到蜘蛛撲向一只蒼蠅時(shí)，一隊(duì)螞蟻抬著一只巨大的死甲蟲(chóng)凱旋歸時(shí)，誰(shuí)能不感到敬畏呢?

New words and expressions 生詞與短語(yǔ)

insect

n. 昆蟲(chóng)

wage

v. 進(jìn)行(斗爭(zhēng))

contaminate

v. 弄臟

provocation

n. 惹怒

spider

n. 蜘蛛

wasp