时差N小时 昆虫的世界(下)

 

Here’s how Knab explained it: males gather around some landmark—a cornstalk, perhaps the head of an unsuspecting human–and wait for eligible¹ females. When a female enters the swarm², the males immediately pick up her flight tone, which is different from theirs. Coupled with one lucky guy, she flies to some protected place to mate. After their interlude, the female goes to lay her eggs, but the male returns to the swarm, on the outside chance that he’ll get lucky once more. That’s why Knab netted so many more males than females. Sometimes, these gatherings³ get quite large. In Germany, in 1807, people saw a huge cloud of smoke billowing over a church. So they called in the fire brigade, only to realize that the dark cloud was actually a swarm of gnats⁴ who’d picked the church steeple as their rendezvous⁵.

下面是Knab对这一现象的解释：雄性聚集在周围的一些地界标上——比如玉米秸秆，也许是不知情的人的头部——等待合适的雌性。当雌性进入昆虫群时，雄性的飞行状况马上变成和雌性的一样，这和雄性本来的飞行是不同的。和一个幸运的雄性配对后，雌性会飞到受保护的地方进行交配。这段插曲过后，雌性去下蛋，但雄性会飞回原地，它还有极小的机会再次得到配偶。这就是为什么Knab捕到的雄性蚊子远多于雌性。有时，这些昆虫聚集会很大。1807年在德国，人们看到了滚滚浓烟在教堂上翻滚。因此，他们给消防大队打电话，后才才弄白乌云实际上是一大群飞虫，它们将教堂的尖顶作为约会地点。

1 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

2 swarm   

n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入

参考例句：

• There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
• A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。

3 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

4 gnats   

n.叮人小虫( gnat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He decided that he might fire at all gnats. 他决定索性把鸡毛蒜皮都摊出来。 来自辞典例句
• The air seemed to grow thick with fine white gnats. 空气似乎由于许多白色的小虫子而变得浑浊不堪。 来自辞典例句

5 rendezvous   

n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇

参考例句：

• She made the rendezvous with only minutes to spare.她还差几分钟时才来赴约。
• I have a rendezvous with Peter at a restaurant on the harbour.我和彼得在海港的一个餐馆有个约会。