【英语时差8,16】死虫子和僵硬的手

Everyone has found a dead or dying roach, spider or beetle¹ on its back with its legs up in the air. Somehow, it seems, bugs³ decide to flip⁴ themselves over in order to die. But why should they?   

Some entomologists suggest that the reason so many dead bugs are found on their backs is in the way their legs work -- or cease to work. When a bug² is alive and walking, it generally is very stable, since it has a body suspended between multiple legs. When they die, however, those mobile and actively⁵ balancing legs return to what is called the "position of flexion."

 

"Position of flexion" is a name for what a group of muscles do when there is no tension in them at all -- that is, when they are dead. If you relax your hand, for example, you will see that the fingers do not lie flat; they naturally curl about halfway⁶ in. Although still alive, that half-curled shape approximates the position of flexion for the human hand.

 

For some species of bug, a similar curled-in shape is the position of flexion in death. If you imagine your hand walking along on its fingers and then curling them all inward, you can see how likely it is that the whole structure would roll over onto its back -- as happens with bugs.  

1 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

2 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

3 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

5 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

6 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。