【英语时差8,16】蚊子爱言论

Is there any sound more annoying than the whine¹ of a [dict]mosquito[/dict]? Yes, mosquitoes are pests through and through. But there's more to their irritating whine than meets the ear. For mosquitoes, that's the sound of love. It's well known by scientists that the mosquitoes' distinctive² buzz functions as a mating call. But one study shows that just before mating, members of a mosquito pair flap their wings just so to create a harmonic duet. Probably the coolest part about this research is how the scientists involved studied mosquito harmonies. Basically, the researchers used little lassos to harness mosquitoes and fly them past each other. They also set up small microphones nearby to catch the insects' love songs. And they put [dict]sensors[/dict] in the mosquitoes ears, or auditory organs, to record how they responded to mating calls. So if you're not a professional or amateur entomologist, why should you care that mosquitoes harmonize before mating? Because mosquitoes aren't just annoying pests. They also spread dangerous diseases such as dengue fever, which affects more than fifty million people every year. There's no vaccine³ for the fever and no preventive measure other than avoiding disease-carrying mosquitoes. Which is where the new study could be important. Learning more about how mosquitoes mate could help scientists invent ways to target mosquitoes in areas at risk for dengue fever. For example, scientists could breed sterile⁴ male mosquitoes able to create the right tones and harmonies to compete with wild males and thereby⁵ reduce mosquito populations.

1 whine   

v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣

参考例句：

• You are getting paid to think,not to whine.支付给你工资是让你思考而不是哀怨的。
• The bullet hit a rock and rocketed with a sharp whine.子弹打在一块岩石上，一声尖厉的呼啸，跳飞开去。

2 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 sterile   

adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上，保持奶嘴无菌。
• The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。

5 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。