英语听力—环球英语 833 Friend or Enemy?

　　Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight¹. I’m Adam Navis.
Voice 2
And I’m Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Human life is full of friends and enemies. And in a strange way, this is also true in all of nature! Big and small creatures learn their friends very quickly. In nature, this is called a symbiotic³ relationship. In these relationships, both creatures help each other. Today’s Spotlight is on some of these symbiotic relationships.
Voice 2
A beautiful winged insect moves through the air. It stops on the leaves of a nearby tree. If you look closely, you can see its wings open and close. This permits you to see the beautiful fine details, and bright fire colours. It is the monarch⁴ butterfly. It is so small and light! So how does such a creature defend itself? It does not seem to have any defences - no poisonous bite, or a painful sting². So what does it do?
Voice 1
Well, nature usually provides some kind of weapon. And, naturally, this is also true for the monarch butterfly. But the monarch’s secret weapon lies in its body. And it begins right at the start of the monarch’s life - as an egg. Adult monarchs⁵ stick their eggs under leaves. The leaves are always those of the milkweed plant. This plant is central to the monarch’s defence system.
Voice 2
Like all butterflies, monarchs begin life as caterpillars⁷. The long, soft caterpillar⁶ breaks out of the egg. It does not yet have wings. Immediately, it finds food. It eats the milkweed leaves. The caterpillar fills itself with the milky⁸ substance contained in the leaves. And it grows very quickly. When it is about five centimetres long, it stops eating. A kind of shell develops around the caterpillar - a chrysalis. The caterpillar develops inside the green and gold chrysalis. In about two weeks, it changes into a beautiful monarch butterfly.
Voice 1
The butterfly is still full of the milky substance from the milkweed leaves. And this substance contains a poison. It does not harm the butterfly. But it does make it taste bad to birds and animals. Creatures that eat this butterfly become sick. They do not die. But they do remember that this brightly-coloured insect made them sick. They soon learn to avoid all monarch butterflies. The milkweed plant helps this butterfly to defend itself from harm. The plant is a true friend to the butterfly!
Voice 2
This is how nature works. It is like having friends and enemies. And each creature and plant knows which is which! All caterpillars have many enemies. They are small, soft creatures. And they are easy to attack. Birds and other animals like to eat caterpillars. And flying insects like wasps⁹ like to lay their eggs on caterpillars! But just like the monarch caterpillars have milkweed plants, other kinds of caterpillars have other friends. For the lycaenid caterpillar, this is another insect, the ant. The ant can guard the caterpillar. The ant releases a particular liquid. This liquid smells bad to attackers - so they stay away. In return for this service, the caterpillar produces a sweet liquid for the ant to feed on. What are friends for?
Voice 1
Under the water, the sea slug uses a similar defence to the monarch. Like the caterpillar, the sea slug has a soft body. And, it also gains its defence weapon from food! Some sea slugs eat sea creatures called hydroids. Hydroids look like plants. And they have special cells that hurt most things that touch them. But these cells do not harm the sea slug. They help it! When the sea slug eats the hydroids it stores the cells. It can then use the cells to protect itself. Some slugs can even shoot out the pain-giving cells at attackers!
Voice 2
And this is not the sea slug’s only defence! The other is its colour! Many people consider sea slugs beautiful creatures. They have so many different colours! The sea slug takes the colour from the food it eats. So, if the slug eats something red, it turns red. If it eats something brown, it turns brown. The perfect way to hide from enemies! The sea slug’s food is its greatest friend!
Voice 1
The hermit¹⁰ crab¹¹ carries its ‘friends’ on its shell! Living under the sea can be dangerous. So the small hermit crab needs more than its protective shell. It needs a way to fight! Sea anemones¹² provide this. Sea anemones look like beautiful plants. But they are really a kind of animal. These small creatures contain powerful cells that hurt if touched. The hermit crab covers itself with sea anemones for extra protection. Its enemies know how painful sea anemones can be.
Voice 2
In the world of sea creatures, who would befriend the keyhole limpet? You cannot even see the small creature under its huge flat shell! The limpet is safely hidden, and so is any creature that hides with it! This is what the sea worm does. It lives in the ‘keyhole’ on the top of the limpet’s shell. This provides a safe home for the sea worm. And in return, the sea worm defends the limpet from enemies like starfish. If a starfish attacks, the sea worm bites its feet!
Voice 1
The keyhole limpet and the sea worm. The hermit crab and anemones. The sea slug and its food. The caterpillar and the ant. The monarch butterfly and the milkweed plant. These seem like unusual combinations. But, their successful symbiotic relationships help them survive a dangerous world!
Voice 2
In the world of nature, a creature defends the life of its ‘friend.’ It does so naturally, without question. It is following the laws of nature. The Bible says this is how God made them to be. But it says that God gave humans freedom to choose. And then he asked them to choose to love each other. This is not always easy. But just like in nature, choosing to care for other people brings many important good things.
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 sting   

vt.激怒，刺痛，刺伤，蛰伤；n.刺痛，刺伤

参考例句：

• Most flies do not sting.大多数苍蝇不叮人。
• The scorpion has a sting that can be deadly.蝎子有可以致命的螫针。

3 symbiotic   

adj.共栖的，共生的

参考例句：

• Racing has always had a symbiotic relationship with betting.赛马总是与赌博相挂钩。
• Engineering completely new symbiotic relationship is obviously not an imminent possibility.筹划完全新的共生关系显然是可能性不大。

4 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

5 monarchs   

君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Monarchs ruled England for centuries. 世袭君主统治英格兰有许多世纪。
• Serving six monarchs of his native Great Britain, he has served all men's freedom and dignity. 他在大不列颠本国为六位君王服务，也为全人类的自由和尊严服务。 来自演讲部分

6 caterpillar   

n.毛虫，蝴蝶的幼虫

参考例句：

• A butterfly is produced by metamorphosis from a caterpillar.蝴蝶是由毛虫脱胎变成的。
• A caterpillar must pass through the cocoon stage to become a butterfly.毛毛虫必须经过茧的阶段才能变成蝴蝶。

7 caterpillars   

n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 )；履带

参考例句：

• Caterpillars eat the young leaves of this plant. 毛毛虫吃这种植物的嫩叶。
• Caterpillars change into butterflies or moths. 毛虫能变成蝴蝶或蛾子。 来自辞典例句

8 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

9 wasps   

黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人

参考例句：

• There's a wasps' nest in that old tree. 那棵老树上有一个黄蜂巢。
• We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths. 我们不仅生活在对象蜘蛛或黄蜂这样的小虫的惧怕中，而且生活在对诸如飞蛾这样无害昆虫的惧怕中

10 hermit   

n.隐士，修道者；隐居

参考例句：

• He became a hermit after he was dismissed from office.他被解职后成了隐士。
• Chinese ancient landscape poetry was in natural connections with hermit culture.中国古代山水诗与隐士文化有着天然联系。

11 crab   

n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气

参考例句：

• I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
• The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了，就象螃蟹的壳似的。

12 anemones   

n.银莲花( anemone的名词复数 )；海葵

参考例句：

• With its powerful tentacles, it tries to prise the anemones off. 它想用强壮的触角截获海葵。 来自互联网
• Density, scale, thickness are still influencing the anemones shape. 密度、大小、厚度是受最原始的那股海葵的影响。 来自互联网