16. Wasps黃蜂

New Words新單詞

wasp (n.)

讀音：[wɒsp]

釋義：黃蜂；胡峰（名詞）

nest (n.)

讀音：[nest]

釋義：鳥窩；巢穴（名詞）

yourself (pron.)

讀音：[jɔ:ˈself]

釋義：你自己（代詞）

queen (n.)

讀音：[kwi:n]

釋義：女王；王后（名詞）

second (n./ adj.)

讀音：[ˈsekənd]

釋義：秒；第二；第二的；次要的（名詞、形容詞）

hundred (num.)

讀音：[ˈhʌndrəd]

釋義：一百（數字）

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Wasps are flying insects. Like all insects, they have six legs and three body parts. They also have five eyes! Two of the eyes are very special. These eyes do not produce only one picture like our eyes. These eyes produce hundreds of pictures. That means where we see one picture, the wasp sees hundreds! Each of the other three eyes produces only one picture like our eyes.

黃蜂是飛行昆蟲。正如所有的昆蟲，它們有六條腿和三個身體部位。它們還有五隻眼睛！其中兩隻非常特別。這兩隻眼睛不像我們的眼睛只產生一幅畫面。這兩隻眼睛產生上百幅畫面。那意味著在我們看見一幅畫面的地方，黃蜂能看見上百幅！其他三隻眼睛像我們的眼睛一樣只產生一幅畫面。

Some kinds of wasps live together in very large families. There can be as few as a hundred wasps in a family, or there can be many hundreds. Each wasp in a family has its own special work to do, and one wasp is the head of the family. That wasp is called the ‘queen’. Each of the other wasps comes from eggs that the queen lays. The queen lays hundreds and hundreds of eggs and is the mother of all the other wasps.

有些種類的黃蜂一起生活在非常大的族群裡。一個黃蜂族群裡少則有一百隻黃蜂，多則有幾百只黃蜂。黃蜂族群裡的每隻黃蜂都有它的特殊使命，其中一隻黃蜂是這個族群的首腦，它被稱為“蜂后”。其餘每隻黃蜂都來自於蜂后產的卵。蜂后產下成百上千只卵，是所有其餘黃蜂的母親。

Wasps’ nests can be in trees or on the ground. The queen spends most of her time in this nest. The first eggs the queen lays produce only female wasps. The queen and those females make the nest where all those wasps will live. A few of the wasps stay in the nest all the time, but most of the wasps go out and bring back food for the queen and her babies. If any of the females lay eggs, the queen will eat those eggs. She wants only her own eggs to be able to produce baby wasps.

黃蜂的巢穴可以在樹上或者在地上。蜂后大部分時間都待在蜂巢裡。蜂后產下的第一批卵只孵化出雌性黃蜂。蜂后和雌蜂構築全體黃蜂將要居住的蜂巢。少數黃蜂總是待在蜂巢裡，但大多數黃蜂外出為蜂后和蜂后的小黃蜂帶回食物。蜂后會吃掉其他雌蜂產下的卵，它只想要自己產的卵孵化出小黃蜂。

After the second family of wasps come out of their eggs, the queen chases all of the other females out of the nest. This second family of wasps has both males and females. After some time, the queen chases this second family out of the nest, too. Those wasps then move to another place where some females will lay eggs which will produce a new wasp family. Some of the wasps in this new family will be queens. Each queen will then start producing her own very large family.

第二批黃蜂從蜂卵中孵化出來之後，蜂后會把所有其餘第一批雌蜂趕出蜂巢。第二批黃蜂既有雄性也有雌性。一段時間後，蜂后也會把第二批黃蜂趕出蜂巢。被趕出去的黃蜂會搬去別處，其中一部分雌蜂會產卵，並孵化出一個新的黃蜂族群。在這個新的黃蜂族群裡有些黃蜂會成為蜂后。每隻蜂后都將開始孵化自己的黃蜂大族群。

Wasps get food for themselves and their families by flying from flower to flower. When a wasp does this, its legs take some of the male part from the first flower and puts them in the female part of the second flower. This is good for the flowers. This is the way the female flower is able to produce fruits that people and other animals can eat.

黃蜂在花朵間飛來飛去，為自己和黃蜂族群採集食物。黃蜂採集食物時，用腿攜帶第一朵花的雄蕊，放進第二朵花的雌蕊中。這讓花朵受益。這樣一來，雌花可以結出果實，供人和其他動物食用。

Wasps can hurt people, but they usually only attack if they are angry or think they are in danger. It is only the female wasps that are able to hurt people. This is because the part of the wasp’s body that can hurt us is also the part that produces baby wasps.

黃蜂可以蜇傷人，但往往只在它們生氣或者覺得有危險的時候發起襲擊。只有雌蜂能蜇傷人。這是因為雌蜂用來孵化出小黃蜂的身體部位才可以蜇傷我們。

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Lee and Tom are talking about wasps

李和湯姆正在談論黃蜂

Lee

Tom, I know where there’s a wasps’ nest. A really big one!

Tom

Really?

Lee

Yes, come on! I’ll show you where it is.

Tom

No, thanks. I don’t want to go near a wasps’ nest!

Lee

Oh, come on! It’s quite safe. Let’s go there and see if we can find the queen wasp.

Tom

No, thanks. If you want to go, you go by yourself. My mom told me to keep away from flying insects – especially flying insects like wasps!

Lee

How about if I go first and you go second? You can stand behind me.

Tom

No. You go by yourself. I’m going home to do my homework. You should go home and do your homework, too.

Lee

I did my homework this morning.

Tom

Really? Was it easy? Did you do it by yourself?

Lee

Yes, I did, but it wasn’t easy. There were nearly a hundred questions!

Tom

A hundred questions! I don’t think you had time to answer a hundred questions this morning.

Lee

Well, I didn’t quite have time to answer all of them. I still have a few left.

Tom

Yes, I think so. Like about seventy, eighty or ninety questions left.

Lee

Come on! Let’s go and see the wasps’ nest.

Tom

Oh, all right. But you go first. If I think it’s safe, I’ll come after you.

Lee

You’re just like my sister! She never wants to do things if she thinks they could be dangerous.

Tom

That’s because she’s intelligent. She’s much more intelligent than you!

李

湯姆，我知道哪兒有一個黃蜂巢。很大一個！

湯姆

真的嗎？

李

是的，來吧！我會指給你看它在哪兒。

湯姆

不了，謝謝。我不想靠近一個黃蜂巢！

李

噢，來吧！很安全的。我們去那兒看看是否能找到蜂后。

湯姆

不了，謝謝。如果你想去，你自己去吧。我媽媽告訴我離會飛的昆蟲遠一點——尤其是像黃蜂這樣會飛的昆蟲！

李

如果我先去你再去怎麼樣呢？你可以站在我後面。

湯姆

不要。你自己去。我要回家做我的作業。你也應該回家做你的作業。

李

我今天早上做了作業。

湯姆

真的嗎？簡單嗎？你自己做的？

李

是的，我自己做的，但不簡單。幾乎有一百個問題！

湯姆

一百個問題！我覺得你今早可沒時間回答一百個問題。

李

嗯，我確實沒時間全部答完。我還剩了幾個。

湯姆

是啊，我想也是。大概剩七十、八十或者九十個問題吧。

李

來吧！咱們去看黃蜂巢。

湯姆

噢，好吧。但是你先走。如果我覺得安全，我就跟在你後面。

李

你就像我妹妹一樣！如果她覺得事情有危險她從來不想做。

湯姆

那是因為她聰明。她比你聰明多了！

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Questions

1. How many legs do all insects have?

2. Where can wasps make their nests?

3. What is a queen wasp?

4. Where do wasps find their food?

5. Where do fruits come from?

6. Why doesn’t Tom want to go near wasps?

7. Did Lee finish all his homework?

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