24. Butterflies蝴蝶

New Words新單詞

butterfly / butterflies (n.)

讀音：[ˈbʌtəflaɪ] / [ˈbʌtəflaɪz]

釋義：蝴蝶（名詞）

feed (v)

讀音：[fi:d]

釋義：餵養（動詞）

often (adv.)

讀音：[ˈɒfn]

釋義：經常，常常（副詞）

change (v+n)

讀音：[tʃeɪndʒ]

釋義：改變；變化（動詞、名詞）

life / lives (n.)

讀音：[laɪf] / [laɪvz]

釋義：生命（名詞）

during (prep.)

讀音：[ˈdjʊərɪŋ]

釋義：在……時候；在……期間（介詞）

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Most people like butterflies. This is because butterflies are often very beautiful and because there are so many different kinds of butterflies. In North America, there are about 700 different kinds of butterflies. One butterfly often has many different colors on its wings and its body. This makes butterflies very interesting to look at and to study.

多數人喜歡蝴蝶，這是因為蝴蝶通常很漂亮，而且品種繁多。在北美洲大約有700種不同種類的蝴蝶。蝴蝶的翅膀和身體往往色彩斑斕。這讓蝴蝶看起來很有趣、研究起來也很有趣。

Butterflies are flying insects. Like many other flying insects, they have three body parts and six legs. They also have four wings. The largest butterflies can be forty centimeters over their open wings. That is as large as many birds! Those really large butterflies are called ‘bird wing butterflies’. The smallest butterflies are only about half a centimeter over their open wings.

蝴蝶是飛蟲，像許多其他飛行昆蟲一樣，它們有三個身體部分和六條腿。它們還有四隻翅膀。最大的蝴蝶張開翅膀能有40釐米長，這和許多鳥一樣大！那些很大的蝴蝶叫作“鳥翼鳳蝶”。最小的蝴蝶張開翅膀大約只有半釐米長。

Butterflies live all over the world – from the north to the south and from hot countries to cold countries. Most kinds of butterflies fly and feed during the day. That makes it easier for us to find and study them. Like bees, butterflies feed on parts of plants and flowers, especially plants that farmers grow. This feeding does not hurt the plants. It helps the plants to grow and produce young plants and fruit.

蝴蝶生活在世界各地——從北到南，從炎熱的國家到寒冷的國家。大多數種類的蝴蝶在白天飛行進食，那讓我們更容易找到並研究它們。像蜜蜂一樣，蝴蝶吸食植物和花朵的部位，尤其是農民們種植的植物。這種進食方法不會傷害植物，它幫助植物生長並繁殖幼苗和結出果實。

Let’s look at the life of a butterfly. The lives of butterflies are very interesting. This is because butterflies go through many important changes during their lives. First, female butterflies lay groups of eggs. The females lay their eggs on plants. They always lay their eggs on the kinds of plants that the young butterflies like to feed on. These plants become homes for the young butterflies.

我們看看蝴蝶的生活。蝴蝶的生活非常有趣。這是因為蝴蝶在它們的一生中要經歷許多重要的變化。首先，雌蝶產下成堆的卵，雌蝶在植物上產卵。它們總是在蝴蝶的幼蟲喜歡吸食的植物上產卵。這些植物成了蝴蝶的幼蟲的家園。

When the young butterflies come out of their eggs, they stay on their plant homes and start growing. During their time growing on the plants, the young butterflies change their body shape and their skin many times. They move out of one skin and start to live inside a new skin.

當蝴蝶的幼蟲破卵而出時，它們待在植物家園上並開始成長。在植物上的成長期間，蝴蝶的幼蟲會多次變形和蛻皮。它們褪去一層皮膚，在新的一層皮膚下生活。

The young butterfly has no wings so it cannot fly. The young butterflies spend many weeks staying on their plant home while they grow inside their new skins. When the butterfly comes out of its last skin, it has wings and is ready to fly. It is now an adult. The adult butterfly will then open its wings and fly away from the plant.

蝴蝶的幼蟲沒有翅膀，不能飛。蝴蝶的幼蟲會在植物家園上待上好幾周，同時在新皮膚下成長。當從最後一層皮膚裡破繭而出時，蝴蝶長了翅膀並可以飛行，它現在成年了。成年的蝴蝶會張開翅膀，從植物上飛走。

So butterflies have very interesting lives. However, the lives of most adult butterflies are not very long. Most adult butterflies live only four to six weeks before they die. Just a few kinds of butterflies do not die so quickly. Those kinds of butterflies can live as long as thirty-five or forty weeks!

因此蝴蝶過著非常有趣的生活。然而大多數成年蝴蝶的壽命不很長。大多數成年蝴蝶在死前只活四到六週。只有少數幾種蝴蝶不會死的這麼快。那些種類的蝴蝶能活到三十五或者四十週那麼久！

Butterflies are not very strong, and it is easy for other animals to kill them. The most dangerous animals that like to attack butterflies are birds. Every day, millions of butterflies around the world die because of attacks from birds.

蝴蝶並不非常強大，其他動物很容易捕殺它們。喜歡襲擊蝴蝶的最危險動物是鳥類。每一天世界上有幾百萬只蝴蝶因為鳥類的襲擊而滅亡。

Like some birds, some butterflies fly south at times of the year when temperatures are too cold for them. They fly to places where the temperatures are not so cold. Some of these butterflies are able to fly all the way from North to South America, or from Europe to Africa to find places with better temperatures.

正如有些鳥，有些蝴蝶在一年中氣溫對它們來說太過寒冷的時候向南飛。它們飛去氣溫沒有這麼寒冷的地方。這些蝴蝶能夠一路從北美飛到南美，或者從歐洲飛到非洲去尋找氣溫更適宜的地方。

Because butterflies are so beautiful and so interesting, some people like to look after them in their homes or gardens. This is a very interesting thing to do. First, those people look for a plant on which female butterflies like to lay their eggs. If the plant has butterfly eggs on it, they take the plant into their home or garden. They put the plant in a special place where they can watch it for many weeks. It is important not to take the eggs from that plant because the young butterflies will not feed on any other kind of plant.

蝴蝶如此美麗而且如此有趣，有些人喜歡在他們的家裡或者花園裡飼養蝴蝶。這是非常有趣的一件事情。首先，那些人尋找一株雌蝶喜歡產卵的植物。如果植物上有蝴蝶卵，他們就把植物拿進他們的家裡或者花園裡。他們把植物放在一個特殊的地方，在那兒他們能觀察這株植物好幾周。重要的是不要把卵從植物上拿開，因為蝴蝶的幼蟲不會吃任何其他種類的植物。

If people watch carefully, they will be able to see all the interesting changes the butterfly goes through. After the young butterfly comes out of its egg, it will start to feed on the plant. This helps the young butterfly to grow and after a few days it will start changing its body. During these changes, the young butterfly comes out of one skin and starts to grow a new skin.

如果人們仔細觀察，他們就能看見蝴蝶經歷所有有趣的變化。在蝴蝶的幼蟲破卵而出之後，它會開始吃植物。這有助於蝴蝶的幼蟲成長，幾天之後它會開始變形。在這些變化期間，蝴蝶的幼蟲褪去一層皮膚，並開始長出新的一層皮膚。

After a few weeks, and after it changes its skin four or five times, the adult butterfly will be ready to open its wings and fly away from the plant. The life of a butterfly is very interesting because it is only butterflies that go through changes like these.

幾周之後，蝴蝶的幼蟲蛻皮四、五次，成年蝴蝶會準備好要張開翅膀飛離植物。蝴蝶的生命非常有趣因為只有蝴蝶才會經歷這些變化。

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Lee and Pat are talking in the garden

李和佩特正在花園裡聊天

Lee

What are you doing in the garden, Pat?

Pat

I’m looking for butterflies. I want to know how many there are around here.

Lee

What’s that book for?

Pat

This is a book about butterflies. It’s got pictures of all the common kinds of butterflies. I want to know how many butterflies there are here and how many different kinds there are, too.

Lee

Oh, how many are there?

Pat

Well, I started counting this morning. This morning, I counted seventy-three butterflies and another twenty-one so far this afternoon.

Lee

That’s a lot! That makes ninety-four.

Pat

Yes. Ninety-four butterflies so far, and there are fifteen different kinds.

Lee

Let me help you. I’m good at hunting for things.

Pat

Yes, I know, and you like to kill things, too!

Lee

No, I don’t!

Pat

Yes, you do! Last week, you went hunting for insects all over the house, and you killed lots of them.

Lee

I killed those insects because they were in the house. Mom and Dad don’t want to have insects in the house.

Pat

Well, you didn’t have to kill them. Why didn’t you just take them outside and let them go in the garden?

Lee

Not all insects are beautiful and safe like butterflies, Pat. Some insects are dangerous. I only killed the dangerous insects.

Pat

No, you didn’t! Dangerous insects are insects like mosquitoes, but I saw some of the insects you killed. There were no mosquitoes. You just killed lots of safe insects.

Lee

No, I didn’t!

Pat

Yes, you did!

Lee

No, I didn’t!

Pat

Yes, you did!

Lee

If you won’t let me help you look for butterflies, I’ll go and count them by myself.

Pat

Go on then!

Lee

I will, and I’ll count more than you. I’ll count a lot more than ninety-four. I’ll count millions!

Pat

No, you won’t.

Lee

Yes, I will. I’m going to look for insects down by the river.

Pat

You won’t find many butterflies down there.

Lee

Why not?

Pat

Because there are no plants down there for butterflies to feed on and lay their eggs. Butterflies look for special plants to feed on and lay their eggs. There aren’t any of those kinds of plants near the river.

Lee

Really? I didn’t know that?

Pat

You don’t know very much, do you? Come on! Come with me and I’ll show you where there are lots of plants butterflies like. Those plants are in Dad’s vegetable garden.

Lee

All right, but I’m still going to count more butterflies than you. I’m going to count millions.

李

你在花園裡做什麼呢，佩特？

佩特

我正在尋找蝴蝶。我想知道花園這裡周圍有多少隻蝴蝶。

李

那本書是講什麼的？

佩特

這是一本關於蝴蝶的書。它有所有常見種類的蝴蝶圖片。我想知道花園這裡有多少隻蝴蝶和多少不同種類的蝴蝶。

李

噢，有多少種？

佩特

呃，我今天早上開始數的。今天早上，我數了七十三隻蝴蝶，而今天下午到現在為止又另外數了二十一隻。

李

那很多！那就有九十四隻了。

佩特

是的。到現在為止有九十四隻蝴蝶，有十五種不同種類的蝴蝶。

李

讓我幫幫你，我很擅長找東西。

佩特

是的，我知道，你還喜歡弄死東西！

李

不，不是的。

佩特

是的，你就是的！你在家裡到處捕捉昆蟲，捕殺了很多昆蟲。

李

我捕殺那些昆蟲是因為它們在屋裡，爸媽不想要屋裡有昆蟲。

佩特

好吧，你沒必要捕殺它們。你為什麼不就把它們帶出去，讓它們到花園裡去？

李

不是所有昆蟲都像蝴蝶一樣美麗安全，佩特。有些昆蟲危害大，我只捕殺危險的昆蟲。

佩特

不，你不是的！危險的昆蟲是像蚊子這樣的昆蟲，可是我看到你捕殺的有些昆蟲不是蚊子，你捕殺了很多安全的昆蟲。

李

不，我沒有！

佩特

是的，你有！

李

不，我沒有！

佩特

是的，你有！

李

如果你不讓我幫你照看蝴蝶的話，我就自己去數數它們

佩特

那你去啊！

李

我會去的，我會數得比你多。我會數得比九十四還多。我會數上百萬！

佩特

不，你不會的。

李

是的，我會的。我會去河邊尋找昆蟲。

佩特

你去那兒找不到多少蝴蝶。

李

為什麼不行呢？

佩特

因為那兒沒有植物供蝴蝶食用和產卵。蝴蝶尋找特殊的植物來食用和產卵。河邊沒有那種植物。

李

真的嗎？我不知道？

佩特

你瞭解的不多，不是嗎？來吧！跟我來，我會向你指明蝴蝶喜歡的很多植物都在哪兒。那些植物在爸爸的菜園裡。

李

好吧，但我還是要去數比你更多的蝴蝶。我會數上百萬。

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Questions

1. How big are the largest butterflies?

2. What about the smallest butterflies?

3. In what ways are butterflies like bees?

4. Where do female butterflies lay their eggs?

5. What changes do young butterflies go through?

6. How many butterflies did Pat count this morning?

7. Do you think Lee can count millions of butterflies?

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