英國學(xué)生科學(xué)讀本 Lesson 58 毛毛蟲向前爬(2)

Another way of getting caterpillars is to look for them on the under sides of the leaves of such plants as the nettle, the rose, and the hawthorn. You must feed these caterpillars on the leaves of the plant on which you found them; and as they are very greedy, they will want some fresh leaves every day.

還有一種辦法能捉到鱗翅目幼蟲，就是到蕁麻、玫瑰、山楂這些植物的葉子下面去找。在什么植株上找到的幼蟲， 就要用什么葉子來喂;這些幼蟲很貪吃，每天都要吃掉一些新鮮葉子。

The body of the caterpillar grows, but its skin does not grow. When the old skin becomes too tight, it splits down the back, and the caterpillar crawls out. A new and larger skin soon grows on its body. The caterpillar then eats up its old skin.

幼蟲的身體會長大，但皮膚卻不長大。舊的皮膚變得太緊了，就從背部裂開，幼蟲會從舊皮里面爬出來，很快長出更大的新皮膚。然后幼蟲就把舊皮吃掉了。

This happens about five times before the creature grows to its full size. Then it stops feeding, and its body changes into what is called a chrysalis. The silk-worm caterpillars wrap themselves round with a ball of silk called a cocoon while they are going through this change. Others cover themselves with a hard brown case of skin.

這個過程要重復(fù)大概五次，幼蟲才能長到最大。然后幼蟲就不吃東西了，身體變成了“繭”，英語是chrysalis。蠶的幼蟲這樣變化的時候，會把身體包在一個蠶絲做的球形殼子里面，這殼子叫“蠶繭”(cocoon)。其他種類的幼蟲，則會用一層堅硬的棕色殼子，蓋住自己的身體。

Then after a time the case or the cocoon breaks open, and a perfect insect (a butterfly or a moth) creeps out, ready to fly about and to lay some tiny white eggs.

過了一段時間，殼子或者繭就會破開，一只成蟲(蝴蝶或者蛾子)爬出來，準備翩翩飛舞，產(chǎn)下小小的白色蟲卵了。

Do you see the caterpillar's small black head? It has a strong pair of jaws, and with them it eats every day a great many leaves. Look also at the hairs on its back. These hairs have two uses. They prevent birds from eating the caterpillar, for the bird does not like these hairs to stick in its throat; and, besides, if the caterpillar falls from a leaf to the ground, the hairs break the fall, and keep it from being hurt.

你看見幼蟲的小黑腦袋了嗎? 幼蟲有一對強壯的上下顎，用這對上下顎，每天都要吃掉很多葉子。再看看背上的毛。這些毛有兩個用途：可以保護幼蟲不被鳥吃掉，因為鳥不喜歡這些毛扎在喉嚨里;而且，如果幼蟲從葉子上掉了下去，這些毛可以起到緩沖的作用，不讓幼蟲摔傷。

英語美文