英語(yǔ)聽力文摘480 如何破無頭緒兇殺案？
辯論術(shù)/ 法醫(yī)學(xué)
A murder has been committed. The scene of the crime is a secluded area. There were no witnesses, and the body is considerably decayed.
As the chief investigator, you have a suspect who was in town a week ago. But to convict him, you'll need to know the date and time that the victim was murdered. How can you tell? And besides, what’s that annoying buzzing in your ear? Wait, don’t swat that fly! He’s your star witness. In fact, that little fly just told you the date of the crime!
Flies don’t carry pocket calendars, and they can’t testify before a jury. How can a crime-scene insect help a police investigation? By doing what it naturally does–eating and laying eggs.
When someone dies outdoors, the first investigators on the scene are usually bright greenbottle blowflies. Attracted by the smell of decaying flesh, these usually arrive within ten minutes of the death. While this smell might make us retch, for the blowfly it’s as savory as grandma’s apple pie. The blowfly’s scientific name is “Sarcophagi,” which means “corpse eater.”
While they eat, the blowflies lay eggs in the softer parts of the body, and these hatch into maggots twenty-four hours later. These maggots attract other insects, like the predatory rove beetle(隱翅蟲), who feast on them. And so on. Wave after wave of hungry insects arrive, marking time as accurately as a clock.
Meanwhile, the blowflies follow their natural life cycle. Maggots become pupae, the pupae become adults. By surveying the insects in and around a corpse, forensic scientists can help a police investigator determine how long ago a victim was murdered.
有一場(chǎng)兇手案。兇案現(xiàn)場(chǎng)是一個(gè)隱蔽的地方，沒有目擊證人，尸體也嚴(yán)重腐爛了。
身為首席偵查員，你在一周前就在鎮(zhèn)子里有一個(gè)懷疑對(duì)象。但是要證明其有罪，你需要知道受害人被害的日期和時(shí)間。你要怎么說呢?除此之外，你耳朵里那些惱人的嘈雜聲又是什么呢?等等，不要拍打這只“蒼蠅”，它就是你的重要目擊證人。事實(shí)上，這只小蒼蠅就告知了你犯罪日期。
蒼蠅并沒有在兜里自帶日歷，它們也不能在陪審團(tuán)面前作證。那一只在犯罪現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的蟲子是怎樣幫助警察調(diào)查的呢?通過它們正常的方式—— 食用(尸體)并產(chǎn)卵。
當(dāng)一個(gè)人死于戶外時(shí)，到現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的第一批偵查員通常都是亮亮的綠頭蒼蠅。他們被正在腐爛的肉味所吸引，通常在死亡后十分鐘內(nèi)就到來了。這些(腐肉)氣味或許會(huì)令我們作嘔，但對(duì)于綠頭蒼蠅來說他們就像是外婆做的蘋果派一樣可口。綠頭蒼蠅的學(xué)名是“Sarcophagi(中文意思為“石棺”)”，意思是“尸體食用者”。
這些蒼蠅一邊嗜(尸體)，一邊在尸體較軟的地方產(chǎn)卵，然后這些卵又會(huì)在24小時(shí)后會(huì)孵化稱蛆。蛆又會(huì)引來其它的昆蟲，比如說以蛆為食的肉食型隱翅蟲等。饑餓的昆蟲們一波接一波的到來，時(shí)間精準(zhǔn)的跟時(shí)鐘一樣。
與此同時(shí)，綠頭蒼蠅們繼續(xù)這它們的正常生命循環(huán)。蛆變成蛹，蛹再長(zhǎng)大。通過調(diào)查尸體周圍的昆蟲，法醫(yī)可以幫助警方調(diào)查人員確定受害者遇害的時(shí)間。
