我们从小就被教导要惧怕昆虫。
We have been brought up to fear insects.
我们把它们视为不必要的生物，认为它们弊大于利。
We regard them as unnecessary creatures that do more harm than good.
我们不断地向它们宣战，因为它们污染我们的食物、传播疾病，或者吞噬我们的庄稼。
We continually wage war on them, for they contaminate our food, carry diseases, or devour our crops.
它们无缘无故地蜇人或咬人；在夏夜，它们不请自来地飞进我们的房间，或扑打着我们亮着灯的窗户。
They sting or bite without provocation; they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights, or beat against our lighted windows.
我们不仅对蜘蛛或黄蜂之类令人不悦的昆虫充满恐惧，就连飞蛾这类完全无害的昆虫也令我们忧惧。
We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths.
阅读有关昆虫的文章能增进我们的了解，却并不能消除我们的恐惧。
Reading about them increases our understanding without dispelling our fears.
知道勤劳的蚂蚁生活在一个高度有序的社会中，并不能阻止我们在发现成群的蚂蚁爬过精心准备的野餐食物时感到满心厌恶。
Knowing that the industrious ant lives in a highly organized society does nothing to prevent us from being filled with revulsion when we find hordes of them crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch.
无论我们多么喜欢蜂蜜，或者读了多少关于蜜蜂所具有的那种神奇方向感的文章，我们仍然对被蜜蜂蜇伤充满恐惧。
No matter how much we like honey, or how much we have read about the uncanny sense of direction which bees possess, we have a horror of being stung.
我们的大多数恐惧是无理性的，但却不可能消除。
Most of our fears are unreasonable, but they are impossible to erase.
然而与此同时，昆虫又是奇异地令人着迷的。
At the same time, however, insects are strangely fascinating.
我们喜欢阅读关于它们的文章，尤其是当我们发现它们——就像螳螂一样——过着极其残忍的生活时。
We enjoy reading about them, especially when we find that, like the praying mantis, they lead perfectly horrible lives.
我们喜欢凝视它们，如痴如醉地看着它们各自忙碌，希望它们并未察觉我们的存在。
We enjoy staring at them, entranced as they go about their business, unaware (we hope) of our presence.
谁没有在看到蜘蛛猛扑飞蝇、或一列蚂蚁得意洋洋地把一只巨大的死甲虫拖回家的景象时，为之肃然起敬呢？
Who has not stood in awe at the sight of a spider pouncing on a fly, or a column of ants triumphantly bearing home an enormous dead beetle?
去年夏天，我在花园里花了好几天时间，观察着成千上万只蚂蚁沿着我那棵得过奖的桃树树干向上爬。
Last summer I spent days in the garden watching thousands of ants crawling up the trunk of my prize peach tree.
这棵树靠着一面朝阳的暖墙生长，位于房子的避风一侧。
The tree has grown against a warm wall on a sheltered side of the house.
我对它格外引以为豪，不仅因为它熬过了几个严冬，还因为它偶尔能结出甘甜多汁的桃子。
I am especially proud of it, not only because it has survived several severe winters, but because it occasionally produces luscious peaches.
在那个夏天，我注意到树叶开始枯萎了。
During the summer, I noticed that the leaves of the tree were beginning to wither.
在叶子的背面，可以发现一簇簇被称为蚜虫的微小昆虫。
Clusters of tiny insects called aphides were to be found on the underside of the leaves.
蚜虫常被一大群蚂蚁造访，蚂蚁从它们身上获取一种类似蜂蜜的甜液。
They were visited by a large colony of ants which obtained a sort of honey from them.
我立刻着手进行了一项实验，这项实验尽管未能消灭蚂蚁，却让我着迷了整整二十四小时。
I immediately embarked on an experiment which even though it failed to get rid of the ants kept me fascinated for twenty-four hours.
我用粘性胶带缠住树的基部，使蚂蚁不可能爬到蚜虫那里。
I bound the base of the tree with sticky tape, making it impossible for the ants to reach the aphides.
胶带太粘了，以至于它们不敢越过去。
The tape was so sticky that they did not dare to cross it.
很长一段时间里，我看着它们困惑地在树根周围仓皇奔跑。
For a long time, I watched them scurrying around the base of the tree in bewilderment.
我甚至在午夜时分拿着手电筒出去察看，带着满意（也有惊讶）地记录到：蚂蚁们仍在粘性胶带周围蜂拥乱窜，却无计可施。
I even went out at midnight with a torch and noted with satisfaction (and surprise) that the ants were still swarming around the sticky tape without being able to do anything about it.
第二天一早，我早早起床，希望能发现蚂蚁已经绝望放弃了。
I got up early next morning hoping to find that the ants had given up in despair.
然而，我看到的却是它们已经发现了一条新路线。
Instead, I saw that they had discovered a new route.
它们正沿着房屋的墙壁向上爬，然后直接爬到树叶上。
They were climbing up the wall of the house and then on to the leaves of the tree.
我悲哀地意识到，我已被它们的聪明才智彻底打败了。
I realized sadly that I had been completely defeated by their ingenuity.
蚂蚁很快就为我那完全不科学的方法找到了应对之策！
The ants had been quick to find an answer to my thoroughly unscientific methods!