CNN新闻英语第 40 课：A Real Spider Man 一个真正的蜘蛛人-2

PLATNIK 布拉尼克
Some are sit and wait hunters. They wait for the prey to come to them. Some are more active and go out and chase the prey down. 有一些蜘蛛是守株待兔型的，它们等待猎物自动送上门来。有些则更主动一些，出外追捕猎物。

NISSEN 尼森
And then start digesting. 接着，蜘蛛开始进食。

PLATNIK 布拉尼克
It's rather gory actually. They'll first inject venom to paralyze it and then they will secrete digestive enzymes, which liquefy the prey and then they suck up the liquid. 实际上蜘蛛进食的过程是血腥的。它们首先在猎物体内注入毒液使之全身麻痹，接着分泌消化酶，把猎物液化，最后吸食液体。

NISSEN 尼森
Oh. 哦。

PLATNIK 布拉尼克
Well, you have to make a living somehow. 唉，生存总是第一位的。

NISSEN 尼森
They'll eat almost anything they can catch, butterflies, other spiders, even small snakes and fish, but not humans, although if threatened spiders, such as this tarantula, will bite. 它们几乎捉到什么就吃什么，如蝴蝶、其它蜘蛛，甚至小蛇和鱼类，但不包括人类。当然如果遭到威胁，比如有毒的狼蛛，就会咬人。

PLATNIK 布拉尼克
You have to watch out. You're getting a little too close to the jaw. 小心！你（的手）离这只蜘蛛的下颚太近了。

NISSEN 尼森
Jaw, all right. There are only two poisonous spiders in North America, the Black Widow and the Brown Recluse. Still, many people react to spiders the way a CNN sound man did when this Brazilian tarantula momentarily got away from its handler. Those with Arachnophobia, fear of spiders, can't avoid them. They're almost everywhere. 下颚，哦。北美洲只有两种毒蜘蛛："黑寡妇"和"褐色隐居者"。直到现在，当巴西狼蛛暂时从人们手中逃脱的时候，许多人对蜘蛛的反应和这位CNN录音师一样。那些患蜘蛛恐惧症的人不可避免地要碰到蜘蛛。它们无处不在。

PLATNIK 布拉尼克
You're probably within seven or eight feet of a spider no matter where you are. The only place on earth that has no spiders at all, as far as we know, is Antarctica. 不管你在哪儿，你周围七八英尺之内说不定就有蜘蛛。就目前我们所知道的，除了南极，地球上任何地方都有蜘蛛。

NISSEN 尼森
He says as far as we know because so little is known about spiders. Scientists have identified 36,000 species of spider but they estimate that's only half the actual number. 布拉尼克之所以说"就目前我们所知道的"，是因为我们对于蜘蛛的了解太贫乏了。科学家已经发现了36000 种蜘蛛，但是据他们估计，这只是实际数目的一半。

PLATNIK 布拉尼克
And we're destroying their habitats so that we're losing them before we even know what we're losing. 我们正在破坏蜘蛛的生存环境，所以对于某些蜘蛛来说，当我们还没有知道它们存在过的时候，就已经消失了。

NISSEN 尼森
While many people might say good riddance to spiders, Platnik says humans should say thank you. PLATNIK: The fact is, if there were no spiders, we probably wouldn't be here. The spiders eat an enormous number of insects, and without that, the insects would have devoured all our crops long ago. We would have no food. 布拉尼克说，当许多人在扬言永远消灭蜘蛛时，人类反而应该对蜘蛛说声"谢谢"。事实是，如果没有蜘蛛，我们也许就不能站在这儿了。蜘蛛吞食了大量的昆虫。如果没有蜘蛛，昆虫早就把我们的庄稼啃光了。我们将无米可食。

NISSEN 尼森
Something to keep in mind the next time you see a spider in the bathtub or a cobweb in the corner. 这是你下次在浴缸里或是在屋角上见到蜘蛛时，应想到的。