时差N小时 黄蜂和玫瑰的对话

The conversation of wasps² and roses on today's moment of science.

时差N小时：黄蜂和玫瑰的对话

Have you ever started talking to someone, only to discover you have nothing in common and, therefore, nothing to say?

你曾有过这样的经历吗？想打破坚冰跟别人交流，却发现毫无共同语言。

You might imagine that a yellow jacket, flying about its waspy business, and a rose bush, intent on growing green leaves in the sun, would be in a similar fix:

想象一下，一只忙着采蜜的黄蜂，一堆在阳光下茁壮成长的玫瑰花丛，它们之间也会出现这样的尴尬场面吗？

nothing in common, nothing to say. Actually, rose bushes and other plants have a time honored method of communicating with yellow jackets and other wasps.

两种截然不同的生物，怎么会有共同语言呢。但实际上植物，包括玫瑰花丛，与黄蜂有着经得起时间考验的交流方式。

A yellow jacket's waspy business is probably finding food. One of the things it likes to eat is nice, juicy caterpillars⁴.

黄蜂的工作可能就是找食物。肥美的毛虫是它们喜爱的食物之一。

The caterpillar³, of course, likes to eat nice, green leaves.

当然毛虫喜欢吃嫩绿的树叶。

So you see, the plant and the yellow jacket have something in common after all: The plant is eaten by the very thing the wasp¹ likes to eat.

所以，玫瑰与黄蜂有着共同的对手毛虫；黄蜂吃毛虫，而植物被毛虫吃。

Yellow jackets have good eyes for spotting caterpillars and other prey⁵, but a plant that is being eaten doesn't want to just wait around for the wasp to notice.

尽管黄蜂视力非常灵敏，一眼就能侦查出毛虫和其他猎物，但是玫瑰还是不想坐以待毙，她要想办法引起黄蜂的注意。

Fortunately for your roses, evolution has provided the plant with its very own distress⁶ signal, based on smell.

幸运的是，进化赋予了玫瑰独一无二的求救方式，气味信号。

When a caterpillar chops into a leaf, the plant releases an acid that smells the same as fresh cut grass.

当毛虫蚕食叶片时，玫瑰会释放出一种酸性物质，闻起来像青草的香气。

The caterpillar's bites also spill a kind of alcohol from the damaged leaf cells.

毛虫咬过之后，损坏的叶片细胞也会溢出一种物质，酒精。

This alcohol mixes with the cut grass aroma⁷ and carries it upward in a rising plume⁸ where it can be smelled by our circling yellow jacket.

酒精味与青草味混合，并一缕一缕地向上挥发，以便让在上空盘旋的黄蜂闻到。

Millions of years of evolution have taught the yellow jacket that following this smell often leads to a delicious meal.

经过上百万年的进化，黄蜂学会了一个道理，跟着香味走就会能饱餐一顿。

So what do wasps and roses talk about? They talk about what's for lunch.

现在你知道黄蜂和玫瑰在谈论什么吗？他们在谈论午餐吃什么。

1 wasp   

n.黄蜂，蚂蜂

参考例句：

• A wasp stung me on the arm.黄蜂蜇了我的手臂。
• Through the glass we can see the wasp.透过玻璃我们可以看到黄蜂。

2 wasps   

黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人

参考例句：

• There's a wasps' nest in that old tree. 那棵老树上有一个黄蜂巢。
• We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths. 我们不仅生活在对象蜘蛛或黄蜂这样的小虫的惧怕中，而且生活在对诸如飞蛾这样无害昆虫的惧怕中

3 caterpillar   

n.毛虫，蝴蝶的幼虫

参考例句：

• A butterfly is produced by metamorphosis from a caterpillar.蝴蝶是由毛虫脱胎变成的。
• A caterpillar must pass through the cocoon stage to become a butterfly.毛毛虫必须经过茧的阶段才能变成蝴蝶。

4 caterpillars   

n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 )；履带

参考例句：

• Caterpillars eat the young leaves of this plant. 毛毛虫吃这种植物的嫩叶。
• Caterpillars change into butterflies or moths. 毛虫能变成蝴蝶或蛾子。 来自辞典例句

5 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

6 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

7 aroma   

n.香气，芬芳，芳香

参考例句：

• The whole house was filled with the aroma of coffee.满屋子都是咖啡的香味。
• The air was heavy with the aroma of the paddy fields.稻花飘香。

8 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。