听力文摘：忍辱负重的"女系部族"

Males Rule in Costa Rican Wasp¹ Species

哥斯达黎加父系制度的黄蜂

In most species of social insects, such as wasps², bees, and ants, the females rule. The females are the workers. They are the ones to go out and get the food, and they are also the ones to care for the queen, the larvae³, and the nest in general. The males of these species of insects are typically lazy, and they bear the brunt of much abuse. They’re sometimes bitten, fed scraps⁴, and chased out of the home for good by their sisters not long after they’re born.

群居昆虫中大多奉行母系制度，比如黄蜂、蜜蜂、蚂蚁。群体里的工蜂是负责外出寻觅食物、照顾蜂王及幼虫并守卫蜂巢。而雄蜂通常都游手好闲，因此招来骂声一片。雄蜂有时候会被欺负，食不果腹，出生后不久被雌蜂赶出蜂巢觅食。

Not only that, but among paper wasps in the United States the females practice what scientists call “male stuffing.” When a worker brings food home to the nest, her sisters shove their brothers headfirst into empty nest cells to prevent them from consuming any of the food.

科学家发现美国胡蜂群体里的雌蜂盛行的是“包夹雄蜂”。当工蜂运送食物回蜂巢，雌蜂就把雄蜂头挡在空蜂房里，不让雄蜂享受劳动果实。

Behavior like this, however, is reversed in a Costa Rican wasp species. The males in this species not only attack their sisters, who curl into submissive positions or flee, but they steal food from the queen herself, their very own mother.

但是，在哥斯达黎加黄蜂却恰好相反。雄蜂不但围攻雌蜂，还从蜂王那里偷食物，蜂王可是他们的亲生母亲啊！雌蜂只得缩成一团或逃跑。

These wasps live in a cloud forest in Costa Rica. Whereas wasp colonies in temperatezones can only reproduce for a brief period in the summer, these colonies can mate year round. Thus, a scientist studying these wasps proposes that it’s in the females’ interest to put up with the abuse of their brothers and to let them hang around longer because it increases the males chances of mating with queens from other nests, which makes the colony more biologically fit.

这类黄蜂居住在哥斯达黎加的雾林中。温带黄蜂只在夏天很短的一段时间繁衍后代，而这种黄蜂终年交配。研究这类黄蜂的科学家推断，雌蜂对雄蜂的放任自流是忍辱负重，为其它蜂巢的蜂王制造更多交配机会，顺应物种繁衍。

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 larvae   

n.幼虫

参考例句：

• Larvae are parasitic on sheep.幼虫寄生在绵羊的身上。
• The larvae prey upon small aphids.这种幼虫以小蚜虫为食。

4 scraps   

油渣

参考例句：

• Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
• A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。