读者文摘:以米歇尔·奥巴马命名的蜘蛛(1)

FOR YEARS, people have been naming their pets—and their kids, in some cases—after pop icons¹ they love.

多年来，人们一直用喜欢的流行偶像的名字来给他们的宠物和孩子取名。

In 2016, 370 people in the United States named their baby girls Khaleesi in honor of a Game of Thrones character.

2016年，为了纪念《权力的游戏》中的一个角色，370名美国人给他们的女儿取名为卡丽熙。

Scientists, too, are constantly naming newly discovered species after celebs.

科学家们也在不断地用名人的名字来命名新发现的物种。

But these names might carry a little bit more weight:

但这些名字可能更有分量：

While a baby named Khaleesi can get older and decide to legally change her name,

当一位名叫卡丽熙的婴儿长大后决定合法更改名字时，

scientific names go down in the history books.

卡丽熙的学名载入史册。

There's the Agra schwarzeneggeri beetle², named after Arnold Schwarzenegger's biceps;

一种名叫阿格拉·施瓦辛格甲虫以阿诺德·施瓦辛格的肱二头肌命名;

the Aleiodes shakirae wasp³, named after Shakira's hip⁴ and belly⁵ dance movements; and the list goes on.

脊茧蜂属夏奇拉黄蜂以夏奇拉的臀部和腹部舞蹈动作命名；这样的例子不胜枚举。

Turns out, there is a method to this seemingly mad nomenclature.

事实证明，这种看似疯狂的命名法有一些作用。

Sometimes having a recognizable name attached to what might otherwise be an unremarkable little creature is the only way for the species to get widespread attention.

有时候，给一个不起眼的小生物起一个人们都知道的名字，是该物种获得广泛关注的唯一途径。

The latest case in point: In September 2017, researchers announced the discovery of 15 new species of spiders in the Caribbean.

最新的例子是：2017年9月，研究人员宣布在加勒比地区发现了15种新型蜘蛛。

They named three of them after Leonardo DiCaprio, David Bowie, and Michelle Obama.

这些蜘蛛中有三个命名为莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥、大卫·鲍伊和米歇尔·奥巴马。

Spider expert Ingi Agnarsson is an associate professor of biology at the University of Vermont

蜘蛛专家Agnarsson 是佛蒙特大学生物学副教授

and was the lead researcher of the Caribbean study, published in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

和加勒比海研究的首席研究员，他在林奈学会的动物学杂志上发表了这篇文章。

1 icons   

n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像

参考例句：

• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下，后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

3 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。

4 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

5 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。