Instinct or cleverness?
本能还是聪明？
Was the writer successful in protecting his peach tree? Why not?
作家成功地保护了他的桃树吗? 为什么不？
We have been brought up to fear insects.
我们从小就害怕昆虫。
We regard them as unnecessary creatures that do more harm than good.
我们认为它们是不必要的生物，弊大于利。
We continually wage war on them, for they contaminate our food, carry diseases, or devour our crops.
我们不断向他们发动战争，因为他们污染我们的食物，携带疾病，或吞噬我们的庄稼。
They sting or bite without provocation;
它们不受挑衅地刺痛或咬人;
they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights, or beat against our lighted windows.
他们在夏天的夜晚不请自来地飞进我们的房间，或者撞在我们明亮的窗户上。
We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths.
我们不仅害怕蜘蛛或黄蜂等令人不快的昆虫，而且害怕像飞蛾这样无害的昆虫。
Reading about them increases our understanding without dispelling our fears.
阅读他们增加了我们的理解，而不会消除我们的恐惧。
Knowing that the industrious ant lives in a highly organized society
知道勤劳的蚂蚁生活在一个高度组织的社会中
does nothing to prevent us from being filled with revulsion when we find hordes of them crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch.
当我们发现成群的人爬过精心准备的野餐时，没有什么能阻止我们充满厌恶。
No matter how much we like honey,
不管我们多么喜欢蜂蜜,
or how much we have read about the uncanny sense of direction which bees possess, we have a horror of being stung.
或者我们读了多少关于蜜蜂拥有的不可思议的方向感，我们有一种被刺痛的恐惧。
Most of our fears are unreasonable, but they are impossible to erase.
我们的大多数恐惧都是不合理的，但它们是不可能消除的。
At the same time, however, insects are strangely fascinating.
然而，与此同时，昆虫奇怪地令人着迷。
We enjoy reading about them, especially when we find that, like the praying mantis, they lead perfectly horrible lives.
我们喜欢阅读它们，特别是当我们发现像螳螂一样，它们过着非常可怕的生活。
We enjoy staring at them, entranced as they go about their business, unaware (we hope) of our presence.
我们喜欢盯着他们，着迷，因为他们去他们的业务，不知道（我们希望）我们的存在。
Who has not stood in awe at the sight of a spider pouncing on a fly,
谁没有敬畏地看到一只蜘蛛扑向苍蝇？,
or a column of ants triumphantly bearing home an enormous dead beetle?
还是一列蚂蚁得意洋洋地把一只巨大的死甲虫带回家?
Last summer I spent days in the garden watching thousands of ants crawling up the trunk of my prize peach tree.
去年夏天，我在花园里呆了好几天，看着成千上万的蚂蚁爬上我的奖品桃树的树干。
The tree has grown against a warm wall on a sheltered side of the house.
这棵树生长在房子一侧有遮蔽的温暖的墙上。
I am especially proud of it,
我为此感到特别自豪,
not only because it has survived several severe winters, but because it occasionally produces luscious peaches.
不仅因为它在几个严冬中幸存下来，而且因为它偶尔会产出甜美的桃子。
During the summer, I noticed that the leaves of the tree were beginning to wither.
在夏天，我注意到树的叶子开始枯萎。
Clusters of tiny insects called aphides were to be found on the underside of the leaves.
在叶子的下面发现了一群叫做蚜虫的小昆虫.
They were visited by a large colony of ants which obtained a sort of honey from them.
一大群蚂蚁拜访了他们，从他们那里得到了一种蜂蜜。
I immediately embarked on an experiment which
我立刻开始了一个实验。
even though it failed to get rid of the ants kept me fascinated for twenty-four hours.
即使它没有摆脱蚂蚁，也让我着迷了二十四个小时。
I bound the base of the tree with sticky tape, making it impossible for the ants to reach the aphides.
我用胶带把树的基部绑起来，使蚂蚁无法到达蚜虫。
The tape was so sticky that they did not dare to cross it.
胶带太粘了，他们不敢穿过它。
For a long time, I watched them scurrying around the base of the tree in bewilderment.
很长一段时间，我目瞪口呆地看着他们在树根上乱窜。
I even went out at midnight with a torch and noted with satisfaction (and surprise)
我甚至在午夜带着火炬出去，并满意地注意到（和惊喜）
that the ants were still swarming around the sticky tape without being able to do anything about it.
蚂蚁还在胶带周围蜂拥而至，却无能为力。
I got up early next morning hoping to find that the ants had given up in despair.
我第二天一大早起来，希望发现蚂蚁们绝望地放弃了。
Instead, I saw that they had discovered a new route.
相反，我看到他们发现了一条新路线。
They were climbing up the wall of the house and then on to the leaves of the tree.
他们爬上房子的墙，然后爬到树的叶子上。
I realized sadly that I had been completely defeated by their ingenuity.
我悲伤地意识到，我已经完全被他们的聪明才智打败了。
The ants had been quick to find an answer to my thoroughly unscientific methods!
蚂蚁们很快就找到了我完全不科学的方法的答案！
