Fight Fire with ... Flies?　救火……用蒼蠅？
Natural remedies for fire ants　火蟻的天然防治法
‧ 標題單字
1) remedy (n.) 補救方法，療法
Many people use natural remedies when they are ill.

1.The University of Texas is studying some interesting new ways to fight fire ants. Instead of using 2)chemicals on the 3)stinging ants, researchers there are trying flies 4)imported from South America. These flies are natural 5)predators of the 6)annoying little red ants.
德州大學正在研究一些對抗火蟻的有趣新方法。不對這些螫人的螞蟻施用化學藥劑，德州大學研究人員在試用的是從南美洲引進的蒼蠅。這些蒼蠅是這種討厭的小紅蟻的天然掠食者。
‧ 中級單字
2) chemical (n.) 化學藥品
This food has too many unnatural chemicals.
3) sting (v.) 螫，刺
Be careful or those bees will sting you.
4) import (v.) 輸入，進口
Most of these cars are imported from Japan.
5) predator (n.) 掠食者
The lion is a great African predator.
6) annoying (a.) 討人厭的，煩人的
He thinks his little brother is very annoying.

2.Fire ants, also from South America, are now spreading all over the world. They are 7)fiercely 8)territorial, carry a painful sting, and 9)swarm on any enemy. Worst of all, since these ants have no natural predators outside of their 10)homeland, they 11)multiply at 12)incredible 13)rates.
同樣來自南美洲的火蟻現在已經散布全球。牠有極強的領域性、身上有讓人疼痛的螫針，還會成群爬到任何敵人身上。最糟糕的是，由於這種螞蟻離開家鄉就沒有天敵，所以能夠以驚人的速度繁殖。
‧ 中級單字
7) fiercely (adv.) 極度地，強烈地
They argued（爭論）fiercely all night long.
8) territorial (a.) 有領域性的
Many animals can be territorial.
9) swarm (v.) 成群聚集
The bees swarmed around the flowers.
10) homeland (n.) 家鄉
His homeland is on the other side of the world.
11) multiply (v.) 繁殖，倍增
Rabbits can multiply very quickly.
12) incredible (a.) 驚人的，令難以置信的
She is an incredible singer.
13) rate (n.) 速率
The temperature has been increasing at a steady rate.

3.Until now, that is. Through careful research, scientists have shown that little flies called Phorids use fire ants as 14)hosts for their maggots. They dive-bomb the ants and leave 15)larvae in their bodies. The larvae grow and feed on the ants, eventually killing them by causing their heads to fall off. 16)Fortunately, these flies only 17)attack fire ants.
不過現在不同了。經過仔細的研究，科學家證明有一種叫作Phorid的小蒼蠅用火蟻作為蛆的宿主。牠會從空中俯衝轟炸螞蟻、在螞蟻身上留下幼蟲。幼蟲以螞蟻為食物成長，直到最後螞蟻的頭掉落死亡為止。幸運的是，這種蒼蠅只會攻擊火蟻。
‧ 中級單字
14) host (n.) 宿主，主人，主持人
Dogs can be hosts to many insects（昆蟲）.
15) larva (n.) 幼蟲，複數為larvae [`l3rvi]
Mosquito larvae live in water.
16) fortunately (adv.) 幸好，幸運地
Fortunately it stopped raining before the parade（遊行）.
17) attack (v.) 攻擊
The soldiers attacked the small town.

4.So, while the quick and easy method to 18)get rid of fire ants would be to drop 19)tons of chemical 20)poison all over the land, that's not the best method to use. After all, these poisons can eventually go into the water we drink, so it's 21)probably a better idea to let the flies do the hunting for us.
所以，雖然消滅火蟻最快、最容易的方法是在地上到處灑大量的化學藥劑，但那並不是最理想的方法。畢竟，這些毒藥最終還是有可能進入我們的飲水，所以讓蒼蠅幫我們獵殺火蟻或許是比較好的主意。
‧ 中級單字
18) get rid of 擺脫，除去
We need to get rid of all this garbage.
19) ton (n.) 噸
This truck can carry two tons of rock.
20) poison (n.) 毒藥
She warned her children not to touch the poison.
21) probably (adv.) 很可能
The sky is very dark and it will probably rain later.


- posted by star blog @ Thursday, December 09, 2004