Lesson 2 Spare that spider
第二課 不要傷害蜘蛛
by T. H. GILLESPLE
from The Listener
2-1. Why, you may wonder, should spiders be our friends?
【譯文】你可能會(huì)奇怪，蜘蛛怎是吾友？
【講解】you may wonder為插入語(yǔ)。
2-2. Because they destroy so many insects, and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human race.
【譯文】因?yàn)樗鼈兿麥缌四敲炊嗬ハx，包括一些屬于人類大敵人的昆蟲。
2-3. Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals.
【譯文】昆蟲可以使我們無(wú)法在地球上生存。如果不是食蟲動(dòng)物的保護(hù)，則這些昆蟲會(huì)吞噬我們所有的莊稼，殺死我們成群的牛羊。
【講解】make it impossible for us to live in the world中it是形式賓語(yǔ)，真正的賓語(yǔ)是for us to live in the world。insects would和they would中的would均表示與事實(shí)不符的虛擬結(jié)構(gòu)。
if it were not for the protection…作前面兩個(gè)分句的非真實(shí)條件狀語(yǔ)從句，意即“要不是我們從食蟲那里得到保護(hù)的話……”。這里的were是虛擬語(yǔ)氣結(jié)構(gòu)。we get…animals作protection的定語(yǔ)。
2-4. We owe a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but all of them put together kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spiders.
【譯文】我們受惠于食蟲的飛禽鳥獸，但把它們都算在一起，也只是捕殺了蜘蛛消滅的昆蟲數(shù)的一個(gè)零頭。
【講解】all of them指birds and beasts，put together kill相當(dāng)于…them who are put together kill。意即“它們?nèi)釉谝黄鹣麥纭?。the number指“被消滅的昆蟲數(shù)”。
【單詞和短語(yǔ)】
owe:應(yīng)感激（to know that someone’s help has been important to you in achieving something），例如：
We owe our parents a lot. 我們得大大感激我們的父母。
2-5. Moreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters, spiders never do the least harm to us or our belongings.
【譯文】此外，不同于其他一些食蟲動(dòng)物，蜘蛛對(duì)人類及其財(cái)物絲毫無(wú)損。
【單詞和短語(yǔ)】
belongings：所有物，財(cái)物，動(dòng)產(chǎn)；行李，例如：
He left all his belongings to his brother.
他把他的全部財(cái)物留給了他兄弟。
It didn’t take me long to arrange my belongings；for I had brought little.
因?yàn)樾醒b帶得不多，我沒(méi)花多少時(shí)間就把東西整理好了。
第二課 不要傷害蜘蛛
by T. H. GILLESPLE
from The Listener
2-1. Why, you may wonder, should spiders be our friends?
【譯文】你可能會(huì)奇怪，蜘蛛怎是吾友？
【講解】you may wonder為插入語(yǔ)。
2-2. Because they destroy so many insects, and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human race.
【譯文】因?yàn)樗鼈兿麥缌四敲炊嗬ハx，包括一些屬于人類大敵人的昆蟲。
2-3. Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals.
【譯文】昆蟲可以使我們無(wú)法在地球上生存。如果不是食蟲動(dòng)物的保護(hù)，則這些昆蟲會(huì)吞噬我們所有的莊稼，殺死我們成群的牛羊。
【講解】make it impossible for us to live in the world中it是形式賓語(yǔ)，真正的賓語(yǔ)是for us to live in the world。insects would和they would中的would均表示與事實(shí)不符的虛擬結(jié)構(gòu)。
if it were not for the protection…作前面兩個(gè)分句的非真實(shí)條件狀語(yǔ)從句，意即“要不是我們從食蟲那里得到保護(hù)的話……”。這里的were是虛擬語(yǔ)氣結(jié)構(gòu)。we get…animals作protection的定語(yǔ)。
2-4. We owe a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but all of them put together kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spiders.
【譯文】我們受惠于食蟲的飛禽鳥獸，但把它們都算在一起，也只是捕殺了蜘蛛消滅的昆蟲數(shù)的一個(gè)零頭。
【講解】all of them指birds and beasts，put together kill相當(dāng)于…them who are put together kill。意即“它們?nèi)釉谝黄鹣麥纭?。the number指“被消滅的昆蟲數(shù)”。
【單詞和短語(yǔ)】
owe:應(yīng)感激（to know that someone’s help has been important to you in achieving something），例如：
We owe our parents a lot. 我們得大大感激我們的父母。
2-5. Moreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters, spiders never do the least harm to us or our belongings.
【譯文】此外，不同于其他一些食蟲動(dòng)物，蜘蛛對(duì)人類及其財(cái)物絲毫無(wú)損。
【單詞和短語(yǔ)】
belongings：所有物，財(cái)物，動(dòng)產(chǎn)；行李，例如：
He left all his belongings to his brother.
他把他的全部財(cái)物留給了他兄弟。
It didn’t take me long to arrange my belongings；for I had brought little.
因?yàn)樾醒b帶得不多，我沒(méi)花多少時(shí)間就把東西整理好了。