英语听力文摘 English Digest 504、蚂蚁的阴谋

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　　蚂蚁的阴谋

 

　　Don: Hey,ants’lives are full of intrigue¹. Take slave-making ants. They invade other ants’ nests, kill some of the adults, and then steal the larvae² and take them back to their own nests.

 

　　The larvae learn who they belong to by smell, so the slave-making ants get them while they’re young so they can turn them into slave-making workers who then go off to raid other colonies.

 

　　There's  an ant species called Temnothorax minutissimus that is all queens and no workers. Talk about wacky hijinx...

 

　　Ya?l: But Don,do the queens need the workers to forage³ for food and do general antchores?

 

　　D: They do. That's why this extremely rare species baffles scientists.Like slave-making ants, these ants are parasites⁴ that infiltrate⁵ other ants’colonies. But unlike slave- making ants, the Temnothorax minutissimus queens somehow do so without killing⁶ the host queen and without all the bloodshed. And for some reason, the hosts put up with it and rear the visiting queens' eggs along with their own.

 

　　Many parasitic⁷ relationships are harmful to the hosts, like rabies or malaria⁸ and anthrax. So studying T. minutissimus and their interactions with their hosts could give scientists a fuller understanding of parasite- host interaction.

 

　　Don：嘿，蚂蚁的生命中充满了阴谋。拿使用奴隶的蚂蚁来说，他们入侵其它蚂蚁的巢穴，杀死一些成年蚂蚁，然后把幼虫偷回到自己的巢穴。

 

　　幼虫通过嗅觉来确定自己隶属于谁，所以冠奴蚁就会离开在去入侵攻击其它“殖民地”。

 

　　有一类名为Temnothorax minutissimus的蚂蚁，它们全都是“老大”，没有奴隶。拿古怪的hijinx来说...

 

　　Ya?l：但是Don，这些蚂蚁王需要奴隶去搜寻食物，做一些日常事务吗？

 

　　D：需要。这就是这种极罕见的蚂蚁让科学家们所困惑的。跟冠奴蚁一样，这类蚂蚁也是一种潜入其它蚂蚁殖民地的寄生生物。但跟冠奴蚁不一样的是，Temnothorax minutissimus王们不知怎么的（在入侵时）却不会杀死（入侵巢穴的）蚂蚁王，也不会进行大杀戮。而且，因为某种原因，（被入侵巢穴的）蚂蚁还能接受造访蚂蚁王们的卵与自己的卵放在一起。

 

　　许多寄生关系对（被入侵）蚂蚁来说是有害的，就像狂犬病，疟疾以及炭疽一样。所以，研究Temnothorax minutissimus以及其对（被入侵）蚂蚁的作为可以让科学家更全面的理解入侵蚂蚁与被入侵蚂蚁的关系。

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