新概念頻道為大家整理的 新概念英語第四冊課文及翻譯：Lesson2，供大家參考。更多閱讀請查看本站 新概念英語網(wǎng)頻道。
【課文】
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
How much of each year do spiders spend killing insects?
Why, you may wonder, should spiders be our friends? Because they destroy so many insects, and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human race. 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. 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. Moreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters, spiders never do the harm to us or our belongings.
Spiders are not insects, as many people think, nor even nearly related to them. One can tell the difference almost at a glance, for a spider always has eight legs and an insect never more than six.
How many spiders are engaged in this work on our behalf? One authority on spiders made a census of the spiders in grass field in the south of England, and he estimated that there were more than 2,250,000 in one acre; that is something like 6,000,000 spiders of different kinds on a football pitch. Spiders are busy for at least half the year in killing insects. It is impossible to make more than the wildest guess at how many they kill, but they are hungry creatures, not content with only three meals a day. It has been estimated that the weight of all the insects destroyed by spiders in Britain in one year would be greater than the total weight of all the human beings in the country.
【New words and expressions 生詞和短語】
insect n. 昆蟲
devour v. 吞食
flock n. 羊群
herd n. 牧群
beast n. 野獸
fraction n. 小部分
census n. 統(tǒng)計數(shù)字
acre n. 英畝
content adj. 滿足的
【課文注釋】
1. you may wonder 是這個疑問句的插入語。
常見的插入語還有：as you know, to be frank, in fact, generally speaking等等。
2. flock 既可作名詞，也可作動詞。
①作名詞，表示羊群或牛群，或者人群
例句：They kept a small flock of sheep.
他們養(yǎng)了一小群羊。
例句：There are many flocks of tourists in the palace.
宮殿里有好幾群游客。
②作動詞，表示聚集，群集
例句：In the summer, tourists flock to the museums and art galleries.
夏季游人成群結(jié)隊到博物館和藝術(shù)館參觀。
③拓展：Birds of a feather flock together.物以類聚，人以群分。
3. if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals，這是一個非真實條件狀語從句，were表示虛擬語氣。
表示對過去的虛擬：If+過去完成時(had done sth), would/could have done...
表示對現(xiàn)在的虛擬：If+簡單過去時(did sth), would/could do...
4. owe a lot to 歸功于，感激
①owe money to sb欠某人錢
例句：The company owes money to more than 60 banks.
這家公司欠了60多家銀行錢。
②owe sth to sb把某事歸功于某人，感謝某人
例句：He owes his success more to luck than to ability.
他認(rèn)為他的成功是靠運氣而不是因為自己有能力.
5. almost at a glance，幾乎一眼(就能看出)。
6. on our behalf 代表我們
on behalf of sb/on sb's behalf 代表某人
例句：On behalf of my colleagues and myself I thank you.
我代表我的同事以及我自己向你表示謝意.
【參考譯文】
你可能會覺得奇怪， 蜘蛛怎么會是我們的朋友呢?因為它們能消滅那么多的昆蟲，其中包括一些人類的大敵，要不是人類受一些食蟲動物的保護，昆蟲就會使我們無法在地球上生活下去，昆蟲會吞食我們的全部莊稼，殺死我們的成群的牛羊。我們要十分感謝那些吃昆蟲的鳥和獸，然而把它們所殺死的昆蟲全部加在一起也只相當(dāng)于蜘蛛所消滅的一小部分。此外，蜘蛛不同于其他食蟲動物，它們絲毫不危害我們和我們的財物。
許多人認(rèn)為蜘蛛是昆蟲，但它們不是昆蟲，甚至與昆蟲毫無關(guān)系。人們幾乎一眼就能看出二者的差異，因為蜘蛛都是8條腿，而昆蟲的腿從不超過6條。
有多少蜘蛛在為我們效力呢?一位研究蜘蛛的權(quán)威對英國南部一塊草坪上的蜘蛛作了調(diào)查。他估計每英畝草坪里有225萬多只蜘蛛。這就是說，在一個足球場上約有600萬只不同種類的蜘蛛。蜘蛛至少有半年在忙于吃昆蟲。它們一年中消滅了多少昆蟲，我們簡直無法猜測，它們是吃不飽的動物，不滿意一日三餐。據(jù)估計，在英國蜘蛛一年里所消滅昆蟲的重量超過這個國家人口的總重量。
【課文】
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
How much of each year do spiders spend killing insects?
Why, you may wonder, should spiders be our friends? Because they destroy so many insects, and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human race. 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. 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. Moreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters, spiders never do the harm to us or our belongings.
Spiders are not insects, as many people think, nor even nearly related to them. One can tell the difference almost at a glance, for a spider always has eight legs and an insect never more than six.
How many spiders are engaged in this work on our behalf? One authority on spiders made a census of the spiders in grass field in the south of England, and he estimated that there were more than 2,250,000 in one acre; that is something like 6,000,000 spiders of different kinds on a football pitch. Spiders are busy for at least half the year in killing insects. It is impossible to make more than the wildest guess at how many they kill, but they are hungry creatures, not content with only three meals a day. It has been estimated that the weight of all the insects destroyed by spiders in Britain in one year would be greater than the total weight of all the human beings in the country.
【New words and expressions 生詞和短語】
insect n. 昆蟲
devour v. 吞食
flock n. 羊群
herd n. 牧群
beast n. 野獸
fraction n. 小部分
census n. 統(tǒng)計數(shù)字
acre n. 英畝
content adj. 滿足的
【課文注釋】
1. you may wonder 是這個疑問句的插入語。
常見的插入語還有：as you know, to be frank, in fact, generally speaking等等。
2. flock 既可作名詞，也可作動詞。
①作名詞，表示羊群或牛群，或者人群
例句：They kept a small flock of sheep.
他們養(yǎng)了一小群羊。
例句：There are many flocks of tourists in the palace.
宮殿里有好幾群游客。
②作動詞，表示聚集，群集
例句：In the summer, tourists flock to the museums and art galleries.
夏季游人成群結(jié)隊到博物館和藝術(shù)館參觀。
③拓展：Birds of a feather flock together.物以類聚，人以群分。
3. if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals，這是一個非真實條件狀語從句，were表示虛擬語氣。
表示對過去的虛擬：If+過去完成時(had done sth), would/could have done...
表示對現(xiàn)在的虛擬：If+簡單過去時(did sth), would/could do...
4. owe a lot to 歸功于，感激
①owe money to sb欠某人錢
例句：The company owes money to more than 60 banks.
這家公司欠了60多家銀行錢。
②owe sth to sb把某事歸功于某人，感謝某人
例句：He owes his success more to luck than to ability.
他認(rèn)為他的成功是靠運氣而不是因為自己有能力.
5. almost at a glance，幾乎一眼(就能看出)。
6. on our behalf 代表我們
on behalf of sb/on sb's behalf 代表某人
例句：On behalf of my colleagues and myself I thank you.
我代表我的同事以及我自己向你表示謝意.
【參考譯文】
你可能會覺得奇怪， 蜘蛛怎么會是我們的朋友呢?因為它們能消滅那么多的昆蟲，其中包括一些人類的大敵，要不是人類受一些食蟲動物的保護，昆蟲就會使我們無法在地球上生活下去，昆蟲會吞食我們的全部莊稼，殺死我們的成群的牛羊。我們要十分感謝那些吃昆蟲的鳥和獸，然而把它們所殺死的昆蟲全部加在一起也只相當(dāng)于蜘蛛所消滅的一小部分。此外，蜘蛛不同于其他食蟲動物，它們絲毫不危害我們和我們的財物。
許多人認(rèn)為蜘蛛是昆蟲，但它們不是昆蟲，甚至與昆蟲毫無關(guān)系。人們幾乎一眼就能看出二者的差異，因為蜘蛛都是8條腿，而昆蟲的腿從不超過6條。
有多少蜘蛛在為我們效力呢?一位研究蜘蛛的權(quán)威對英國南部一塊草坪上的蜘蛛作了調(diào)查。他估計每英畝草坪里有225萬多只蜘蛛。這就是說，在一個足球場上約有600萬只不同種類的蜘蛛。蜘蛛至少有半年在忙于吃昆蟲。它們一年中消滅了多少昆蟲，我們簡直無法猜測，它們是吃不飽的動物，不滿意一日三餐。據(jù)估計，在英國蜘蛛一年里所消滅昆蟲的重量超過這個國家人口的總重量。