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】你可能會奇怪，蜘蛛怎是吾友？
【講解】you may wonder為插入語。
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】昆蟲可以使我們無法在地球上生存。如果不是食蟲動物的保護(hù)，則這些昆蟲會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，真正的賓語是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…作前面兩個分句的非真實(shí)條件狀語從句，意即“要不是我們從食蟲那里得到保護(hù)的話……”。這里的were是虛擬語氣結(jié)構(gòu)。we get…animals作protection的定語。
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】
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物，蜘蛛對人類及其財物絲毫無損。
【單詞和短語】
belongings：所有物，財物，動產(chǎn)；行李，例如：
He left all his belongings to his brother.
他把他的全部財物留給了他兄弟。
It didn’t take me long to arrange my belongings；for I had brought little.
因?yàn)樾醒b帶得不多，我沒花多少時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】你可能會奇怪，蜘蛛怎是吾友？
【講解】you may wonder為插入語。
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】昆蟲可以使我們無法在地球上生存。如果不是食蟲動物的保護(hù)，則這些昆蟲會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，真正的賓語是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…作前面兩個分句的非真實(shí)條件狀語從句，意即“要不是我們從食蟲那里得到保護(hù)的話……”。這里的were是虛擬語氣結(jié)構(gòu)。we get…animals作protection的定語。
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】
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物，蜘蛛對人類及其財物絲毫無損。
【單詞和短語】
belongings：所有物，財物，動產(chǎn)；行李，例如：
He left all his belongings to his brother.
他把他的全部財物留給了他兄弟。
It didn’t take me long to arrange my belongings；for I had brought little.
因?yàn)樾醒b帶得不多，我沒花多少時間就把東西整理好了。