自然界的七大建筑奇觀

2009-12-31 00:00:00Ｓａｌｌｙ

新東方英語·中學(xué)版 2009年8期

So you thought the ancient and modern wonders created by mankind were something? From underground ant colonies that extend farther than the Great Wall of China to termite1) mounds that tower at nearly twice the relative height of the Burj Dubai (tallest skyscraper in the world)， and from the largest spider web ever discovered to the longest beaver2) dam on the planet， here are seven of the most awe-inspiring3) animal architects and architectonic4) structures of the animal kingdom.

你覺得古代和現(xiàn)代人類創(chuàng)造的奇觀很了不起么?從比中國長城延綿更長的地下蟻穴到相對高度是迪拜塔(世界第一高樓)近兩倍的白蟻丘，從已發(fā)現(xiàn)的最大蜘蛛網(wǎng)到地球上最長的河貍壩，以下是動(dòng)物王國最令人嘆為觀止的七大動(dòng)物建筑師及其建筑作品。

1. Towering Termites: Massive Earth Movers

Termites are amazing creatures by almost any metric5). Their queens are 30 times the size of normal soldiers and workers and produce about 30 eggs per minute to keep the colony alive. Relative to their size， termites build the biggest structures of the animal kingdom—4 inch creatures constructing towers weighing hundreds of tons and up to 25 feet in height and 40 feet in diameter. And that is just 40 feet above the ground—termites can also burrow6) as far as 225 feet underground.

2. Social Weaverbirds7): Avian8) Condo9) Architects

The so-called social weaverbird is one of the friendliest flyers in the sky. They combine forces and take over entire trees to make what can only be considered something like an awesome animal \"apartment\" structure. Instead of building independent nests， up to 300 pairs of birds come together to build giant mega10)-nests up to 25 feet wide， 5 feet high and with an individual room for every couple. As with a huge condo complex11)， there are multiple \"basement12)\" entrances that lead up through clusters of chambers.

3. Naked Mole Rats13): Uncanny14) Underground Diggers

The naked mole rat goes by many names， including the potentially misleading \"sand puppy\" which might imply that these voracious15) diggers are cute and friendly fellows. They are uniquely eusocial16) amongst mammals， meaning they are hive-like and massively organized creatures like ants， bees， wasps and termites， only much much larger and scarier looking. To add to their eeriness17)， they are essentially cold-blooded and feel absolutely no pain. Up to 100 of these strange creatures live together in a single underground habitat， which they dig with disproportionately18) gigantic sets of teeth that are placed in front of (rather than behind) their lips so they don't swallow dirt. Naked mole rats can live for up to 28 years and colonies feed on tubers19) that weigh up to 1，000 times as much as an individual mole rat does.

4. Ants: Super-Strong Subterranean Excavators

The largest ant colony discovered to date stretches over 4，000 miles across Europe—this super-colony is suspected to have billions of ants. Everyone knows that ants are incredible builders that can carry many times their own weight but few have gotten to see inside their spectacular underground structures. The particular colony shown below is 500 square feet in size， penetrates 25 feet into the ground and required the displacement of 40 tons of dirt to be created. As it was dug up， transit tunnels and ventilation20) inflow and outflow shafts were revealed as well as fungus gardens and trash pits.

5. Caddis Flies21): Unique Underwater Builders

Unlike most of the intriguing animals and animal architecture in this list， the caddis fly and its buildings are not massive communally-constructed mega-structures. On the contrary， the caddis fly makes relatively minute architecture but does so with remarkable versatility22) and artistic license. Using whatever materials are available—from sand and shells to twigs and trash—the larval form of these so-called \"underwater architects\" build themselves mobile \"shells\" to protect them and provide natural camouflage23) (made from local materials) as they develop. Eventually， they grow mandibles24) and swim to the surface where they discard their unique architectural creations， flex25) their wings and fly away.

6. Beaver: Greatest Dam Builder

The longest recorded beaver dam in the world is 2，800 feet and has existed for over a decade. From the aerial images it is clear that at least two beaver families have worked in tandem26) in the construction of the record-setting structure. The nature of the wetland is such that long dams are needed to trap broad stretches of low-flowing water. Other dams in the area have been sized at up to more than 1，500 feet， but at nearly 3，000 feet this two-family dam is a one-of-a-kind discovery.

7. Spider: Amazing Web Weaver

Thousands of spiders from twelve species worked together to construct this amazing web that spans over 600 feet. This is highly unusual behavior for spiders that normally fight over territory and prey27)， preferring to eat their enemies and build independent， solitary28) circular webs. However， record rainfalls provided such an abundance of edible insects that (scientists speculate) the spiders chose cooperation over conflict in this extraordinary case of evolutionary adaptation. Even more exceptional: the spiders did not just build it in the first place but have actually rebuilt the web three times after wind and rain has destroyed it.

1. 造塔的白蟻:大馬力推土機(jī)

幾乎無論以何種標(biāo)準(zhǔn)衡量，白蟻都是令人驚奇的動(dòng)物。白蟻蟻后的個(gè)頭有一般兵蟻和工蟻的30倍大，它每分鐘會產(chǎn)下約30個(gè)蟻卵，以使蟻群繁衍生息。相對其個(gè)頭而言，白蟻修建了動(dòng)物王國最大的建筑——4英寸長的動(dòng)物卻建造了重達(dá)數(shù)百噸、高達(dá)25英尺、直徑約達(dá)40英尺的巨塔。并且這40英尺還只是地上的部分——白蟻可以挖到地下深達(dá)225英尺處。

2. 群居織布鳥:鳥類公寓建筑師

這種所謂的群居織布鳥是天空中最友善的飛禽之一。它們齊心協(xié)力，占據(jù)整棵樹來建造讓人驚嘆的動(dòng)物“公寓”建筑。它們并不修建各自獨(dú)立的巢穴。多達(dá)300對的織布鳥聚集在一起，建造寬達(dá)25英尺、高達(dá)5英尺的巨型鳥巢，并且每一對都有一個(gè)單獨(dú)的房間。跟巨大的公寓大廈一樣，鳥巢有多個(gè)“地下室”入口向上通往層層疊疊的房間。

3. 裸鼴鼠:不尋常的地下挖掘工

裸鼴鼠有很多名字，其中就有會讓人產(chǎn)生誤解的“沙狗”——這個(gè)名字可能暗示這些貪吃的挖掘工是既可愛又友好的動(dòng)物。在哺乳動(dòng)物中，它們是獨(dú)特的群居動(dòng)物，這意味著它們像螞蟻、蜜蜂、黃蜂和白蟻一樣是蜂群般具有高度組織性的動(dòng)物，只不過它們個(gè)頭更大、外表更嚇人。更為怪異的是，它們本質(zhì)上是冷血?jiǎng)游?，感覺不到任何疼痛。多達(dá)100只這樣奇特的動(dòng)物群居在它們用不成比例的巨型牙齒挖出的地下洞穴中。它們的牙齒長在嘴唇前端(而不是后方)，這樣它們就不會吞進(jìn)泥土。裸鼴鼠的壽命長達(dá)28年，裸鼴鼠群以重量可達(dá)單只鼴鼠1000倍的植物塊莖為食。

4. 螞蟻:超強(qiáng)的地下打洞機(jī)

迄今為止發(fā)現(xiàn)的最大蟻穴橫貫歐洲超過4000英里——這一超級群落被懷疑有著數(shù)十億只螞蟻。我們都知道螞蟻是神奇的建筑師，可以背負(fù)超過自身重量很多倍的重物，但是很少有人能一睹其壯觀的地下巢穴內(nèi)部的真容。下圖(圖1和圖2)中顯示的蟻穴面積有500平方英尺，深入地下25英尺，建造這樣一個(gè)蟻巢需要搬移40噸泥土。人們在挖掘這個(gè)蟻巢時(shí)，發(fā)現(xiàn)了螞蟻的運(yùn)輸隧道和進(jìn)出換氣通道，以及菌圃和垃圾坑。

5. 石蛾:獨(dú)一無二的水下建筑師

與這個(gè)名單中大部分有趣的動(dòng)物和動(dòng)物建筑不同，石蛾的建筑不是群體修建的龐然大物。相反，石蛾的建筑相對很小，但是款式多樣而且富有藝術(shù)感。這種“水下建筑師”的幼蟲使用所有可用的材料——從沙石和貝殼到細(xì)枝和垃圾——來修建可移動(dòng)的“外殼”，自我保護(hù)，并為自己成長的過程提供自然的保護(hù)色(就地取材而造)。最終，它們長出下顎，游到水面，丟棄獨(dú)特的建筑作品，展翅飛走。

6. 河貍:杰出的筑壩專家

世上有記錄的最長河貍壩長達(dá)2800英尺，已有10多年的歷史。從航空圖上看，很明顯至少有兩個(gè)河貍家族先后參與過修建這一史無前例的建筑。濕地的特性就是這樣，需要有人修建這樣的長壩來攔截寬廣的淺流。該地區(qū)其他的河壩有超過1500英尺的，但是這一近3000英尺、由兩個(gè)家族參與修建的河貍壩的確是獨(dú)一無二的發(fā)現(xiàn)。

7. 蜘蛛:奇妙的織網(wǎng)大師

12個(gè)種類、數(shù)以千計(jì)的蜘蛛齊心協(xié)力織出了這張超過600英尺的驚人蛛網(wǎng)。這對蜘蛛而言是極不尋常的舉動(dòng)，因?yàn)樗鼈兺ǔ榱祟I(lǐng)地和獵物互相爭斗，吃掉它們的敵人并修造獨(dú)立、單獨(dú)享用的圓形蛛網(wǎng)。然而，在此例中，創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的降雨帶來了充足的可食用昆蟲，(科學(xué)家推測)蜘蛛們不同尋常地順應(yīng)環(huán)境，選擇了合作而不是爭斗。更不同尋常的是:蜘蛛們不僅織就了巨網(wǎng)，而且在該網(wǎng)被風(fēng)雨破壞后，竟然又重織了三次。

Vocabulary

1.termite [5tE:maIt] n. 【昆】白蟻

2.beaver [5bi:vE(r)] n. 河貍，海貍

3.awe-inspiring [5R:In7spaIErIN] adj. 使人產(chǎn)生敬畏(或畏怯)之心的;令人驚嘆的

4.architectonic [7B:kItek5tCnIk] adj. 設(shè)計(jì)巧妙的

5.metric [5metrIk] n. 衡量標(biāo)準(zhǔn)