The Busy Autumn in Iberia伊比利亞半島上的秋天

⊙ Sabine Holzer ⊙丁一 譯

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The Busy Autumn in Iberia伊比利亞半島上的秋天

⊙ Sabine Holzer ⊙丁一 譯

口語指南針

本文講述的是季節(jié)性很強的事，因而有不少關于時間的表達。除了我們常見的when外，作者采用了不同的時間表達方式，如：only open at…、Soon people here will be celebrating All Saint’s Day,the first of November、during、coincide等，建議同學們多留意、勤積累，在寫作時學以致用。

Donana,it’s in the southwestern corner of Europe.A wetland like no other anywhere else in the world,it’s full of life.1)marsh [mɑ??] n.沼澤Marshes,pine forests and sand.

Some flowers only open at this time of year,in October.This species2)sprout [spra?t] v.長出，發(fā)芽sproutsfrom a3)bulb [b?lb] n.植物的球莖bulbthat can only be found in Iberia.It’s popularly known in Spain as the quitameriendas,or snack4)suppressor [s??pres?（r）] n.鎮(zhèn)壓者，抑制物suppressor,because it5)emerge [??mз?d?] v.出現(xiàn)，顯露emergeswhen the days are growing shorter and there’s less time between lunch and dinner.So it blooms when there’s no longer time to have a mid-afternoon snack.There’s always some insect ready to6)savour [?se?v?（r）] v.品味savoursome7)nectar [?nekt?（r）] n.花蜜nectarand in exchange,8)fertilise [?fз?t?la?z] v.使受精fertiliseeach season’s flowers.But autumn’s flowers are few and that’s why so much life gathers around them.What’s more,they don’t last long.Time is working against them and in favour of the cold.

Soon people here will be celebrating All Saint’s Day,the first of November.The season’s first freeze will kill off the9)prey [pre?] v.捕食preying10)mantis [?m?nt?s] n.螳螂mantisesthat were born last spring.At the end of their lives when death is near is when this mantis can behave in the most extreme ways.Like eating the male during11)copulation [?k?pj??le???n] n.交配copulationor fighting another female.Two females have coincided on the same prime spot from where they wanted to release their12)pheromone [?fer?m??n] n.[生化]信息素pheromonesto call out to any male that might still survive.But more than a fight over13)territory [?ter?t?r?] n.地盤，領地territory,this is going to be a fight14)fuel [fju??l] v.刺激，推動fuelledby hunger.There’s little food left in the15)ecosystem [?i?k???s?st?m] n.生態(tài)系統(tǒng)ecosystem.The mantises may be the only insects that are still active.So the body of one of their16)peer [p??（r）] n.同輩peersmay provide the last available proteins to lay one more17)batch [b?t?] n.一批，一組batchof eggs.Yes,mantises can be18)cannibal [?k?n?b（?）l] n.同類相食的動物cannibals.

The season’s first freeze will kill off the preying mantises that were born last spring.

Last year、last month、last week、last night……形容詞last在修飾時間名詞的時候，中國學生都習慣將它理解為相對于目前所處時間段而言的上一個時間段，于是不管我們在一年中的什么時候，last spring和last June也就常常被誤解成“去年春天”和“去年六月”。其實，last的原意是指“剛剛過去的，最近的”（just past,most recent），所以如果我們身處十月，last spring就是指今年春天（剛剛過去的春天），而last June則指今年六月（剛剛過去的六月），這是我們在閱讀時要特別注意的一點。

參考譯文

位于歐洲西南角的多尼亞納是世界上獨一無二的濕地，到處一片生機盎然，這里有沼澤、松林和沙地等地理及生態(tài)體系。

有些花只在十月盛開。這個從球莖發(fā)芽的品種只生長在伊比利亞半島，西班牙人大多稱之為秋水仙，又名“小食遏制者”。因為它在白晝漸短、午餐與晚飯間隔變短的時節(jié)開花。也就是說，在它開花的那些日子里，人們連下午的餐間點心也沒有時間享用。但在自然界，總有一些昆蟲樂于在此時采蜜，而作為回報，它們會給每個季節(jié)的花卉授粉。不過，秋天綻放的花并不多，因此秋水仙的周圍熱鬧非凡，而且它們的生命很短暫。時間于它們不利，因為寒冬將至。

很快便是人們慶祝11月1日萬圣節(jié)的日子。這個季節(jié)的第一次嚴寒會凍死今年春天才降生的所有捕食螳螂。生命將盡時，螳螂的行為極端異常，如雌螳螂在交配時會把雄性吃掉，或與其他雌性打斗。這里是雌螳螂釋放信息素以吸引仍然活著的雄性的絕佳地點，有兩只在此狹路相逢。然而，它們并非旨在爭奪地盤，而是為饑餓而戰(zhàn)。它們身處的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)已經沒剩下多少食物了，螳螂可能是為數(shù)不多，依然活躍的昆蟲之一，因而同類的身體可以提供僅剩的蛋白質，讓它們多產些卵。是的，螳螂也可以同類相食。