文字稿
據生物學傢計算，全世界的蜘蛛每年捕食重達4至8億公噸（4至8千億公斤）的昆蟲。科學傢們希望通過這項研究使人們更加重視蜘蛛的生態學意義。他們說，這種蛛形綱動物每年捕食的總重約是人類每年消耗的肉和魚類食物的重量之和。請聽 Victoria Gill 的報道。
The Swiss scientist who led this study was inspired by a 1958 book, The World of Spiders, in which a British arachnologist speculated that the weight of insects killed every year by the British spider population would exceed the combined weight of the British human population.
Since he first considered that, Dr Martin Nyffeler has spent hundreds of hours recording spider behaviour in the field and gathering spider ecology studies published around the world. His numbers are enough to haunt any arachnophobe. The researchers say the entire population of the world’s spiders, weighing 25 million tonnes, hunts and eats between 400 and 800 million tonnes of insect prey annually.
But these numbers are not meant to terrify anyone. The scientists hope their study will raise awareness of the importance of spiders in the global food web.
詞匯表
arachnologist 蜘蛛學傢
speculated 推測瞭，推斷瞭
the field （自然環境中的）實地，現場
ecology 生態學
haunt 使不安，使苦惱
weighing 有……的重量，重為……
prey 獵物
raise awareness of 提高……意識
food web 食物網，食物鏈
測驗
請聽報道並回答下列問題。
1. What is the name of the book that inspired the Swiss scientist who led this study?
2. What has Dr Martin Nyffeler spent hundreds of hours doing for the research?
3. True or false? The scientists hope that their study will terrify people who lack awareness of the importance of spiders in the global food web.
4. Which word in the text means ‘someone who has an extreme fear of spiders’?
答案
1. What is the name of the book that inspired the Swiss scientist who led this study?
The name of the book is The World of Spiders.
2. What has Dr Martin Nyffeler spent hundreds of hours in doing for the research?
Dr Martin Nyffeler has spent hundreds of hours recording spider behaviour in the field and gathering spider ecology studies published around the world.
3. True or false? The scientists hope that their study will terrify people who lack awareness of the importance of spiders in the global food web.
False. The numbers in their research are not meant to terrify anyone.
4. Which word in the text means ‘someone who has an extreme fear of spiders’?
Arachnophobe.
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