石繼忠

你也許從來沒有注意到腳下的螞蟻，因為它們是那樣渺小和默默無聞。然而它們卻是人類義務的清潔工。它們總是不知疲倦地辛勤工作，把我們的地面打掃得干干凈凈。你知道這些小生命的真實生活嗎？下面讓我們一探究竟吧！

There are many kinds of ants in the world， but black ants are the most common. They always live in their nests together. They are the most hard-working creatures1 and most of them make their homes underground.

世界上有各種各樣的螞蟻，但黑螞蟻是最普通的一種。它們總是群居在自己的巢穴里。它們是最勤奮的生物，而且它們的家大部分都建在地下。

The small black ants are busy every day. They run here and there all the time. Sometimes they are in the grasses. Sometimes they are in the trees. They even come to our picnic.

這些小黑螞蟻每天非常忙碌，整日東奔西跑。它們有時在草叢中，有時在樹上，有時甚至來參加我們的野餐。

They are not trying to be harmful， but are only doing the house-keeping job. They know how to keep their house clean when they were born. They are the cleaning workers of the earth.

它們并無公害，它們只是在打理自己的家務。它們生來就知道怎樣打理家務。它們還是地球的清潔工。

One of these ants， looking around in the grass， finds an injured beetle2. In a strange way， the news will be learned by other ants. Soon there are two， then a few more. Then a lot of more ants are running around the beetle. Enough ants will come to put an end to it.

一只螞蟻在草叢中四處張望，找到了一只受傷的甲蟲。它用一種奇怪的方法，很快就把這個消息傳達給它的同伴。不一會兒，兩只，接著，幾只，最后有很多只螞蟻都跑過來圍在甲蟲身邊。這些螞蟻足夠可以把甲蟲置于死地。

When the beetle is dead， the ants carry it away to their underground nests. An ant can carry things many times heavier than his body. Sometimes they will eat the beetle and leave nothing in the grass but the empty shell.

當甲蟲死了之后，螞蟻們就把它搬走，放到它們地下的巢穴里。一只螞蟻能搬動數(shù)倍于自己身體重量的東西。有時，它們會殺死并吃掉一只甲蟲，只在草叢中留下一個空殼。

1. creature [] n. 生物，動物

2. beetle [] n. 甲殼蟲endprint