7 The Mystery of Too Many Legs

Chapter 7 THE MYSTERY OF TOO MANY LEGS "Look!" said Judy, pausing on the water-lily stem. She lifted the exoskeleton to get a better look. "Tadpoles with legs!" "Wowzers schnauzers!" said Andrew. "They've all got tails, but some of them have just hind legs. And some of them have all four legs." meep… "Few weeks after tadpole hatch from egg, hind legs begin to grow," said Thudd. "Later, front legs grow under skin, pop through skin.

“看！”朱迪停在睡莲的茎上说。 她抬起外骨骼，想看得更清楚些。 “有腿的蝌蚪！”“哇兹雪纳瑞！”安德鲁说。 “它们都有尾巴，但有些只有后腿。 还有一些四条腿都有。” “蝌蚪从卵中孵化出来几个星期后，后腿就开始发育了，”泰德说。 “后来，前腿在皮肤下生长，穿过皮肤。

Then tail begin to go away. Tadpole stop eating. Body turn tail into energy to use as food." "What's that?" asked Judy, pointing ahead. Through the murky water and blurry skeleton, it looked like two long, thin tree trunks were coming toward them. meep… "Legs of big bird," said Thudd. "Legs of heron. Heron eat lotsa fish. "But heron do favor for fish, too. Fish eggs stick to feet of heron. When heron fly to other pond or lake, carry fish eggs to new place." Judy shrugged. "As long as the heron isn't interested in bug-sized things," she said. "Woofers!" said Andrew, slipping down. He struggled to keep the exoskeleton over him and Judy and still hang on. "This stem is so slimy!" meep… "Stem covered with algae," said Thudd. "Tiny plants. Too small to see with eyes. "Algae not got leaves. Not got roots. But algae use energy from sun to make food. Same as other plants. Algae make water look green. Lotsa animals eat algae."

然后尾巴开始消失。 蝌蚪停止进食。身体把尾巴变成能量作为食物使用。” “那是什么？”朱迪指着前面问。 透过浑浊的水和模糊的骨架，看起来像是两根又长又细的树干向他们走来。 “大鸟的腿。” “苍鹭的腿。苍鹭吃很多鱼。 “但是苍鹭也喜欢吃鱼。 鱼卵粘在苍鹭的脚上。 当苍鹭飞到其他池塘或湖泊时，把鱼卵带到新的地方。” 茱蒂耸耸肩。“只要苍鹭对虫子大小的东西不感兴趣，”她说。 “低音炮！”安德鲁说着滑了下去。 他挣扎着把外骨骼罩在自己和朱迪身上，还在坚持。 “茎上长满了水藻，”萨德说。 “微小的植物。太小了，用眼睛看不见。 “藻类没有叶子。没有根。 但是藻类利用太阳的能量来制造食物。 和其他植物一样。藻类使水看起来是绿色的。 很多动物都吃海藻。”

Thudd pointed to a lump that was crawling up another stem. "Snail eat algae," said Thudd. "Snail scrape off algae with thousands, thousands of tiny teeth." The water swarmed with swimmers—insects and wormy things and tadpoles and frogs. A long, flat, ribbon-like creature swam so close that it almost knocked Andrew and Judy's exoskeleton off the lily stem. "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "What was that?"

砰砰指了指另一根茎上的一个肿块。 “蜗牛吃海藻，”萨德说。 “蜗牛用成千上万的小牙齿刮掉海藻。” 水里挤满了游泳者——昆虫、蠕虫、蝌蚪和青蛙。 一个长长的、扁平的、像缎带一样的生物游得很近，几乎把安德鲁和朱迪的外骨骼从百合茎上撞了下来。 “奶酪露易丝！”朱迪说。 “那是什么？”

meep… "Leech," said Thudd. The leech caught up with a small fish. It wrapped itself around the fish and held it tight. meep… "Leech sucking blood from fish," said Thudd. "When leech drink enough blood, leech let fish go." "Eeeeuw!" Judy shivered, pushing Andrew to move faster down the stem. "Leeches are vampires!" "Yoop! Yoop! Yoop!" said Thudd. "Leech saliva got special stuff to make bite not hurt while leech suck blood. Sometime big animal not know that leech biting. "Leech saliva got stuff to make blood flow fast." Suddenly frogs, lots of them, sped by their exoskeleton. "Holy moly!" said Andrew, lifting the skeleton for a better view. "There's a frog with six legs!" "And there's one with just three legs!" said Judy.

“水蛭。” 水蛭追上了一条小鱼。 它把自己裹在鱼身上，紧紧地抓住它。 “从鱼身上吸血的水蛭。” “当水蛭喝够了血，水蛭就会放走鱼。” “Eeeeuw !”朱迪打了个寒颤，推着安德鲁顺着茎往前走。 “水蛭是吸血鬼！”“Yoop !Yoop !呜！” “水蛭的唾液中有一种特殊的物质，可以在吸血时使咬伤不受伤。 有时大动物不知道水蛭咬人。 “水蛭的唾液能加速血液流动。” 突然间，大量的青蛙通过它们的外骨骼加快了速度。 “天哪！”安德鲁说着，把骨架举起来，以便看得更清楚。 “有一只六条腿的青蛙！”“还有一只只有三条腿的！”朱迪说。

meep… "Short time ago, kids in Minnesota visit pond. Find lotsa frogs with lotsa problems. Some got too many legs. Some got no back legs. Some got just one eye. "Kids tell whole world that frogs got problems. Scientists investigate." "Why are bad things happening to the frogs?" asked Andrew. meep… "No one know for sure," said Thudd. "Could be lotsa things. "Could be kinda light from sun. Ultraviolet light hurt frog eggs. More ultraviolet light come from sun now. "Could be stuff that people use to kill bugs. Bug killers get into water. Frogs live in water. Breathe through skin. Bug killers get into frogs through skin. Do bad things, maybe.

不久之前，明尼苏达州的孩子们参观池塘。 找到很多有很多问题的青蛙。 有些人的腿太多了。有些没有后肢。 有些人只有一只眼睛。“孩子们告诉全世界青蛙有问题。 科学家调查。”“为什么坏事会发生在青蛙身上？”安德鲁问。 “没有人确切知道。” “可能是很多事情。“可能是太阳发出的光。 紫外线会伤害蛙卵。 现在更多的紫外线来自太阳。 “可能是人们用来杀死虫子的东西。 杀虫者会进入水中。 青蛙生活在水里。透过皮肤呼吸。 灭虫剂通过青蛙的皮肤进入青蛙体内。 也许会做坏事。

"Animals called parasites live in water, too. Parasites gotta use other animals to live, to make babies. "Some kindsa parasite burrow into back end of tadpoles. Mess up place where frog legs grow. Make frog grow more legs sometimes. Sometimes no legs." "The poor frogs!" said Judy. meep… "Frog with leg problems have hard time catching food," said Thudd. "Easy for predator to catch, too." "We'll tell Uncle Al about all this," said Andrew as they crept carefully down the lily stem. "Maybe we can help save the frogs."

“被称为寄生虫的动物也生活在水中。 寄生虫必须利用其他动物生存，繁殖后代。 “有些寄生虫会钻入蝌蚪的后端。 把长青蛙腿的地方弄乱了。 有时让青蛙长出更多的腿。 有时没有腿。”“可怜的青蛙！”朱迪说。 “腿有问题的青蛙很难捕捉到食物，”泰德说。 “也很容易被捕食者抓住。” “我们会把这一切告诉艾尔叔叔的。”安德鲁说，他们小心翼翼地顺着百合茎爬下去。 “也许我们可以帮助拯救青蛙。”