Here Come the Locusts

Here Come the Locusts. Written by Catherine Vollard. Focus Question. What are locusts and how do they affect people and the environment?

蝗虫来了 作者：凯瑟琳·沃拉德 思考问题 蝗虫是什么？它们会对人类和环境产生什么影响？

A flying plague. It's been dry for weeks on the prairie. The corn is turning brown. It needs rain. A cloud appears in the distance. At first, the farmers are hopeful, but they soon realize that something is very wrong. The sky turns brown. Then there is a sound like hail falling on the roof.

会飞的灾祸 大草原已经好几周没下雨了 玉米渐渐变黄干枯 它太需要雨水了 远方出现了一团云 一开始农民们还满怀希望，可很快他们就发现情况不对劲 天空变成了棕褐色 接着传来一阵声响，就像冰雹砸在屋顶上

It's insects, millions of them, landing on every surface. They chew away the corn, the grass, the trees, and the gardens. They even eat the clothes hanging on the line. Millions of jaws make a sound like a grass fire. Then, just as suddenly, the cloud rises and disappears. The farmers have lost everything. They have just lived through a plague of locusts.

那是数百万只昆虫，落在每一个角落 它们啃光了玉米、青草、树木还有菜园 它们甚至连晾在绳上的衣服都吃 数百万只咀嚼的下颚发出像草地烧着一样的声响 接着，就像它们突然出现那样，这团虫云又起飞消失了 农民们失去了一切 他们刚刚经历了一场蝗灾

Locusts Throughout History All through history, people feared swarms of locusts. Millions of these large, colorful grasshoppers seemed to appear out of nowhere. They ate every plant in sight. They ate farmers' crops. They ate grass, leaving other animals with no food. If the swarm was large enough, it could cause famine. Many ancient and religious texts talk about plagues of locusts. The swarms were often seen as a warning or punishment.

历史上的蝗灾 从古至今，人类都畏惧蝗群 数百万只这种色彩鲜亮的大蝗虫仿佛凭空出现 它们吃光了眼前所有的植物 它们吃光了农民的庄稼 它们吃光了青草，让其他动物没了食物 如果蝗群规模足够大，还会引发饥荒 很多古代典籍和宗教文献都记载过蝗灾 蝗群常常被看作是上天的警示或者惩罚

When pioneers in the United States came west in the 1800s, swarms of locusts destroyed their crops. In 1874, locusts covered the Great Plains. They ate over five million square kilometers, two million square miles of crops, the wool from live sheep, and clothing off people's backs. They even got into kitchen cupboards and ate everything inside. So many got squashed on the roads and train rails that it became too slippery to travel. The locusts destroyed millions of dollars worth of crops. Many families had to leave their new farms.

19世纪美国拓荒者西进时，蝗群摧毁了他们的庄稼 1874年，蝗虫铺满了大平原 它们啃光了超过五百万平方公里（两百万平方英里）的庄稼，还吃掉活羊的羊毛、人们身上穿的衣服 它们甚至钻进厨房橱柜，吃光里面所有东西 太多蝗虫被压死在道路和铁轨上，让路面滑得没法通行 蝗虫毁掉了价值数百万美元的庄稼 许多家庭不得不离开他们新开的农场

A flying mystery. One of the scariest things about locusts was that no one knew where they came from. During quiet years, there were no swarms or even a single locust. Then suddenly, millions appeared without warning. Female locusts laid eggs in the soil. Then the swarm moved on. The next year, everything was quiet again. No new locusts came from the eggs.

会飞的谜团 蝗虫最吓人的一点是，没人知道它们从哪里来 平静的年份里，没有蝗群，连一只蝗虫都见不到 然后突然之间，数百万只蝗虫就毫无征兆地出现了 雌蝗虫把卵产在土里 之后蝗群就继续迁移 第二年，一切又重新归于平静 那些卵也没有孵出新的蝗虫