跟着「经济学人」学生物 The bitter bit
本周，经济学人“Science and Technology”版块出了一篇很有意思的海洋生物的科普文所谓的“狗咬狗”，讲的是“Corals eat jellyfish”，什么吃什么？我们先来认识这几种文中涉及到的生物，水母，珊瑚虫，... 你分得清吗？
○ jellyfish: a sea animal that has a round transparent body and can sting you 水母；海蜇
○ Pelagia noctiluca: a jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae (游水母科)，水母的一种，称为紫水母/紫纹水母/夜光游水母
在拉丁语中，pelagia 意思是“大海的...”，nocti 代表“夜晚”，luca 表示“光”，Pelagia noctiluca 就是指一种在黑暗中能够发光的海洋生物。
In Latin, pelagia means "of the sea", nocti stands for night and luca means light; thus, Pelagia noctiluca can be described as a marine organism with the ability to glow in the dark. (From Wikipedia)
○ coral: a hard red, white, or pink substance formed from the bones of very small sea creatures, which is often used to make jewellery 珊瑚
○ polyp /'pɑlɪp/ a very simple sea animal that has a body like a tube 水螅虫，也有直接指“珊瑚虫”(a coral polyp)
那么，珊瑚和珊瑚虫有什么区别呢？
珊瑚之名来自古波斯语 sanga（石），是对珊瑚虫群体及其骨骼的通称。
○ Astroides calycularis: which is endemic to the western Mediterranean Sea, is a colonial coral consisting of a group of polyps.
其中的 Astroides calycularis 就是珊瑚的一种，只是比较特别，是地中海地区特有的。
应该是长这样↓↓↓
○ sea anemones: 海葵。
有点搞不清珊瑚和海葵了，长得很像。
那么，珊瑚和海葵又是什么关系？
珊瑚与海葵同属珊瑚虫纲(Anthozoa)，但海葵并不是珊瑚的一种，只可说它们是近亲。珊瑚具有碳酸钙的骨骼，石珊瑚新增的骨头会连着旧的骨骼，经过悠长的岁月，可以形成一片珊瑚群落。而海葵是没有骨骼的，它们是以基部的吸盘来固定身体的。
文中涉及到的生物大概就是这些啦，我们下面开始看文章内容。
◉ 第一段>>>
FROM the human point of view Pelagia noctiluca is an enemy. It is a jellyfish, abundant in the Mediterranean Sea, that is the chief cause of stings to swimmers in that popular holidaymakers' destination.
○ From my point of view 在我看来，依我看；这里是 from the human point of view 在人类看来， Pelagia noctiluca 是人类的敌人。Pelagia noctiluca 是什么？前面我们也说了，紫水母，是水母的一种，在地中海地区也特别丰富（abundant）。那么，紫水母为什么是人类的敌人呢？因为它是...的主要原因，the chief cause of ...，来度假胜地地中海的游泳者被蛰的主要原因。
○ the Mediterranean Sea 地中海
○ sting 可作动词也可作名词，这里是名词，意思是“蛰，刺; 叮”，其过去式和过去分词都是“stung”，后文还会出现。
But, as this picture shows, Pelagia noctiluca has enemies of its own. The other creatures in shot are polyps of Astroides calycularis, a type of coral.
○ 图中可以看出，Pelagia noctiluca 也有自己的“天敌”了，就是我们一开始介绍的，图中的另一种生物，珊瑚虫，polyps of Astroides calycularis.
○ creature: 可以指“生物；动物”anything that is living, such as an animal, fish, or insect, but not a plant.
举个🌰，all the living creatures in the sea 海洋中所有的生物
上文中出现了“organism”也是表示“生物; 微生物”(An organism is an animal or plant, especially one that is so small that you cannot see it without using a microscope.)
○ shot: 最常见的意思是“开枪，射击，射门”，这里意思是“照片; 镜头，(电影的) 连续镜头”(A shot is a photograph or a particular sequence of pictures in a movie.)
The other creatures in shot 指的就是前面说的 this picture 照片、镜头中的另一种生物。
◉ 第二段>>>
Normally, Astroides calycularis feeds on small creatures of the plankton.
○ feed on/upon: 以…为食物，用…喂，用…饲养；从…得到满足；依赖，靠…过日子。 举个🌰，Cows feed on hay. 奶牛以干草为生。He feeds on his cousin. 他靠他的表兄生活。
○ Plankton is a mass of tiny animals and plants that live in the surface layer of the sea. 浮游生物
But researchers led by Tomás Vega Fernández of the Zoological Station in Naples, diving off the coast of Italian islands such as Pantelleria, have show that individual coral-polyps sometimes collaborate to trap and consume jellyfish.
○ Astroides calycularis 通常是以一些小的浮游生物为食。但近来有研究者在意大利海岛潜水中发现一些珊瑚虫会通过协作的方式诱捕并吃掉水母。
They catch hold of various parts of their prey to stop it swimming away, and slowly dismember it. As the team describe in a paper in Ecology, each polyp then consumes part of a tentacle or of the pulsating umbrella the jellyfish uses to swim.
○ catch hold of 抓住；捉住；抓牢；了解
○ prey 这里作名词，表示“被〔其他动物〕捕食的动物，猎物”(an animal, bird etc that is hunted and eaten by another animal)
○ dismember 意思是“肢解”(To dismember the body of a dead person or animal means to cut or pull it into pieces)
举个🌰，She then dismembered him, hiding parts of his body in the cellar. 她接着将他的尸体肢解，把几块碎尸藏进了地窖。
此外，dismember 还有一个意思是“瓜分，分割〔国家、地区或组织〕”to divide a country, area, or organization into smaller parts.
○ tentacle 意思是“〔章鱼等海洋动物的〕触手，触角，触须”one of the long thin parts of a sea creature such as an octopus which it uses for holding things.
○ pulsating: 动词原形 pulsate 意思是“有规律地振动，脉动”(to make sounds or movements that are strong and regular like a heart beating).
文中 the pulsating umbrella (which) the jellyfish uses to swim 可以看成省略了先行词 that/which 的宾语从句，指的就是水母用来前进的不停摆动的伞状体。
◉ 最后一段>>>
Corals are, essentially, sea anemones with stony cases. Both they and jellyfish belong to the phylum of animals known to zoologists as Cnidaria, the characteristic feature of which is stinging cells called nematocysts. Cnidarians use these to disable their prey.
○ stony: 词根就是 stone 石头，stony 是形容词，意思是“铺着石头的；多石的；石质的”🌰：stony soil 石质土
○ phylum /'faɪləm/ one of the large groups into which scientists divide plants, animals, and languages 〔动植物分类的〕门；〔语言的〕语群
○ Cnidaria: 刺胞动物门，又称刺细胞动物门，分为：水螅虫纲、钵水母纲和珊瑚虫纲等。珊瑚和水母均属于刺胞动物门。它的一大特点就是具有刺细胞或者说是刺丝囊。
○ stinging cell 刺细胞
○ nematocyst /nɪ'mætəsɪst/ 刺丝囊
刺胞动物都是肉食性的，以浮游生物，小的甲壳类、多毛类甚至小的鱼类为食。由于食物的机械刺激和化学刺激，引起水螅类动物伸长触手，并放出刺丝囊以缠绕、麻痹、毒杀捕获物，再将食物送入口中。（百度百科）
In this example, then, it is a case not so much of “the biter bit” as “the stinger stung”.
○ not so much A as B 与其说是A不如说是B
○ The biter bit 实际上是一部电影《水浇园丁》，讲的是园丁在花园里持水管浇水，一顽童路过，水被脚踩停喷，园丁端详水管口，顽童忽然松开，水喷园丁一脸，顽童大乐，园丁追打。
The biter bit 意思就是咬人的人被咬了，这里经济学人非常巧妙地借用这一说法，与其说是“the biter bit”不如说是“the stinger stung”，将水母被珊瑚虫吃掉称作 the stinger stung 蜇人的生物现在自己也被蛰了，对应到中文里的意思就是“狗咬狗”？Interesting!
This article appeared in the Science and technology section of the print edition under the headline "The biter bit"
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