昆虫学者

【中国版】
一封家书

我的小甜心：
　你的父亲与我一直焦急着地等待着你的家用，期盼着你能如从前一样附上只言片语，我们都为你感到担忧。
　村民们说你定是因为我们催促你，并称你为“老姑娘”而不开心了，但在我们的记忆里你从小就没有为什么事生气过。你明白你的父亲与我，从来没有坐上过离开村庄的拖货马车。我们只是期盼着你能嫁得好一些，其他同你一样去大庄园做仆人的女孩子都说，能嫁个管家什么的她们都不敢奢望。
　你的回信着实吓了你父亲与我一跳，你说你一定会嫁给你们庄园的主人。你说为了能与他有共同话题，每晚会溜进他的书房看虫子相关的书籍直到深夜。我和你的父亲听后十分不解，在我们的认知里，只听说过能做好家务的夫人，能打理好庄园的夫人，或者是家室很好的夫人，不明白很了解昆虫怎么也可以成为庄园主的夫人。相比之下，我们更担心你会因为每晚读书，无法专心干好白天的工作，而被辞退。毕竟你现在的工作，是你所拥有的一切。
　你在信中还提到了你对主人的情感是仰慕和钦佩，你描述了他的为人和才华，但是原谅我们实在不能理解这种所谓了解昆虫的才华。村里也有许多认识虫子的人，那是多年务农的经验知识。或许，是我们杞人忧天，但我们仍希望你明白，我们虽然在物质上比较匮乏，希望在自己的能力范围内过得更好，但这并不意味着，这一切要你一局婚姻去换取。
　你的父亲与我都害怕，你想去的位置太高了，跌下来的时候不是你的父亲与我能接住的。

挂念你的，
安娜・恩德洛武

【英語版】
A Letter Home

My Darling,
Your father and I have been waiting anxiously for whatever you can spare this month, and we hope that you can also send along a word or two as you did before. We are all worried about you.
The villagers said that you must've been unhappy because we placed such pressure on you and called you an "old maiden," but I cannot remember a single time anything ever caused you to become upset, ever since you were a child. You know that your father and I have never set foot outside of the village. We just hope that you can marry well. The other girls who work as maids in the manor like you all said that they'd never dare to dream of even marrying a butler.
Your reply came as a fright to your father and me. You said you would marry the lord of the manorーyou said that you would sneak into his study every night to read about insects until the wee hours just so you'd have something to talk to him about. This con fused your father and me. We had always heard that a good woman who could do all of the housework, manage the manor well, or who came from a good family could become the lady of the manor. We don't really understand why knowing about insects might be of any use. In fact, we're a little worried that you might lose your position due to studying every night and being unable to focus on your work during the day. After all, this job is all we have.
You also mentioned in your letter your admiration and affection for your master. You described his personality and talent, but forgive us for not really understanding this so-called talent for insects. There were also many people in the village who knew about insects. They amassed a great deal of experience and knowledge through years of farming. Perhaps we're worrying over nothing, but we still want you to understand that, although we do not have much to offer you, we hope you can live the best life you can, within your means, and that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice yourself for the sake of marriage.
Your father and I are afraid that if you aim too high, we won't be able to catch you when you fall.

Missing you dearly,
Anna Ndlovu

【中国版】
笔记中的一页

7月调查报告

研究目的:
　　不同种类的昆虫各自具有不同生物习性,原本互不干预的昆虫在有限资源内会产生竞争关系。该实验旨在观察不同种类的昆虫放在同一器皿内可能会发生的结果。

关键词:
　　资源、关系、利用

实验参考:
　　有关雄性螳螂的一次成功实验。
　　昆虫界的神经构造是反常识的,尤其对螳螂来说,下半身的神经负责呼吸、感觉以及运动,而头部的大脑却并不具备这么复杂的功能。对雄性螳螂来说,即使没了头,它依然能控制着后腿。雌性螳螂感到饥饿时,会利用周围所有的一切来保证生存,即使是身旁的雄性螳螂,他的头也会成为她的“盘中餐”。有时断了头的雄性螳螂的下半身会更为灵敏,断头处理法可以帮助交配困难的雄性螳螂。

实验对象:
1、有翅亚纲-网翅目-竹节虫: 伪装大师
　　竹节虫最擅长伪装,他可以依照环境切换不同的形态,装扮成植物的样子,让自身完全融入到周围的环境中,惟妙惟肖,如不仔细观察,很难察觉他本来的样子。他的“伪装术”并非与生俱来,生物基因具有调节功能,当环境遭遇重大变故,生物会从环境的教训中得到学习,并发展成为自我保护的行为或习性。尽管竹节虫具有奇特的伪装生存行为,比其他的昆虫技高一筹,但他的伪装过于完美,以至于在迷惑敌人之前已经迷惑了自己。
2、有翅亚纲-鳞翅目-飞蛾:
　　蝴蝶和飞蛾都具有卵、幼虫、蛹这三个阶段,然而破茧之后才知道她是飞蛾而不是蝴蝶。
　　飞蛾具有趋光性,当她奋不顾身扑向危险时,她似乎并不知道自己即将面对死亡。点燃一把火,等待她靠近光源,观察她是否真的会奋不顾身地扑向火焰。
3、有翅亚纲-鞘翅目-金针虫:地下工作者
　　常年生活在地下的昆虫,习惯了黑暗的环境,资深的“地下工作者”。即便他行动隐蔽,但他依旧是贪婪的,用一点“诱惑“,轻轻地在泥土表面撒上一圈粉末,当他的头从地里冒出来的时候他会知道那是毒药而不是食物吗?

实验过程:
　　(这部分被墨水涂成了黑色。)

实验结论:
　　险恶的环境下,昆虫会相互蚕食。

这一页笔记还夹着一张未送出的纸条,
　　德洛斯小姐,
　　我们的眼睛被一层薄纱蒙住,于是狰狞的面孔变得柔和,善良的面孔变得可怖。
　　我们无法取下那一层薄纱,漫天的迷雾笼罩清澈的月光,无论前进的道路是否清楚,请记得我们来到这里的目的。

【英語版】
A Page from a Notebook

July Investigation Report

Research Objective:
Different species of insects have different biological habits, and insects that otherwise don't interfere with each other can become competitive due to limited resources. The purpose of this experiment was to observe the potential outcomes when different species of insects were placed in the same vessel.

Keywords:
Resources, relationship, manipulation

Reference:
A successful experiment on male praying mantises.
The neural structure of the insect world is counterintuitive, especially for praying mantises, where the nerves in their lower body are in charge of breathing, sensation, and movement, while the brain in their head doesn't have such complex junctions. For male praying mantises, they can still control their hind legs even without their heads. When female praying mantises are hungry, they will utilize everything around them to ensure their survival, even devouring the heads of male mantises. Sometimes, the lower half of the male's body is more sensitive when the head is severed, and the head-severing can help male praying mantises with mating difficulties.

Experiment Subjects:
1. Pterygota - Dictyoptera - Phasmids: Masters of camouflage
Phasmids are the best at camouflage. They can switch to different forms in accordance with the environment and pretend to be a plant so as to fully, integrate into the surrounding environment. The camouflage is so well-done that, if one doesn't observe carefully, it is very difficult to detect their true form. Their "camouflage" is not innate. Their biology has a regulatory junction to help them learn from the environment and develop self-protective behavior or habits to adapt to major changes in the environment. Although phasmids have developed a peculiar camouflage survival behavior and are more skilled than other insects, their camouflage is so perfect that they have confused themselves even before they manage to confuse their enemies.
2. Pterygota - Lepidoptera - Moths
Both butterflies and moths go through the three stages of egg, larva and chrysalis, yet it is only after the cocoon is broken that one will know it's a moth and not a butterfly.
Moths are phototropic, and when they dive into danger, they seem to be unaware that they are facing death. Light a fire, wait for them to approach the light source, and observe whether they will really dive into the flame.
3. Pterygota - Coleoptera - Click beetles: Underground workers
As insects that live underground all year round, they are used to the dark environment and are senior "underground workers." Even if their actions are covert, they are nevertheless greedy. If we provide a little "temptation" ー gently sprinkling a circle of powder on the surface of the soil ー when their head emerge from the ground, will they know that it is poison and not food?

Procedure:
(This part is covered in black ink.)

Conclusion:
Insects will eat each other in treacherous conditions.

An unsent note is clipped onto this page of the notebook.
Miss DeRoss,
Our eyes are covered by a thin veil, making hideous faces soft and kind faces horrifying.
We can't remove the veil, and the mist completely shrouds the moonlight. Even if the way ahead is unclear, please remember what we came here for.

【中国版】

一篇调查记录

……
  我第一次知道梅莉・普林尼夫人是在一篇约书亚・普林尼先生关于地中海生态研究的报道里，她作为普林尼先生的伴侣兼助手，在那篇长达八十页的采访里获得了一页介绍自己的机会。一共五个问题，三个关于普林尼先生的生活趣事与习惯，一个关于她作为大学者夫人的生活喜好，最后一个是关于她的工作——准确的说是关于她辅佐普林尼先生的工作。
  文字或许确实不能准确描绘一个人，特别是在短小的篇幅中，至少在那篇采访里的普林尼夫人看起来非常局促、闪躲、不擅言辞，就像许多大学者的“附庸”一样。
  不过在最后一个问题中，仍可看出她对于蜜蜂这类物种的喜好，一种非研究性的、更原生、更田野、更富有生命力的偏爱。
  而这五个问题所勾勒出的形象，跟我来到这个庄园后遇到的梅莉·普林尼截然不同。
  在多日相处中，我发现普林夫人确实并非巧辩之人，但当我们谈论她的研究时，她的从容自信显而易见。而当我们谈论她的过往时，她则又会表现出一种理性、敏锐而又机警的姿态，理性得仿佛在评述他人的人生，而对于敏感话题，则会机警地规避，或者予以反击。
  这种态度的成因不难猜测，毕竟那篇八卦报刊上连载了半年有余的《女王蜂》的知名度，远超她刊载于学术刊物上的研究论文，能在那场舆论风暴中存活，她要么是最机警的海鸟，要么是最果决的船员。
  这里也并非避风港，风暴过后，尚未四散的雨云，盘桓于此。
  如外界传言那般，她拒绝了我的采访要求，不过并没有拒绝“作为朋友的互相了解”。
  从中我得知在她来庄园前就已与奥尔菲斯先生相识多年，她对奥尔菲斯先生不吝赞美之词，然而相较于她对自身理性客观的评价，这些赞美就有了毫不掩饰的讽刺意味。
  而作为旧识，在庄园内，她并未与奥尔菲斯先生成为坚固的盟友——至少目前看起来如此，相反，普林尼夫人对奥尔菲斯先生的防备与忌惮，在我看来，甚至超过对诺顿·坎贝尔先生——尽管她多次提醒我要小心这位先生。
  或许，对她而言，来自过去的恶意，总是比来自未来的杀机更危险。
  或许，不仅仅是对于她而言。

【英語版】

An Investigation Record

...
The first time I came across the name Melly Plinius was in a report on Mediterranean ecological research by Joshua Plinius. As Mr. Plinius' partner and assistant, she received a page-long opportunity to introduce herself in the 80-page interview. A total of five questions, three about Mr. Plinius'interests and habits, one about her passion in life as the wife of a great scholar. And the final question was about her work, or to be more precise, it was about her work as Mr. Plinius'assistant.
Words may not be able to describe a person accurately, especially when it's a short article, but at least in that interview, Mrs. Plinius seemed very uneasy, dodgy, and unwilling to say much, just like the "dependents" of many great scholars.
However, in the final question, her love for the bee species showedーA love that was non-research in natureーit was more primitive, more agricultural, and full of vitality.
But the image created by these five questions was vastly different from the Melly Plinius I met at the manor.
After spending many days with her, I realized that Mrs.Plinius was not good with words, but her calmness and confidence shined when we spoke about her research. When we spoke about her past, she would display a rational, sharp, and vigilant attitudeーSo rational that it was like she was speaking about the life of another, and when we broached a sensitive subject, she would avoid or counterattack in response.
It's not difficult to guess the reason for this. After all, the popularity enjoyed by the tabloid, Queen Bee, which has been in print for more than half a year, far exceeds the research papers she has published in academic journals. So, since she was able to survive that storm of public opinion, she is either the most vigilant seabird or the most decisive sailor.
This is no shelter, and the remaining storm clouds linger here after the storm.
Like the rumors said, she rejected my interview but did not refuse to "get to know each other as friends." From this, I learned she knew Mr.Orpheus for many years before coming to the manor and was full of praise toward him.
However, unlike the rational and objective evaluation of herself, these words of praise seemed quite ironic indeed. But as old acquaintances, she did not form a strong alliance with Mr.Orpheus in the manorーAt least it doesn't seem that way for now. Conversely, in my opinion, Mrs.Plinius fear and vigilance toward Mr. Orpheus even exceeds the fear and vigilance she displays toward Norton CampbellーEven if she repeatedly reminded me to be wary of Mr.Campbell.
Perhaps, in her opinion, the malice of the past is more dangerous than the danger awaiting in the future.
But maybe it doesn't only apply to her.