It's a sight and sound that will make your skin crawl. Billions of periodical cicadas emerging out of the earth and overtaking the eastern United States. The rare spectacle has Americans in awe¹.

此景此声会让你毛骨悚然。数十亿只周期蝉破土而出，席卷美国东部。这番罕见的景象让美国人目瞪口呆。

 

Rosemarie Grant, Witness

And it was deafening², really deafening.

罗斯玛丽·格兰特       蝉群目击者

“蝉鸣声震耳欲聋，真的是震耳欲聋。”

 

The Grants have lived here for decades, and like clockwork, the Brood X cicadas have arrived at the same time every seventeen years to mate. It can get so loud that some of their friends have mistaken the male insects' droning song for a police siren.

格兰特夫妇在这里生活了几十年，每17年，周期蝉10号群就会为了交配而同一时间如约而至。蝉鸣声十分响亮，以至于他们的一些朋友将雄蝉嗡嗡作响的歌声误认成了警笛声。

 

Peter Grant, Witness

Because of my hearing disadvantages, I don't put my hearing aids [in] when I come out in the garden, otherwise I get the whole sound magnified.

彼得·格兰特       蝉群目击者

“因为我有听力障碍，所以走到花园里的时候我不戴助听器，不然整个蝉鸣声会被放大。”

 

The mass emergence³ and its timing⁴ is all part of a clever survival strategy to evade⁵ predators⁶. Then the metamorphosis from nymph to adult happens relatively⁷ quickly.

蝉的大批出现和破土时机都是它们躲避捕食者的一种精明的生存策略。破土后，从若虫到成虫的蜕变发生得相对较快。

 

Nada Tawfik, BBC Correspondant

So here we have a fully⁸ grown female that's now ready to mate and lay her eggs. She'll only live four to six weeks, though, after being underground for 17 years.

纳达·陶菲克       BBC通讯员

“这是一只完全成熟的雌蝉，现已准备好交配和产卵。尽管之前在地下蛰伏了17年，它只能活四到六周。”

 

Because this is when they are most vulnerable – right here, because their body is so soft…

因为这是它们最脆弱的时候。就在这里，因为它们的身体非常软。

 

It's a magical time for entomologist Dr Jessica Weir⁹, whose 16-year-old daughter wasn't even alive the last time she saw these insects. The world was a very different place back then. George Bush was president, and Facebook was just launched.

对昆虫学家杰西卡·威尔博士来说，这是一个奇妙的时刻，在她上次看到这些昆虫时，她现年16岁的女儿甚至还没出生。那时的世界非常不同。乔治·沃克·布什是美国总统，脸书（Facebook）才刚刚问世。

 

Dr. Jessica Weir, Entomologist, American Natural History Museum

You know, a lot of people for centuries have been calling these things locusts¹⁰, but they are the opposite of locusts, because they're not actually a plague ­– they're not destroying crops. They're actually living their life completely in exclusion¹¹ of humans and they are great nutrition.

杰西卡·威尔博士       美国自然历史博物馆昆虫学家

“几个世纪以来，很多人都把这种昆虫叫作蝗虫，但它们与蝗虫正相反，因为它们其实不会造成灾害，也不会摧毁庄稼。事实上，它们的生活是完全与人类隔绝的，而且它们很有营养。”

 

Yes, you heard that right. These critters are a culinary delicacy¹².

是的，你没听错。这些小动物是美味佳肴。

 

Joseph Yoon, Chef, Brooklyn Bugs¹⁴

The cicadas are a flavour bomb. They have so much flavour and add a sense of umami to the dish.

约瑟夫·尹       Brooklyn Bugs 厨师

“蝉是一种 ‘风味炸弹’。它们味道丰富，能为菜肴提鲜。”

 

Chef Joseph has been cooking with the star ingredient to encourage Americans to re-imagine bugs as a protein-rich sustainable food source.

大厨约瑟夫一直在用这种特色食材烹饪，以鼓励美国人把虫子重新想象为富含蛋白质的可持续食物来源。

 

“I think I am ready – may I?”

“我准备好开吃了，可以吗？”

 

“Yes, please.”

“好的，请便。”

 

“OK, I am going to go with this one here. Bug¹³ appetite! A burst of springtime in your mouth.”

“好，我就拿这一块吧。‘蝉' 死我啦！仿佛嘴里涌入了春天的气息。”

 

For others, the noisy critters are just downright disruptive. It's safe to say Shakespeare is not in love with the cicada. This theatre company has had to cut its outdoor season short.

对其他人来说，这些吵闹的小动物只会引起混乱。可以肯定地说，莎士比亚并不喜欢这些蝉。这家莎士比亚剧团不得不缩短户外演出季。

 

Bonnie Monte, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey¹⁵

The last time I directed a show out here, I sat over there with two huge badminton rackets and just screamed as they came at me and swatted them away.

邦妮·蒙特       新泽西莎士比亚剧院

“上次我在这里执导一场演出时，我坐在那里，手里拿着两个巨大的羽毛球拍，当它们向我飞过来的时候，我尖叫了起来，把它们打跑了。”

 

The takeover may be dramatic, but it is temporary. Soon the larvae¹⁶ of the new generation will burrow¹⁷ their way into the ground resetting¹⁸ the 17-year cycle.

虽然蝉铺天盖地出现的场面充满戏剧性，但这只是暂时的。很快，新一代的幼虫将钻入地下，开始新一轮的17年周期。

点击收听单词发音