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Unit 1 The Perfect Swarm
Narrator: Damage from swarms of locusts can reach disastrous proportions. A single swarm of desert locusts can consume over 70,000 metric tons of vegetation a day. There is, however, one continent
that’s locust-free: North America.
旁白：蝗虫群的伤害可以达到灾难性的程度。一个单一的沙漠蝗虫可以消耗超过70000吨的植被一天。然而，有一个大
陆是蝗虫自由：美国北部。
Interestingly enough, this wasn’t always true. For hundreds of years, the Rocky Mountain locust was a common pest in the American West. Back in the mid-1800s, thousands of pioneers journeyed across the U.S. in search of free land and new opportunities. They settled on the frontier of the western states, and began to farm the land intensively, growing corn and other crops. 有趣的是，这并不总是真实的。几百年来，落基山脉的蝗虫是美国西部的一种常见害虫。早在19世纪中叶，成千上万的先驱者跨越美国在自由的土地和寻找新的机会。他们定居在西部边境，并开始对土地进行集中耕种，种植玉米和其他
农作物。
Then, in 1875, out of nowhere, a rare combination of air currents, drought, and basic biology produced the right conditions for an unthinkable event, the worst storm ever recorded, the “perfect swarm.” It came over the horizon like a strange, dark cloud. Not millions, not billions, but trillions of insects, sweeping through the land like a living tornado. Those who saw the incredible event and survived never forgot
what they witnessed.
然后，在1875，走出无处，一个罕见的组合，空气电流，干旱，和基本生物学产生了正确的条件为一个不可想象的事件，最坏的风暴有史以来，“完美的群”，它在地平线上像一个奇怪的，黑暗的云。不是上百万，不是数十亿，而是数以万亿
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计的昆虫，像一个活生生的龙卷风席卷过大地。那些看到了令人难以置信的事件，并幸存下来的人从来没有忘记他们见
证了什么。
The swarm came together over the state of Texas, and soon moved quickly across the frontier in a huge destructive cloud that was nearly 3,000 kilometers long. The storm spread north towards North Dakota. The locusts eventually went as far west as the Rocky Mountains, leaving a path of devastation and
destruction wherever they went.
群聚在德克萨斯州的上空，并很快在一个巨大的破坏性的云，是近3000公里长的边界迅速移动。风暴向北到了北。蝗虫最终在落基山脉的西部，离开了一条破坏性的道路和毁灭的
道路。
An account from one person who observed the swarm described the locust storm. The locusts came down from the sky like hail. Frightened people ran screaming into their homes as the locusts’ claws dug into their skin and hung upon their clothing. They heard sharp cracks as the insects came underfoot. The large locusts were everywhere, looking with hungry eyes turning this way and that. Their bodies blocked the sun, bringing
darkness along with the destruction.
一个来自一个人的帐户，观察到群描述了蝗虫风暴。蝗虫从空中落下如冰雹。当蝗虫的爪子被挖进他们的皮，挂在他们的衣服上时，吓得人们尖叫着进入他们的家里。随着昆虫来踩在脚下他们听到尖锐的裂缝。大蝗虫到处都是，看着饥饿的眼睛转动着这样的方式。他们的身体挡住了太阳，带来了
黑暗与毁灭。
Crop damages were absolutely astonishing. If such destruction were to happen today it would cost an estimated US$116 billion, more than the most costly hurricane in American history. And then, something remarkable happened: the Rocky Mountain locust simply
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vanished.
农作物的损害是绝对惊人的。如果这样的破坏将发生在今天，它将花费大约116美元，超过了美国历史上最昂贵的飓风。然后，一些非凡的事情发生了：落基山脉的蝗虫简直就消失
了。
At the University of Wyoming, entomologist Dr. Jeff Lockwood has spent over a decade investigating why the
Rocky Mountain locust disappeared.
在怀俄明大学的昆虫学家杰夫博士，她已经花了超过十年调
查为什么落基山蝗虫消失。
Dr. Jeff Lockwood, University of Wyoming: “There were probably more locusts in the largest swarm than there are stars in the Milky Way — trillions. Not only is something of that scale and magnitude and power gone, but it’s gone within a few years. It’s not as if we had a tremendous series of earthquakes or tidal waves or forest fires. And so it doesn’t make sense that it could’ve gone extinct. There’s no reason for it to
have done so. It’s a great mystery.”
杰夫博士：怀俄明大学洛克伍德，“有可能是更多的蝗虫在最大的群有比银河系中的恒星万亿。这不仅是一种规模和规模和力量去了，但它在几年内消失了。这并不是因为我们有一系列的地震或海啸或森林火灾。因此，它没有意义，它可能已经灭绝。没有理由这么做了。这是一个伟大的奥秘。” Narrator: It’s a mystery that Lockwood is determined to solve. Whatever wiped out the Rocky Mountain locust changed American history. Exactly what could have destroyed a plague nearly 3,000 kilometers long? Lockwood is on the case. He starts the investigation with the victim itself. Unfortunately, very few locust specimens exist, and those that do are often in bad
condition.
旁白：这是一个谜，她下决心要解决。无论是什么，消灭了落基山脉的蝗虫改变了美国历史。到底是什么能摧毁一个瘟
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