Day 80|2S【吃白食的火蚁有助于工作流程】

原文摘自每日英语听力3.22内容“吃白食的火蚁有助于工作流程”。

fire ant（火蚁） Day 80|2S【吃白食的火蚁有助于工作流程】

A quarter of the fire ants never even entered the tunnel.

Others crawled inside, but left without excavating a single grain of dirt.

These idling and retreating behaviors ensured the crowded tunnels did not get clogged with insect traffic, which would grind the construction process to a halt.

And when the scientists removed the five hardest-working ants from the colony, others immediately jumped in to compensate-with no reduction in the group's productivity.

1.找主干

加粗部分是句子主干。

2.逐句看

A quarter of the fire ants never even entered the tunnel.

主干是：四分之一从不进洞穴通道（工作）。

问：什么的四分之一？

答：of the fire ants（火蚁群体中四分之一的个体）

Others crawled inside, but left without excavating a single grain of dirt.

主干是：其他的（火蚁）爬行，然而离开。

问：在哪爬行？

答：inside（在（洞穴通道）内）

问：“然而离开”什么？

答：without excavating a single grain of dirt. （离开时不会带出一丝尘土）

These idling and retreating behaviors ensured the crowded tunnels did not get clogged with insect traffic, which would grind the construction process to a halt.

主干是：这种行为确保了洞穴通道不会阻塞。

问：这种什么行为？

答：idling and retreating（懒惰和退缩的）

问：蚂蚁怎么可能阻塞通道？

答：（1）crowded（（通道本来就）拥挤）；（2）with insect traffic（火蚁的涌入（会加剧拥堵））

问：火蚁都进洞穴通道会怎样？

答：which would grind the construction process to a halt.（会将洞穴通道的挖掘过程打断）

And when the scientists removed the five hardest-working ants from the colony, others immediately jumped in to compensate-with no reduction in the group's productivity.

主干是：其他火蚁快速进去。

问：什么情况下其他火蚁会快速进去呢？

答：And when the scientists removed the five hardest-working ants from the colony, （当科学家把辛勤劳作的火蚁移出蚁群后）

问：其他火蚁快速进去干什么？

答：to compensate-with no reduction in the group's productivity.（去补偿失去的劳动力，确保生产率不降低。）

注：jump可以表示“快速移动”。colony表示群落。

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延伸阅读：火蚁也懂建筑学