The Carnivorous Plant's Hunting Strategy
BBC Earth｜Water Worlds｜The Green Planet

Swamps and bogs are also poor in nutrients. So several plants that live in such places catch insects too, if they can.
沼泽和泥塘同样缺乏养分。因此，生活在这样的环境里的一些植物也会捕捉昆虫，如果它们能够的话。

The leaves of Sundews are covered with long, red hairs, each tipped with a droplet. These glistening globules are, in fact, glue. Once the Sundews detect the taste of their victim's body, they flood it with digestive enzymes. The little body disintegrates. And the Sundew gets the nutrients it needs.
茅膏菜的叶子上覆盖着长长的红色细毛，每根细毛的顶端都有一颗小水滴。这些闪亮的小水珠实际上是胶。一旦茅膏菜检测到猎物身体的味道，它们就会用消化酶将其淹没。这个小小的身体解体了。茅膏菜获得了它所需的养分。

Another plant has an even more elaborate way of catching a meal. The Venus Flytrap has leaves that are lined with interlocking teeth. It attracts insects by producing a sweet perfume, just as a flower does. It, too, has a hair trigger. And another insect is caught. But the technique is more complex than it might seem.
另一种植物有着更为复杂的捕食方式。捕蝇草的叶子上排列着交错的牙齿。它通过产生一种甜美的香气来吸引昆虫，就像花朵一样。它也有一个灵敏的触发机制。又一只昆虫被捕获了。但这种技巧比看起来更为复杂。

The Venus Flytrap has a problem. It needs to avoid false alarms, snapping shut on something inedible, like a raindrop or a little bit of twig. That would be a waste of both time and energy. So how does it avoid that? Well, it does it by counting. If I touch this one, sensitive hair just there ..no reaction. That could be a false alarm, but the plant remembers that for 20 seconds.
捕蝇草遇到了一个问题。它需要避免误报，避免因为触碰到像雨滴或小树枝这样不可食用的东西而突然闭合。那样会浪费时间和精力。那么，它是如何避免这种情况的呢？它通过计数来实现。如果我触碰这根敏感的触毛，没有反应。那可能是一个误报，但植物会记住这次触碰长达20秒。

And if I touch it a second time within that time, then that's much more likely to be worth eating. And so ..it closes. So far, so good, but now it needs to be absolutely certain that it's got something worth eating, so it continues counting. Only after it has totted up five separate touches to those hairs will it give the final squeeze and then begin to produce the liquid from the surface of the leaf, which will dissolve the body of its unfortunate victim.
如果在这段时间内我第二次触摸它，那么这更有可能是值得吃的。于是...它闭合了。到目前为止，一切都好，但现在它需要完全确定它捕获的是值得吃的，所以它继续计数。只有在那些细毛上累积了五次单独的触碰，它才会给出最后的挤压，然后开始从叶子表面分泌液体，这种液体将溶解它不幸猎物的身体。

The Flytrap now has enough energy to produce flowers and attract pollinating insects.
现在，捕蝇草有足够的能量来产生花朵并吸引传粉昆虫了。

词汇表
carnivorous plant [kɑ:'nɪvərəs] 食肉植物，食虫植物（一种以捕食昆虫或其他小动物为生的植物，通常生长在营养贫瘠的土壤中）
swamp [swɒmp] 沼泽，湿地
bog [bɒɡ] 沼泽，泥塘
Sundew [ˈsʌndjʊ] 茅膏菜（食虫植物，以粘性触须捕虫）
be tipped with 尖端带有，被…覆盖尖端
droplet  [ˈdrɒplət] 小水滴
glistening ['glɪstnɪŋ] 闪亮的，发光的
globule  [ˈɡlɒbjuːl] 水珠，小球体
glue [ɡluː] 胶，胶水
digestive enzyme [daɪ'dʒestɪv][ˈenzaɪm] 消化酶
disintegrate [dɪs'ɪntɪ.ɡreɪt] 瓦解，解体
elaborate [ɪ'læbəreɪt] 复杂的，详尽的
Venus Flytrap ['viːnəs][ˈflaɪˌtræp] 捕蝇草（食虫植物，以快速闭合叶片捕食昆虫）
interlocking teeth [ˌɪntə(r)ˈlɒkiŋ] 交错的牙齿
perfume [ˈpɜː(r)fjuːm] 香味，芳香
hair trigger 灵敏的触发机制
false alarm 误报，虚惊
snap shut [snæp] 突然闭合，啪地合上
inedible [ɪn'edəb(ə)l] 不能吃的，不宜食用的
twig [twɪɡ] 嫩枝，小枝
tot up [tɒt] 合计，累计
dissolve [dɪˈzɒlv] 溶解，分解
pollinating insect [ˈpɒləneɪtɪŋ] 授粉昆虫

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