AGRICULTURE REPORT - Controlling Garden Insects with Spiders

AGRICULTURE REPORT - Controlling Garden Insects with Spiders
By Bob Bowen

Broadcast: Tuesday, February 08, 2005

I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Spiders kill more insects than they can eat. And most spiders can eat up to two times their body weight in insects each day. So, if you want to keep harmful insects out of your garden, invite a few spiders to live there.

That was the advice given some years ago in the magazine Organic Gardening, published by the Rodale Institute. Spiders do eat both good and bad insects. But Professor Susan Riechert at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville said spiders eat more harmful insects than helpful ones.

Professor Riechert said spiders will remove from sixty to eighty percent of the insects from a garden. But, she added, if you want spiders to live in your garden, you must not use chemicals that can kill them.

Here are short descriptions of nine different kinds of spiders that live in gardens.

Orb¹ weaver² spiders make huge sticky webs between plants. When an insect enters the web and is trapped, the spider attacks.

Sheet-web weavers³ make flat webs. The spiders stays under the web. When an insect lands on top of the web, the spider reaches up and pulls the insect through to the bottom.

Mesh-web weavers make tiny webs inside small openings in a plant's skin. This spider eats mainly aphids.

Combfooted spiders trap insects in their webs. Then they wrap their catch inside more web material.

Funnel⁴-web weavers build circular webs that are wide at the top and closed at the bottom. When an insect lands on the web, the spider jumps out, catches the insect and drags it back inside the funnel to eat it.

Wolf spiders do not use webs to trap insects. They live on the ground among the leaves. They eat aphids, leafhoppers, flies, beetles⁶ and grasshoppers⁷.

Jumping spiders also do not make webs. Their meal might include a spotted⁸ cucumber beetle⁵, a corn earworm, or a bottom bollweevil.

Lynx spiders will spin some silk to seize an insect. But they, too, do not make a web. They like to eat fire ants.

Crab⁹ spiders move sideways, just like crabs¹⁰ in the sea. Crab spiders do not make webs. They wait quietly for an insect to come near and then they capture it.

Internet users can get more information about Organic Gardening magazine on the Web at organicgardening dot com. (organicgardening.com)

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Bob Bowen. I'm Gwen Outen.

1 orb   

n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形

参考例句：

• The blue heaven,holding its one golden orb,poured down a crystal wash of warm light.蓝蓝的天空托着金色的太阳，洒下一片水晶般明亮温暖的光辉。
• It is an emanation from the distant orb of immortal light.它是从远处那个发出不灭之光的天体上放射出来的。

2 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

3 weavers   

织工，编织者( weaver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Navajo are noted as stockbreeders and skilled weavers, potters, and silversmiths. 纳瓦霍人以豢养家禽，技术熟练的纺织者，制陶者和银匠而著名。
• They made out they were weavers. 他们假装是织布工人。

4 funnel   

n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集

参考例句：

• He poured the petrol into the car through a funnel.他用一个漏斗把汽油灌入汽车。
• I like the ship with a yellow funnel.我喜欢那条有黄烟囱的船。

5 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

6 beetles   

n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 grasshoppers   

n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 )；蝗虫；蚂蚱；（孩子）矮小的

参考例句：

• Grasshoppers die in fall. 蚱蜢在秋天死去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are usually a lot of grasshoppers in the rice fields. 稻田里通常有许多蚱蜢。 来自辞典例句

8 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

9 crab   

n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气

参考例句：

• I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
• The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了，就象螃蟹的壳似的。

10 crabs   

n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》