俗话说“条条大路通罗马”，背诵
Researchers working in New York City found that hungry urban arthropods(节肢动物) help dispose(处理) of tons of edible trash(垃圾). Allie Wilkinson reports
Rather than cringing(奉承) at the next beetle (甲虫)or wasp (黄蜂)in your way, you might want to thank them—for helping to keep city streets clean.
Researchers from North Carolina State University working in New York City found that hungry urban arthropods (节肢动物)play a significant role in the disposal(处理) of trash. For example, in a small section of Manhattan called the Broadway/West Street. corridor,(走廊) insects consume the equivalent(相当于) of 60,000 hot dogs a year that would otherwise be lying in the street. And that’s assuming the bugs stop chowing down(吃饭) in winter.
To assess how much discarded food bugs got rid of, the researchers placed measured amounts of hot dogs, potato chips and cookies at 21 park sites and 24 street medians. Contrary to their prediction, location played an even bigger role in garbage(垃圾) consumption than biodiversity (生物多样性)did—insects gobbled up (狼吞虎咽)two to three times more food in the street medians (中位数)than they did in the parks.
The study appears in the journal Global Change Biology.
If all that garbage disposal still does not make you an arthropod admirer, then consider this: by competing with larger pests for resources, insects help keep rat populations down. There’s some food for thought.
下面是本篇文章的疑难词汇汇总：
Arthropod n. 节肢动物 dj. 节肢动物的
edible adj. 可食用的n. 食品;食物
trash n. 垃圾;废物vt. 丢弃;修剪树枝
beetle vi. 急忙来回;突出vt. 用槌打n. 甲虫;大槌
cringing n. 奉承(的)adj. 谄媚(的)
chowing n. 食物;中国狗(体壮，有褐或黑色厚毛，舌为深蓝色)vi. 吃
n. (Chow)人名;(英、塞舌)乔;(缅)雀;(中)周(普通话·威妥玛)
median n. 中值，中位数;中线adj. 中值的;
biodiversity n. 生物多样性
gobble vi. 贪食;咯咯叫vt. 狼吞虎咽n. 火鸡叫声