#共享地球的生命#之六
（肉食植物毛氈苔）
Carnivorous Plants
肉食植物
Imagine that you're a fly. You're just zipping around the sky, looking for a place to rest, when you see nice pink leaf. That looks like a nice place to land. You think to yourself in your fly head. As you rest your feet on the leaf, you notice something strange. This leaf is hairy. You begin to make your move, but you trigger the plant's reflex. Snap! In one-tenth of a second, you are caught in the Venus flytrap. You will be digested in five to twelve days. Welcome to the world of carnivorous plants!
想像你是一隻蒼蠅。當你在空中快速地四處亂飛，想找一個地方休息時，你看到了一片不錯的粉色葉子。這看起來是個降落的好地方。你在自己的蒼蠅腦袋裡想道。當你在葉片上休息時，你注意到了奇怪的一點——這葉子毛茸茸的。你開始移動，但你激起了這種植物的本能反應。啪！在十分之一秒內，你被捕蠅草抓住了。你會在5-12天內被消化。歡迎來到肉食植物的世界！
（正在等待「獵物」的捕蠅草）
There are over a quarter of a millions plant species. Only 600 or so are carnivorous. We call them this because they attract, trap, and eat bugs. Like other plants, they get energy from the sun. But unlike other plants, they get their nutrients from their prey. Carnivorous plants live in bogs and places where the soil lacks nutrients. Most plants get nutrients from the soil. Carnivorous plants have turned to other sources.
世界上有超過25萬種植物。但是只有600多種是肉食植物。我們這麼叫它們是因為它們吸引並且吃蟲子。像其他植物，它們從陽光中吸取能量。但不像其他植物，它們是從它們的獵物中吸取養分。肉食植物分布在沼澤等泥土缺乏養分的地方。大多數植物從土中獲取營養。肉食植物則選擇了其他的營養來源。
The snap of the Venus flytrap is not the only way that plants eat bugs. Pitcher plants trick their prey into landing on them. They offer nectar bribes to the foolish insects that would take them. True to their name, pitcher plants have deep chambers. Their landing surface is slippery. They have inward pointing hairs, making it hard to escape. The fly lands on the pitcher plant to eat, but slips into a pit filled with digestive fluids and is eaten.
捕蠅草的陷阱不是唯一一種植物吃昆蟲的方法。豬籠草欺騙獵物使它們落在它們身上。它們會分泌蜜露來哄騙迷惑想吃甜汁的昆蟲。名副其實，豬籠草有深深的腔。它們的表面非常光滑。它們有著朝裡的毛，讓動物很難逃脫。蒼蠅為了吃豬籠草分泌蜜汁而著陸在它上，但卻滑進裝滿了消化液的坑裡，被吃掉。
（豬籠草）
Then there're sundews. We call them sundews because they sparkle in the sun as if covered in morning dew. Of course, that sparkle is from something much more treacherous. It is a sweet goo called mucilage that bugs can't resist. Sundews create mucilage to attract bugs. As they fly in to eat, bugs become trapped in the very object of their desire. They soon exhaust themselves by trying to escape the mucilage. Or the sundew's tentacles, which respond to prey by curling around them, smother them. Bugs usually die in about 15 minutes. Then the plant dissolves its prey in enzymes and absorbs the nutrients.
然後就是毛氈苔（它也有清晨露水的意思）。我們叫它們毛氈苔是因為它們在陽光下亮閃閃的，仿佛被露水覆蓋著。當然，那光來自於更隱藏著危險的東西。它是一種讓昆蟲按耐不住的甜甜的玩意兒——粘液。毛氈苔分泌粘液來吸引昆蟲。在它們飛進去來吃的時候，昆蟲會被它們一直渴望得到的東西困住。很快，它們會為了想從粘液裡逃脫而把自己弄得筋疲力盡。毛氈苔的觸角，也就是纏繞著獵物的東西會悶死它們。蟲子大約會在15分鐘內死亡。然後，這種植物用酶分解獵物並吸收養分。
（正在捕食的毛氈苔）
Have you ever walked into trouble and found that you couldn't get out? So has every insect that has ever wandered into a corkscrew plant. Bugs love to investigate plants for nectar and food. Corkscrew plants have inviting stems. Curved hairs line the inside of these stems. These hairs allow insects to go up the stems, but not back. Going forward leads a chamber filled with digestive fluid, the plant's stomach. Bugs who wander into the corkscrew plant find that they are unable to escape. They must march to their own demise.
你有沒有曾陷入困境發現自己出不去的經歷？每一隻曾經走進螺旋草的昆蟲也一樣。蟲子喜歡在植物中尋找花蜜和食物。螺旋草有吸引蟲子的莖。莖的內部有彎曲的毛。這些毛可以讓昆蟲爬上莖，但無法向下爬。前面是一個充滿消化液的室，也就是植物的胃。進入螺旋草的蟲子發現它們無法逃脫。他們必須走向它們生命的終結。
And then there are the bladderworts. They're about as nice as they sound. They live in water and float near the surface. Their traps are like small bladders hidden beneath the water. Only their flowers are visible from the surface. When bugs swim into the trigger hairs, the plant reacts. A trapdoor in the bladder opens up. The bladder sucks up the prey and the water surrounding it. A tenth of a second later, the bladder shuts again. The plant has trapped the prey. It releases digestive fluids. The prey will be digested within hours.
然後就是狸藻。但它們沒有你想像的那樣美好。它們生長在水中，漂浮在離水面很近的地方。它們的陷阱像藏在水中的小膀胱。只有它們的花從水面上可見。當蟲子遊進觸發毛髮時，植物開始行動了。在「膀胱」裡的活板門打開了。囊把蟲子連著它周圍的水都吸進去。0.1秒後，囊又關閉了。這植物困住了它的獵物。它分泌消化液。蟲子會在幾小時內被分解。
Carnivorous plants might sound tough, but they are difficult to keep at home. They are built to survive in places that other plants cannot. This specialization comes at a cost. They have a hard time adapting to other environments. Their strengths become weaknesses in rich soil. They depend on the harsh yet delicate environments in which they thrive. They are not so hardy after all. Still, there's something to be said about the power of life when one finds a plant that can survive in barren soil.
肉食植物聽起來很頑強，但是它們很難在家養殖。它們可以在其他植物生活不了的地方生存。但這個特點得付出代價，它們很難適應其他環境。它們的優點在肥沃的泥土中變成了缺點。它們依靠在艱難而微妙的環境中茁壯成長。畢竟它們不是那麼強硬。然而，當人們發現一種可以在貧瘠的土壤中生存的植物時，關於它生命力有很多可去講述。
爸爸的話
在閃閃翻譯的文章中，大多與動植物相關。這和她的生命觀是一樣的。
今年5月22日，閃閃寫了《動物們的權利》，她這樣寫道：
很多人都覺得人類的生命是最重要的，但是這麼想的人得聽好：你們錯了，與你們共享這個星球的不只你們，你們常常忽略了在地球上的微不足道的小生命。
請不要捕殺動物,不要讓一個美好的物種再次消失在美麗的地球上。記住，動物們也有自己的權利。
（詳見動物們的權利與人類的侵略）
從這篇內容開始，閃閃翻譯的有關地球生命的文章，都納入#共享地球的生命#系列