英语阅读新视野第1课

Spiders 蜘蛛

Before You Read 阅前思考

Answer the following questions.

1. Are spiders popular as pets in your country? Why or why not?

2. Are you, or is anyone you know, scared of spiders?

3. Do you think spiders have any uses?

Target Vocabulary 目标词汇

Match each word with the best meaning.

1. artificial a. from a particular area

2. benefit b. the army, air force, and navy

3. environment c. made by humans; not made naturally

4. military d. (verb) to receive a positive result; (noun) a positive result

5. native (to) e. the possibility of something

6. potential f. large or important

7. reputation g. opinion about how good something is

8. significant h. a grouping of living things

9. species i. the air, land, water, and surrounding that people, plants, and

animals live in

10. fund j. (verb) to provide money for a purpose; (noun) a sum of money

for a purpose.

Reading Passage 阅读文章

There are more than 37, 000 known species of spiders in the world in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. The largest spiders in the world live in the rain forests of South American and are known by the people who live there as the “bird-eating spiders.”These spiders can grow up to 28 centimeters in length-about the size of a dinner plate, and , as their name suggests, have been known to eat small birds. In comparison, the smallest species of spider in the world is native to Western Samoa. These tiny spiders are less than half a millimeter long-about the size of a period on this page-and live in plants that grow on mountain rocks.

Some people like to keep spiders as pets, particularly tarantulas, which are native to North America and can live for up to twenty-five years. Most people, on the other had, don’t like touching spiders, and a significant number of people are afraid of them, mainly because of their poison. However, despite their bad reputation, only thirty of the 37,000 known species of spiders are deadly to humans. Spiders actually provide benefits to humans, by catching and eating harmful insects such as flies and mosquitoes.

The main thing that makes spiders different from other animals is that they spin webs to catch the small insects they feed on. The unique silk of a spider’s web is produced by special organs found in the lower part of the spider’s body. It is light, elastic, and strong-spider web is five times stronger than steel. Additionally, it is completely biodegradable. This means that the web will completely decompose and eventually return to nature over time-making it perfect for uses such as