Something about Snakes

◎陈传光

蛇在自然界中对维持生态平衡起着极为重要的作用。人们为什么害怕蛇呢？我们应该如何减少对蛇的恐惧呢？让我们阅读下文去寻找答案吧。

Most of us are afraid of snakes.Where does the fear come from?To find out the answer, scientists put pictures of snakes, pandas, cats,flowers and many other things in front of a group of people of all ages.People found snakes faster than flowers.Another example is spiders,which are faster than “safe” things like flowers.It seems that we find things that might be dangerous to us faster.Maybe we are born to be afraid of them.

Scientists also found people learned to fear snakes faster.Why did they fear snakes? Most of them said that in their experiences, they were influenced by the scared voices and faces of those who met snakes, but weren’t1)bitten by snakes.After all, if we had to be bitten by a snake to learn that it’s dangerous, we might learn our lesson too late.

Snakes may not be as cute as pandas, but they’re just of the same importance to the environment.Snakes eat2)insects and mice that are harmful to humans.Snakes are also food for other animals.How can we reduce our fears to give snakes a chance?

Scientists did a study recently.Some volunteers went on a field trip.With the help of safety tips, everyone could safely touch and hold a snake.It turns out that snakes aren’t so bad when you know the way to stay with them.Most of them, who were afraid of snakes before the field trip weren’t afraid afterwards.In fact, snakes even became some volunteers’ favorite animals.

1) bitev.咬

2) insectn.昆虫

我们大多数人都害怕蛇。这种恐惧是从哪里来的？为了找出答案，科学家们把蛇、熊猫、猫、花和许多其他东西的照片放在一群不同年龄段的人面前。人们发现蛇比发现花快。另一个例子是蜘蛛，它们比花等“安全”的东西更快被发现。我们似乎更快地发现了对我们来说可能是危险的东西。也许我们生来就害怕它们。

科学家们还发现，人们更快地学会了害怕蛇。他们为什么害怕蛇？他们中的大多数人说，在他们的经历中受到了那些遇到蛇但没有被蛇咬的人恐惧的声音和面孔的影响。毕竟，如果我们不得不被蛇咬才知道它是危险的，我们可能就知道得太晚了。

蛇可能没有熊猫那么可爱，但它们对环境的重要性是一样的。蛇吃对人类有害的昆虫和老鼠。蛇也是其他动物的食物。我们如何才能减少恐惧，给蛇一个机会？

科学家最近做了一项研究。一些志愿者进行了实地考察。在安全提示的帮助下，每个人都可以安全地触摸和抱住蛇。结果表明，当你知道如何与蛇相处时，蛇并没有那么可怕。大多数人在野外考察前害怕蛇，但在野外考察后就不再害怕了。事实上，蛇甚至成了一些志愿者最喜欢的动物。