There are many scenes¹ on TV where elephants get scared in front of a mouse.Why would a nearly 6，000 kg elephant be afraid of a small mouse？ It’s not just onTV shows. People have seen elephants running away from mice.

電視上有很多這種片段，大象在老鼠面前會(huì)感到害怕。為什么一頭近6000千克的大象會(huì)害怕一只小老鼠呢？不僅僅是在電視上，人們親眼見(jiàn)過(guò)大象從老鼠面前逃走。

Are elephants scared of mice？ No， elephants aren’t scared of mice. Anelephant trainer， Troy Metzler， set out to test it himself. Metzler held a mouse infront of an elephant to see what it would do. Surprisingly²， the elephant didn’tseem interested in the little thing. So， he found that a little mouse doesn’t scarethe big elephant.

大象害怕老鼠嗎鑰不，大象不怕老鼠。大象訓(xùn)練師特洛伊·梅茨勒親自動(dòng)手驗(yàn)證了這個(gè)問(wèn)題。梅茨勒把一只老鼠放在一頭大象面前，看它會(huì)怎么做。令人驚訝的是，大象似乎對(duì)這個(gè)小東西不感興趣。于是，他發(fā)現(xiàn)一只小老鼠嚇不到大象。

Why do elephants run from mice？ That’s because elephants can’t see verywell. And the mouse moves so fast and surprisingly that it scares them. That alsotells why the mouse in Metzler’s hand didn’t move the elephant.

為什么大象要從老鼠面前逃走呢鑰那是因?yàn)榇笙笠暳^差。老鼠動(dòng)得如此之快，又出人意料，以至于嚇到了它。這也解釋了為什么梅茨勒手中的老鼠沒(méi)有嚇到那頭大象。

Where did the idea come from？ The idea had existed³ long before it becamepopular in cartoons. A Greek fable⁴ from as far back as 77 AD supported this idea.In the tale， a mouse climbs an elephant’s trunk⁵ and drives him crazy.

這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)是從哪里來(lái)的鑰這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)早在它在動(dòng)畫片中流行之前就已經(jīng)存在了。早在公元77 年的一則希臘寓言證明了這一觀點(diǎn)。在這個(gè)故事中，一只老鼠爬上了大象的鼻子，把它嚇瘋了。

Allen Moulin， an Irish physician， believed that elephants didn’t have the small cartilage⁶ in their throat—epiglottis⁷. If the mouse got into the elephant’s throat， itwould choke⁸. People would realize much later that elephants have epiglottiscartilage. Elephant researcher Richard Lair noted that an elephant could quite easilyblow a mouse out of its trunk if one ever climbed in.

愛(ài)爾蘭醫(yī)生艾倫·莫林認(rèn)為，大象的喉嚨里沒(méi)有那塊小軟骨——會(huì)厭。如果老鼠進(jìn)入大象的喉嚨，它會(huì)窒息。人們很久以后才發(fā)現(xiàn)大象有會(huì)厭軟骨。大象研究員理查德·萊爾指出，如果有老鼠爬進(jìn)去，大象可以輕而易舉地把老鼠從鼻子里吹出來(lái)。

What tiny animal scares an elephant？ Elephants might not be afraid of mice，but there’s another tiny animal that scares them. It’s bees！ What could a bee do tothe elephant？ Not much. Elephants have very thick skin. But African bees attack⁹ inhundreds， stinging¹⁰ the elephant everywhere. Researchers found that Asianelephants are afraid of bees， too. And some of them believe that a large group ofthousands of bees can seriously hurt a young elephant.

什么小動(dòng)物會(huì)嚇到大象呢鑰大象可能不怕老鼠，但還是有一種小動(dòng)物讓它們害怕。是蜜蜂！蜜蜂能對(duì)大象做什么呢？不多。大象有很厚的皮膚，但是非洲蜜蜂攻擊時(shí)有數(shù)百只，在大象身上到處蟄。研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)亞洲象也害怕蜜蜂，其中有人認(rèn)為一群數(shù)量巨大的蜜蜂會(huì)嚴(yán)重傷害小象。

（英語(yǔ)原文選自：thefactsite.com）