Looking back on our childhood, do you remember the places that caught your eye and made you linger? Do you remember the things that excite you while parents may disagree or even scoff?
In fact, exploring nature in childhood is a child's nature, and it is also a very interesting thing, but as it grows up, this fun and curiosity slowly disappears. But the Frenchman Fabre made the exploration of nature and the study of insects his life's work, and achieved great success.
01
Desert Stone Park Laboratory
He was born in 1823 to a peasant family in Saint-León, Provence, southern France. Because of his family's poverty, Fabre was sent to the home of his grandparents in Malawar, not far from the village, where he was attracted to the cute insects of butterflies and grasshoppers in the countryside at that time.
At the age of 7, Fabre returned to his parents and went to the village to attend primary school. Later, the Fabre family moved several times, and the young Fabre had to go out to work to earn a living. Although his studies could not continue, Fabre seized every opportunity to teach himself, and at the age of 15, he applied for the Teachers' College in Avignon, where he was officially admitted. After graduation, Fabre was offered a position as a secondary school teacher. In addition to classroom teaching, Fabre read a book on entomology, and from then on he had the great ambition to study insects all his life.
The DesertEd Stone Garden, a wasteland adjacent to the house That Fabre bought in the countryside of Selinion, became a great insect laboratory in Fabre's eyes.
Here he mobilized the whole family and neighbors to study his beloved little creatures, and she carefully observed, forty years as a day, patiently experimented, concentrated on writing, and completed the epic masterpiece "Insects". The poverty of life can not resist his love of nature and small insects, and the deserted stone garden is like a paradise in his heart.
Fabre's deserted stone garden, now restored, is open to the public as a source network for museums
02
Deciphering the "Historical Mystery" Between Cicadas and Ants
There is a parable that when winter comes, the ants carry their damp things to the sun to dry, and suddenly a hungry cicada comes to beg: "It is cold and frozen, you have so much food left, just lend me a little." The ant said, "You sing in the summer, and go hungry in the winter!" ”
Fabre pointed out that this is just a wanton fabrication by the fable writer, and she wants to rehabilitate the cicada.
At first glance, cicadas are lazy and ants are diligent. In fact, between cicadas and ants, ants are exploiters, and cicadas are victims!
The afternoon heat was unbearable, and all the insects were thirsty, but the cicada did not panic at all, because it could use a drill-like suction mouth to dig a "well" in the branches of the tree. Wasps, flies, etc. soon gathered next to the sweet wellhead, but the most, the most greedy, the most unreasonable were ants. Ants rush up to bite the cicada's claws, pull the cicada's wings, climb on the back of the cicada and scratch its tentacles, and these robbers drive away the well diggers, but they enjoy it themselves.
In fact, the ruthless robber-like seeker is an ant, while it is a cicada who is willing to share nectar with others. After the cicada dies, the ant also eats its corpse and stores its body for the winter, and in Fabre's view, it is the ant that is ruthless, but the cicada is benevolent!
Therefore, only careful observation and reflection can lead to the truth, and the rumors stop at the wise.
Illustrations in the book
03
Butterflies are true fasters
The Large Peacock Disc is the largest butterfly in Europe, which Fabre depicts:
Who doesn't know this beautiful butterfly? It is the largest butterfly in Europe, wearing a maroon velvet tunic and a white fur tie. The wings are covered with gray and white spots, a pale white zigzag line runs through them, the lines are gray and white around the line, and there is a circular spot in the center of the wings, like a large black eye, and the pupils are flashing in the irrepancies of colored, white, fruit, and cockscomb red.
In an experiment with a large peacock dish, a female large peacock hatched during the day, and at night, Fabre encountered a butterfly "invasion".
More than forty male peacock discs rushed into the room and flew around the female peacock discs, it was a butterfly party, and a female peacock disc found more than forty lovers. This not only surprised Fabre, but also facilitated her further observation of the big peacock dish.
It turns out that the only purpose of the life of the big peacock dish is to get married and have children, they do not need to eat to restore their strength, and their oral organs are just decorations, their stomachs have never eaten food, they are real fasters, do not need to exchange for their own survival at the cost of other lives. Because they don't eat, their lives are short, and they have to complete the task of reproduction in a short life, for which they can fly long distances, through darkness, and over obstacles to discover their crush.
The spread of the courtship message of the big peacock disc is somewhat similar to the radio communication we use today, they are clever, they are enthusiastic, they are short but beautiful, they are worthy of respect!
Fabre's parable of treating insects, ants and cicadas from a human perspective has always influenced many people, but Fabre saw this egoism of ants deceive many people, and many people in real life are not exactly such "ants"?
Behind the beauty of the big peacock dish is a poignant story, although their lives are short, they do not harm any living beings, do not eat food, how many creatures must pay for the lives of other creatures in order to survive, and the small butterflies are admirable.
"Insects" is a must-read list for reading famous books in the unified edition of junior high school language textbooks, and it is also a common bibliography in the examination, this book is more popular, and some students may be bored. The version of the Wooden Horse Book, with a lot of color illustrations, is translated by the famous translator Chen Xiaoqing, and strives to give children a relaxed and beautiful reading experience.
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