We have been brought up to fear insects.
We regard them as unnecessary creatures that do more harm than good. We continually wage war on them, for they contaminate our food, carry diseases, or devour our crops. They sting or bite without provocation; they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights, or beat against our lighted windows. We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless one like moths. Reading about them increases our understanding without dispelling our fears. Knowing that the industrious ant lives in a highly organized society does nothing to prevent us from being filled with revulsion, when we find hordes of them crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch. No matter how much we like honey, or how much we have read about the uncanny sense of direction which bees possess,

我们自幼就在对昆虫的惧怕中长大。
我们把昆虫当作害多益少的无用东西。 人类不断同昆虫斗争，因为昆虫弄脏我们的食物，传播疾病，吞噬庄稼。 它们无缘无故地又叮又咬； 夏天的晚上，它们未经邀请便飞到我们房间里，或者对着露出亮光的窗户乱扑乱撞。 我们在日常生活中，不但憎恶如蜘蛛、黄蜂之类令人讨厌的昆虫，而且憎恶并无大害的飞蛾等。 阅读有关昆虫的书能增加我们对它们的了解，却不能消除我们的恐惧的心理。 即使知道勤奋的蚂蚁生活具有高度组织性的社会里， 当看到大群蚂蚁在我们精心准备的午间野餐上爬行时，我们也无法抑制对它们的反感。 不管我们多么爱吃蜂蜜，或读过多少关于蜜蜂具有神秘的识别方向的灵感的书，