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爱思英语编者按：提到蟑螂，我们总会联想到肮脏昏暗的厨房和浴室——当你进入房间打开灯的时候，它们就立马溜走了。但是并不只有害虫处理专家对它们感兴趣——这些昆虫也启发了抗体、机器人以及机械肢体的研究，Mary Colwell写道。
Cockroaches are often associated with dirty kitchens and grimy bathrooms - scuttling away as soon as you enter the room and turn on the light. But pest controllers aren't the only people interested in them - these insects are inspiring research into antibiotics, robots and mechanical limbs, writes Mary Colwell. 
在哈瓦那，当地亮绿色的古巴蟑螂经常被当做宠物来喂养，而且在古老的民间故事里也有它们的身影。有一个故事讲述了一个名叫Martina的年轻漂亮的古巴蟑螂，她通过惹恼前来拜访她的追求者们来测试他们的品格。
In Havana the native bright green Cuban cockroach is often kept as a pet and the insect even appears in old folktales. In one story, a beautiful young Cuban cockroach called Martina tests the character of her suitors by annoying them when they come to visit. “把咖啡倒在他们的鞋上，看看他们的反应，”她明智的祖母建议道。“知道你未来的丈夫生气的时候是什么样子可重要得很——咖啡测试百试百灵。”
"Drop coffee on their shoes to see how they react," recommends her wise grandma. "It is very important to know what your future husband is like when he is angry - the coffee test never fails." 当鞋子变得湿漉漉的，她富有的追求者们露出了他们的本性。一个尽管贫穷但是温柔善良的追求者通过了测试，从此他们幸福的生活在了一起。
When faced with soaking wet shoes, her rich suitors show their true colours. A kind and gentle but poor hopeful passes the test though, and the couple live happily ever after. 明智和美丽可不经常用于形容蟑螂，但是它们的坏名声有时有点儿冤枉。已知的蟑螂种类有4500多种，只有四种被认为是害虫。大部分都生存在远离人类居住区域的地区，以尸体和腐烂的东西为食，在生态系统中起到重要的作用。
Wise and beautiful are words not often associated with these creatures but their bad reputation is not always justified. Out of the 4,500 known species, only four are considered pests. Most don't live near human homes and they perform a vital ecological role, eating dead and decaying matter. 它们中的有些种类具有亮丽的色彩和精致的花纹。有一些是社会性昆虫，进行群体决策，分享食物和庇护所的信息。它们通过歌唱、发出嘶嘶和打鼓一样的声音来求偶。它们的生存能力也非常顽强，即使连续几个月缺乏食物也可以生存下来。例如，南美橙头蟑螂在只有水的情况下也可以生存一年。
Some species are exquisite with brilliant colours and patterns. Some are social and make collective decisions, passing on information about food and shelter. Others are solitary. Some pair up and raise their young together. They can hiss, sing and make drumming sounds to attract a mate, and they are supremely hardy, surviving on the most meagre rations for months on end. One, [In his 2014 TED talk](https://books.google.co.uk/books?>the Eublaberus posticus, can survive for a year on water alone. 澳大利亚的犀牛蟑螂是蟑螂中最重的一种，重量可达35g，身长可达8cm。而在欧洲和北美比较常见的害虫——德国蟑螂，则属于最小的种类之一，身长仅仅超过1cm。如果Martina和她的祖母知道咖啡渣常被用来诱捕它们，一定会觉得有趣极了。
The heaviest, the subterranean rhinoceros cockroach, weighs in at 35g, measures 8cm in length, and lives in Australia. One of the smallest is a pest commonly found in Europe and North America - the German cockroach, which is just over 1cm long. Martina and her grandma might be interested to know that coffee grounds are often used as bait to trap them. 不过科学家可没那么反感它们，它们可是科学家们的灵感之源。1999年，加利福尼亚大学伯克利分校的Robert Full教授从蟑螂移动的方式中获得启发，设计出了六足机器人，具有更快的移动速度，同时移动起来也更加容易。
But rather than finding them repulsive, scientists see them as a source of inspiration. In 1999, the way cockroaches moved inspired Prof Robert Full at the University of California, Berkley, to devise a six-legged robot that moved faster and more easily than any others. 在他的TED演讲中，解释了昆虫的具有弹性的足、圆润的身形和柔韧的外骨骼——由管状和板状结构彼此相连构成——是如何使它们适应复杂地形。蟑螂在微型跑步机上以及在应对突发情况时的片段显示了它们行进时是多么稳定——如果它们身体不小心翻了过去，翅膀也可以帮助它们重新翻过来。
he explained how the insects' springy legs, rounded body shape and flexible exoskeletons - made up of connected tubes and plates - enable them to negotiate complex terrain. Footage of cockroaches on mini treadmills and assault courses shows how stable they are - and if they do happen to flip over, they can use their wings to right themselves. 蟑螂的足也为研究者设计人类下一代义肢提供了灵感。新型机械手可以做一些抓握的动作，其原型就是蟑螂腿那具有弹性的构造。根据哈弗仿生机器人实验室负责人Robert D Howe的观点，设计的目的在于制造出一种更先进的假手，可以“滑过物体表面，然后握住它们，就像人们用真正的手端起咖啡杯的动作一样”。
The insects' legs are also providing ideas for researchers designing the next generation of prosthetic legs for humans. And the mechanics of their springiness are the basis for the grip in a new mechanical hand. The aim, according to Robert D Howe, head of Harvard's Biorobotics Laboratory, is to produce a hand that can "glide along objects until it wraps around them, just like a human hand lifting a coffee cup". 将微型计算机用类似外科手术的方法接在活蟑螂的背上，这就是蟑螂机器人。通过对计算机传递信息，可以指挥蟑螂到人类难以进入的地方，例如倒塌的建筑或者下水道，去那里采集我们需要的数据。
Then there's the robotic roach - a fusion of live cockroach and mini-computer, surgically attached to its back. By sending messages to the computer, the cockroach can be directed to places that are hard for to humans to access, such as collapsed buildings or broken sewers, where they collect data. "当第一次见到它们时，我的头皮都一阵发麻，“德州农工大学的首席研究员Hong Liang说。“但是后来我开始在办公室养一些当作宠物。事实上，它们可是非常迷人的生物。它们总是会清理它们自己。”
"When I first saw them, my hair stood up," says the lead researcher on a project at Texas A&M University, Hong Liang. "But I went on to keep some in my office as pets for a while. They are actually beautiful creatures. They are constantly cleaning themselves." 在六月份，上海交通大学的学生演示了他们如何用他们的意念来控制蟑螂。通过把人的脑电波转换为电脉冲，然后再发送到蟑螂身上的接收器上，他们就可以通过他们的想法来指挥蟑螂走不同形状的隧道了。
In June students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University demonstrated how they could control cockroaches with their minds. Translating human brain waves into electrical impulses, they directed a cockroach attached to receiver down different shaped tunnels - simply by thinking about it. 在医药方面，蟑螂也是研究者们的研究对象。长时间以来，科学家们都好奇为什么蟑螂能够生活在肮脏的环境里却不受疾病的影响，直到他们发现蟑螂可以产生强大的抗体。
There is cockroach-related research in medicine too. Scientists had long wondered how roaches could spend their lives in dirty environments with no ill effects and it turns out they [produce their own powerful antibiotics. 他们也许已经找到了打败那些致病有毒细菌，如大肠杆菌、金黄色葡萄球菌以及其它现有方法难以杀灭的超级细菌，的关键。
They might hold the key when it comes to developing drugs to knock out the most virulent bacteria that make humans ill, such as E. coli, MRSA and other superbugs resistant to many existing treatments. 尽管，把蟑螂用于治疗疾病也不是什么新鲜事了。在19世纪，一名名叫小泉八云的记者和作家在美国北部旅行时记录道，“蟑螂茶被用于治疗破伤风。我不知道做这样一杯茶需要多少只蟑螂；但是我知道新奥尔良的美国人非常相信它的治疗作用。”
Cockroach cures are nothing new, though. In the 19th Century Lafcadio Hearn, a journalist and writer who travelled through the southern states of the US, noted, "For tetanus, cockroach tea is given. I do not know how many cockroaches go to make up the cup; but I find faith in this remedy is strong among many of the American population of New Orleans." 而在今天，在中国有些地方的医院里，他们会用蟑螂粉末制得的乳霜来治疗烧伤，或者用蟑螂糖浆来缓解肠胃炎。
Today, hospitals in parts of China use a cream made from powdered cockroaches to treat burns and a cockroach syrup is sometimes given to patients to alleviate the symptoms of gastroenteritis. 当Wang Fuming意识到蟑螂的市场需求正在增长，他就在中国东部的山东省开设了蟑螂养殖厂。他在地下共养殖了2千2百万只蟑螂，他说从2010年以来，蟑螂尸体的价格已经涨了十倍。
When Wang Fuming realised demand for the insects was growing he set up a cockroach farm in Shandong province in eastern China. He keeps 22 million at a time in his underground bunkers and says that since 2010 the price of dried cockroaches had risen tenfold. 蟑螂也可以食用——在中国，美洲蟑螂被视作美味佳肴。把它们在热油中翻炸两次，会使它们的外皮焦脆内里多汁，像白软干酪一样。洒上红辣椒则增加美味。
The insects can also be eaten - in China, the American cockroach is the preferred delicacy. Double frying them in hot oil is said to give them a crispy outer and succulent inner with the consistency of cottage cheese. A sprinkling of chilli gives an extra zing. 随着人口数量和其对蛋白质需求量的增长，也许有一天，倍受白眼的蟑螂将喂养全世界人。只要人能不那么容易对它反胃。
As the human population and its need for mass produced protein grows, perhaps the reviled cockroach will one day feed the world. If only people could be a little less squeamish. | 
