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Lice—very few people will defend lice, but even lice have given us key information about us.
很少有人会为虱子辩护，但就算是虱子也给了人类关于自己的重要信息。
I learned while writing this book and reaching out to archaeologists that most human remains, mummies, have nits or lice.
在写这本书和接触考古学家的过程中，我了解到大多数人类遗骸，木乃伊，里面都有虱子。
And if you look very closely, the cement that will glue the eggs to hair shafts are so durable that we can sample them and extract DNA from within—not only from the louse, but from the human.
如果你仔细观察，会发现它们用来把卵粘在毛干上的胶剂竟然那么耐用，我们都可以对它取样，并且从里面提取出DNA——不光能从虱子身上提取，还能从人类遗骸上提取。
Very cool. I love those surprising positive impacts. What about some insects that have just been fully wonderful for humankind?
太酷了。我喜欢这些出人意料的积极影响。那一些对人类非常有益的昆虫呢？
It depends on the person you’re asking , but I’ll say all insects, all organisms on the planet, have their positive sides.
不同的人会给出不同的答案。但我认为，地球上所有的昆虫，所有的生物，都有它们积极的一面。
And—now as we’re talking, of course, the undercurrent is we’re thinking anthropocentrically: How do these affect us?
我这么说，背后的动机是以人类为中心去思考：它们对我们有何影响？
But we’re just one species. How do the insects affect myriad, myriad species out there?
但我们只是一个物种。昆虫是如何影响无数的物种的？
And each species will fill an important role, whether or not we’ve bothered to uncover it.
不管我们有没有用心去发现，每个物种都扮演着重要的角色。
So the good guys—I mean, we could talk for weeks and months about the good guys, but let’s look at some of the famous players.
好的昆虫——好昆虫我几个星期甚至几个月都说不完，不过我们来看一些格外有益的昆虫。
One is Apis mellifera, western honeybee.
一种是Apis mellifera，西方蜜蜂。
For millennia, starting from maybe 10,000 years ago, robbing honeybees; to keeping bees, to the present day; we extract honey, beeswax, propolis—products from honeybees.
几千年来，大概从1万年前开始，抢劫蜜蜂；养蜂，直到现在；我们从蜜蜂身上攫取蜂蜜、蜂蜡、蜂胶等产品。
Also, we benefit from their pollination behavior, carting them across the country and parts of the world in order for them to pollinate flowering plants that will produce almonds and fruits and others.
此外，我们也从它们的授粉行为中受益，我们把它们带到全国和世界各地，让它们为开花植物授粉，这些植物会结出杏仁、水果和其他植物。
But they’ll also serve as symbols, and those symbols change, and they depend on whether or not you’re thinking monarchically versus, “Wow. Those are industrious workers.” Or, “Look at that division of labor and efficiency.”
但它们也可以作为象征，而这些象征是会变的，它们取决于你认为是君主制，还是觉得“哇。他们是勤奋的工人。”或者，“看看它们的劳动分工和效率。”
But they’re just one species of bee, one of at least 20,000 described species of bees, and we don’t know as much as we should about tens of thousands of potential beneficial pollinators.
但它们只是蜜蜂的一种，是至少2万种已被描述的蜜蜂中的一种，我们对成千上万种潜在的有益传粉者的了解并不多。
Another great one—cicadas, dragonflies, fireflies, all manner of butterflies, like monarch butterflies.
另一种是蝉、蜻蜓、萤火虫，还有各种各样的蝴蝶，比如帝王蝶。
And we could peek at each one of those to look at how they’ve been celebrated by humans: some given shrines, some have parades, some have events that contribute to ecotourism in areas.
我们可以细看其中的每一个，看看人类是如何庆祝它们的：一些有神殿，一些有游行，一些有活动，有助于该地区的生态旅游。
Yeah. What are some things that you wish people understood about insects?
确实。你希望人们了解昆虫的哪些方面？
Typically people will pigeonhole one type of insect into a “pest” category without taking that extra step, that little effort that it might take to really find the exciting, potentially inspiring, as well as aesthetically compelling, qualities of those insects.
通常情况下，人们会把某种昆虫归类为“害虫”类别，却不进行深入的研究，只要你再迈出那一小步，就会发现它令人兴奋的、潜在的鼓舞人心的、以及美学上引人注目的品质。
Sometimes it just takes looking at them through a magnifying glass or a microscope.
有时只需要通过放大镜或显微镜观察它们。
So there are so many things that, I think, if humans took a little bit of time to explore, they’d begin to appreciate these lives.
所以我认为，如果人类花点时间去探索，他们就会开始欣赏这些生命。
So for example, people often ask whether or not nonhuman animals feel pain.
例如，人们经常会问非人类动物是否会感到疼痛。
