蜘蛛是地球是最凶猛的捕食者之一 它们具备令人眼花缭乱的武器和捕食技巧

蜘蛛的绝招是编织死亡之网 用它来捕获送上门的牺牲品并置其于死地

蜘蛛的交配是动物界中最危险的仪式之一

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　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　周建人



［教学目标］：

1．能力目标：了解课文的写作顺序以及所使用的说明方法。

2．知识目标：学习课文从多方面说明事物，学习平实说明和生动说明的方法，体会说明语言的准确性、生动性。 

3．情感目标：养成热爱大自然，良好的观察习惯，进行细致入微的观察。

［学习重点］ 

１．养成细致观察的习惯，了解更多的事物，增长知识。

２．通过对课文的研读，全面掌握课文内容，学习用不同的方法从不同的角度说明事物。

３．体会课文的语言特点，学习用准确的动词来描述动作，增强语言的生动性。

［学习方法］：讨论与点拨相结合。



〖第一课时〗

教学目标 ：

1．借助工具书,扫清文字障碍,然后通读课文,整体感知文章内容。

2．理清课文结构,找出段落中的关键词语和中心句，概括各部分的内容大意。



教学过程

一．创设情境

《蜘蛛》是一篇科普小品，是一篇知识性、科学性、趣味性都较强的昆虫知识说明。蜘蛛在日常生活中并不少见，可能许多人仅仅知道它会结网，但是由于蜘蛛体形丑陋色彩也不鲜艳羡丽，关注的人不多。那么蜘蛛有哪些特性呢？我们来看周建人的《蜘蛛》。 

二．作者介绍：　周建人，鲁迅研究家，自然科学家。浙江绍兴人，鲁迅胞弟。科学著作《科学杂谈》等，与人合译达尔文的《物种起源》。

三．略读课文，整体感知其大概内容。

默读课文，边读边在具体段落中勾画出相关的语句，读完后讨论： 

1．课文先后介绍了有关蜘蛛的哪些知识？

2．蜘蛛是怎样捕捉飞虫的？

3．为什么蜘蛛能捕捉到飞虫？

4．蛛丝有哪些实用价值？

5．是否所有的蜘蛛都是靠结网捕虫的？

讨论、明确：1、首先介绍了蜘蛛的生活习性，即结网捕虫的情况（第1～３段）；

接着介绍了蛛丝产生的生理特点（第４段）；

然后介绍了蛛丝的用途（第５、６段）；

最后补充介绍不结网的蜘蛛（第７段）。

2、蜘蛛是靠结网来捕捉飞虫的。

3、蜘蛛能捕捉到飞虫是由于“它的身体结构之巧妙”，即其生理特点决定的。它体内的各种腺放出的液体有不同的作用，有的遇空气凝结成丝可以结成网，能网住飞虫；有的虽不能凝结成丝，却有粘性，附着在丝上，能粘住撞在网上的飞虫

4、小孩用来作捕虫网；西方人想用它来代替蚕丝织手套、袜子；把圆蛛丝装到天文望远镜上，可以比较星星的位置。

5、不是所有的蜘蛛都做网，如狼蜘蛛、蝇虎、蝎子、八脚等都不做网，它们自然也不靠结网捕虫，而是用力去搏取。

四、细读课文，发现疑难，解决疑难。

1、讨论第１段的谜语能否删去，并简述理由。

明确：谜语不能删去。它既生动形象地概括了蜘蛛的生活特点——结网捕虫，又赞扬蜘蛛高明如诸葛亮；不仅说明了蜘蛛在网上的位置，描绘了蛛网的形状，而且“稳”“单捉”等词把蜘蛛捉飞将那种稳操胜券的心理十分生动形象地表现出来。这种饶有趣味的开头使文章一开始就能引发读者的阅读兴趣，同时又自然地总起全文，更体现了文章语言的生动性。

2、结合课后练习，明确作者是怎样具体说明蜘蛛捉“飞将”的？找出关键词句。那些“飞将”都被蜘蛛捉住了吗？ 

明确：蜘蛛捉“飞将”有成功也有失败。蜘蛛捕捉飞虫“有各种各样捉拿的方法”。作者把蜘蛛成功捉‘飞将”的情形分作三类：

一类是蜘蛛用擒拿法捕捉的蚊、纳等小飞虫；

一类是用捆缚法捉拿“力气较大的飞虫”；

一类是用游击战对付“带枪的”“飞将”。

失败的则分为两类：一类是“甲很厚，很重”，“力气很耐久”的“披甲的飞将”；

一类是“最可怕的”蜾蠃，蜘蛛不仅捉不到它反而被它俘虏。（关键词句略）

4、讨论2－3段的说明顺序

明确：由易到难

五、作业

1、抄写有关词语

2、预习下课的内容，思考蜘蛛为什么会吐丝



〖第二课时〗

［教学目标］：

1、分析蜘蛛吐丝的原理

2、学习平实说明和生动说明的方法，体会说明语言的准确性、生动性。 

3、讨论课文的写作顺序。［教学过程］：

一、导入

上节课我们清楚了蜘蛛捉拿飞虫主要靠它的丝，那么蜘蛛为什么会吐丝呢？我们继续看课文。

二、细读课文，了解说明顺序体会生动说明和平实说明

1、讨论蜘蛛吐丝的原理 

明确：在于它的各种腺。说明了腺的名称、性状、作用 

2、把说明蜘蛛捉飞将和说明蜘蛛的生理特点以及蛛丝的用途的文字进行比较，找出它们语言上的不同点，结合课文谈谈理由。 

明确：蜘蛛捉飞将的那两段文字语言很生动，后面的文字要平实得多。作者在说明蜘蛛捕捉飞虫时运用了生动的描写，他恰当地使用了一系列动词、形容词，并且采用了比喻、拟人等修辞手法，力求形象生动，准确传神，富于变化，因而既使枯燥的昆虫知识显得生动活泼、妙趣横生，又使读者获得形象的感受，从而具体地了解蜘蛛的生活习性。

说明蜘蛛的生理特点及蛛丝的利用的两部分语言是平实的。如谈到蛛丝的利用时，作者将蚕丝和圆蛛丝作对比，如果是用比喻、拟人的修辞就不能准确地显示二者孰粗孰细，而采用具体数字一比较，结论就让人确信无疑。从而显示了说明文语言的准确性和文章内容的科学性。 

（解说：说明的语言何时要生动，何时要平安，应该根据说明的内容来决定。不管使用何种语言都要体现说明语言的准确性，符合科学的客观实际。） 

3、再迅速测览全文，找出课文的说明重点，并讨论为什么这样确定重点？

明确：课文的重点是说明蛛丝的利用。作者用较长的篇幅来说明蛛丝的实用价值，具体说明了人们对它的利用过程。这是因为科普小品不仅要丰富读者的知识，更重要的是告诉我们：人类观察自然、认识自然的根本目的在于利用自然、改造自然，让 自然为人类服务、造福人类。

4、试分析课文的说明顺序。

明确：课文按照由“表”（蜘蛛的生活习性）及“里”（蜘蛛吐丝的生理特点），由“此”（蜘蛛本身的形态性质，常见的结网蜘蛛）及“彼”（蛛丝的用途，较少见的不结网的蜘蛛）的逻辑顺序，形象而准确地说明了蜘蛛的生态特征和人类对蛛丝的认识与利用。

5、讨论明确课文所使用的说明方法。

三、谈谈阅读收获

这是因为作者首先善于对说明对象进行深入细致的观察，从而占有写作材料。要有一双善于洞察事物的眼睛，做生活的有心人，并且认真观察、研究身边的事物，这样不仅能养成良好的学习习惯，还能获取丰富的知识，发现一个个新奇的世界。 

四、小结

在观察的基础上抓住事物的主要特征，选择恰当的角度，对蜘蛛结网捕虫的“各种各样”的方法和情况分别——一说明，对其他有丝而不结网的蜘蛛加以解说。并且还更深入地观察蛛体结构和织网技能，进而用科学的方法分析说明其结网捕虫的内在原因在于其“身体结构之巧妙”。说明人类对蛛丝的利用也是作者观察的结果。同时作者深知科普读物的读者一般是缺少专门知识的人，文章除了具备科学性外，还要力求写得生动、活泼、有趣，以达到吸引读者和易于接受的目的，因此注意了把记叙和描写作为手段，选用准确的动词、形容词及比喻、拟人等修辞进行生动说明，让读者获得形象具体的感受。为体现说明文语言的准确性、严密性，作者又用生物学术语平实地说明蜘蛛的生理特点，用列数字、作比较等方法直接说明蛛丝的用途等。 

自读思考 

１．阅读下面的文字，并与课文比较，看看它们在说明内容、方法、语言等方面上有何异同。

蜘蛛，节肢动物，身体圆形或长圆形，分头胸和腹部，有触须，雄的触须内有精囊，有脚四对。蜘蛛的腹部末端有三对专门吐丝的纺绩突起，这些纺绩突起与体内的丝腺相通，丝腺能分泌出一种蛋白质的丝液。这种丝液通过突起上数以千计的细孔排出体外，一遇空气就凝结成蛛丝。丝腺有好几种，各种丝腺分泌的丝液性质不同，功能也不一样。分泌出来的丝不一定都有粘性，如垒状腺体分泌的丝是用来搭网上的“脚手架”；聚合腺体分泌的丝是专用来织网上的粘性丝的；管状腺体分泌的丝是用来制作卵囊的；葡萄状腺体分泌的粘性丝则是用来捆缚猎物的。蜘蛛织网看起来复杂，实际上完全出于本能。这是动物在长期进化过程中所形成的本能，都是无意识的，并没有什么预见性。蜘蛛生活在屋檐下和草本间。 

２．选定一种动物进行跟踪观察，模仿课文写一篇小品文。

附：板书     蜘蛛               周建人　　　　　　　　　　　

一、（1）诗谜：引出说明对象、引发读者的阅读兴趣、总起全文。

二、（2）捉拿法：1、擒拿法     

                2、捆缚法           由易到难   （成功）　　由

            3、游击战法　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　表

（3）最难捉的：带甲的飞将                  （失利）　　及　　　由

     最可怕的：蜾蠃                        （丧命）　　里　　　此

三、（4）身体结构：数种腺　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　及

   （5-6）蛛丝的实用价值：做捕虫网

                          代替蚕丝织手套、袜子   （由简到繁）　　　彼

                          代替蚕丝装在天文望远镜上

四、（7）补充介绍不结网的蜘蛛

 

我来翻这篇具有博物学精神的小文

SPIDERS
Just before we went into the forest, I found the sort of thing I wanted to show my son.
"Roland, look, there's a leaf lizard nest that just hatched. They look just like little leaves of grass, don't they?"
Springtime. Everything was coming to life again. And just beyond arm's reach, I saw what looked like a dried-up fern but probably wasn't. I kept an eye on it as my boy and I squatted and studied the ground. The lizards were hard to spot at first, but finally he giggled and pointed.
"They're very little, Daddy."
"They'll grow. But now they're so little that they can't hurt you. You can let one walk on your hand."
And so we did, green whips with legs, just half the length of a five-year-old's finger. I told him how they hide in the grass, head down, waiting for even littler animals to come past, then they jump down and eat them. That was why if we let our hands hang down, the lizards would climb down to the tips of our fingers. Their natural place to be.
That supposed dead fern next to us had a crown of eyes. Sure enough, it was a mountain spider. Second one I'd seen so already our little walk. Why so many this spring? Like a lot of things, they had an Earth name because they were sort of like the Earth creature. From what I gathered, spiders on Earth were never bigger than your hand, but ours were bigger than your head. Both had multiple legs and a poisonous bite. Were ours as aggressive as Earth spiders, which often bit people? Were Earth spiders as smart as ours?
"Let's put the lizards down so they can get about their lives.” I set my hand on the ground and, with a little encouragement, the lizard climbed off. Roland copied me, and we watched them disappear into the grass.
Then he turned to me, eyes worried. “Do we step on them and we don't know?"
Good question. Maybe he would grow up to feel like I do about the forest.
"I suppose sometimes. We're big, so we can't help making mistakes. I think we should never try to hurt things if we don't have to. I hunt, you know, but I never kill anything except to eat or to protect us.” But I didn't want to lecture. “Let's go into the woods now, okay?"
I didn't point out the spider. His mother would kill me—or make me wish she would, just kill me and stop yelling—if she knew how close we were to spiders. Not just the one next to the path, but all over. Lots at the riverbank, but everyone knew that because they stole fish. They were in the woods. In the farm fields and orchards. I'd even seen one in the city, and I shooed it out. Most people didn't notice. If you don't look hard, you don't see things.
And if you don't take advantage of your chances, you lose them. I get time with Roland most days, but never enough. Spring only comes once a year, and a boy is five only once in a lifetime. So off we went. I'd just have to be extra careful.
"Are we going hunting?"
"No. I mean, I thought I'd show you things. There's a lot to see."
"Deer crab?"
"Oh, sure. And birds and insects and kats—all sorts of things. Listen. Hear that?"
"Pii, pii,” he repeated.
"Exactly. That's a turnstone lizard."
"More lizards! I can't remember so many lizards."
I spotted it near a stump. “I know, it's hard. There's lots and lots of kinds. Shh. See it? It's black and white and brown with big stripes."
I knelt and helped him spot it.
"Wow. It's a jewel lizard,” he said.
"Not quite. You wouldn't want it in your garden. It digs things up. Do you see what's next to it? That dead bush? It's getting closer and closer..."
The bush, of course, was a stick-feather bird. It suddenly grabbed the lizard, bashed its head against the stump, and began to tear off legs to swallow. Roland jumped to his feet.
"Animals hide in the woods,” he said. “Eagles sometimes. Mommy says the woods are dangerous. That's why I can't go there alone."
Mommy says—of course she does.
"We make sure the eagles stay away,” I said. “There are things to watch out for, but mostly the things that hide want to avoid us, not get us.” Mostly. I didn't want him scared, so I'd have to find something non-scary fast. “Let's keep going."
He seemed relieved to get away from the bird. We walked a little, then I had an idea. “Can you think of other things that hide?"
"Hide?” He looked around.
"How about kats?” I suggested. “Why is their fur green?"
"Um, they're green so they can pretend they're grass lizards. A whole lot of them.” He laughed. A joke, apparently. So I laughed too.
Then I saw a good example.
"How about that, there on the tree trunk? That's lizard poop for sure, right?"
"No, Daddy. It's not.” He had me figured out.
"Right.” I reached out and nudged it. It flew away.
He shrieked with delight. “A poop bug!"
"A blue firefly, actually."
"That's a firefly? They're so pretty. Everybody likes to watch them."
"Their light is pretty. But when they land, they look like poop so that birds and lizards don't eat them. Most people don't know that. They just look at the lights that fly around at night and don't find out about what's making the light. But now you know.” Our eyes met, sharing a secret.
Just above us on the tree, I realized, there was a spider close enough to reach out and touch my shoulder.
"Let's keep going and see what else we can find."
"What if kat poop is really little bugs? I mean, little bugs that looked like kat poop?"
"You really like kats, don't you?” The city kept a colony of pet kats. “What do you like about them?"
He began to tell me about the dance he and the other children were learning with the kats, and demonstrated the steps. I tried to pay attention, but I kept thinking about the spiders.
Far too many of them. They usually lived in the mountains just below the tree line, rarely in our woods. Maybe they had had a population explosion. Maybe the weather, cool and dry for springtime, made them feel comfortable lower down. Maybe our colony attracted them. Or maybe something was pushing them down, like predators or hunger.
I spotted something Roland needed to know about, and I hoped it wouldn't scare him. I'd try to make it sound good.
"I'll show you something else that's not what it seems like. See those flowers? Those are irises. See how they sparkle? Very pretty. But don't touch them. They have tiny pieces of glass on them, and they'll cut you. Do you know why? Because they like blood. It's good fertilizer. Now don't be scared. Just know what they are and don't touch."
"They're very sparkly."
"Yes, they are.” Not far away, a spider sat in a tree over a patch of moss that was really a kat, flattened to the ground, hiding in plain sight. I took a step to lead Roland away before the spider figured it out, but the boy wouldn't move.
"They're like jewel lizards,” he said. “The flowers look like red lizards and yellow lizards."
"You're right. I never noticed that, but they do look just like lizards."
"Maybe the flowers catch things that think they're going to catch lizards."
"I bet that's it. Pretty smart to see that.” Why hadn't I before? I complain that people don't look, and I don't look myself sometimes.
"They can't catch me,” Roland said, “because I'm smarter than they are!"
"Exactly. Let's go. You know, when we have our hunters’ meeting, you should come and tell us about that, about the flowers. We're always trying to figure things out. Well, that's something that you figured out about irises."
"Me? I can talk at the hunters’ meeting? Really, Daddy?"
"Yes, you can. The discoverer gets the honors.” I'd watch him talk and feel proud of my boy.
We were desperate to know more about the spiders. Their venom could kill a kat or other fair-sized animal. No one knew what it could do to a human and no one volunteered to find out. They never attacked us, either, though if you got too close to a nest, they'd gibber and wave their legs and snap their jaws to drive you away. They'd steal, too. Fishing crews had to watch out. They moved too fast for us to catch them and dodged arrows like it was a game. In fact, they had figured out the range of our arrows and knew to stay just beyond it.
We often met and talked about spiders, everyone together: hunters, farmers, fishers, even the kitchen crew, because our kitchen garbage might attract them so it couldn't be dumped just anywhere. We never could dump it anywhere, actually, but spiders had people scared. Tiffany, for example, Roland's mother, who for one brief time made herself seem like the perfect woman for me—but that's another story—was preaching extermination. I worried that if we started a fight, the spiders might keep it going. As the lead hunter, I needed to offer a plan of my own.
Honestly, I didn't know enough about spiders to know what to do.
"What's that?” Roland said, grabbing my leg and hiding behind it. Something was crashing through the underbrush toward us. I knew right away.
"Over there?” It was moving fast and barking loud.
"It's big, Daddy."
I picked him up. “No, it actually isn't, and it won't hurt us. It's just birds, a lot of them. Bluebirds. See?” He hung on tight but leaned to get a better look. “Bluebirds. Hear them bark? There's lots of barks, so you know it's not one big animal, it's a lot of little animals. They like to run around and make a lot of noise so they can scare up things to eat. All in a line, zig-zag. Look, they're stopping. Maybe they found something. Let's see what."
I walked toward them slowly. “Usually they let you get close. When you get too close, they tell you.” I was almost five steps away when the alpha bird turned, barked at me and glared. I took a step back. It went back to eating.
"That's as close as we can get. They don't want trouble, so they warn you. They don't attack if they don't have to. What do you think they're eating?"
He leaned out bravely. I leaned with him. The bird turned and barked, casually, just a reminder. I knew what they were eating from the way they were arranged around it, but I waited for Roland.
"It's purple! Is it a slug?"
"Yes, they like to eat slugs. That's why you should never hurt a bluebird reef. We want them to live around us, so we respect their homes."
Slugs. Chunks of mobile slime that dissolve flesh. If there was something to exterminate, those would be it. But we could never get them all.
Where there's one, there's more. I heard a sudden hum too close to the left ... something moved fast. I stepped back. It was a spider wrestling a slug, brown legs wrapped around a purple glob. A brief squirm, then the fight was over. The spider picked it up with four legs and hurried away on the other four, not as fast or graceful as usual but gibbering in a way that I swear sounded proud.
So they caught slugs, and were happy to do it. Efficient, too. News to me, and worth knowing. Just a few animals could do that. Maybe a chemical protected them, or extra-tough skin. It would be more than handy to have another slug-eating animal around. Especially if they turned out to be no more scary than bluebirds. But would Tiffany believe that?
Roland was still watching the birds. Good. The spider fighting the slug might have scared him, and his mother wanted him scared of the forest. I did not. Yet another difference between her and me. She liked safe things, and I liked living things.
Every night I dreamed of the forest, and every day I woke eager to go there. Not everyone did, of course. They liked making things with their hands or coaxing crops to grow. They were satisfied, and who could blame them? But the forest—you're there, but you don't make it and you can't coax it. It's not even an it. It's a you, I mean, the forest is alive and does things, reacts, watches, even attacks. Full of tricks and beauty. I hoped I'd showed some of that to Roland. But he was getting fidgety in my arms.
"Time to go home?"
"Okay, Daddy."
Something in his voice troubled me, and I tried to figure it out as I headed down a trail that led out of the woods. He seemed unhappy. With me? With the forest? Was he bored? Or worse, scared? Good thing I hadn't pointed out the spiders. Who knows what Tiffany had told him?
We kept talking on our way out. He asked “What's that?” “What's that?” about trees, lizard hoots, but more like a game than curiosity. A couple of times I saw him looking in one direction while he asked about something the other way. Young children had short attention spans. We probably had been there too long.
I set him down when we reached the fields, and he pointed at a lentil tree, its purple leaves contrasting with the greening fields around it.
"Mommy says you have to grow them far apart so if one gets scorpions, they doesn't get all the trees,” he said.
I knew that, but didn't want to disappoint him. “Is that why? So there's a tree here, and there, and way over there."
"And you have to prune them. Every spring."
"Carefully, I bet."
"Very carefully. And you can't plant snow vines next to each other. They fight."
"Like this?” I raised my fists.
"No. With roots and, um, with just their roots. It's very challenging to maintain an orchard."
Those were Tiffany's words exactly, right down to her intonation. Of course, she spent more time with the boy, so she had a bigger influence, and maybe he'd grow up to tend orchards or crops instead of hunt in the forest. Perfectly acceptable.
The city rose across the fields, surrounded by a brick wall. Two hundred people. After four generations, we finally had enough to eat, even a surplus. We had domesticated several plants and animals, and were still learning about others. Every year we discovered new surprises about the planet. And every kind of work was needed. Maybe Roland would become a carpenter, a medic, or a cook. All perfectly respectable.
"You know,” he said, “we don't hide. I wonder what animals think? They see us and we don't care if they do.” He sounded like a little adult. Who was he copying now? “They think we aren't scared. If we're not scared of them, should they be scared of us?"
"That's a good question."
"That's a good question,” he repeated.
Well, maybe I had helped him see that the world could be bigger than you are, and that was okay. Even if you didn't understand everything in it.
"We have to take care of our trees,” Roland said, sounding like himself again. “If they're really happy, maybe they can dance.” He looked up. “Are trees happy in the forest?"
"I think so. That's where they live. Did you like the forest?"
He spent a long moment thinking. “Yes. I saw lots of things.” He looked up with a sly smile. “Daddy, you didn't see. There were spiders everywhere, and they were looking at us."
Copyright (c) 2008 Sue Burke


蜘蛛

在我们正要走进森林的时候，我发现了我想让我儿子看到的那种东西。
“罗兰，看那儿，有一个正在孵化中的叶蜥蜴巢。它们看上去像小草的叶子，对吗？”
春天。大地恢复了生机。就在一步之外，我觉察到一个看上去像晒干的蕨类而事实上很可能不是植物的东西。当孩子和我蹲着研究土地的时候，我睁着一只眼注意着它。
“它们真小，爸爸。”
“它们会长大的。但现在它们还很小，伤不到你。你可以拿一只让它在你手上爬。”
我们各捡起一只，它们像长着腿的小绿绳，大约是五岁小孩儿指头的一半长。我告诉他它们是如何藏在草丛里的，它们低着头，等待更小的动物经过，然后它们会一跃而起捕获猎物。这就是为什么当我们让我们的手下垂时，小蜥蜴会向下爬到我们的指尖。隐藏自己是它们的天性。 那个伪装成蕨类的东西顶部长有眼睛。这足以肯定，它是一只山地蜘蛛。这是自我们出发后看到的第二只了。为什么这个春天会有这么多？正如其他一些事物，它们之所以有一个地球的名字，是因为在地球上有与它们很类似的对照物。就我收集到的而言，地球上没有比你手掌更大的蜘蛛，但我们这儿的蜘蛛都比你的手掌要大。和地球蜘蛛一样，它们也有复足，而且有毒。与地球上的相比，我们这的蜘蛛更具有攻击性吗？它们是不是更爱咬人？是不是更聪明、敏捷一些？
“让我们把蜥蜴放下吧，好让它们继续它们的生活。”我把我的手掌放在地上，并微微地驱赶它一下，小蜥蜴就爬走了。罗兰模仿着我的样子把蜥蜴放下，然后看着它们消失在草丛里。
罗兰转头看着我，眼睛露出一丝忧虑。“我们会不会踩到它们，而我们自己却没有意识到？”
好问题。也许有一天他会成长到可以像我一样体知大森林。
“我想有时会吧。我们个头太大，难免会犯些错误。我认为在不必要的情况下，我们不应当伤害生命。你知道，我有时会伤害它们，但那是为了填饱肚子或自卫，除此之外我从不伤及无辜。”我不想在此长篇大论。“现在我们去林子里面，好吗？”
我没有向孩子指明那只潜伏的蜘蛛。他妈妈会杀了我的——或者让我生不如死——如果让她知道我们是如此的接近蜘蛛。其实不止路边这一只，我们的沿途皆是。对于河岸一带数目庞大的蜘蛛群，人们深有了解，因为它们偷鱼吃。树林、农场和果园，它们无处不在。我曾在城里见到过一只，我把它赶跑了。大多数人不会对此有所察觉。你懒得观察，当然就会对事物视而不见。
而且如果你不把握住机会，你就会错过一些事物。在大多数日子里，我都会陪着罗兰，但这远远不够。一年只有一个春天，而一个男孩的一生只有一个五岁。所以我们就出发了。只不过我得多加小心才行。
“我们去打猎吗？”
“不。我是想带你看些东西，有很多好看的呢。”
“鹿蟹？”
“哦，那当然。还有鸟啊虫子啊kats啊……好多好多。听，什么声音？”
“噼，噼，”他在模仿那声音。
“你学得像极了。那是翻石蜥蜴。”
“又是蜥蜴！我记不得这么多种蜥蜴啦！”
我发现那只蜥蜴在一个树桩边上。“我知道这很难记。有很多很多不同的种类。嘘——看见没有？它有黑、白、褐三色大斑纹。”
我蹲下帮他认出那只蜥蜴。
“哇喔。那是只宝石蜥蜴，”他说。
“不太准确。你不会希望它出现在我们的花园里的。它喜欢到处乱挖。你看到蜥蜴身边有什么了吗？那株枯死的灌木？它在慢慢接近……”
那株所谓的灌木，事实上是一只粘羽鸟。它刹那间捕获了那只析疑，把它的头往树桩上摔，然后撕下四肢开始吞咽。这把罗兰吓得一跃而起。
“丛林里藏着猛兽，”他说。“有时还会碰上鹰。妈妈说丛林很危险。这就是为什么我不能独身去丛林的原因。”
妈妈说——当然了，她会那么说。
“我们得确保鹰不在周围，”我说。“有些东西得时时提防，但大多数动物藏着只是想躲开我们，而不是抓住我们。”大多数是这样的。我不想让他害怕，所以我得马上找些不那么骇人的东西给他看。“我们继续前进。”
离开了那只鸟之后，他看上去不那么紧张了。我们走了一小段儿路后，我有了一个主意。“你能想到还有什么善于隐藏自己的动物吗？”
“隐藏？”他四下瞧看了一圈。
“kats如何？”我建议道。“为什么它们的皮毛是绿色的？”
“嗯，它们是绿色的这样它们就可以伪装成叶蜥蜴了。一整群的叶蜥蜴。”他哈哈大笑。很明显是个玩笑。于是我也笑了。
这时我看一个很好的示例。
“那个怎么样，树干上的那个？你看那不是一坨蜥蜴粪吗？”
“不，爸爸。那可不是。”看来我得亲手去验证了。
“你答对了。”我伸手轻戳了它一下。它飞了。
他高兴得大呼小叫。“是个大粪虫！”
“其实是一只蓝色萤火虫。”
“萤火虫？它们很漂亮的。大家都爱看萤火虫。”
“它们发出漂亮的荧光。而当它们驻足的时候，它们就变得像一坨粪便，这样鸟和蜥蜴就不吃它们了。