Crickets: the Fighting Heroes蛐蛐：战斗的好手

柚子

Do you keep crickets（蛐蛐） as pets？ A cricket is a kind of insects. 你有没有在上学路上遇到过人挑着担子卖装在草编小篓中的蛐蛐呢？你是否拥有过一只宠物蛐蛐？蛐蛐是一种昆虫。People also call it “土将军” （General in mud） in Chinese.

Do you know？

1. How high can crickets jump？

A. 10 centimeters.  B. 20-50 centimeters.

C. more than 1 meter.

2. How many eyes do crickets have？

A. 1  B. 2    C. 5

A cricket is really small. It is only as long as your little finger. But it can jump 20 centimeters to 50 centimeters high.

Crickets have six legs：four small front legs and two powerful（强有力的） back legs. The back legs help them jump high.

They have compound eyes（复眼）， just like flies（苍蝇）. Although they have five eyes， they can see poorly. How do they figure out surroundings（周围情况） and directions（方向）？ By sharp（敏锐的） sense of hearing and touch.

Cricket fighting（斗蟋蟀） is a hobby of officials（达官显贵，官员） in ancient times（古代）. They often put a bet（下赌注） to make the cricket fighting more interesting. When two male（雄性） crickets meet， the battle begins.

But farmers dont like them. Because crickets feed themselves with vegetables and leaves of plants， which is bad for the crops（農作物）. They like living in soil. They dont come out during the day but they come out at night. To make the matter worse， pesticides（杀虫剂） play less roles（作用） on them.

Lets read！

你读过蒲松龄的《促织》吗？小说里面主人公为什么会变成一只蛐蛐呢？快找出书来读一读这个故事，然后和伙伴们分享你的发现吧。