高中(學測,指考)◆英文題庫下載題庫

On the island of New Zealand, there is a grasshopper-like species of insect that is found nowhere else on earth. New Zealanders have given it the nickname weta, which is a native Maori word meaning “god of bad looks.” It’s easy to see why anyone would call this insect a bad-looking bug. Most people feel disgusted at the sight of these bulky, slow-moving creatures.

Wetas are nocturnal creatures; they come out of their caves and holes only after dark. A giant weta can grow to over three inches long and weigh as much as 1.5 ounces. Giant wetas can hop up to two feet at a time. Some of them live in trees, and others live in caves. They are very long-lived for insects, and some adult wetas can live as long as two years. Just like their cousins grasshoppers and crickets, wetas are able to “sing” by rubbing their leg parts together, or against their lower bodies.

Most people probably don’t feel sympathy for these endangered creatures, but they do need protecting. The slow and clumsy wetas have been around on the island since the times of the dinosaurs, and have evolved and survived in an environment where they had no enemies until rats came to the island with European immigrants. Since rats love to hunt and eat wetas, the rat population on the island has grown into a real problem for many of the native species that are unaccustomed to its presence, and poses a serious threat to the native weta population.