英语词汇like lemmings的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

like lemmings. It may not be true that lemmings commit mass suicide by marching into the sea. The Norway lemming (Lemmus lemmus), resembling a cross between a rat and a min- iature rabbit, is an incredibly prolific creature, females giving birth to three litters every 11 months, with up to 12 babies per litter. Young from each litter can conceive when only 19 days old, which means that females from the first and second litters are able to reproduce within the year. Scientists have recently theorized that the extraordinary lemming population explo- sions that occur irregularly in periods from five to 10 years are triggered by a super hormone that appears in new spring shoots of grass. This stimulative substance, when nibbled in small dos- es by the lemmings, apparently increases litter size and hastens maturation. When the lemming population explodes, the fa- bled lemming migration begins, the basic drive apparently the need to find a suitable nesting area. The pernicious lemmings begin their migration by coming down from the Scandinavian mountains, thousands of them proceeding in a straight line, a few feet separating each. They eat little on the way but destroy everything in their path. The landscape is carpeted with them, and they frequently interrupt rail and highway traffic. Onward the line of lemmings forges, largely male because pregnant fe- males settle down along the way in suitable habitats. The line of lemmings traces a furrow in the earth, stripping it of vegetation while making a low whistling sound. Nothing stops it. It may go around impassable obstacles such as rocks, but will immedi- ately form into a single straight line again. The lemmings resist any attempt to stop them, defending themselves against dogs and even men. The living line avoids human habitations but gnaws through haystacks, levels farmlands, and scoots between the legs of people at times, relentlessly marching on. When they come to water, the lemmings, good swimmers, continue on their course, thousands of them plunging in and trying to make it to the opposite shore, often climbing over boats rather than be diverted from their straight line. The line doesn’t steer away from wide rivers and (apparently believing they can reach the other side) even plunges into the ocean on reaching the coast, where the exhausted lemmings, always struggling to stay alive, drown or are swallowed up by fish and seabirds. Those fe- males who remain behind in suitable habitats make their way back to the mountains, so this amazing mass behavior is not suicidal, as many people believe. “The false idea that lemmings have a death wish conforms to some evident need in rhetoric,” columnist Philip Howard wrote not long ago in the Times of London. “It is all bunkum. Lemmings just don’t do what they are supposed to do. The only animal that regularly commits mass suicide is Homo sapiens. But evidently we have a need for some vivid metaphor from nature to illustrate the human pro- pensity to self-destruction. The poor bleeding lemming has been adapted as a cliché to fit the description.”

词汇	like lemmings
词源	like lemmings. It may not be true that lemmings commit mass suicide by marching into the sea. The Norway lemming (Lemmus lemmus), resembling a cross between a rat and a min- iature rabbit, is an incredibly prolific creature, females giving birth to three litters every 11 months, with up to 12 babies per litter. Young from each litter can conceive when only 19 days old, which means that females from the first and second litters are able to reproduce within the year. Scientists have recently theorized that the extraordinary lemming population explo- sions that occur irregularly in periods from five to 10 years are triggered by a super hormone that appears in new spring shoots of grass. This stimulative substance, when nibbled in small dos- es by the lemmings, apparently increases litter size and hastens maturation. When the lemming population explodes, the fa- bled lemming migration begins, the basic drive apparently the need to find a suitable nesting area. The pernicious lemmings begin their migration by coming down from the Scandinavian mountains, thousands of them proceeding in a straight line, a few feet separating each. They eat little on the way but destroy everything in their path. The landscape is carpeted with them, and they frequently interrupt rail and highway traffic. Onward the line of lemmings forges, largely male because pregnant fe- males settle down along the way in suitable habitats. The line of lemmings traces a furrow in the earth, stripping it of vegetation while making a low whistling sound. Nothing stops it. It may go around impassable obstacles such as rocks, but will immedi- ately form into a single straight line again. The lemmings resist any attempt to stop them, defending themselves against dogs and even men. The living line avoids human habitations but gnaws through haystacks, levels farmlands, and scoots between the legs of people at times, relentlessly marching on. When they come to water, the lemmings, good swimmers, continue on their course, thousands of them plunging in and trying to make it to the opposite shore, often climbing over boats rather than be diverted from their straight line. The line doesn’t steer away from wide rivers and (apparently believing they can reach the other side) even plunges into the ocean on reaching the coast, where the exhausted lemmings, always struggling to stay alive, drown or are swallowed up by fish and seabirds. Those fe- males who remain behind in suitable habitats make their way back to the mountains, so this amazing mass behavior is not suicidal, as many people believe. “The false idea that lemmings have a death wish conforms to some evident need in rhetoric,” columnist Philip Howard wrote not long ago in the Times of London. “It is all bunkum. Lemmings just don’t do what they are supposed to do. The only animal that regularly commits mass suicide is Homo sapiens. But evidently we have a need for some vivid metaphor from nature to illustrate the human pro- pensity to self-destruction. The poor bleeding lemming has been adapted as a cliché to fit the description.”
随便看	d river drive round the bend drive-in droit du seigneur drongo drop a dime drop dead drop in the bucket drop of a hat drop the ball drop the other shoe drowner drowning drown the shamrock dr pepper drug on the market drugstore drumhead court-martial drummond light drumstick drunk as a lord drunk as an owl drunk as a skunk drunken forest drunkometer