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Forget about aliens, the real invasion is Mormon crickets
It may only be a few inches long but it’s cannibalistic and can create disgust and disruption. A small Nevada town is being overrun with the so-called Mormon crickets.
“Biblical” is how some are describing this infestation of millions of insects. They are blanketing the ground, crawling up walls, infesting buildings, and terrorizing some of the residents of Elko, a small town in northeastern Nevada.
“When we looked out here the whole wall was just covered. That really, really freaked me out,” Colette Reynolds said.
Despite its name, the large insect is a flightless katydid which is a subfamily of bush crickets and is harmless except to crops which they will gladly devour. Not only is it an agricultural pest, it’s also a traffic hazard.
The Nevada Department of Transportation is plowing and sanding roads because the smashed bugs are making the roads slick.
“You can see that they’re moving and crawling and the whole road is crawling and it just makes your skin crawl. It’s just so gross,” Stephanie Garrett said.
According to entomologists, those are the people who study insects, say Mormon cricket infestations happen in the western United States and there’s not much residents can do besides just wait it out.
注释：
cannibalistic: adj
表示" 食人肉的；同类相食的；"，means "characteristic of cannibals or exhibiting cannibalism"，如：A magazine reporter is traveling through a rainforest, in search of a fabled cannibalistic tribe. 一位杂志社的记者在热带雨林中寻找传说中的食肉部落。
overrun: v
1.表示"侵占；泛滥；"，means "invade in great numbers; occupy in large numbers or live on a host;"，如：Enemy soldiers had overrun the island. 敌军士兵侵占了该岛。The plains were overrun by Tartar hordes. 这些平原上散布着鞑靼人的游牧部落.
2.表示" 超越"，means "run beyond or past"，如：The lecturer overran by ten minutes.演讲人超过规定时间十分钟。
Biblical: adj
表示"圣经的"，means "of or pertaining to or contained in or in accordance with the Bible"，如：A good life is not measured by any biblical span. 生活的好坏并不以圣经的标准来衡量。
infestation: n
表示" （鼠等)侵扰；（疾病）传染"，means "the state of being invaded or overrun by parasites"，如：The inspector reports cockroach infestation in the kitchen. 检查员报告厨房蟑螂成灾。
infest: v
表示"寄生于"，means "invade in great numbers;"，如：There is a warehouse infested by rats. 那有一个大批老鼠出没的仓库。
katydid: n
表示"美洲大蚱蜢"，means "large green long-horned grasshopper of North America; males produce shrill sounds by rubbing together special organs on the forewings"，如：The cicada is stilled.The chorus of the cricket and katydid diminishes. 秋蝉安静下来，蟋蟀和蚱蜢的合唱声减弱。
plow: v
表示"耕作"，means "tilling the land with a plow"，如：The ground was plowed and planted with corn. 地翻耕后种上了玉米。This field plows easily.这块田地容易耕。
entomologist：n
表示" 昆虫学家"，means "a zoologist who studies insects"，如：An entomologist at Britain's Natural History Museum said it was likely that the centipede hitched a ride aboard a freighter, probably with a shipment of fruit.英国自然历史博物馆的昆虫学家说，这只蜈蚣很可能是搭乘运送水果的货船飘洋过海来到这里的。
中文简要说明：
美国内华达州艾科（Elko）近期遭到数百万只摩门蟋蟀（Mormon crickets）入侵，这些有壳生物侵占车道、庭院，甚至攀爬在墙上，让当地居民吓坏，不断惊呼「超恶」，居民表示，最危险的是汽车开过道路、辗压这些蟋蟀后，蟋蟀体液导致道路变得湿滑，至今已酿成多起事故。
综合拉斯韦加斯地方电视台KLAS-TV、美国国家广播公司新闻网（NBC News）报导，内华达州艾科（Elko）镇近期遭到数百万只摩门蟋蟀大举入侵，当地居民分享的影片显示，蟋蟀大军霸占住家车道、庭院，宛如在路上铺了一大片蟋蟀地毯，它们甚至爬上墙壁、柱子，画面相当震撼。
当地居民雷诺兹（Colette Reynolds）表示：「当我看到整面墙都被覆盖时，真的把我吓坏了。」居民加芮特（Stephanie Garrett）说：「你看到它们在移动、爬行，整条马路上都是，这真的让人起鸡皮疙瘩，太恶心了。」
已经在艾科居住15年的维拉斯（Ted Verras）说，近几年来，当地的蟋蟀虫害问题变得更严重了，居民甚至无法进屋。
他说更危险的是蟋蟀对道路构成安全问题，他曾经在满是蟋蟀的道路上开货车，他说蟋蟀被辗过后导致道路变得湿滑，害他的货车差点滑出去，「它们真的让道路变得很滑，所以如果下雨，就会有人冲出道路」。
维拉斯也拍片表示，「最糟的部分」就是开车辗过蟋蟀，「我为房子受影响的人感到抱歉，但这些东西真的闻起来很恶，当你开过去，你的车会被弄得到处都是，它们黏上车轮，太可怕了」。
被压碎的蟋蟀导致道路变得湿滑，内华达州交通部已经着手清理路面。
内华达州昆虫学家奈特（Jeff Knight）表示，当地蟋蟀虫害大爆发通常会持续4至6年，最后因天敌威胁而逐渐减少。不过蟋蟀虫卵仍会残留在土壤里，等到干旱周期来临，再触发虫卵孵化。2019年爆发前，内华达州已经有10多年没有发生蟋蟀虫害。
奈特表示，尽管蟋蟀对人类无害，但它们确实会危害房舍及农作物，它们湿滑的遗体也已酿成多起车祸。
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