This morning after hanging out the laundry, I discovered a newly woven spider web, anchored on a pine shrub on one side and small bushes on another side. That was actually quite a large span, and the web itself was also quite large with a diameter of about 30 cm. It wasn’t too hard to spot the web under bright sunlight.今天早上在後花園晾衣服後，驀然發現一個新的蜘蛛網。這個網一端繫在松樹，一端繫在較矮的花叢，展開來頗大，直徑有30厘米左右，在耀眼的陽光反射下顯而易見。
What made the web noteworthy was not its size – I’ve in fact seen larger ones, and won’t be surprised if they were spun by the same spider – but how effective it was. After 3 hours or so, 20 or 30 small flying insects have already fallen prey and were trapped by this web. I was quite stunned with the success of this web. Its size obviously helped, although there were also big gaps in between threads to allow so many other small insects to fly through. But it wouldn’t be a big surprise that those unsuspecting insects wound eventually get caught when they have flown enough times. The spider obviously knew the mantra of real estate and business expansion: location, location, location!這個網最值得一記的地方，不是其大小——更大的我以前都看過，我想是同一蜘蛛的傑作也不足為奇——而是三小時後，已有二、三十隻小蚊蟲被蜘蛛一網成擒，被網牢牢黏着了。沒想到這個蜘蛛網如此成功！其實這個網大之餘，網中的空隙也多，但勝在地點好，除了已中招的蚊蟲外，也有很多其他蚊蟲穿過網的兩面飛來飛去，不過上得山多終遇虎，牠們誤墮蛛網祇是遲早的事。這隻蜘蛛一定是深明開商店和買房地產的一大要決，就是要地點好，捕捉人（蟲）流！
The spider web didn’t stay terribly long, however. Perhaps because the anchor points are so far apart and have quite a difference in height, the top part of the web collapsed after another two to three hours. Before long, the bottom part also gave way and all that was left was a string decorated with many of the poor insect preys, not too unlike the clothes line hung with socks earlier in the day. The web has indeed reaped a rich reward for the spider, although it wouldn’t last beyond today. I wonder if the spider was a day-trader more interested in instant returns.不過也許因為用以擊網的松樹和花叢相隔有點遠且有一定高低差別，令這個蜘蛛網結構不固，再過兩、三小時網的上半部份崩塌了，沒多久連下半部也完全瓦解，祇剩下一條長長的黏滿小蚊蟲的絲，倒有點像今早我們晾曬襪子的晾衣線。這個蜘蛛網收穫快但不長久，不知這隻蜘蛛是不是即日鮮炒家，祇着眼於即時回報？
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