It was a stifling(闷热的，令人窒息的) evening in July and Matt Phelps was out for a stroll, when a piercing, whirring(嗡嗡作响的) noise stopped him in his tracks(让他停下脚步). As an ecologist, Phelps knows his fauna(动物群) – and he could think of no UK creature that could emit(发出，散发) such a sound.
七月一个闷热的傍晚，马特·费尔普斯正在外散步，突然一阵刺耳的嗡嗡声让他停下脚步。作为生态学家，费尔普斯对动物了如指掌——他想不出英国有任何生物能发出这种声音。
“It was like the classic sound effect of a cricket in a film, a beeping sort of little trilling(颤音，鸟或昆虫的鸣啭) sound,” said Phelps, who works at Knepp Estate in West Sussex. He returned with entomologist(昆虫学家) Graeme Lyons to track it down(追踪到，找到). But the sound, though incredibly loud, “seemed to be all around us … it was very ventriloquial(腹语的，声音似从别处传来的)”.
“那声音就像电影里蟋蟀的经典音效，一种哔哔的、小小的颤音，”在西萨塞克斯郡克内普庄园工作的费尔普斯说。他带着昆虫学家格雷姆·莱昂斯回来寻找声音的来源。但那声音虽然响得惊人，“却似乎无处不在……非常像腹语”。
The duo hunted for three hours. Night fell before they realised their quarry was, said Phelps, “literally below the ground where we stood”.(夜幕降临，他们才意识到，用费尔普斯的话说，他们的“猎物”就“在我们脚下的地里”。)
两人搜寻了三个小时。夜幕降临后，他们才意识到，用费尔普斯的话说，他们的“猎物”就“在我们脚下的地里”。