DEEP DIVES

Nothing makes my heart sink faster than turning a corner in an abandoned mineshaft and seeing a wall of cobwebs. Not because I’ll have to fight a bunch of cave spiders – that part’s easy – but because I’ll inevitably have forgotten to bring a pair of shears and I’ll have to break my way through with just my increasingly sticky sword.
当你在废弃矿井里拐过路口，没有什么能比看见蜘蛛网更令人不悦的了。并非是因为要与洞穴蜘蛛战斗让人难过，实际上那还算容易，困难的是我鬼使神差地忘带了剪刀——这样我就只能拿剑劈开那些蜘蛛网了。

Cobwebs became a part of Minecraft gradually – their textures were added to the game’s files way back in 2009, then they were turned into an actual block in Beta version 1.5 in early 2011, then they only began spawning naturally when abandoned mineshafts and strongholds were added in the Adventure Update in late 2011.
蜘蛛网是逐渐加入到MC当中的。最初它的材质早在2009年就被加进游戏文件中了，后来在2011前半年的Beta1.5里成为了一个真正的方块。直到2011年底的冒险更新，蜘蛛网才能自然生成与在废弃矿井和要塞里。

Today cobwebs spawn in a variety of out-of-the-way places in the Overworld. Strongholds and abandoned mineshafts still, but also woodland mansions, igloo basements, and abandoned villages.
如今，蜘蛛网可以生成在各类地方。不只是要塞和废弃矿井，就连林地府邸、雪屋、废弃（僵尸）村庄也会出现他们的身影。

Gathering cobwebs is very easy with shears. You’ll get yourself a stack or two very quickly. If you’re not equipped with shears, though, then you’ll need a sword enchanted with silk touch. You can use a regular sword to chop through them as fast as with shears, but then they’ll only drop string.
用剪刀收集蜘蛛网很容易，很快就能收集到一两组。如果没有装备剪刀，你就需要用精准采集附魔剑来收集了。当然了正常的剑也可以破坏蜘蛛网，速度和剪刀一样快，但是只会掉落线而非蜘蛛网。

Cobwebs are surprisingly useful for such a rare block. You can place blocks on them – including paintings and signs – which can disguise a secret entrance (albeit one that’s very slow to enter). You can also use them in traps - slowing down mobs and other players trying to enter your base, or to prevent fall damage.
作为一个略稀有的方块，蜘蛛网有时很有用。你可以在它上面放置方块，如画和告示牌，这样最可以弄成一个密道,不过进去略有些麻烦，因为会减速。当然了也可以用它做陷阱——让生物减速、让玩家难以进入你的地盘、减免掉落伤害等。

One nifty trick is to use them in redstone circuitry. Delaying an item falling onto a pressure plate or into a hopper can add a longish pause – about 25 seconds – before the effects of a circuit activating. You could use that feature to keep a door open for a while before closing it again, for example.
这有一个实用小技巧：蜘蛛网可以减缓物品掉落速度，这样就可以让下面的压力板或漏斗获得更多准备时间(约25秒)，通过这个方法可以让一扇门保持敞开一段时间。

The “cob” in “cobweb” originally comes from the Old English word “coppe”, meaning “spider”, which is almost certainly because cobwebs are made by spiders. Not all spiders, mind you – there are plenty of spider species that don’t spin webs at all.
至于“ cobweb ”一词中的 “cob ”，则是古英语单词“ coppe ”的词根，它的意思是“蜘蛛”，大概是因为蜘蛛网产自蜘蛛吧。注意了，并非所有蜘蛛都会结网，有些就根本不会。

Cobwebs were added to the real world at some point more than 100 million years ago, as proven by a fossilised spider web found encased in amber from the early Cretaceous period. They don’t all come in the same shape – some spiders spin more tangled webs, and others are more geometric. Some even build webs communally, with many spiders sharing a single web.
蜘蛛网可能在1亿年前就已经存在于真实世界当中了，白垩纪早期的蜘蛛网化石就能印证这一观点。远古的蜘蛛网有着不同的形状，有些蜘蛛结成几边形的网，有些蜘蛛多只共用一张网。

Cobwebs are made of silk, which is made inside a spider’s body and squeezed out of organs called “spinnerets”. Spiders can produce several kinds of silk – sticky, fine, or thick – for different purposes. Some are capable of producing up to eight different silks during their lifetime.
蜘蛛网是丝构成的，由蜘蛛体内一个名为“吐丝器”的器官产生。蜘蛛可以产出各种各样的线——粘性大的、细的、厚的……用以各种用途。有一部分蜘蛛甚至能在一生中制造八种不同的蛛丝。

In 1973, astronauts took spiders into orbit on the Skylab space station to see whether they’d spin webs in space and what those webs might look like. The two spiders – named Arabella and Anita – took a while to adjust to zero gravity but eventually made webs that were similar to those on Earth but finer in places.
在1973年，宇航员把蜘蛛带进了宇宙空间站来观察它们的结网习性。那两只实验用蜘蛛，一只叫阿尔贝拉，一只叫安妮塔，只用了很短的时间就适应了零重力空间，它们所产出的蛛网和地球上的类似，只是比地球上的细一些。

Oh, and it’s always worth remembering that the “web” in “website” comes from cobwebs, because the tangled, interlaced structure of links between different websites resembles a spider web. Maybe we’re all just spiders in one enormous, communal cobweb. There’s something to think about that next time you’re stuck in one in Minecraft, waiting to inch your way out.
啊对了，“ website ”一词里的 “ web ”就来自蜘蛛网，因为多个网站之间的联系就好比蜘蛛网，或许我们也就是这张巨网上共用网的小蜘蛛。或许当你看了这篇文章后，下次下矿再遇到蜘蛛网时可以引发一些有意义的思考吧。

【炫宙菌 译自官网 2020 年 12 月 31 日发布的 Block of the Week: Cobweb；原作者 Duncan Geere】
【本文排版借助了：SPX】