The researchers also found something else when they were measuring the trees' wounds: ants.

当测量树木伤口时，研究人员还发现了一些其他的东西：蚂蚁。

There was a further pause. Mary Smith gently caressed the wounded tree, just as she would have caressed him.

玛丽·史密斯又停了会儿没说话。她轻柔地抚摸着那棵刻过的树，就像她曾经抚摸他一样。

It looks, therefore, as if bush fires are cauterising trees' wounds by killing ants that might otherwise infest them.

因此，似乎丛林大火是在通过杀死可能感染树木的蚂蚁来烧灼树木的伤口。