VOA慢速英语20060103a

AGRICULTURE REPORT - The Business of Bees and Beekeeping (Part 3 of 3)By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Tuesday, January 03, 2006

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Bees not only produce honey and wax, they also provide an important service to farmers. Many crops require bees to pollinate them.




Bees gather sweet liquid called nectar from flowers. As they do this, the reproductive material of the flowers, pollen¹, sticks to the bee. Pollen travels from plant to plant this way.

Many different fruits, vegetables, nuts and seed crops depend on bees for reproduction. Also, many flowers grown for their beauty need bees to pollinate them.

In the United States, the secretary of agriculture appoints industry leaders to the National Honey Board. This group provides production information about the honey and beekeeping business. One of the reports said bees pollinated more than fourteen and one-half thousand million dollars worth of crops in two thousand.

Selling the services of bees as pollinators is also an important business. Bees pollinate almost all almond and apple trees. Vegetables like broccoli², carrots, celery and onions require bee pollination³.

Experts say even crops that do not require bee pollination can be increased with the help of bees. Also, the quality of many crops depends on the amount of pollination they receive. Crops like apples can grow unevenly⁴ if bees do not provide enough pollen for good reproduction.

Pollinated crops supply much of the vegetable fats in the human diet. As much as one-third of all food products are directly or indirectly⁵ linked to bee-pollinated crops. Bee pollination is a central activity in the food supply chain.

The United States was estimated several years ago to have two and one-half million colonies being used to pollinate crops. Between two and four colonies are needed to pollinate one hectare of most crops.

Today, many beekeepers see pollination as a more important activity than producing honey. Many farmers see bee pollination as a good investment because it improves the quality and productivity⁶ of their crops.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter. This was the third and final part of our report about bees and beekeeping. Internet users can read and listen to all of our reports at www.unsv.com.

If you have a general question about agriculture, e-mail it to [email protected]. Please include your name and where you are. We cannot answer questions personally, but we might be able to use them in our reports. I'm Steve Ember.

1 pollen   

n.[植]花粉

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。

2 broccoli   

n.绿菜花，花椰菜

参考例句：

• She grew all the broccoli plants from seed.这些花椰菜都是她用种子培育出来的。
• They think broccoli is only green and cauliflower is only white.他们认为西兰花只有绿色的，而菜花都是白色的。

3 pollination   

n.授粉

参考例句：

• The flowers get pollination by insects.这些花通过昆虫授粉。
• Without sufficient pollination,the growth of the corn is stunted.没有得到充足的授粉，谷物的长势就会受阻。

4 unevenly   

adv.不均匀的

参考例句：

• Fuel resources are very unevenly distributed. 燃料资源分布很不均匀。
• The cloth is dyed unevenly. 布染花了。

5 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。

6 productivity   

n.生产力，生产率，多产

参考例句：

• Farmers are introducing in novations which increase the productivity.农民们正引进提高生产力的新方法。
• The workers try to put up productivity.工人设法提高生产率。