美国国家公共电台 NPR Pesticides Are Harming Bees — But Not Everywhere, Major New Study Shows

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And now some bad news for bees. There is new evidence that they are being harmed by some widely used pesticides² though it may be only if the bees already are vulnerable. Here's NPR's Dan Charles.

DAN CHARLES, BYLINE³: These pesticides are called neonicotinoids or neonics. They're usually coated on seeds like corn and soybean seeds before planting. Laboratory experiments show they're highly toxic⁴ to bees, but the company that sells most of them, Bayer, has argued there's no good evidence that they harm bees in the real world on farms. So Richard Pywell from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in the United Kingdom organized a field study.

RICHARD PYWELL: It was across three European countries - so that was Hungary, Germany and the United Kingdom - on 33 commercial farms. So it was unprecedented⁵ in its scale.

CHARLES: It was also partially⁶ funded by companies that make neonics. This week, the journal Science published the results. Pywell and his colleagues found that honeybees and wild bees that were living near crops treated with neonics generally did not do as well. They had more trouble reproducing. Colonies were less likely to survive the winter. Pywell says it's cause for concern. There was a big exception, though. In Germany, bees living near neonic-treated crops did just fine.

PYWELL: We think this is a really interesting finding.

CHARLES: Pywell says the bees in Germany were relatively⁷ free of parasites⁸ and disease. Also, they were able to find a lot more wildflowers to feed on, so they were healthier and the pesticide¹ didn't bother them. Another neonic study, published alongside Pywell's this week, shows that bees near cornfields in Canada are getting potentially harmful doses of neonics all summer long in pollen⁹ that they gather. Amro Zayed from York University in Toronto says it wasn't pollen from the crops that had been treated with neonics.

AMRO ZAYED: Most of the pollen, 99 percent of the pollen, was actually from wild plants.

CHARLES: Apparently¹⁰, neonic residues¹¹ in farm fields get dissolved in water and then are taken up by the roots of wild plants. European regulators have imposed a partial moratorium¹² on neonicotinoid use. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency is taking a closer look at the pesticides, but it hasn't proposed any new restrictions¹³ on them. Dan Charles, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPIRO'S "MARINEVILLE")

1 pesticide   

n.杀虫剂，农药

参考例句：

• The pesticide was spread over the vegetable plot.菜田里撒上了农药。
• This pesticide is diluted with water and applied directly to the fields.这种杀虫剂用水稀释后直接施用在田里。

2 pesticides   

n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物

参考例句：

• vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
• There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

5 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

6 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

7 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

8 parasites   

寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫

参考例句：

• These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
• Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。

9 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。

10 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

11 residues   

n.剩余，余渣( residue的名词复数 )；剩余财产；剩数

参考例句：

• pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables 残留在水果和蔬菜中的杀虫剂
• All organic and metallic residues on the wafers must be removed. 片子上所有的有机和金属残留物均必须清除。 来自辞典例句

12 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

13 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制