纽约时报 亚洲“杀人大黄蜂”入侵美国(1)

Tracking the ‘Murder Hornets’, a Deadly Pest has Reached North America

追踪“杀人大黄蜂”：一种致命害虫已经踏足北美

In his decades of beekeeping, Ted¹ McFall had never seen anything like it.

在数十年的养蜂生涯中，泰德·麦克福尔从未见过那样的蜜蜂。

As he pulled his truck up to check on a group of hives near Custer, Wash., in November,

去年11月，他停好卡车，准备查看一下华盛顿州卡斯特附近的一组蜂箱，

he could spot from the window a mess of bee carcasses on the ground.

还未下车，他便从车窗里看到地上死了一大堆蜜蜂。

As he looked closer, he saw a pile of dead members of the colony in front of a hive and more carnage inside —

等他定睛一看，蜂箱附近还有一大堆，蜂箱里就更多了——

thousands and thousands of bees with their heads torn from their bodies and no sign of a culprit.

数不清的死蜜蜂都已经没有了头部，凶手却未留下任何蛛丝马迹。

“I couldn’t wrap my head around what could have done that,” Mr. McFall said.

“我完全想不通是什么东西干的，”麦克福尔说。

Only later did he come to suspect that the killer² was what some researchers simply call the “murder hornet.”

直到后来，他才开始怀疑，凶手可能就是一些研究人员口中所说的“杀人大黄蜂”。

With queens that can grow to two inches long,

亚洲大黄蜂身型巨大，蜂王体长可达2英尺（0.6米），

Asian giant hornets can use mandibles shaped like spiked³ shark fins⁴ to wipe out a honeybee hive in a matter of hours,

这种蜜蜂长着尖尖的鲨鱼鳍一样的上颚，数小时之内便能消灭一个蜂箱，

decapitating the bees and flying away with the thoraxes to feed their young.

将里面的蜜蜂斩首，带走它们的胸喂它们的后代。

For larger targets, the hornet’s potent⁵ venom⁶ and stinger — long enough to puncture⁷ a beekeeping suit —

对付较大的目标时，这种蜜蜂还有剧毒的毒液和螫针，螫针的长度足以刺穿养蜂服，

make for an excruciating combination that victims have likened to hot metal driving into their skin.

这一组合极其厉害，受害者称，那种感觉犹如将滚烫的金属灌进皮肤一样痛苦。

In Japan, the hornets kill up to 50 people a year.

日本每年被大黄蜂螫伤致死之人多达50人。

Now, for the first time, they have arrived in the United States.

现在，这种大黄蜂已经来到美国。

Mr. McFall still is not certain that Asian giant hornets were responsible for the plunder⁸ of his hive.

截至目前，麦克福尔仍不确定亚洲大黄蜂是否真是祸害自己蜂箱的罪魁祸首。

But two of the predatory insects were discovered last fall in the northwest corner of Washington State,

然而，去年秋天，人们便已在华盛顿州的西北角，也即他家以北几英里的地方发现了两只这种掠食性的昆虫，

a few miles north of his property — the first sightings in the United States.

那是人们首次在美国看到它们的身影。

Scientists have since embarked⁹ on a full-scale hunt for the hornets,

从那时起，科学家便对大黄蜂展开了全面捕杀，

worried that the invaders¹⁰ could decimate bee populations in the United States

因为他们担心这些入侵者或将杀死大量美国本土蜜蜂，

and establish such a deep presence that all hope for eradication¹¹ could be lost.

待它们在美国根基渐牢，消灭它们的希望便会彻底落空。

“This is our window to keep it from establishing,”

“现在正是我们阻止大黄蜂在这里立足的窗口期，”

said Chris Looney, an entomologist at the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

华盛顿州农业部昆虫学家克里斯·鲁尼说道。

“If we can’t do it in the next couple of years, it probably can’t be done.”

“如果我们接下来两三年之内消灭不了它们，那可能就永远消灭不了了。”

On a cold morning in early December, two and a half miles to the north of Mr. McFall’s property,

去年12月初一个寒冷的早晨，在麦克福尔家以北2.5英里（4公里）的地方，

Jeff Kornelis stepped on his front porch with his terrier-mix dog.

杰夫·科尔内利斯带着他的混种猎犬刚踏上自家的前廊，

He looked down to a jarring sight: “It was the biggest hornet I’d ever seen.”

一低头便看到了一幅令人震惊的景象：“这是我见过最大的大黄蜂。”

The insect was dead, and after inspecting it, Mr. Kornelis had a hunch¹² that it might be an Asian giant hornet.

这只昆虫当时已经死亡，仔细检查后，直觉告诉科尔内利斯，那可能是一只亚洲大黄蜂。

It did not make much sense, given his location in the world,

鉴于他家所在的地理位置，这一结论似乎有些说不通，

but he had seen an episode of the YouTube personality Coyote Peterson getting a brutal¹³ sting from one of the hornets.

但他看过YouTube网红凯奥特·彼特森被那种大黄蜂狠螫的视频。

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

3 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

4 fins   

[医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌

参考例句：

• The level of TNF-α positively correlated with BMI,FPG,HbA1C,TG,FINS and IRI,but not with SBP and DBP. TNF-α水平与BMI、FPG、HbA1C、TG、FINS和IRI呈显著正相关，与SBP、DBP无相关。 来自互联网
• Fins are a feature specific to fish. 鱼鳍是鱼类特有的特征。 来自辞典例句

5 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

6 venom   

n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨

参考例句：

• The snake injects the venom immediately after biting its prey.毒蛇咬住猎物之后马上注入毒液。
• In fact,some components of the venom may benefit human health.事实上，毒液的某些成分可能有益于人类健康。

7 puncture   

n.刺孔，穿孔；v.刺穿，刺破

参考例句：

• Failure did not puncture my confidence.失败并没有挫伤我的信心。
• My bicycle had a puncture and needed patching up.我的自行车胎扎了个洞，需要修补。

8 plunder   

vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠

参考例句：

• The thieves hid their plunder in the cave.贼把赃物藏在山洞里。
• Trade should not serve as a means of economic plunder.贸易不应当成为经济掠夺的手段。

9 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

10 invaders   

入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
• The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。

11 eradication   

n.根除

参考例句：

• The eradication of an established infestation is not easy. 根除昆虫蔓延是不容易的。
• This is often required for intelligent control and eradication. 这经常需要灵巧的控制与消除。

12 hunch   

n.预感，直觉

参考例句：

• I have a hunch that he didn't really want to go.我有这么一种感觉，他并不真正想去。
• I had a hunch that Susan and I would work well together.我有预感和苏珊共事会很融洽。

13 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。