英语听力：探索发现 2014-01-15 地平线：什么害死了我们的蜜蜂—24

 So more than a third of different kinds of bees that once lived in this woodland have now disappeared. What's intriguing¹ here is that their immediate² habitat has barely changed.-But what do you think is causing that? If their habitat here is friendly enough, what's happened?

-What's happening around the site is really important to bees. So bees can nest within this site, but they might forage³ up to a kilometer or two outside of the site. And what is really striking is the level of agriculture has gone up by about 30 percent. So I will show you an old map. This is what this area used to look like in the 1920s and 30s, and all the light green bits that you see are meadow land and grasslands⁴, with a little bit of agriculture, which is the brown bits. But if you look out of the window now, the entire countryside is turned into quite intensive agriculture and farming.

Deep's research is being repeated around 23 other sites in the U.K., and they all show the same thing. Although this landscape may look greener, it's what ecologiests call, a green desert. Over the years, plants that bees do feed on have been replaced by vast expanses of plants that they can't feed on.

-It is quite c*, because you look at green, you look at p* plants you can see there. You think that must be really good for bees and pollinators.

-The logical conclusion would be then that we need to rethink our entire system of modern agriculture, the way we grow things.

-I think it's just a slight shift in perhaps thinking of more wildlife-friendly farming methods, not saying agriculture is bad. It's just ways. There are ways to improve agriculture in a way that it might be more useful to the biodiversity, might be more friendly.

So you won't be surprised to hear that scientists aren't simply looking at why bees are dying. They are also trying to work out what we can do about it.

1 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

3 forage   

n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻

参考例句：

• They were forced to forage for clothing and fuel.他们不得不去寻找衣服和燃料。
• Now the nutritive value of the forage is reduced.此时牧草的营养价值也下降了。

4 grasslands   

n.草原，牧场( grassland的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Songs were heard ringing loud and clear over the grasslands. 草原上扬起清亮激越的歌声。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Grasslands have been broken and planted to wheat. 草原已经开垦出来，种上了小麦。 来自《简明英汉词典》