VOA慢速英语2015 蜜蜂都哪去了?

Where Have All the Bees Gone? 蜜蜂都哪去了?

Bees play an important part in the growth of crops.

About 4,000 wild bee species are native to North America. Other bee species on the continent were imported from Europe to produce honey.

Bees also serve as crop pollinators. These pollinators carry material from one plant to another. This helps the plants produce seeds.

Farmers became dependent on this bee activity.

But for the past 40 years, the native bee population has been decreasing. Since the winter of 2006, many honeybees have disappeared. Scientists call this “Colony Collapse¹ Disorder².”

VOA recently went to the town of Lockeford, in the Central Valley of California. Researchers there are mixing plants to try to bring back the bees. Margaret Smither-Kopperl is a botanist³, a scientist who studies plants. She leads the Lockeford Plant Materials Center. It is one of more than 24 centers around the country operated by the United States Department of Agriculture. The centers are working to rebuild and support healthy ecosystems⁵.

For the past several years, Ms. Smither-Kopperl has planted different kinds of flowers, grasses and other plants. She is trying to create a combination of plants that bees will like.    

“On the right I have a planting of native grasses. And, then, in the other field, where you can see that it’s green, we’ve planted eight different commercial pollinator mixes.”

Life is not easy for bees. They must deal with pesticides⁷ and smaller animals that live on or in them, such as bee mites⁸. But the biggest difficulty is the destruction of areas where they live and eat. Jessa Kay Cruz works at The Xerces Society, a conservation group.

She says growth in agriculture industries and the growth of cities have left bees too few natural areas where they seek their food: Pollen⁹ and nectar.  

These two plant substance make up 100 percent of a bee’s food. So, Ms. Cruz says, bees are totally dependent on some kinds of flowers for their survival.

Ms. Cruz also says humans need bees to help crops grow.

“About 85 percent of the world’s flowering plants require a pollinator basically in order to reproduce. In our agricultural ecosystems, about one in every three bites of food or drink that we consume requires pollinators.”

She says honeybees raised by farmers also face problems. She says farmers provide the bees with food that does not give them what they need when crops are not available. She says that damages the health of the bees.

But Ms. Cruz says a more serious threat to honeybees is colony collapse disorder. No one knows what causes it or how to stop it.

“We know that beekeepers will go out and find their hives mysteriously empty but, they’re not finding necessarily a hive full of dead bees -- there’s (there are) just no bees.”      

Ms. Cruz works with Ms. Smither-Kopperl to choose and plant the mix of plants at the Lockeford center. They examine whether the plants they have grown bring back native bees that can be used to provide pollination¹⁰ to local farms.

The two women also urge farmers to put plants that bees like in areas where crops are not planted. These include equipment and vehicle storage areas and areas next to roads and fields.

Words in This Story

pollinator – n. something that gives (a plant) pollen from another plant of the same kind so that seeds will be produced

pollen – n. the very fine usually yellow dust that is produced by a plant and that is carried to other plants of the same kind usually by wind or insects so that the plants can produce seeds

ecosystem⁴ – n. everything that exists in a particular environment

commercial – adj. related to or used in the buying and selling of goods and services

pesticide⁶ – n. a chemical that is used to kill animals or insects that damage plants or crops

hive – n. a nest for bees

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

3 botanist   

n.植物学家

参考例句：

• The botanist introduced a new species of plant to the region.那位植物学家向该地区引入了一种新植物。
• I had never talked with a botanist before,and I found him fascinating.我从没有接触过植物学那一类的学者，我觉得他说话极有吸引力。

4 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

5 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

6 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。

7 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》

8 mites   

n.（尤指令人怜悯的）小孩( mite的名词复数 )；一点点；一文钱；螨

参考例句：

• The only discovered animals are water bears, mites, microscopic rotifers. 能够发现的动物只有海蜘蛛、螨和微小的轮虫。 来自辞典例句
• Mites are frequently found on eggs. 螨会经常出现在蛋上。 来自辞典例句

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 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。