VOA慢速英语2015 研究发现杀虫剂杀死野生蜜蜂

Study: Insecticide Is Killing¹ Wild Bees 研究发现杀虫剂杀死野生蜜蜂

A new study says a widely-used insecticide is damaging wild bee populations. Wild bees are important, because they pollinate crops and wild plants. 

Environmentalists in the United States and Europe say chemicals called neonicotinoids are causing a drop in the number of bees.

These insecticides are among the most commonly-used worldwide. Farmers often use seeds treated with the insecticides.

The chemicals target insects that eat crops, and they do not spread beyond the field. But they do get into pollen² and nectar, which is where the bees come into contact with them.

Maj Rudlof is a researcher at Lund University in Sweden. She led the neonicotinoids study.

She and other researchers studied bees in fields. Half of the fields were grown from seeds treated with neonicotinoids. The other half was grown with seeds that were not treated. She spoke³ about the results of the study in a video released by the journal Nature, which published it:

“The most dramatic result we found was that bumblebee colonies almost didn’t grow at all at the treated sites compared to the controlled sites.”

She says there were about half as many wild bees per square meter in treated fields as in untreated ones.

Dennis vanEngelsdorp is an entomologist, a scientist who studies insects. He works at the University of Maryland. He was not involved with the research on neonicotinoids. But, he says banning the chemicals may not be the answer. He says they are not as bad as other insecticides. He spoke to VOA on Skype.

“In many cases, (neonicotinoids) are actually the safest alternative and so by banning it, what you’re doing is forcing farmers to use products that may either be just as bad or worse.”

He says farmers often use the chemicals too much, and that may be hurting bees. Mr. vanEngelsdorp thinks farmers might not need to stop using neonicotinoids completely. He says the chemicals should be used more sensibly, or, in other words, only when necessary.

The same chemicals are thought to be linked to a problem with European honeybees – the bees kept by farmers to pollinate crops. The problem is called Colony Collapse⁴ Disorder⁵. The worker bees from a beehive, or colony, suddenly disappear. Farmers do not see the dead bees around the hive. 

A United States Department of Agriculture report included information about the effects of neonicotinoids. It said the chemicals make the bees more likely to become sick. The bees cannot fight the viruses that commonly affect them.

Words in This Story

insecticide – n. a chemical substance that is used to kill insects

pollinate – v. to give (a plant) pollen from another plant of the same kind so that seeds will be produced

nectar – n. a sweet liquid produced by plants and used by bees in making honey

dramatic – adj. sudden and extreme

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 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。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 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。

5 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。