2007年VOA标准英语-Disappearing Honeybees Concern Beekeepers and F

By Steve Mort
Tampa, Florida
11 April 2007

Farmers in the United States say they are growing increasingly concerned about a mysterious shortage of honeybees.  The U.S. government says it is investigating a dramatic decline in the bee population over recent months, and Congress has held a hearing on the issue.  Bees are used not only to produce honey, but many crops depend on the tiny creatures for the pollination¹ process.  Steve Mort reports from a honey farm in the southern U.S. state of Florida.

Deep in the heart of rural America, farmers are talking about a crisis.  At the root of the problem – a lack of honeybees.

Beekeeper David Hackenberg owns the Buffy Bee honey farm outside Tampa, Florida.  He says he has lost as many as two-thirds of his beehives within a matter of weeks.

"It seems to be something brand new,” he says.  “We've seen colonies disappear in the past, but the strange thing about this is the fact that we've got empty boxes that look just like somebody's swept the bees out of them."

The bees are vanishing due to something called Colony Collapse² Disorder³.  Hackenberg's business, based in Florida and Pennsylvania, relies on making honey and renting bees to farmers to pollinate their crops.

"We're looking at a $350,000 loss,” Hackenberg says.  “With what it's going to cost to replace the bees, lost pollination contracts, lost honey crops, you're talking a big, serious financial loss."

The exact cause of Colony Collapse Disorder is a mystery.  But scientists at Pennsylvania State University are leading research into the phenomenon.

The university's Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group says poor nutrition, drought and pesticide⁴ use can cause extraordinary stress on bees.

That stress, the group believes, may damage the bees' immune systems – much like AIDS in humans.

Meanwhile, scientists with the U.S. Agriculture Department point to bugs⁵ called verroa mites⁶.  They kill bees by transmitting viruses.

Jerry Turner runs a honey farm near Orlando, Florida.  He says the mites have become resistant⁷ to the insecticides used to kill them.

"You try to build your bees up to make honey and you put a lot of money and time and effort into them and then they start dying out,” he says.  “These mites, they carry the viruses and such and the bees just start dying.  And you try to make them up and increase your numbers again and you get kicked again."

But it is not just beekeepers who are suffering.  A Cornell University study has found that bees pollinate $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States.

Carl Grooms⁸ owns Fancy Farms in Plant City, Florida, where he grows a variety of fruits and vegetables.

Farmer Carl Grooms

"If I weren't able to lease hives of bees to put next to my squash crops, I wouldn't plant them because there's not enough natural bees to pollinate them,” he says.  “Cantaloupes [are] raised quite extensively here – that and water melon.  You've got to have bees for those, and obviously if you're a big grower of those items you would decide real quick if there [were] no bees to rent, you would not plant them – and we're facing that".

The U.S. Congress recently held a hearing on Colony Collapse Disorder, and lawmakers agreed to push for more government funding for research.

Pennsylvania State University experts told the hearing that a move last year to allow imported Australian bees to service California's almond crop may have introduced a new bee disease to the United States.

David Hackenberg attended the Washington hearing.  He says millions of dollars is needed to fund research.

But in Florida, local lawmakers have given only around $300,000 over the last two years.

And Hackenberg says by the time enough money arrives, it may be too late to stop hundreds of beekeepers from closing their operations.

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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

7 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

8 grooms   

n.新郎( groom的名词复数 )；马夫v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的第三人称单数 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗

参考例句：

• Plender end Wilcox became joint grooms of the chambers. 普伦德和威尔科克斯成为共同的贴身侍从。 来自辞典例句
• Egypt: Families, rather than grooms, propose to the bride. 埃及：在埃及，由新郎的家人，而不是新郎本人，向新娘求婚。 来自互联网