VOA标准英语2013--除草剂可能对蜜蜂造成伤害

 

Fungicide for Plants May Hurt Honeybees 除草剂可能对蜜蜂造成伤害

根据一项最新调查结果，一种广泛用于抵抗植物疾病的化学剂会对蜜蜂造成伤害，这项结果令人吃惊。美国之声记者梅根·麦格拉思带来的报道称，这会使蜜蜂数量减少，而蜜蜂可以对于水果，蔬菜，坚果以及其他庄家进行授粉。

Honeybee hives in the United States and elsewhere are dying, and researchers like Dennis VanEngelsdorp at the University of Maryland are trying to understand why. “The number of colonies that die every winter has been one in three. So on average 30 percent of the colonies have died every winter over the last six winters. And that’s an astronomical¹ number.”

VanEngelsdorp's research team examined the pollen² that honeybees carried to their hives, and found that it was contaminated with high doses of 35 different pesticides⁴. They also found that eating certain fungicides made bees more susceptible⁵ to infection by Nosema, a deadly microbe.

But fungicides are essential to US agriculture, according to pesticide³ industry researcher Mike Leggett, with CropLife America. "Fungicides are used, and have been used, pretty broadly, for centuries, for protection of plants from plant disease,” he said.

He also points out that many of the other pesticides VanEngelsdorp found in the pollen actually made the bees less likely to be infected with Nosema.

“I think it’s interesting research that adds to the body of research that’s available, but I’m not really sure that the conclusions reached were… you know, well-supported,” said Leggett.

Maryland farmer and beekeeper Keith Ohlinger has watched his bees die every winter. Researchers are investigating the effects of a variety of factors, including pesticides, diseases and malnutrition⁶. Many people, including Ohlinger, think widespread bee death is caused by many different stresses at once.

“What I felt it was, was a compilation⁷ of a lot of little things. I didn’t feel that there was probably one smoking gun. But there’s a division there, some people feel that it is just one thing,” said Ohlinger.

Ohlinger does feel sure that pesticides are a part of the problem. “Maybe I’m just not educated enough, I don’t know, but my view is, if you can take a bath in it, it’s probably safe. And I don’t know many of the things that they’re putting out right now that anybody would come out of a bath in for any length of time and go, ‘Wow, that was great, I feel much better!’ You know?”

Honeybees are essential to agriculture. This makes the search for an answer to the bee die-off especially urgent for VanEngelsdorp's team.

“One in every three bites of food we eat are directly or indirectly⁸ pollinated by honeybees. So without honeybees, we wouldn’t have that variety in our diet,” said VanEngelsdorp.

Even as a third of the country's food supply depends on honeybees, a third of those bees continue to die each winter.

1 astronomical   

adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的

参考例句：

• He was an expert on ancient Chinese astronomical literature.他是研究中国古代天文学文献的专家。
• Houses in the village are selling for astronomical prices.乡村的房价正在飙升。

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 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。

4 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》

5 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

6 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

7 compilation   

n.编译，编辑

参考例句：

• One of the first steps taken was the compilation of a report.首先采取的步骤之一是写一份报告。
• The compilation of such diagrams,is of lasting value for astronomy.绘制这样的图对天文学有永恒的价值。

8 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。