(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.
New studies have found that a chemical commonly used to fight plant disease is harming honeybees. Experts say the chemical may be partly to blame for the widespread loss of honeybees in the United States.
The insects are important to farmers. When a honeybee lands on a flower in plant, pollen sticks to its legs. When the bee lands on another flower, some of the pollen falls off and fertilizes the second plant.
The act of pollination is responsible for many fruits, vegetables, nuts and other crops. Yet about 30 percent of honeybees in the United States and other areas have died in recent years.
Dennis VanEngelsdorp is a researcher at the University of Maryland. He wants to learn why so many bees are dying.
"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 astronomical number."
His research team examined the pollen grain that honeybees carried to their homes. They found that the pollen contained high levels of 35 different pesticides, chemicals use to protect plants. They also found that bees eating some fungicides of biological organisms became infected with a deadly micro-organism called Nosema.
Yet fungicides are necessary to use for agricultural purposes in the United States. Mike Leggett studies pesticide for the pest management industry group -- CropLife America.
"Fungicides are used, and have been used, pretty broadly, for centuries, for protection of plants from plant disease."
He says that many of the pesticide found in the pollen examined by Dennis VanEngelsdorp actually protect bees from Nosema.
Maryland farmer and beekeeper Keith Ohlinger has watched many of his bees die every winter. Mr Ohlinger thinks widespread bee death is result of several things happening at once. But he does not feel sure that pesticides are a part of the problem.
"What I felt it was, was a compilation 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. 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!'"
Honeybees are important to agriculture. This makes the search for an answer to their death especially urgent for Mr VanEngelsdorp's team.
As he knows, one in every three bites of food we eat is somehow pollinated by honeybees.
And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English.
译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.pollen vt. 传授花粉给 n. [植] 花粉
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。
2.astronomical adj. 天文的，天文学的；极大的
Light-year is an astronomical unit.
光年是一个天文单位。
3.fungicide n. 杀真菌剂
They treat their seeds with a fungicide to combat seedling diseases.
他们用杀真菌剂浸了种子来防止秧苗受病。
4.smoking gun 确凿的证据
This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for.
这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
5.pollinate vt. 对...授粉
Flowers are often pollinated by bees.
花常常由蜜蜂传授花粉。
内容解析
1.Experts say the chemical may be partly to blame for the widespread loss of honeybees in the United States.
blame for 责备，责怪；谴责，指责；找…岔子(或差错)；挑剔，埋怨：
They blamed him for the accident.
他们责备他出了事故。
I have nothing to blame myself for.
我自己是无可责备的。
推诿，把…归咎于，归罪于：
Careless campers were blamed for starting the forest fires.
粗心大意的野营者应负引起森林火灾的责任。
2.When a honeybee lands on a flower in plant, pollen sticks to its legs.
stick to 坚持；粘住；不移开，不偏离，不离题：
Dust could stick to the clothing easily.
灰尘很容易附着在衣服上。
The speech he made stuck to the key points.
他所作的演说紧扣要点，没有多余的话。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
新研究发现一种普遍用来对付植物疾病的一种农药会有害蜜蜂，专家说美国大范围的蜜蜂损失都要部分归咎于这种化学物质。
蜜蜂对农民来说很重要，当蜜蜂落在植物的花朵上时，花粉会沾到它们的腿上，当蜜蜂落到另一朵花上时，部分花粉就会落下，给这棵植株授粉。
授粉行为发生在很多果树、蔬菜、坚果等作物上，然而最近几年美国等地30%的蜂蜜都死亡了。
丹尼斯·范恩格斯德多普是马里兰大学的研究人员，他希望研究蜜蜂死亡的原因。
“每年冬天有三分之一的蜂群死亡，所以在过去六个冬天，平均有30%的蜂群死亡，这是个天文数字。”
他的研究小组检查了蜜蜂带回家的花粉粒，发现这些花粉含有高浓度的35种杀虫剂，这是用来保护作物的化学品。还发现吃了一些生物体杀菌剂的蜜蜂感染上名为微孢子虫的致命微生物菌。
然而杀菌剂在美国农业各方面都是必要的，迈克·莱格特在虫害管理行业机构美国作物生命协会研究农药。
“几个世纪以来，为了保护作物不受植物疾病的困扰，杀菌剂一直用得很普遍。”
他说，丹尼斯·范恩格斯德多普在花粉中检验出来的杀虫剂很多事实上都保护蜜蜂不受微孢子虫的危害。
马里兰州农民兼养蜂人基思·欧灵格每年都看到自己很多蜜蜂死亡，他认为蜜蜂大范围死亡是几种因素同时作用的结果，但他不确定杀虫剂是部分原因。
“我感到这是多种小因素共同作用而成的，我感到没有确凿证据。但这里存在分歧，有的人认为这只是一个因素在起作用，可能我的教育程度不够，我不知道。但我认为，如果能在里面游泳，那可能就是安全的。他们现在弄出很多东西来，我不知道会不会有人进去游足够长时间，然后出来说，‘哇，很好，我感觉好多了。’”
蜜蜂对农业来说很重要，这对范恩格斯德多普的团队来说，找到蜜蜂的死因也就非常迫切。
他也知道，我们所食用的东西，每三口就有一口在某种程度上是得到蜜蜂授粉的。
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
