(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Environment and Science Report.
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 pollen 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 spoke 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 Collapse Disorder. 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.
And that's the VOA Learning English Environment and Science Report. I'm Marsha James.
词汇解释
1.insecticide n. 杀虫剂
Spray the plants with insecticide.
给植物喷洒杀虫剂。
2.pollen vt. 传授花粉给 n. [植] 花粉
Nectar and pollen are very nutritious.
花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
3.nectar n. [植] 花蜜；甘露；神酒；任何美味的饮料
Bees gather nectar from flowers.
蜜蜂从花朵上采集花蜜。
4.pollinate vt. 对...授粉
Flowers are often pollinated by bees.
花常常由蜜蜂传授花粉。
5.beehive n. 蜂窝；蜂箱
They make a comparison of New York to a beehive.
他们把纽约比作一个蜂巢。
内容解析
1.But they do get into pollen and nectar, which is where the bees come into contact with them.
contact with 与…联系；接触
They renewed contact with other import and export corporations.
他们与其他进出口公司恢复了联系。
The college has brought me into contact with western ideas.
上大学使我接触了西方的思想。
2.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.
compared to 与…相比
His legs were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk.
他的双腿和他庞大身躯的其他部分相比瘦得可怜。
He contacted with me.
他曾和我有过交往。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语环境和科学报道。
一项新研究表明，一种普遍使用的杀虫剂正在破坏野蜂种群，野蜂很重要，因为它们能给作物和野生植物授粉。
美国和欧洲的环保人士称名为新烟碱的化学剂导致蜜蜂数量减少。
这些杀虫剂是全世界最常用的，农民们通常用经过杀虫剂处理过的种子。
这些化学剂针对的是吃作物的害虫，不会扩散到农田之外，但会进入花粉和花蜜中，蜜蜂就是在这里与农药发生接触。
Maj Rudlof是瑞典隆德大学的研究者，她是这项新烟碱研究的负责人。
她和其他研究者研究了田野里的蜜蜂，一半的田地用的种子是经过新烟碱处理的，另一外的种子没有经过处理。在《自然》杂志发布的一段视频中，她谈到这项研究的发现。
“我们发现最引人注意的结果是，与对照组相比，经过农药处理农田中的大黄蜂数量没有增长。”
她说与未处理农田相比，经过农药处理过农田里每平方米的野蜂数量只有前者的一半。
丹尼斯·范安吉斯多是一位昆虫学家，他就职于马里兰大学，他没有参与新烟碱研究，但他说禁止这种化学剂可能解决不了问题，他说这种杀虫剂并不像其他杀虫剂那样糟糕，他通过Skype接受了美国之音的采访。
“在很多情况下，新烟碱事实上是最安全的替代品，所以禁止它只能让农民选择其他一样糟糕或更糟糕的杀虫剂。”
他说农民们通常过量使用这种化学品，这可能会有害蜜蜂。范安吉斯多认为农民们没有必要完全不再使用新烟碱，他说应该在必要时合理这种杀虫剂。
据悉这同一种化学剂与欧洲蜜蜂遇到的一个问题有关，农民们喂养这种蜜蜂来给作物授粉。这种问题叫蜂群崩坏症候群，蜂巢里的工蜂突然消失，农民们在蜂巢周围找不到死去的蜜蜂。
美国农业部的一份报告包含了有关新烟碱影响的信息，称这种化学剂使得蜜蜂更容易生病，蜜蜂无法对抗那些通常感染它们的病毒。
这就是美国之音慢速英语环境和科学报道，我是玛莎·詹姆斯。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
