There is an environmental mystery afoot,
有一个匪夷所思的自然现象正在进行，
and it begins with a seemingly trivial detail that reveals a disaster of global proportions.
这一切看似都源于一些琐碎的细节，它们揭示了全球均衡的灾难。
One day, you notice that the honey you slather on your morning toast is more expensive.
某一天，你发现你抹在面包上的蜂蜜变得更贵。
Instead of switching to jam, you investigate the reason for the price hike. What you find is shocking.
与其改用果酱，你开始调查价格上涨的原因。你所得出的结论令人震惊。
The number of domesticated honeybees in the US has been decreasing at an alarming rate.
美国家养蜜蜂的数量正在以一个惊恐的速度下降。
This decline appears too big to be explained by the usual causes of bee death alone: disease, parasites or starvation.
这样的一种减少程度太大，以至于不能用普通的理由去解释蜜蜂自身的死亡，比如疾病、寄生虫或者缺少食物。
A typical crime scene has almost no adult bees left in the hive,
一个典型的犯罪场景使得几乎没有成年蜜蜂留在蜂房，
except, perhaps, a lonely queen and a few other survivors.
除了可能留下了一个蜂后和其它一些幸存者。
It's full of untouched food stores and a brood of unborn larvae,
里面放满了没有触碰过的食物以及一些还未出生的幼虫，
suggesting that the adults vacated without waiting for them to hatch.
就好像一些成年蜜蜂并未等到它们孵化就辞职了。
But what's particularly eerie is that there's no tell-tale mass of dead or dying bees nearby.
但是最怪异的是，附近并没有任何已经死去或是正在死去的蜜蜂的迹象。
Either they have forgotten their way back to the hive, or they have simply disappeared.
要不就是是它们忘记回蜂房的路，要不就是它们纯粹的消失了。
These mysterious disappearances aren't new.
这样的神秘失踪并不是第一次。
Humans have been collecting honey for centuries.
几个世纪以来人们都在收集蜂蜜。
But it wasn't until European settlers in the 1600's introduced the subspecies, Apis mellifera, that we domesticated bees.
但是是从17世纪欧洲的移民者开始才引进了蜜蜂的亚种，意大利蜜蜂，也就是我们家养的蜜蜂。
Since the 19th century, beekeepers have reported occasional mass disappearances,
从19世纪开始，养蜂人发现时而会有大量的蜜蜂消失，
giving them enigmatic names like disappearing disease, spring dwindle disease and autumn collapse.
因此赋予了它们一些神奇的名字，比如“消失的疾病”、“春天会减少的疾病”以及“秋天的衰减”。
But when in 2006 such losses were found to affect more than half of all hives in the US,
但是到了2006年，人们发现这样的一种减少影响了美国超过一半的蜂房，
the phenomenon got a new name: colony collapse disorder.
人们给这样的现象一个新的名字，蜂群崩坏综合症。

The most frightening thing about this mystery isn't that we'll have to go back to using regular sugar in our tea.
这种不明的自然现象最恐怖的地方，并不是我们必须回到只能在茶里放普通糖的时期。
We farm bees for their honey, but they also pollinate our crops on an industrial scale,
我们为了蜂蜜而养殖蜜蜂，它们同时对我们种植的农作物进行授粉，
generating over 1/3 of America's food production this way.
美国超过三分之一的食物是通过这样的方式生长的。
So, how can we find the culprit behind this calamity?
所以，怎样才能找到灾难背后的凶手？
Here are three of the possible offenders.
这里提供三个可能的凶手。
Exhibit A: Pests and Disease.
第一种：害虫和疾病。
Most infamous is the varroa mite, a minuscule red pest that not only invades colonies and feeds on bees,
最声名狼藉的是瓦螨，一种小型的红色害虫，不仅寄生在蜜蜂、以蜜蜂为食物，
but also transfers pathogens that stunt bee growth and shortens their life span.
而且还传播一种能阻碍蜜蜂生长的病原体，缩短它们的寿命。
Exhibit B: Genetics.
第二种：遗传问题。
The queen is the core of a healthy hive.
蜂后是整个健康的蜂房的核心。
But nowadays, the millions of queen bees distributed in commercial hives are bred from just a few original queens,
但是如今，分布在商业蜂房的成千上万的蜂后都是由很少的一些蜂后哺育出来的，
which raises the worry about a lack of genetic diversity which could weaken bees' defenses against pathogens and pests.
这种方式直接影响了遗传的多样性，并且可能直接降低了蜜蜂对害虫和病原体的抵抗力。
Exhibit C: Chemicals.
第三种：化学药品。
Pesticides used both on commercial beehives and agricultural crops
在进行商业蜜蜂养殖和大规模农作物种植时，
to ward off parasites could be getting into the food and water that honeybees consume.
被用来消灭寄生虫的农药有可能参入蜜蜂所摄入的水和食物中。
Researchers have even found that some pesticides damage the honeybees' homing abilities.
研究者已经发现一些农药破坏了蜜蜂的归巢能力。
So we have a file full of clues but no clear leads.
所以我们有这样的一些线索，但并没有明确的证据。
In reality, scientists, the actual detectives on this case, face disagreement over what causes colony collapse disorder.
事实上，科学家们，也就是寻找真相的侦探们，在蜂群崩坏综合症的原因上有着不同的见解。
For now, we assume that several factors are the cause.
我们暂时假设这些因素就是原因。
Honeybees aren't necessarily in danger of extinction,
蜜蜂并不一定面临绝种的危险，
but fewer bees overall means less pollination and higher food costs,
但是蜜蜂数量的减少意味着授粉的减少以及食物价格的提高，
so it's crucial that scientists solve the case of the vanishing bees.
所以科学家们能否解开蜜蜂消失之谜是至关重要的。
Because while having less honey might be a buzzkill, crop shortages are something that would truly sting.
虽然蜂蜜的减少可能只是一件令人扫兴的事，但是粮食的短缺就事关重大了。