VOA慢速英語:Plant Fungicide Might Harm Honeybees

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語農業(yè)報道。

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.

新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，通常用來對抗作物病害的化學品會傷害蜜蜂。專家們表示，化學品可能是美國蜜蜂大范圍死亡的部分原因。

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.

蜜蜂對農民們來說非常重要。當蜜蜂落在作物的花上時，花粉粘到它們的腿上。當這只蜜蜂落到另一朵花上時，一些花粉掉落，給這第二株作物授粉。

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.

授粉行為發(fā)生在很多水果、蔬菜、堅果和其它作物身上。然而近年來，美國和其它地方有大約30%的蜜蜂死了。

Dennis VanEngelsdorp is a researcher at the University of Maryland. He wants to learn why so many bees are dying.

丹尼斯·范恩格斯德多普(Dennis VanEngelsdorp)是馬里蘭大學的一名研究人員。他想要搞明白為什么這么多蜜蜂死亡。

"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."

他說，“每年冬天都有1/3的蜂群死亡。過去六年，每年冬天平均有30%的蜂群死亡。這是個天文數(shù)字。”

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.

他的研究小組檢查了蜜蜂帶回蜂巢的花粉粒。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，花粉含有35種不同的用于保護作物的農藥和化學品，且含量特別高。他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)，蜜蜂吃了一些生物體殺菌劑，感染上被稱為微孢子蟲的致命微生物菌。

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.

然而殺菌劑在美國農業(yè)用途的應用是非常必要的。邁克·萊格特(Mike Leggett)在蟲害管理行業(yè)機構--美國作物生命協(xié)會研究農藥。

"Fungicides are used, and have been used, pretty broadly, for centuries, for protection of plants from plant disease."

他說，“幾個世紀以來，殺菌劑在防止植物受病害方面應用得相當廣泛。”

He says that many of the pesticide found in the pollen examined by Dennis VanEngelsdorp actually protect bees from Nosema.

他表示，許多范恩格斯德多普檢測的花粉中發(fā)現(xiàn)的農藥實際上可以防止蜜蜂感染微孢子蟲。

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.

馬里蘭州的農民和養(yǎng)蜂人基思·歐靈格(Keith Ohlinger)每年冬天都看到自己很多蜜蜂死亡。歐靈格先生認為蜜蜂大范圍死亡是幾大因素同時作用的結果。但他不認為農藥是問題的一部分。

"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!'"

他說，“我認為它是很多小東西匯集而成。我不認為有確鑿證據(jù)。但目前有分歧，一些人認為只有一個原因。也許是我沒受到足夠的教育，我也不知道這些。但是我的觀點是，如果你能在里面游泳，它可能就是安全的。而我不知道他們目前推出的很多東西，會不會有人進去游足夠長時間，然后出來說，‘哇，很好，我感覺好多了。’”

Honeybees are important to agriculture. This makes the search for an answer to their death especially urgent for Mr VanEngelsdorp's team.

蜜蜂對農業(yè)非常重要。這使得尋找它們死亡的答案對范恩格斯德多普的團隊來說非常迫切。

As he knows, one in every three bites of food we eat is somehow pollinated by honeybees.

如他所知，我們所食用的1/3的食品某種程度上是由蜜蜂授粉。