wiped out

millions of honeybee colonies throughout the world. Here's our science reporter Victoria Gill.

The mite, Varroa destructor, is the single biggest killer of honeybees worldwide. The researchers worked in Hawaii where Varroa only emerged in the last five years. This gave them a unique natural laboratory where they could monitor the beginning of an

infestation

. This revealed that the Varroa mites spread one specific lethal strain of deformed wing virus. The virus itself is untreatable, but identifying it could mean that beehives can be screened so only those that are irreversibly infected need to be destroyed.

BBC News

第二页：中英双语听力稿

The international envoy Kofi Annan has warned that the crisis in Syria could spiral out of control and called for substantial pressure on Damascus to end the violence. Mr Annan made his comments during a closed-door briefing to the United Nations Security Council. Reporting from the UN, Barbara Plett.

国际使者科菲·安南警告说，叙利亚危机会一发不可收拾，呼吁对大马士革施加实质性压力以结束暴力。安南是在向联合国安理会做闭门简报时提出这个建议的。Barbara Plett在联合国报道。

Kofi Annan acknowledged to UN member states that his peace plan for Syria isn't working. In a closed-door briefing to the Security Council, diplomats say he called for substantial pressure on Damascus to end the violence. Diplomats have said another idea is to create a contact group of world and regional powers to press for a political transition. To succeed, Mr Annan said, the international community must act as one and act now, but it's the council's divisions that have been on display. In a strongly worded statement, the United States called on all nations to abandon support for the government of President Bashar al-Assad, while Russia and China repeated their opposition to any outside intervention or forced regime change.