农药居然是蜜蜂危险的诱惑_时事_双语阅读-查字典英语网

农药居然是蜜蜂危险的诱惑

Pesticides offer bees a risky allure

农药居然是蜜蜂危险的诱惑

Bees flit from flower to flower dining on nectar.Sometimes that nectar may contain traces of widelyused pesticides. Yet the bees are unlikely to knowwhich nectar is tainted. Indeed, they can't tastethese pesticides, a new study finds. However, thepesticides are similar to nicotine. This canencourage the bees to come back for more. Andespecially troubling: A second new study suggeststhe pesticides can harm some wild bees.

蜜蜂轻盈的从一朵花飞到另一朵花上采集花蜜，有时这些花蜜上可能会残留常用的农药，但是蜜蜂似乎察觉不到哪个花蜜已被其污染。一项新研究发现他们的确尝不出农药的味道。它的作用类似于尼古丁，致使蜜蜂对其上瘾，引诱着它们返回来食用更多。此外尤为让人头疼的是一项新研究表明农药会伤害到很多野蜜蜂。

The pesticides are known as neonicotinoids (Nee-oh-NICK-uh-tin-oydz). Farmers use them toprotect their crops from certain insects. The two new bee studies add to the controversysurrounding the use of these chemicals on corn and other crops.

农药也称为新烟碱类农药，农民利用它来保护庄稼免受一些昆虫的破坏。两项关于蜜蜂的新研究使得农药在玉米及其他庄稼上的使用更加备受争议。

In the lab, scientists tested how nerves in the mouthparts of honeybees and bumblebeesrespond to three widely used neonicotinoids. And they found no reaction to any of them.What this means: "I don't think they can taste it at all," says Geraldine Wright. She works atNewcastle University in England. There, she studies nerve signaling in bees.