Plant Fungicide Might Harm Honeybees

农药可能会伤害蜜蜂

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

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.

新的研究发现，通常用来对抗作物病害的化学品会伤害蜜蜂。专家们表示，化学品可能是美国蜜蜂大范围死亡的部分原因。

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.

蜜蜂对农民们来说非常重要。当蜜蜂落在作物的花上时，花粉粘到它们的腿上。当这只蜜蜂落到另一朵花上时，一些花粉掉落，给这第二株作物授粉。

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.

授粉行为发生在很多水果、蔬菜、坚果和其它作物身上。然而近年来，美国和其它地方有大约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）是马里兰大学的一名研究人员。他想要搞明白为什么这么多蜜蜂死亡。

"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."

他说，“每年冬天都有1/3的蜂群死亡。过去六年，每年冬天平均有30%的蜂群死亡。这是个天文数字。”

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.

他的研究小组检查了蜜蜂带回蜂巢的花粉粒。他们发现，花粉含有35种不同的用于保护作物的农药和化学品，且含量特别高。他们还发现，蜜蜂吃了一些生物体杀菌剂，感染上被称为微孢子虫的致命微生物菌。

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.

然而杀菌剂在美国农业用途的应用是非常必要的。迈克·莱格特（Mike Leggett）在虫害管理行业机构--拦魑锷嵫芯颗┮

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

他说，“几个世纪以来，杀菌剂在防止植物受病害方面应用得相当广泛。”

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

他表示，许多范恩格斯德多普检测的花粉中发现的农药实际上可以防止蜜蜂感染微孢子虫。

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.

马里兰州的农民和养蜂人基思·欧灵格(Keith Ohlinger)每年冬天都看到自己很多蜜蜂死亡。欧灵格先生认为蜜蜂大范围死亡是几大因素同时作用的结果。但他不认为农药是问题的一部分。

"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!'"

他说，“我认为它是很多小东西汇集而成。我不认为有确凿证据。但目前有分歧，一些人认为只有一个原因。也许是我没受到足够的教育，我也不知道这些。但是我的观点是，如果你能在里面游泳，它可能就是安全的。而我不知道他们目前推出的很多东西，会不会有人进去游足够长时间，然后出来说，‘哇，很好，我感觉好多了。’”

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

蜜蜂对农业非常重要。这使得寻找它们死亡的答案对范恩格斯德多普的团队来说非常迫切。

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

如他所知，我们所食用的1/3的食品某种程度上是由蜜蜂授粉。