科学美国人60秒:花蜜有助于蜜蜂健康-托福听力下载

　　科学美国人60秒中文翻译：

　　Home-based bird watchers might have mixed up a batch of nectar to attract the feathered objects of their affection. 非专业的鸟类观察家们很可能会自制一些花蜜来吸引他们钟情的鸟类。

　　It's pretty easy—just mix sugar and water. 做法非常简单—只要把糖和水混合一下就可以了。

　　But the real stuff is a lot more complex—nearly all nectars are laced with amino acids, and some contain alkaloids, like nicotine and caffeine. 但真正的制作工序要更为繁琐—因为几乎所有花蜜都含有氨基酸，还有一些含有如尼古丁和咖啡因等的生物碱。

　　What's the plants' motivation for producing such chemicals? 那么植物制造这样一种化学物质是何缘由呢?

　　It's possible that this is an antimicrobial adaptation of plants—that they're toxifying their nectar to protect it from spoilage by yeast or other microbes. 这可能是植物所做出的一种抗菌反应—它们会毒化花蜜以保护自身免遭酵母或其它微生物的侵害。”

　　Leif Richardson, an ecologist at the University of Vermont. 莱夫·理查德森是佛蒙特大学的一位生态学家。

　　He says the compounds might also be a chemical defense. 他表示这种化合物也可能是一种化学防卫体系。

　　Maybe the compounds are deterrent to nectar robbers, who take nectar without pollinating. 也许这种化合物能够对那些不授粉就抢夺的采蜜大盗起到威慑作用。

　　And yes, nectar robbing is indeed a thing. 是的，花蜜抢劫一事确实存在。

　　But Richardson and his colleagues have come up with yet another function for nectar's chemicals: as medicine for bees. 但理查德森和他的同事们也提出花蜜化学物质的另一个功能：那就是它是蜜蜂的一种药物。

　　They found compounds in the nectar of wild tobacco, linden, and white turtlehead flowers that cut the numbers of a common gut parasite in bumblebees by as much as 80 percent. 他们发现野外的烟草、菩提树叶及白龟头花中含有的花蜜化合物能够将熊蜂身上的常见肠道寄生虫数量减少80%。

　　The results are in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 这一研究结果已经在《皇家学会学报B》上发表。

　　The big unanswered question here is whether bees might actually self-medicate when they're sick. 而现在还有个仍未解决的大难题：当蜜蜂生病时能否自我治愈。

　　Preliminary work suggests they do. 初步的研究表明的确能够实现。

　　And if that notion holds true, farmers and home gardeners alike could boost bee health—simply by growing plants that serve up the right medicine. 如果这一理念属实，农民和园丁仅通过种植提供正确药品的植物就可以为蜜蜂的健康保驾护航。

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