托福阅读经典加试之蜜蜂

兔斯基

　　蜜蜂(貌似很少考到)

　　Entomology(昆蟲學)

　　蜜蜂的溝通模式

　　講小蜜蜂。分為 honeybee和worker bee。講了honeybee是怎麼尋找蜜源和如何告訴同伴蜜源的位置的。開頭先說蜜蜂和 termite白蚁 與很多 Species 不同，他們是 social。蜜蜂是一個是由社會分工合作的動物(有題問他們有什麼共同點)，交流因此就變得很重要(有題)。然後科學家們就開始用他們的聰明才智研究小蜜蜂了。開始以為是honeybee是靠scent交流，然後某德國科學家研究發現 scout 用舞蹈來告訴工蜂蜜源的遠近，遠的用八字舞，近的用圓圈舞。他因此獲得炸藥獎。交流的內容靠跳 8 字舞或者 circle 區別 distance，而不是食物的類別(有題)。原來 發現蜜蜂找到窩以後跳舞是指示food type，後來發現 more than that。跳舞還指示出了direction and distance。跳舞分兩種一種是 nectar花蜜 dance 另一種 pollen花粉 dance，有一道題問這個的，nectar 是跳圓圈舞，pollen 是跳 8 字舞。但是一直有科學家懷疑 這個說法直到 1989 年，一些科學家為了驗證他的理論做了 machine bees 模仿 scout，就是不去有食物處(這裏有考題問機器蜜蜂和其他小蜜蜂有什麼不同)，發現 robot使用這些動作果然可以向工蜂有效傳遞資訊。采蜜只是跳舞來做一些指示。最後發 現了小蜜蜂帶回來的資訊和 wind 無關(這裏有考題問 except 的問題，其他選項是 direction, distance 還有一個忘了)

　　Bees

　　Flowers provide food for bees. The bees collect tiny grains of pollen and a sweet liquid called nectar from the blossoms they visit. They make honey from the nectar, and use both honey and pollen as food.

　　During their food-gathering flights, bees spread pollen from one flower to another, thus pollinating (fertilizing) the plants they visit. This enables the plants to reproduce.

　　The honey bee colony

　　A typical honey bee colony is made up of one queen, tens of thousands of workers, and a few hundred drones雄峰.

　　Honey bees live in hives. The hive is a storage space, such as a hollow空的 tree or a box, which contains a honeycomb蜂窝. The honeycomb is a mass of six-sided compartments隔间 called cells.

　　Worker bees build the honeycomb of wax produced by their bodies. The wax oozes渗出 through small pores (holes) in the body and forms tiny white flakes on the outside of the abdomen.

　　They also collect a sticky substance bee glue, from certain kinds of trees.

　　The body of the honey bee

　　A bee has five eyes-three small ones that form a triangle on top of its head, and a large compound eye on each side of its head.

　　Honey bees were the first insects known to be able to distinguish colors. Bees have three kinds of color-sensitive cells in their eyes. These visual cells are especially sensitive to blue, yellow, and ultraviolet rays, which humans cannot see.

　　The sting of a worker bee is straight, with barbs (hooks) on it. When the bee thrusts the sting into flesh, the barbs hold tight, and the stinger蛰针 pulls out of the bee's body.