英语听力文摘 English Digest 401、了不起的建筑师（在线收听）

Beyond the Stinger
大自然最杰出的建造师

        Unless you’re an entomologist or a beekeeper, bees typically inspire one thing: fear. But most bees are non-aggressive, and only sting when provoked. In fact, once you get beyond the stinger, bees are pretty fascinating. For example, honeybees are great builders.

Beehive construction begins with finding a suitable site. Scout bees seek hollow spaces in trees and human-made structures. Such spaces must be able to hold at least six and a half gallons, and have a small entrance that faces south for warmth.

Once they’ve found the perfect spot, the scouts prepare the site by clearing away loose wood or other rubbish and coat the space with a dried tree resin called propolis.

Worker bees then take over, secreting wax to build the hive. Starting from the top and working down, they build combs–layers of hexagonally shaped cells with passageways along the walls to allow bees to move between combs. Each layer of cells has a specialized purpose.

The uppermost cells store honey, followed by pollen-storage cells. The bottom layers are designated for infant-rearing. Just beneath the pollen cells are brood cells where larvae become worker bees, and off to the side are cells housing drone bee larvae. Last, but certainly not least, special cells are set aside to shelter infant queen bees.

A typical nest has about 100,000 cells with a total surface area of about twenty-seven square feet. Most of the cells are used to store the more than forty pounds of honey required to feed a bee colony during the winter.

They may not win any awards, but bees are clearly some of nature’s most accomplishedarchitects.

       一提到蜜蜂，大家能联想到的可能是“可怕”，昆虫学者或养蜂人当然例外啦。但是，大多数的蜜蜂是没有攻击性的，蜜蜂蜇人那是万不得已的！事实上，蜜蜂是伟大的建筑师，而绝非仅仅是蜇人。

蜂巢建造的第一步：侦察蜂寻觅合适的搭建处。侦察蜂在树林间或人造建筑物中寻找至少6.5加仑的空间，并且有面朝温暖南方的入口。

      一旦侦察蜂找到绝佳的建造蜂巢点，它们会做好准备工作：清理掉松动的木材或其它杂物，在表层涂上叫蜂胶的干树脂。

     下一步轮到工蜂了，工蜂用蜂蜡建造蜂巢。先搭建巢基，逐层往下，每个蜂房都是六边形的。

     蜂房与蜂房间要留有空隙以便蜜蜂出入。每个蜂房都有特殊的作用。

     最上面的蜂房是储存蜂蜜的，下面一层是储存花粉的，再下层是幼虫变成工蜂的孵化室，最下层是育婴室，两侧居住的是雄蜂幼虫。当然，特殊的蜂房是留给有着尊贵地位的蜂王的。

     标准的蜂巢有100,000个蜂房，连上表层大概有27平方英尺。大多数蜂巢储存了40多英镑的蜂蜜足够整个蜜蜂家族度过整个冬天了。

     虽然，蜜蜂从未因此获奖。但是，它们无疑是大自然最杰出的建造师。