Have you ever seen a hive of bees? 你有没有看到过蜂箱?

　　Some hives are made with glass sides, through which we can see all that the bees are doing. 有些蜂箱的侧面是玻璃的, 你可以透过它们看到里面蜜蜂的活动情况。

　　In early summer each perfect hive contains four kinds of bees. 夏初, 每个完整的蜂窝中都居住着四种蜜蜂。

　　First, there is the mother, or queen bee, which lays the eggs, each in a little cell made of wax. 首先是蜂后, 她居住在蜡室中, 负责产卵。

　　Then there are the male bees, or drones. 然后是雄性蜜蜂, 即雄蜂。

　　These drones do no work in seeking for honey, and so they are soon killed by the other bees, and their bodies are thrown out of the hive.  它们不参加采蜜的工作, 因此很快会被其他同类杀死并扔出蜂窝。

　　Next come the most numerous class of all, the workers. 接下来是数量最多的蜜蜂, 工蜂。

　　Some of these build a great many little six-sided wax cells within the hive; 有些工蜂负责在蜂窝中建造许多六角形的蜡室,

　　while others visit flowers and suck out their sweet juices, or honey, and fill the cells with it. 另外一些则穿梭在花丛之中, 汲取甜美的花蜜并填充到蜡室之中。

　　Lastly, there are the young bees. 最后, 蜂窝中还有很多幼年蜜蜂。

　　Each egg laid by the queen bee is put into a little wax cell, 蜂后产下的每一颗卵都被放入到小的蜡室之中。

　　and changes first into a little white thing like a maggot without legs, which is called a larva.  最初, 它们会孵化成像蛆虫那样没有腿的白色物体, 这就是幼虫。

　　The larva is fed by the working bees, and in a few days it makes for itself a hard skin, and is called a pupa. 工蜂负责给幼虫喂食。几天之后, 它们便会长出坚硬的皮肤, 这就是蛹。

　　A few days more, and the pupa has changed into a perfect bee, which makes its way out of its little room or cell, and is ready to set to work at once. 再过几天, 蛹就会蜕变成发育成熟的蜜蜂, 它们从自己的小蜡室飞出之后就会立刻投入到工作之中。

　　The queen bee is much larger than the others. 蜂后的体型比其他蜜蜂要大上很多。

　　Both the queen bee and the workers have stings for fighting, but the drones have none. 蜂后与工蜂都长有螫针, 可以用于搏斗, 雄蜂却没有。

　　When the bee stings, an acid juice flows down the sting into the wound, and causes a smarting pain. 当蜜蜂叮咬敌人之后, 一种酸液就会沿着叮咬的地方进入伤口之中, 从而造成剧烈的疼痛。

　　Bees do not use their stings unless they are angry. 蜜蜂只有在愤怒时才会使用毒刺。

　　If you go too near a hive, some of the bees may think that you mean to hurt them, and may sting you. 如果你靠近一个蜂窝, 有些蜜蜂可能就会认为你是要伤害它们, 随之发动攻击。