時差N小時:大自然最杰出的建造師 Beyond the Stinger

Unless you're an entomologist or a beekeeper,beestypically inspire one thing: fear.

一提到蜜蜂，大家能聯(lián)想到的可能是“可怕”，昆蟲學(xué)者或養(yǎng)蜂人當然例外啦。

But most bees are non-aggressive, and only stingwhen provoked.

但是，大多數(shù)的蜜蜂是沒有攻擊性的，蜜蜂蜇人那是萬不得已的!

In fact, once youget beyond the stinger, bees arepretty fascinating.

事實上，蜜蜂是偉大的建筑師，而絕非僅僅是蜇人。

Beehive construction begins with finding a suitable site.

蜂巢建造的第一步：

Scout bees seek hollow spaces in trees and human-made structures.

偵察蜂尋覓合適的搭建處。

Such spaces must be able to hold at least six and a half gallons, andhave a small entrance thatfaces south for warmth.

偵察蜂在樹林間或人造建筑物中尋找至少6.5加侖的空間，并且有面朝溫暖南方的入口。

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

一旦偵察蜂找到絕佳的建造蜂巢點，它們會做好準備工作：清理掉松動的木材或其它雜物，在表層涂上叫蜂膠的干樹脂。

Worker bees then take over, secreting wax to build the hive.

下一步輪到工蜂了，工蜂用蜂蠟建造蜂巢。

Starting from the top and workingdown, they build combs-layers of hexagonally shaped cellswith passageways along the walls toallow bees to move between combs.

先搭建巢基，逐層往下，每個蜂房都是六邊形的。蜂房與蜂房間要留有空隙以便蜜蜂出入。

Each layer of cells has a specialized purpose.

每個蜂房都有特殊的作用。

The uppermost cells store honey, followed by pollen-storage cells.

最上面的蜂房是儲存蜂蜜的，下面一層是儲存花粉的，

The bottom layers aredesignated for infant-rearing.

再下層是幼蟲變成工蜂的孵化室，

Just beneath the pollen cells are brood cells where larvae becomeworker bees, and off to theside are cells housing drone bee larvae.

最下層是育嬰室，兩側(cè)居住的是雄蜂幼蟲。

Last, but certainly not least,special cells are set aside to shelter infant queen bees.

當然，特殊的蜂房是留給有著尊貴地位的蜂王的。

A typical nest has about 100,000 cells with a total surface area of about twenty-seven squarefeet.

標準的蜂巢有100,000個蜂房，連上表層大概有27平方英尺。

Most of the cells are used to store the more than forty pounds of honey required to feed abeecolony during the winter.

大多數(shù)蜂巢儲存了40多英鎊的蜂蜜足夠整個蜜蜂家族度過整個冬天了。

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

雖然，蜜蜂從未因此獲獎。但是，它們無疑是大自然最杰出的建造師。