时间:2019-02-13 作者:英语课 分类:2018年科学美国人2月


英语课

Bees Prefer Flowers That Proffer 1 Nicotine 2


We humans enjoy coffee and tea, to give our brains a caffeine boost. And bees sometimes sip 3 nectar that naturally contains caffeine, which seems to enhance their memory. Now a study suggests that bees enjoy another familiar drug produced by plants: nicotine.


我们人类喜欢咖啡和茶,给我们的大脑增加咖啡因。蜜蜂有时会啜饮含有咖啡因的花蜜,这似乎增强了它们的记忆力。现在一项研究表明,蜜蜂享受植物产生的另一种常见的药物:尼古丁。


"As it turns out, not just in humans, but even the bees seem to have difficulties quitting." Lars Chittka, a professor of behavioral and sensory 4 ecology at Queen Mary University of London. Chittka and his colleagues studied bumblebees as they visited fake flowers that contained varying levels of nicotine. Unnaturally 5 high nicotine concentrations deterred 6 the bees. But at real-world levels, the drug attracted bees. And they even learned a flower's color faster, if that flower offered a nicotine fix.


“事实上,不只是人类,但即使是蜜蜂似乎也有两难的时候。” Lars Chittka是玛丽女王伦敦大学行为和感觉生态学教授,当大黄蜂落在含有不同剂量的尼古丁的假花上时,Chittka和他的同事们对其进行了研究,高浓度的尼古丁使蜜蜂止步。但在现实情况下,药物会吸引蜜蜂。如果花能提供固定含量的尼古丁,它们还学会了更快地识别花的颜色。


Sometimes bees paid a steep price for this preference. "They returned actually to flowers that had previously 7 sold them nicotine, so to speak, even if these flowers no longer contained nectar."


有时,蜜蜂为此付出了高昂的代价。“事实上,他们回到以前含有的尼古丁的花朵上,即使这些花不再含有花蜜。


Which might give nicotine-pushing plants, like tobacco, an edge. "It provides these plant species with an unfair advantage over competing plants, because they can retain the faithful services of pollinators, even if they're offering suboptimal nectar in this case." The results are in the journal Scientific Reports.


这可能推动含有尼古丁的植物生长,如烟草。“相比其他植物,蜜蜂给这些植物提供了不公平的竞争优势,因为它们可以是忠实的授粉者,即使在这种情况下,它们不能采到理想的花蜜,”研究结果发表在科学报告杂志上。


And if caffeine and nicotine have these effects on bees? Perhaps natural floral pharmacies 8 stock other drugs too—that enhance pollination 9, and give bees a buzz.


如果咖啡因和尼古丁对蜜蜂有这些影响?也许天然花卉药店也可以储存其他药物——如强化授粉功能和给蜜蜂嗡嗡的声响。



v.献出,赠送;n.提议,建议
  • He rose and proffered a silver box full of cigarettes.他站起身,伸手递过一个装满香烟的银盒子。
  • I proffer to lend him one.我表示愿意借他一个。
n.(化)尼古丁,烟碱
  • Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
  • Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
v.小口地喝,抿,呷;n.一小口的量
  • She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
  • Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。
adj.知觉的,感觉的,知觉器官的
  • Human powers of sensory discrimination are limited.人类感官分辨能力有限。
  • The sensory system may undergo long-term adaptation in alien environments.感觉系统对陌生的环境可能经过长时期才能适应。
adv.违反习俗地;不自然地;勉强地;不近人情地
  • Her voice sounded unnaturally loud. 她的嗓音很响亮,但是有点反常。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Her eyes were unnaturally bright. 她的眼睛亮得不自然。 来自《简明英汉词典》
v.阻止,制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 )
  • I told him I wasn't interested, but he wasn't deterred. 我已告诉他我不感兴趣,可他却不罢休。
  • Jeremy was not deterred by this criticism. 杰里米没有因这一批评而却步。 来自辞典例句
adv.以前,先前(地)
  • The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
  • Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿,解释原先发生了什么。
药店
  • Still, 32 percent of the pharmacies filled the prescriptions. 但仍然有32%的药剂师配发了这两张药方。 来自互联网
  • Chinese herbal pharmacies, and traditional massage therapists in the Vancouver telephone book. 中药店,和传统的按摩师在温哥华的电话簿里。 来自互联网
n.授粉
  • The flowers get pollination by insects.这些花通过昆虫授粉。
  • Without sufficient pollination,the growth of the corn is stunted.没有得到充足的授粉,谷物的长势就会受阻。
学英语单词
abdominal part
absolutely stable
absorbing state
adrenochromes
aluminium foils
asymmetric transformation
banded stilts
basivertebral vein
battologized
be let in on the ground floor
body feed
Buridan's ass
cash invoice
Chorzelów
chronographer
clip off
combined vibrating roller
compensating feedback loop
conus planorbis
cost objective
cotton production
cylinder by-pass valve
D-frame
data over voice
days of rest
deglamorization
derestrict
dextrotorsion
dispersion-equalization
ditching attitude
Dohans
electrical characteristics
externally-braced monoplane
fall-out of synchronism
forecaddies
golden eagle
Goldstein-Scheerer tests
graduated string
half-hunter
Haplopappus spinulosus
have analogy to
heating system
heliotridylamine
hildebrand
hotlines
hyuck
indirect type central air-conditioning unit
Internet suffix
Izena-jima
Kurdistani
lampyridaes
leukoplania
liquid waste receiver tank
local acceptance
lsi-cml circuit technology
magnetoresistance magnetometer
merions
metal surface plasmon and second harmonic generator
minimum graph
mohs scales
natural environment management
nervi ampullaris lateralis
neverless
occasional light
once and a way
ordinary life assurance
oscillator padding
Osipa
photocell matrix
piston curl
pivot hinge
pontes
prequalified tenderer
puffest
queueing system structure
reflux column
repair of side ditch
Revere, Paul
sample-reset loop filter
Scirpus rosthornii
scornliche
separation of spinal cord and arachnoid adhesions
silicon diode array
sope
speed through the water
stellite-faced valve
Subprime Meltdown
tee-times
toll free number
toroidal discharge
transitive law
trichomonal urethro-cystitis
under constraint
undistributed score
virus diarrhea
waltz through
white cypresses
wide anode
win ... over
Yak-141
yellow-necked mice
zygomorphic pea flower