Have you ever seen a hive of bees? Some hives are made with glass sides, through which we can see all that the bees are doing.

你有没有看到过蜂箱? 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. First, there is the mother, or queen bee, which lays the eggs, each in a little cell made of wax. Then there are the male bees, or drones. 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.

夏初， 每个完整的蜂窝中都居住着四种蜜蜂。首先是蜂后, 她居住在蜡室中, 负责产卵。然后是雄性蜜蜂, 即雄蜂。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. Some of these build a great many little six-sided wax cells within the hive; while others visit flowers and suck out their sweet juices, or honey, and fill the cells with it.

接下来是数量最多的蜜蜂, 工蜂。有些工蜂负责在蜂窝中建造许多六角形的蜡室， 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. Each egg laid by the queen bee is put into a little wax cell, and changes first into a little white thing like a maggot without legs, which is called a larva. 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. 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.

最后，蜂窝中还有很多幼年蜜蜂。蜂后产下的每一颗卵都被放入到小的蜡室之中。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。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。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. Both the queen bee and the workers have stings for fighting, but the drones have none. When the bee stings, an acid juice flows down the sting into the wound, and causes a smarting pain. Bees do not use their stings unless they are angry. If you go too near a hive, some of the bees may think that you mean to hurt them, and may sting you.

蜂后的体型比其他蜜蜂要大上很多。蜂后与工蜂都长有螫针, 可以用于搏斗，雄蜂却没有。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。蜜蜂只有在愤怒时才会使用毒刺。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。

The skin will swell¹ at the place where you were stung, and that spot will feel very sore for several days.

 

皮肤被叮咬的地方高高肿起，在接下来的几天时间里，这个伤口都会令人感到疼痛难忍。

The hive bee is dark brown in colour, and its body is covered with brown hairs. Its length is a little more than half an inch. The body of the bee, like that of all insects, is divided into three parts—the head, the chest, and the belly².

蜜蜂的体色呈深棕色，覆盖着一层棕色绒毛。蜜蜂体长半英寸稍多一些, 与所有的昆虫一样, 蜜蜂的身体分为三个部分——头部、胸部与腹部。

The head has two eyes, two feelers, and a long trunk or tongue with which the bee gathers honey from the flowers. The chest has two pairs of gauzy wings above, and underneath³ there are three pairs of jointed⁴ legs. The belly is the largest of the three parts of the body, but it has no limbs attached to it. If we examine the body of the bee carefully, we shall see that it is made of a number of rings joined together.

蜜蜂的头上长有两只眼睛、两根触角以及长长的喙或者说是舌头，它就是通过这个器官来收集花蜜。胸部共有两种器官：上面是两对轻薄的翅膀, 下面则是三对长有关节的腿。在蜜蜂的整个身体中，腹部体积最大, 不过却没有任何附肢与之相连。仔细观察蜜蜂的身体，就会发现， 它是由很多彼此相连的环形结构组成。

Each of the two hind⁵ legs of the bee has a hollow called the "basket" on the outer side. In these two baskets the working bee stores up the pollen⁶, or yellow grains like dust, which it gets from the flowers. This pollen is taken to the hive and mixed with honey. It is then called "bee bread, " for it is the food on which the young bees are brought up.

蜜蜂的两条后腿外侧都有一个被称作花粉筐（也叫花粉篮）的中空部分。工蜂将那些从花朵中采集的花粉（粉末状的黄色微粒）储存在这两个“篮子”里面。蜜蜂将花粉运送到蜂窝之中, 与蜂蜜混合在一起。这就是“蜂粮”, 幼年蜜蜂依靠这些食物发育成长。

There is never more than one grown-up queen bee in a hive at a time. As the summer goes on, and the hive becomes too full, a young queen grows up. Then the old queen and a great number of the working bees leave the hive. This is called "swarming⁸. " The swarm⁷ of bees often settles on the branch of a tree not far from the hive, and soon they are taken by their owner and put into a new and empty hive.

蜂窝中不可能存在两只成年蜂后。随着夏季的推进， 蜂窝就会变得拥挤不堪，这时候一只幼年蜂后逐渐发育成熟。这时， 老蜂后就会带领一群工蜂离开这个蜂窝。这种现象就是“分蜂（分群）”。这群蜜蜂通常都会选择一个距离原来的蜂窝不远的树枝，很快， 它们便会建造一个全新的蜂窝，开始自己的生活。

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