Listening

Honey Bee Pollination

Honeybees(蜜蜂) play an interesting and important role in nature.

In addition to making honey, honeybees help many plants reproduce.T

They do this by pollinating( 授粉) the plant, which means to transfer pollen(花粉).

Pollination(授粉) occurs when pollen is moved within a plant’s flower or carried to another flower.

This is how the plants reproduce.

For reproduction to succeed, the pollen must be transferred from the male part of a flower to the female part.

Many plants depend on pollination for reproduction. 

These include many fruits and vegetables.

Besides honeybees, there are many other pollinators, including birds, insects, and other kinds of bees.

Without enough pollinators, many of our favorite fruits and vegetables would become more expensive and hard to find.

These include almonds(杏仁) and cherries(樱桃).

Honeybees are important pollinators and play an important role in agriculture.

Beekeepers(养蜂人) are people who keep honeybees.

In addition to connecting honey, some beekeepers provide pollination services to farmers.

They do this by raising and managing colonies(群落) of bees.

Farmers need the colonies to pollinate their crops(作物).

Beekeepers can provide and manage bee colonies for farmers. 

 Colony Collapse

Honey bees are social insects that live in colonies.

A bee colony consists of a queen bee, male drones and thousands of female worker bees.

Each colony also contains eggs and immature(未成熟的) bees in various stages of development.

The number of bees within a colony depends on seasonal changes.

A colony’s population increases during the warmer seasons and decreases during colder seasons.

In recent years, many bee colonies have collapsed, or disappeared.

A bee colony collapse occurs when a majority of the bees in a colony disappear and leave behind the queen.

Some beekeepers have reported losing 30 to 90 percent of their colonies.

This loss of bee colonies can cause significant problems for farmers who depend on them to pollinate their crops.

In some parts of the world, a shortage of bees has increased the cost of renting bees by up to 20%. 

There are several possible causes for bee colony collapse. 

One possible cause is the use of new pesticides(农药).

Other possible causes include infections from viruses, genetic factors(遗传因素), and malnutrition(营养不良).

Changing weather patterns may also play a role as summers get hotter and winters get colder.

These changes in weather may weaken the bees, making it more difficult for them to fight infections.

Whatever the cause of colony collapse, it’s important to understand that many parts of our world are interdependent(相互依存).

Changes that affect one species may have serious effects on other species.

A change to our environment can start a chain of events that is difficult to predict.

In any complex system such as the Earth’s environment, small changes can have unforeseen consequences.

The danger of unforeseen consequences is something we all need to understand better.

Vocabulary

Business and Economics 

Goods and services supply what people need or want.

Goods are things such as food and clothing.

Services include things such as health care and police protection.

A country needs natural and human resources.

Natural resources include fresh water supplies, farmland and energy sources such as oil and wind.

Human resources include a skilled workforce that can produce goods and services.

Once we have a supply of goods or services, they need to be distributed throughout a country.

Highways and railways are both ways to transport things from one part of a country to another.

Electricity is distributed through a system of transmission lines.

We live in an age of advertising.

Advertising lets people know about goods and services. 

It educates people about the product being advertised.

Trade allows for the exchange of goods and services between different countries.

Exports are goods and services that are sold to another country.

Imports are goods and services that are bought from another country.

For example, many countries import oil from countries such as Saudi Arabia.

Career Building

Employees are the people who work for a company.

Some employees do basic work, such as operating a machine or driving a truck.

The people who hire and direct the work of other employees are managers.

Interviews are one way to find out about a person who applies for a job.

In an interview, a job applicant can ask questions about a company and the company can find out about a person’s skills and experience.

An entrepreneur(企业家) is someone who starts a new company.

Entrepreneurs often have new ideas and ways of doing things that can give their company an advantage.

Salary and benefits are used to attract new employees into a company.

If the salary and benefits are good enough, employees may take the job and stay with the company.

Benefits include vocation time, health insurance and bonuses for employees who do a good job.

When applying for a job it’s important to have the skills and experience needed for the job.

Developing and increasing skills and experience is a good way to prepare for a good job.

Each job a person has is an opportunity to learn new things and develop new skills.

Dialogue

Landlord Trouble

M：You don’t look good. Is something bothering you?

W：Yes, it’s my landlord(房东).

M：Oh, is there something wrong with your flat?

W：No, there’s nothing wrong with the flat. But I’m going to have to move out.

M：Why do you have to move out?

W：For the last two months a friend has been staying with me. She is staying until she can find a job.

M：That’s nice of you.

W：Yes, but I’m not supposed to have anyone staying there.

M：Was that in the rental agreement?

W：Yes, it was. It’s okay if a friend stays for a few days, but not for more than that.

M：So you broke the agreement, even though it was for a good reason.

W：Anyway, one of my neighbors told the landlord about my friend. So now I’m in trouble. The landlord is angry and says she can’t trust me.

M：That’s ridiculous.

W：I told her about my friend and how I’m trying to help her, but she doesn’t care.

M：Wow, she doesn’t sound very nice.

W：That’s right, she isn’t nice. She’s just interested in money. In fact, she’s going to keep my security deposit(保证金).

M：How can she do that? Nothing is damaged, right?

W：Right, everything in the flat is fine. She’s keeping the deposit because I broke the rental agreement.

-What is the landlord going to keep? –the security deposit.

M：What about your rent?

W：Yes, that’s another problem. I’ve already pay 3 months’rent, so I hope I can get it back.

M：What can you do if she doesn’t return it?

W：I don’t know. I’ll talk to my agent. He’s nice and may be he can help. Maybe I should refuse to leave the flat until I get it back.

M：Be sure to take pictures of the flat. 

W：What for?

M：Just to show the condition of the flat. Then she can’t say your friend damage it in anyway.

W：Good idea. She’s a small-minded evil woman. I should never have rented it from her in the first place.