Study Finds Bees Like Playing with Balls研究发现蜜蜂喜欢玩球

Everyone knows that bees are busy. There is even a saying that one can be“as busy as a bee”. However， little is known about how bees play. Scientists havefound one way that bees could relax after a busy day making honey—they playwith balls.

每个人都知道蜜蜂很忙。甚至有这样一句话：一个人可以“像蜜蜂一样忙碌”。然而，人们对蜜蜂如何玩耍知之甚少。科学家们发现了一种蜜蜂在忙着酿了一天蜜之后可以放松一下的方式———它们会玩球。

The scientists are from Queen Mary University of London. They did differenttests on bees “playing”with different things. The bees liked playing with small，wooden balls. The researchers said the way bees played was a little like how humansplay. Younger bees rolled1 more balls than older bees， while adult2 males3 spentlonger playing with balls than adult females4. The ball-rolling bees are the firstknown animals to“play”.

这些科学家来自伦敦玛丽女王大学。他们对蜜蜂“玩”不同的东西做了不同的测试。蜜蜂喜欢玩小木球。研究人员表示，蜜蜂的游戏方式有点像人类的游戏方式。年幼的蜜蜂比年长的蜜蜂滚更多的球，而成年雄性比成年雌性玩球的时间更长。滚球的蜜蜂是已知的第一种爱“玩耍”的动物。

The researchers did experiment5 on 45 bumblebees6 in a special test area. Thebees were given two choices. The first choice was to fly directly to get a sugary7treat8. The second choice was to get to the treat by going around different colouredwooden balls. Most of the bees decided to play with the balls and then get their treat.

研究人员在一个特殊的测试区对45 只大黄蜂进行了实验。蜜蜂们有两种选择：第一个选择是直接飞过去吃甜食；第二个选择是绕过不同颜色的木球飞去甜食那里。大多数蜜蜂选择玩球，然后才去吃它们的美食。

A researcher said the experiments showed that bees are more thoughtful9than people thought. She said that bees are a million miles from the mindless10，unfeeling animals they are thought to be. She added that this research shows thatbees are much smarter than we could think.

一位研究人员表示，实验表明蜜蜂比人们想象的更善于思考。她说，蜜蜂与人们认为的那种无意识、无情感的动物相差万里。她补充说，这项研究表明蜜蜂比我们想象的要聪明得多。

▏Notes

1. roll. 使……翻滚；滚动

2. adult. 成年的；发育成熟的

3. male. 男性的；动物；公的；雄性的

4. female. 女性的；动物；母的；雌性的

5. experiment . 实验；试验

6. bumblebee. [昆]大黄蜂

7. sugary.含糖的；甜的

8. treat.指不经常吃的美味佳肴

9. thoughtful. 思考的；经缜密思考过的

10. mindless. 盲目的；没头脑的

Discussion 议一议：

1. Have you ever watched a bee play？ 你见过蜜蜂玩耍么？

2. What other smart animals do you know？ 你还知道哪些聪明的动物？

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