英语精读100篇UNIT21.docVIP

TEXT ONE When honey bees began to desert their hives recently, never to return, it threw apiarists into a panic. What appeared to be perfectly healthy adult bees would flee their queen, the young and their foodstores. Instead of ransacking the empty hive, other bees would avoid it like the plague. Yet there was nothing obviously wrong. Researchers have now identified the first tangible clue in the mystery—a relatively new virus. Colony collapse disorder became widespread in America in the winter of 2006-07, when about a quarter of the nations beekeepers were affected, each losing between 30% a