Unit 22 Bees

Things were clear now.

事情現在清楚了。

Unit 22 Bees

The circle dance meant that food was near.

圓圈舞表示食物在附近。

Unit 22 Bees

The wagging dance meant that food was far away.

搖擺舞表示食物在遠處。

Unit 22 Bees

But then another question came up.

但是另一個問題出現了。

Unit 22 Bees

Did the wagging dance tell the bees how far away the food was?

搖擺舞有沒有告訴蜜蜂食物到蜂箱的距離有多遠？

Unit 22 Bees

To answer this question, von Frisch and his coworkers set up a feeding place close to the hive.

為了回答這個問題，馮·弗里施和他的同伴在蜂箱附近建起了一個喂食點。

Unit 22 Bees

Then they slowly moved it farther and farther away.

然后，他們慢慢地把它移得越來越遠。

Unit 22 Bees

Back at the hive they watched the wagging dance closely.

他們回到蜂箱旁，仔細觀察搖擺舞。

Unit 22 Bees

With a stopwatch, they counted how many times the bees repeated the dance during one minute.

他們用秒表記錄蜜蜂在一分鐘內重復舞蹈的次數。

Unit 22 Bees

They discovered that the farther away the feeding station was, the slower the dance was.

他們發現離喂食點越遠，蜜蜂就跳得越慢。

Unit 22 Bees

So another astonishing fact came to light.

于是又發現了一個驚人的事實。

Unit 22 Bees

The number of wagging dances per minute told the exact distance to the feeding place.

每分鐘跳搖擺舞的次數說明了到喂食點的精確距離。

Unit 22 Bees

They also found out that bees fly a maximum distance of 3.2 kilometres between their hive and a feeding place.

他們還發現蜜蜂從蜂箱到喂食點的最大飛行距離是3。2公里。

Unit 22 Bees

Next Von Frisch thought that bees needed to know more than just the distance to a faraway place.

接著，馮·弗里施認為蜜蜂不僅需要知道到遠的喂食點的距離。

Unit 22 Bees

He thought they needed to know the direction to it.

它們還需要知道去那里的方向。

Unit 22 Bees

He set out to discover whether the wagging dance showed direction.

他開始著手找出搖擺舞是否表示方向。

Unit 22 Bees

He put a glass dish with sugar water and honey to the west of the hive. A marked bee fed itself from the dish and returned to the hive.

他在蜂箱的西面放一個裝有糖水和蜜蜂的玻璃碟子。

Unit 22 Bees

Soon, the bees in the hive flew out.They flew right to the dish.

很快，蜂箱里的蜜蜂飛了出來，它們徑直朝碟子飛去。

Unit 22 Bees

Then Von Frisch moved the dish to the east of the hive and waited for a marked bee to feed.

然后，馮·弗里施把碟子移到蜂箱的西邊，等待有標記的蜜蜂來吃。

Unit 22 Bees

Again the bees flew right to the dish.

蜜蜂又一次徑直向碟子飛去。

Unit 22 Bees

How did the bees know exactly in which diection to fly?

蜜蜂是怎樣確切地知道朝哪個方向飛呢？

Unit 22 Bees

Von Frisch watched the wagging dance very carefully.

馮·弗里施非常仔細地觀察蜜蜂跳的搖擺舞。

Unit 22 Bees

He noticed that the straight part of the dance was different in the afternoon from what it had been in the morning.

他注意到下午舞蹈的直線部分與上午的不一樣。

Unit 22 Bees

It soon became clear that the straight part of the dance changed when the sun's position changed. If the feeding place was toward the sun, the dancer headed straight upward during the straight part of the wagging dance.

情況很快就弄清了，舞蹈的直線部分是隨著太陽位置的變化而變化的。

Unit 22 Bees

If the feeding place was away from the sun, the straight part of the wagging dance pointed downward.

如果喂食地點向著太陽，跳舞的蜜蜂在跳搖擺舞時直線部分就一直向上。

Unit 22 Bees

The wagging dance of the honey bee, therefore, did show the direction of a feeding place.

如果喂食地點背離太陽，搖擺舞的直線部分就朝下。因此，蜜蜂的搖擺舞的確表示喂食點的方向。

Unit 22 Bees

When honey bees have discovered a feeding place, they fly directly to it from the hive.

當蜜蜂發現一個喂食點時，它們從蜂箱直接飛往那里。

Unit 22 Bees

After a short time a line of bees fly to and from the hive like a thin stream.

過不了一會兒，一隊蜜蜂像一條小溪一樣在蜂箱和喂食點之間來往飛行。

Unit 22 Bees

Centuries ago, the word beeline was made to describe this thin line of bees flying through the air.

幾百年前，有人用beeline 這個詞來描寫蜜蜂在空中飛行的細窄路線。

Unit 22 Bees

From this we get the expression to make a beeline for someone or something, which means to go quickly along a straight direct course for someone or something.

從這里我們得到一條短語"to make a beeline for someone or something，意思是迅速地沿著一條直線向某人或某物走去。