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第一段
1 .Good morning everyone.
大家早上好！
2 .In today's seminar, Grant Freeman, a biologist who specialises in identifying insects, and who works for the Australian Quarantine Service, has come to talk to us about his current research work.
在今天的研讨会中，专门研究昆虫鉴别的生物学家，格兰特·弗里曼先生，他同时也在澳大利亚检疫局工作，会来和我们谈一谈他最近的研究成果。
3 .Right, well, over to you, Grant.
好的，那接下来就交给你了，格兰特。
4 .Good morning, everyone.
大家早上好！
5 .I'm sure that you know that the quarantine service regulates all food brought into Australia.
我想大家都知道，检疫局的工作是对所有进口到澳洲的食物进行检查。
6 .Well, obviously they want to protect Australia from diseases that might come in with imported goods,
这样做的目的显然是想要保护澳洲民众免受可能随进口食物入境的疾病之苦，
7 .but they also want to prevent insect pests from being introduced into the country, and that's where I have a part to play.
但与此同时，我们还有另一项工作，那就是防止害虫入境，而这也正是我的主要工作。
8 .Anyway, my current research involves trying to find a particular type of bee, the Asian Honey Bee,
简而言之，我最近的研究包括寻找一个特定种类的蜜蜂——亚洲蜜蜂，
9 .and finding out whether there are any of them around in various states of Australia.
并查明在澳大利亚各个州是否还有他们的踪迹。
10 .We discovered a few of them in Queensland once and eradicated them.
我们曾在昆士兰发现了一些这样的蜜蜂，并且将它们消灭了。
11 .Now, we're pretty keen to make sure that there aren't any more getting in, particularly to New South Wales and other states.
现在，我们非常希望确认没有新的亚洲蜜蜂入境，尤其是新南威尔士和其他的几个州。
12 .What's wrong with Asian Honey Bees? Are they so different from Australian bees?
亚洲蜜蜂怎么了？它们和澳洲蜜蜂区别很大吗？
13 .Well, in fact, they look almost the same, but they are infested with mites- microscopic creatures which live on them,
嗯，事实上，它们看起来倒是和澳洲蜜蜂差不多，但它们身上滋生了很多螨虫——一种寄生在它们身上的微生物，
14 .and which can seriously damage our own home-grown bees, or could even wipe them out.
这些微生物会严重的伤害我们本地的蜜蜂，甚至会导致它们的灭绝。
15 .Well, what would happen if Australian bees died out?
那如果澳洲蜜蜂都灭绝了将会有什么样的后果呢？
16 .Well, the honey from Australian bees is of excellent quality, much better than the stuff the Asian bees produce.
嗯，澳洲蜜蜂产的蜂蜜质量很好，比亚洲蜜蜂产的密好很多。
17 .In fact, Australia exports native Queen bees to a large number of countries because of this.
实际上因为这个原因，澳大利亚向很多国家都出口蜂后。
18 .When the European Honey Bee was first discovered out in the bush, we found they made really unpleasant honey and they were also too big to pollinate many of our native flowers here in Australia.
当我们在灌木丛中首次发现欧洲蜜蜂的时候，我们发现它们产的蜂蜜质量很差，而且它们的体型太大了，无法为澳洲当地的很多花授粉。
19 .That must have had a devastating effect on the natural flora. Did you lose any species?
那肯定对当地的植物损害很大。有没有因此而灭绝的物种呢？
20 .No, we managed to get them under control before that happened, but if Asian bees got in there could be other consequences.
没有，在悲剧发生之前我们成功的控制了状况，但如果亚洲蜜蜂出现，那后果就不一样了。
21 .We could lose a lot of money because you might not be aware, but it's estimated that native bees' pollination of flower and vegetable crops is worth 1.2 billion dollars a year.
我们很可能因为没有意识到它们的存在而遭受巨大的经济损失。据估计每年通过本地蜜蜂授粉而生产的花卉和蔬菜的价值大约是1200万澳元。
22 .So in a way they're the farmers' friend. Oh, and another thing is, if you're stung by an Asian Honey Bee,
所以在某种程度上，它们是农民的朋友。对了，还有一点，如果被亚洲蜜蜂蜇伤了，
23 .it can produce an allergic reaction in some people, so they're much more dangerous than native bees.
一些人会出现过敏反应，所以它们比本地蜜蜂更加危险。
第二段
1 .How will you know if Asian bees have entered Australia?
如果有亚洲蜜蜂进入澳大利亚，你怎样知道呢？
2 .We're looking at the diet of the bird called the Rainbow Bee Eater.
我们观察一种名为彩虹蜂虎的鸟类的饮食状况。
3 .The Bee Eater doesn't care what it eats, as long as they're insects.
这种鸟吃各种昆虫，从不挑食。
4 .But the interesting thing about this bird is that we are able to analyse exactly what it eats and that's really helpful if we're looking for introduced insects.
关于这种鸟有意思的地方在于，我们能够分析它们到底吃了些什么，而这能够帮助我们寻找外来昆虫。
5 .How come?
怎么做到的呢？
6 .Because insects have their skeletons outside their bodies, so the Bee Eaters digest the meat from the inside.
因为昆虫的骨骼在身体外面，而蜂虎消化的是昆虫体内的肉质。
7 .Then they bring up all the indigestible bits of skeleton and, of course, the wings in a pellet - a small ball of waste material which they cough up.
然后它们把所有不能消化的骨骼碎块，当然还有翅膀弄成pellet吐出来——一种它们咳出的废料小球。
8 .That sounds a bit unpleasant.
这听上去有些恶心。
9 .So, how do you go about it?
你们是怎么做的呢？
10 .In the field we track down the Bee Eaters and find their favourite feeding spots, you know, the places where the birds usually feed.
在野外我们追踪蜂虎并且寻找他们最喜欢的捕食点，就是它们通常吃东西的地方。
11 .It's here that we can find the pellets. We collect them up and take them back to the laboratory to examine the contents.
我们在那些地方能够找到这些小球。我们收集这些小球，然后带回实验室分析里面的成分。
12 .How do you do that?
怎么分析呢？
13 .The pellets are really hard, especially if they have been out in the sun for a few days so first of all,
这些小球很硬，尤其是在太阳下晒过几天以后，所以首先，
14 .we treat them by adding water to moisten them and make them softer.
我们用水把它们弄湿让它们变软。
15 .Then we pull them apart under the microscope.
然后将它们分开，放在显微镜下观察。
16 .Everything's all scrunched up but we're looking for wings so we just pull them all out and straighten them.
所有的东西都揉成一团了，但是我们要找的只是翅膀，我们把它们弄出来然后展平。
17 .Then we identify them to see if we can find any Asian bee wings.
然后我们通过翅膀来辨认亚洲蜜蜂的踪迹。
18 .And how many have you found?
你们到现在发现多少了？
19 .So far our research shows that Asian bees have not entered Australia in any number - it's a good result and much more reliable than trying to find live ones as evidence of introduced insects.
目前的研究表明澳大利亚境内还没有亚洲蜜蜂的踪迹——这个结果十分乐观，而且也比直接寻找活的蜜蜂作为外来昆虫的证据更为可靠。
20 .Well, that's fascinating!
那真是太棒了！
21 .Thank you, Grant, for those insights.
谢谢你，格兰特，来跟我们分享这么多知识。
22 .I hope that you might inspire some of our students here to conduct some similar experiments.
希望你的研究能激励我们这儿的学生也进行类似的实验。