第6章 BEES 蜜蜂

I.

Look at that bee on the flower. See how it shakes its wings, and works with its little feet. Ah! it is off to another flower. It is working again!

Now it is off to another! How busy it is! It does not rest a minute in one place. It seems to have a great deal of work to do, and to be in haste to get it done.

Now let us go to the other end of the garden.

Do you see those little straw houses, which have no windows, and only a very small door?

They are the houses in which the bees live, and are called hives.

A great many bees live in each hive. See how many are going in!

When spring comes, and the flowers begin to bloom, the bees come out of the hives very early in the morning. They fly away, and gather the sweet juice out of the flowers.

The bee has a long tongue, which it thrusts into the flower, to suck up the juice. Then it carries the juice to the hive, and makes it into honey.

Questions

How many children do yon see in the picture? What are they looking at? What are bees' houses called? What are they made of? Why do the bees go out early in spring? With what does the bee suck up the juice?

Pronunciation

flow'-er work'-ing min'-ute win'-dows blos'-som gath'-er

lit'-tle a-gain' gar'-den man'-y ear'-ly car'-ries

an-oth'-er bus'-y hous'-es be-gin' morn'-ing hon'-ey

Write

wings juice shape thrusts

shakes haste sweet tongue

II.

When a bee sets out in the morning to look for honey, it does not visit only the flowers near at hand. It goes very often more than a mile from its own hive; but it never loses its way.

When a shower of rain comes on, it takes shelter in some little hole in a wall, or perhaps among the leaves of a tree, or inside a large flower. When the sun peeps out again, it mounts up into the air, and flies swiftly home.

Bees gather not only honey, but also a kind of golden dust, from the inside of flowers. This dust they carry home on their hind legs. They use it to make bee-bread in the hive, as food for the young bees.

This dust they also use to make wax; and with the wax they build a great many little cells, all of the same shape, and all nicely fitted together.

They fill those cells with the sweet honey. The little waxen cells filled with honey are called the honey comb.

Questions

How far does a bee often go from its hive? What does it do when a shower comes on? What do bees gather besides the juice? What do they do with it? What else? What is honey comb?

Pronunciation

oft'-en show'-er a-mong' swift'-ly gold'-en nice'-ly

los'-es per-haps' in'-side gath'-er car'-ry fit'-ted

Write

near flies young great

takes large mounts leaves

III.

One day a snail crawled into a bee-hive. The bees soon crowded about her in great wonder. They could not make out what the lady with the house on her back could want.

As she was very much in the way, creeping along the street of their busy little town, they tried to turn her out. But it was all in vain. They could not get her to go out of the hive.

At last they fell upon another plan. They sealed up all the edges of her shell with wax, and so fixed it firmly to the bottom of the hive. The poor snail could not move. She soon died, and did not trouble them any more.

Questions

What one day got into a hive? What did the bees try to do? What did they do when they failed? And what then?

Pronunciation

crowd'-ed la'-dy a-long' an-oth'-er bot'-tom

a-bout' ver'-y bus'-y edg'-es troub'-ble

won'-der creep'-ing lit'-tle firm'-ly an'-y

Write

snail town could died

crawled street fixed sealed

1

看花朵上那只蜜蜂。看它如何挥动翅膀，用它的小脚在工作。啊！它飞走了，飞向另一朵花。它又开始工作了。

现在它又离开飞向了另一朵花！它好忙。在一个地方一刻也不停歇。它看上去有很多工作要做，要快速地把它做完。

现在让我们去花园的另一端。

你看到那些没有窗户，只有一个小门的茅草屋了吗？

它们是蜜蜂住的地方，被叫作蜂巢。

一个蜂巢里住着许多蜜蜂。看，好多都进去了！

当春天来临，花儿开始盛开，蜜蜂清早就出蜂巢。它们飞出去，去收集花朵甜蜜的汁。

蜜蜂有长长的舌头，它用力插入花中，吮吸花汁。然后它带着花汁回蜂巢，把它做成蜂蜜。

2

蜜蜂清早出发去寻找蜂蜜，它不是仅仅采附近的花朵。它经常去距离蜂巢1.6公里远的地方，但它永远不会迷路。

阵雨下起时，蜜蜂会在墙上的某个小洞，或者大树的叶子，或者较大的花里面避雨。当太阳再次出来时，它又飞到天空中，快速飞回家。

蜜蜂不仅仅收集蜂蜜，也收集一种金色的花粉。它们用后肢将这些花粉带回家。它们在蜂窝里用它做成蜂蜜面包，作为幼蜂的食物。

它们也用这种花粉做蜡；它们用这种蜡做很多小房子，所有的房子都是同样形状，所有的房子都漂亮地连在一起。

它们用甜蜜的蜂蜜装满房子。这些装满蜂蜜的小蜡房子就叫作蜂巢。

3

一天一只蜗牛爬进蜂房里。蜜蜂们好奇地围着她。它们不知道这位背上背个房子的女士想干什么。

因为她在蜜蜂们繁忙的小镇街道里爬，它们试着将她赶出去。但这都是徒劳的。它们无法将她弄出蜂房。

最终它们又进行另一计划。它们用蜡将蜗牛外壳的所有缝都密封住，然后紧紧地将它固定在蜂房的底部。这只可怜的蜗牛无法移动。不久她就死了，再也不会打扰它们了。