bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their role in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Some species – including honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees – live socially in colonies while some species – including mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees – are solitary. 蜜蜂是与黄蜂和蚂蚁关系密切的飞行昆虫，以其在授粉中的作用而闻名，就最著名的蜜蜂物种而言，西方蜜蜂则以产蜜而闻名。一些物种——包括蜜蜂、大黄蜂和无刺蜜蜂——群居生活，而一些物种——包括石匠蜂、木匠蜂、切叶蜂和汗蜂——则是独居的。

Bees are found on every continent except for Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. Bees feed on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for their larvae. 除了南极洲，在地球上每一个有昆虫传粉的开花植物的栖息地，都能找到蜜蜂。蜜蜂以花蜜和花粉为食，前者主要作为能量来源，后者主要用于蛋白质和其他营养物质。大多数花粉被用作幼虫的食物。

Bee pollination is important both ecologically and commercially, and the decline in wild bees has increased the value of pollination by commercially managed hives of honey bees. 蜜蜂授粉在生态和商业上都很重要，野生蜜蜂数量的减少增加了商业化管理的蜂巢授粉的价值。

Human beekeeping or apiculture has been practised for millennia, since at least the times of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Bees have appeared in mythology and folklore, through all phases of art and literature from ancient times to the present day, although primarily focused in the Northern Hemisphere where beekeeping is far more common. 人类养蜂或养蜂已经有几千年的历史了，至少从古埃及和古希腊开始。蜜蜂出现在神话和民间传说中，从古到今贯穿艺术和文学的各个阶段，尽管主要集中在养蜂更为常见的北半球。

• A bee is a meeting in a group, esp of neighbours and friends, for work or pleasure.
• The phrase "have a bee in one’s bonnet" means to be preoccupied or obsessed with something. bonnet [帽子] 芒刺在背形容内心惶恐，坐立不安。
• If something is said to be the bee's knees it is excellent - the highest quality. In the Roaring Twenties in America, bright young things invented nonsense language to refer to things that were 'the tops' - like 'the cat's pajamas', 'the snake's hips' and so on. [都是见所未见，再如此曲只应天上有]
• A spelling bee is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection of words, usually with a varying degree of difficulty. To compete, contestants must memorize the spellings of words as written in dictionaries, and recite them accordingly.

Bee Movie is a 2007 animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. 从外表上看，蜜蜂巴瑞·B·拜森（杰瑞·宋飞 Jerry Seinfeld 配音）和其他的伙伴没有任何区别，但他对待未来却有着自己的想法。从大学毕业后，他和同学被分配到蜂房工业公司，成为一只毕生只能辛勤忙碌、四处采蜜的工蜂……

六级/考研单词: insect, colony, carpenter, sweat, solitary, continent, habitat, planet, latter, hive, folklore, hemisphere, preoccupy, obsess, superb, roar, nonsense, hip, dictionary, recite, accordingly, animate