2024年3月10日发(作者：)

课时04 阅读理解-主旨大意题

Ⅰ.阅读理解

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Jeremy Kerr， a researcher at the University of Ottawa in Canada， and his

colleagues analyzed more than 400，000 observations of bumblebee species

collected in North America and Europe from 1975 to 2010. When the researchers

recorded the locations of these bee populations， they found that many of the 67

species analyzed were moving northward from their southern limits while the

northern edges of the bees' ranges are staying in place. What it results in is

obvious.

Bees have been paid more attention to in recent years， with populations of

honeybees and bumblebees obviously declining in some parts of Europe.

Previously， attention on the decline of bee populations has focused on causes

including habitat loss， pesticide use and the spread of bee parasites (寄生虫). But

the work by Kerr's team found something different.

“For every species， there is one or two species declining and others that are

not moving at all，” says Kerr. This shift has also been observed in other species，

such as butterflies. But due to a new cause—the rise of temperatures instead of

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total pesticide use， a change in land use or parasites， bumblebees—unlike

butterflies—have failed to extend the northern boundaries of their ranges into the

territory that is now habitable for them， so bumblebee species across Europe and

North America are declining rapidly， the latest study led by Kerr's team finds.

“Our data suggest that the new factor plays a leading， or perhaps the leading，

role in this trend，” says Kerr.

“This study shows that a fourth factor is also beginning to affect it. It is likely

that the combined stresses from all of these pressures will have destructive

impacts on bumblebees in the not­too­distant future，” says Dave Goulson， a bee

researcher at the University of Sussex， Brighton， UK.

Exactly what can be done to help bumblebees is not clear. Kerr's team

suggests that relocating colonies might be an answer but Goulson says that

because the insects are mobile they are capable of moving northwards if there is

suitable habitat available.

[语篇解读] 本文是一篇科普说明文。根据科学家的观察与研究，大黄蜂越来越难以

适应全球变暖，它们的数量正在锐减，居住地也收缩了。

does the move of the bees' southern limits lead to？

birth of new bee species.

rise of the bees' population.

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