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Is there an animal humanity feels more conflicted about than the bee?
还有比蜜蜂更让人类感到矛盾的动物吗？
They're kind of cute, right?
他们挺可爱的，对吧？
And they can give us delicious things, like honey, and useful things, like beeswax.
它们可以给我们提供美味的东西，比如蜂蜜，也可以给我们有用的东西，比如蜂蜡。
But they've also got those infamous stingers.
但他们也有臭名昭著的毒刺。
Bees can be a little scary, and in swarms, they can be deadly.
蜜蜂可能有点吓人，成群结队的蜜蜂可能是致命的。
So when reports hit the news about Colony Collapse Disorder, some of us might have thought, well, what's the big deal?
因此，当有关蜂群崩溃综合症的报道见诸报端时，我们中的一些人可能会想，嗯，这有什么大不了的？
Are the apiphobes right?
恐惧症患者是对的吗？
Are bees worth the risk?
蜜蜂值得我们冒这个险吗？
What would happen if all the bees died?
如果所有的蜜蜂都死了，会发生什么？
Unfortunately, we'd lose a lot more than baklava and organic candles if bees went extinct.
不幸的是，如果蜜蜂灭绝，我们失去的不仅仅是果仁蜜糖和有机蜡烛。
There are more than 20,000 species of bee in the world.
世界上有两万多种蜜蜂。
Together, they are probably the most important group of insect pollinators.
加在一起，它们可能是最重要的昆虫传粉者。
If all the bees suddenly disappeared, there would be a vacuum in our ecosystems that would be very hard to fill.
如果所有的蜜蜂突然消失，我们的生态系统将出现一个很难填补的空缺。
Many bees have coevolved with flowers so that they are a fundamental part of those flowers life cycles.
许多蜜蜂与花共同进化，因此它们是这些花生命周期的基本组成部分。
These plants would likely go extinct without the bees.
如果没有蜜蜂，这些植物很可能会灭绝。
Other plants that bees pollinate might survive with other pollinators.
蜜蜂授粉的其他植物可能会与其他传粉者一起生存。
But they would be at a disadvantage.
但他们将处于不利地位。
Blueberries and cherries rely on bees for up to 90% of their pollination.
蓝莓和樱桃高达90%的授粉都依赖蜜蜂。
We could be looking at a dire situation in the pie industry.
馅饼行业可能会面临严峻的形势。
There are also animals that rely on bees for food.
也有以蜜蜂为食物的动物。
If we lose the bees, some of our most beautiful natural species could be next.
如果我们失去了蜜蜂，一些最美丽的自然物种可能会成为下一个。
All these changes would have ripple effects throughout ecosystems and into human society.
所有这些变化将对整个生态系统和人类社会产生连锁反应。
Humanity probably wouldn't starve without bees.
没有蜜蜂，人类可能不会挨饿。
Fortunately, many of our staple grains are pollinated by the wind.
幸运的是，我们的许多主要谷物都是由风授粉的。
But nutritious fruits and vegetables could be lost or become so expensive that few people could afford them.
但营养丰富的水果和蔬菜可能会流失，或者变得非常昂贵，以致于几乎没有人买得起。
And eating healthy is hard enough as it is.
而且，健康饮食已经够难的了。
It's hard to know just how such a huge change to the natural world would end.
很难知道自然界如此巨大的变化将如何结束。
By disrupting a key link in the food chain, we could be changing our entire way of life.
通过扰乱食物链中的一个关键环节，可能会改变我们的整个生活方式。
It's lucky this is just a hypothetical, right?
幸运的是，这只是一个假设，对吗？
Well, Colony Collapse Disorder is very real.
嗯，蜂群崩溃综合症是真的。
Huge numbers of bees have died.
大量的蜜蜂已经死亡。
And scientists believe human activity is to blame.
科学家们认为人类活动是罪魁祸首。
The loss of bees has also been linked to the pesticides we use and to man-made climate change.
蜜蜂的减少也与我们使用的杀虫剂和人为的气候变化有关。
And some studies showed that it's not just bees.
一些研究表明，不仅仅是蜜蜂。
Insect numbers have dropped dramatically over the last few decades.
在过去的几十年里，昆虫的数量急剧下降。
Nearly half of all insect life may have died out in the last 35 years.
在过去的35年里，近一半的昆虫生命可能已经灭绝。
Stingers are a pain, but humanity really does need our fuzzy flying friends.
刺是一种痛苦，但人类真的需要这些毛茸茸的飞行朋友。
Bees and other bugs maybe a little scary, but a world without them would be much scarier.
蜜蜂和其他虫子可能有点可怕，但没有它们的世界会更可怕。
