Back in 1947 there were 6 million honeybee hives in America according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Now there are a little over 2.5 million hives.

根据美国农业部的数据显示，1947年美国有600万个蜂箱。现在有250多万个蜂箱。

That number hasn’t changed much over the past few years but the overall picture doesn’t look good for an insect that’s incredibly important to our food supply. Scientists don’t know for sure why this is happening.

在过去的几年里，这个数字并没有太大的变化，但是对于对我们的食物供应极其重要的昆虫来说，整体情况并不乐观。科学家们并不确定为什么会发生这种情况。

Pesticides and parasites are the most suspected reasons and a study recently published in the scientific journal PLOS One suggests that neonicotinoids, types of pesticides that are widely used around the world are incredibly toxic to honeybees and other insects.

杀虫剂和寄生虫嫌疑最为突出，最近发表在科学期刊《公共科学图书馆·综合》(PLOS One)上的一项研究表明，新烟碱类杀虫剂对蜜蜂和其他昆虫具有难以置信的毒性。

Part of the reason for that is because these pesticides appear to stick around in the environment and stay dangerous for longer periods of time.

部分原因是这些农药似乎会在环境中停留，并在较长时间内保持毒性。

Though they’re deadly to insects, neonicotinoids are not considered dangerous to humans. In fact, they’re a lot less toxic to people than other insecticides that have been widely used in the past. An ongoing challenge for farmers is finding ways to keep other insects away while still protecting bees.

虽然新烟碱类化合物对昆虫是致命的，但人们并不认为这种化合物对人类有危险。事实上，与过去广泛使用的其他杀虫剂相比，它们对人体的毒性要小得多。农民面临的一个持续的挑战是，如何在保护蜜蜂的同时阻止其他昆虫食入。

Pesticides may not discriminate between the insects they kill though one neonicotinoid maker says the chemicals risk to bees is lower when it’s used properly. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it’s unlikely there’s one magic solution to the problem but there are a number of organizations trying to help honeybees.

杀虫剂可能无法区分它们杀死的昆虫，但一家新烟碱类生产商表示，如果使用得当，杀虫剂对蜜蜂的危害会降低。美国农业部表示，不太可能有一个神奇的解决方案来解决这个问题，但是有一些组织试图帮助蜜蜂。

Back in 1947 there were 6 million honeybee hives in America according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Now there are a little over 2.5 million hives. That number hasn’t changed much over the past few years but the overall picture doesn’t look good for an insect that’s incredibly important to our food supply. Scientists don’t know for sure why this is happening. Pesticides and parasites are the most suspected reasons and a study recently published in the scientific journal PLOS One suggests that neonicotinoids, types of pesticides that are widely used around the world are incredibly toxic to honeybees and other insects.

Part of the reason for that is because these pesticides appear to stick around in the environment and stay dangerous for longer periods of time.Though they’re deadly to insects, neonicotinoids are not considered dangerous to humans. In fact, they’re a lot less toxic to people than other insecticides that have been widely used in the past. An ongoing challenge for farmers is finding ways to keep other insects away while still protecting bees.

Pesticides may not discriminate between the insects they kill though one neonicotinoid maker says the chemicals risk to bees is lower when it’s used properly. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it’s unlikely there’s one magic solution to the problem but there are a number of organizations trying to help honeybees.