雅思阅读 052 · Scientists Uncovered the Nutrients Bees Were Missing

改编自 University of Oxford / ScienceDaily（2026）。题型：段落信息匹配 + T/F/NG + 填空。难度：中等偏上（Passage 2，约 800 词）。

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🎧 课文朗读音频（约 1 分钟）

正文 Passage

A. A breakthrough food supplement

A team of researchers led by the University of Oxford has developed a breakthrough food supplement that could help reverse the alarming decline of honeybees.

Working with Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the University of Greenwich, and the Technical University of Denmark, the scientists engineered a diet that mimics the key nutrients bees normally get from pollen.

When tested, colonies fed this supplement produced up to 15 times more young. The findings were published in the journal Nature.

B. Bees are starving for the right nutrients

Honeybees rely on pollen as their main food source. It contains essential lipids called sterols that are critical for growth and development.

But climate change and intensive farming have reduced the variety of flowers bees depend on. As a result, bees are increasingly missing key nutrients.

Beekeepers often use artificial pollen substitutes made from protein flour, sugars, and oils. These provide calories but lack the sterols bees need, leaving colonies nutritionally deficient.

C. A lab-made solution using engineered yeast

To fill this gap, researchers engineered the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica to produce a precise mix of six essential sterols.

They added this yeast to bee diets and tested it over three months in controlled glasshouse experiments. The enclosed setup ensured bees ate only the experimental feed.

Using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, the team programmed Yarrowia lipolytica to produce these sterols efficiently.

This yeast was chosen because it naturally produces lipids, is safe for food use, and can be scaled up for industrial production. The final supplement is made by growing the yeast in bioreactors and drying it into a powder.

D. Colonies grew faster and stayed healthier

The results were dramatic. Colonies receiving the enriched diet produced up to 15 times more larvae that reached the pupal stage compared with those on standard diets.

They also continued raising brood throughout the entire study period. Colonies without sterols stopped producing brood after about 90 days.

Even more striking, the nutrient profile of larvae matched that of bees feeding naturally, suggesting the supplement closely replicates real pollen nutrition.

"For bees, the difference between the sterol-enriched diet and conventional bee feeds would be comparable to the difference for humans between eating balanced, nutritionally complete meals and eating meals missing essential nutrients like essential fatty acids," said lead author Dr. Elynor Moore.

E. Why this matters for food and farming

Honeybees help produce more than 70 percent of major global crops. But their populations are under severe pressure from poor nutrition, climate change, parasites, disease, and pesticides.

In the U.S., annual colony losses have ranged from 40 to 50 percent in recent years and could reach as high as 60 to 70 percent in 2025.

This new supplement could strengthen bee health without increasing competition for limited wildflowers.

"Our engineered supplement could therefore benefit wild bee species by reducing competition for limited pollen supplies," said co-author Professor Phil Stevenson.

F. Cracking the code of bee nutrition

To figure out what bees actually need, researchers analysed tissues from pupae and adult bees. This required extremely delicate lab work, including dissecting individual nurse bees.

They identified six key sterols that dominate bee biology: 24-methylenecholesterol, campesterol, isofucosterol, β-sitosterol, cholesterol, and desmosterol.

Larger field trials are still needed to confirm long-term benefits. If successful, the supplement could reach farmers within two years.

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题目 Questions

Questions 1-5: Which paragraph mentions the following?

1. the supplement being engineered by the University of Oxford team

2. artificial pollen substitutes lacking sterols

3. CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing being used

4. colonies stopping brood production after 90 days

5. annual colony losses in the U.S. reaching 60-70%

Questions 6-9: T/F/NG

6. Pollen contains essential lipids called sterols.

7. The yeast used is Yarrowia lipolytica.

8. The supplement was tested over six months.

9. Honeybees help produce less than 50% of major global crops.

Questions 10-13: Complete the notes. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS.

• The findings were published in the journal (10) ____________.
• The yeast was programmed using (11) ____________ gene editing.
• The supplement is made by growing yeast in (12) ____________ and drying it.
• Larger (13) ____________ trials are still needed.

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答案 Answers

题号	答案
1	A
2	B
3	C
4	D
5	E
6	TRUE
7	TRUE
8	FALSE (three months)
9	FALSE (more than 70%)
10	Nature
11	CRISPR-Cas9
12	bioreactors
13	field

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核心词汇

honeybee / pollen / sterols / yeast / CRISPR / pollinator / colony / brood / larvae / nutrient / Royal Botanic Gardens