高中三年级英语(人教版)全一册 Unit 14 Reading 1

　　THE LANGUAGE OF HONEY-BEES

　　There are many different varieties of bee. Some live in large groups like the honey-bee, and make their nests in trees or holes in the rocks. Other species make their nests in holes in the ground. There are also varieties that do not live in groups at all. Among the different kinds of bee, it is the honey-bee that has interested scientists most because of the "language" they use to communicate with each other. The development of the modem beehive in 1851 made it possible to design experiments to research the language of honey-bees.

　　Professor Karl von Frisch, a scientist from Austria, spent many years of his life researching the amazing ways honey-bees communicate in their dark hives. After working with bees for many years, Professor yon Frisch was puzzled by something he had noticed again and again. When he placed little dishes of honey on a table, bees soon came. As soon as one bee discovered the honey, many more came to it one after another in a short time. It seemed that one bee was able to communicate the news of food to other bees in its hive. How was this possible? To find out, von Frisch built special hives, each with only one honeycomb. He built a transparent wall through which he could observe what went on inside. In order to tell the bees apart, he painted some bees with little dots of colour.

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