美国国家公共电台 NPR Beekeepers are setting up sting operations to find stolen hives

California beehive collections are rented out to almond orchards¹ this time of year. Since beehive theft has been on the rise, beekeepers are using technology so they can track down hives.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

OK, I'm aware of car rentals², vacation rentals, Airbnb rentals. Turns out that in California's Central Valley, there is a business in beehive rentals. Bees are essential in helping³ so many things grow, and during this time of year in the state's almond orchards, things are abuzz.

(SOUNDBITE OF BEES BUZZING)

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The state's entire almond yield is completely dependent on honeybees.

CLAIRE TAUZER: Bees are actually brought in by farmers and growers to pollinate many different types of crops, so there would not be a nut that would come off of the tree without honeybees.

INSKEEP: Claire Tauzer helps run her family's bee business, which is called Tauzer Apiary⁴ (ph). It provides bees from Bakersfield to Chico, and this is one of their busiest times.

MARTIN: They rent out boxes of bees. Each one can have as many as 80,000 bees inside for a couple hundred dollars each, and the value explains why the hives have been disappearing. Tauzer says theft has always been a problem, but lately it's gotten worse.

TAUZER: We had 384 hives stolen this year.

INSKEEP: Tauzer says the thieves are trying to hijack⁵ the stolen bees to make money during these short and lucrative⁶ pollination⁷ events. But beekeepers are not helpless. They can set up a sort of sting operation.

TAUZER: There are a lot of preventative measures we do to prevent theft. I mean, we use cheap GPS trackers. We use cameras. There's even this invisible ink that you can put on beehives that you can identify later.

INSKEEP: Oh, my gosh. It's like marking your money with - this is incredible. Anyway, Tauzer Apiary has been able to recover and restore most of its missing hives, which are worth about $100,000 during a pollination season.

(SOUNDBITE OF WYNTON MARSALIS'S "THE FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEES")

1 orchards   

（通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They turned the hills into orchards and plains into granaries. 他们把山坡变成了果园，把平地变成了粮仓。
• Some of the new planted apple orchards have also begun to bear. 有些新开的苹果园也开始结苹果了。

2 rentals   

n.租费，租金额( rental的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In some large hotels, the income derived from this source actually exceeds income from room rentals. 有些大旅馆中，这方面的盈利实际上要超过出租客房的盈利。 来自辞典例句
• Clerk: Well, Canadian Gifts is on the lower level. It's across from Prime Time Video Rentals. 噢，礼品店在楼下，在黄金时刻录像出租屋的对面。 来自口语例句

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 apiary   

n.养蜂场，蜂房

参考例句：

• My sister was put in charge of the apiary.我姐姐被派去负责养蜂场。
• He keeps an apiary.他有一个养蜂场。

5 hijack   

v.劫持，劫机，拦路抢劫

参考例句：

• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。
• The hijack take place just after the plane take off.劫持是飞机刚起飞后发生的。

6 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

7 pollination   

n.授粉

参考例句：

• The flowers get pollination by insects.这些花通过昆虫授粉。
• Without sufficient pollination,the growth of the corn is stunted.没有得到充足的授粉，谷物的长势就会受阻。