中英對照讀新聞》Scientists have taught bees to smell the coronavirus 科學家教導蜜蜂嗅出冠狀病毒

科學家以特殊方式，訓練蜜蜂聞出武肺病毒。（示意圖，美聯社）

◎陳成良

Scientists in the Netherlands have trained bees to identify COVID-19 through their sense of smell, according to a press release from Wageningen University.

瓦赫寧恩大學發布新聞稿聲稱，荷蘭科學家已訓練蜜蜂透過嗅覺，識別2019冠狀病毒病（COVID-19，武漢肺炎）。

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The research was conducted on more than 150 bees in Wageningen University’s bio-veterinary research laboratory.

這項研究是在瓦赫寧恩大學生物獸醫研究實驗室對150多隻蜜蜂進行的。

The scientists trained the bees by giving them a treat — a sugar-water solution — every time they were exposed to the scent of a mink infected with COVID-19. Each time the bees were exposed to a non-infected sample, they wouldn’t get a reward.

科學家透過獎勵糖水溶液來訓練蜜蜂，每次蜜蜂在聞到感染COVID-19的貂身上氣味時，都會獲得獎勵。如果蜜蜂聞到的是沒被感染病毒的氣味樣本，則不會獲得獎勵。

Eventually, the bees could identify an infected sample within a few seconds — and would then stick out their tongues like clockwork to collect the sugar water.

最終，這些蜜蜂可以在幾秒鐘內識別出感染的樣本，而且牠們的舌頭會像發條一樣，伸出來吸取糖水。

Bees aren’t the first animals to detect COVID-19 by scent. Researchers have also trained dogs to distinguish between positive and negative COVID-19 samples from human saliva or sweat with fairly high levels of accuracy.

蜜蜂不是第一種透過氣味識別COVID-19的動物。研究人員也曾訓練狗區分來自人類唾液或汗液的陽性和陰性COVID-19樣本 ，準確率相當高。

新聞辭典

treat：名詞，招待；獎勵。例句：It’s my treat.（我請客。）

expose：動詞，暴露。例句：He damaged his leg so badly in the accident that the bone was exposed.（他在意外中大腿受重傷，骨頭都露出來了。）

clockwork：名詞，鐘錶裝置；發條裝置。例句：After the clockwork of the watch was cleaned, the watch kept perfect time.（那只手錶的發條裝置擦乾淨後，走起來就非常精確了。）

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