CHAPTER XVII THE HONEY THIEVES

 Where the bee-garden lay, under its sheltering crest² of pine-wood, the April sunbeams seemed to gather, as water gathers in the lap of enclosing hills.  Out in the lane the sweet hot wind sang in the hedgerows, and the white dust lifted under every footfall and went bowling³ merrily away on the breeze.  But once among the crowding hives, you were launched on a still calm lake of sunshine, where the daffodils hardly swayed on their slender stems; and the smoke from the bee-master’s pipe, as he came down the red-tiled path, hung in the air behind him like blue gossamer⁴ spread to catch the flying bees.

 

As usual, the old bee-man had an unexpected answer ready to the most obvious question.

 

“When will the new honey begin to come in?” he said, repeating my inquiry⁵.  “Well, the truth is honey never comes into the hives at all; it only goes out.  That’s the old mistake people are always falling into.  Good bees never gather honey: they leave that to the wicked ones.  If I had a hive of bees that took to honey-gathering, I should have to stop them, or end them altogether.  It would have to be either kill or cure.”

 

He took a quiet whiff or two, enjoying the effect of this seeming paradox⁶, then went on to explain.

 

“What the bees gather from the flowers,” said he, “is no more honey than barley⁷ and hops⁸ are beer.  Honey has to be manufactured, first in the body of the bee, and then in the comb-cells.  It must stand to brew⁹ in the heat of the hive, just as the wort stands in the gyle-tun; and when it is ready to be bunged down, before the bee adds the last little plate of wax to the cell-capping, she turns herself about and, as I believe, injects a drop of the poison from her sting—or seems to do so.  Then it is real honey, but not before.  Now, about these bad bees, the honey-gatherers—”

 

He stopped, putting his hand suddenly to his face.  A bee had unexpectedly fastened her sting into his cheek.  At the same moment another came at me like a spent shot from a gun, and struck home on my own face.  The old bee-man took a hurried survey of his hives.

 

“Why,” said he, “as luck, or ill-luck, will have it, I think I can show you the honey-gatherers at work now.  There’s only one thing that would make my bees wild on such a morning as this; and we must find out where the trouble is, and stop it.”

 

He was looking about him in every direction as he spoke¹⁰; and at last, on the farther side of the bee-garden, seemed to make out something amiss.  As we passed between the long rows of bee-dwellings every hive was the centre of its own thronging¹¹ busy life.  From each there was a steady stream of foragers setting outward into the brilliant sunshine, and as constant a current homeward, as the bees returned heavily weighed down under loads of golden pollen¹² from the willows¹³ by the neighbouring riverside.  But round the hive, near which the bee-master presently came to a halt, there was a very different scene enacting¹⁴.  The deep, rich note of labour was replaced by an angry hubbub¹⁵ of war.  The alighting-board of the hive was covered with fighting bees; company launched against company; single combats to the death; writhing¹⁶ masses of bees locked together and tumbling furiously to the ground in every direction.  The soil about the hive was already thickly strewn with the dead and dying: and the air, for yards round, was filled with the piercing note of the fray¹⁷.  It seemed as hopeless to attempt to stop the carnage as it was manifestly perilous¹⁸ to go near.

 

But the bee-master had his own short way with this, as with most other difficulties.  He took up a big watering-can and filled it hastily from the butt¹⁹ close by.

 

“This hive is a weak stock,” he explained, “and it is being robbed by one of the stronger ones.  That is always the danger in spring.  We must try to drive the robbers home, and only one thing will do it.  That is, a heavy rainstorm; and as there is no chance of getting the real thing, we must make one for ourselves.”

 

He strode into the thick of the flying bees, and raising the can above his head, sent a steady cascade²⁰ of water over the whole hive.  The effect was instantaneous.  The fighting ceased at once.  The marauding bees rose on the wing and streamed away homeward.  Those belonging to the attacked hive scrambled²¹ into its friendly shelter, a bedraggled, sodden²² crew.  When at length all was quiet, the old bee-man fetched an armful of hay and heaped it up before the hive, completely covering its entire front.

 

“If the robbers come back,” said he, “that will stop them going in, while the bees inside can crawl to and fro if they wish.  But at sunset we must do away with the stock altogether by uniting it to another colony, and so put temptation out of the robbers’ way.  And now we must go and look for the robbers’ den¹.”

 

He refilled his pipe, and led the way down the long thoroughfare of the bee-city, examining every hive in turn as he passed.

 

“It is trouble of this kind,” he said, “that does more than anything else to upset the instinct-theory of the old-fashioned naturalists²³, at least as far as the honey-bee is concerned.  Why should a whole houseful of them suddenly break away from their old orderly industrious²⁴ habits, and take to thieving and violence?  But so it often happens.  There is character, or the want of it, among bees just as there is in the human race.  Some are gentle and others vicious; some are hard workers early and late, and others seem to take things easily, or to be subject to unaccountable moods and caprices.  Then the weather has an extraordinary influence on the temper of most hives.  On sunny, calm days, when the glass is ‘set fair,’ and the clover in full bloom, the bees will take no notice of any interference.  The hives can be opened and manipulated without the slightest fear of a sting.  But if the glass is falling, or the wind rising and backing, the bees will be often as spiteful as cats, and as timid as squirrels.  And there are times, just before a storm, when to touch some hives would mean bringing the whole population out upon you like a nest of hornets.”

 

He stopped by one of the hives, and laid his great sunburnt hand down flat on the entrance-board.  The bees took no account of the obstacle, but ran to and fro over his fingers with perfect unconcern.

 

“And yet,” said he, “there are bees that follow none of these general rules.  Here is a stock which it is almost impossible to ruffle²⁵.  You may turn their home inside out, and they will go on working just as if nothing had happened.  They are famous honey-makers, while they keep to it; but, like all mild-tempered bees, they are too fond of swarming²⁶, and have to be put back into the hive two or three times before they settle down to the season’s work.”

 

As he talked, he was looking about him carefully, and at last made a short cut towards a hive standing²⁷ a little apart from the rest.  The bees of this hive were behaving in a very different fashion from those we had just inspected.  They were running about the flight-board in an agitated²⁸ way, and the whole hive gave out a note of deep unrest.  The old bee-man puffed²⁹ his “smoker” up into full draught³⁰, and set to work to open the hive.

 

“These are the honey thieves,” he said, as he pulled off the coverings of the hive and laid bare its rumbling³¹, seething³² interior to the searching sunlight, “and when once bees have taken to robbing their neighbours there is only one way to cure them.  You must exterminate³³ the whole brood.  In the old days, a stock of bees with confirmed bad habits would be taken to the sulphur-pit and settled at once for good and all.  But modern bee-keepers have a better and less wasteful³⁴ way.  Now, look out for the queen!”

 

He was lifting out the comb-frames one by one, and subjecting them to a close examination.  At last, on one of the most crowded frames, he spied the huge full-bodied queen, and lifted her off by the wings.  Then he closed the hive up again as expeditiously³⁵ as possible.

 

“Now,” said he, as he ground the discredited³⁶ monarch³⁷ under his heel, “we have stopped the mischief³⁸ at the fountain-head.  Of course, if we left the bees to raise another queen for themselves, she would be of the same blood as the first one, and her children would inherit the same undesirable³⁹ traits.  But to-morrow, when the bees are thoroughly⁴⁰ sobered and frightened at the loss of their ruler, we will give them another full-grown fertile queen of the best blood in the apiary⁴¹.  In three weeks’ time the new population will begin to take over the citadel⁴²; and in a month or two all the old bees will have died off, and with them the last of the robber taint⁴³.”

1 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

2 crest   

n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖

参考例句：

• The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
• He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。

3 bowling   

n.保龄球运动

参考例句：

• Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
• Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动，高尔夫还是保龄球？

4 gossamer   

n.薄纱，游丝

参考例句：

• The prince helped the princess,who was still in her delightful gossamer gown.王子搀扶着仍穿著那套美丽薄纱晚礼服的公主。
• Gossamer is floating in calm air.空中飘浮着游丝。

5 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

6 paradox   

n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物)

参考例句：

• The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
• The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。

7 barley   

n.大麦，大麦粒

参考例句：

• They looked out across the fields of waving barley.他们朝田里望去,只见大麦随风摇摆。
• He cropped several acres with barley.他种了几英亩大麦。

8 hops   

跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• The sparrow crossed the lawn in a series of hops. 那麻雀一蹦一跳地穿过草坪。
• It is brewed from malt and hops. 它用麦精和蛇麻草酿成。

9 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 thronging   

v.成群，挤满( throng的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Architects from around the world are thronging to Beijing theacross the capital. 来自世界各地的建筑师都蜂拥而至这座处处高楼耸立的大都市——北京。 来自互联网
• People are thronging to his new play. 人们成群结队地去看他那出新戏。 来自互联网

12 pollen   

n.[植]花粉

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。

13 willows   

n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木

参考例句：

• The willows along the river bank look very beautiful. 河岸边的柳树很美。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Willows are planted on both sides of the streets. 街道两侧种着柳树。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 enacting   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Generally these statutes apply only to wastes from reactors outside the enacting state. 总之，这些法令只适宜用在对付那些来自外州的核废料。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• In addition, the complexion of enacting standards for live working is described. 另外，介绍了带电作业标准的制订情况。

15 hubbub   

n.嘈杂；骚乱

参考例句：

• The hubbub of voices drowned out the host's voice.嘈杂的声音淹没了主人的声音。
• He concentrated on the work in hand,and the hubbub outside the room simply flowed over him.他埋头于手头的工作，室外的吵闹声他简直象没有听见一般。

16 writhing   

（因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was writhing around on the floor in agony. 她痛得在地板上直打滚。
• He was writhing on the ground in agony. 他痛苦地在地上打滚。

17 fray   

v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗

参考例句：

• Why should you get involved in their fray?你为什么要介入他们的争吵呢？
• Tempers began to fray in the hot weather.大热天脾气烦燥。

18 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

19 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

20 cascade   

n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下

参考例句：

• She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。

21 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 sodden   

adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑

参考例句：

• We stripped off our sodden clothes.我们扒下了湿透的衣服。
• The cardboard was sodden and fell apart in his hands.纸板潮得都发酥了，手一捏就碎。

23 naturalists   

n.博物学家( naturalist的名词复数 )；（文学艺术的）自然主义者

参考例句：

• Naturalists differ much in determining what characters are of generic value. 自然学者对于不同性状决定生物的属的含义上，各有各的见解。 来自辞典例句
• This fact has led naturalists to believe that the Isthmus was formerly open. 使许多自然学者相信这个地蛱在以前原是开通的。 来自辞典例句

24 industrious   

adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的

参考例句：

• If the tiller is industrious,the farmland is productive.人勤地不懒。
• She was an industrious and willing worker.她是个勤劳肯干的员工。

25 ruffle   

v.弄皱，弄乱；激怒，扰乱；n.褶裥饰边

参考例句：

• Don't ruffle my hair.I've just combed it.别把我的头发弄乱了。我刚刚梳好了的。
• You shouldn't ruffle so easily.你不该那么容易发脾气。

26 swarming   

密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。
• The beach is swarming with bathers. 海滩满是海水浴的人。

27 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

28 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

29 puffed   

adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• He lit a cigarette and puffed at it furiously. 他点燃了一支香烟，狂吸了几口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He felt grown-up, puffed up with self-importance. 他觉得长大了，便自以为了不起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

30 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

31 rumbling   

n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词

参考例句：

• The earthquake began with a deep [low] rumbling sound. 地震开始时发出低沉的隆隆声。
• The crane made rumbling sound. 吊车发出隆隆的响声。

32 seething   

沸腾的，火热的

参考例句：

• The stadium was a seething cauldron of emotion. 体育场内群情沸腾。
• The meeting hall was seething at once. 会场上顿时沸腾起来了。

33 exterminate   

v.扑灭，消灭，根绝

参考例句：

• Some people exterminate garden insects by spraying poison on the plants.有些人在植物上喷撒毒剂以杀死花园内的昆虫。
• Woodpeckers can exterminate insect pests hiding in trees.啄木鸟能消灭躲在树里的害虫。

34 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

35 expeditiously   

adv.迅速地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• They have to be evaluated expeditiously, carefully with the patient fully UNDRESSED. 我看过许多的枪伤患者，但是就只有阿扁的伤口没有上述情形，真是天佑台湾。 来自互联网
• We will expeditiously facilitate trade transactions with the utmost professionalism. 我们会尽快贸易便利化的交易与最大的专业水平。 来自互联网

36 discredited   

不足信的，不名誉的

参考例句：

• The reactionary authorities are between two fires and have been discredited. 反动当局弄得进退维谷，不得人心。
• Her honour was discredited in the newspapers. 她的名声被报纸败坏了。

37 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

38 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

39 undesirable   

adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子

参考例句：

• They are the undesirable elements among the employees.他们是雇员中的不良分子。
• Certain chemicals can induce undesirable changes in the nervous system.有些化学物质能在神经系统中引起不良变化。

40 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

41 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。

42 citadel   

n.城堡；堡垒；避难所

参考例句：

• The citadel was solid.城堡是坚固的。
• This citadel is built on high ground for protecting the city.这座城堡建于高处是为保护城市。

43 taint   

n.污点；感染；腐坏；v.使感染；污染

参考例句：

• Everything possible should be done to free them from the economic taint.应尽可能把他们从经济的腐蚀中解脱出来。
• Moral taint has spread among young people.道德的败坏在年轻人之间蔓延。