A
Many fruits and vegetables would disappear from grocery store shelves if it weren't for honeybees. Almonds (扁桃仁), for example, are a D|S2.5 billion industry in California, and almond growers depend on honeybees to pollinate (授粉) the crop. No honeybees would mean no almonds. Many berries (like blackberries and strawberries) need bees, as do vegetables like cucumbers and squash. And don't forget tree crops like apples, oranges and peaches. Watermelon and cantaloupes depend on bees, too.In fact, approximately 15 percent of the food Americans eat comes directly from honeybee pollination. Another 15 percent comes from animals that eat foods that bees pollinate. In other words, close to a third of the food that Americans eat currently requires honeybee pollination. Honeybee pollination is so important that bee farmers actually truck their bees from orchard (果园) to orchard and from farm to farm to help pollinate crops.
A honeybee starts the honey making process by visiting a flower. With luck, the flower contains nectar (花蜜), and the bee sucks some of the nectar up with a little straw built into its mouth. Most flower nectars are like sugar water; there is a little sugar mixed with water. Nectars can contain other beneficial substances as well. To make honey, two things happen.
The first thing uses enzymes (酶). One enzyme that bees produce turns the sucrose (蔗糖) in the nectar into glucose (葡萄糖) and fructose (果糖). Another enzyme turns some of the glucose into an acid and hydrogen peroxide (过氧化氢). By making honey acidic, it kills any bacteria that get into the honey.
The second thing uses evaporation (蒸发) to get rid of the extra water. Most of the moisture has to be evaporated, so that honey is only about 18 percent water. Bees evaporate the extra water by putting little drops of nectar in the hive and fanning it with their wings.
Honey is a very stable food. It naturally resists molds (霉菌), fungi (真菌) and other bacteria, allowing it to last for years without refrigeration.
语篇解读：本文介绍了蜜蜂的重要性及蜜蜂如何授粉、如何制造蜂蜜等。
1．Bees are always trucked between different places in order to________.
A．lay eggs in all the orchards and farms
B．mate with bees living in different zones
C．help bee farmers deal with harmful insects
D．pollinate flowers or plants grown in different places
解析：选D 细节理解题。根据第一段最后一句“Honeybee pollination is so important ... help pollinate crops.”可知，蜜蜂授粉的重要性使得蜂农们带着它们在不同的地方给农作物授粉。
2．Which one is the way mentioned in the passage to make honey?
A．To evaporate most of the moisture in the nectar.
B．To kill all the bacteria in the nectar.
C．To expose it to sunlight for some time.
D．To mix the nectar with some sugar.
解析：选A 细节理解题。根据第四段中的“The second thing uses evaporation (蒸发) to get rid of the extra water. Most of the moisture has to be evaporated, so that honey is only about 18 percent water.”可知，利用蒸发的方法将花蜜当中的水分去除是其中一个方法。
3．Why honey can be kept for a long time without being cooled?
A．Because there is no bacteria in it.
B．Because it can stand bad weather conditions.
C．Because it protects itself against bacteria naturally.
D．Because it is wellpreserved in containers.
解析：选C 细节理解题。根据最后一段可知，蜂蜜天然地可以抵抗霉菌、真菌和其他的细菌，所以不用冰箱也可以存放多年。
