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Tracking the ‘Murder Hornets’, a Deadly Pest has Reached North America
追踪“杀人大黄蜂”：一种致命害虫已经踏足北美
In his decades of beekeeping, Ted McFall had never seen anything like it.
在数十年的养蜂生涯中，泰德·麦克福尔从未见过那样的蜜蜂。
As he pulled his truck up to check on a group of hives near Custer, Wash., in November,
去年11月，他停好卡车，准备查看一下华盛顿州卡斯特附近的一组蜂箱，
he could spot from the window a mess of bee carcasses on the ground.
还未下车，他便从车窗里看到地上死了一大堆蜜蜂。
As he looked closer, he saw a pile of dead members of the colony in front of a hive and more carnage inside —
等他定睛一看，蜂箱附近还有一大堆，蜂箱里就更多了——
thousands and thousands of bees with their heads torn from their bodies and no sign of a culprit.
数不清的死蜜蜂都已经没有了头部，凶手却未留下任何蛛丝马迹。
“I couldn’t wrap my head around what could have done that,” Mr. McFall said.
“我完全想不通是什么东西干的，”麦克福尔说。
Only later did he come to suspect that the killer was what some researchers simply call the “murder hornet.”
直到后来，他才开始怀疑，凶手可能就是一些研究人员口中所说的“杀人大黄蜂”。
With queens that can grow to two inches long,
亚洲大黄蜂身型巨大，蜂王体长可达2英尺（0.6米），
Asian giant hornets can use mandibles shaped like spiked shark fins to wipe out a honeybee hive in a matter of hours,
这种蜜蜂长着尖尖的鲨鱼鳍一样的上颚，数小时之内便能消灭一个蜂箱，
decapitating the bees and flying away with the thoraxes to feed their young.
将里面的蜜蜂斩首，带走它们的胸喂它们的后代。
For larger targets, the hornet’s potent venom and stinger — long enough to puncture a beekeeping suit —
对付较大的目标时，这种蜜蜂还有剧毒的毒液和螫针，螫针的长度足以刺穿养蜂服，
make for an excruciating combination that victims have likened to hot metal driving into their skin.
这一组合极其厉害，受害者称，那种感觉犹如将滚烫的金属灌进皮肤一样痛苦。
In Japan, the hornets kill up to 50 people a year.
日本每年被大黄蜂螫伤致死之人多达50人。
Now, for the first time, they have arrived in the United States.
现在，这种大黄蜂已经来到美国。
Mr. McFall still is not certain that Asian giant hornets were responsible for the plunder of his hive.
截至目前，麦克福尔仍不确定亚洲大黄蜂是否真是祸害自己蜂箱的罪魁祸首。
But two of the predatory insects were discovered last fall in the northwest corner of Washington State,
然而，去年秋天，人们便已在华盛顿州的西北角，也即他家以北几英里的地方发现了两只这种掠食性的昆虫，
a few miles north of his property — the first sightings in the United States.
那是人们首次在美国看到它们的身影。
Scientists have since embarked on a full-scale hunt for the hornets,
从那时起，科学家便对大黄蜂展开了全面捕杀，
worried that the invaders could decimate bee populations in the United States
因为他们担心这些入侵者或将杀死大量美国本土蜜蜂，
and establish such a deep presence that all hope for eradication could be lost.
待它们在美国根基渐牢，消灭它们的希望便会彻底落空。
“This is our window to keep it from establishing,”
“现在正是我们阻止大黄蜂在这里立足的窗口期，”
said Chris Looney, an entomologist at the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
华盛顿州农业部昆虫学家克里斯·鲁尼说道。
“If we can’t do it in the next couple of years, it probably can’t be done.”
“如果我们接下来两三年之内消灭不了它们，那可能就永远消灭不了了。”
On a cold morning in early December, two and a half miles to the north of Mr. McFall’s property,
去年12月初一个寒冷的早晨，在麦克福尔家以北2.5英里（4公里）的地方，
Jeff Kornelis stepped on his front porch with his terrier-mix dog.
杰夫·科尔内利斯带着他的混种猎犬刚踏上自家的前廊，
He looked down to a jarring sight: “It was the biggest hornet I’d ever seen.”
一低头便看到了一幅令人震惊的景象：“这是我见过最大的大黄蜂。”
The insect was dead, and after inspecting it, Mr. Kornelis had a hunch that it might be an Asian giant hornet.
这只昆虫当时已经死亡，仔细检查后，直觉告诉科尔内利斯，那可能是一只亚洲大黄蜂。
It did not make much sense, given his location in the world,
鉴于他家所在的地理位置，这一结论似乎有些说不通，
but he had seen an episode of the YouTube personality Coyote Peterson getting a brutal sting from one of the hornets.
但他看过YouTube网红凯奥特·彼特森被那种大黄蜂狠螫的视频。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
