締造檸檬水帝國

By Erin Degroff/郭玉章（譯注）

□語篇導讀

一周內被蜜蜂蟄兩次，你或許會想要殺死所有的蜜蜂！11歲的米凱拉·厄爾默原本和你有差不多的想法，但經過一番研究之后，她發(fā)現(xiàn)蜜蜂對人類大有益處。于是她決定以德報怨，創(chuàng)造一種新的東西來保護蜜蜂。就這樣，一個了不起的檸檬水公司誕生了！

11-year-old Mikaila Ulmer from Texas is building a lemonade empire,and hoping to save honey bees at the same time!

It all started when Mikaila was 4 years old and she was stung by bees twice in one week!This caused her to become very frightened whenever bees were near.So Mikaila’s parents asked her to do some research on bees.She learned that bees are unbelievably important for flowers as pollinators.

She also learned that they are dying at a rapid rate.In the past year,honey bee farmers have reported losing nearly 42%of their colony！ Many believe that this could be due to the overuse of pesticides,which can have many bad effects upon bees.

This is when she set her mind to create a product to help save bees.She decided she would sell lemonade specially made with honey and she started her company,BeeSweet Lemonade.And she takes every opportunity to tell her customers about the situations honey bees are faced with.

What began as a small operation is starting to grow.BeeSweet is planning to sell almost 140,000 bottles of lemonade this year!Mikaila and her company have also been reported in many news reports,magazines and even on Shark Tank,a TV show which focuses on hopeful companies.

Does Mikaila have any time to just be a kid?Sure!She doesn’t mind the hard work though.She says that she is happy watching people enjoy her lemonade,and that makes her want to grow her company more and more.The more people enjoy,the more they’re learning about the bees.

◆詞語積淀

empire/?empai?/n.帝國；帝權

sting/sti?/v.叮；刺痛

pollinator/?p?lineIt?/n.傳粉者；傳粉昆蟲

at a rapid rate以很快的速率

colony/?k?l?ni/n.僑民；聚居人群

pesticide/?pestisaid/n.殺蟲劑；農藥

have effect on/upon對……有影響

take every opportunity to do抓住一切機會去做

focus/?f?uk?s/v.聚焦；集中

◆典句賞析

1.Many believe that this could be due to the overuse of pesticides,which can have many bad effects upon bees.許多蜂農認為這很可能是由于過度使用殺蟲劑造成的，而殺蟲劑對蜜蜂有很多不良的影響。

which引導的是非限定性定語從句，先行詞是前面的pesticides。due to是固定短語，意為“由于”；have effect upon也是一個固定短語，意為“對……有影響，有影響”，其中的upon可以用on替換。

【即時嘗試】大家都相信成功來自于勤奮，而且勤奮可以彌補你的許多不足。

2.She says that she is happy watching people enjoy her lemonade,and that makes her want to grow her company more and more.她說她很高興看到人們喜歡她制作的檸檬水，這會使她想要不斷壯大她的公司。

動詞says后面帶了兩個賓語從句，這兩個從句都使用了“動詞+賓語+賓補”的結構。第一個賓語從句中的watch sb.do sth.結構意為“看見某人做了某事”，第二個賓語從句中的make sb.do sth.結構意為“使某人做某事”。

【即時嘗試】他說他會幫我制定學習計劃，他還說他很高興見我成功。

3.The more people enjoy,the more they’re learning about the bees.人們越喜歡喝她的檸檬水，他們就會對蜜蜂了解得越多。

“the+形容詞（副詞）比較級...，the+形容詞（副詞）比較級...”是固定句式，意為“越……就越……”。該句型是一個復合句，前面的句子是狀語從句，后面的句子是主句。learn about是固定詞組搭配，意為“了解，得知”。

【即時嘗試】你練習說英語的時間越多,你的英語口語就會越好。

譯文助讀

來自得克薩斯州的11歲的米凱拉·厄爾默正在締造一個檸檬水王國，同時她也希望能夠挽救蜜蜂。

事情起源于米凱拉·厄爾默4歲時，一周之內她被蜜蜂蟄了兩次！每次有蜜蜂靠近就會使得她變得非?？謶?。因此，米凱拉的父母就要求她對蜜蜂做一些研究。由此，她知道了蜜蜂作為傳粉者對于鮮花極其重要。

她也了解到，蜜蜂正在以很快的速度死亡。蜂農報告說，最近一年他們損失了幾乎42%的蜂群。許多蜂農認為這很可能是由于過度使用殺蟲劑造成的，而殺蟲劑對蜜蜂有很多不良的影響。

就在那時，她下定決心要創(chuàng)造一種產品來幫助拯救蜜蜂。她決定出售用蜂蜜特制的檸檬水，而且開辦了自己的公司——甜蜜蜜檸檬水公司。她抓住一切機會向消費者宣傳蜜蜂所面臨的困境。

生意由起初的很小正在發(fā)展壯大。甜蜜蜜檸檬水公司今年計劃銷售差不多十四萬瓶檸檬水！米凱拉和她的公司在很多新聞、雜志上被報道，甚至登上了《創(chuàng)智贏家》電視節(jié)目，這是一檔聚焦于前程似錦的公司的節(jié)目。

米凱拉還有時間做小孩子嗎？當然！然而她不介意辛苦的工作。她說她很高興看到人們喜歡她制作的檸檬水，這會使她想要不斷壯大她的公司。人們越喜歡喝她的檸檬水，他們就會對蜜蜂了解得越多。