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Tracking the ‘Murder Hornets’, a Deadly Pest has Reached North America
追蹤“殺人大黃蜂”：一種致命害蟲已經踏足北美
In his decades of beekeeping, Ted McFall had never seen anything like it.
在數十年的養蜂生涯中，泰德·麥克福爾從未見過那樣的蜜蜂。
As he pulled his truck up to check on a group of hives near Custer, Wash., in November,
去年11月，他停好卡車，準備查看一下華盛頓州卡斯特附近的一組蜂箱，
he could spot from the window a mess of bee carcasses on the ground.
還未下車，他便從車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，蜂箱附近還有一大堆，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.
數不清的死蜜蜂都已經沒有了頭部，兇手卻未留下任何蛛絲馬跡。
“I couldn’t wrap my head around what could have done that,” Mr. McFall said.
“我完全想不通是什么東西干的，”麥克福爾說。
Only later did he come to suspect that the killer was what some researchers simply call the “murder hornet.”
直到后來，他才開始懷疑，兇手可能就是一些研究人員口中所說的“殺人大黃蜂”。
With queens that can grow to two inches long,
亞洲大黃蜂身型巨大，蜂王體長可達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,
這種蜜蜂長著尖尖的鯊魚鰭一樣的上顎，數小時之內便能消滅一個蜂箱，
decapitating the bees and flying away with the thoraxes to feed their young.
將里面的蜜蜂斬首，帶走它們的胸喂它們的后代。
For larger targets, the hornet’s potent venom and stinger — long enough to puncture a beekeeping suit —
對付較大的目標時，這種蜜蜂還有劇毒的毒液和螫針，螫針的長度足以刺穿養蜂服，
make for an excruciating combination that victims have likened to hot metal driving into their skin.
這一組合極其厲害，受害者稱，那種感覺猶如將滾燙的金屬灌進皮膚一樣痛苦。
In Japan, the hornets kill up to 50 people a year.
日本每年被大黃蜂螫傷致死之人多達50人。
Now, for the first time, they have arrived in the United States.
現在，這種大黃蜂已經來到美國。
Mr. McFall still is not certain that Asian giant hornets were responsible for the plunder of his hive.
截至目前，麥克福爾仍不確定亞洲大黃蜂是否真是禍害自己蜂箱的罪魁禍首。
But two of the predatory insects were discovered last fall in the northwest corner of Washington State,
然而，去年秋天，人們便已在華盛頓州的西北角，也即他家以北幾英里的地方發現了兩只這種掠食性的昆蟲，
a few miles north of his property — the first sightings in the United States.
那是人們首次在美國看到它們的身影。
Scientists have since embarked on a full-scale hunt for the hornets,
從那時起，科學家便對大黃蜂展開了全面捕殺，
worried that the invaders could decimate bee populations in the United States
因為他們擔心這些入侵者或將殺死大量美國本土蜜蜂，
and establish such a deep presence that all hope for eradication could be lost.
待它們在美國根基漸牢，消滅它們的希望便會徹底落空。
“This is our window to keep it from establishing,”
“現在正是我們阻止大黃蜂在這里立足的窗口期，”
said Chris Looney, an entomologist at the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
華盛頓州農業部昆蟲學家克里斯·魯尼說道。
“If we can’t do it in the next couple of years, it probably can’t be done.”
“如果我們接下來兩三年之內消滅不了它們，那可能就永遠消滅不了了。”
On a cold morning in early December, two and a half miles to the north of Mr. McFall’s property,
去年12月初一個寒冷的早晨，在麥克福爾家以北2.5英里（4公里）的地方，
Jeff Kornelis stepped on his front porch with his terrier-mix dog.
杰夫·科爾內利斯帶著他的混種獵犬剛踏上自家的前廊，
He looked down to a jarring sight: “It was the biggest hornet I’d ever seen.”
一低頭便看到了一幅令人震驚的景象：“這是我見過最大的大黃蜂。”
The insect was dead, and after inspecting it, Mr. Kornelis had a hunch that it might be an Asian giant hornet.
這只昆蟲當時已經死亡，仔細檢查后，直覺告訴科爾內利斯，那可能是一只亞洲大黃蜂。
It did not make much sense, given his location in the world,
鑒于他家所在的地理位置，這一結論似乎有些說不通，
but he had seen an episode of the YouTube personality Coyote Peterson getting a brutal sting from one of the hornets.
但他看過YouTube網紅凱奧特·彼特森被那種大黃蜂狠螫的視頻。
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