Adult bees teach their babies how to dance

閱讀理解人與自然體裁：說明文詞數：331

For a bee to be successful,it needs to dance.Scientists have long known that honeybees shake their bodies.It is their way of sharing information about the direction and their distance from flowers around the beehive（蜂巢）.They both provide food for bees.Bees can even use their dance moves to tell each other how delicious certain flowers are.

Now a new study shows that honeybees don’t have these dance skills at birth.Young bees learn them by watching the older bees.In March 2023,scientists from the University of California,San Diego,published these findings in a scientific journal.

The study found that like some other insects,bees can learn new behaviors by imitating each other.This is called“social learning”.The scientists compared two groups of bees.These groups contained very young bees.They were about 10 days old.In the first group,young bees could observe older ones moving their bodies.Bee biologists call their dance the“waggle dance”.In the second group,young bees did not get to watch other dancers.These dance moves contain much information.The angle of the middle of the figure-eight tells other bees which direction to fly.The more a bee wiggles,the farther away the food is.And the more the bee repeats the wiggles,the tastier the food is.

The biologists compared the young bees in each group.The bees were only 10 days old,but there was already a difference in their dance skills.The ones that had watched older bees do the waggle dance were better dancers,the ones that had not been able to watch older bees weren’t as good as the others at the waggle dance.

A London scientist named Lars Chittka explained why this is so important.He said that this study changes the way biologists think about bees.They used to think bees could all do the waggle dance without having to learn it.Now they know bees pick up these skills through social learning.

1.In which aspect were the two groups different?

A.The age of the bees.

B.The shape of the bees.

C.If they could watch other dancers.

D.If they know how to dance.

2.What did scientists’ study find in March 2023?

A.Bees are good at dancing.

B.Bees are talented for dancing.

C.Bees learn how to dance from others.

D.Bees are smarter than other small animals.

3.What is a common misunderstanding about bees?

A.Bees are good dance observers.

B.Bees are born to know how to dance.

C.Bees are dancing to entertain themselves.

D.Bees are classified by their dancing styles.

4.Where can we read the material?

A.In a novel. B.In a diary.

C.In a storybook. D.In a science book.