Scientists in Britain have managed to teach bumblebees2 to pull strings3 to get to food and then pass on what they have learned to others in their colony4—showing a high level of intelligence despite their tiny brains.

英国科学家已经计划去训练大黄蜂拉动绳子以取得食物，并且将它们学到的技能传授给这一种群中的其它蜜蜂，这一行为展现了小脑袋中蕴藏的大智慧。

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London said the experiments， often used to test the intelligence of apes and birds， showed for the first time that some insects5 are up to the task， and can also pass skills on through several generations.

英国伦敦玛丽皇后大学的研究员们谈到，这一实验经常用于测试猿类和鸟类的智商，而这次是第一次发现了某些昆虫也能完成这项任务并且能把技巧传递给后代们。

The findings add to the evidence suggesting the ability for“culture spread”—the ability to learn and pass on knowledge and skills—may not be exclusive6 to humans.

这次发现为动物拥有学习并传授知识与技能，即“文化传播”的能力的说法提供了证据。这一能力可能并不是人类独有的。

In the research， published in the journal PLOS Biology， the scientists were able to train 23 out of a group of 40 bees to pull strings with their legs and feet.

在《公共科学图书馆生物学》刊登的研究报告说明，科学家已经能够训练使40只蜜蜂中的23只用腿脚拉动绳子。

The strings were attached to discs—or artificial7 “flowers”—containing food at their center but placed under a transparent8 screen. The bees， spotting9 the food under the screen， learned to pull the “flowers” out by pulling the string with their legs and feet to be able to get to it.

绳子会与中央放了食物的磁盘或者人造花相连接，但食物会放在一块透明的隔板下。蜜蜂会朝向隔板下的食物，学着用腿脚拉动绳子将花拉出，以便拿到食物。

From another group of bees given the chance to solve the task without any training， only two of 110 were successful.

而讓另一组没有经过训练的蜜蜂去完成这个任务，110只蜜蜂中只有两只成功了。

Another group of bees was then allowed to observe the trained bees pulling the strings， and 60 percent of them successfully learned the skill. Finally， trained bees were put in colonies， and the scientists found the technique spread successfully to a majority10 of the colonys worker bees.

还有一组蜜蜂被安排观察已经被训练过的蜜蜂怎样拉绳子，其中的60%成功地学到了这项技能。最后，训练过的蜜蜂被放进整个族群中。科学家们发现这一技巧被成功传授给了绝大多数工蜂。

Lars Chittka， a Queen Mary University professor who guided the project， said the team is interested in figuring out the brain processes behind the bees learning and teaching skills.

玛丽皇后大学里指导这一项目的劳斯·奇卡教授表示，研究小组对于探寻隐藏在蜜蜂学习与教授技能行为背后的大脑运行过程很感兴趣。