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  3. It’s 4. 45 a. m. in Samasati village in north-western Zambia and the Chimwan

It’s 4. 45 a. m. in Samasati village in north-western Zambia and the Chimwan

游客2024-08-05  35
问题     It’s 4. 45 a. m. in Samasati village in north-western Zambia and the Chimwanga family, champion beekeepers, are already on their way to extract honey from one of their many hives. For as long as anyone can remember, this area has been famous for beekeeping, but it is only in the last ten years that the business has begun to make a difference to the lives of the producers, since they began to trade through an organization guaranteeing them a fair price for their crop.

    Samasati is a beautiful place, where nature provides and pollution is non-existent. Here, 60 miles from the nearest telephone or source of electricity, the 300 inhabitants support themselves from the forest and rivers. Life is hard, however, and the only income available to the villagers is from selling their honey. The Chimwangas own a small house and a couple of bicycles and are the villager’s biggest honey producers. When his children are old enough, Mr Chimwanga should be able to send them to school and will be able to pay for medical care if any of his family becomes ill. The Chimwangas are proud that the head of their family is the best beekeeper in the village.
    It’s a half-hour walk from the Chimwanga house to the hive site. The hives themselves are made out of cylindrical sections of tree bark, which are hung high up in the trees to attract swarms of bees. (The tree eventually regrow its barks, so there is a never-ending supply for new hives.)Bee hives in Zambia have been made in this way for thousands of years. On reaching the site, the Chimwangas tear off low, leaf-covered branches from nearby trees. They place these in a pile on the ground as a bundle and insert some dry reed stalks in the middle. A match then sets the reeds alight and thick smoke is produced as the fire spreads from the dry reeds to the green leaves.
    Mr Chimwanga climbs nimbly up the trunk and moves carefully along a branch towards the hanging hive. He carries the smoking bundle on a length of string tired around his waist. When he reaches the hive, he waves smoke into the entrance to calm the bees and then thrusts his arm inside. The bees circle his head and hum relentlessly. Unafraid, he pulls up a bucket and fills it with the precious honeycomb, dropping some pieces down to his family to eat as he does so. It’s the most delicious honey, fragrant but not too sweet—the result of the hundreds of orchids and other wild flowers the bees have feasted on in the forest.
    This honey is sold straight to the exporting company, North West Bee Products, through their buyer, Bob Malichi. He is the vital middleman for the beekeepers and arrives in the village amid claps and warm handshakes, weighs the honey and pays for the product directly.
    Bob himself comes from generations of beekeepers and is passionate about Zambian honey— indeed, he believes it’s Zambian’s future. "Honey will always be there," he says, "If you look after the bees, they will produce for you. Our honey is organically produced. There’s no pollution, and nothing is added—it comes straight from the forest. " The honey is transported to Dares Salaam, in neighboring Tanzania, for export. Within a month of a Zambian beekeeper climbing to his hive, his honey can be spread on the bread anywhere in the world.
Questions 66 to 70
Answer the following questions with the information given in the passage. [br] Why has the honey trade recently become profitable for Zambian beekeepers?
选项
答案 Because they’re now guaranteed a fair price for their honey．
解析 (根据题意定位至本文第一段最后一句，赞比亚养蜂人能够获得收益主要是有组织能保证他们的产出拿到一个公正的价格。)
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