The world’s chocolate industry boasts(拥有；以……自豪) revenues of more than $140bn. In recent years the market for cacao beans, the crucial ingredient, has often been tight(紧俏的，供不应求的). In April 2024, after poor harvests in West Africa, the price passed $10,000 per tonne(突破每吨1万美元) for the first time. Although it has fallen back(回落，下降) since, it remains significantly higher than earlier in the decade.
全球巧克力产业宣称收入超过1400亿美元。近年来，作为关键原料的可可豆市场常常供不应求。2024年4月，在西非收成不佳之后，价格首次突破每吨1万美元。尽管此后有所回落，但仍明显高于本十年早期水平。
A good time, then, for the world’s farmers to try to boost(提高，促进) their harvests. One way would be to pollinate their existing plants more efficiently, so as to(为了，以便) produce more of them in the next generation. There is a problem, though: no one has been quite sure how cocoa plants are pollinated. Now, though, work by Eliza Van de Sande, a PhD student at Vrije University in Brussels, and published in Basic and Applied Ecology, suggests that a group of tiny blood-sucking midges are essential(必不可少的) to the process.
因此，这正是全球农民努力增加收成的好时机。一种方法是对现有植株进行更高效的授粉，从而在下一代结出更多果实。但有一个问题：人们对可可树如何授粉并不完全确定。现在，布鲁塞尔自由大学的博士生Eliza Van de Sande及其发表在《基础与应用生态学》上的研究表明，一群微小的吸血蠓虫在这个过程中至关重要。
Many plants rely for pollination on an evolutionary bargain(进化交易，互利共生) with animals. The plant produces high-energy nectar that entices(引诱，诱惑) animals (usually insects) to visit. But to get it, an animal must venture(冒险去（某处）) inside a flower. As it does it gets covered in pollen, while also shedding pollen stuck to it by other plants. Farmers often try to enhance the process by making their farms attractive to pollinating insects.
许多植物依靠与动物的进化交易来实现授粉。植物产生高能量的花蜜吸引动物（通常是昆虫）来访。但为了得到花蜜，动物必须冒险进入花中。在此过程中，它们会沾上花粉，同时也会掉落其他植物粘在它们身上的花粉。农民们常常通过使农场对传粉昆虫更具吸引力来增强这一过程。