日本一年一度捕鯨季節開始 小學生被邀請品嚐鯨魚肉
Japan begins whaling season with meat feast for school children
日本一年一度捕鯨季節開始 小學生被邀請品嚐鯨魚肉(C N N) -- Whalers from a Japanese coastal town have celebrated the start of this year's hunting season by slicing up a whale in front of a crowd of school children.
日本海岸城市的捕鯨人在一羣小學生面前宰殺了一頭鯨魚，以此來慶祝今年捕鯨季節的開始。In the town of Wada, 62 miles (100 kilo meters) south of Tokyo in Chiba prefecture, dozens of 10- year- old students watched Thursday as workers carved up a 30-foot Baird's beaked whale during an educational field trip, before being served a meal of fried whale meat.
在東京南部62英里千葉市管轄區的wada，一羣約10歲左右的學生在他們春遊時，觀看了一個大約30英尺高的貝氏喙鯨在端上餐桌前被屠殺的過程。
Whaling remains a way of life for fishermen in Wada, and they are eager to pass on the trade to the next generation. Children are taught about the history of whaling, the biology of the Animals, and how to cook the meat.
在Wada，捕鯨仍是他們生活的一部分，而他們也急於將這一傳統傳遞給下一代。他們教授孩子們捕鯨的歷史，鯨魚的生物知識以及如何烹飪鯨魚肉。Whalers say they've been catching and eating whales in the area for centuries. This year's hunting season, which began on June 20, is the first since an international court ordered Japan to end its controversial research whaling expedition in the Antarctic, after failing to find evidence the program had legitimate scientific value
捕鯨人說在這個地方，他們捕鯨吃鯨的歷史已有百年了。自從聯合國海牙國際法庭作出判決要求日本終止在南極海以科學調查的名義的捕鯨活動，今年6月20號開始的捕鯨季是第一個。So far this year, Gai bo Whaling Company has hunted six whales in the city's coastal waters and plans to catch another 24 before the season ends in August.
直到現在爲止，Gai bao捕鯨公司已在城市周邊海域獵殺了6條鯨魚並計劃在八月捕鯨季結束前再獵殺24條。Despite the Antarctic ban and growing pressure from the international community, Japan has continued it s northwest Pacific scientific whaling mission. It is also eager to revise it s Antarctic program to allow the hunt to continue while satisfying the demands of the U. N.'s International Court of Justice.
儘管有不允許在南極海捕鯨的禁令，還有來自國際社會的不斷施壓，日本仍然繼續了他們在西北部太平洋的捕鯨科研任務。他們也非常迫切的想要修改他們在南極海的捕鯨科研計劃，以獲得聯合國國際法庭的允許能夠繼續捕鯨。In Japan's parliament last month, Prime Minister Shin zo Abe said he would like the country to resume commercial whaling "in order to obtain scientific information indispensable to the management of the whale resources."
上個月在日本議會中，首相安倍晉三說他希望日本能繼續商業捕鯨，“以此來獲得對鯨類必不可少的科研信息。”But environmentalists say Japan's whaling research program is a thinly veiled attempt to circumvent a ban on the commercial whale meat trade.
但是環境保護者則說日本的捕鯨研究項目是爲了規避商業鯨肉貿易的禁令。Patrick Ramage from the International Fund for Animal Wel fare believes it's time Japan moved from killing whales to conserving them.
國際動物福利基金會的Patrick Ramage認爲日本應該停止捕鯨、保護鯨魚了。"Respect for cultural differences is fundamental, but friends of Japan and fans of Japanese culture around the world are watching this with sadness," Ramage told C N N's Will Ripley.
Ramage這樣告訴C N N的Will Ripley：“儘管尊重文化差異至關重要，但是許多日本朋友以及對日本文化感興趣的人們都注視着他們的行動，並且爲之感到難過。”"Japanese school children should be meeting whales through whale watching, not eating whale meat," he said.
他說：“日本學生應該通過鯨魚表演時觀看鯨魚，而不是在餐桌上。”Japan's supporters of eating whale meat say that it is a tradition that dates back hundreds of years, and accuses western critics of cultural imperialism. But consumption rates across the country have fallen in recent years, leading to large stock piles of whale meat.
日本鯨肉支持者則說，這是已有上百年曆史的日本傳統，並指責西方批評家們的文化帝國主義。但是全國的鯨肉購買率今年已經下降了，導致大量鯨肉滯存。Last month, Japan's Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry released a photo of the agriculture minister Yoshimasa Haya shi eating a bowl of whale meat to encourage other Japanese citizen to do the same, and visitors to the ministry were given free samples of the delicacy.
上個月，日本的農林水產部發表了一張部長長林方正吃鯨肉的照片，以此來鼓勵日本國民。而去部裏參觀的遊客也會得到免費的相關樣品。In a survey of Japanese people released in April, only 4% of respondents said they ate whale meat occasionally, compared to 37% who said they didn't eat i t at all.
四月一份對日本人民的調查顯示，只有4%參與調查的人們說他們經常吃鯨肉，另有37%的人們說他們從沒吃過。
