CNN新闻英语第 71 课：Puffine's Destiny 海雀的宿命

ANCHOR 主播
In Iceland, millions of fat-beaked birds form the world's largest colony of Atlantic puffins. Sixty percent of the world's population breeds there; some end up on dinner plates. And local conservationists aren't upset. Natalie Pawelski explains. 在冰岛，数百万只厚喙鸟类组成了世界上最大的大西洋海雀群落。全球60%的海雀在那里繁衍生活，有些海雀最终成了人们的盘中美食。对此，当地的生态保护者却毫不担心。下面就听听纳塔利·帕韦尔斯基的解释吧。

PAWELSKI 帕韦尔斯基
On the bird world scale of cuteness, puffins rank pretty high up there. And in Iceland's Westman Islands, one of the biggest puffin colonies in the world, locals love these colorful. chubby birds -- on the wing or on the menu. It's weird to eat something that looks like a beanie baby. 在鸟王国"可爱"之排行榜中，海雀的排名相当靠前。在冰岛的威斯特曼岛上栖息着世界最大的海雀群落之一，当地人很喜爱这些色泽鲜艳。圆圆胖胖的海雀，无论是天空飞翔的，还是做成美味菜肴的。但吃这种看似无檐便帽的东西感觉总是怪怪的。

PAWELSKI 帕韦尔斯基
Oh, I was thinking that it was this cute little bird. But in the interest of journalism... Tastes like chicken. It doesn't taste like chicken. Actually, it tastes like liver. But more important, puffins are an example of what -conservationists call "a sustainable hunt." While individual animals are killed, the species thrives. 噢，我在想这就是那些可爱的小鸟。但是为了做节目还是......吃起来像鸡肉。又不是鸡肉的味道。实际上，它的味道比较像肝。更重要的一点是，吃海雀实现了生态保护者所倡导的"可持续性捕猎"。虽然一些个体遭到捕杀，但整个物种却因此得以兴旺繁衍。

PAWELSKI 帕韦尔斯基
In the 1890s, puffin feathers became fashionable. Hunters here in the Westman Islands used big nets to catch hundreds of the birds at once. In just a few years, they almost wiped out the entire puffin population. Using big nets has been illegal ever since. Since then, puffin hunters go after individual birds, with sort of overgrown lacrosse stick. 19世纪90年代，海雀羽毛一度流行起来。旋即，威斯特曼岛的猎人就开始用大网捕捉海雀。短短的几年内，他们几乎将那里的海雀捕杀殆尽。从此，使用大网捕鸟便被视为非法行为。从那时起，猎人们就用一种加长的曲棍球棒追逐海雀。

PAWELSKI 帕韦尔斯基
They follow strict traditions. For example, if the puffin has fish in its beak, it's going home to feed its -young, so you don't kill it. If the puffin looks you in the eye, you don't kill it. And if the puffin cries -- and yes, they tell me puffins really can cry -- you don't kill it. So plenty of puffins escape to make more puffins. 他们遵循严格的传统。比如，如果海雀嘴里衔着鱼，那么它是准备回家喂幼鸟去，因此，你不要捕杀它。如果它看着你的眼睛，你也不要杀它。如果海雀哭了，是的，猎人们告诉我海雀确实会哭的，你就不要杀它了。这样一来，大量海雀逃脱了遭捕杀的厄运，繁衍出更多的海雀。

GISLI OSKARSSON, BIOLOGY TEACHER 纪斯里·奥斯卡森，生物教师
You look at them as good birds. They are kind and good, until they bite you. 你会认为海雀是一种友善美好的鸟类。在张嘴咬你之前， 它们是这样的。

PAWELSKI 帕韦尔斯基
Gisli Oskarsson is a biology teacher and cameraman, known as "the puffin man." He studied and filmed the birds for years. 纪斯里·奥斯卡森是一位生物教师兼摄影师，以"海雀人"著称。多年来他一直研究和拍摄海雀。

OSKARSSON 奥斯卡森
Twenty-five percent of the Atlantic puffin is here, on these tiny islands you see here around you. And this is the only area where their population is growing. They're decreasing on both sides of the Atlantic. 25%的大西洋海雀生活在这片举目所及的小岛上。这里是唯一一个海雀数目不断增长的地区。在大西洋两岸，它们的数量正在减少。这里是唯一海雀数目不断增长的地区。在大西洋两岸，海雀的数量正在减少。

PAWELSKI 帕韦尔斯基
Puffin parents dig nesting burrows into the cliffs, and spend their days fishing for their families. 海雀父母们在悬崖峭壁上筑巢嵌穴，日复一日地捕鱼养家。

OSKARSSON 奥斯卡森
They can dive down to 57 meters at least. And they stay under water for about 60 seconds. 海雀至少可以潜到水下57米，并能在水下停留60秒。

PAWELSKI 帕韦尔斯基
Each year as Iceland's brief summer draws to a close, some young puffins trying to make their way to the sea are confused by the lights of the Westman Island's only town. Children gather up the lost birds and set them free, so they can end up the next generation of puffin parents, or maybe as somebody's dinner. 每年当冰岛短暂的夏季行将结束时，一些小海雀们在飞向大海的途中，受到威斯特曼岛孤镇灯光的迷惑，失去了方向。孩子们将这些迷路的海雀聚在一起，放飞天空，它们将来可能成家立业，养育后代，或者成为人类的美食。