日本一年一度捕鲸季节开始 小学生被邀请品尝鲸鱼肉
Japan begins whaling season with meat feast for school children
日本一年一度捕鲸季节开始 小学生被邀请品尝鲸鱼肉(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.
日本海岸城市的捕鲸人在一群小学生面前宰杀了一头鲸鱼，以此来庆祝今年捕鲸季节的开始。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.
在东京南部62英里千叶市管辖区的wada，一群约10岁左右的学生在他们春游时，观看了一个大约30英尺高的贝氏喙鲸在端上餐桌前被屠杀的过程。
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，捕鲸仍是他们生活的一部分，而他们也急于将这一传统传递给下一代。他们教授孩子们捕鲸的历史，鲸鱼的生物知识以及如何烹饪鲸鱼肉。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
捕鲸人说在这个地方，他们捕鲸吃鲸的历史已有百年了。自从联合国海牙国际法庭作出判决要求日本终止在南极海以科学调查的名义的捕鲸活动，今年6月20号开始的捕鲸季是第一个。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.
直到现在为止，Gai bao捕鲸公司已在城市周边海域猎杀了6条鲸鱼并计划在八月捕鲸季结束前再猎杀24条。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.
尽管有不允许在南极海捕鲸的禁令，还有来自国际社会的不断施压，日本仍然继续了他们在西北部太平洋的捕鲸科研任务。他们也非常迫切的想要修改他们在南极海的捕鲸科研计划，以获得联合国国际法庭的允许能够继续捕鲸。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."
上个月在日本议会中，首相安倍晋三说他希望日本能继续商业捕鲸，“以此来获得对鲸类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.
但是环境保护者则说日本的捕鲸研究项目是为了规避商业鲸肉贸易的禁令。Patrick Ramage from the International Fund for Animal Wel fare believes it's time Japan moved from killing whales to conserving them.
国际动物福利基金会的Patrick Ramage认为日本应该停止捕鲸、保护鲸鱼了。"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这样告诉C N N的Will Ripley：“尽管尊重文化差异至关重要，但是许多日本朋友以及对日本文化感兴趣的人们都注视着他们的行动，并且为之感到难过。”"Japanese school children should be meeting whales through whale watching, not eating whale meat," he said.
他说：“日本学生应该通过鲸鱼表演时观看鲸鱼，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.
日本鲸肉支持者则说，这是已有上百年历史的日本传统，并指责西方批评家们的文化帝国主义。但是全国的鲸肉购买率今年已经下降了，导致大量鲸肉滞存。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.
上个月，日本的农林水产部发表了一张部长长林方正吃鲸肉的照片，以此来鼓励日本国民。而去部里参观的游客也会得到免费的相关样品。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.
四月一份对日本人民的调查显示，只有4%参与调查的人们说他们经常吃鲸肉，另有37%的人们说他们从没吃过。
