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Back in 1996, I made a very special friend who lived in a bay in Nova Scotia Canada.
1996年，我交了一个非常特别的朋友，她住在加拿大新斯科舍省的一个海湾里。
Her name was Wilma and she was a beautiful white Beluga whale.
她的名字叫威尔玛，是一头美丽的白鲸。
Hi, I'm Jonathan Bird and welcome to my world!
嗨，我是乔纳森·伯德，欢迎来到我的世界！
Beluga whales normally live in the arctic.
白鲸通常生活在北极。
The white coloration helps them blend in to sea ice.
白色的着色有助于它们融入海冰之中。
Guysboro, Nova Scotia is a long way from the arctic.
新斯科舍的圭斯伯勒距离北极很远。
This rural fishing village is a lovely quiet place where the people are friendly...
这个乡下的渔村是个优美安静的地方，这里的人们很友好...
It's beautiful, peaceful and pretty far away from everything.
它美丽、宁静、远离一切。
People go there in the summer time just to get away...enjoy breathtaking scenery...maybe play a little golf.
人们在夏天去那里只是为了度假……享受惊艳的风景……或者打个高尔夫球。
And for a time at least, they went to see Wilma, a beluga that had taken up residence.
而且他们至少会花一段时间去看威尔玛——一头曾住在这里的白鲸。
I went there in 1996 to see her as well, and what I found amazed me.
1996年我也去那里见了她，我的发现让我吃惊。
Every day dozens of people came out onto Chedabucto Bay to catch a glimpse of Wilma,
每天都有许多人来到切达布托湾，只为一睹威尔玛的风采，
who had become a local celebrity.
她成了当地的名人。
She became so popular that people were afraid a boat might hit her or cut her with its propeller.
她变得如此受欢迎，以至于人们害怕船可能会撞到她或用它的螺旋桨割伤她。
Wilma was such an attraction that some people started "Wilma watching" trips for tourists.
威尔玛非常吸引人，以至于有人开始为旅客提供“威尔玛观光”旅行。
Despite the concerns, it was pretty obvious that Wilma loved the attention.
尽管有这些担忧，但很明显，威尔玛很喜欢这种关注。
She loved to play, and seemed just like a puppy dog to a lot of people.
她喜欢玩耍，对很多人来说，她就像一只小狗。
She gave more than one swimmer a surprise...but never hurt anyone.
她给了很多游泳者惊喜，却从不会伤害任何人
She lifting you right out of the water?
她把你从水里抬起来了是吧？
Yeah! And Wilma seemed to like everyone from swimmers to snorkelers to divers.
没错！威尔玛似乎喜欢每一个人，从游泳者到浮潜者再到潜水员，她都喜欢。
HAHA. She's like "Out of the camera, this is my shot!"
哈哈！她就像“从镜头里出来，这是我的镜头！”
She was very young when she showed up in the bay.
她出现在海湾时还很年轻。
She still had a lot of growing to do.
她仍然有很多成长空间。
As an adult Wilma could be ten feet long and weigh almost three-thousand pounds, as much as a small car.
成年的威尔玛可能有10英尺长，近3000磅重，和一辆小汽车一样重。
No one knows why she came here.
没有人知道她来这里的原因。
Perhaps something happened to her mother and she was orphaned.
也许她母亲出了什么事，她成了孤儿。
Perhaps she became lost and separated from her pod.
也许她迷失了方向，与她的群体分开了。
She was all alone, but she found friends in Nova Scotia.
她孤零零的，但她在新斯科舍找到了朋友。
Belugas are known to be playful and pretty social.
众所周知，白鲸是一种爱玩并且社交性很强的动物。
They often live together in large pods of 25 members or more.
它们经常一起生活在一个25名或者更多成员的大群体里。
So it must have been tough for Wilma, without another Beluga whale nearby to hang out with and play.
所以威尔玛过去肯定很艰难，附近没有另一条白鲸和它一起玩耍。
She seemed to welcome people as a substitute for interaction with her own kind.
她似乎欢迎人们作为替代品，代替同类与自己互动。
One of those people was Jim Johnson, arguably her best friend.
其中一个替代品就是吉姆·约翰逊，他可以说是她最好的朋友。
Jim was a local diver and underwater photographer,
吉姆是当地的潜水员和水下摄影师，
and for a while, he and Wilma were spending a lot of time together.
有一段时间，他和威尔玛很长时间都待在一起。
Jim was one of the first people to spot Wilma.
吉姆是最早发现威尔玛的人之一。
He saw her one day, a lonely little whale hanging out by a buoy in the bay.
他在某一天看到了她，一头孤独的小鲸在海湾的一个浮标旁晃荡。
He went out to visit her in his little inflatable boat, and they became great friends.
他坐着充气小船去看她，他们成了好朋友。
It was Jim who introduced me to Wilma...
吉姆把我介绍给了威尔玛...
And I remember the first time I saw her.
我还记得我第一次见到她的情景。
In all my years of diving, I've never known a marine animal that seemed to have so much interest in me.
在我多年的潜水生涯中，从未见过任何一种海洋动物对我如此感兴趣。
She truly seemed to enjoy my company and played for hours.
她似乎真的很喜欢我的陪伴，我们玩了好几个小时。
Belugas are one of the few species of whales that can turn their heads.
白鲸是为数不多能转头的鲸类之一。
Wilma would look at me and follow me.
威尔玛会看着我，跟着我。
Some researchers think that Belugas communicate with each other through facial expressions.
一些研究人员认为白鲸通过面部表情进行交流。
I think she was trying to communicate with me.
我觉得她是想和我交流。
She was asking me to come play with her.
她要我和她一起玩。
And Wilma also talked quite a bit...she made all kinds of noises.
威尔玛也说了很多话……她发出各种各样的声音。
Researchers think that Belugas use these sounds to communicate with one another,
研究人员认为白鲸利用这些声音相互交流，
although no one really knows what they're saying.
虽然没人真正知道它们在说什么。
Although most Beluga whales live further north in the Arctic and her presence in Nova Scotia was highly unusual,
虽然大多数白鲸生活在北极更北的地方，而她出现在新斯科舍极不寻常，
Wilma had almost everything she needed here.
但威尔玛在这儿几乎什么都有。
