The wonders of dolphins
海豚的奇妙
Read this magazine article to find out about man's true best friend.
阅读这篇杂志文章,找出人类真正的最好的朋友。
Here is a true story.
这是一个真实的故事。
In June 1990, Keith, Steve and Dave, three friends, were fishing about 35 miles off the east coast of America when their boat sank.
在1990年6月,当他们的船下沉的时候,基思,斯蒂夫和戴夫三个朋友正在离美国东海岸35英里的地方钓鱼。
They clung to the boat praying for rescue.
他们紧抓渔船不放,乞求着有人来解救他们。
The hours went by. Night came.
几个小时过去了,夜晚来临。
'We had been thinking about sharks all night.' said Keith.
“我们已经整整考虑鲨鱼一晚上了”基思说。
The next morning a really big fish approached.
第二天早上,一条大鱼靠近了他们。
I asked Steve, 'Do you know what that fish is?'
我问斯蒂夫:“你知道那是什么鱼吗?”
He said it was a shark.
他说那是一条鲨鱼。
Suddenly there were dolphins all around us.
突然,我们的周围都是海豚。
It was the dolphins that pushed back the shark, and drove it away.
是这些海豚驱走了鲨鱼。
Steve said, 'Tell them to go and get help,'
斯蒂夫说:“告诉它们去找人帮忙,”
so I said, 'Hey, go get help,' and the dolphins all disappeared.
我说:“嘿,去找人帮忙”,然后海豚全部都消失了。
Thirty minutes later, they came back, bringing a coastguard boat with them.
30分钟后,它们带着海岸警卫队的船回来了。
The men were rescued.
这三人得救了。
The coastguards told them that the dolphins swam in front of the boat all of the way until they located them.
海岸警卫队员告诉他们是这些海豚一路领着队员们直到找到了他们。
Why dolphins sometimes act like this is a mystery to most people.
海豚为什么会时常做出如此举动对于大多数人来说是一个谜。
The ancient Greeks certainly believed that dolphins were very special.
古希腊人笃信海豚是很特别的。
They believed dolphins could think and act like humans,
他们认为海豚可以像人类一样思考并行动,
and had many stories of dolphins befriending young boys and saving sailors by towing them to shore.
并有许多关于海豚及时帮助小男孩和救助水手并把他们拖向岸边的故事。
In those days, the penalty for killing a dolphin was death.
在那时,捕杀海豚要判死刑。
In modern times, we know a number of scientific facts about dolphins.
在当代,我们知道大量关于海豚的事实。
We know that they are mammals, not fish.
我们知道它们是哺乳动物而不是鱼。
They must come up to the surface to breathe air.
它们必须上到海水表面来呼吸空气。
They can live to about 35 or 45.
它们能存活至35岁或45岁。
They are among the most intelligent animals in the world, with good memories,
它们是世界上最聪明的动物之一,记忆力强,
and can be trained to follow complicated sets of commands.
还能接受训练去执行一系列复杂的指令。
They use a kind of sonar to locate objects, and they can communicate with each other.
它们运用一种声呐来搜寻目标,它们还可以互相交流。