by Jacki Lyden

（sound of humpback whale）

Youre listening to a humpback whale[座頭鯨] talking. Though we dont quite know what hes saying， we do know that its important for whales and other sea creatures to be able to talk to each other in the ocean. But humans are making that conversation nearly impossible， according to Michael Jasny， the director of the Marine[海的] Mammal Protection Project for the Natural Resources Defense[抵御] Council[委員會]. He says we have to quiet down.

Michael Jasny： Theres an old English science fiction story in which the people of the world wake up one morning to find that theyre all blind. Thats what were doing to whales and other animals in the sea. We havent blinded them completely， but weve diminished[使減少] their sight. Weve made it much harder for them to live in their world. And its not just in a few places. Its almost everywhere.

The noise of a cruise[巡航] ship completely drowns out[淹沒] the sound of this small clan[部落] of whales conversing in a matter of seconds.

Jasny： Sound in the ocean travels incredibly well， so that time was when a blue whale calling off of Massachusetts could be heard by other blue whales straight across the Atlantic. Now， unfortunately， thats changed. Since the advent[出現(xiàn)] of the propeller[螺旋槳] engine 150 years ago， the noise that we have been putting into the sea has grown and grown. Just about everything that humans do in the water makes noise—when we ship[航運] goods from country to country， when we explore for oil and gas and minerals[礦物]， when the military trains with explosives[炸藥] or intense[強烈的] sonar[聲波定位儀] systems. And this noise travels.

Whats happened over the last 150 years is that we have created a kind of smog[煙霧] in the seas. And this is a particularly virulent[致命的] form of smog. It affects every aspect[方面] of the lives of whales and dolphins and other creatures. Noise causes animals to abandon[放棄] their habitat[棲息地]， to go silent， to stop foraging[搜尋糧草]， to forage poorly， to go deaf and， in some cases， to die. It…it affects every aspect of their survival and their ability to reproduce[繁殖].

One of the biggest culprits[故障所在] for underthe-sea noise is the way we prospect[勘探] for oil and gas offshore.

（sound of high-volume air gun）

Companies use arrays[大批] of high-volume air guns that are so loud you can see the water rise and fall when the guns go off.

Jasny： Its an incredible thing to imagine thinking about someone setting off a sound like dynamite[炸藥] in your neighborhood again and again and again， every 10 to 12 seconds， for weeks and months. This is what we are forcing whales and dolphins and fish to live with.

（sound of high-volume air gun）

Thats Michael Jasny， director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project for the Natural Resources Defense Council. His conservation[保護] group and others like it recently settled a lawsuit[訴訟] with several oil and gas companies that requires the industry to take steps that will reduce the noise around whales and dolphinshabitat and use less invasive[侵略性的] forms of exploration.

Link： Whale Language

Humpback whales and most other species[種類] produce a wide range[范圍] of sounds on a daily basis. In many species， whales seem to form close bonds with one another， and their calls may serve to let their companion whales know where they are and what they are doing.

Water is an excellent fluid for conducting[傳導] sound， and whale calls can be extremely loud， so they may communicate with one another over hundreds， perhaps thousands of miles. Whale experts are concerned that the noise pollution caused by boats， offshore drilling[鉆孔] and other human activities in the ocean is drowning out these calls， shutting down the whales long-distance communication system.

We still dont know what whales are actually saying to each other， but some researchers believe that whales have advanced language capabilities[能力]. Whales have large brains， with the complex folds[復褶皺] biologists[生物學家] associate with[同……聯(lián)系在一起] higher intelligence， but the extent of their abilities is not clear. Many species seem to be highly intelligent， both in captivity[囚禁] and in the wild， learning complex[復雜的] tasks and showing advanced problem-solving skills.

（座頭鯨的聲音）

你聽到的是座頭鯨說話的聲音。雖然我們不知道它在說什么，但是我們知道很重要的一點，就是鯨魚和其他海洋生物能在海洋里互相交談。然而，據(jù)自然資源保護委員會海洋哺乳動物保護項目主管邁克爾·亞斯尼所說，人類使這種談話變得幾乎無法進行。他說，我們必須安靜下來。

邁克爾·亞斯尼：英語中有一個古老的科幻故事講到，世人有一天早上醒來，發(fā)現(xiàn)自己全都變成了瞎子。而這正是我們對鯨魚和其他海洋動物所做的事。雖然我們還不至于讓海洋動物完全失明，但我們已經(jīng)減弱了它們的視力，使其在自己的世界里生活得越發(fā)困難。而且，這種情況不只發(fā)生在少數(shù)地方，而是幾乎遍及每一片海域。

僅僅幾秒鐘，一艘郵輪的噪音完全淹沒了這個鯨魚小家族的交談聲。亞斯尼：聲音在海洋中傳播很迅速，所以，當一條藍鯨在（美國）馬薩諸塞州發(fā)出聲音時，這短短數(shù)秒的時間已足以讓大西洋彼岸的其他藍鯨聽到它的呼喚。不幸的是，現(xiàn)在情況已經(jīng)發(fā)生了變化。自150年前螺旋槳發(fā)動機問世以來，我們在海洋里制造的噪音日益增加。人類在水中做的幾乎任何事都會產(chǎn)生噪音，比如國家之間的貨物船運，或者勘探石油、天然氣和礦物，或者用炸藥或強力聲吶系統(tǒng)進行軍事訓練等等。這些噪音會在海洋中傳播。

事實上，在過去150年里，我們在海洋里制造了一種煙霧，而且是一種特別有害的煙霧。它影響了鯨魚、海豚及其他生物生活的各個方面。噪音會導致動物放棄棲息地，不再發(fā)聲，停止覓食，難以捕獵，喪失聽覺，甚至在某些情況下會死亡。噪音影響了它們生存的各個方面及繁殖能力。

海洋噪音最大的元兇之一就是我們離岸勘探石油和天然氣的方式。

（大容量氣槍的聲音）

各家公司使用大容量氣槍，發(fā)出震耳欲聾的聲音，以至于你可以看到當氣槍發(fā)射時，海面會隨之起伏。

亞斯尼：簡直無法想象有人在你家附近不斷制造出像炸藥爆炸一樣的聲音，每隔10到12秒就發(fā)出一波巨大噪音，持續(xù)數(shù)周和數(shù)月。而這就是我們強迫鯨魚、海豚和魚類忍受的生活。

（大容量氣槍的聲音）

這是自然資源保護委員會海洋哺乳動物保護項目主管邁克爾·亞斯尼。最近，他的保育團體和其他類似組織與幾家石油天然氣公司展開訴訟，要求該行業(yè)采取措施，減少鯨魚和海豚棲息地附近的噪音，并使用侵犯度較低的方式進行勘探。

鏈接：鯨的語言

座頭鯨和其他大多數(shù)鯨類每天都會發(fā)出各種各樣的聲音。在許多鯨魚品種當中，個體之間似乎有種緊密的聯(lián)系，其呼喚聲可能有助于讓同伴知道它們在哪里和在做什么。

水是傳導聲音的極好液體，而鯨的呼喚聲可以非常響亮，所以盡管它們相距數(shù)百甚至數(shù)千英里也可以進行交流。鯨魚專家擔心，由船只、海上鉆井及人類其他海洋活動所造成的噪音污染正在淹沒這些呼喚聲，阻斷了鯨的遠距離溝通系統(tǒng)。

我們?nèi)匀徊恢丽L魚彼此之間在說些什么，但一些研究人員認為，鯨魚擁有高度發(fā)展的語言能力。鯨魚有巨型的大腦，上面分布著復褶皺，而生物學家認為復褶皺與較高的智力有關(guān)，不過人們尚不清楚鯨的智力達到何種范圍。無論是在圈養(yǎng)還是野生環(huán)境中，許多鯨類的智力似乎都很高，不僅能夠?qū)W習復雜的任務，還展示出解決問題的高等能力。