如果麥子不死

編按：原文刊登於【2008-06-21/聯合晚報/B4版/瘋英文】

When Tameo Ryono first sailed about five decades ago from the remote Japanese village of Taiji to catch whales, he was filled with pride.

大約五十年前，龍野初次從偏遠的日本漁村太地出航捕鯨時，他的內心充滿了驕傲。

“Whalers were stars here in Taiji. I got what I had dreamed of since I was a little boy,” the tall, softspoken1 Ryono told Reuters at a community centre in Japan’s oldest whaling village.

身材高大、說話溫柔的龍野，在日本最古老的捕鯨村社區中心告訴路透記者說：「當時，捕鯨人在太地是明星，我從事的是我自幼夢想的工作。」

“I’m proud of being able to do whaling2 throughout my life.”

「我很驕傲能夠畢生從事捕鯨工作。」

But Ryono, 71, looks all but certain to be the last in his family to engage in whaling, as harsh criticism from conservationists3 and foreign countries, and changing appetites at home threaten a way of life whalers say stretches back 400 years.

不過，71歲的龍野幾乎確定將是他家族中最後一位從事捕鯨工作的成員，因為保育人士與外國的嚴厲批評，以及本國民眾胃口的改變，已對捕鯨人自稱可以追溯到400年前的生活方式構成威脅。

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986, but is now bitterly divided between countries such as Australia that say all whales still need protection, and those such as Japan that argue some species are abundant enough for limited hunting. The group meets in Chile later this month.

國際捕鯨委員會 (IWC)1986年就禁止商業捕鯨活動，但現在卻陷入尖銳分裂的局面，澳洲等國家表示，所有鯨魚仍都需要保護，但日本等國家則堅稱，若干種類的鯨魚數量已相當充足，應該容許限量的捕捉。該團體本月稍晚將在智利舉行會議。

When Tokyo joined the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling in 1987, more than 50 Taiji whalers lost their jobs.

東京1987年加入IWC的禁止商業捕鯨協議時，有超過50位的太地捕鯨人丟掉工作。

Now only 40 out of Taiji’s population of 3,500 are whalers, contributing just a few percent of its tax revenues compared to over 70 per cent in 1966, when the industry was at its peak.

如今，太地的3500村民中，只有40位捕鯨人，捕鯨對當地稅收的貢獻僅占幾個百分點，離1966年巔峰時期的占70%以上，已不可同日而語。

Japan wants to expand coastal whaling, and last year threatened to quit the IWC after anti-whaling countries blocked its proposal to let four villages, including Taiji, kill minke whales4.

日本一直希望擴張沿岸的捕鯨活動，去年日本提議允許包括太地在內的四個漁村捕殺小鬚鯨，結果遭到反捕鯨活動的國家封阻，日本曾威脅要退出IWC。

詞解：

1.softspoken:說話溫柔的

2.whaling:捕鯨

3.conservationist:保育人士

4.minke whale:小鬚鯨