DOES the Yangtze River still have baiji, the graceful, grey dolphin with tiny eyes and a long narrow beak?
那種長著小眼睛和尖長嘴、姿態(tài)優(yōu)雅的灰色海豚--白暨豚，在長江里還有嗎？
Since November 6, a team of scientists from China, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Japan have been searching for any sign of the freshwater dolphin on the middle and lower sections of the river. After six weeks, they came back empty-handed.
從11月6日起，由中、英、美、德、日人員組成的一只科考隊開始在長江中下游搜尋這種淡水海豚的身影。六個星期過后，他們兩手空空打道回府。
Wang Ding, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who is the head of the team, said he has seen a sharp decline in the baiji population over the past few decades. However, he is still unwilling to call the species extinct, and adds, "We will try every effort to save them as long as they are not found to be extinct."
中國科學院的王丁是這只科考隊的隊長，他說在過去幾十年中他眼見著白暨豚數量急劇減少。但他仍不想就此認為白暨豚已經滅絕，并說："只要白暨豚沒有滅絕，我們就會盡一切努力拯救它們。"
The baiji is shy and nearly blind and is one of the world's oldest dolphin species. It dates back some 20 million years and is found only in the Yangtze. It's listed as one of the 12 most endangered animal species in the world.
白暨豚生性害羞，視力幾乎為零，是世界上最古老的豚類之一。它有2000萬年的歷史，只存在于長江之中，被列為全世界12種最瀕危物種之一。
Around 400 baiji were believed to be living in the Yangtze until the 1980s. A 1997 survey spotted 13. Two years later their numbers were down to two.
據說在20世紀80年代，長江中大約有400只白暨豚。一份1997年的調查指出當年白暨豚數量下降到13只。兩年后，白暨豚的數量銳減為兩只。
The rapid disappearance of this dolphin over the past two decades coincided with the rapid expansion of economic development along the river. Research on some dead baiji collected in recent years showed that more than 90 per cent of the deaths were caused by human activities.
過去二十年間白暨豚迅速消失，同一時期，長江沿岸經濟快速發(fā)展。通過對近年死去的白暨豚進行研究，結果表明，在死去的白暨豚中，有90％是由于人類活動而造成。
One reason is that over-fishing has cut the dolphin's food sources. Dams built along the river and neighbouring waterways have also kept them from swimming into and out of their habitats. Meanwhile, waste discharge has seriously polluted the river. And heavy river traffic has greatly reduced their living space.
其中有個原因就是過度捕魚斷絕了白暨豚的食物來源。在長江邊以及附近的水域中還修筑起了很多水壩，這迫使白暨豚不停地更換它們的棲息之地。同時，垃圾排放也嚴重污染了水源。繁忙的長江交通使它們的生活空間大為減少。
The disappearance of the baiji would be the first instance of a large aquatic mammal being driven to extinction since hunting killed off the monk seal around 1952.
自1952年左右僧海豹由于人類狩獵而慘遭滅絕以來，白暨豚的消失是大型水生哺乳動物被趕盡殺絕的第一例。
