姚明呼籲拒絕食用魚翅：每一口都血淋淋

SHANGHAI - Basketball superstar Yao Ming and British entrepreneur Richard Branson joined forces on Thursday to get shark fin soup off the menu and save some of the species from extinction.

上海-週三，籃球明星姚明和英國企業家理查德·布蘭森爵士共同出席活動，倡導和呼籲人們拒絕食用魚翅，拯救瀕臨滅絕的鯊魚。

The soup, considered a delicacy, is widely served at top-class restaurants on the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. To cater for demand about 1.5 million sharks are slaughtered every week for their fins, a move that endangers some species.

魚翅由於其味道鮮美，在中國大陸、香港和臺灣等地的高級飯店裏被廣泛食用。爲了迎合消費需求，每星期有150萬隻鯊魚被切下魚鰭殺害，這一現象使得許多鯊魚種類已經瀕臨滅絕。

"Few people know the importance of sharks in maintaining the ecological balance," recently retired NBA star Yao said in Shanghai during an event, sponsored by conservation group WildAid, to launch the campaign against the shark fin trade.

近期退役的NBA球星姚明在活動現場表示，“很少人知道鯊魚在保持生態平衡中的重要作用。”此次由國際環保組織野生動物救援協會在上海舉行的活動，目的是爲了發起抵制魚翅貿易行動。

"Nor do they realize the cruelty of the finning process" Yao said.

姚明還表示："也很少有人知道鯊魚被切下魚鰭的過程有多殘忍。"

After the fins are sliced off, sharks are discarded back to the ocean where they are condemned to a slow, agonizing death due to diminished speed and maneuverability.

鯊魚的魚鰭被切下來之後，就被遺棄扔回大海，沒有了魚鰭，它們的速度和靈活性會降低，只能痛苦地等待漫長死亡的來臨。

"There is no reasonable explanation for the cruelty," Yao said.

這樣的殘忍，人類沒辦法給一個合理的解釋。

Despite growing calls to ban the trade and consumption of shark products, demand in China has been growing rapidly as the economy booms。

儘管呼籲禁止鯊魚產品貿易和消費的呼聲持續不斷，但隨着中國經濟的迅猛發展，中國社會上對魚翅的需求也在迅速增加。

"Those who eat shark fin soup told me they don't particularly like it," Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic Airlines, said. "It was just the tradition. That means it's possible to get people to switch to other food, and make the soup unfashionable."

維珍大西洋航空創始人布蘭森表示，那些吃過魚翅的人跟他說他們也並沒有很愛吃，只是傳統而已。這也就意味着，可以讓人們換成吃別的，讓魚翅湯成爲菜單上的過時菜品。