澳大利亞出現罕見大規模鯨魚擱淺 近400頭已死亡
澳大利亞塔斯瑪尼亞州西海岸發生大規模鯨魚擱淺事件，現約有380頭已經死亡，其他50頭仍有生命體徵，已被救援人員釋放。考慮到天氣和潮汐情況，救援工作可能需要持續數天。
About 380 whales have died in what is suspected to be Australia's largest stranding on record, officials say.
澳大利亞官員表示，該國發生有記錄以來規模最大的鯨魚擱淺事件，大約有380頭鯨魚已經死亡。
Since Monday, hundreds of long-finned pilot whales have been found beached on Tasmania's west coast.
自週一（9月21日）以來，人們在塔斯馬尼亞州西海岸發現了數百頭擱淺的長肢領航鯨。
Rescuers had managed to save 50 by late on Wednesday, and they were trying to help the remaining estimated 30 whales.
截至週三晚些時候，救援人員已經成功解救了50頭鯨魚，目前他們正試圖幫助剩下的大約30頭鯨魚。
Tasmanian government officials said the rescue effort would continue "as long as there are live animals".
塔斯馬尼亞州政府官員表示，“只要還有活着的鯨魚”，救援工作就會繼續進行。
"While they're still alive and in water, there's still hope for them - but as time goes on they do become more fatigued," said Nic Deka, regional manager for Tasmania's Parks and Wildlife Service.
塔斯馬尼亞州公園和野生動物服務部門的區域經理尼克·德卡說：“只要它們還在水中活着，就還有希望，但隨着時間的推移，它們會越來越疲憊。”
He added the focus would now also shift to removing the hundreds of carcasses scattered along the coast. A clean-up plan is still being worked out - in the past carcasses have been buried on the shore or dragged out to open sea.
他補充說，現在的工作重點也將轉移到將散落在海岸的數百具鯨魚屍體挪走。清理計劃仍在制定中，過去鯨魚屍體會被埋在岸邊或拖到大海中。
It is not fully understood why the whales became stranded. The species is known to be prone to getting beached.
目前還不完全清楚鯨魚擱淺的原因。衆所周知，鯨魚容易擱淺。
The stranding, one of the largest ever recorded globally, eclipses a previous national record of 320 set in Western Australia in 1996.
此次擱淺是全球有記錄以來最大的一次，打破了1996年西澳州320頭鯨魚擱淺的全澳紀錄。
鯨魚是在哪裏被發現的？
The whales largely washed up on sand spits in the waters around an area called Macquarie Heads.
這些鯨魚大多被衝到麥格里海德地區附近水域的沙灘上。
The first rescuers on Monday counted about 270 whales, but a helicopter on Tuesday spotted another 200 whales nearby.
週一，首批救援人員發現了大約270頭鯨魚，但週二一架直升機在附近又發現了200頭。
More than 80% of Australian whale strandings take place in Tasmania and experts say Macquarie Heads is a known hotspot.
澳大利亞超過80%的鯨魚擱淺事件發生在塔斯馬尼亞州，專家稱擱淺事件多發生在麥格里海德。
Tasmania's previous biggest stranding was in 1935 with 294 pilot whales. Its last mass stranding was in 2009 and involved about 200 pilot whales.
塔斯馬尼亞州之前發生的最大的一次鯨魚擱淺事件是在1935年，當時有294頭領航鯨擱淺。最近一次大規模擱淺事件是在2009年，當時有大約200頭領航鯨擱淺。
鯨魚是如何獲救的？
A team of about 60 people have used slings and other equipment to help pull the surviving whales off the sand banks so they are fully immersed in water.
一個由大約60人組成的救援小組用吊索和其他設備將倖存的鯨魚從沙洲拖出，使它們完全浸沒在水中。
Once the whales are "re-floated", they are guided back into deeper waters.
一旦鯨魚得以“重新漂浮”，它們就會被引導回到更深的水域。
Rescuers said they had escorted 50 whales back into the sea, which they deemed a "success".
救援人員表示，他們已成功護送50頭鯨魚返回大海。
Rescue efforts had been hampered by a strong tide which had brought some freed whales back to shore, they added.
他們補充說，救援工作受到了巨浪的阻礙，巨浪把一些獲救的鯨魚重新衝回到岸邊。
"Geographically it's quite a challenging area. It's sort of inside an actual harbour so we've got several boats and hundreds of people on the ground preparing the whales in slings," Tom Mountney, a fisherman helping with the rescue operation, told BBC World Service radio.
幫助救援行動的漁民湯姆·芒特尼告訴英國廣播公司環球頻道：“從地理上講，這是一個相當具有挑戰性的地區。內側是一個真正的港口，所以我們有幾艘船和數百人在地面上用吊索吊起鯨魚。”
"They are remarkably calm. Some of them obviously, being a several ton animal, are quite strong so there's inherent danger in dealing with them. But it's as if there's a bit of a sense of them knowing what we're trying to do."
“它們非常冷靜。很明顯，它們中的一些重達幾噸，非常強壯，所以救援工作有內在危險。但好像它們知道我們在做什麼。”
Whale experts said the surviving animals would be exhausted and weak. Pilot whales can grow up to 7m long and weigh up to three tonnes.
鯨魚專家表示，倖存的鯨魚將會精疲力竭、虛弱無力。領航鯨可以長到7米長，重達3噸。
Without the buoyancy of the water, the whales would also be slowly crushed by the weight of their bodies, said Prof Peter Harrison from Southern Cross University's Whale Research Group.
南十字星大學鯨魚研究小組的彼得·哈里森教授說，如果沒有水的浮力，鯨魚也會慢慢被身體的重量壓垮。
buoyancy [ˈbɔɪənsi]：n.浮力
爲什麼鯨魚會擱淺？
Scientists say the reason is often unknown but they have a range of theories, including whales being lured by fish to shore and becoming disorientated.
科學家們表示，擱淺原因不明，但有多種理論，包括鯨魚被魚引誘上岸並迷失了方向。
Highly social mammals, pilot whales in particular are known for stranding in groups because they travel in large, close-knit communities which rely on constant communication.
領航鯨是一種高度羣居的哺乳動物，它們以成羣擱淺而聞名，因爲它們生活在龐大而緊密的羣體中，依賴於不斷的交流。
Researchers say it's possible that one leading individual could have mistakenly led the whole group to shore.
研究人員表示，有可能是某頭領航的鯨魚錯誤地將整個鯨魚羣帶到岸邊。
Pilot whales are not considered endangered, although exact population numbers are not known. Scientists believe there are about one million long-finned and 200,000 short-finned pilot whales worldwide.
儘管領航鯨的確切數量還不清楚，但它們並非瀕危物種。科學家們認爲，全世界大約有100萬隻長肢領航鯨和20萬隻短肢領航鯨。
