little more than只不過

Whales were being slaughtered by fleets of industrial whaling ships in the 1970s. The largest whales, the blues, numbered only a few thousand by then. They were virtually impossible to find. We found humpbacks off Hawaii only by listening out for their calls. A moment ago, we made this recording with an underwater microphone here in the Pacific near Hawaii. Just listen to this. Recordings like these revealed that the songs of the humpbacks are long and complex. Humpbacks living in the same area learn their songs from each other. And the songs have distinct themes and variations which evolve over time. Their mournful songs were the key to transforming people's opinions about them.

二十世紀七十年代，一支支工業化捕鯨船隊正在大肆屠殺鯨魚。 最大的鯨，藍鯨，到那時只剩下幾千頭。 幾乎找不到它們。 我們在夏威夷外海找到座頭鯨，全靠留神聽它們的叫聲。 就在剛才，我們在夏威夷附近的這片太平洋裡，用水下麥克風錄下了這段聲音。 聽聽這個。 這樣的錄音說明，座頭鯨的歌聲又長又複雜。 同一片海域的座頭鯨，歌聲是彼此學來的。 這些歌有鮮明的主題和變奏，還會隨著時間慢慢演變。 它們哀傷的歌聲，成了扭轉人們對它們看法的關鍵。

We have pursued animals to extinction many times in our history, but now that it was visible, it was no longer acceptable. The killing of whales turned from a harvest to a crime. A powerful shared conscience had suddenly appeared. Nobody wanted animals to become extinct. People were coming to care for the natural world... as they were made aware of the natural world. And we now had the means to make people across the world aware.

歷史上，我們曾一次次把動物捕殺到滅絕， 可一旦這事被人看見，就再也無法接受了。 捕殺鯨魚不再被當成收穫，而成了犯罪。 一種強烈的共同良知突然出現了。 沒有人希望動物滅絕。 人們漸漸開始關心自然界…… 隨著他們認識了自然界。 而我們當時已經有辦法，讓全世界的人都知道。