小猪跳水，是娱乐还是伤害?

In China, Pigs Are Flying. Almost.

小猪跳水，是娱乐还是伤害?

Pigs still cannot fly. But in China, they are trying.

猪还不能飞。但在中国，它们正在努力。

With summer here, swine across China — hefty or small; pink, black or spotted — are jumping or being shoved off platforms and splashing into pools and ponds where they bob around before gathering their senses and paddling to shore.

随着夏季的到来，中国各地的猪，不论大小，也不论是粉色、黑色还是有斑点的，都在主动跳水，或是被人从高台上推下去，扑通一声扎进水池。在水池里，它们上下扑腾，然后才回过神来，游向岸边。

A proliferation of images on the Internet and reports in newspapers suggests that creating a leaping, amphibious pig is another realm where China can claim global preeminence. Pictures spread online in recent days show piglets being prodded to dive several yards off a bridge into a lake. Others show spotted pigs enduring a triathlon of diving, swimming and hurdling.

互联网上纷纷涌现的图片，以及报纸上的报道表明，会跳水的两栖猪是中国能在全球领先的另一个领域。近些天，网上流传的图片显示，小猪正被人推着从一座几米高的桥上跳进湖里。其他一些图片显示，一些花猪正在进行一场由跳水、游泳和跨栏组成的三项全能赛。

Aquatic swine are not exclusive to China. Australia has a family with diving pigs, and in the Bahamas you can frolic in the surf with them. But as in many pursuits, China’s rural entrepreneurs have shown an inventive do-it-yourself streak, and turned the pursuit into a tourist draw and a selling point for pork. Proponents say that diving pigs are healthier, leaner and tastier, and so sell for better prices. “We wanted to make the pigs grow healthier, because usually they’re too lazy,” said Zou Wei, a manager in the planning department of Tuhe Black Pork, a company in Shandong Province that puts some of its hogs through a routine of diving and swimming. “To start with, the pigs don’t like it, but you force one onto the diving platform and it slides down, the others see that and follow.”

能进行水上活动的猪并非中国独有。澳大利亚的一家人就养了一些会跳水的猪。而在巴哈马群岛，你还可以和它们一起冲浪嬉戏。但和在很多领域一样，中国的农民企业家富有创意地展现出了一种自己动手的特质，并将这种运动变成了吸引游客的项目和猪肉的卖点。支持者称，会跳水的猪更健康、更瘦、更美味，因此卖的价格也更高。“当时想说让猪长的健康一点，因为它们平时太懒了，”山东徒河黑猪食品有限公司规划部门的经理邹伟(音)说。该公司让跳水和游泳成了一些猪的常规活动，“刚开始猪不爱跳”，但是“你把它赶到跳台上，它就滑下去。看到一头猪下去，后面的也跟着”。

The Piggy Kingdom Family Amusement Park in Zhejiang Province has taken the amusement factor to new heights. Pictures and video from the park show pigs being heaved off a platform and thrashing in the air until smacking into water 39 feet below. That’s about six feet higher than the tallest Olympic diving platform.

浙江省的“猪猪王国”亲子乐园则把其中的娱乐元素带到了新的高度。来自该乐园的照片和视频显示，猪被扔下一个高台，在空中扑腾一阵，才啪的一声落入离跳台12米水中。那比奥运会上最高的跳台还高两米。

“The Piggy Amusement Park is a bit smelly,” one visitor said, according to a report on the local government’s website. “But the piglets were cute diving into the water and the kids loved it.”

在当地政府网站上的一篇报道中，一名游客表示，“猪猪乐园，有点臭，不过小猪跳水挺可爱的，儿子很喜欢。”

As with human athletes, it’s a matter of mind-set, said Yang Shiliu, a former researcher in the Hunan Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Institute whom some claim to be among China’s — and so the world’s — foremost experts on pig diving.

湖南畜牧兽医研究所前研究院杨仕柳说，就像人类运动员一样，这是个心态问题。有人说杨仕柳是中国——也就是全世界——小猪跳水运动领域，最顶尖的专家之一。

“The occasional divers will be hesitant,” Mr. Yang said in a telephone interview from Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province in southern China. “Once they’re used to it, they don’t mind.”

“偶然地跳就会犹豫，”杨仕柳在湖南省会长沙接受电话采访时说。“习惯了以后就不在意了。没习惯的话它就会畏惧，害怕。”

Besides, he said, pigs are more adept at swimming than other athletic activities. The Salon pig-breeding company in Hunan considered making pigs jog for exercise, he said, but found their trotters were too dainty for their bulky bodies. Moreover, he said, “aquatic exercise is a bit more intense.”

此外，杨仕柳还说，与其他体育运动相比，猪更擅长游泳。他说，湖南的沙龙畜牧有限公司考虑让猪通过慢跑来锻炼，但发现猪的蹄子太小，承受不了笨重的身体。另外，他还说，“水里的运动更加激烈一些。”

Some people have been appalled by the spectacle of pigs being pushed into ponds. “Making pigs dive into water is abusing them,” one person said. “Our citizens have no heart.”

猪猪被推到池塘里的画面让一些人感到震惊。“让猪跳水我认为是虐待猪，”有人说，“国人太没有善心了。”

Animal rights advocates, however, have been restrained in their criticism. Jeff Zhou, a China representative for Compassion in World Farming, which campaigns against animal abuse, said pigs in China’s factory farms suffer worse fates than diving, including castration without anesthesia and immobilization in sow stalls and farrowing crates.

不过，动物权利保护人士没有发出批评的声音。反对虐待动物的世界农场动物福利协会(Compassion in World Farming)中国区总监周尊国(Jeff Zhou)说，中国养殖场里的猪遭遇的命运要比跳水的猪更惨，比如它们要忍受无麻醉阉割，在母猪栏和产仔箱里无法活动。

But platform diving was not necessarily a pig’s idea of fun, he added.

不过，他还表示，跳水对猪来说并不一定是件有趣的事。

“It can bring a certain kind of stress to them at the very beginning,” he said. He said farmers should base exercise regimes “on the needs of animals, not the amusement of humans.”

他说，“一开始会给猪带来某种压力。”周尊国说，农民制定运动计划时，应当基于“动物的需要，而不是人类的快乐”。

Pig-diving proponents insist they are doing both.

支持让猪跳水的人坚称认为，这样做既能让猪健康，又能让人类快乐。

Huang Demin, a farmer in Hunan, has been credited with popularizing the practice, developing a slanted diving platform and a routine of daily exercise for hogs, including food inducements to take the plunge, according to newspaper and television accounts.

根据报纸和电视节目的介绍，这种做法的普及要归功于湖南农民黄德民。他研发了一个跳台，并制定了日常锻炼的规程，包括用食物引诱猪去跳水。

One of Mr. Huang’s pigs, Jingjing, was the Greg Louganis of the species, to judge by Mr. Huang’s account.

根据黄德民的说法，他饲养的一只叫“晶晶”的猪，是这一物种里的格雷格·洛加尼斯(Greg Louganis)。