双语新闻：在大西洋海岸发现太平洋灰鲸

Scientists have confirmed the presence of a gray whale off New England in North America recently.

最近，科学家们证实在北美新英格兰海域发现了一头灰鲸。

The large sea animal disappeared from the Atlantic Ocean two centuries ago. The scientists are thrilled with the discovery but they say it shows the effects of climate change on sea life.

这种大型海洋动物两个世纪前从大西洋消失了。科学家们对这一发现感到兴奋，但他们表示，这表明气候变化对海洋生物的影响。

Researchers with the New England Aquarium in Boston found the gray whale on March 1. At the time, they were flying about 48 kilometers south of Nantucket, an island off the coast of Massachusetts in the Atlantic. The whale, which can weigh over 27,000 kilograms, usually lives in the northern Pacific Ocean.

波士顿新英格兰水族馆的研究人员于3月1日发现了这只灰鲸。当时，他们正在南塔开特岛以南约48公里处飞行，南塔开特岛是大西洋上马萨诸塞州海岸附近的一个岛屿。这种鲸鱼体重可超过27000公斤，通常生活在北太平洋。

The gray whale disappeared from the Atlantic Ocean by the 18th century. But there have been five observations of the animal in the Atlantic and Mediterranean waters in the last 15 years, the aquarium said in a statement. The whale found this month was likely the same animal observed off the coast of Florida late last year, the aquarium said.

灰鲸在18世纪从大西洋消失了。但水族馆在一份声明中说，在过去的15年里，他们在大西洋和地中海水域对这种动物进行了五次观察。水族馆表示，本月发现的鲸鱼很可能与去年年底在佛罗里达海岸观察到的鲸鱼是同一只。

The researchers who found the animal off Massachusetts said they were not sure at first. But after circling the area for 45 minutes, they were able to take photographs that confirmed it was a gray whale.

在马萨诸塞州附近发现这种动物的研究人员说，他们一开始并不确定。但在该地区盘旋了45分钟后，他们拍下了照片，证实这是一头灰鲸。

"I didn't want to say out loud what it was, because it seemed crazy," said Orla O'Brien. She is a research scientist with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium.

“我不想大声说出来，因为这看起来很疯狂，”奥拉·奥布莱恩说。她是新英格兰水族馆安德森卡伯特海洋生物中心的一名研究科学家。

Scientists said they were thrilled to see the animal, but its presence probably has to do with the warming of the planet. The Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean in Canada, has lacked ice in the summertime in recent years, they said.

科学家们表示，他们很高兴看到这种动物，但它的存在可能与地球变暖有关。他们说，通过加拿大北冰洋连接大西洋和太平洋的西北航道近年来在夏季缺少冰。

That means gray whales can travel through the passage in the summer when normally they would have been blocked, the scientists said. O'Brien said the animal's arrival off New England serves "as a reminder of how quickly marine species respond to climate change, given the chance."

科学家们说，这意味着灰鲸可以在夏天通过这条通道，而通常情况下它们是被阻挡的。奥布莱恩说，这只动物来到新英格兰海域“提醒人们，只要有机会，海洋物种对气候变化的反应是多么迅速”。

Gray whales were almost completely killed off by hunting during the years of commercial whaling. Today, the whales have recovered to the point that they are considered a species of "least concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The organization, however, considers the western population of whales that live off the coast of Asia to be endangered.

在多年的商业捕鲸活动中，灰鲸几乎全部被捕杀。今天，鲸鱼已经恢复到被国际自然保护联盟认为是“最不受关注”的物种。然而，该组织认为生活在亚洲海岸附近的西部鲸鱼种群濒临灭绝。

They can be identified by the lack of a part of a body often seen on other whales: a dorsal fin. Also, they can be identified by their blotchy appearance which is different from the humpback and minke whales seen off New England. Gray whales can also be identified by the unusual sounds they make.

他们可以通过缺少其他鲸鱼身上常见的部分来识别:背鳍。此外，他们可以通过斑点状的外表来识别，这与新英格兰地区的座头鲸和小须鲸不同。灰鲸也可以通过它们发出的不同寻常的声音来识别。