姚明呼吁拒绝食用鱼翅：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-周三，篮球明星姚明和英国企业家理查德·布兰森爵士共同出席活动，倡导和呼吁人们拒绝食用鱼翅，拯救濒临灭绝的鲨鱼。

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.

鱼翅由于其味道鲜美，在中国大陆、香港和台湾等地的高级饭店里被广泛食用。为了迎合消费需求，每星期有150万只鲨鱼被切下鱼鳍杀害，这一现象使得许多鲨鱼种类已经濒临灭绝。

"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球星姚明在活动现场表示，“很少人知道鲨鱼在保持生态平衡中的重要作用。”此次由国际环保组织野生动物救援协会在上海举行的活动，目的是为了发起抵制鱼翅贸易行动。

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

姚明还表示："也很少有人知道鲨鱼被切下鱼鳍的过程有多残忍。"

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.

鲨鱼的鱼鳍被切下来之后，就被遗弃扔回大海，没有了鱼鳍，它们的速度和灵活性会降低，只能痛苦地等待漫长死亡的来临。

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

这样的残忍，人类没办法给一个合理的解释。

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

尽管呼吁禁止鲨鱼产品贸易和消费的呼声持续不断，但随着中国经济的迅猛发展，中国社会上对鱼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."

维珍大西洋航空创始人布兰森表示，那些吃过鱼翅的人跟他说他们也并没有很爱吃，只是传统而已。这也就意味着，可以让人们换成吃别的，让鱼翅汤成为菜单上的过时菜品。