小豬跳水，是娛樂還是傷害?

In China, Pigs Are Flying. Almost.

小豬跳水，是娛樂還是傷害?

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

豬還不能飛。但在中國，它們正在努力。

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.

隨著夏季的到來，中國各地的豬，不論大小，也不論是粉色、黑色還是有斑點的，都在主動跳水，或是被人從高臺上推下去，撲通一聲扎進水池。在水池里，它們上下?lián)潋v，然后才回過神來，游向岸邊。

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.

互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上紛紛涌現(xiàn)的圖片，以及報紙上的報道表明，會跳水的兩棲豬是中國能在全球領先的另一個領域。近些天，網(wǎng)上流傳的圖片顯示，小豬正被人推著從一座幾米高的橋上跳進湖里。其他一些圖片顯示，一些花豬正在進行一場由跳水、游泳和跨欄組成的三項全能賽。

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.”

能進行水上活動的豬并非中國獨有。澳大利亞的一家人就養(yǎng)了一些會跳水的豬。而在巴哈馬群島，你還可以和它們一起沖浪嬉戲。但和在很多領域一樣，中國的農民企業(yè)家富有創(chuàng)意地展現(xiàn)出了一種自己動手的特質，并將這種運動變成了吸引游客的項目和豬肉的賣點。支持者稱，會跳水的豬更健康、更瘦、更美味，因此賣的價格也更高。“當時想說讓豬長的健康一點，因為它們平時太懶了，”山東徒河黑豬食品有限公司規(guī)劃部門的經理鄒偉(音)說。該公司讓跳水和游泳成了一些豬的常規(guī)活動，“剛開始豬不愛跳”，但是“你把它趕到跳臺上，它就滑下去?？吹揭活^豬下去，后面的也跟著”。

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“豬豬王國”親子樂園則把其中的娛樂元素帶到了新的高度。來自該樂園的照片和視頻顯示，豬被扔下一個高臺，在空中撲騰一陣，才啪的一聲落入離跳臺12米水中。那比奧運會上最高的跳臺還高兩米。

“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.”

在當?shù)卣W(wǎng)站上的一篇報道中，一名游客表示，“豬豬樂園，有點臭，不過小豬跳水挺可愛的，兒子很喜歡。”

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.

湖南畜牧獸醫(yī)研究所前研究院楊仕柳說，就像人類運動員一樣，這是個心態(tài)問題。有人說楊仕柳是中國——也就是全世界——小豬跳水運動領域，最頂尖的專家之一。

“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.”

“偶然地跳就會猶豫，”楊仕柳在湖南省會長沙接受電話采訪時說。“習慣了以后就不在意了。沒習慣的話它就會畏懼，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，楊仕柳還說，與其他體育運動相比，豬更擅長游泳。他說，湖南的沙龍畜牧有限公司考慮讓豬通過慢跑來鍛煉，但發(fā)現(xiàn)豬的蹄子太小，承受不了笨重的身體。另外，他還說，“水里的運動更加激烈一些。”

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.”

豬豬被推到池塘里的畫面讓一些人感到震驚。“讓豬跳水我認為是虐待豬，”有人說，“國人太沒有善心了。”

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.

不過，動物權利保護人士沒有發(fā)出批評的聲音。反對虐待動物的世界農場動物福利協(xié)會(Compassion in World Farming)中國區(qū)總監(jiān)周尊國(Jeff Zhou)說，中國養(yǎng)殖場里的豬遭遇的命運要比跳水的豬更慘，比如它們要忍受無麻醉閹割，在母豬欄和產仔箱里無法活動。

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

不過，他還表示，跳水對豬來說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.”

他說，“一開始會給豬帶來某種壓力。”周尊國說，農民制定運動計劃時，應當基于“動物的需要，而不是人類的快樂”。

Pig-diving proponents insist they are doing both.

支持讓豬跳水的人堅稱認為，這樣做既能讓豬健康，又能讓人類快樂。

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.

根據(jù)報紙和電視節(jié)目的介紹，這種做法的普及要歸功于湖南農民黃德民。他研發(fā)了一個跳臺，并制定了日常鍛煉的規(guī)程，包括用食物引誘豬去跳水。

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

根據(jù)黃德民的說法，他飼養(yǎng)的一只叫“晶晶”的豬，是這一物種里的格雷格·洛加尼斯(Greg Louganis)。