日本冷酷鲸鱼“杀手”.docVIP

日本冷酷鲸鱼“杀手” 　　While the team behind The Cove, the hidden-camera documentary about dolphin slaughter in Japan, was in Los Angeles this March accepting an Oscar for Best Documentary, it took a 1)detour to help carry out another 2)undercover sting operation―this time at a Santa Monica sushi restaurant. 　　 　　Together with federal officials, the team members discovered evidence that a restaurant called the Hump―really―was secretly serving whale meat, in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. When confronted, the restaurant accepted responsibility for serving whale, and now faces a fine of up to $200,000. As Andre Birotte Jr., a 3)U.S. Attorney on the case, told the New York Times, “Someone should not be able to walk into a restaurant and order a plate of an endangered species.” 　　 　　Which leads to the question―who would possibly eat whale meat? 　　 　　Well, for one: me. 　　 　　Before you begin flooding the Internet with electronic hate mail―or contacting the nearest U.S. attorney―you should know that my eating whale was a onetime thing and it happened in Japan, where eating whale is not only legal but sometimes considered a national right. (Japan is not the only country to refuse to accept the whaling ban, but it’s the only one that pursues whale in any significant way.) 　　 　　In June 2005 I attended an annual whale-tasting event held by the Japanese Whaling Association at the national legislature in Tokyo. Restaurants from around Japan served their best 4)cetacean recipes―whale sushi, whale5)sashimi, whale on crackers, canned whale, whale with 6)Osaka noodles―to black-suited Japanese legislators, who 7)grazed from one table to the next. 　　 　　So I had to try it. When you 8)cover a whale-tasting event, you have to taste whale. And morality aside, I can tell you that whale meat isn’t good. As sushi and sashimi, it was fatty and 9)chewy with a bland, 10)blubbery taste―like 11)salmon that’s been kept out too long. The one exception was the whale noodle dish,