Baby Whales Drink Milk

Baby Whales Drink Milk

喝乳汁的幼鲸

Whales are huge ses animals. They live in theocean the way fish do. A whale's enormous body isshaped like a fish. But it is not a fish. It is a mammal.

鲸一种巨大的海洋生物，它们和鱼类一样住在海里。鲸有庞大的身体，形状像鱼，不过，它们并不是鱼类。鲸是哺乳动物。

Humans are mammals. Cats, dogs, horses, and pigs aremammals too. They all feed their babies milkthat comes from their bodies. Whales are mammals. Whalebabies drink milk too.

我们人类是哺乳动物。猫、狗、马和猪也是哺乳动物。哺乳动物用身体里分泌的乳汁来哺育下一代。 鲸是哺乳动物，所以也以乳汁来哺育幼鲸。

Whales are very different from fish. Most fishhatch from eggs. But almost all mammals are bornalive. A baby whale is born out of its mother's body. It is called a calf.

鲸和鱼类有很大的不同。大多数鱼类是由鱼卵孵化出来的，而幼鲸是直接从母鲸肚子里生出来的，一出生就活蹦乱跳的。我们把这种小哺乳动物称做幼鲸。

A humpback whale calf grows in its mother'sbody for almost a year. All summer this motherwhale swam in the cold waters of the northernPacific Ocean while her baby grew inside her body. At the end of the summer the cold water beganto freeze. So the whales swam south to the warmerocean. The warm water is a perfect place for anewborn baby whale.

座头鲸宝宝在母鲸身体里孕育将近一年。怀孕的母鲸一整个夏天都待在北太平洋冰冷的海水里游动，等待肚子里的宝宝生长。 到了夏末，海水快结冰了，所有的鲸就向温暖的南方迁徙。温暖的海水非常适合刚出生的幼鲸。

Whales are gigantic at birth. This calf wasfourteen feet long when it was born-about thesize of a canoe. The mother pushed her new baby gently to thewater's surface. It quickly filled its lungs with air. Its mother needs fresh air too. Humpback whales have two breathing holes at thetop of their heads. They are called blowholes. Thewhales breathe through these holes the way webreathe through our noses.

幼鲸出生时的体积就很庞大，大约四米长,几乎像一艘独木舟那么大。 母鲸轻轻地把刚出生的幼鲸推到海面上， 很快地，幼鲸的肺里便吸满了空气。同时，母鲸自己也需要补充氧气。 座头鲸的头顶上有两个用来呼吸的孔，叫做呼吸孔。鲸用这两个孔呼吸，和我们人类用鼻孔呼吸是一样的。