Chapter 10 Section ten

Johnny began to learn to snorkel among the fishing boats parked by the pier.The sea is crystal clear and only four or five feet deep, so it's safe for beginner snorkelers.He had to learn to use flippers and a mask first. Mick has been swimming and diving in the sea since he was a child, but he can't teach others how to swim because he has long forgotten how he learned it.It seemed to him inconceivable that anyone could not sink to the bottom of the ocean or stay comfortably underwater for two or three minutes.So he gets a little impatient when his students just float around on the water like corks.Johnny kicked the air with his feet, but he couldn't sink.

After a while, however, Johnny got the hang of snorkeling.He learned not to take a deep breath before he sank; otherwise his lungs would be filled with air, and he himself would become a big balloon, so he would not be able to sink anyhow.Secondly, he found that as long as his legs were lifted out of the water, the weight of his thighs had nothing to support him, so he pushed his body into the water.Once his legs are in the water, he can kick his finned feet.Then he can freely dive in any direction. After hours of practice, his movements are no longer as clumsy as they were at first.He found it a real joy to swim freely in this underwater world where buoyancy is at work.It's about as effortless as a navigator moving in orbit.Now, Johnny can roll over or stand still underwater, but he won't stay underwater for long.To learn any useful technique, it takes time to practice.

Now, he has plenty of time.Although Professor Kazan is kind, he is a figure with great influence.He called, filled out forms, and Johnny was now a legal resident of the island.His aunt longed for him to stay in a foreign land, and happily sent several of Johnny's most prized possessions.Now that Johnny lives on the other side of the world, he can look at and review his past life with more or less objectivity.Maybe, he thought, he had his own problems.Was he himself trying to adjust to life at the house of his adoptive aunt?Moreover, the life of my aunt after the death of my uncle is indeed not easy!When he grows up, he may know more about these issues, and perhaps he will reconcile with his aunt.But now, no matter what, it was his wish that he could leave his aunt's house!

A new page had opened before him in life—a life that would be completely broken with the past.He just realized that before this, he actually had no life, just existed in this world.Both of his parents died when he was young, so he was afraid of living under the fence.To make matters worse, he became suspicious and withdrawn.Now, the harmonious life on the island swept away his worries.Johnny started to change. The fishermen are friendly and comfortable to work with.This kind of place is never cold, they just need to go out to sea and catch enough fish, and they don't have to work too hard at all.Every night, if it's not dancing, it's watching a movie, or having a picnic on the beach.If it rains—and it sometimes rains, usually a few inches an hour—they watch TV.Because of the TV relay satellite, the TV in any city in the world can be transmitted to Dolphin Island in less than half a second.People on the island can watch whatever programs other parts of the world can watch, and they can still live a leisurely life.Here, people can not only enjoy all the benefits of modern civilization, but also avoid the adverse effects of various disadvantages of modern civilization.

But Johnny can't play all day.Like other young people on the island under the age of 20 (many of them are over the age of 20), Johnny has to go to school for several hours a day. Professor Kazan pays attention to education.There are 12 teachers on the island-in fact, there are only two real teachers, and the other 10 are computers.In fact, this ratio is very normal.Since the invention of the teaching machine in the middle of the 20th century, education has been based entirely on science. All teaching machines are connected to "Oscar". "Oscar" is a large electronic computer.Teaching and translating dolphin languages, administrative work and financial work on the island are all carried out through this "Oscar" large computer, and "Oscar" can also play chess.Soon after Johnny arrived on the island, "Oscar" conducted a comprehensive test of his educational level, and then compiled suitable teaching tapes and training plans for him.Now, he has to spend at least three hours a day on the keyboard of the teaching machine.He has to answer the questions that keep popping up on the screen, or look up relevant information.He can choose the right time to do his homework, but if he wants to "play truant", "Oscar" will immediately report to Professor Kazan—even to Dr. Keith, that would be bad!

At this moment, two scientists are working on important problems.After working continuously for 24 hours a day and night, Professor Kazan has translated the information brought back by Aina - but this puts the professor in a dilemma.Professor Kazan is kind, and he can be summed up in one word, which is "kindness".To his distress, however, the dolphin asks him to join a war. He looked at the message printed out by "Oscar" and hoped it wasn't true.But if anyone was at fault, it was only him.For it was he himself who insisted on following the pod of dolphins. "All right, Professor," said Dr. Keith, exhausted and unshaven, leaning over the tape console. "What shall we do now?"

"I don't know either," Professor Kazan said.Most good scientists, and a few not so good scientists, are never ashamed to admit their ignorance or incapacity. "Do you have any good ideas?" "I thought, at times like this, we could use an advisory committee. Why not talk to a few of them?" "That's a good idea," said the professor. "Let's see who we can contact at this time." He took out a list from the drawer and counted the names from top to bottom with his fingers. "The Americans can't - they're sleeping now. Most of the Europeans are sleeping too. That leaves - let's see - Saha in Delhi, Hirsch in Tel Aviv, and Abdullah -"

"Enough!" Dr. Keith interrupted the professor. "With more than five people in a videoconference, nothing will come out." "That's right—we'll see if we can get in touch with them." A quarter of an hour later, five people from all over the world held a videoconference as if they were in the same room.There is something special about this teleconference.Professor Kazan does not require a picture, as a call will suffice, therefore, equivalent to a conference call.Of course, if an image is required, that is easy to do. "Gentlemen," after greeting each other for a while, Professor Kazan turned to the topic. "We've got an issue that we're going to bring to committee soon - probably with a decision at a higher level - but for now, I'd like to ask for individual views first."

"Ha!" said Hashem Abdullah.He is an outstanding biochemist in Pakistan and is now in his own laboratory in Karachi. "You've asked me for 'personal opinion' no less than a dozen times, but I can't remember a single time when you've considered my opinion, even in the slightest." "I'll think about it this time," said Professor Kazan.His tone was solemn and serious, and he immediately alerted the participants that this meeting was extraordinary. Professor Kazan briefly mentioned how Johnny got to Dolphin Island.These things were also known to the participants in advance.Johnny's miraculous rescue was widely publicized around the world.He then quickly talked about the passage of the "Flying Fish" tracking the pods of dolphins, and Aina's conversation with his deep-sea cousins.

"History will record this event," Professor Kazan said. "This was the first dialogue between humans and non-human beings. But I am convinced that it will never be the last. Therefore, our work will Determine the direction of future development - not only on Earth, but in space. "I know, some of you may think that I've overestimated the intelligence of dolphins. Well, now you can always judge for yourself. They came to us, hoping that we could help them resist the cruelest enemy .In the ocean, there are generally only two kinds of animals that attack dolphins. One is of course sharks, but for adult dolphins, sharks are not deadly enemies. They can slam sharks into their gills and kill them. Sharks Very stupid, even among fish, sharks are very stupid. Dolphins have nothing but contempt and hatred for sharks.

"The other enemy is a whole other thing, and that's the killer whale, to which dolphins are somewhat related. Orcas are, so to speak, a large carnivorous dolphin that can grow up to 30 feet long. People I once caught a killer whale with 20 dolphins in its stomach - think about it, how big the appetite of a killer whale is - eat 20 dolphins at a time! "So it's no surprise that dolphins ask for our help. They know that our power is beyond theirs - and the ship is one of the manifestations of our power for centuries. Thousands of Dolphins have been friendly with humans for 30 years, and maybe they just want to get in touch with us, hoping to get our help and support in their centuries-long war with killer whales-but, until now, we have not Gained the ability to understand their ingenuity. I'm deeply ashamed if that's the case, and I'm deeply ashamed of us humans!" "Wait a minute, Professor," said Dr. Saha, an Indian physiologist. "It's all very interesting, but are you sure you've got your translations right? Don't feel bad, we all know you have a deep affection for dolphins, and most of us love dolphins too. Can you be sure you didn't put your own Thoughts are imposed on them, right?" In other people, Dr. Saha's words might have made him very angry, although the doctor's words were very polite.However, Professor Kazan only replied mildly: "There's no doubt about it—you can ask Keith." "Yes," Professor Keith affirmed. "Translating dolphin language, I am not as good as Professor Kazan, but I can use my reputation to guarantee that Professor Kazan's translation is completely correct!" "Furthermore," Professor Kazan went on, "what I shall say next proves that, despite my affection for dolphins, I am not blinded by it. I am not a zoologist, but I am Understand the ecological balance of nature. Even if we can help dolphins, the question is whether we should help them? On this point, I would like to ask Dr. Hirsch for his personal opinion.” Hirsch, the director of the Tel Aviv Zoo, was in no hurry to answer Professor Kazan's question; he was still awake, and it was still dark in Israel! "You've given us a tough problem to solve," Hirsch grumbled. "I don't think you have considered the problem so complicated! In nature, any animal has its natural enemies - carnivores. If an animal does not have its own natural enemies, that is their disaster! For example, Africa , where lions and antelopes coexist. What will happen if all the lions are killed? Let me tell you: the antelopes will multiply and eat up all the food, and eventually they will starve themselves die. "No matter what the antelopes think of lions, the existence of lions is of great benefit to them. In addition to enabling them to get enough food, it also enables them to grow up healthily, while the weak are eaten. This is the law of the survival of the fittest in nature. From our point of view, this may be a bit cruel, but it is very effective. Only in this way can nature maintain its ecological balance." "For dolphins, your analogy is not entirely appropriate," Professor Kazan said. "We're not talking about beasts, but intelligent beings. They're not beings like us, but they're still beings. We might use the analogy of a peaceful farming tribe who's been bullied by a tribe of cannibals. Ravage. You can’t say that the existence of cannibal tribes is of great benefit to agricultural tribes—do you want to transform cannibal tribes?” Hirschger laughed. "I totally agree with you, but I wonder how you can modify an orca?" "Wait a minute," said Dr. Abdullah. "I don't quite understand what you're talking about. Are killer whales smart? Unless they're as smart as dolphins, the human-tribe analogy won't fit. Then there's no moral question." "They're smart," replied Professor Kazan, looking rather offended. "Our research proves that they are at least as smart as dolphins." "I guess you guys know about killer whales trying to eat Antarctic explorers?" Dr. Hirsch said.Everyone else said they didn't know.The doctor went on to say: "That happened at the beginning of the last century, and it was one of the early expeditions to Antarctica—it was the Scott expedition. A group of expedition members looked at several people on the edge of an ice floe. They never imagined that danger was approaching them. Suddenly, the ice under their feet broke. It turned out that the killer whales hit the ice from the bottom. Fortunately, the expedition team found that the ice under their feet Jumped to safety before it broke. You know, those ice blocks are 3 feet thick!" "So, given the chance, killer whales will also eat people." Someone said. "I'm in favor of dealing with killer whales." "But it's also been said that the orcas mistook the fur-clad expedition members for penguins. Of course, I don't want to experiment with that. But one thing is for sure, a few snorkelers were eaten by the orcas. " After hearing this, everyone was silent; they were thinking about this fact.Then Saha spoke again. "Obviously, we need some facts before we can make a decision. Someone has to capture a few orcas and study them carefully. Do you think it's possible to establish a connection with an orca, Nicola, as you would with a dolphin What about established connections?" "Maybe, but it will take a few years." "We digress," said Dr. Hirsch impatiently. "We have to decide: what should we do, how should we do it, etc. I'm afraid someone will defend the killer whales against our dolphin friends." "I know what you want to say," said Professor Kazan, "but please go ahead." "We get a lot of food from the ocean - about 100 million tons of fish a year. Dolphins are our main predators in the ocean, and the more they eat, the less we eat. You just said, in killer whales There has been a war with the dolphins, but there is another war, and that is a war between the dolphins and the fishermen. The dolphins destroy the nets and steal the fish that the fishermen have caught. In this war , killer whales are our allies. If killer whales don't control the total dolphin population, we will have no fish to eat." Surprisingly, the above arguments do not discourage Professor Kazan.On the contrary, he felt very happy. "Thank you, Dr. Hirsch. You have asked this question very well. Of course, you also know that sometimes dolphins help fishermen drive away fish, and then share the fish they catch. More than 200 years ago, here, Aboriginal Queenslanders often encountered to such a thing." "Yes, I know that too. Would you like this to happen again today?" "That's not a bad idea. Thank you, gentlemen, and I appreciate you very much. As soon as I've completed a few experiments, I'll submit a memorandum to the full committee and call a full committee meeting." "You wake us out of bed so early, at least give us some news." "No, not yet, excuse me - I've got to figure out what ideas work and what don't. Please wait a week or two. In the meantime, you guys help me find out where I can borrow an orca, Ideally the killer whale should not eat more than 1,000 pounds per day."