1 . On February 7th 1997, some Japanese whale hunters caught 10 orcas (虎鲸) in a small bay near Taiji. The hunters were not interested in killing the orcas but rather in catching them for sale. Five of the orcas were sold and _________ off to different whale research centers in Japan; the other five were _________ back into the ocean.

The Japanese whale hunting soon became a hot news called “Taiji Five” and spread around the world quickly. People’s _________ poured into the Japanese authorities to make the whale research centers return wild whales to the ocean; in UN, protests against whale hunting _________ 52 countries to support the proposal. However, all these actions were _________ by Japan. Two of the whales died just a few months after being caught; a third died in 2004. Today, only two of the five caught whales still remain _________.

This hunting of wild whales is just one of the many _________ to whales in our oceans today. Not only are the oceans full of chemical waste from our factories, but noise pollution from ships is _________ as a more serious danger to the life of whales and other sea creatures. _________ the chemical and noise pollution, there is a very real possibility that whale hunters may soon be able to legally begin their business again. In March 2009, the International Whaling Commission met to discuss the possibility of throwing out the whaling ban (禁令). Therefore, the greatest threat to whales’ safety is humans actually. If wild animals are not __________, the next species to go extinct is humans.