The top-selling album (唱片) Songs of the Humpback Whale was released in 1970. This collection of nature recordings changed the way many people thought about whales and eventually helped save thousands of whales’ lives.
The album might never have been made if it hadn’t been for a sound engineer named Frank Watlington. In the 1960s, Watlington was making underwater recordings when he noticed some strange, deep sounds, which he realized were coming from whales.
Watlington played the recordings for a pair of biologists named Roger and Katy Payne. When they listened, they were instantly hooked on the beauty of the whales’ voices.
Katy Payne studied music as well as biology, and she was amazed by how the whales communicate like an opera singer. She also noticed another interesting detail: they had recognizable patterns. In biology terms, an animal call with a repeating pattern is called a song. The songs of whales are so complex that some scientists have even compared them to composers and poets.
The Paynes thought that other people needed to hear the beauty of the whales’ songs, so Roger organized the recordings into an album. At the time when the album came out, whales were often hunted and traded for money and some whale species were dying out. Most people had never thought of whales as creatures that could communicate through songs. But after hearing the album, many people began to think differently.
The album led people to start the Save the Whales movement. Musicians began using whale songs in their music, and whales were included in movies and television shows. In 1982, the deep-sea whaling was banned. Before the ban, more than 50,000 whales per year were killed. After it, the number went down below 2,000.
It might seem incredible that just one album could help save the lives of so many whales. But this one-of-a-kind album revealed secrets long hidden beneath the waves and allowed these amazing creatures to finally share their songs with the human world.
8. What is the purpose of the passage?
A.To call on people to save whales. | B.To prove that whales are born singers. |
C.To explain how a good album was made. | D.To introduce a popular album and its stories. |
9. Who first found the special voices of the whales?
A.A song recorder. | B.An opera singer. |
C.A sound engineer. | D.A pair of biologists. |
10. What surprised Katy Payne about the whales?
A.They could talk with scientists. | B.They could sing like an opera singer. |
C.They could repeat interesting sounds. | D.They could communicate through songs. |
11. Which is one of the values of the album?
A.It successfully stopped deep-sea whaling. | B.It helped people understand whales better. |
C.It made some music and movie stars popular. | D.It encouraged musicians to work with scientists. |