2014-08-07

【Aiden in English】

        At school, we were taught that stingrays were deadly killers of the sea, and had poisonous stingers that could instantly kill you. I disagree, especially after seeing the stingrays when Mom and I sailed Allura Catamaran to the Sandbar in Stingray City, Grand Cayman.

        First of all, stingray's stingers are not poisonous. They have just there for protection from danger. To them, we aren't considered too much of a threat. Besides, the stingrays wouldn't waste their stingers on us. Woooow, they're saving it for the sharks.

        As a matter of fact, stingrays are also very, very friendly. They love to rub against your leg like a cat, and they feel so... so... weird. They're squishy, soft, plump, and chubby. The only hard part is their stingers. The stingrays also allow you to lift them up. Just a few people accomplished that with the help of our guides, and even fewer kissed the stingrays. I was one of the few. It tasted like raw oysters, and I hated raw oysters. The one I kissed was huge female. Most of the time, the females were larger than the males and looked much larger. And the girls outnumber the boys about 10 to 1.

        Stingrays look dangerous, sound dangerous, but aren't dangerous, especially if you aren't dangerous to them.

【紅霞譯文】

        上學讀書的時候，我們誤以為魟魚殺傷力強，身上長刺劇毒，只要一碰到它，人就喪命。我並不認同這種說法，特別當我和媽媽揚起“魅力”號雙體船風帆駛入大開曼島魟魚城沙洲魟魚世界之後，更覺得課堂上教的太過離譜。

        首先，魟魚尾刺無毒，形體尖利純屬為了保護自己。對它們而言，人類過分誇大“威脅”的用意，說白了，魟魚完全捨不得為我們浪費防禦工具。哎…喲…，它們得儲備起來嚴陣鯊魚來犯。

        事實上，魟魚極其友善，它們像貓似的在你腿邊蹭來蹭去，感覺太…太…奇怪了，除了棘刺堅硬之外，渾身上下滑溜溜軟綿綿肥嘟嘟胖乎乎的。魟魚樂意讓人托浮水面，我們當中僅有個別遊客靠導遊幫助真正這麼試過，跟它們口對口親嘴接吻的更是屈指可數，我便是其中幾位之一。魟魚聞起來味如生蚝，而我厭惡生蚝。我親吻的那隻魟魚是雌的，大多數情況下，母的比公的肥碩，體態大出很多，兩者數量不成比例，女比男大約十比一。

        雖然魟魚看上去可怕，聽起來危險，但實際上卻相當安全，如果你對它們毫無非分之想，彼此一定會友好相處。