The fight against China's ivory trade has a big advocate -- Yao Ming. 對抗中國象牙交易的戰爭有了一位強有力的代言人——姚明。
Ivan Watson tells us what the former NBA player is doing to curb China's appetite for ivory. 伊凡．華生要告訴我們這位前 NBA 美國職籃球員正在做些什麼事，以遏止中國對於象牙的喜好。
One of the biggest creatures in the animal kingdom, protected by one of the biggest men in China. 動物王國中體型最大的生物之一，受到中國其中一位最高大的人保護。
When the buying stops, the killing can, too. 沒有買賣，就沒有殺害。
Former basketball star Yao Ming is arguably China's most famous athlete. 前籃球球星姚明可以說是中國知名度最高的運動員。
Since retiring from the NBA, he has also become a passionate spokesman for the wildlife conservation group WildAid, 自 NBA 退休後，他也積極投入成為野生動物保育團體野生救援協會的發言人，
campaigning to stop the slaughter of elephants and rhinos in Africa. 宣導停止屠殺非洲的大象和犀牛。
Why [are] those animals being poached? Why are those guys after those animals? 那些動物為何遭到盜獵？那些人為何要獵捕那些動物呢？
It's all because there's a market here in China, in Asia or anywhere else. 全都是因為在中國、在亞洲或其他地方有市場。
People are buying those ivory and horns. 大家都在購買那些象牙和犀牛角。
China is the world's biggest market for ivory. 中國是全球最大的象牙市場，
There are dozens of legal companies here that sell licensed ivory. 中國國內有數十家合法公司，可以販售獲得授權許可的象牙。
But the demand from China's growing middle class is also driving the black market smuggling of illegal elephant tusk into the country. 但是中國的中產階級逐漸成長，其需求卻也帶動了黑市將非法象牙走私進入中國。
It's not just elephant ivory. 不只有象牙而已，
This is a box of traditional Chinese medicine that's advertised to include one key ingredient -- rhinoceros horn. 這是一盒傳統中藥，它對外宣傳內含一種關鍵成分——犀牛角。
Now, some Chinese believe that this has incredible healing properties, that it's almost a wonder drug. 有些中國人相信這帖藥擁有不可思議的療效，幾乎可以說是一種萬靈丹。
And that's why 20 years after the Chinese government banned its sale, rhino horn is still a valuable commodity on the black market. 這也說明了為何在中國政府禁止販售犀牛角二十年後，犀牛角依舊是黑市中的一項貴重商品。
Yao Ming is trying to teach his countrymen that these animals are more valuable alive than cut up as trophies in the living room. 姚明正設法教導他的同胞，這些動物活著的時候，比牠們被切割成為客廳裡的紀念品更珍貴。
The money will [is] making people turning [turn] to a dark side to doing [do] something terrible, like what I saw over there. 金錢讓人們走向黑暗面，去做一些可怕的事，就像我在那裡看到的一樣。
The athlete traveled to Africa with WildAid and witnessed the poaching of these giant creatures firsthand. 這位運動員和野生救援協會一同前往非洲，親眼目睹了盜獵這些巨型動物的事件。
We saw a couple of elephants' and rhinos' carcasses. It's very ugly. 我們看到幾具大象和犀牛的屍體，非常醜陋。
Because the animal is so big, you can't kill [it] by just a single bullet so they sometimes you'll find a lot of bullet holes on their [its] body. 因為這種動物體型非常大，你無法只用一顆子彈就殺死牠，所以他們有時候會在牠身上找到好多彈孔。
It's almost like... make me feel like genocide. 這有點像……讓我覺得有點像是大屠殺。
Yao Ming's environmental activism began several years ago with an appeal to stop Chinese from eating shark fin soup, 姚明的環保行動數年前就開始了，當時他呼籲要中國人停止食用魚翅湯，
a delicacy that's devastating the world's shark population. 那是一種為全球鯊魚數量帶來浩劫的美食。
He says there was resistance at first, 他說一開始的時候曾經遭遇阻力，
but now it appears many Chinese are listening to the basketball player's message. 但現在看起來很多中國人聽進了這位籃球員的話。
The price of a shark fin soup has almost decreased 50 percent. 魚翅湯的價格跌了將近百分之五十。
The price has gone down. 價格下滑了。
The price is down. Of course, you can imagine, because of prices down, there is not much of a demand. 價格下跌了，當然啦，可想而知，因為價格下跌了，可見需求不大了。
Less demand, perhaps, because Yao Ming is now playing defense for endangered species. 需求變少了，或許吧，因為姚明正在打防守，捍衛瀕臨絕種的動物。