（80年代初读研期间的另一篇英语作文，经黄大闢先生修改过。）

Wu Yishan

Through the persistent effort of mass media all over the globe, more and more people are now able to know what a lovely mammal the whale is. A few decades ago, many people paid little or no heed to whales at all, which some of the rest pinned their eyes only on what potential profit whales would bring them commercially.

The usefulness of the whale is beyond doubt. Its meat is a dainty to some people. The Japanese enjoy it a great deal, though its major use is as feed for other animals and poultry in the form of “fishmeal”. Its oil is used for industrial lubrication and that from pilot whales provides us with high-grade lubricant for watches and other preision instruments. Besides, large quantities of it are also converted into fatty alcohols and acids which are widely used in cosmetics, detergents and soaps.

Of all the spiecies of whales, especial mention shoule be made of the sperm whale. A good concentratin of wax is found in its head, which supplies raw materials for the manufacture of candels that brighten up our homes before the coming of electricity. Ambergris, a highly valuable cohesive agent in perfume, is also a rare product of the sperm whale. As it is the only large whale with teeth, so “ivory” forms another precious item it offers

As the saying goes, “ A fattened swine is the cause of his own bane”, so the commercial value of whales was a tragedy to them in itself. About two dozen countries were vying with each other in whaling for many years. Japan and the Soviet Union are the most avaricious, each possessing a powerful whaling fleet at open seas. By the late 1950s, the blue whale was near extinction through overexploitation. Heavy pressure was then exerted on the fin whale, sei whale and sperm whale until 1970 when limitations on catches of the larger whales adopted by the International Whaling Commission  (IWC) had more or less produced some effect. By and large, however, the observance of these limitations by IWC member states was rather lamentable, because IWC had no obligatory control over its members.

In order to save this precious species of mammals from a drastic decline in number, we must, first and foremost, keep all the habitants on the earth informed of the grim situation. They should know that not only whales themselves but the knowledge of their natural history  are also commercially valuable. Such a knowledge cannot be acquired unless we prevent them from extinction. It is foolish to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Secondly, since the  no-obligation appeal of IWC members amounted next to nothing, it might be necessary to organise an ad hoc cruising force ( something similar in nature  to that sent by the United Nations to Lebanon) for the protection of all endangered marine species. Thirdly, major industrialized countries should proclaim laws and regulations prohibiting their catch just as what the United States has done in 1971. Laws should be enacted internationally that any violation should be subject to legal sanctions by other countries.

Various iternational conflicts and issues comlicate the situation and mar the implementation of many reasonable programs suggested in the conservation movement. No matter how arduous the task is, however, we must keep up the movement, otherwise, we would have to reap what we have sown.