岛上的男人为何会神秘失踪.

　　At first glance it's paradise, a small Caribbean island with palm trees swaying in the breeze, white sands and emerald waters, untouched by mass tourism. But Old Providence has a guilty secret - the huge number of people who have turned to drug-running and then disappeared.

　　乍一看，这座加勒比小岛胜似天堂。白滩碧水环绕，棕榈枝叶随微风摇曳，游客踏足甚少。但这座古老的普罗维登斯小岛上，却隐藏着一个难以启齿的秘密：岛上的大部分人口都转行从事毒品贸易，随后神秘消失——约四分之一男性岛民都被关押在国外监狱内。

　　On Old Providence nobody rushes. Nobody looks stressed. They never stop smiling.

　　岛上居民生活悠闲，无忧无虑，每日以笑待人。

　　It's a tiny island, colonised by British Puritans in 1629, and used as a base by British privateers, including Capt Henry Morgan, as they attacked Spanish shipping and trading centres in the New World.

　　小岛曾于1692年被大不列颠清教徒占领，沦为英国的殖民地，甚至还被用作大不列颠海盗基地，其中就包括著名的海盗船长亨利?摩根(Capt Henry Morgan)。他们占据此地，不断袭击西班牙来往贸易船只，并在这个新世界建立了繁荣的贸易中心。

　　Although Old Providence has long been part of Colombia, and lies close to the coast of Nicaragua, the mother tongue remains a form of broken English.

　　尽管该岛一直以来都属于哥伦比亚领土，靠近尼加拉瓜海岸线，岛民的母语却是蹩脚的英语。

　　The islanders, who number between 5,000 and 6,000, feel more Caribbean than they do Colombian. Many are Rastafarians, and for a long time the place remained untouched by Colombia's violent narcotraffickers. You don't see guns or hitmen, there are no bodyguards, or the bling typical of drug lords.

　　小岛上的人口大约为5000至6000人，岛民更多地认为自己是加勒比人，而不是哥伦比亚人。许多岛民信奉拉斯特法里教。在哥伦比亚贩毒武装指染该岛前，这里没有枪，也没有杀手，没有保镖，也没有奢侈成性的典型毒枭。

　　The problem is below the surface, but no less serious for that.

　　美丽静谧的外表下，潜藏的危机却甚少得到重视。

　　"We are losing our men," one islander told me, asking to remain anonymous.

　　一位要求匿名的岛民告诉我：“岛上的男丁正日益减少。

　　"According to my research, there are at least 800 men that are imprisoned in different jails abroad or have simply disappeared."

　　“据我调查，至少有800名男性岛民消失了，要么被关押在国外的监狱里，要么就干脆消失得无影无踪。”

　　That means more than one in four of the island's menfolk have gone, if this research is correct, and the island's population divides equally into men and women. There are no official figures.

　　要是调查属实，这意味着约有四分之一的男性岛民都消失了。因没有官方数据显示岛上的男女比例，我在此单纯把男女人口平分来算。

　　The fact is that Old Providence couldn't remain immune to Colombia's problems forever, and a few years ago, drug smugglers discovered the islanders were excellent mariners, with invaluable knowledge of the surrounding waters inherited from their privateering forebears.

　　即便岛上的居民极力让生活维持原样，也还是难逃哥伦比亚毒品贸易的魔爪。几年前，贩毒分子发现，岛民的祖先是海盗，继承了海盗的优秀品质，天生是游泳好手，对周边海域环境熟悉，很有利用价值。

　　"They are the last rung of the drug trafficking trade," says veteran journalist Amparo Ponton, who has lived on the island for 25 years.

　　“他们是毒品贸易的最后一级。”在岛上居住了25年之久的资深记者安帕罗·庞顿(Amparo Ponton)说。

　　"Islanders read the ocean better than anyone, so they are hired as pilots in the narco-speedboats."

　　“岛民比任何人都了解海洋，因此贩毒分子就雇佣他们当毒品快艇的驾驶员。”

　　If they successfully deliver a boatload of drugs to the intended destination - which may be anywhere from Honduras to Florida - they make thousands of dollars.

　　他们要是把毒品成功送往目的地，比如从洪都拉斯某地到佛罗里达，就会获得数千美元的报酬。

　　If they get caught they end up in jail.

　　若不幸被抓，他们则将面临牢狱之灾。

　　Things get awkward when a boat is chased by the coastguard. In that case the crew throws the drugs overboard - and then has to explain this to the drug lords. The next job they are asked to do is one they cannot ruse.

　　他们偶尔会遭到海岸警卫队的追查，这是他们不得不应对的一种棘手情况。这种情况下，船员们会把毒品扔进大海，也难以再向毒枭交差。然后又有下一个差使，无论危险与否，他们都得硬着头皮做。

　　"My boy ended up in a jail in Mississippi, USA," one mother told me.

　　岛上的一位母亲告诉我：“我的孩子被关进了美国密西西比州的监狱。

　　"He had already served a six-year sentence in the United States. But he tried again and failed again.

　　“他已经在监狱里呆了六年了。他尝试申请减刑，但失败了一次又一次。

　　"I think he tried again because he didn't find any work...

　　“我想，他还是会继续申请。毕竟在监狱里，他无法工作，无法获得收入……

　　"Most families on the island have been affected by this one way or the other. We are losing our boys."

　　“岛上的大部分家庭都受到毒品贸易的影响。我们的丈夫和孩子正在消失。”

　　One way of creating more jobs would be to develop tourism, but this is a path Old Providence has deliberately shunned - in contrast with its neighbour, San Andres, which is now dotted with resorts.

　　创造更多就业岗位的方法之一就是发展旅游业，而这座古老的普罗维登斯小岛却选择刻意回避这一方式。与之形成鲜明对比的是邻岛圣安德，他们大力发展旅游业，度假胜地星罗棋布。

　　But the researcher who calculates that 800 islanders have disappeared says the lack of opportunities is only one part of the problem.

　　不过，那个自称研究过这一现象的岛民认为，关于800名岛民的消失的问题，工作机会的缺乏只是表面因素。

　　"There is also a lot of juvenile adrenaline at play," she says. She has often overheard youngsters say: "I've got three options - hit, miss or get." In other words, you score, you get arrested, or you get killed.

　　“青少年肾上腺素分泌旺盛，容易参与毒品贸易。”她说。她常无意间听到年轻人说：“人生有三个选择，命中、错过以及失去。”换而言之，就是得到报酬、被捕以及被杀。

　　"We have already lost 10% of the generation bore mine," says 26-year-old fisherman Loreno Bent.

　　26岁的渔民劳瑞·本特(Loreno Bent)说：“上一代辈人的人数少了10%。

　　"There are children who wake up daily not knowing their father because he was lost in the high seas when the child was a four-month-old baby.

　　“有的孩子不知道自己的父亲是谁，因为在他4个月大的时候，父亲就在公海消失了。

　　"Mothers are crying because their boys lt and never returned. Nobody knows where they are. They could be in a jail anywhere in the world. We simply don't know."

　　“母亲们在哭泣，因为他们的孩子一旦离开了就不再回来。没有人知道他们究竟去哪了。或许，他们被关押在世界上的某个监狱里。没有人知道。”

　　But he doesn't criticise those who run drugs.

　　不过，他并未谴责贩毒人员。

　　"The sea is our economy, it doesn't matter if it's legal or illegal," he says. "What matters here is that acquiring your money hasn't involved a crime against another human. In Colombia it's considered illegal, but to many of us it's our sole subsistence. So we don't see it as something illegal."

　　“海洋是我们的经济来源，我们并不在乎合法与否。”他说，“只要你赚的钱没有伤害到其他人，那就没关系了。尽管哥伦比亚规定毒品贸易属于非法行为，但这是许多岛民维持生计的唯一方式，所以我们并不认为它是违法的。”

　　He adds: "People say this is easy money, but no - it's the hardest type to obtain. If you wake up in the morning knowing you're putting your life in danger, then it can't be easy money."

　　他还说道：“人们说这是种容易赚钱的方式，其实不然，这是最难维持的方式。如果你每天醒来都在担心自身的安危，还会觉得这是件易事吗?”

　　When a son disappears, parents often do not know where he has gone, or if he will return - many seem to feel too ashamed about the crime to make a concerted fort to find out. The number of such inquiries from Old Providence is extremely low, according to Colombia's consul in the US.

　　当某家的儿子消失时，父母通常都会不知道自己的儿子去哪了，也不知他是否还会回来。似乎大家都知道这是违法行为，因此羞于去查孩子的去向。哥伦比亚驻美领事馆表示，在古老的普罗维登斯，这类查询请求少之又少。

　　But that doesn't mean the absence is not deeply felt.

　　即便如此，这并不代表人们未曾因亲人的失踪而感到深切的悲痛。

　　"There are families," says journalist Amparo Ponton, "where the great-grandfather, grandfather, father and son are imprisoned."

　　记者安帕罗·庞顿说：“岛上的许多家庭，从祖父到父亲再到儿子，都被关押在监狱里了。”

　　Colombia's narco-business has given rise to many tragedies. This is just one more.

　　哥伦比亚毒品贸易引发的悲剧不计其数，这些只是冰山一角而已。