好英语网英国卡车尸体案背后，贫困越南偷渡者的悲歌
YEN THANH, Vietnam — Across the village, the altar tables have already been set up.
越南安城——祭桌已在村子的一边到另一边摆好了。
In Buddhist and Catholic households alike, families have not waited for the final word on whether their daughters, sons, brothers and sisters are among the 39 people found dead last week in a refrigerated truck container in an industrial park in Britain, roughly 6,000 miles away.
不论这些家庭是信佛教还是天主教，他们已不再等待亲人的最后消息。上周，在大约9600公里以外的一个英国工业园区，一辆集装箱冷藏车内发现了39具尸体，他们的女儿、儿子、兄弟或姐妹可能就在其中。
Though the authorities in Britain have not yet identified the bodies, the families in Vietnam are treating the silence from their loved ones as confirmation enough.
尽管英国当局还没有确认死者的身份，但这些越南家庭已把听不到亲人的消息当作足够的证明。
The tables bore framed photographs of the missing, flanked by incense and their favorite foods. For the 19-year-old who left to support her family after her father died of cancer, it was Choco-Pies. For the 26-year-old farmer whose family was mired in debt, it was cans of Red Bull.
祭桌上摆放着失踪者镶在镜框里的照片，两边点着香，放着他们喜爱的食物。对那名在父亲因癌症去世后离家打工的19岁女子来说，这是乐天巧克力派。对那名家庭陷入债务困境的26岁农民来说，这是几罐红牛。
Behind each photograph was a tale of desperation from a place of grinding poverty, where naked light bulbs hang from corrugated metal roofs and the roads are unpaved. They are the faces of what locals and experts say has become an exodus from parts of Vietnam, a country that on paper represents one of Asia’s economic success stories.
在这个极度贫困的地方，每张照片背后都有一个绝望的故事。这里的波纹金属屋顶下挂着光秃秃的电灯泡，而且连条像样的马路都没有。他们是当地人和专家所说的从越南部分地区大批逃离者的代表。而从官方数据看，越南是一个亚洲经济成功的故事。
Some in Vietnam now talk about “box people,” in an echo of the “boat people” who fled the country after the Vietnam War. The name refers to the cargo containers in which many hitch dangerous rides along some of the globe’s busiest trade routes seeking jobs and a future.
一些越南人如今在谈论“箱民”，这个词与越战后逃离越南的“船民”相呼应。“箱”字指的是货物集装箱，许多人搭乘这种往返于全球最繁忙贸易路线的危险运输工具去寻找工作和未来。
“We have a saying,” said Anthony Dang Huu Nam, a local priest. “‘If an electrical pole had legs, it would go too.’”
“我们有一种说法，”当地牧师安东尼·邓秀南（Anthony Dang Huu Nam，音）说。“‘如果电线杆有腿，它也会跑。’”
Investigators are still piecing together who the 39 people are, how they died and why they ended up in Grays, Britain, about 25 miles east of London. But many of the leads point back to a region of north-central Vietnam stricken by poverty and environmental disaster, and the two governments are working together to try to identify the victims.
调查人员仍在搜集材料，以确定这39个人的身份及其死因，以及他们为什么最终出现在伦敦以东约40公里的英格兰格雷斯。但许多线索都指向越南中北部一个饱受贫困和环境灾难之苦的地区，越南和英国政府正在共同努力，确定罹难者的身份。
The authorities in Vietnam have received requests for help from 14 families who say their relatives went missing in Britain, according to a Vietnamese state-run news outlet. The country’s prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, has also instructed officials to look into cases of Vietnamese citizens sent abroad illegally.
据越南一家官方新闻机构报道，越南当局已收到了14个家庭的求助请求，这些家庭称亲人在英国失踪。越南总理阮春福也已经下令官员对越南公民被非法送往海外的情况展开调查。
Nguyen Dinh Luong, a 20-year-old farmer, left the Vietnamese province of Ha Tinh two years ago to help support his seven siblings. His father said he borrowed $18,000 from his relatives to send Mr. Nguyen to France.
20岁的农民阮庭梁（Nguyen Dinh Luong，音）为了帮助养活他的七个兄弟姐妹，两年前离开了越南河静省。他父亲说，为了送儿子去法国，自己从亲戚那里借了1.8万美元（约合12.6万元人民币）。
First he had to go to Russia, where he was confined in a house for about six months because he had overstayed his tourist visa. From Russia, Mr. Nguyen moved on to Ukraine before he reached France in July of last year and found a job as a waiter. Then he decided to go to England to work in a nail salon.
阮庭梁必须先去俄罗斯，在那里的一个房间里被关了大约六个月，因为他的旅游签证过期了。后来，阮庭梁从俄罗斯去了乌克兰，并于去年7月到达法国，找到了一份服务员的工作。再后来，他决定去英国的一家美甲店工作。
“Maybe he was too ambitious,” said the man’s father, Nguyen Dinh Gia, who gave his DNA samples to the police over the weekend to help with the identification process. “I don’t know much. The debt wasn’t fully paid, and in England, you could probably make more money.”
“也许他太心切了，”阮庭梁的父亲阮庭甲（Nguyen Dinh Gia，音）说，他在周末把自己的DNA样本交给了警方，帮助确定身份。“我知道的不多。借的钱还没还完，可能在英国能挣更多的钱。”
Vietnam’s narrative was supposed to be different. Boosted by growing trade, it enjoys one of the world’s fastest growth rates, reaching 7.1 percent last year. Poverty, defined as a person making less than $3.34 per day, has dropped sharply.
越南的故事本该不是这样。在贸易增长的推动下，越南是世界上经济增长最快的国家之一，去年的增长率达到了7.1%。越南的贫困线定义是每人每天的收入低于3.34美元（约合24元人民币），生活在贫困线下的人数已大幅下降。
Still, people there make only a fraction of what the average person takes home in the United States or even China. Many in the poorest areas lack access to a decent education. While Vietnam is increasing spending on health and social benefits, many still do not share in the prosperity.
尽管如此，越南人的收入只是美国甚至中国人均收入的一小部分。许多生活在最贫困地区的人缺乏接受良好教育的机会。虽然越南正在增加医疗和社会福利方面的支出，但许多人仍未享受到经济繁荣的好处。
Vietnam is a major source of human trafficking victims into Britain, the second-highest after Albania, according to Britain’s ambassador to Vietnam and anti-human trafficking organizations.
据英国驻越南大使和反人口贩运组织的说法，越南是进入英国的人口贩运受害者的主要来源，仅次于阿尔巴尼亚。
Nghe An and Ha Tinh, two of Vietnam’s poorest provinces, supply much of the trade. Officials in Ha Tinh estimate more than 41,000 people left the province in the first eight months of this year alone.
越南最贫困的义安省和河静省，为贩运提供了大量人口。据河静省官员估计，仅在今年头八个月，就有逾4.1万人离开了该省。
Many there are farmers. Rice is the region’s predominant crop, and farmers like Mr. Nguyen earn virtually nothing.
其中很多是农民。大米是该地区的主要作物，而像阮庭梁这样的农民几乎赚不到钱。
North of Ha Tinh, the province of Yen Thanh has also become a major source of migrants. In 2016, a steel mill owned by Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics contaminated coastal waters, devastating the fishing and tourism industries.
河静省以北安城所在省份也已成为移民的一个主要来源。2016年，台塑集团下属的一家钢厂污染了沿海水域，给当地渔业和旅游业造成了严重损失。
Many put themselves in debt to pay “the line” — their term for the shadowy network of human smugglers who take people from country to country before they reach Britain or another destination. Some mortgage their homes or borrow from their families. Even to people there, the human smuggling operation remains shadowy beyond the knowledge that a person would come and collect the money for every successful leg of the journey.
许多人为了支付“线”钱背上了债务，当地人口中的“线”指的是一个隐秘的人口贩运网，它把人从一个国家送到另一个国家，并最终送到英国或其他目的地。为支付线钱，一些人把房子抵押，或者找家人借钱。即使对这里的人来说，偷渡的操作也很隐秘，他们只知道，偷渡行程上每成功一段，就会有一个人来收钱。
Bui Thi Nhung, 19, wanted to help support her family after her father died of throat cancer in 2017, so she set off on her journey with the help of a loan from her relatives. Of those widely believed to have died in the truck in Britain, she was the youngest.
19岁的裴氏蓉（Bui Thi Nhung，音）在父亲于2017年因喉癌去世后想帮助养家，于是在亲戚提供的贷款的帮助下，她上路了。广泛据信死在英国那个集装箱的人中，她是最年轻的一位。
Nguyen Dinh Tu, a 26-year-old farmer, had borrowed $17,000 to build a house for his wife and two children, ages 5 and 18 months. To repay that debt, he sought help from a labor recruiter to leave for Romania legally in March, according to his elder brother, Nguyen Van Tinh.
26岁的农民阮庭秀（Nguyen Dinh Tu，音）借来1.7万美元（约合12万元人民币），给妻子和两个分别为5岁和18个月大的孩子盖房。据他的哥哥阮文廷（Nguyen Van Tinh，音）说，为了偿还这笔债务，他向一位招聘劳工的人寻求帮助，于今年3月份合法去了罗马尼亚。
阮庭梁的父亲（左）及其他家庭成员。他的父亲说，他从亲戚那里借了1.8万美元，把阮庭梁送到了法国。
对罗马尼亚一家食品公司的低工资工作失去兴趣后，他去了柏林，在那里的一家餐馆找了份工作。但是他仍觉得自己挣的钱不够多，所以决定去英国。
“If you want your life in the village to change,” Mr. Nguyen’s brother said, “the only way is to go overseas.” He said that the family last heard from his brother a day or two before the truck was found.
“如果你想改变你在村子里的生活，”阮庭秀的哥哥说，“唯一的办法就是出国。他说，家人最后收到弟弟的消息是在集装箱被发现的一两天前。
While many places across Europe seem to promise higher wages and brighter prospects than home, Britain stands out. A sizable population of Vietnamese immigrants there send word home of jobs in nail salons and cannabis farms.
虽然欧洲许多地方似乎都能提供比国内更高的工资和更好的前景，但英国在这方面尤为突出。不少越南移民带口信回来说，英国的美甲店和大麻农场有工作可做。
Pham Thi Tra My was convinced she could find a job as a manicurist. The 26-year-old woman from a village in Ha Tinh wanted to help her family, who had accumulated $19,000 in debt. Four years ago, she had borrowed money to pay a labor recruiter to find her a job in Japan as a cook, where she earned enough to pay off that loan. She then borrowed more to buy a car in Vietnam so her younger brother could drive a taxi.
范氏茶美（Pham Thi Tra My，音）坚信她能找到一份美甲的工作。这名26岁的女子来自河静省一个村子，她想帮家人偿还1.9万美元（约合13.5万元人民币）的债务。四年前，她借钱支付了一名劳务招聘者，让其为自己在日本找了一份厨师的工作，她在那里挣的钱足够将这笔借款还清。后来她借了更多的钱在越南买了一辆车，这样她的弟弟就可以开出租车了。
Just a month ago, the car crashed and caught fire. They had no insurance. Rather than return to Japan, Ms. Pham decided she could earn more in Britain.
就在一个月前，那辆车出了车祸并着了火。他们没有上保险。范氏茶美决定到英国去挣更多的钱，而不是回日本。
“I’m thinking about the family and I love you both, so I have to go,” she said, according to her father, Pham Van Thin, who works as a security guard. “Please, Dad and Mom, borrow the money for me so I can travel. Give me the opportunity to pay the debt for my family.”
“我心里想的是这个家，我爱你们两人，所以我必须出去，”据她当保安的父亲范文辰（Pham Van Thin，音）说，女儿走前曾这样说。“爸爸妈妈，请你们帮我借来这笔钱，让我能出去。让我有机会挣钱帮家里还债。”
The family took a mortgage on their home to send her to England. First Ms. Pham flew to Beijing, where she waited for a fake passport. She called home frequently until she went to France, where she stopped reaching out for fear that the authorities could detect her location.
为了让她去英国，这家人抵押了自己的房子。范氏茶美先是飞到了北京，在那里，她为拿到一个假护照等了一段时间。她经常给家里打电话，直到她到了法国，她在法国停止了与家人联系，因为担心当局会查出她的位置。
Early on Oct. 23, hours before the bodies in Britain were discovered, she texted her mother. “I’m sorry, Mom, my path abroad didn’t succeed,” she wrote.
10月23日凌晨，就在那些尸体在英国被发现前的几小时，她给母亲发了条短信。“对不起，妈妈，我出国之路并不成功，”她写道。
“Mom, I love you and Dad so much! I’m dying because I can’t breathe.”
“妈妈，我太爱你和爸爸了！我快死了，因为我不能呼吸了。”
The text arrived in the morning but her mother, Nguyen Thi Phong, did not check her phone until noon, eight hours later. When she called back, there was no answer.
短信是凌晨发来的，但她的母亲阮氏芳（Nguyen Thi Phong，音）直到八个小时后的中午才查看了手机。她当时就把电话打了过去，但无人接听。
Ms. Nguyen sent her a text: “Child, where are you now? I’m very worried and tired. I love you and feel sorry for you.”
阮氏芳给女儿发了一条短信：“孩子，你现在在哪里？我很担心，也很疲倦。我爱你，我为你难过。”
A day later, Ms. Pham’s elder brother, Pham Ngoc Guan, texted her. “Come back and don’t go anymore,” he wrote. “The whole family is worried for you.”
一天后，范氏茶美的哥哥范玉淦（Pham Ngoc Guan，音）给妹妹发了个短信。“回来吧，别再走了，”他写道。“全家人都在为你担心。”
On Sunday, Ms. Pham’s mother wept as she lay on her only daughter’s bed in the family’s home.
范氏茶美是母亲唯一的女儿，周日，这位母亲躺在女儿的床上哭泣。
Her brother, Pham Ngoc Guan, said: “I’m still hoping she’s in another vehicle, or she’s just lost.”
她的哥哥范玉淦说，“我仍怀有一线希望，她可能在另一辆车里，或者她只是迷路了。”
He picked up his mother’s phone and called his sister again. Nobody answered.
他再次拿起母亲的手机，给妹妹打了个电话。无人接听。