| But we were in luck. Six or seven rough-looking men, some with revolvers tucked into their waists, were standing at the bar, licking ice-cream. We joined them. And we chatted about the violence. 但我们很幸运。六、七名长相粗鲁的男子站在酒吧里舔食着冰激淋，他们中有几个人的腰部还塞着左轮手枪。我们加入了他们的行列，并开始和他们聊起了这里发生的冲突事件。 'Nearly every week some one here is killed,' said the Italian. A few minutes later a shot rang out. I saw a man lying on the ground, about 20 yards from the bar. 这里几乎每周都有人被杀死”，这位意大利人说道。几分钟后，外面响起了枪声。我看到一名男子倒在距离酒吧大约二十步的地面上。 Hesitantly, I moved towards him, but the lorry driver stopped me. “Ah-ah”, he said. “Vamos embora! We're off!” In a trice, we were back in the lorry and on our way. “犹豫了一番，我开始朝他走去过，但是卡车司机拦住了我。他说：“哎哟，快走！我们离开这！”转眼之间我们回到了卡车上，上路了。 Earlier this month I was back in Redencao, travelling by bus along the same route. Passengers were still complaining about the ruts in the road but that's about all that was the same. 这个月早些时候我乘坐巴士沿着相同的路线回到了“救赎”村。乘客们仍然在一直抱怨着路上的车辙，但是情况还是和以前一样。 The forest has disappeared, except for a few fragments. In its place are cattle and, increasingly, soybeans, which is exported as animal fodder. The town itself now has a population of 80,000. 森林除了几处残留的地方外都消失了，取而代之的是些牲畜以及越来越多的大豆，后者作为动物饲料进行出口。现在这座城镇本身拥有八万人口。 It's got paved roads, electricity, cinemas, shops, schools, hospitals. The Italian ice-cream maker shut down his bar and retired just a few years ago. 这里有了公路、电力、影院、商店、学校和医院。几年前那位制作冰激凌的意大利人关闭了酒吧，已经退休了。 More people are still arriving. They're driven by the Brazilian dream of building a new life on the agricultural frontier. It often ends in disaster. I spoke to Regivaldo, a 22-year old man, who had been lured by the promise of high wages to travel deep in the forest to clear land for a rancher. 仍然有更多的人来到这里。驱使他们来这的是在农业边疆开创新生活的巴西梦想。但是梦想往往以灾难告终。我同二十二岁的雷金瓦尔多进行交谈，他被高薪的承诺吸引了过来，进入森林深处为一名大牧场主开垦田地。 He and others had been left stranded without food or proper accommodation for over six months. Eventually they'd escaped by repairing a leaky canoe. And now -- and this didn't happen 30 years ago -- they were suing the landowner for violating the labour legislation. 他和其他人被留在了那儿，陷入了没有食物和住处的困境长达六个多月。最后他们修复了一条漏洞的独木舟才得以逃了出来。而现在他们正在向法庭起诉这位牧场主，控告他违反了劳工法律，而这在三十年前没有发生过。 So what do I make of it all? This extraordinary transformation of the region? I have mixed feelings. I sympathise with many of the Brazilians who are only seeking a better life. But I also feel anger and despair. 那么我从所有这些事情当中推断出了什么呢？这个地区发生了惊人的变化？我的感想很复杂。一方面我会同情那些大多数只是为了寻求更好生活的巴西人。但另一方面我又感到非常愤怒和绝望。 Each year we learn more about the importance of the Amazon rain forest. We know that, by destroying it, we're accelerating global warming and disrupting the world's climate. Yet we, in the developed world, go on eating more and more meat. 每年我们对亚马逊雨林重要性的理解都在增多。我们知道我们在毁掉这片雨林，我们正在加速全球变暖的趋势并干扰了世界气候。但处在发达国家的我们仍在继续吃着越来越多的肉食品， And this in turn encourages Brazil, which is burdened with a heavy foreign debt, to export more beef and more soybeans. It makes no sense at all to let market forces destroy a precious ecosystem that we all need for our survival and yet somehow we are letting it happen. 这反过来却鼓励了巴西人出口越来越多的牛肉和大豆，因为巴西背负着沉重的外债负担。让市场需求摧毁我们赖以生存的珍贵的生态系统是没有任何理由的，但是我们现在正以某种方式令其发生。 |
