Twenty yrs in a concrete box

　　20年的“井下人生”



　　导读：近日一则“井下蜗居”的新闻引发公众关注。新闻事件中的当事人为何要住在条件恶劣的下水井内?他或她又有着怎样的人生境遇?让我们一起来解读他们的井下人生。　　I once stayed in a two-bedroom apartment occupied by 45 people for two days toexperience the life of those living in illegal shared housing. The dirty toilet and laundry room,the wet floor, smelly air, dim lighting, general household mess and potential safety hazards arestill quite fresh in my memory.

　　为了体验生活，我曾住过两天的非法合租房，一间两居室里挤满了45名住户。脏乱的厕所、潮湿的地板、浑浊的空气、昏暗的灯光、凌乱的摆设以及诸多安全隐患至今仍让我记忆犹新。

　　It was the worst living environment I had seen up to that point in my life. However, justrecently, I visited the "home" of Quan Youzhi, a 66-year-old woman from Shangqiu, Henanprovince.

　　我一直以为这是我有生之年见过的最为脏乱差的生存环境。直到最近，来自河南商丘、66岁老人全友芝的“家”改变了我的看法。

　　Quan`s home is a hole in the ground - a utility compartment three meters below street levelproviding access to underground heating pipes. When I moved the metal cover on thecompartment, all I could see were some dirty quilts on the ground. Full of curiosity, I couldn`thelp entering without an invitation.

　　全友芝的“家”是一个洞穴，位于地下3米处的一个热力井通道工具间。打开井盖，我所能看到的只有地上满是尘土的被褥。压抑不住满心好奇，我决定“不请自来”。

　　I had to be quite careful in climbing down with a ladder, which was actually seven pieces ofrebar fixed into the wall. Eventually, I reached the final step and dropped the last half-meter tothe floor.

　　我小心翼翼地沿着由七根嵌在墙上的钢筋组成的梯子爬下井口。我好不容易才爬到梯子的最后一节，然后从半米高的地方跳到井底。

　　It was dark inside the compartment. The dim light from my cell phone was sufficient toilluminate the entire space, which was revealed to be no more than three square meters.

　　井下漆黑一片。整个空间面积还不到三平方米，仅凭手机发出的微弱光亮便可照亮整个房间。

　　On the ground was a thin mat and on top of that were some quilts with soil on them. Somerusty pipes made the small space even more cramped. Besides the bedding, I found only a fewcandles and two coats.

　　地上铺着一条薄毯子，上面有几床落满尘土的棉被。而几根生锈的管道则让这处狭小空间变得更加拥挤。除了被褥，我在井下只找到了几根蜡烛和两件大衣。

　　The living conditions in the hole were a lot worse than the illegal shared housing, which,though dirty and crowded, at least had all the necessary facilities for daily life.

　　比起非法合租房，井底的生活条件要糟糕得多。合租房虽然脏乱拥挤，但至少日常生活设施一应俱全。

　　People living in such a hole must have a miserable life. Together with several journalistsfrom other media outlets, we waited outside the compartment. At around 9 pm, she came back

　　蜗居井底的人一定有着悲惨的人生。我同其他几家媒体的记者们一起在井外守候着。晚上9点多的时候，主人全友芝回来了。

　　Quan told us she has been living in the place for 20 years. I guess she has never had somuch attention.

　　全友芝告诉我们，她在这里住了20年的时间。我想她从未像现在这样引起人们的关注。

　　We journalists soon found ourselves sitting in her home, all ears to her miserable lifestory. She spent a great deal of time telling us of the help she had received from kind-heartedpeople, though she was frequently led away by questions about her sufferings.

　　很快，我们一行人便坐在了老人的“家”中，听她讲述着悲惨的人生经历。虽然经常被各种提问打断，但是大部分时间里，她讲述的并非生活的艰辛，而是从好心人那里收获的帮助。

　　She told us of her ongoing game with the chengguan, or urban management officers.

　　她跟我们叙说着与城管间的“猫鼠游戏”。

　　"They blocked off the hole by welding the cover shut. … I bought a saw and cut it free afterthey went away," she said, suddenly smiling like a naughty child.

　　“他们用电焊封住井盖…我就买了把锯子，他们一走，我便把井盖锯开。”说到这里，她突然笑得像个调皮的孩子。

　　Quan gets up between 4 am and 5 am and spends the whole day collecting plastic bottles,stopping work at 9 pm.

　　全友芝每天凌晨4、5点钟起床，一整天都在街上捡空瓶，直到晚上9点才回家休息。

　　"One hundred bottles can be sold for 8 yuan," she said, adding that she can usually makeabout 20 yuan a day.

　　“100个瓶子能卖8元钱，”全友芝说，她一般每天能挣20元钱。

　　Even when she was talking about her troubles, she kept smiling all the time.

　　即使是在述说生活的艰辛时，她也始终保持面带微笑。

　　She pointed to her belongings one after another, the objects of her daily life and theclothes she wore, telling us which kind-hearted person had provided each one.

　　她一件件地向我们展示着好心人接济的物品，其中有日用品，也有她身上的衣物。

　　Despite her sad situation, she still wants to repay one kind-hearted woman who paid herhospital bills when she was seriously ill.

　　尽管生活很艰难，但她还是打算把医疗费还给那位在她病重入院时解囊相助的好心女士。

　　"She paid 10,000 yuan for my medical fees," she said. "She`s not my daughter. I have topay her back."

　　“她帮我垫付了一万元住院费，”她说，“非亲非故的，我应该把钱还给她”

　　However, while I was moved by the old woman`s thankful heart, I was also shocked by theunethical behavior of some of the journalists in our group.

　　在我被老人家的感恩之心深深打动的同时，却也被同行几位记者的不得体行为所震惊。

　　When Quan was on her way to the washing room in a nearby park, she suddenly bent overto pick something up. It was a plastic bottle. None of us noticed it. She quickly emptied it andput it into another underground compartment that she used as a storeroom. After collectingbottles for 20 years, she was obviously quite skilled at her job.

　　当去附近公园上洗手间的路上，全友芝突然弯腰捡起一个我们都没有注意到的塑料瓶。她迅速地将瓶中水倒出并把它放进另一个作为储存室的井口内。有了20年的经验，她已经很擅长捡废品这份工作了。

　　However, as she did this, a female journalist who was just next to her laughed and eventurned to look at me.

　　而在她拾起废瓶时，她身边的一位女记者发出嘲笑的声音，甚至还转过来向我示意。

　　I didn`t know how to respond. I turned my eyes away from her, and thought to myself: "Can`t you have just a little bit of respect?"

　　我不知该作何反应，只好转移视线，我心中不禁在想：“你就不能表现出最起码的尊重吗?”