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Let's pause here.
暂停一下。
I'm driving on the road that separates Haiti from the Dominican Republic.
我正行驶在一条一边是海地，另一边是多米尼加共和国的路上。
Right here.
就是这条路。
It's the border that divides two very different countries.
这条国境线隔开了两个迥异的国家 。
If you're born in Haiti, you're 2.5 times more likely to die as a baby than if you're born in the DR.
如果你出生在海地，那么你早早夭折的概率要比在多米尼亚出生高出1.5倍。
You'll be almost ten times poorer and you can expect to have a much shorter life.
穷差不多10倍，预期寿命也要短得多。
I came here to find out how the two countries that share this one island can be so different,
我到这儿来，就是为了看看同在一座岛上的两个国家为何会如此不同：
with a politically volatile and impoverished Haiti on one side and the stable and relatively rich Dominican Republic on the other.
一边是政局动荡、饱受贫穷折磨的海地；另一边则是稳定、相对富裕的多米尼亚。
How did this line produce two totally different worlds?
以及这条边界线如何造就了两个截然不同的世界。
My journey starts here, at this beach village in southern Haiti,
我从这个海地南部的海边村落开始了我本次的行程，
where Haitian merchants, most of them women, are preparing for a nighttime boat ride.
这里的生意人，基本都是女性，正在为晚上搭船做准备。
The women boarding this boat have one goal:
这些女性登船只有一个目的：
to make it to the border where they will be let into a Dominican market to buy and sell goods before returning to their villages.
到边境上去，因为她们可以去那边的一个多米尼亚市场做些买卖，然后回家。
It's international trade at its most informal.
这是最不正式的国际贸易了。
We're taking these boats because the next door mountain range makes the land journey almost impossible.
我们也上了船，因为村边就是大山，陆路交通基本不可能。
These worn-out wooden boats have been making this exact journey twice per week for decades
这些饱经沧桑的木船风雨无阻，每周航行两次，几十年如一日，
and yet the process remains chaotic and unorganized as if it's happening for the first time.
但它们又如第一天出航一样，组织混乱而无序。
All of this energy, time, and effort all to transport a handful of goods that, in most countries, would be shipped in bulk inside one of these.
费这么多事儿、这么多时间和精力就是为了运送一丁点儿货物，而这些货物在大部分国家都是用集装箱运输的。
We make this seven-hour journey to the border town arriving around, 4 am.
耗时将近7小时，凌晨4点左右，我们终于到了边境小镇。
The sun rises and we walk to the border market.
太阳出来后我们步行去了边境市场。
This market was established right on the border as a partnership between the two nations,
这个市场就建在边境上，它是两国合作的象征，
to give vendors from both sides a place to buy and sell on equal footing.
为的是让边境两边的生意人有个公平买卖的地方。
As we approach the border, I quickly realize that's not what's happening here.
随着我们距离边境越来越近，我很快便发现，这里其实并没有什么公平交易。
So I'm looking across the border right now, into the market, and you can see that Dominicans are already setting up.
于是，我朝边境的另一端望去，那边，多米尼亚人已经在市场里开摊了。
This is one of the big complaints of the Haitians:
海地人对此颇为不满：
they're stuck on this side waiting to cross the border and the border guards are just delaying it
因为他们进不去，边警一直不放人，所以他们只能在边境这边等着，
and meanwhile the Dominicans are able to set up and get the best spots.
而此时，多米尼亚人却能进去开张，占到好位置。
These Haitians come from miles away on this grueling boat journey, that I know now firsthand is very grueling,
这些海地人大老远地受那么大的罪才能赶到这里，有多艰难我都是有亲身体会的，
and they get to the border and the guards stop them for no reason.
那些守卫却莫名其妙把他们拦在外面。
They're supposed to open it up for everyone at the same time.
他们本应该一视同仁地为所有人开放的。
The guards keep the Haitian women from crossing, not letting anyone know how long it will be.
守卫不放海地女性过去，也不告诉大家多久才会放他们入场。
The tension grows and then finally, hours after the Dominicans were allowed to enter, the guards open up the bridge.
气氛逐渐紧张起来，终于，在多米尼亚人进入数小时后，守卫终于开桥放人了。
They buy and sell for the day, before returning to the boats to make the journey home.
他们一整天都会在这儿做买卖，然后回到船上启程返家。
The grueling boat journey, the senseless discrimination, it embodies the asymmetry that exists on this island.
那折磨人的水路，不可理喻的歧视，处处体现着这座岛上边境两侧的不对等。
Watching it happen, it's impossible not to ask how it got like this.
眼睁睁看着这一切，你很难不去想他们究竟如何到了这般田地。
There are a few key things that explain how this island produced two very different countries,
虽然有几个关键的因素能够解释这座岛如何孕育了两个截然不同的国家，
but if you want to get at the very root of it you have to go back to when this island was owned by two European powers: France and Spain.
但如果你想探寻其根源，就得从这座岛分别被两个欧洲国家——法国与西班牙——占领时说起。
This island is actually the first place that Christopher Columbus set up a colony in the new world on his first voyage back in like 1490.
这座岛其实是哥伦布于1490年左右第一次远航时在新大陆设立的首个殖民地。
France wanted a piece of this island because it was rich in resources like sugar and coffee,
法国也想来这里分一杯羹，因为这里资源丰富，盛产糖和咖啡等作物，
so they fought a war with the Spanish and they ended up splitting the island in two:
于是，法国挑起了与西班牙的战争，这座岛就这样被一分为二了：
one side would be the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo and the other side would be the French colony, with the same name, Saint-Domingue, just in French.
一边是西班牙的殖民地“圣多明各”，另一边则是法国殖民地“圣多明各”，名字都一样，只不过改成了法语。
And that is the most important part of understanding this whole thing, it's how these imperial powers treated their colonial posessions.
而要理解这整件事情，最重要的一点就是要弄清这两股帝国主义势力是怎样对待自己的殖民地的。
