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It has not always been like this. Long ago, it was inhabited by farmers and fishermen much like everywhere else in the archipelago. They sailed brightly painted boats and were known for being excellent divers. Their beaches were rarely empty and even at night there were often fires in the dunes and people in the water, enjoying a swim. An offshore beacon on the north side, which warned sailors of a treacherous ridge of rocks, was tended by the islanders, who never let it go out. Goats were kept on the upland slopes, their bells tinkling as they grazed. The people were fond of seafood and sun- bathing, were enthusiastic winemakers, reluctant housekeepers and notoriously bad at ball games. They married early, died late and generally kept themselves to themselves. Things could have gone on like this forever, but everything changed when they decided to dynamite the cliffs and began building the first wall.
它不是一直这样的。很久以前，它上面居住着与群岛其他各处很像的农民和渔夫。他们乘着漆有明亮色彩的船航行，因为是极好的潜水者而闻名。他们的海滩很少是空着的，即使在晚上沙丘中也经常有火光，还有人在水中畅游。北面的一座近海灯塔，提醒海员们注意充满危险的暗礁海脊，由岛上居民照管，他们从不让它熄灭。山羊被放养在高地的斜坡上，吃草时它们的铃铛叮当作响。人们喜欢海食品和日光浴，他们是热情的酿酒师，不情愿的家庭主妇以及众所周知不擅长球类运动。他们结婚早，死得晚，一般不与他人往来。事情本可以这样永远继续下去，但是当他们决定炸毁悬崖并开始建造第一道围墙时，一切都变了。
Now their island looks very different from the rest; darker, taller, silent. Giant loops of barbed wire lie rusting in the surf. The cliffs are sheer, blasted smooth and bristling with broken glass. Above them a great fortress extends the precipice way beyond its natural height. Slabs of granite, quarried relentlessly from the once volcanic heart of the island, make up the base of the wall. Smoothed flat by generations of wind and rain, they glitter in the sun. Above them the rocks give way to brick, darker in colour than the stone foundations and topped with ramparts, unbroken and lowering.
现在他们的岛屿看起来与其它的非常不一样；更暗，更高，寂静无声。巨大的一圈圈的带刺铁丝网在海浪中生锈。悬崖陡峭，被炸得光滑，竖立着碎玻璃。在它们上面一个大堡垒超出悬崖的天然高度沿着峭壁的方向延伸出去。花岗岩石板，被无情地从曾经是岛上火山心的地方挖出，做成围墙的底座。它们被一代代的风雨磨平，在阳光下闪闪发光。在它们上面，石头被砖头代替，颜色比石头底座更暗，上面有壁垒，完好无损且低沉昏暗。
It looks as if the wall was meant to end there but as soon as it was finished a second circle of battlements began to rise from the centre. This one was interspersed with watchtowers, which, as far as anyone knows, were never used. When it was finished, yet a third ring of defences was built, slightly narrower than the one before, so that from faraway the island resembled an enormous wedding cake. Caged in scaffolding, the beginnings of a fourth wall are just visible at the top but unlike the rest, its edges are jagged and crumbling.
看上去好像这道围墙打算就此结束了，但它一完成，第二圈城垛开始从中心升起来。这道墙配置有瞭望塔，但众所周知，这些从未用过。然而当它完工时，又建了第三圈防御工事，比前一个稍微狭小些，所以从远处看，这个岛象一个巨大的婚礼蛋糕。被脚手架像笼子一样困着的第四道围墙已经开始建造，刚好可以看见它的顶部，但与其它的不同，它的边缘参差不齐而且正在剥落。
