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There's a disturbing side to the diamond trade--- the traffic of conflict diamonds, otherwise known as blood diamonds. This is Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone on the West African coast, a country still emerging from ten years of war. During that war, it was held by rebel forces--- rebels who use diamonds to finance their rebellion.
鉆石交易中有一個令人不安的方面——沖突鉆石的交易，也被稱為血鉆。這是弗里敦，塞拉利昂的首都，位于西非海岸，一個從十年戰爭中崛起的國家。在那場戰爭中，它被叛軍占領--叛軍用鉆石來資助叛亂。
The war started with rebel forces trying to overthrow a corrupt government, but quickly descended into a terror campaign with amputation used as a weapon--- thousands of people were killed and maimed as the rebels maintained their tenacious hold on the diamond fields, using the gems to buy more guns. Rebels forced men, women and children to dig for diamonds at gunpoint. These diamonds were then smuggled into the world markets. There, they were cut and polished, disappearing into the legal supply, sold like any other gem to consumers who had no idea they'd been paid for originally in blood. Diamonds from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo joined the illegal exodus.
戰爭開始于叛軍試圖推翻一個腐敗的政府，但很快就演變成一場恐怖行動，用截肢作為武器——在叛軍對鉆石礦的頑強控制下，他們用寶石買更多的槍，數千人被殺或致殘。叛軍強迫男人、女人和孩子在槍口下挖掘鉆石。這些鉆石隨后被走私到世界市場。在那里，它們被切割和打磨，消失在合法的供應中，像其他任何寶石一樣賣給消費者，而消費者根本不知道自己的購買是由鮮血堆砌。安哥拉和剛果民主共和國的鉆石也加入了非法銷售的行列。
It doesn't look like much, but this is the Sierra Leone's government diamond office--- the new frontline of the fight against blood diamonds. Every gem in this room is supposed to be legal. Lawrence Myers who runs this office understands the danger blood diamonds posed to the industry. Thousands of diamonds pass through this office every week and every so often, a spectacular one shows up, like the stone that came through yesterday.
看起來不太像，但這是塞拉利昂政府的鉆石辦公室--對抗血鉆的新前線。這個房間里的每一顆寶石都應該是合法的。勞倫斯·邁爾斯是這個辦公室的負責人，他明白血鉆給這個行業帶來的危險。每星期都有成千上萬顆鉆石經過這間辦公室，每隔一段時間就會出現一顆壯觀的鉆石，就像昨天經過辦公室的那顆鉆石一樣。
“那顆鉆石的價錢100萬至150萬。”
It's already on its way to Belgium--- the largest diamond exported from Sierra Leone in ten years at least legally. Weighing in at 110 carats, it's the size of a golf ball and worth about a million dollars in its rough state. After it's been cut and polished, it will be sold for about five times that amount. But for the government of Sierra Leone, the diamond will earn a mere 30,000 dollars in export taxes. That's not very much. But many diamond traders in the country choose not to pay any taxes at all. About 40% go through the official channels. 60% of diamonds are smuggled--- 70 to 75 million.
這顆鉆石已經在運往比利時的路上了——這是塞拉利昂在至少10年內合法出口的最大鉆石。它重達110克拉，大小相當于一個高爾夫球，在未打磨的狀態下價值約100萬美元。經過切割和打磨后，它的售價大約是這個數字的五倍。但對于塞拉利昂政府來說，這顆鉆石只能賺取3萬美元的出口稅。這并不是很多。但是這個國家的許多鉆石商人選擇不納稅。大約有40%通過官方渠道。60%的鉆石是走私的--7000萬到7500萬顆。
This untamed jungle shelters a rich and fertile land, but there's almost no sign of agriculture. Farmers abandoned these fields long ago--- many to dig for diamonds, no fences, no guards, no industrial machinery. Twenty feet beneath these men is a diamond-rich gravel bed. To get to it, tons of earth have to be moved, a shovelful at a time. Ex-rebels work side by side with the civilians they once terrorized. Most of these men dig all day, every day, 365 days a year.
這片未被開墾的叢林提供了肥沃的土地，但幾乎沒有農業的跡象。農民們很久以前就拋棄了這些田地--許多人去挖鉆石，沒有圍墻，沒有警衛，沒有工業機器。在這些人腳下二十英尺的地方是一個鉆石豐富的砂礫層。為了到達那里，必須移動大量的土地，一次一鏟。前叛軍與他們曾經恐嚇過的平民并肩作戰。大多數人每天都在挖，一年365天。
"Century ago, diamonds have been part of their life. They dream diamonds, they eat diamonds, they think diamonds. Wherever you go, you talk about diamonds."
“一個世紀以前，鉆石已經成為他們生活的一部分。他們以鉆石為夢，他們以鉆石作為食物來源，他們心心念念著鉆石。無論你走到哪里，都在談論鉆石。”
“我買房子。我買汽車。我為我的人民工作。”
Whether they are large or small, diamonds from these mines feed the same pipeline that once trafficked the blood diamonds. There are up to a million miners in Sierra Leone, and only a thousand of them have licenses. It's like the Wild West, a place that obeys its own laws, because all it takes is one big stone to change a person's life, for better or for worse.
無論是大鉆石還是小鉆石，從這些礦坑中開采出來的鉆石都是曾經用來運輸血鉆的管道。塞拉利昂有100萬礦工，其中只有1000人有執照。這就像狂野的西部，一個遵守自己法律的地方，因為無論好壞，改變一個人的生活都需要一塊大鉆石。
