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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.
它不是一直這樣的。很久以前，它上面居住著與群島其他各處很像的農民和漁夫。他們乘著漆有明亮色彩的船航行，因為是極好的潛水者而聞名。他們的海灘很少是空著的，即使在晚上沙丘中也經常有火光，還有人在水中暢游。北面的一座近海燈塔，提醒海員們注意充滿危險的暗礁海脊，由島上居民照管，他們從不讓它熄滅。山羊被放養在高地的斜坡上，吃草時它們的鈴鐺叮當作響。人們喜歡海食品和日光浴，他們是熱情的釀酒師，不情愿的家庭主婦以及眾所周知不擅長球類運動。他們結婚早，死得晚，一般不與他人往來。事情本可以這樣永遠繼續下去，但是當他們決定炸毀懸崖并開始建造第一道圍墻時，一切都變了。
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.
現在他們的島嶼看起來與其它的非常不一樣；更暗，更高，寂靜無聲。巨大的一圈圈的帶刺鐵絲網在海浪中生銹。懸崖陡峭，被炸得光滑，豎立著碎玻璃。在它們上面一個大堡壘超出懸崖的天然高度沿著峭壁的方向延伸出去。花崗巖石板，被無情地從曾經是島上火山心的地方挖出，做成圍墻的底座。它們被一代代的風雨磨平，在陽光下閃閃發光。在它們上面，石頭被磚頭代替，顏色比石頭底座更暗，上面有壁壘，完好無損且低沉昏暗。
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.
看上去好像這道圍墻打算就此結束了，但它一完成，第二圈城垛開始從中心升起來。這道墻配置有瞭望塔，但眾所周知，這些從未用過。然而當它完工時，又建了第三圈防御工事，比前一個稍微狹小些，所以從遠處看，這個島象一個巨大的婚禮蛋糕。被腳手架像籠子一樣困著的第四道圍墻已經開始建造，剛好可以看見它的頂部，但與其它的不同，它的邊緣參差不齊而且正在剝落。
