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Clouds of pungent, toxic smoke rising from open fires, piles of filth made up of plastic bottles, crisp packets and consumer detritus... it’s a far cry from the white sands, crystal-clear waters and gently swaying palm trees that we associate with the Maldives, the quintessential paradise island holiday destination set in the Indian Ocean.
塑料瓶、包裝紙和消費者扔掉的紙皮果屑形成了一堆又一堆的垃圾，不堪入目。焚燒垃圾時，產(chǎn)生了成片刺鼻的有毒煙霧。這和我們腦海里馬爾代夫的形象——白色的沙灘、清澈的海水和輕輕搖曳的棕櫚樹相去甚遠。馬爾代夫位于印度洋，是典型的度假天堂。

（Thilafushi - or Rubbish Island - in the Maldives. The country dumps upwards of 330 tons of rubbish on the island every day, a figure attributed largely to the tourist industry on which the chain of atolls relies.
斯拉夫士島：馬爾代夫的垃圾島。馬爾代夫現(xiàn)在每天傾倒的垃圾量超過330噸，主要是因為它依賴于環(huán)礁的旅游業(yè)。）

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Of its 200 inhabited islands, which are spread across an area of 35,000 square miles, 99 are dedicated resorts.
在馬爾代夫分布在35，000平方英里的海域內(nèi)，有200個有人居住的島嶼，其中99個是專門的度假村。

（Smoke rising from refuse on Thilafushi. Attention has been turned on the environmental damage; large amounts of asbestos, lead and other toxic metals have been dumped into the lagoon.
煙從垃圾島上升起。但是最受人關(guān)注的是對環(huán)境的破壞；大量的石棉、鉛和其他有毒的金屬排入到咸水湖中。）

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Three-quarters of a million tourists visit every year – more than double the domestic population. Of these, over 100,000 travel from the UK.
每年有75萬的游客——比本地居民人口的兩倍還要多。在這些游客中，有10萬多人來自英國。

The capital, Malé, is four times more densely populated than London, with no surrounding land whatsoever. Given these facts, it’s hardly surprising that the Maldives has a waste disposal problem.
馬爾代夫的首都馬累，人口密集程度比倫敦要高四倍，周圍沒有任何的土地。鑒于這些事實，馬爾代夫垃圾處理的問題也就不足為奇了。

（Toxic: In this picture from 2009, a Bangladeshi immigrant works to keep rubbish burning on Thilafushi Island, sending soot and carbon dioxide billowing into the air.
有毒：在這張2009年拍攝的照片中，孟加拉的一名移民在垃圾島上焚燒垃圾，產(chǎn)生滾滾的煙塵和二氧化碳。）

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But this, say environmental campaigners, is no way to deal with it.
但是，環(huán)保主義者覺得這個問題簡直沒有辦法處理。

What you are seeing here is a view of the Maldives on which no honeymooners will ever clap eyes. Four miles west of Malé is the country’s dumping ground, Thilafushi – or Rubbish Island as it has simply become known.
離馬累西部四英里遠的地方是傾倒垃圾的場所，斯拉夫士島——人們都把它稱之為垃圾島。你在這里看到的馬爾代夫景象，是那些去那里度蜜月的人所看不到的。

（Overflowing: Another of the immigrant workers stands in front of a heap of smouldering refuse.
全是垃圾：另一位移民工人站在一堆焚燒的垃圾前工作。）

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Built on reclaimed coral reefs 20 years ago, it’s become a fetid eyesore that would shame even the poorest nation on Earth, let alone an area home to some of nature’s richest beauty.
它在20年前建在填海的珊瑚礁上，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)成為惡臭之地，有礙觀瞻，連地球上最貧窮的國家都會以它為恥，更不用提它屬于 大自然最美麗的地方了。

（Desperation: Dump workers scavenge on Rubbish Island as they brave filthy conditions to scrape together a living.
絕望：垃圾工人在垃圾島中撿廢品，他們在污穢的條件中湊合著生活。）

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Landslides of waste subside into the sea and at ground level the air is thick with dust and flies.
垃圾傾倒了海里，地面上堆積著厚厚的塵土和蒼蠅。

The country dumps upwards of 330 tons of rubbish on the island every day, a figure attributed largely to the tourist industry on which the chain of atolls relies. Each visitor generates 3.5kg of waste per day.
馬爾代夫現(xiàn)在每天傾倒的垃圾量超過330噸，主要是因為它依賴于環(huán)礁的旅游業(yè)。每個游客每天會產(chǎn)生3.5公斤的垃圾。

（Running out of space: Rubbish is heaped right to the very edges of the harbour and smoke rises in the distance.
空間不足：垃圾堆滿了港口的每個角落，煙從遠處升起。）

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Now, the government of the Maldives has belatedly banned the dumping of waste on the island, due largely to an increase in the number of waste boats ‘fly-tipping’ directly into the sea, fed up with waiting seven hours or more to offload their cargo.
現(xiàn)在，雖然有些遲，但馬爾代夫政府已禁止在島上傾倒垃圾，很大程度上是由于越來越多運送垃圾的船只已厭倦了 等待七個多小時才能把垃圾卸下，轉(zhuǎn)而把垃圾直接倒進海里。

The freighters are now ferrying debris to India instead. Thilafushi is also home to migrant workers, mostly from Bangladesh, who work in filthy conditions.
貨船現(xiàn)在把垃圾運到印度處理。斯拉夫士島也是移民工人的家，他們大部分來自孟加拉，在惡臭的環(huán)境里工作。

（Three-quarters of a million tourists visit the Maldives every year - more than double the domestic population. Of these, over 100,000 travel from the UK.
每年有75萬的游客——比本地居民人口的兩倍還要多。在這些游客中，有10萬多人來自英國。）

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But most attention has been turned on the environmental damage; large amounts of asbestos, lead and other toxic metals have been dumped into the lagoon.
但是最受人關(guān)注的是對環(huán)境的破壞；大量的石棉、鉛和其他有毒的金屬排入到咸水湖中。

Little surprise then that tourists on the holiday of a lifetime prefer to sip a cocktail and look the other way.
游客們在這一生中最美的假期中，寧愿呷上一口雞尾酒并用另一種方式來看馬爾代夫，這也不足為奇。

（Hidden cost: The island nation enjoys a highly valuable tourism industry, but each visitor generates 3.5kg of waste every day.
隱性成本：馬爾代夫有著高價值的旅游業(yè)，但是每個游客每天產(chǎn)生3.5公斤的垃圾。）