2019年经济学人 哈特岛的穷人墓

 

United States

来源于《美国》版块

Burying the poor

埋葬穷人

Potters’ fields

伯德菲尔德公园

What happens to the corpses¹ of those who die poor or unclaimed in NYC

那些死在纽约的穷人还有无人认领者的尸体怎样处理

“No one who sleeps there had a dollar to their name in life…the bodies interred² here are as utterly³ forgotten and wiped away as if they never existed.” This is how the New York Herald⁴ described Hart Island in 1874, five years after the city began burying its poor on the island off the Bronx. A century and a half later the poor and unclaimed are still buried in pine coffins⁵, usually marked only with numbers, not names. These are stacked three deep in a trench⁶, three feet below the surface. Each trench holds 150 adult coffins. Roughly 1,200 people are buried there each year.

“那些睡在那里的人，生命中没有一美元是属于他们的……埋葬在这里的尸体，就像从未存在过一样，被彻底遗忘和抹去。” 这是1874年《纽约先驱报》对哈特岛的描述。自1874年，纽约已经连续五年将穷人埋葬在布朗克斯附近的哈特岛。一个半世纪后，穷人和无人认领的人仍然被埋在松木棺材里，通常只有数字，没有名字。棺材堆放在一个深3英尺的沟里，在地表下3英尺。每条沟可容纳150具成人棺材。每年大约有1200人被埋在那里。

Jurisdictions⁸ across America are wrestling with what to do with their unclaimed dead. A state fund in West Virginia, which has been hit hard by opioid overdoses, ran out of money to bury the unclaimed dead last year. Some cities, including Los Angeles, cremate⁹ the unclaimed after a certain period, which is cheaper than burial. In North Carolina unclaimed bodies are cremated¹⁰, then stored for three years before being scattered¹¹ at sea. In Washington’s King County, which includes Seattle and its suburbs, the poor and the unclaimed are cremated and stored until a biennial¹³ burial ceremony. Because of the high number of migrant deaths in Pima County in Tucson, Arizona, its medical examiner’s office handles more unidentified remains¹⁴ relative to population than any office in America.

美国各地的司法管辖区都在为如何处理无人认领的死者而绞尽脑汁。西维吉尼亚州的一个州基金因阿片类药物过量而遭受重创，去年用于埋葬无人认领死者的资金告罄。包括洛杉矶在内的一些城市，在一段时间后将无人认领的人火化，这比埋葬更便宜。在北卡罗莱纳，无人认领的尸体被火化，骨灰保存3年，然后散在海上。在华盛顿的国王县，包括西雅图及其郊区，穷人和无人认领的人死后火化并保存起来，两年举行一次葬礼。由于亚利桑那州图森市皮马县移民的高死亡率，其法医办公室处理的身份不明的遗体与人口的比例超过了美国任何一个法医办公室。

Those who die without the means to pay for a funeral, which costs nearly $9,000 on average, end up on Hart Island. Nearly two-thirds had next of kin¹² who opted¹⁵ for a public burial. In all about 1m people lie there. The earliest victims of aids were buried there in 1985, far away from the other graves. Hart Island may be the largest cemetery¹⁶ for victims of the epidemic¹⁷. During heavy rains bones are sometimes washed away and end up on nearby beaches.

一个葬礼平均花费近9000美元，那些死后无力支付葬礼费用的人，最终埋在哈特岛。近三分之二的死者近亲选择了公开安葬。大约有100万人死后葬在那里。最早的艾滋病患者于1985年被埋葬在那里，远离其他坟墓。哈特岛可能是这个流行病受害者的最大墓地。骨头有时会被大雨冲走，最后留在附近的海滩上。

The island, which has a stark¹⁸ beauty, is under the jurisdiction⁷ of the city’s Department of Corrections. Four days a week eight inmates¹⁹ from Rikers, New York’s biggest jail, travel to the island to dig graves and lower coffins into them. They are paid a $1 an hour.

这座岛屿有一种荒凉的美，隶属于该市的劳改部门。纽约最大的监狱赖克斯岛监狱每周有4天的时间安排8名犯人到岛上挖坟墓，并将棺材放进去。他们的工资是每小时1美元。

Because of Hart Island’s close connection with jail and prisoners, it is difficult for relatives (or anyone else) to visit. “It is clear to me we can do better, much better for the people buried on Hart Island,” says Corey Johnson, the Speaker of the city council. “This needs to be changed immediately.” He is backing a bill that would transfer operations to the Parks Department, create an office to help those who need help with a burial and make travel to the island easier. The city also needs to think about what to do when Hart Island is full. The Department of Corrections says there will only be space for eight or ten more years.

由于哈特岛与监狱和囚犯关系密切，埋葬者亲属(或其他人)很难去探望。“我很清楚我们可以做得更好，为埋在哈特岛上的人们做得更好，”市议会议长科里·约翰逊表示。“这需要立即改变。”他支持一项法案，该法案将把埋葬工作转移到公园管理部门，并设立办公室来帮助那些需要帮助埋葬的人，并使去往该岛更容易。纽约还需要考虑哈特岛葬满时该怎么办。劳教部门表示，这里的空间只够再使用八年或十年。

1 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

2 interred   

v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Marie Curie's remains were exhumed and interred in the Pantheon. 玛丽·居里的遗体被移出葬在先贤祠中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The body was interred at the cemetery. 遗体埋葬在公墓里。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

4 herald   

vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎

参考例句：

• In England, the cuckoo is the herald of spring.在英国杜鹃鸟是报春的使者。
• Dawn is the herald of day.曙光是白昼的先驱。

5 coffins   

n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物

参考例句：

• The shop was close and hot, and the atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. 店堂里相当闷热，空气仿佛被棺木的味儿污染了。 来自辞典例句
• Donate some coffins to the temple, equal to the number of deaths. 到寺庙里，捐赠棺材盒给这些死者吧。 来自电影对白

6 trench   

n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕

参考例句：

• The soldiers recaptured their trench.兵士夺回了战壕。
• The troops received orders to trench the outpost.部队接到命令在前哨周围筑壕加强防卫。

7 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。

8 jurisdictions   

司法权( jurisdiction的名词复数 )； 裁判权； 管辖区域； 管辖范围

参考例句：

• Butler entreated him to remember the act abolishing the heritable jurisdictions. 巴特勒提醒他注意废除世袭审判权的国会法令。
• James I personally adjudicated between the two jurisdictions. 詹姆士一世亲自裁定双方纠纷。

9 cremate   

v.火葬，烧成灰

参考例句：

• She wants Chris to be cremated.她想把克里斯的尸体火化。
• Laowang explains: "Combustion is cremate, degenerating is inhumation. "老王解释道：“燃烧就是火葬，腐朽就是土葬。”

10 cremated   

v.火葬，火化（尸体）( cremate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He wants to is cremated, not buried. 他要火葬，不要土葬。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bodies were cremated on the shore. 他们的尸体在海边火化了。 来自辞典例句

11 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

12 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

13 biennial   

adj.两年一次的

参考例句：

• The workers were strongly against the biennial election.工人们强烈反对两年一次的选举。
• His is a biennial,and one of the most useful pasture plants we have.这是两年生植物，也是我们最有用的牧草之一。

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

15 opted   

v.选择，挑选( opt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was co-opted onto the board. 她获增选为董事会成员。
• After graduating she opted for a career in music. 毕业后她选择了从事音乐工作。

16 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

17 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

18 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

19 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》