新闻周刊:牛仔裤的真实成本(4)（在线收听）

Much of the work is jeans finishing. In 2012, jeans production turnover in Vietnam was $600 million; by 2021, it is expected to double.

大部分的工作是牛仔裤的整理。2012年，越南的牛仔裤生产营业额为6亿美元；到2021年，这一数字预计将翻一番。

On the industrial outskirts of Ho Chi Minh, at a run-down, warehouse-like plant behind an unassailable gate, about 200 young Vietnamese labored. The fluorescent lighting was poor and it was 100 degrees, easy. Large fans whirred to try to cool the room. It didn't work.

在胡志明市的工业郊区，在一扇无懈可击的门后，有一家像仓库一样破旧的工厂，大约200名越南年轻人在那里劳动。荧光灯很昏暗，达到100度很容易。大扇子呼呼地扇动着，想给房间降温。但并不管用。

Pristine midnight-blue jeans were piled high on metal tables and dollies. Young men in T-shirts, trousers—usually jeans—and knee-high rubber boots stuffed them into two dozen monster-sized washing machines. An inch of navy-blue water stood on the floor. The men did not wear gloves, and their hands were stained black.

崭新的深蓝色牛仔裤高高地堆在金属桌子和洋娃娃上。穿着t恤、裤子(通常是牛仔裤)和高筒胶靴的年轻人把这些衣服塞进24个怪物大小的洗衣机里。地板上有一英寸深的深蓝色废水。男人们没有戴手套，他们的手被染黑了。

Some of the machines were older types that require five gallons of water to wash one kilogram—three pairs—of jeans. Others were less piggy, using only a bit more than one gallon of water per kilo of jeans. Manufacturers "know how wasteful this is," my guide told me.

有些机器是老式的，需要五加仑的水来洗一公斤的牛仔裤——三条。其他机器则没那么贪心，每公斤牛仔裤只消耗一加仑多一点的水。我的指导告诉我，制造商“知道这有多浪费”。

"Their business is about washing, not about worrying about the planet," a jeans expert told me.

“他们的工作是洗衣服，而不是担心地球，”一位牛仔裤专家告诉我。

In the distressing room, young men and women were sanding jean knees and thighs by hand, like a carpenter works on wood. Some wore medical masks to prevent inhalation of denim dust, but most did not.

在这个令人痛苦的房间里，年轻的男男女女正在用手打磨牛仔裤的膝盖和大腿，就像木匠在木头上干活一样。有些人戴着医用口罩，以防止吸入丹宁布粉尘，但大多数人没有。

The verve with which they attacked their assignment was alarming: Each pair went from virgin to wrecked in under a minute. The workers' focus was intense. One slip-up and their pay would be docked. At the time I visited, sanders processed at least 400 pairs of jeans a day, six days a week, not including overtime.

他们攻击这项任务的气魄是惊人的；每条裤子都在不到一分钟的时间里从处女地变成了废墟。工人们的注意力很集中。只要出一点差错，他们的工资就会被扣掉。在我访问的时候，桑德斯每天至少加工400条牛仔裤，每周6天，不包括加班。

And that was the hand distressers. The machine distressers worked even faster. I watched one woman—unmasked—tackle cutoff shorts with what looked like an oversized dental drill that emitted a scream so high-pitched it could crack crystal. She ground the front and back pockets and hems of those shorts to a fashionably holey state in 10 seconds. Six pairs a minute. All day long.

这就是手的苦恼。机器的解缆器工作得更快。我看到一个女人穿着一条没有遮盖的短裤，手上拿着一个看起来像大号牙钻的东西，发出一声尖锐的尖叫，声音高得可以震碎水晶。她在10秒内将前后口袋和短裤的边磨成时尚的洞状。一分钟六条。一整天都是如此。