After the clod-covered offramp is smoothed over with asphalt, after the road signs are put up and the con-struction cranes taken down, a bridge, long anticipated, will open on Sorok Island in September. Spanning a third of a mile over seawater, it will con-nect this islet to the Korean mainland for the first time.

在滿布石礫的交流道鋪上柏油抹平後，路標架起，建築起重機拆下後，一座引頸企盼的橋樑將於九月在小鹿島開放通車。在海水上延伸約三分之一哩，這座橋將首度連接這個小島和南韓本土。

Anywhere else, the opening of a simple bridge might go unnoticed. But Sorok Island is this country's most famous leper colony, established on an island in the country's most isolated region, a place of lifetime banishment and silent deaths for generations of people with leprosy.

在任何其他地方，一座簡單的橋樑通車，可能根本不會引起任何人注意，但小鹿島是南韓最有名的痲瘋病聚落，建在這個國家最偏遠孤絕的島上，這個地方代表好幾代漢生病患一輩子的放逐和默默死亡。

So on both sides of the bridge, the opening is being greeted as a cause for celebration, proof, in concrete and steel, of the fading of ancient preju-dices. The authorities are moving up the opening date so that it will coin-cide with Chusok, South Korea's harvest festival, on Sept. 25.

因此，在橋兩端，開放通車被視為值得慶祝的理由，並以鋼筋水泥證明，古老的偏見已日漸消褪。有關當局把通車日期提前到9月25日，適逢南韓慶祝豐收的中秋節。

"This will no longer be an island if there is a bridge," said Kim Ki-sang, 69, who came here in 1946 and has never left. "Before, we were so close but we were not free. This bridge is releasing decades of sadness for us."

「有了這座橋，這將不再只是島嶼，」69歲的金基三說，他1946年到小鹿島後從未離開。「過去我們很封閉，也不自由，這座橋正為我們釋放出數十年的哀傷。」

And yet, some still question whether Sorok Island will truly be-come a part of the peninsula. Will its mostly elderly patients, particularly those who have lived here for decades and lost ties with those on the other side, dare to cross the bridge

但有人仍質疑，小鹿島是否真能成為半島的一部分。島上大半年長的漢生病患，尤其那些已在這裡落戶數十年、並已和另一端的人失聯者，他們是否敢過橋？

There is also great trepidation about letting the outside world so freely into Sorok Island, which is now accessible from the mainland only by ferry. Out of concern for the residents' privacy, the islet's seven leper villages will be sealed off from car traffic.

對開放外在世界進入小鹿島也引起很大的恐慌，目前本土只能靠搭渡輪才能到小鹿島。為了關切居民的隱私，小島上七個痲瘋村莊將封閉，不開放車輛通行。

"Things will be harder to control with the bridge bringing in more people," said Kim Chung-hang, 65, who first came here in 1957 and is now a leader of the 650 lepers here.

「當橋樑帶進更多人後，情況會變得更難掌控，」65歲的金鍾漢說，他1957年到這裡，如今已是島上650名漢生病患的領袖。

The Sorok leper colony was founded here in 1916 by the Japanese, Korea's colonial rulers at the time, and life has seemingly stood still ever since

小鹿島漢生病村，1916由當時南韓殖民統治者日本人在此地興建，生命似乎從此停頓。

"Even though I was a leper, I was still able to work," said Chang Ki-jin, 85, who was brought here in 1942, like the oldest of the patients here, bears the sunken face and other dis-figurements caused by leprosy, which can now be treated with antibiotics. One winter, Mr. Chang's limbs froze, and his legs were amputated. "Our Japanese commander's name was Sato," he said. "He carried a big bat and would hit us whenever we rested. He was very vicious."

「雖然我是漢生病患，我還在幹活，」85歲的張基金說。他1942年被送到島上。一如這裡最年長的病患，因痲瘋造成顏面塌陷及其他身體缺陷，現在已可接受抗生素治療。某年冬天，他兩腿冰凍不能動彈，終被截肢。他說：「我們的長官叫佐藤，他老拿一根大棒，我們一休息，他就打人，他很凶悍。」

In 2001, the Japanese government acknowledged that long after cures for leprosy were found, it had continued to force patients in Japan into quar-antine and sterilized many. Japanese lawyers then successfully pressed the government to compensate leprosy patients in Japan's former colonies, Korea and Taiwan, who were often subjected to even worse mistreatment. Officials in the hospital here say that 222 South Koreans, including 105 here, have received compensation of about $70,000 each from Japan.

2001年，日本政府承認，在治療痲瘋病的藥物發現很久後，仍迫使在日本的病患接受隔離檢疫，很多還被迫絕育。日本律師成功施壓政府，對日本前殖民地南韓和台灣的漢生病患作出賠償，台韓病患往往受到更糟的待遇。小鹿島醫院人員說，222名南韓人，包括小鹿島的105人，每人從日方拿到7萬美元賠償金。

Life remained hard after indepen-dence from Japan. The South Korean government continued to quarantine leprosy patients here until 1963. Children born of patients here were sequestered in a nursery.

脫離日本獨立後，日子仍很難過。南韓政府繼續在小鹿島隔離漢生病患直到1963年，這裡的病患所生的子女被隔離在一家托兒所。

"They would allow us to see them only once a month," said Kim Chung-hang. "But there was a big fence between us. It would break our hearts. Back then, we weren't treated as human beings," he added. "This place was worse than hell."

「他們每個月只讓我們去探視他們一次，」金鍾漢說。「但我們之間還隔著一道大圍籬，我們心都碎了，當時我們根本不被當人看，這個地方連地獄都不如。」

《詞解》
span 跨越，延伸
clod-covered 滿佈石礫
offramp 交流道
leprosy, leper 痲瘋病，漢生病患
Chusok 南韓中秋節
trepidation 恐慌
disfigurements 身體缺陷
sterilize 絕育
sequester 隔離