白色房間酷刑——人類歷史上最殘酷的懲罰：英語精讀講義

You would have preferred that they just went ahead and broke your bones 講解

你寧願他們乾脆打斷你的骨頭

or perhaps ram your head under freezing cold water

或是把你的頭按進冰冷刺骨的水裡

until you thought you were drowning.

直到你以為自己快要淹死。

It would have been much better than the whiteness,

那也會比這一片慘白好受得多，

that deafening, unrelenting whiteness. 慣用語

這片震耳欲聾、無休無止的慘白。

For months on end, 片語搭配

一連好幾個月，

you saw no colors at all.

你看不到任何色彩。

The cell was white,

牢房是白色的，

the walls,

牆壁、

the door,

門，

and the floor.

還有地板。

Your clothes were white,

你的衣服是白色的，

and all day and night

而且從早到晚、日復一日，

they kept a bright white light shining. 文法

他們始終讓一盞亮白的燈照著你。

When they put food through the door,

他們從門縫把食物送進來時，

it was always the same dish,

永遠都是同一道飯，

white rice on a white plate.

白色盤子裡盛著白飯。

Never did you hear any voices 文法

你從來聽不到任何人的聲音，

except those inside your head.

除了腦海裡的那些聲音。

If you wanted to use the bathroom,

如果你想上廁所，

you had to slip a piece of white paper under the door,

你必須從門下塞出一張白紙，

then guards wearing padded shoes

接著，穿著軟底鞋的警衛

would shuffle along silently

就會悄無聲息地拖著腳走來，

to open the door,

打開門，

and then you could use the white bathroom.

然後你才能使用白色的廁所。

After months of this,

幾個月下來，

you started to forget who you were.

你開始忘記自己是誰。

The voices in your head became real.

腦海裡的聲音變成了現實。

You couldn't even remember what your parents looked like. 文法

你甚至記不起父母長什麼樣。

Welcome to the world of white torture. 表達脈絡

歡迎來到白色酷刑的世界。

What we just described to you

我們剛才描述的情形

is what sometimes is called an enhanced interrogation technique.

有時被稱為「強化審訊手段」。

And in this case,

而在這個案例中，

what is referred to as extreme sensory deprivation. 講解

它被稱為「極端感官剝奪」。

The person who suffered it is one Amir Fakhravar,

遭受這種酷刑的人名叫 Amir Fakhravar，

a former prisoner in Iran.

他曾是伊朗的一名囚犯。

His crime was being critical of the Iranian regime.

他的「罪行」是批評伊朗政權。

As an activist in the late '90s and early 2000s,

20世紀90年代末至21世紀初，他是一名社運人士，

he said he was imprisoned and interrogated on a number of occasions.

據他所說，自己曾多次被監禁和審訊。

He said that he's been beaten to the extent 文法

他說，自己曾遭到毒打，嚴重到

that his bones were broken,

骨頭都被打斷，

but nothing, nothing was as brutal as white torture.

但沒有什麼，真的沒有什麼，像白色酷刑一樣殘忍。

The good news for him is when he got out

好消息是，他獲釋後，

after spending eight months in that white room,

在那間白色牢房裡熬過八個月的他

he managed to flee Iran and moved to the USA.

設法逃離伊朗，移居美國。

He was lucky.

他很幸運。

Other former regime critics

其他曾批評該政權的人

who have had a stay at the notorious Evin prison in Iran

也曾被關進伊朗惡名昭彰的埃文監獄，

have described how some inmates were tortured to death there.

他們描述了那裡一些囚犯被折磨致死的情形。

Some prisoners have been executed at Evin,

有些囚犯在埃文監獄被處決，

others had parts of them amputated, 文法

另一些人身體的某些部位被截肢，

some have been blinded,

有些人被弄瞎，

and most were kept in what has been called horrific conditions.

大多數人則被關在所謂的駭人環境中。

Let's stick with Iran for a minute 表達脈絡

我們先繼續談談伊朗，

and hear what an Iranian journalist named Ebrahim Nabavi

聽聽一位名叫 Ebrahim Nabavi 的伊朗記者

had to say about white torture.

如何描述白色酷刑。

In 2004, he got on the phone to Human Rights Watch.

2004年，他打電話給人權觀察。

This is part of the conversation.

以下是部分通話內容。

Since I left Evin, 文法

「自從離開埃文監獄後，

I've not been able to sleep without sleeping pills.

沒有安眠藥，我就再也睡不著。

It is terrible.

這太可怕了。

The loneliness never leaves you long after you're free. 慣用語

即使重獲自由很久，孤獨感也始終揮之不去。

Every door that's closed on you.

每一扇在你面前關上的門……

This is why we call it white torture.

這就是我們稱它為白色酷刑的原因。

They get what they want

他們能得到想要的一切

without having to hit you. 文法

而根本不必打你。

You begin to break,

你開始崩潰，

and once you break,

一旦你崩潰，

they have control.

他們就掌控了你。

And then you begin to confess.

接著，你便開始招供。」

Another former prisoner in one of Iran's white cells

另一名曾被關進伊朗白色牢房的囚犯

described it like this.

是這樣描述的。

After three days,

「三天之後，

it becomes so, so difficult.

一切就會變得非常、非常難熬。

Different people break at different times.

每個人崩潰的時間都不同。

We used to talk about when people would break. 文法

我們以前常談論一個人會在何時崩潰。

Some people broke after a few days,

有些人幾天後就崩潰了，

some could last months much, much longer.

有些人卻能撐上幾個月，久得多。

It is absolute silence.

那裡絕對寂靜。

After three days,

三天之後，

I just wanted any words,

我只想聽到任何一句話，

even if it was swearing, 文法

哪怕是髒話，

even if it was a harsh interrogation.

哪怕是一場嚴厲的審訊。」

In a nutshell, 表達脈絡

簡而言之，

that's what white torture is all about,

白色酷刑的核心

breaking a person.

就是摧毀一個人。

It's when a government,

這是一個政府，

and as you'll see,

而且你接下來會看到，

not only the Iranian government,

不只是伊朗政府，

wants a person to experience hell,

想讓一個人親歷地獄時所採用的手段，

and so they tell them what they want to know.

這樣，那個人就會把政府想知道的一切說出來。

It leaves no bruises, no scars, 表達脈絡

它不會留下瘀青或傷疤，

except for the ones of the psychological kind.

除了心理上的創傷。

Has this ever happened to prisoners housed in the USA? 文法

美國關押的囚犯遭遇過這種事嗎？

According to Human Rights organizations,

根據人權組織的說法，

the answer is yes.

答案是肯定的。

The New York Times in 2019

2019年，《紐約時報》

talked about the CIA's torture program,

報導了中央情報局的酷刑計畫，

the enhanced interrogation techniques 用詞

也就是那些「強化審訊手段」，

that have been used at Guantanamo Bay

它們曾被用於關塔那摩灣

and other black sites, 文化背景

以及其他秘密黑牢，

such as a secret prison the CIA had in Thailand.

例如中央情報局設在泰國的一座秘密監獄。

The techniques used included things such as keeping men in stress positions 用詞

這些手段包括強迫男子維持痛苦姿勢，

so they couldn't sleep for days

讓他們連續好幾天無法入睡；

or waterboarding prisoners, 用詞

或對囚犯實施水刑；

or keeping men confined in a small box

或把人關進一個小箱子裡，

where they couldn't properly sit.

讓他們連好好坐下都做不到。

The organization called European Democratic Lawyers

名為「歐洲民主律師」的組織

wrote that interrogatory technicians

寫道，審訊人員

working at the Guantanamo facility

在關塔那摩設施工作時

would sometimes take men and cover their eyes and ears.

有時會把男子帶走，蒙住他們的眼睛並摀住耳朵。

They then put thick gloves on the prisoners' hands

接著，他們會替囚犯的雙手戴上厚手套

and tie their feet.

並綁住其雙腳。

This kind of sensory deprivation was called a kind of white torture, 慣用語

這種感官剝奪被稱為一種白色酷刑，

but it sounds more like dark torture.

但聽起來更像是黑暗酷刑。

Still, the outcome is the same.

不過，結果都一樣。

The prisoner begins to lose his mind.

囚犯開始失去理智。

A similar thing went down at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, 片語動詞

類似的事情也發生在伊拉克的阿布格萊布監獄，

and the world got to know about this

而全世界之所以得知此事，

after a series of photos were released.

是因為後來曝光了一系列照片。

The US Army would at times dress men in boiler suits,

美軍有時會讓這些男子穿上連身工作服，

tie them, put masks over their mouths,

把他們綁起來，用面罩封住他們的嘴，

and cover their eyes and ears.

並蒙住他們的眼睛、摀住耳朵。

The result of the torture would always be a numbing of the prisoner's senses,

這種酷刑總會讓囚犯的感官變得麻木，

so much so that they began to mentally unravel. 講解

甚至令他們的精神開始崩潰。

But the British were doing a similar thing

但英國人早就在做類似的事，

a long time before it happened in Iraq.

遠早於它在伊拉克發生之前。

In the '70s, people suspected of being involved with the Irish Republican Army 片語搭配

20世紀70年代，被懷疑與愛爾蘭共和軍有關的人

were taken from their homes or off the streets

會從家中或街頭被帶走，

without standing trial. 片語搭配

而且未經審判。

They were then taken to a secret interrogation center

隨後，他們會被帶到一座秘密審訊中心，

and were put through something called the five techniques. 講解

遭受所謂的「五種手段」。

Those were hooding, wall standing,

這五種手段分別是蒙頭、貼牆站立，

deprivation of sleep, subjection to noise,

剝奪睡眠、持續噪音刺激，

and deprivation of food and drink.

以及剝奪食物和飲水。

When the men were in their cells,

這些男子待在牢房裡時，

they were handcuffed and hooded,

會被銬住雙手、套上頭罩，

so they were literally in the dark all the time. 慣用語

因此，他們實際上一直身處黑暗之中。

To make things worse, 表達脈絡

更糟的是，

the British continuously played a recording of a hissing noise,

英國人還會不斷播放嘶嘶聲的錄音，

or what's being called a kind of white noise. 用詞

也就是所謂的一種白噪音。

The prisoners might at time get kicked in the groin,

囚犯有時可能會被踢中下體，

having not even knowing someone had entered their cell.

甚至都不知道有人進入了牢房。

This created constant stress and the inability to sleep.

這會造成持續的壓力，讓人無法入睡。

What was the object of this sensory deprivation? 用詞

這種感官剝奪的目的是什麼？

It was to cause the worst kind of depression,

就是引發最嚴重的憂鬱，

crippling anxiety, 片語搭配

令人崩潰的焦慮，

and after a while,

再過一段時間，

hallucinations and even a loss of consciousness.

還會出現幻覺，甚至失去意識。

The Brits used it in the Iraq War too

英國人在伊拉克戰爭中也使用過這種手段，

and imported it to the US, Israel, and Brazil.

還把它傳到了美國、以色列和巴西。

How do countries get away with this? 片語動詞

各國怎麼能這樣做了還不受懲罰？

Well, they say it's not strictly torture 表達脈絡

因為他們聲稱這嚴格來說不算酷刑，

and more enhanced interrogation,

更應該叫作強化審訊，

something human rights groups have been criticizing for years. 文法

而人權團體多年來一直在批評這種說法。

In Venezuela, the authorities have their own unique take on white torture. 片語搭配

在委內瑞拉，當局對白色酷刑還有自己獨特的做法。

Underneath a building in the city of Caracas,

在卡拉卡斯市的一棟建築下方，

there's a place called La Tumba, or the tomb in English. 文化背景

有個地方叫 La Tumba，英文意為「墳墓」。

There, prisoners are kept in tiny cells,

在那裡，囚犯會被關進狹小的牢房，

cells that are painted white.

牢房全部被漆成白色。

They're not allowed any interaction with guards or other prisoners,

他們不得與警衛或其他囚犯有任何接觸，

and they can hear no sounds.

也聽不到任何聲音。

All day and night,

從早到晚，日復一日，

a bright light shines in their cell.

牢房裡始終照著一盞明亮的燈。

And so after a while,

因此，過了一段時間後，

the prisoners have no idea what time it is.

囚犯就完全不知道當時是幾點。

Not surprisingly,

不出所料，

there are reports of some of them trying to kill themselves. 表達脈絡

有報導指出，其中一些人試圖自殺。

Others might suffer from vomiting, diarrhea, or hallucinations.

另一些人可能會嘔吐、腹瀉或產生幻覺。

One mother of an inmate told the media,

一名囚犯的母親告訴媒體：

"He's buried alive, 慣用語

「他就像被活埋了一樣，

practically waiting to die."

幾乎只能等死。」

Could you survive white torture? 表達脈絡

你能熬過白色酷刑嗎？

We doubt it.

我們對此表示懷疑。

We doubt anyone could get through white torture 片語動詞

我們不相信有任何人能經歷白色酷刑後

without succumbing to madness. 片語搭配

不陷入瘋狂。

Human Rights Watch spoke to a former inmate of a place called Prison 59 in Iran.

人權觀察訪問過一名曾被關押在伊朗「59號監獄」的囚犯。

That prisoner had seen the isolation cells

這名囚犯見過那些隔離牢房，

and had this to say about them. 表達脈絡

並這樣評價它們：

"I cannot imagine spending one night in those solitary cells 文法

「我無法想像在那些單獨禁閉室裡待上一晚

without losing my mind."

而不發瘋。」

And it's not just about what happens in the white rooms, 文法

問題不只是在白色牢房裡會遭遇什麼，

but what happens once you get out.

還包括離開後會發生什麼。

As one former detainee in Iran said,

正如伊朗一名前被拘留者所說：

"I went in as one person 表達脈絡

「進去時，我還是一個人，

and came out another person."

出來時卻成了另一個人。」

Now, you need to watch this.

現在，你得看看這個。

Crucifixion, worst punishments in the history of mankind.

十字架刑：人類歷史上最殘酷的刑罰。

Or have a look at this,

或者看看這個：

boiling alive, worst punishments in the history of mankind.

活活煮死：人類歷史上最殘酷的刑罰。