THE enduring image of Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle is of brightly colored poppy fields, opium-smoking hill tribes and heroin labs hidden in the jungle.
鮮豔耀眼的罌粟田、愛抽鴉片的山區部落，及暗藏叢林間的海洛因工廠，是東南亞金三角歷久不衰的形象。

But the reality is that after years of producing the largest share of the world’s opium, the Golden Triangle is now only has a small role in the global heroin trade.
然而真實情況是，鴉片產量高踞世界第一多年之後，金三角在全球海洛因貿易中只是個小角色。

“The mystique may remain, and the geography will be celebrated in the future by novelists,” said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. “But from our vantage point, we see a region that is rapidly moving toward an opium-free status.”
聯合國毒品暨犯罪問題辦公室執行主任安東尼奧‧馬利亞‧柯斯塔說：「神秘感也許會繼續存在，未來也會有小說家讚頌這個地區。不過，從我們的觀點來看，這個地方正在迅速變成無鴉片區。」

The decline of the Golden Triangle is a major, if little noticed, milestone in the war on drugs. The question now is whether that success can be sustained.
金三角式微，是反毒戰一個重要卻很少人留意的成果。現在的問題是這個成果能否維持下去。

Three decades ago, the northernmost reaches of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar produced more than 70 percent of all the opium sold worldwide, most of which was refined into heroin. Today the area produces about 5 percent of the world total, says Mr. Costa’s agency.
30年前，寮國、泰國與緬甸最北方地帶的鴉片產量，占全球鴉片買賣量70%以上。鴉片大都提煉成海洛因。聯合國毒品暨犯罪問題辦公室表示，如今金三角約占全球總產量的5%。

What happened?
怎麼一回事？

Economic pressure from China, crackdowns on opium farmers, and a switch by criminal syndicates to methamphetamine production, appear to have had the biggest impact. At the same time, some insurgent groups that once were financed with drug money now say they are urging farmers to eradicate their poppy fields.
來自中國的經濟壓力、當局圍剿鴉片農、犯罪組織轉而製造甲基安非他命等因素，顯然衝擊最大。同時，一些過去靠販毒賺錢的叛亂團體，現在催農人消滅罌粟田。

As a result, the Golden Triangle has been eclipsed by the Golden Crescent – the poppy-growing area in and around Afghanistan that is now the source of an estimated 92 percent of the world’s opium, according to the United Nations.
因此，「金新月」的鴉片產量已凌駕於東南亞金三角之上，聯合國估計，阿富汗境內及周邊地區的金新月罌粟產量已占全球鴉片總量的92%。

This shift to Afghanistan has had major consequences for the global heroin market: a near doubling of opium production worldwide in less than two decades. Poppies grown in the fertile valleys of southern Afghanistan yield on average four times more opium than those grown in upland Southeast Asia.
重心移轉至阿富汗，對全球海洛因市場造成重大影響：不到20年，世界鴉片產量增近一倍。阿富汗南部肥沃山谷裡的罌粟，產出鴉片數量比東南亞山區罌粟製成的鴉片平均多4倍。

A striking aspect of the decline of the Golden Triangle is the role China has played in pressing opium-growing regions to eradicate poppy crops. A major market for Golden Triangle heroin, China has seen a spike in addicts and H.I.V. infections from contaminated needles.
中國在金三角式微過程中扮演顯著的角色，促使金三角鴉片產地根除罌粟田。中國大陸原是金三角海洛因的主要外銷市場，中國的毒癮者與使用汙染針頭而罹患愛滋病的人數都急速竄升。

The area of Myanmar along the Chinese border, which once produced about 30 percent of the country’s opium, was declared opium-free last year by the United Nations. Local authorities, who are from the Wa tribe and are autonomous from Myanmar’s central government, have banned poppy cultivation and welcomed Chinese investment in rubber, sugar cane and tea plantations, casinos and other businesses.
緬甸與中國接壤的邊境地區，鴉片產量一度占全緬甸產量三成，去年聯合國宣布此地已是鴉片淨空區。由佤族主持、不屬緬甸中央政府的地方自治當局禁止種植罌粟，也歡迎中國在當地投資橡膠、甘蔗、茶園、賭場與其他產業。

Myanmar remains the world’s second-leading source of opium but is a distant second; its production declined by 80 percent over the last decade.
緬甸仍是世界第二大鴉片產地，但產量比第一名少得多，過去10年產量下降80%。

In Laos, the government began a crackdown in the 1990s to increase its international credibility and because officials realized their own children were at risk, said Leik Boonwaat, the representative in Laos for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Laos finally outlawed opium in 1996.
聯合國毒品暨犯罪問題辦公室駐寮國代表里克‧波恩瓦說，1990年代，寮國政府為昭國際公信，展開掃毒行動，寮國官員體認到自己的子女將遭毒品危害，也是原因。1996年，寮國政府終於宣布生產鴉片為非法。

The government, Mr. Boonwaat said, also saw that opium did little to help poor farmers who grew poppies. “It’s mostly the organized crime syndicates that made most of the profits,” he said.
波恩瓦說，寮國政府同時發現，鴉片很難幫種植罌粟的貧農改善家境。他說：「大多是有組織的犯罪集團賺取最多利潤。」

The amount of land cultivated in Laos for opium has fallen 94 percent since 1998. Yet experts warn that the reductions may not hold unless farmers develop other ways to make a living.
1998年以來，寮國境內專門生產鴉片的罌粟田已比之前減少94%。不過專家警告，除非農人找到其他維生之計，否則罌粟田恐難繼續縮減。

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy, an opium specialist at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, says it took Thailand 30 years to wean opium farmers from poppy production. The Thai royal family encouraged opium-growing hill tribes to use their cooler climate to produce coffee, macadamia nuts and green vegetables.
法國巴黎國家科學研究中心鴉片專家皮耶-雅諾‧休維說，泰國花了30年，鴉片農才漸漸不再種罌粟。泰國皇室還鼓勵生產鴉片的山區部落利用山地較涼爽的氣候種咖啡、澳洲胡桃（又稱夏威夷火山豆）與綠色蔬菜。

But, he said, “In Laos and Burma, we’ve had a very quick decrease.” He asked, “Is it going to last?”
不過，休維說：「寮國與緬甸的罌粟田消失速度極快。這消失的趨勢能不能維持下去呢？」

關鍵字句

本文主題是東南亞金三角的鴉片經濟（the opium economy of the Golden Triangle）。

寮國、泰國、緬甸三國的鴉片產地（opium-producing areas /opium-growing regions），因為供應利潤很高（lucrative / profitable） 的全球海洛因市場（global heroin market），成為罌粟農（poppy farmers）與犯罪集團（crime syndicates）的「淘金之地」。

不過，按照聯合國的說法，巴基斯坦、伊朗與阿富汗儼然已經成為新的毒品交易網路，阿富汗附近的金新月（the Golden Crescent）地區鴉片產量之多，讓排名第二的金三角顯得遙遙落後（a distant second）。

作者指出，中國對金三角地帶施加的經濟壓力（economic pressure from China）、地方當局對罌粟農的鎮壓（crackdowns）與犯罪集團轉而生產甲基安非他命（switch to methamphetamine production）是金三角風光不再的三大原因。

鴉片金三角式微雖是反毒大戰（war on drugs / war against drugs ）的重要成果（a major achievement），但這是不是「可以持續成功」（a sustainable success），仍有待觀察。

Spike原指長而尖的釘子，作者用來形容中國毒癮者人數激增（a spike in addicts），此處spike意指「陡升」（a sharp rise），意同surge。例句：股價出現近兩年來最大升幅（The stock price saw its sharpest spike in two years.）。

Eradicate有「根絕」（root out /wipe out / to destroy completely）或「撲殺」（to kill in large numbers）之意。例句：奧運將至，北京當局希望能根除市民在公眾場合的不良習慣（Beijing wants to eradicate bad manners in public spaces ahead of the Olympics.）。

第3段的vantage point常指「觀看某物的有利位置」（a place from which something can be viewed）；在本文意為「特定的看法或觀點」（a particular personal way of thinking or set of opinions.）。

倒數第2 段說，泰國花了3 0年才漸漸讓鴉片農放棄種植罌粟（It took Thailand 30 years to wean opium farmers from poppy production.）。Wean這個動詞原有「使嬰兒或年幼的哺乳類動物逐漸斷乳」（to gradually deprive infants / young mammals of mother’s milk）之意。例句：你應該決定何時讓嬰兒斷奶，開始吃固體食物（You should decide when to wean your baby to solid foods.）。不過，Wean在本文中指「緩慢減少」（to reduce slowly ）。

原文參照http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/weekinreview/16fuller.html 

2007-09-24/聯合報/B4版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 王先棠 原文請見9月24日紐時周報四版頭條