民工分离撕裂中国家庭－一个生病的父亲

An Ailing 1 Father

一个生病的父亲

On the worst nights, Yang Heqing is awakened 2 by the cold. His bunkroom is in a warehouse 4 district in southern Beijing that is home to tens of thousands of migrants. There is no heat for the subfreezing temperatures, and the bunks 5 are planks 6 of plywood attached to metal scaffolding.

在最冷的夜里，杨和清总被冻醒。他住的工棚位于北京南面的一个仓库里，和他同住在这一片的有上万农民工。他们睡在木板搭成的高低铺上，虽然北京的冬夜气温已经在零度以下，但他们的工棚当然不会有暖气。

 
The room, provided by the construction company, is like a map of poverty in China's rural interior. Mr. Yang and three others from around his village sleep on two rows of bunks. Farmers from central Sichuan Province are in a different section. Apple farmers from dusty Shaanxi Province sleep across the room beside a few men from destitute 7 areas in Hubei Province.

建筑公司提供的房子，就像一张中国内地农村的贫苦地图。杨和清和另外三个同村人占着两个高低铺，四川中部来的一些农民则睡在另外一边，几个湖北贫困地区来的人旁边睡着一个陕西来的苹果农。

There are 40 men in a room 30 feet long.

9米长的房间里睡着40个男人。

Asked how many of them have left wives and children at home, one man yelled, "All of us." Asked how much they are getting paid for working 12 hours a day, seven days a week for almost a year, they give an embarrassed answer.

当记者问，他们中有多少人是抛妻弃子来城里打工的。一人叫道：“我们全是”。但当记者接着问“你们的工钱有多少”时，这些一周工作七天、一天工作十二小时的工人们却扭捏起来。

"We don't know," another man admitted.

“我们也不知道，”一人说。

 
Mr. Yang, like the others, came to Beijing last March. He and his three friends learned from a cousin about a job working on a new government building. No firm promises were made on pay. Some men were told they could earn $500 or more for the year, nearly double the average income in the countryside. Others were told that workers from different provinces would be paid different wages.

和其他人一样，杨和清也是三月来的北京。他和三个朋友现在在北京的一个建筑工地干活，这个活是从他的一个堂兄弟那儿听说的。至于报酬并没有订约，有些人听说一年能挣4000多元，这几乎是农村收入的两倍。另一些人则听说不同省的人给不同的工钱。

No one knows. The crew bosses will pay them when the job is done in January. Until then, the company provides daily rice or noodles, and workers get $12 a month in spending money if they work at least 25 days. Mr. Yang said he had missed many workdays because of illness. He often gets only $6 in monthly spending money as a penalty.

没人知道。包工头要到一月份工程完工了才会发工资。在那之前，公司提供每天的米面，每月上工25天以上工人，一个月发100元用以日常开支。杨和清说，自己因为生病缺了很多天工，所以除去罚款每月常常只能拿到50元钱。

"Sometimes I can feel the pain while I work," he said. "My chest hurts, and I have no energy."

“干活时也不时会感觉到痛，”他说。“我的胸口疼，浑身没力气。”

Mr. Yang first became sick in 2000 after five months working for an oil company in the far western region of Xinjiang. He earned nearly $600, a bounty 8, but he would spend all of it on medicine and visits to doctors. The diagnosis 9 was pneumonia 10 and inflammation of his prostate. At a city hospital, a doctor recommended $1,200 in treatment, a price he could not pay. Mr. Yang returned home, and his wife feared he might have cancer.

杨和清第一次得病是在2000年，是他在新疆的一个石油公司干了五个月之后。他挣了一大笔钱——5000元，可是后来都用在看病和买药上了。城里医生的诊断是肺炎和前列腺炎，并且建议他花10000元左右进行治疗，这个价格是杨和清无法承受的。于是他放弃治病而回了家，他的妻子阮和平则担心他是得了癌症。

"He lost hope," Ms. Ran said. "He said, 'If I die, I don't care.' I said, 'You can't leave behind your parents and your daughter.' "

“他失去了信心，”阮和平说，“他说‘死了就死了’我说‘你不能就这样抛下爸妈和女儿。’”

 
Weakened, Mr. Yang stayed home for four years, and his wife left for work, alone, in May 2000. His father said he then became frustrated 11 that his wife, not himself, was supporting the family. His daughter knew something was wrong.

由于身体虚弱，杨在家里呆了四年；2000年五月开始，他的妻子就独自去城里打工。杨的父亲说，因为靠着妻子在外干活养家糊口，杨和清变得日益沮丧。女儿珊珊也察觉到了家中的变化。

"I always saw him buying medicine," Shan said. Her parents "don't know that I know," she added. "I'm afraid his sickness will become worse and worse."

In March, Mr. Yang felt he had to find work. He owed relatives nearly $300 for medical bills, and he could not make money at home. Sitting in his bunk 3 in early December, he recalled the rush of excitement he felt arriving in Beijing to play some small role in building the country's booming capital.

His friend, Yang Xianglin, leaned over from the other bunk. He is a first-time migrant worker. Like many villagers, he thought working in Beijing would be exciting, even liberating 12. Now he wants to finish his job, get paid and never come back.

"It's not what we imagined," he said. "Migrant work is too hard. Even if the bosses are crooked 13, we have to obey them. I can't stand this. This isn't freedom."

Yang Heqing agreed, more from exhaustion 14 than outrage 15. He had missed so much work that he finally borrowed money from his crew boss and visited a city hospital on Dec. 10. A doctor examined his prostate and suggested tests. The cost was $250; the boss had lent him $12.

Mr. Yang walked from the hospital to a nearby pharmacy 16 and bought over-the-counter anti-inflammation pills. He said he was tempted 17 to quit, take whatever pay the boss will give him and see the doctor again. But he also knows that he might not even get paid enough to return home.

Asked about his plans for his health and his family, he could only imagine as far as January, when his job will be done.

"My hope is for a few thousand yuan at the end of the year," he said. That is a few hundred dollars.