最近，我遇到了來自廣東的少年德里克。他有一個夢想，想要成為一名綜合格斗冠軍。德里克今年15歲。生活把他逼到了死角。現在的他孤注一擲，甚至把生命也作為賭注，要去擺脫困境。

By Randy Wright

I recently met Derek, a Chinese youth from Guangdong province who has a vision. He wants to be an MMA champion.
最近，我遇到了來自廣東的少年德里克。他有一個夢想，想要成為一名綜合格斗冠軍。

Life has shoved him into a corner, and he’s laying everything on the line — possibly even his life — to break out.
生活把他逼到了死角。現在的他孤注一擲，甚至把生命也作為賭注，要去擺脫困境。

Derek is 15 years old.
德里克今年15歲。

He asked me not to use his Chinese name, but he shared his story. He grew up in an orphanage, abandoned as an infant. He doesn’t know if his parents are alive or dead, and he doesn’t care. He’s on his own now, and sees the mixed martial arts cage as a gateway to the respect that has eluded him so far in life.
雖然他要求我不要使用他的中文名字，但他還是和我分享了他的故事。他是一個棄嬰，自幼在孤兒院長大。他不知道自己的父母是生是死，也不在乎。現在，他全靠自己生活。在他看來，綜合格斗的賽場是通往他生命中至今未獲得過的尊重的大門。

At the orphanage, and later in school, he was frequently bullied and shamed. He chafes at the memory and spews out an admirable stream of profanity in English. He picked up the language on his own, mostly by watching movies.
無論是在孤兒院，還是之后的校園生活中，他總是飽受欺凌，被人羞辱。他對這段往事仍是憤恨不平，并罵了一連串地道的英語臟話。他的英語，大多是自己從電影上學來的。

Eventually he learned to fight.
最終，他學了拳擊。

When I met him, Derek had won eight straight matches in the cage. He feels power growing within, both physical strength and strength of mind. “What are you looking for?” I asked. He answered: “Infinity.”
當我遇見他的時候，德里克已經在賽場上取得了八連勝的佳績。他感到自身的力量越來越強大，無論是身體上的還是精神上的。“你在期待什么？”我問他。他答道：“無限。”

He wants to rise. He wants to go to school. He wants to love and be loved. Right now, though, a couple hundred yuan in his pocket feels like a fortune. A fully belly is a rarity. He has barely enough to eat — and to fight.
他想要變強大，想要上學。他渴望愛，也渴望被愛。盡管，對現在的他來說，兜里的幾百元錢都算是一筆巨款，連吃頓飽飯也是奢望。他幾乎吃不飽，也沒有足夠的戰斗力。

He is laser-focused on his dream, working out five hours a day so he can enter an octagon in a dimly lit private club for a chance to win enough prize money to heal, and then fight again. He might get bloodied. He might bloody his opponent. Either way, it’s punishing, dangerous work, if you can call it that.
他一心執著于自己的夢想，每天鍛煉5個小時，以便自己能登上某個昏暗的私人俱樂部的八角形場地，有機會贏得足夠的獎金療傷，然后再次投入戰斗。他可能會遍體鱗傷，也可能重傷他的對手。不管怎樣，這是一種既辛苦又危險的工作，如果它可以稱之為工作的話。

Youngsters like Derek who have nowhere else to go are easy marks for exploitation. They fight for survival.
像德里克這樣走投無路的年輕人，很容易上當受騙，被人剝削。他們為生存而掙扎。

Derek lives alone. A week ago, he scraped up everything he had for an entry fee of 500 yuan ($75). The winner would be paid 4,000 yuan.
德里克獨自生活。一周前，他用自己的全部家當湊了500元的報名費。而比賽最后的贏家將會獲得4000元的獎金。

Derek, who weighs 61 kilograms, was paired against a 19-year-old who was 17 kg heavier — a dangerous mismatch. Four years of development matters.
61公斤重的德里克，被分到了一個比他重17公斤的19歲對手。這是一場實力懸殊的危險較量。四年的發育差距至關重要。

Three minutes per round for 10 rounds, if you can last that long.
每輪比賽時長3分鐘。如果你能堅持下來的話，最多有10輪。

Derek unleashed his energy, and the other guy’s nose and lip paid the price, bleeding profusely after three rounds.
德里克爆發出了自己的能量。在三個回合之后，對手付出的代價是鼻子和嘴唇血流不止。

Then came Round 4. The bigger fellow attacked ferociously, taking Derek to the mat and pounding his head with both fists. “I lost control of my body,” Derek told me. “Dizzy.”
接下來是第四回合。這個大塊頭開始猛烈進攻，把德里克摔到墊子上，雙拳猛擊他的頭。“我無法控制自己的身體，”德里克告訴我。“只覺得頭暈目眩。”

And then he blacked out.
然后，他便昏倒了。

When he woke up, still lying on the mat, the place had emptied out. Someone at the bar was laughing at him, telling him to get up and go home.
當他醒來的時候，還躺在墊子上，臺上已經空無一人。酒吧里有人嘲笑他，叫他爬起來回家去。

Concussions can be deadly, but Derek brushed it off: “He was so fast. He was better than me,” he said. “So I must be faster.”
腦震蕩可能是致命的，但是德里克卻不把它當回事。“他太快了，比我厲害，”他說。“所以我必須更快才行。”

Chinese authorities are taking a close look at orphan fighters. In Chengdu, Sichuan province, for example, they are investigating the Enbo MMA Club, which has trained hundreds of boys as young as 8. All of them want to be champions, though the odds are heavily stacked against them. If desperate children are used for profit, that should end.
中國政府正在密切關注“格斗孤兒”事件。例如，他們正在調查四川省成都市的恩波格斗俱樂部。該俱樂部訓練了數百名男孩，有的年齡只有8歲。這些孩子們都想成為冠軍，雖然成功的幾率微乎其微。如果絕望的孩子們成了賺錢的工具，那這一切就該結束了。

With some help, there may be hope for a better future.
若有人相助，他們的未來也許還有希望。

英文來源：“CHINA DAILY”微信公眾號
翻譯：曲金遙（中國日報網iNews譯者）
編審：丹妮 董靜}
音頻編輯：焦潔

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Randy Wright joined China Daily as an editor in 2013. His career spans 36 years and 10 newspapers in the United States in senior management, editorial writing and reporting roles. He served as adjunct faculty at the University of Arizona and has consulted for many publications, including the California Bar Journal for lawyers and judges. He is a licensed pilot in the US.