导读

一年多前，在被捕后举行的一场新闻发布会上，瓦姆比尔曾对着镜头痛哭流涕地忏悔，“我犯了一生中最大的错误”。一年多之后，尽管瓦姆比尔终于回到了自己的家乡，但是昏迷的他至今生死未卜。《纽约时报》发表题为Otto Warmbier Was ‘Brutalized and Terrorized’ in North Korea, Father Says（美大学生脑组织严重损毁，其父控诉朝鲜暴行）的报道，一起来看一下。

辛辛那提——22岁的学生奥托·瓦姆比尔(Otto Warmbier)在朝鲜被囚禁17个月后，本周获得释放。他的医生周四说，奥托的状况稳定，但对外界没有反应，“其脑部所有区域的脑组织都遭受了大面积损毁。”

Hours earlier, Warmbier’s father attacked the North as a “pariah regime” that had “brutalized and terrorized” his son.

数小时前，瓦姆比尔的父亲将朝鲜称为“受人蔑视的政权”，“残酷对待与恐吓威胁”他的儿子。

In back-to-back news conferences on a day when North Korea claimed it had freed the younger Warmbier on “humanitarian grounds,” Fred Warmbier and the doctors caring for his son hinted at a grim future for the young man.

朝鲜声称出于“人道主义原因”释放奥托·瓦姆比尔的当天，在连场的新闻发布会上，弗雷德·瓦姆比尔(Fred Warmbier)和照顾其子的医生暗示，这个年轻人面对着一个严酷的未来。

“We’re trying to make him comfortable,” his father said.

“我们尽力让他感到舒服一些，”他父亲说。

Dr. Daniel Kanter, a neurologist at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, said Warmbier’s condition “can best be described as a state of unresponsive wakefulness.”

辛辛那提大学医学中心的神经学家丹尼尔·坎特(Daniel Kanter)博士表示，对瓦姆比尔病情最恰当的描述是“无反应的觉醒状态”。

Warmbier is breathing on his own, and his heart and other major organs are functioning. But he has “no spontaneous eye opening and blinking,” the doctor said, shows “no signs of understanding language” and cannot respond to verbal commands.

瓦姆比尔可以自主呼吸，他的心脏和其他主要器官也可以运转。但医生说，“他没有自发的睁眼和眨眼动作，没有显示出可以理解语言的迹象”，而且也无法对口头指示作出回应。

The statements from the father and the doctors shed little light on what Warmbier has endured since March 2016, when he tearfully confessed to stealing a propaganda poster and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after a one-hour trial. The doctors appeared to dismiss the North Koreans’ claim that Warmbier collapsed from a combination of botulism and sleeping pills, saying there was no evidence he had botulism.

他父亲和医生的声明并没有让人对瓦姆比尔自从2016年3月以来的经历获得更多了解。当时他流着泪承认偷了一张宣传海报，在经过一个小时的审判后，他被判处了15年苦役。朝鲜称，瓦姆比尔的健康状况是因为肉毒中毒和服用安眠药所致，但医生们似乎驳斥了这种说法，声称他身上没有肉毒中毒的证据。

At the request of the Warmbier family, Kanter and two other specialists who spoke to reporters would not discuss Warmbier’s prognosis.

在瓦姆比尔家人的要求下，坎特和另外两位专家在和记者交谈时拒绝透露瓦姆比尔的病情发展。

Earlier in the day, the elder Warmbier addressed reporters wearing the same cream-colored jacket that his son wore when he confessed, and fought back tears as he spoke of it.

当天早些时候，老瓦姆比尔穿着儿子认罪时那件奶油色外套接受了记者的采访，说话时他强忍眼泪。

“I’m able to wear the jacket he wore when he gave his confession,” the anguished father said, his voice cracking. “I’m not confessing, I’m speaking, but Otto, I love you and I’m so crazy about you and I’m so glad you’re home.”

“我穿上了他认罪时穿的那件夹克，”这位痛苦的父亲哽咽着说道。“我不是在认罪，我是在发言，但是奥托，我爱你，我非常爱你，我很高兴你回来了。”

The elder Warmbier also praised the administration of President Donald Trump for working to free his son, and made clear his displeasure with the administration of former President Barack Obama, whose officials, he said, had advised the family to stay quiet to avoid antagonizing the North Koreans.

老瓦姆比尔还赞扬了特朗普政府努力让他儿子获得释放，并表示了对前总统奥巴马政府的不满，他说，奥巴马的官员让他们一家人不要出声，避免惹恼朝鲜人。

该学生被捕后，白宫新闻秘书欧内斯特谴责朝鲜利用美国公民作为“追求政治计划的筹码”

“The results speak for themselves,” Warmbier said when asked whether the Obama administration had done enough. He said Trump called him Wednesday night and told him, “We worked hard, and I’m sorry this is the outcome.”

当被问及奥巴马政府是否采取了足够多的措施时，瓦姆比尔说，“结果已经很能说明问题。”他表示，特朗普周三晚上打电话给他，告诉他说：“我们尽了力，得到这样的结果我很遗憾。”

Experts say it is extremely difficult for any administration to have sway with an authoritarian government like North Korea. The White House, for example, cannot afford to have a hostage negotiation complicate other issues, like the North’s nuclear program or the economic sanctions the United States has imposed on the country. And the standard recommendation to families — to remain quiet and avoid publicity — can only deepen their despair and isolation.

专家说，任何一个政府要对朝鲜这样的独裁政府施加影响都不容易。例如，白宫不能因为人质谈判而导致其他问题变得复杂，比如朝鲜核计划或美国对该国的经济制裁。而白宫对这家人的标准建议——不要出声、避免引起公众关注，只能加深他们的绝望和孤立。

Daniel R. Russel, a former assistant secretary of state under Obama, said the Trump administration deserves “credit for being dogged” in pursuing Warmbier’s release, but had done little differently from the Obama administration. And Robert R. King, the former special envoy for North Korea human rights issues who retired in January, noted that the younger Warmbier had ignored the explicit advice of the State Department, which has a notice on its website that “strongly warns” U.S. citizens not to travel to North Korea.

奥巴马的前助理国务卿丹尼尔·拉塞尔(Daniel R. Russel)表示，特朗普政府在争取瓦姆比尔获得释放上的“坚持不懈”，但他们的做法与奥巴马政府相差无几。曾担任朝鲜人权问题特使的罗伯特·R·金(Robert R. King)今年1月份已经退休，他指出，小瓦姆比尔忽视了国务院的明确建议——国务院已经在网站上“强烈警告”美国公民不要去朝鲜。

“This is a problem where the North Koreans did the wrong thing,” King said in an interview. “This is not a case where the U.S. made mistakes in terms of our efforts. We did everything we could to deal with that case.”

“这个问题在于，是朝鲜人做错了事情，”金在接受采访时说。“并不是美国在采取行动的时候犯了错误。我们已经尽了全力来处理这个案子。”

Little is known of Warmbier’s ordeal; a senior U.S. official said this week that he was singled out for particularly brutal beatings while in captivity, although the University of Cincinnati doctors said Thursday that they saw no evidence of beatings. In its statement claiming Warmbier had been released on humanitarian grounds, North Korea did not reveal any details of his medical condition or of the diplomatic negotiations that led to his release.

瓦姆比尔遭受了什么折磨基本上还不清楚；美国一位高级官员本周表示，他被囚禁时遭到了极其凶残的殴打，尽管辛辛那提大学的医生周四表示，他们没有发现殴打的迹象。朝鲜的声明称，瓦姆比尔是因为人道主义理由被释放的，但并没有透露他的医疗状况，以及导致他获释的外交谈判的细节。

“We have very few answers,” his father said.

“很多问题我们都不知道答案，”他父亲说。

This much is known: In December 2015, Warmbier embarked on a five-day tour of the North with a Chinese company that advertised “budget travel to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from.” Warmbier was detained at the Pyongyang airport in early January 2016 as he tried to leave and was charged with an unspecified “hostile act” against the government. Two months later, he was shown in a courtroom giving his tearful televised statement, in which he confessed to stealing a propaganda poster.

目前所知的情况是：2015年12月，瓦姆比尔通过一家中国公司到朝鲜进行为期五天的旅游，该公司宣传说，“花不了多少钱，就能去妈妈不想你去的地方。”2016年1月初，瓦姆比尔离开朝鲜时在平壤机场被抓，朝鲜指控他有反政府的“敌对行为”，但没有具体指明是哪些行动。两个月后，他被送上法庭，发表了一个声泪俱下的电视声明，承认自己窃取宣传海报。

During the news conference Thursday, Fred Warmbier lashed out at the tour company, Young Pioneer Tours, and accused North Korea of endangering Americans by using tour companies to lure them to the North, where they can be taken hostage.

在周四举行的新闻发布会上，弗雷德·瓦姆比尔猛烈抨击了旅游公司青年先锋旅行社(Young Pioneer Tours)，指责朝鲜危害美国人——利用旅游公司吸引他们去可能会被扣为人质的朝鲜旅游。

Describing his son’s return as “bittersweet,” he dismissed the North’s explanation that his condition was the result of a combination of botulism and a sleeping pill.

在谈到儿子的回归时，他感到“有喜有悲”，他不接受朝鲜的说法，即儿子的身体情况是肉毒中毒和安眠药共同作用的结果。

“Even if you believe their explanation of botulism and a sleeping pill causing the coma — and we don’t — there is no excuse for any civilized nation to have kept his condition secret and denied him top-notch medical care for so long,” he said.

“即便你相信他们有关肉毒中毒和安眠药导致昏迷的说法——我们不信——那任何一个文明国家也没有理由隐瞒他的身体状况，这么长时间一直拒绝让他接受一流的医疗护理，”他说。