在朝鮮服兵役可能是很恐怖的一件事
In North Korea, men serve in the military for 10 years and women for seven. The special unit working as Kim Jong-un's personal bodyguards serves for 13.
在朝鮮，男人服十年兵役，女人七年，而組成金正恩私人警衛員的特殊部隊要服13年兵役。Military service is compulsory in the DPRK and Most people enlist after high school. Those who are accepted into universities do their military service after they graduate.
在朝鮮，服兵役是強制的，大部分人高中後就要從軍，被大學錄取的人畢業後服兵役。Usually if you have a bachelor's degree service lasts for five years, but if you studied engineering or science you serve three because the former leader Kim Jong-il wanted to encourage people to study science.
通常來說，如果你有學士學位，兵役長達五年。但是如果你學的是工程學或科學，只需服三年兵役，因爲前領導人金正日希望鼓勵人們學習科學。
The main difficulty conscripts must endure is constant hunger. Soldiers in the special units are well taken care of but those stationed outside the capital Pyongyang are only given two or three potatoes a meal, or are fed solely on raw corn kernels or corn rice.
士兵需要忍受的最大困難是經常性的飢餓。特殊部隊的士兵待遇很好，但是那些在首都平壤外駐紮的士兵每頓只給兩三個土豆，或者只吃未加工的玉米粒或玉米稻。Thanks to these diets, North Korean soldiers are said to be several inches shorter than their South Korean counterparts – a sensitive subject for the North, wrote Adam Cathcart, as tensions flared on the peninsula last month.
由於這些食物，朝鮮士兵據說會比韓國士兵矮几英寸，Adam Cathcart寫道，韓國對於朝鮮是一個敏感話題，上個月朝鮮半島局勢緊張。On meagre rations the soldiers not only have to train but are given physical tasks such as helping farmers on their rice paddy fields. Many become very thin and hungry, and desperate to escape.
在貧乏的定量配給下，士兵不僅要訓練，還要完成體力任務，比如幫助農民在稻田幹活。很多士兵變得又餓又瘦，絕望的想要逃跑。The military police are always on the look out for soldiers who've escaped to look for food. Sometimes these soldiers steal from civilians and farming stockrooms because they're so hungry. If it's edible, they'll steal it.
憲兵總在提防爲了尋找食物而逃跑的士兵。有時候這些士兵會從百姓手裏和農倉偷東西，因爲他們實在太餓了。只要能吃，他們就偷走。I've heard that some senior officers will even order soldiers to go out and steal. If they fail they may be punished.
我聽說一些高級官員甚至命令士兵出去偷竊。如果失敗了可能會受到懲罰。In my high school class there were 25 boys. Five went to college and the remaining 20 went into the military. Half of those were returned home suffering from the effects of malnutrition.
我高中所在班級中有二十五個男孩，五個去上了大學，剩下的二十個從軍，其中一半都因爲營養不良被遣送回家。Soldiers are given home leave to recover. Most are too weak to even walk by themselves, so their parents pick them up and feed them back to health. When they improve they go back to the army.
士兵們回家療養，絕大部分太過虛弱以至於無法自己走路，所以父母必須來接他們，並通過食物讓他們恢復健康。當士兵們的健康狀況提高了，他們便回到軍隊。The lucky ones serve in the special unit, or serve under good officers who take care of them. The unlucky ones die of hunger before their parents have a chance to help them. The only thing these parents pray for is the safe return of their sons.
幸運的士兵們在特殊部隊服役，或在對他們多多照顧的軍官手下服役。而那些不那麼幸運的，在父母可以幫助他們前就死於飢餓。父母們祈禱的唯一事情就是孩子們的平安歸來。North Korea may be the worst place in the world to do military service.
朝鮮可能是全世界服役最恐怖的地方。
