I recently met Derek, a Chinese youth from Guangdong province who has a vision. He wants to be an MMA champion.

最近，我遇到了来自广东的少年德里克。他有一个梦想，想要成为一名综合格斗冠军。

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。现在的他孤注一掷，甚至是把他的生命也作为赌注，要去摆脱困境。

Derek is 15 years old.

德里克今年15岁。

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.

虽然他要求我不要使用他的中文名字，但他还是和我分享了他的故事。他是一个弃婴，自幼在孤儿院长大。他不知道自己的父母是生是死，也不在乎。现在，他全靠自己生活。在他看来，综合格斗的比赛笼子是通往他生命中至今未获得过的尊重的大门。

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.

无论是在孤儿院，还是之后的校园生活中，他总是饱受欺凌，被人羞辱。他对这段往事仍是愤恨不平，并骂了一连串地道的英语脏话。他的英语，大多是自己从电影上学来的。

Eventually he learned to fight.

最终，他学了拳击。

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.”

当我遇见他的时候，德里克已经在八角笼中取得了八连胜的佳绩。他感到自身的力量在增长，无论是身体上的还是精神上的。“你在期待什么？”我问他。他答道：“无限。”

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.

他想要反抗，想要上学。他渴望爱，也渴望被爱。尽管现在对他来说，兜里的几百元钱都算是一笔巨款，连吃顿饱饭也是奢望。他的食物几乎不够吃，也不够打拳的消耗。

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.

他一心执着于自己的梦想，每天锻炼5个小时，以便自己能登上某个昏暗的私人俱乐部的八角笼，有机会赢得足够的奖金疗伤，然后再次投入战斗。他可能会遍体鳞伤，也可能重伤他的对手。不管怎样，这是一种既辛苦又危险的工作，如果它可以称之为工作的话。

Youngsters like Derek who have nowhere else to go are easy marks for exploitation. They fight for survival.

像德里克这样走投无路的年轻人，很容易上当受骗，被人剥削。他们为生存而战。

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.

德里克独自生活。一周前，他用自己的全部家当凑了500元的报名费。而比赛最后的赢家将会获得4000元的奖金。

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，被分到了一个比他重17公斤的19岁的对手。双方实力悬殊，比赛危机四伏。四年的发育差距至关重要。

Three minutes per round for 10 rounds, if you can last that long.

每轮比赛时长3分钟。如果你能坚持下来的话，最多有10轮。

Derek unleashed his energy, and the other guy’s nose and lip paid the price, bleeding profusely after three rounds.

德里克爆发出了自己的能量。在三个回合之后，对手的鼻子和嘴唇付出了流血不止的代价。

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.”

接下来是第四回合。这个大块头开始猛烈进攻，把德里克摔到垫子上，双拳猛击他的头。“我无法控制自己的身体，”德里克告诉我。“只觉得头晕目眩。”

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.

当他醒来的时候，还躺在垫子上，台上已经空无一人。酒吧有些人嘲笑他，叫他爬起来回家去。

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.”

脑震荡可能是致命的，但是德里克却不把它当回事。“他太快了，比我厉害，”他说。“所以我必须更快才行。”

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.

中国政府正在密切关注“格斗孤儿”事件。例如，他们正在调查四川省成都市的恩波格斗俱乐部。该俱乐部训练了数百名8岁的男孩。这些孩子们都想成为冠军，虽然成功的机会如大海捞针，微乎其微。如果绝望的孩子们成了赚钱的工具，那这一切就该结束了。

With some help, there may be hope for a better future.

若有人相助，他们的未来也许还有希望。

译者：曲金遥（实习）

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