Patrick J. Mcdonnell

The gray rubber dinghy that carries Huda Malak，pregnant with her first child，sags to sea level as it approaches Lesbos.The overloaded raft has been taking on water since it launched from a crag off the Turkish shore，about six miles away.

The 18 Syrians on board desperately try to bail water from the sinking craft.Weight，they need to shed weight.They start jettisoning backpacks that hold most everything they still own.A trip that should have taken 45 minutes has lasted double that，and they are still a mile from the Greek island.

Suddenly，Malak's husband，Tarek Sheikh，stands up.

"I'm doing this to save you，our child，and everyone on board，"Sheikh tells her.

Then he jumps overboard.

His weight makes the difference，and the raft chugs toward land as Malak looks back to where her husband disappeared into the Aegean.

Finally，the boat makes one last thrust and scutters onto a pebble beach.

"Thank God，we are alivel"shouts Firas Gharghoori，a thick，compact man in shorts and a straw fedora，kneeling on the polished stones in a prayer of gratitude.

The new arrivals begin to wander away from the shore，but Malak remains.She crouches with knees bent，face cradled in her hands，her eyes focused on the sea.Fellow migrants approach to offer support to the 23-year-old schoolteacher，their elation at having made it to Europe tempered.She waves them off.

Without warning，Sheikh's younger brother，Mohammed，takes off his shirt and plunges into the surf in a bid to rescue Sheikh-soon followed by a grizzled Greek restaurateur who has wandered to the scene.The Greek later swims back，his leg bloodied from the rocks.He gamely tries to maneuver a white paddle boat to sea as a makeshift rescue craft.It doesn't get very far.

A Greek coast guard vessel appears offshore，but far from where Sheikh disappeared.Gharghoori frantically signals at the cutter to move to the left.A coast guard officer in aviator sunglasses，who is in radio contact with the cutter，arrives in a pickup.In broken English，he tries to calm everyone.A few minutes later，he approaches Malak and gives the thumbs-up sign.

Her husband，the hero of the gray rubber boat，is safe.His brother has been rescued too.

This year，more than 2，500 refugees and migrants have died trying to reach Europe in an armada of flimsy rubber dinghies and rickety fishing boats.

Tens of thousands of others are willing to take the risk.But they make it.

灰色橡皮艇一直在向水面下沉，胡達(dá)·馬拉克坐在艇上，腹中懷著她的第一個(gè)孩子，橡皮艇已經(jīng)靠近萊斯博斯島了。這艘超載的小艇從六英里外的土耳其海峽出發(fā)時(shí)起就開始進(jìn)水。

艇上18個(gè)敘利亞人拼命地往外舀水，但小艇還是在慢慢下沉。重量，他們必須減輕重量。他們開始扔掉背包，雖然里面裝的是他們現(xiàn)在僅剩的一些東西。此次航行本來只需要45分鐘，兩倍的時(shí)間過去了，他們離那座希臘小島還有一英里。

突然，馬拉克的丈夫，塔里克·謝赫，站了起來。

“我這么做是為了救你和我們的孩子，以及船上的每一個(gè)人?！敝x赫告訴她。

然后他跳下了船。

他的重量改變了一切，小艇駛向陸地，馬拉克回頭看著她丈夫消失的愛琴海。

終于，小艇最后一沖，沖上了布滿鵝卵石的海灘。

“謝天謝地，我們還活著！”Firas Gharghoori喊道。他是個(gè)粗壯結(jié)實(shí)的男人，穿著短褲，戴著一頂草帽，跪在光滑的石頭上做感謝的禱告。

剛剛抵達(dá)的一群人開始陸續(xù)離開海灘，但馬拉克沒有。她蹲在那里，雙手捂著臉，眼睛盯著大海。同行的人靠近她，想去安慰這位23歲的學(xué)校教師。抵岸的快樂是短暫的，她揮揮手示意他們離開。

突然，謝赫的弟弟穆罕默德脫掉襯衫，一頭扎進(jìn)了海水中，去救謝赫一一很快一個(gè)碰巧看到這一幕的頭發(fā)花白的希臘餐館老板也跳進(jìn)了海水中。希臘人后來游了回來，他的腿被巖石劃傷了。他沒放棄，依然試圖用一艘白色的明輪輪船充當(dāng)臨時(shí)救生艇，不過它也沒開多遠(yuǎn)。

一艘希臘海岸巡查船出現(xiàn)在附近，但是離謝赫消失的地方很遠(yuǎn)。Gharghoori瘋狂地示意那艘船向左開。一個(gè)戴著墨鏡的海岸警衛(wèi)隊(duì)的人開著一輛小卡車過來了，他可以用無線電和巡查船聯(lián)系。他用很不流利的英語試圖讓大家都安靜下來。幾分鐘后，他走到馬拉克身邊，向她豎起了大拇指。

她丈夫，灰色橡皮艇上的英雄，安然無恙。他的弟弟也被救起了。

這一年，2500多名難民和移民在試圖用橡皮艇和破舊漁船渡海到歐洲的途中喪生。

還有數(shù)以萬計(jì)的人甘冒這個(gè)險(xiǎn)。但他們成功地做到了。

Men jump out first，giving a hand to women and children，who sit low in the middle of boats that are inevitably crammed with far too many passengers.Backpacks and shoes are tossed to the beach in the faint hope of keeping them dry.Some flip their life jackets in the air，like soccer players shedding their shirts after a goal.

Edward Mardini，his trousers and shirt plastered onto his thin frame，liberates a phone from several layers of plastic wrap and tries to keep from dripping on it as he dials Damascus.

"Father，we made it to Europe！"Mardini shouts into the phone，tears welling behind his spectacles.He fires a celebratory safety flare into the air，sending red sparks into the azure sky.

His 5-year-old son，Michel，keeps blowing the red whistle he was given when boarding the boat，seeming to find some comfort in the repetitive act.

The narrow ribbon of water between Turkey and Greece where Homeric protagonists once sailed to immortality has become a heavily traveled thoroughfare in the depopulation of Syria，a nation whose relentless destruction has touched off one of the biggest waves of human migration since World War ll.

男人們首先跳下船，然后搭把手幫著女人和孩子們下來，每一艘船都無一例外地嚴(yán)重超載。背包和鞋被扔到岸上，以期不被弄濕。有些人脫下救生衣，在空中揮舞，就像足球運(yùn)動(dòng)員在進(jìn)球后脫下襯衫揮舞一樣。

愛德華·馬蒂尼的褲子和襯衫緊貼在他瘦瘦的身軀上。他從層層塑料包裹中拿出一個(gè)手機(jī)，一邊竭力不讓水滴到上面，一邊撥通了大馬士革的電話。

“爸爸，我們到歐洲了?！瘪R蒂尼對(duì)著電話大聲喊著，眼鏡后面淚如泉涌。他向空中燃放了一個(gè)慶祝安全的閃光信號(hào)彈，它在蔚藍(lán)的天空發(fā)出紅色的火花。

他5歲的兒子邁克爾不停地吹著上船時(shí)得到的一只紅色口哨，似乎從那重復(fù)的動(dòng)作中尋到了些許安慰。

土耳其和希臘之間的這道狹窄海峽，荷馬筆下的主人公曾渡過它建立不朽功名，如今卻成了敘利亞人逃難的要道。這個(gè)飽受戰(zhàn)亂之苦的民族已經(jīng)促發(fā)了二戰(zhàn)以來最大的移民潮之一。

More than half of Syria's prewar population of 22 million is adrift，including 4 million refugees who have fled abroad and 8 million Syrians forced from their homes but still living in the war-ravaged country.

Tens of thousands of Syrians，along with migrants from Afghanistan，Africa and elsewhere，have surged toward Europe seeking refuge in such relatively generous nations as Germany and Sweden.

The mass exodus has created an anarchic human caravan that appears beyond control.Clashes have broken out with authorities from the Greek islands to Budapest to the German-Danish border，creating a crisis for bewildered European policymakers who are throwing up walls and razor wire and dispatching riot police along porous frontiers.

This year alone，close to half a million migrants have crossed the Mediterranean and reached Europe，according to the International Organization for Migration，a Geneva-based intergovernmental body.

Almost 350，000 migrants-a nearly eight-fold increase from all of 2014-have arrived by sea in Greece，a critical hub in the new migration because it affords relatively easy access to the rest of Europe from Turkey，which borders Syria and connects with land routes to Asia.

敘利亞戰(zhàn)前人口2200萬，半數(shù)以上都在漂泊不定中，其中400萬難民已逃往國外，還有800萬人被迫離開家鄉(xiāng)卻依然生活在這個(gè)戰(zhàn)火紛飛的國家。

成千上萬的敘利亞人和來自阿富汗、非洲及其他地區(qū)的移民一起涌向歐洲，前往德國和瑞典這些政策相對(duì)寬松的國家避難。

大規(guī)模的逃離制造了大批不受控制的無政府主義的移動(dòng)人群。從希臘群島到布達(dá)佩斯到德國和丹麥邊界，沖突時(shí)有發(fā)生，令歐洲統(tǒng)治者如臨大敵，他們紛紛在邊境筑起高墻，拉起鐵絲網(wǎng)，并往邊境派出防暴警察。

據(jù)設(shè)在日內(nèi)瓦的國際移民組織統(tǒng)計(jì)，僅這一年，就有將近50萬移民渡過地中海，抵達(dá)歐洲。

大約有35萬移民渡海來到希臘，這幾乎比2014年全年的移民數(shù)量多了八倍。與毗鄰敘利亞、連接歐亞大陸的土耳其相比，希臘更便于他們?nèi)ネ鶜W洲，因此成了這批新移民的重要落腳點(diǎn)。

They come，like the Mardini family，with a cellphone，a backpack or two and their remaining life savings in U.S.dollars stashed away in their clothing.Many have sold everything to pay smugglers to cross from Turkey，and to cover additional smuggling and travel fees farther on.

Doctors and teachers，engineers and housewives，they board boats from secluded coastal strips in Turkey and aim for the rocky shores of Lesbos，Kos and other nearby Greek islands，the distant vessels appearing as black specks on the horizon.From the beaches of Lesbos，many face a 40-mile walk to the nearest processing center，because Greek officials restrict access to buses or taxis in a failed attempt to stem the illicit arrivals.

The refugees often spend days awaiting Greek permission to leave the islands before boarding ferries for Piraeus，the port of Athens，and then embarking upon a new and sometimes perilous journey through the Balkans and on to Hungary， Austria and Germany.

The Mardini family began their odyssey in Bab Touma，a mostly Christian district in the Old City of Damascus that is a frequent target of insurgent shelling.But before that，they'd already moved twice from war-battered suburbs to flee bombardment.

"My older boy was having a lot of problems because of the war，the shelling，"says Mardini's wife，Sara Azar，standing on the beach and cradling her l-year-old son，Mark，who is still wearing his bright orange life jacket."He was starting to stutter.He was so afraid."

Mardini quickly calls the smuggler in Turkey who'd arranged their passage on the boat，reading a code that will release the smuggler's fee from a kind of escrow account.lt's between $800 and $1，200 per head for a trip that costs $17 on a legal ferry.With payment on arrival，smugglers theoretically have a financial motivation to ensure that their clients reach the other side.

"Abu Hussein，"he tells the trafficker，using the man's nickname."I cherish Allah，the prophets and you！"

像馬蒂尼一家一樣，他們來了，隨身帶著一只手機(jī)、一兩個(gè)背包，并將一生的積蓄全都換成美元縫在衣服里。很多人變賣了全部家當(dāng)才湊夠錢給走私販，換得從土耳其過來的機(jī)會(huì)，要繼續(xù)向前走，他們還得加錢。

醫(yī)生、教師、工程師和主婦們，他們從土耳其隱蔽的碼頭登船，向萊斯博斯島、科斯島或別的希臘小島進(jìn)發(fā)，遠(yuǎn)處的船只看上去就像地平線上的黑點(diǎn)。從萊斯博斯島海灘出發(fā)，他們還要步行40英里才能抵達(dá)最近的休息站，因?yàn)橄ＥD政府限制公交和出租車來此載客，原想以此減少偷渡客的到來，只是未能如愿。

這些難民通常會(huì)在這兒待上幾天，等待希臘方面的離島許可，然后登上渡輪前往雅典的港口城市比雷埃夫斯，然后開始一段新的、有時(shí)也是危險(xiǎn)的旅程——穿過巴爾干半島，然后去往匈牙利、奧地利和德國。

馬蒂尼一家的長(zhǎng)途冒險(xiǎn)之旅是從Bab Touma開始的，那是大馬士革老城的基督教徒聚居區(qū)，也是反政府武裝集中轟炸的地區(qū)。但在那之前，為了躲避轟炸，逃離戰(zhàn)火肆虐的郊區(qū)，他們已經(jīng)兩度搬遷了。

“因?yàn)閼?zhàn)爭(zhēng)和炮火，我的大兒子情況已經(jīng)很不好了?！瘪R蒂尼的妻子莎拉·阿扎爾說道，她懷里抱著才一歲大、還穿著明黃色救生衣的兒子馬克，“他開始口吃了。他嚇壞了?！?/p>

馬蒂尼很快就給土耳其安排他們上船的蛇頭打了個(gè)電話，他報(bào)了一串密碼，將款從第三方賬戶劃給蛇頭。這趟在合法渡輪上收費(fèi)僅為17美元的旅行的要價(jià)是800到1200美元一個(gè)人。到岸后付款，所以理論上來說為了錢，蛇頭也必須確保他們的客戶安全抵達(dá)彼岸。

“阿布·侯賽因，”他叫的是那個(gè)蛇頭的化名，“我感謝真主阿拉、先知和你！”