5.Australian Rabbit Fence
5.澳大利亚兔子隔离墙
Not every barrier is intended to separate people. From an ecological point of view, Australia is very isolated. It's also a very harsh environment, so native species had to develop resources for defense and competition. Long story short, there are a lot of species in Australia that can kill you.
并不是每一道隔离墙都是用于隔离人。从生态学的角度来看，澳大利亚很孤立。那里的环境也恶劣至极，因此，澳洲本土生物必须为了本种族的生存而与其他物种竞争。长话短说，在澳大利亚有很多物种可以将人置于死地。
But the one species that's been the most destructive isn't one we would consider dangerous, nor is it native to Australia. In the late 1800s, someone had the brilliant idea of bringing rabbits to the country. Anyone who's ever had a garden knows that rabbits will eat almost any vegetation. Likewise, anyone who's ever heard the expression breeding like rabbits knows…. well, you get the idea. The rabbits quickly spread all over eastern and central Australia and were devouring what little vegetation there was. People on the West Coast knew that it was just a matter of time before they would be there and would consume the small but fertile farmland available to them. Knowing that attempts to exterminate them had proven futile they came up with the next logical step — a fence across the entire continent to keep them where they already were. So a nearly 1200 mile fence was built in the early 1900s. Virtually the entire length of the fence runs through uninhabited areas, and maintenance has proven to be quite a challenge. It's the most benign barrier on this list, as it's only about five feet tall and made from steel mesh. To anyone who happens to come upon it would appear to be nothing more than a normal property fence. Many rabbits have found their way through the fence, but not enough to be considered an infestation. The fertile fields of Western Australia have been producing well for the past 100 years, making this seemingly ridiculous idea one of the most successful on this list.
但是最具破坏性的一个物种绝对是我们所始料不及的，并且不是澳大利亚当地物种。在19世纪末，有人出了个极好的主意：把兔子引入澳大利亚。拥有花园的人都了解：几乎所有的植被都可以作为兔子的食物。同样，没有人能够像兔子一样完美地解释生育之道。对，你懂得！兔子很快遍布澳大利亚东部和中部，并且以风卷残云之势侵袭着那里的植被。西海岸的人们都，知道兔子将寸土寸金的良田破坏也只是时间问题而已。人们心里都清楚，想消灭兔子只能是徒劳，所以他们想出了一个合乎逻辑的方法——安置一道栅栏，将兔子与未被破坏的土地彻底隔离。于是在20世纪初，人们设立了一道近1200英里（约1931千米）长的栅栏。这道栅栏几乎跨越了整个无人区，但是维护问题也是一个巨大的挑战。因为铁栅栏的高度只有5英尺，所以这或许是本名单中最无害的一个。当人们看到它的时候也只会认为这就是普通的栅栏吧。尽管许多兔子发现了穿越栅栏的方法，但这也只是一小部分而已。在过去的百余年里，澳大利亚西部沃土的丰收，也使得这个在列表中看似最滑稽的主意毫无争议的成为了最成功的一个案例。
4.Israel-West Bank Border Fence
4.约旦河西岸的隔离墙
Anyone who's read the news at least once in the past 70 years knows that Palestinians were displaced for the creation of the State of Israel. Most Palestinians are now living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This, of course, has resulted in a great deal of tension between the two sides.
在过去的70年中，但凡读报纸的人都知道，以色列的建国导致了巴勒斯坦人无家可归。大部分巴勒斯坦人生活在约旦河西岸和加沙地带，这里理所当然地成为了巴以局势高度紧张的地区。
No country devotes more of its GDP to preventing terrorism than Israel. Finally fed up with attacks, in the '90s they proposed walling off the occupied Palestinian territories. Today the wall is mostly complete, and is arguably the most imposing on this list. In urban areas a concrete wall stands as high as 26 feet. In rural areas it's mainly a 10 foot high chain link fence topped with razor wire. When fully complete it will stretch more than 300 miles and be fully monitored and patrolled. To say that this has increased tensions is a bit of an understatement. Palestinians have stated that they feel like prisoners, and the decision to build the wall has drawn considerable criticism from the international community. Many have compared it to a new version of the Berlin Wall. In some places graffiti makes a direct comparison, as you can see above.
从防止恐怖主义方面的花销占该国GDP的比重这一角度来看，以色列的这一比例要比其他任何国家都要多。最终，在上世纪90年代，以色列因为厌烦了恐怖袭击事件，提出用隔离墙把巴勒斯坦的领土隔离起来的想法。现在，该隔离墙几近建成，这也是本榜单最受争议的围墙。该隔离墙在城市的部分是混凝土结构，高有26英尺（约7.9米）；在农村部分，高10英尺（约3.0米），墙顶布设铁丝网。完全建成后，长度将达300英里（约482千米），并有24小时的监视和巡逻。如果说这堵墙仅仅加重了一点紧张的局势，那么这种说法未免有点轻描淡写的嫌疑。巴勒斯坦人表示，他们感觉自己像犯人一样，修建隔离墙的决定受到了国际社会的普遍谴责。很多人将之视为另一座柏林墙。正如上面的图片所示，一些地方的涂鸦与之形成了鲜明的对比。
3.中国的长城
It's actually the Great Walls of China, as there were several versions built in different areas over the course of 2000 years. Most sections are fairly simple and only a few feet high, providing nothing more than a basic barrier to protect China from Tatar tribes to the north. The wall that everyone knows was built in the 14th century during the Ming Dynasty and is an imposing structure ranging from 15 to 30 feet high, with guard towers spaced every few hundred feet. The most famous section runs through the town of Jinshanling, where it's been completely restored to its original state. This is its closest point to Beijing, making it a popular tourist destination.
中国的长城在跨越2000多年的修建时间里，在不同的地区有着不同的建筑风格。大部分结构都很简单，高度只有几英尺，修建的目的仅仅是为了抵御北方的鞑靼部落的入侵。我们现在所知的长城指的是14世纪明朝所修建的"明朝长城"，其高度从15至30英尺（约4.5~9.1米）不等，每隔几百英尺就有一座烽火台。最著名的长城就是金山岭长城，其展现的完全是最原始的状态。金山岭长城毗邻北京，是著名的旅游景点。
As you get just a few miles away from Jinshanling, the wall begins to look like it's 700 years old. In many places it's falling apart due to natural decay and being scavenged for materials by locals over the centuries. As you go farther west it's either unrecognizable or simply gone. While it's still impressive, in its heyday it was easily the most formidable structure on earth. All told the walls stretch around 4500 miles. And no, it's not visible from space.
从金山岭长城向西走几英里，有一段700多年历史的长城。几个世纪以来，长城由于受到自然的侵蚀，或者当地居民将之用作建筑材料，很多地方都出现了塌方。长城虽然受到破坏，但仍然是宏伟的建筑。在其鼎盛时期，长城是世界上最令人敬畏的建筑。长城的总长大约4500英里。然而，人们在太空上是看不到长城的。
2.USA/Mexico Border Fence
2.美国-墨西哥隔离墙
In 2006 the United States Congress passed the "Secure Fence Act," which approved building a fence along the border with Mexico to curb illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Bear in mind this is a nearly 2000 mile border, most of which is rural desert. It's not an electrified fence, nor does it have any traps or even alarms. It's mostly made from material that's difficult to climb, but if you bring a ladder…
2006年美国国会通过了"安全围栏法案"，此法案主要是为了在美墨边界建立一堵围墙，以此来抑制非法移民和毒品走私。这是一条将近长达2000英里（约3218千米）的边界围墙，其大部分在沙漠地区。这并不是一条电围墙，它也没有任何陷阱或者报警系统。它只是由不易于攀爬的材料砌成，但是你如果借助梯子的话便可轻松翻墙。
So in order to be fully effective it requires near constant surveillance at all points, a daunting task. Even if there were cameras surveying the entire length, jumpers would likely be long gone before dispatched border control officers could arrive on the scene. A fragile ecosystem with a fence in the middle can also make it difficult for migrating animals, because they don't really care about international borders. Finally, as the fence approaches the Gulf of Mexico along the Rio Grande delta, a decades old treaty with Mexico prohibits building in the floodplain. This means that in places the wall is more than a mile from the actual border. This is one of the few urban parts of the border, so the result is a lot of Americans trapped on the wrong side of the fence. Imagine how they feel knowing they have to cross through a checkpoint to get to the store or visit their neighbors! Many feel that the fence is mainly symbolic, and has been described by more than a few as a boondoggle.
因此如果想要这堵围墙起作用，就需要不间断的监控，这是一个艰难的工作。即便整个围墙都安装足够多的摄像头，在监管人员抵达现场后翻越围墙的人早已离开。在脆弱的生态系统上建立一堵围墙，这对于不喜欢障碍物的迁徙动物来说也造成了很大困难。因为围墙一直从里奥格兰德三角洲延伸到墨西哥湾，十年前美国在与墨西哥的协议中明确表示禁止在河漫滩上建造房子。这就意味着有些地方的围墙占地面积比实际占地面积要广。隔离墙的一部分横跨城市，导致很多美国人被困在围墙的另一边。他们必须通过关卡去商店或者去走亲戚，可以试想一下他们的感受。很多人认为这堵围墙主要就是起一个象征作用，很多人都认为它就是一个障碍物。
1.德国国内的隔离墙
This was the barrier that separated East Germany from West Germany. Like the Berlin Wall, its purpose was not to keep its enemies out but its own people in. It was to the Berlin Wall what a semi is to a pickup truck. The people of East and West Berlin were separated by only about 100 feet. The national border wall went mostly through rural areas, and as a result the barrier was over three miles wide. It also stretched the entire length of the border, more than 1000 miles.
德国隔离墙将德国分为东德和西德。就像柏林墙一样，它建造的目的不是为了防御敌人而是防止本国国民出逃。跟柏林墙相比它就像一辆卡车一样横在东德和西德的人民之间，两德人民相隔仅仅100英尺（约30米）。德国隔离墙宽达3英里（约4.8千米）以上，大部分都位于乡村地区。它一直延伸到整个疆界，长达1000多英里（约1609千米）。
Very few got across this barrier, both because of its size and the sheer terror involved. First there was a modest fence which separated the three mile border zone. There were some towns and farms within the border zone, but those who were permitted to live there could only travel to their home, with no other travel within the zone permitted. Of course, why would you want to travel considering that within the zone were guard patrols, tripwires, booby traps, vehicle traps and landmines? If one were to make it through the border zone they would come to the scariest fence ever built. It was a roughly 12 foot high steel mesh fence booby-trapped with spring guns, which are cone shaped bombs loaded with shrapnel. When the fence was touched it would trigger an explosion and direct the shrapnel at the point of contact. Merely touching the wall would kill you. If you were somehow fortunate enough to get over that wall there was another death strip similar to the one in Berlin, then another steel mesh fence. All along these fence lines were towers staffed with guards trained to shoot on site. The final fence was about 100 feet from the actual border, meaning that if you were fortunate enough to get past all those fortifications guards could still shoot you before you reached the actual demarcation line. Sadly, a handful of people that close to freedom met that fate. Like the Berlin Wall, Germans couldn't get rid of it fast enough. Like the Korean DMZ, it also created a unique natural habitat and even today much of the land is preserved for nature.
因为德国隔离墙又高又陡，所以很少有人能翻越这堵墙。起初，这堵墙并不高，宽度有3英里（约4.8千米）。在隔离墙内有一些城镇和农村，界限内的人只允许往来于自己的家，不允许出入其他地方。当然，人们不会在一个到处是武装警卫、铁丝网、陷阱和地雷的地区闲逛。有人如果成功的穿越了3英里宽的空地，那么就会抵达最令人畏惧的栅栏。那是一个约12英尺（约3.6米）高，并且设有爆炸装置的铁栅栏。一旦触碰栅栏就会引发炸弹爆炸。基本上只要你一触碰这个栅栏你就会命丧黄泉。你如果足够幸运，翻越了这堵像柏林墙一样剥夺了很多人生命的隔离墙，那么就会到达另一个铁栅栏。这些铁栅栏周围都有经过严格训练的武装警卫把守。最后一个栅栏距离边界大约有100英尺（约30米）的距离，这就意味着如果你足够幸运的避开了前面的所有防御线，你到达目的地之前也会被射杀。遗憾的是，很多人就是在到达目的地之前遭遇了不幸。就像柏林墙一样，德国人并不能在短时间内将之拆除。它也提供了一个独一无二的自然栖息地，直到今天很多土地还保留着自然的状态，就像朝韩非军事区那样。
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