“No trespassing. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.”
Trespassing. To trespass. A trespasser. Nowadays, most commonly taken to mean the act of entering someone’s land or property without permission. In law, it can come in three forms: trespass to the person (assault, battery or false imprisonment); trespass to chattels (that is, violations of personal property); and trespass to land. There is our “entering land or property without permission” bit.
The etymology of the word is quite interesting, too. It has roots in the Middle English trespass, meaning “passing across” (in other words, going too far), and from this come the word transgression, meaning an offense, a sin or a wrong. In usage, you can trespass (walk on property you have no business being on) or you can commit a trespass (a crime).
Photo: Paul Cooper, Taipei Times
照片：台北時報記者古德謙攝
Back to the sign, then. “No trespassing. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.” Three sentences, short and succinct, no ambiguity. An abrupt end, suggesting the abrupt end anyone who fails to heed the warning can expect for themselves.
Then there is the double menace. You will be shot for trespassing. If that’s not bad enough, if you survive the experience, you will be shot again. Presumably until you can trespass no more.
Paul Cooper, Taipei Times
禁止進入，違者將遭射擊，僥倖未死者將再次遭射。
英文的 trespassing (入侵)，to trespass (侵害)，或 a trespasser (入侵者)，一般指非法闖入私人土地或住宅。就法律上而言，trespass 造成的侵害有幾種形式：人身侵害，如恐嚇、傷害、限制自由；財產侵害，即侵佔財產；以及侵入住宅，也就是稍早所提及的非法闖入私人土地或住宅。
英文的trespass一詞也有著有趣的詞源。在中古英文中，trespass意指穿越，含有過度之意，並從此衍生出transgression一詞，意思為違法、罪過、或犯錯。trespass可直接用作動詞，如說某人擅自走進他人住宅；或作名詞接在commit之後，意指犯罪。
至於照片中的標誌：「禁止進入，違者將遭射擊，僥倖未死者將再次遭射。」三個句子，簡短有力，清楚直接，突兀的結束暗示著無視標誌者將面臨突兀的下場。
標誌的警告語還帶有雙重的威脅。擅自闖入你會被射擊，但情況還可以更糟，如果你沒被打死，還會有下一波攻擊，直到你再也無法入侵。
（台北時報編譯涂宇安譯）
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