2021年经济学人 华尔街巨骗伯纳德·麦道夫在狱中去世(4)

Everyone was dumbfounded. His legitimate¹ business had flourished for 36 years, skilfully² built up from trading over-the-counter penny stocks to a firm with 200 employees and a glassy Midtown office. He did not need the money. At his trial in 2009 he called his giant fraud a “problem”, something out of his control.

所有人都目瞪口呆。他的“合法生意”如火如荼地开展了36年，从买卖场外的低价股票到拥有200名员工、在市中心拥有一间高档、气派的公司，都是通过高深的手段建立起来的。他不需要钱。在2009年的审判中，他称自己的巨额欺诈是一个“问题”，是他也无法掌控的问题。

But that hardly squared with a scam he had been conducting, in its tiniest details, since the 1960s.

但这与他自20世纪60年代以来一直在实施的骗局(哪怕是最微小的细节)并不相符。

And the scam itself did not fit with the Bernie his employees thought they knew, treating them in his quiet, fussy³ way like family;

而且，员工也不相信，他们认识的麦道夫会做出这个骗局，他对待员工如何家人一般，和蔼又较真。

or whom his wife Ruth thought she knew, after 50 years; or with the industrious⁴, outgoing student who had worked his way through college by installing lawn-sprinklers on the side;

就连相伴50载的妻子露丝也认为丈夫不是这种人；他曾是一个勤奋、开朗的学生，通过安装草坪洒水器来勤工俭学；

or that affable guy at the country club who would softly suggest, over supper, that his closed fund might have room for just one more.

他还是乡村俱乐部的那个和蔼的家伙，会在晚餐时温柔地建议，他的封闭式基金也许还能再“招新”。

Not being a man of many words, he said little to explain himself after his arrest. His talk of “torment” and “horrible guilt” was given short shrift by the judge, who sentenced him to the maximum possible, 150 years.

麦道夫话不多，被逮捕后很少为自己开脱。他所说的“内心折磨”和“可怕的罪行”也被法官忽视了，他被判了法律可能的最高刑期——150年。

His sorrow, the judge thought, was mostly for the more than $170bn in assets that were forfeited⁵ by court order: for the $7m Manhattan penthouse, the power boats, the private jet.

法官认为，他之所以难过主要是因为法院下令没收了1700多亿美元资产:700万美元的曼哈顿顶层公寓、汽艇和私人飞机。

The accused himself remarked that the fraud had gone on and on because he could not accept the fact that for once in his life, he had failed. In other words, he could not bear to tell his clients that he was not a magician. So he ruined them instead.

被告自己说，欺诈行为一直在持续，因为他无法接受自己这辈子失败了一次的事实。换句话说，他不忍心告诉客户自己不是万能的魔法师。所以他选择毁了他们。

1 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

2 skilfully   

adv. (美skillfully)熟练地

参考例句：

• Hall skilfully weaves the historical research into a gripping narrative. 霍尔巧妙地把历史研究揉进了扣人心弦的故事叙述。
• Enthusiasm alone won't do. You've got to work skilfully. 不能光靠傻劲儿，得找窍门。

3 fussy   

adj.为琐事担忧的，过分装饰的，爱挑剔的

参考例句：

• He is fussy about the way his food's cooked.他过分计较食物的烹调。
• The little girl dislikes her fussy parents.小女孩讨厌她那过分操心的父母。

4 industrious   

adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的

参考例句：

• If the tiller is industrious,the farmland is productive.人勤地不懒。
• She was an industrious and willing worker.她是个勤劳肯干的员工。

5 forfeited   

（因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Because he broke the rules, he forfeited his winnings. 他犯规，所以丧失了奖金。
• He has forfeited the right to be the leader of this nation. 他丧失了作为这个国家领导的权利。