读者文摘:愚蠢的代价(2)

A Norwegian man hired a friend to knock off a potential lover who didn't seem to share the man's ardor¹.

一名挪威男子雇佣了一位朋友，去杀一位似乎不怎么喜欢他的情人。

But then the would-be hit man got cold feet, so his patron sued him for entering into a contract under false pretenses².

可是，后来那个职业杀手临阵退缩了，所以他的顾客起诉他，说他假借名义签了一份合同。

The courts saw different legal issues.

不同的是，法院看到了其中涉及的法律问题。

They found the first man guilty of attempted conspiracy³ to commit murder and sentenced him to two years in prison.

他们发现第一名男子犯了谋杀未遂罪，判处他两年徒刑。

The "hit man" got a hit of his own—a $1,200 fine.

这位“杀手”也得到了惩罚——1200美元的罚款。

An Indiana hotel asked a guest to write an online review, so she did:

印第安纳州的一家酒店让一位客人写一篇在线评价，她写道：

about the whiff of sewage in the room, the nonworking air conditioner, and the low water pressure.

房间里有异味，空调坏了、水压低，

Oh, and the hairs on the bed. "I wasn't crazy about that either," she told rtv6.com.

哦，还有床上的头发。”她告诉rtv6.com：“我也不想那样。”

The hotel, it turns out, says it can charge customers $350 for negative reviews.

原来这家酒店表示，可以因为负面评价向顾客收取350美元。

The Indiana attorney general wasn't crazy about that.

印第安纳州司法部长对此并不热衷。

He says the policy is "unfair, abusive, and deceptive⁴" and is suing the hotel.

他表示，这项政策是“不公平、恶言、欺骗的”，正在起诉这家酒店。

1 ardor   

n.热情，狂热

参考例句：

• His political ardor led him into many arguments.他的政治狂热使他多次卷入争论中。
• He took up his pursuit with ardor.他满腔热忱地从事工作。

2 pretenses   

n.借口（pretense的复数形式）

参考例句：

• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism. 他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He obtained money from her under false pretenses. 他巧立名目从她那儿骗钱。 来自辞典例句

3 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

4 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。