读者文摘:美国历史上最大的彩票骗局(3)

Among Eddie's friends was a colleague named Jason Maher.

艾迪的朋友中有一个叫杰森·马赫的同事。

They spent hours playing the online game World of Tanks.

他们会花几个小时玩坦克世界的在线游戏。

When Maher saw the Hot Lotto video that DA Sand released,

当马赫看到地区检察官桑德发布的热乐透视频时，

Maher immediately recognized that familiar, low-pitched voice, but he didn't want to believe it.

马赫立刻认出了那个熟悉的、低沉的声音，但他不愿相信。

"That night I sat down—there's no way Eddie did this," Maher says. "There's got to be something wrong."

"那天晚上我坐了下来——艾迪不可能这样做的，"马赫说。"一定是出了什么事。"

So he did what a computer whiz does: He put the file into audio soft-ware, removed the white noise, and isolated¹ the voice.

所以他做了一个电脑能手所做的：他把文件放入音频软件，去除白噪音，并隔离声音。

Then he took footage from security cameras in his own house—Eddie had just visited the night before—and compared the voices.

然后，他找到自己房子里的监控摄像头里拍下的艾迪前一天晚上刚来过的画面，并把声音进行了比较。

"It was a complete and utter match," Maher said.

马赫说，“两个声音完全地匹配上了。”

The next day, he went to the QuikTrip and measured the dimensions of the tiles on the floor,

第二天，他去了出售彩票的那家QuikTrip便利店，测量了地板上瓷砖的尺寸，

the height of the shelving units, the distance between the door and the cash register.

架子的高度，以及门与收银机的距离。

He used the results to compare the hand size, foot size, and height of the man in the video with his friend's.

他用这些结果来比较他朋友和视频中男子的手脚的尺寸和身高。

Maher wanted to be able to tell law enforcement that it wasn't his pal² Eddie.

马赫想告诉执法部门，视频中的男子不是他的朋友艾迪。

"Once I did this, it was like,'Well,it's Eddie.' "

"当我这么做的时候，感觉就像，哦，这名男子就是艾迪。"

In January 2015, state investigators³ showed up at Eddie’s office.

2015年1月，州调查人员来到艾迪的办公室。

He was arrested and charged with two felony counts of fraud.

他被逮捕并被控两项欺诈重罪。

Half a year later, on a hot, sticky July morning, Rob Sand stood before a jury at the Polk County Courthouse.

半年后，在一个闷热的七月清晨，罗布·桑德站在波尔克县法院的陪审团面前。

"This is a classic story about an inside job," he began.

他说，“这是一个关于监守自盗的经典案件。"

"A man who by virtue⁴ of his employment is not allowed to play the lottery⁵—nor allowed to win—buys a lottery ticket, wins,

“一个人因任职彩票机构而不被允许购买或赢得彩票，

and passes the ticket along to be claimed by someone unconnected to him."

或中奖后将彩票给予其他人来认领奖金。”

The prosecution⁶ knew Eddie had bought the winning ticket—the video made that pretty clear.

控方知道是艾迪买了中奖的彩票——录像清楚地说明了这一点。

So did cell phone records, which showed Eddie was in town that day, not out of town for the holidays as he had claimed.

手机记录也证明了这一点，它显示艾迪那天在城里，而不是像他声称的那样外出度假。

Investigators believed he'd fixed⁷ the lottery. But if the numbers are supposed to be generated randomly⁸, how did he do it?

调查人员认为他操纵了彩票的中奖号码。但是如果这些数字是随机产生的，他是怎么做到的呢?

Based on his research, Sand theorized that before the Hot Lotto jackpot,

基于他的研究，桑德提出了一个理论，在中奖之前，

Eddie had managed to gain access to one of the two computers that select the winning numbers and inserted a thumb drive containing a string of coded instructions he'd written.

艾迪设法进入了两台选择中奖号码的电脑中的一台，并插入了一个拇指驱动器，里面有他写的一串编码指令。

The clandestine⁹ software, called a rootkit, allowed Eddie to restrict the pool of numbers that could hit—and then it deleted itself.

这个被称为rootkit的秘密软件允许艾迪限制能够命中的数字池，然后自动删除。

The prosecutor¹⁰ told the jury members that they didn’t have to understand the exact technology to convict Eddie.

检察官告诉陪审团成员，他们不需要了解判定艾迪有罪的确切技术。

They just had to realize the near-impossible coincidence of the lottery security chief's buying the winning ticket.

他们只需意识到，彩票安全主管购买中奖彩票几乎是不可能的巧合。

After deliberating for only five hours, the jury found Eddie guilty. He appealed.

仅仅经过5个小时的商议，陪审团认定埃迪有罪。他提起上诉。

Then the case took a very strange turn.

然后，案件发生了一个非常奇怪的转折。

One morning a few months after the original trial, Sand's office phone rang.

在最初的审判几个月后的一个早晨，桑德的办公室电话响了。

The call came from area code 281, in Texas, where Eddie grew up.

这个电话区号281，属德克萨斯州，埃迪就是在那里长大的。

The caller said he'd seen an article in the newspaper about Eddie's conviction.

打电话的人说他在报纸上看到一篇关于艾迪被定罪的文章。

"Did y'all know," the tipster asked, "that Eddie's brother Tommy Tipton won the lottery, maybe about ten years back?"

密报者问，“你们都知道吗，埃迪的弟弟汤米·蒂普顿大概在十年前中了彩票?”

1 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

2 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

3 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

5 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

6 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

7 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

8 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

9 clandestine   

adj.秘密的，暗中从事的

参考例句：

• She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人。
• The early Christians held clandestine meetings in caves.早期的基督徒在洞穴中秘密聚会。

10 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。