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史上最成功的骗子(5)

来源:可可英语 编辑:Vicki   可可英语APP下载 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet

Immediately, lots of very angry people began looking for Poyais' charming envoy. But they were too late.

很快,许多极其愤怒的人开始寻找那位波亚斯的迷人使者,然而太迟了。

MacGregor had fled England just before the story arrived, taking as much of his ill-gotten cash as he could carry.

麦格雷格尔在这些破事发生之前逃离了英国,带着非常多的不义之财。

It was a horrific denouement to the wildest con ever pulled.

这就是这场有史以来最疯狂的骗局的可怕结局。

Unbelievably, it still wasn't over. Gregor MacGregor wouldn't be done with the Poyais scheme for another fifteen years.

不过,这场骗局到这儿还没完。格里高尔·麦格雷格尔的波亚斯骗局总共持续了15年的时间。

No Bad Deed Goes Unrewarded From 1823 to 1838, MacGregor pulled his Poyais con again and again.

从1823年到1838年,麦格雷格尔一次又一次地开展它的波亚斯骗局。

Incredibly, he never faced any serious punishment for it.

令人难以置信的是,麦格雷格尔从未因此受到过任何严重的惩罚。

Even after the harrowing tale of the survivors got out, no-one in Europe could accept Poyais didn't exist.

即便在幸存者的悲惨故事传出去之后,欧洲也没有人接受波亚斯不存在这一事实。

MacGregor had simply lied too big. In the same way our brains wouldn't be able to process the revelation that, say, Hawaii wasn't real,

麦格雷格尔撒的谎实在太大了,换作我们可能也接受不了,比如说“没有夏威夷这个地方”,

people in the 1820s just couldn't comprehend the idea that Poyais was fictional.

19世纪20年代的人们无法理解波亚斯是虚构的。

When MacGregor settled in Paris, the French government even made him an advisor on Latin American affairs!

当麦格雷格尔在巴黎定居时,法国政府甚至任命他为拉丁美洲事务顾问!

This despite MacGregor restarting his fake bonds scheme in France.

尽管麦格雷格尔在法国重启了他的假债券计划。

Although the scheme itself was busted in 1825, MacGregor successfully blamed his French partners, and again got away Scot free.

尽管这个阴谋在1825年被戳破了,但麦格雷格尔成功将责任推给了他的法国伙伴,再次逃离了苏格兰。

He even returned to London and got more bonds underwritten for £800,000.

他甚至回到伦敦,承保了80万英镑的债券。

While no investors bit this time, it wasn't because of the tragedy on the Mosquito Shore.

虽然这次没有投资者上钩,但并不是因为蚊子海岸的悲剧,

It was because the Latin American securities bubble had just burst, and no-one wanted to risk another.

而是因为拉丁美洲的证券泡沫刚刚破裂,没有人愿意再冒一次风险。

For the next few years, MacGregor hawked his scheme up and down Britain.

接下来的几年里,麦格雷格尔在英国上下兜售他的计划。

While he never again hit the big time, he always had just enough money coming in to keep the fiction going, to keep people believing in Poyais.

虽然没有获得什么大的成功,但维持骗局的钱总是有的,还是让人们相信波亚斯。

Finally, in 1838, MacGregor's wife Josefa died. Suddenly alone in gloomy Britain, the conman seems to have at last given up on his con.

最后,1838年,麦格雷格尔的妻子约瑟法去世了。这个骗子似乎终于放弃了他的骗局,突然独自呆在阴郁的英国。

That October, MacGregor got on a boat and sailed back to Caracas. He never mentioned Poyais again.

同年10月,麦格雷格尔上了一艘船,驶回了加拉加斯,之后再也没有提到过波亚斯。

So… this is the moment, right? The moment when MacGregor finally gets his comeuppance.

所以…现在是时候了,对吧?报应是时候来了。

I mean, he's headed back to Venezuela, the very place Simon Bolivar left orders that he be killed on sight.

麦格雷格尔要回委内瑞拉了,就是西蒙·玻利瓦尔下令要当场杀死他的地方。

If you're hoping for a moral end to this story, best switch off now and construct one in your own head.

如果你希望这个故事能有一个正义的结局,那么最好现在关掉这个视频,在你自己的脑海里构想一个。

See, Bolivar had died all the way back in 1830, by which time he incredibly unpopular.

玻利瓦尔早在1830年就去世了,那时他已经声名狼藉。

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With Bolivar's name now mud, everyone was like "I mean, do we really need to kill this random Scottish dude?"

波利瓦现在的名字叫“泥巴”,大家都在想,“我们真的要杀死这个苏格兰人吗?”

So they let MacGregor land. They even let him request an audience with the government.

所以他们把土地给了麦格雷格尔,他们甚至让他请求和政府见面。

At which point, Lady Luck dropped an utterly undeserved gold nugget right into MacGregor's lap.

就在这时,幸运女神很不合理地把一块金块丢到了麦格雷格尔的腿上。

Remember Ocumare, the one time that MacGregor actually acted like a hero?

还记得奥库迈尔吗,麦格雷格尔表现得像个英雄的那次?

Well, General Carlos Soublette did.

嗯,是卡洛斯·索布莱特将军丢的金块。

He'd been under MacGregor's command during that mission, and seen the conman at his best.

在那次任务中,他一直受麦格雷格尔的指挥,看到了这个骗子的最佳状态。

Since he'd never followed MacGregor to Florida, or Porto Bello, or even heard of Poyais, he had no idea of MacGregor's true character.

因为他从来没有跟随麦格雷格尔去过佛罗里达,也没去过贝罗港,甚至没听说过波亚斯,所以他对麦格雷格尔的真实性格一无所知。

And now Soublette was a member of Venezuela's government.

现在的索布莱特是委内瑞拉政府的一员。

When he saw MacGregor, he basically let out a cry and threw his arms around him.

当他看到麦格雷格尔时,他大叫了一声,伸出双臂搂住了他。

That was how, in 1838, Venezuela came to reinstate Gregor MacGregor's rank in its army, hand over twenty five years' back pay, and give him a generous pension.

就是这样,委内瑞拉在1838年恢复了格雷戈·麦格雷格尔在军队里的军衔,还给了他25年的欠薪,并给了他一笔丰厚的养老金。

For the next seven years, MacGregor lived in Caracas, wealthy, happy, and respected by all.

在接下来的7年里,麦格雷格尔就住在加拉加斯,富有、快乐并且受到了所有人的尊敬。

He finally died a peaceful death on December 4, 1845, without having ever repented of his cons.

1845年12月4日,他与世长辞,从未悔过。

Sometimes, life really is unfair.

有时候,生活真的不公平。

Today, it's estimated that, between the Poyais scheme and all those times he abandoned his men, Gregor MacGregor was responsible for the deaths of 500 people.

今天,据估计,在波亚斯计划和他抛弃的手下里,格里高尔·麦格雷格尔要为500人的死负责。

Yet even though he never got his comeuppance, his story offers us all an excellent moral lessons.

然而,尽管他从未得到应有的惩罚,他的故事却给我们所有人上了一堂极好的道德课。

It's easy to fall into the trap of assuming that the world is fair.

人们总是认为世界是公平的。

That maybe bad things sometimes happen, but - in the end - everything will always balance out. The tale of Gregor MacGregor laughs in the face of this.

有时可能会发生不好的事情,但是——最终——一切都会恢复平衡。然而格里高尔·麦格雷格尔的故事却对此啪啪打了脸。

Here was a man who treated other people as disposable trash, only there to fuel his own fantasies.

他是一个把别人当成一次性垃圾的人,只想着燃烧自己的幻想。

A man who sacrificed literally hundreds of lives to the God of his ego.

一个为他的自我之神牺牲了数百条生命的人。

And he never tasted justice for even a single second.

他从未尝过正义的滋味,哪怕是一秒钟。

Unique among figures we've covered, MacGregor offers us a bleak but necessary warning. Sometimes, good doesn't triumph.

在我们报道过的人物当中,麦格雷格尔是独一无二的,他给了我们一个黯淡但必要的警告:有时候,善良不会胜利。

Sometimes, the happy, wealthy, respected people are the ones who have caused untold suffering.

有时候,那些幸福、富有、受人尊敬的人,正是那些造成了难以言喻的痛苦的人。

Gregor MacGregor may be long dead, but there will always be others out there like him, charming and amoral.

格莱格·麦格雷格尔也许早就死了,但还会有其他像他一样的人,迷人而又不道德。

If his life shows us anything, it's that we should always be on the lookout for these people. Even when they seem to be the most respectable types you could ever hope to meet.

如果他的生活告诉了我们什么,那就是我们应该一直留意这些人,即便他们似乎是你最希望见到的受人尊敬的人。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
deed [di:d]

想一想再看

n. 事迹,行为,[法]契约
vt. 立契转让

 
fiction ['fikʃən]

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n. 虚构,杜撰,小说

联想记忆
request [ri'kwest]

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n. 要求,请求
vt. 请求,要求

联想记忆
unique [ju:'ni:k]

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adj. 独一无二的,独特的,稀罕的

联想记忆
settled ['setld]

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adj. 固定的;稳定的 v. 解决;定居(settle

 
fictional ['fikʃənl]

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adj. 虚构的,小说的

 
scheme [ski:m]

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n. 方案,计划,阴谋
v. 计画,设计,体系

联想记忆
bubble ['bʌbl]

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n. 气泡,泡影
v. 起泡,冒泡

 
gloomy ['glu:mi]

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adj. 阴暗的,抑沉的,忧闷的

 
construct [kən'strʌkt]

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vt. 构筑,建造
n. 构想

联想记忆

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