2021年经济学人 司法的抉择--夫妇因间谍罪被处以死刑(1)

On June 19th 1953, just minutes after the execution of her husband, Julius, for espionage¹, 37-year-old Ethel Rosenberg was strapped² into the electric chair in Sing Sing prison in New York.

1953年6月19日，37岁的埃塞尔·罗森伯格的丈夫朱利叶斯因间谍罪被处以死刑，几分钟后，她被绑在纽约新新监狱的电椅上。

The first three charges of electricity failed to kill her, but after two more she was dead, smoke rising from her head, the only woman executed in America in the 20th century for a crime other than murder.

前三次电击都没能杀死她，但再电击了两次之后，她死了，浓烟从她的头上冒出。她是20世纪美国唯一一名因谋杀以外的罪名被处死的女性。

Thousands of people filled the streets around the chapel³ in Brooklyn where the couple's funeral was held.

数千人聚集在布鲁克林举行葬礼的小教堂周围的街道上。

There were demonstrations⁴ across Europe, especially in France.

欧洲各地都发生了示威游行，尤其是法国。

For many on the left, the execution of the Rosenbergs on charges of spying for the Soviet⁵ Union — and passing on atomic secrets — was analogous⁶ to the Dreyfus affair in France half a century earlier.

对许多左翼人士来说，罗森伯格夫妇因被指控为苏联从事间谍活动并传递原子机密而被处决，类似于半个世纪前法国的德雷福斯事件。

America had sent an idealistic Jewish couple with two young children to their deaths on trumped-up evidence.

美国以捏造的证据将一对理想主义犹太夫妇和两个年幼的孩子送上了死亡之路。

The doomed⁷ pair protested their innocence⁸ until the end.

这对在劫难逃的夫妇直到最后都坚称自己是无辜的。

In the case of Julius, this was never a convincing narrative⁹.

在朱利叶斯的案件中，这番陈述从未令人信服。

He had recruited his brother-in-law, David Greenglass, who was employed on the top-secret Manhattan project at Los Alamos, to the Soviet cause;

朱利叶斯雇佣他的妻弟大卫·格林格拉斯为苏联事业效力，后者曾受聘参与洛斯阿拉莫斯的绝密曼哈顿计划；

Greenglass in turn was linked to Harry¹⁰ Gold, the courier for Klaus Fuchs (a much more significant source of intelligence for the Kremlin).

而格林格拉斯则与克劳斯·富克斯(克里姆林宫更重要的情报来源)的信使哈里·戈尔德有联系。

Those latter three all confessed to spying.

后来三人都承认从事间谍活动。

But the evidence against Ethel was far weaker, and at the trial was based primarily on perjured¹¹ testimony¹² from Greenglass, who had secured a plea deal, and his wife, Ruth.

但对埃塞尔不利的证据要脆弱得多，在审判中主要是基于格林格拉斯和他的妻子露丝的伪证，而格林格拉斯已经达成了认罪协议。

Greenglass later admitted his crucial testimony — that Ethel had typed up notes on American nuclear-weapons technology in the Rosenbergs' flat in September 1945 — had been false.

格林格拉斯后来承认，他的关键证词——埃塞尔1945年9月在罗森伯格的公寓里打印出了关于美国核武器技术的笔记——是假的。

Ruth, who escaped even a prison sentence, was probably the typist.

露丝很可能就是那个打字员，而她甚至免受了牢狱之灾。

There have been many books about the Rosenberg affair.

关于罗森博格事件的书有很多。

J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's director, called theirs the trial of the century.

联邦调查局局长埃德加·胡佛称这是一场世纪审判。

But Anne Sebba's biography of Ethel is the first for 30 years.

然而，安妮·塞芭的埃塞尔传记是30年来的第一部。

She places great weight on the release in 2015, after Greenglass's death, of grand jury testimony including his original statement that Ethel had no involvement in the conspiracy¹³.

她非常重视2015年格林格拉斯死后大陪审团的证词，其中包括埃塞尔没有参与阴谋的最初陈述。

With access to an extensive archive of Ethel's letters, many movingly written from prison — and drawing together interviews with surviving witnesses, including the Rosenbergs' two sons, Michael and Robert —

通过查阅大量埃塞尔的信件，其中许多是在监狱里写的感人信件，以及对罗森伯格夫妇的两个儿子迈克尔和罗伯特等在世证人的采访，

Ms Sebba tells a compelling story of love, betrayal, misplaced idealism and brutal¹⁴ legal and political manoeuvring.

塞巴女士讲述了一个关于爱情、背叛、错位的理想主义以及残酷的法律和政治操纵的引人注目的故事。

1 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

2 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

4 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

5 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

6 analogous   

adj.相似的；类似的

参考例句：

• The two situations are roughly analogous.两种情況大致相似。
• The company is in a position closely analogous to that of its main rival.该公司与主要竞争对手的处境极为相似。

7 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

8 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

9 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

10 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

11 perjured   

adj.伪证的，犯伪证罪的v.发假誓，作伪证( perjure的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The witness perjured himself. 证人作了伪证。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Witnesses lied and perjured themselves. 证人撒谎作伪证。 来自辞典例句

12 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

13 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。

14 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。