Ken早上在饮水器旁见到同事Dan和April，谈起公司首席财务官Jason Smith参与庞式骗局被抓起来的事情。Dan问罪名严不严重。
D: So how serious are these charges?
A: He could end up serving a very long prison term. These days judges are pretty tough on white collar crimes.
D: I actually met Jason at a cocktail party about a year ago. He seemed very charming and bright. I remember we had an interesting conversation and he was quite knowledgeable about Asian affairs.
A: Yeah, that sounds about right. Most of these kinds of tricksters are very charming...otherwise, how would they be able to convince so many people to part with their money?
April说，搞不好，Jason会坐很长时间的牢，因为现在法官对白领犯罪下手很重，白领犯罪在英文里叫 white collar crime. Dan 在一次 cocktail party 鸡尾酒会上见过Jason，对他印象不错，April觉得这很正常，因为这些人要是没有两下子，怎么能说服别人把自己的钱拿出来呢? to part with one's money 是把钱交出来的意思。
K: If someone told me I could get a 200% return on my investments, I'd smell a rat. I bet some of these people had a pretty good idea they were dealing with a Ponzi scheme.
A: Good point, but it's going to be hard to find evidence they knew about it beforehand.
D: So what happens to white collar criminals in America? Is there a special jail for them?
K: In the past many of them got sent to low or medium security prisons. People used to joke about how easy it was for them.
Ken怀疑参与庞式骗局的一些投资者其实是知情的，因为如果告诉他说有投资机会，百分之二百的回报，I'd smell a rat. 我一定会觉得可疑。Ken说，白领罪犯以前都是被送到 low or medium security prisons 安全级别中低水平的监狱，所以日子比较好过。
A: But more recently, the government has decided to make an example and has been getting much tougher.
K: If he is convicted, Jason will probably end up in a federal prison with hardcore offenders. He could be there for well over 10 years.
D: Wow...that's harsh.
K: Jason Smith says he is innocent, so we'll have to wait and see what the final verdict is. I'm just glad I didn't invest any of my money with him.
D: Me too!
A: Me three!
April解释说，但是近来，政府决定对白领犯罪加强处罚， to make an example of someone有杀一儆百的意思。Ken说，如果法庭判处 Jason 有罪的话，Jason 就可能会坐十年以上的大牢，而且是跟 hardcore offenders恶性犯罪分子关在一起。三个人都表示，幸好没有把自己的钱拿出来让 Jason 去投资。 |