【英语语言学习】著名的法国葡萄酒庄遭威胁

 SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Romanee-Conti is one of the most famed vineyards in the world - in history, really - where they produce one of the most elegant and extravagantly-priced wines in the world. In January of 2010, Aubert de Villaine, the famed proprietor¹, got a threat to his livelihood², if not his life - pay more than a million Euro in ransom³ or his Burgundy vines that have produced wines famed all over the world would be poisoned. Maximillian Potter first wrote about this plot for Vanity Fair magazine. He's been a staff writer for Premier⁴ and GQ magazines and is now senior media adviser⁵ to the governor of Colorado. His new book - "Shadows In The Vineyard: The True Story Of The Plot To Poison The World's Greatest Wine." Maximillian Potter joins us from member station KUVO in Denver. Thanks so much for being with us.

MAXIMILLIAN POTTER: My immense pleasure, Scott. Thanks for having me.

SIMON: First off, how good is this wine?

POTTER: Without being overly hyperbolic, it's definitely the finest flavor I've ever had in my mouth. I drank it and, you know, I was immediately filled with an incredible warmth. And it just seemed like something that was alive and wonderful and warm.

SIMON: Tell us about the Grand Monsieur of this wine, Aubert de Villaine. This is his wine. This is his family.

POTTER: I'll give you the before and after, Scott. Before I went to Burgundy and I had the opportunity to meet him, in my mind's eye, I saw, you know, a soft-palmed, ascot-wearing French aristocrat⁶ who probably didn't spend too much time in the vines and delegated the real work. And when I met him, within a very short period of talking to him, it was abundantly clear to me just how wrong I had been. He's one of the first to work in the morning. He's one of the last to leave. He drives the French version of a very economically priced station wagon⁷. I thought of him at different times as a kind of Sam Walton almost in terms of his work ethic⁸ and demeanor⁹.

SIMON: So the Grand Monsieur comes home one night and there's a cardboard cylinder¹⁰ addressed to him...

POTTER: Yeah.

SIMON: ...And a map and a note inside. What was that about?

POTTER: Well, first he looks at the map and he recognizes it immediately to be a map of Romanee-Conti, the crown jewel of France's vineyards and certainly his crown jewel, the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. He sees a very detailed¹¹ drawing of the vineyard. Every single vine is marked. And then he opens a note. And it informs him that there's a plot underway that is attacking his vines. And that if he wants his vines to live, to stay tuned¹² for another note where the bad guy or bad guys - at this time no one knew who they were - was going to make clear their demands and how those demands could be met.

SIMON: Did it become a matter of national importance to the French national police to find the alleged¹³ perps?

POTTER: Yes. So after Monsieur de Villaine received the first note, his initial reaction was to dismiss it as a joke in horribly bad taste. When he received the second note - which laid out in uncertain terms just exactly what was going on and foreshadowed the possibility of the devastation¹⁴ in a way that Monsieur de Villaine could not ignore - then he began to think about how do I deal with this? And so he didn't mess around. And he called the French version of the FBI, which is the Police Nationale. And within minutes of talking with Monsieur de Villaine, the inspector¹⁵ on the other end knew right away how serious this was. And he went to the head of the Police Nationale, who at the time was a fellow by the name of Christian¹⁶ Lothion. And he dispatched his best investigators¹⁷ from Paris to Burgundy to oversee¹⁸ this investigation¹⁹.

SIMON: As I guess you would in any investigation, they had a few wild goose chases, didn't they?

POTTER: The investigators had quite a few wild goose chases. And the first one was through a mix - the police were tracing one of the packages through the French version of Federal Express. And there was a coding mistake that was made. And they descended²⁰ on this one poor fellow who was coming home from work at a plumbing²¹ supply shop. And it turned out that he was ordering an Xbox.

SIMON: A PlayStation or something, right?

POTTER: A PlayStation...

SIMON: Right.

POTTER: It was a PlayStation. And just when the police were starting to get demoralized is when they had their breakthrough.

SIMON: How did they ultimately get on the right track and plan a sting operation?

POTTER: Well, the investigation - after several goose chases - were reaching a point where they really were beginning to turn their attention toward the serious possibility that it was an inside job. At that moment, they received the final of several notes from the bad guys. And it directed them to place 1 million Euro in cash in a suitcase and deliver it to the cemetery²² in the town of Chambolle-Musigny, which is a small hamlet just to the north of Vosne-Romanee. And the plan was that because Monsieur de Villaine was out of town, Jean-Charles Cuvelier, his right-hand man, volunteered to be the bag man. He carried in a bag of counterfeit²³ cash into the cemetery. And shortly thereafter, one of the bad guys emerged to come and collect it. And that was the beginning of the end.

SIMON: As it turns out, the man ultimately arrested, who turns out to be behind the plot - let me just put it this way, we're not exactly talking about John Dillinger here, are we?

POTTER: (Laughing). No, he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. His name is Jacques Soltys. The plan that he enacted²⁴ really wasn't his idea. He had been a career criminal and...

SIMON: Or trying to be a career criminal. Sounds like he kept striking out. He was a career prisoner.

POTTER: He was a career prisoner. That's fair. And during his last stint²⁵ inside, someone gave him the idea. Hey, in Burgundy, they treat their vineyards as sacrosanct²⁶. And most of them are French nobleman and aristocrats²⁷. They don't like gossip. They're wealthy. You could probably extort²⁸ them, threaten them, and get them to pay you just to have them go away. Once basically the plan became his, he undid²⁹ himself and that - he's the guy that planned the bag drop-off in the cemetery of the middle of the night. There's any number of ways - I mean, they could've done a digital transfer. He set himself up for failure for sure.

SIMON: Yeah. Mr. Potter, is Romanee-Conti, if anything, even a little more precious today?

POTTER: Well, you know, every year, Burgundy as a region - the prices are going up and up and up, unlike Bordeaux by the way. In terms of a more existential value, in Burgundy, in France and with oenophiles around the world, I think there's a renewed appreciation³⁰ for what it represents and for the philosophies and spirituality and tenderness and care and history that are all tangled³¹ in the vines of Romanee-Conti.

SIMON: And to be absolutely plain, if you have some, you don't like mix it with club soda³², right?

POTTER: No, you want to drink that straight.

SIMON: Maximillian Potter - his new book "Shadows In The Vineyard: The True Story Of The Plot To Poison The World's Greatest Wine." Mr. Potter, thanks so much.

POTTER: My immense pleasure. Thank you for having me.

1 proprietor   

n.所有人；业主；经营者

参考例句：

• The proprietor was an old acquaintance of his.业主是他的一位旧相识。
• The proprietor of the corner grocery was a strange thing in my life.拐角杂货店店主是我生活中的一个怪物。

2 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

3 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

4 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 aristocrat   

n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物

参考例句：

• He was the quintessential english aristocrat.他是典型的英国贵族。
• He is an aristocrat to the very marrow of his bones.他是一个道道地地的贵族。

7 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

8 ethic   

n.道德标准，行为准则

参考例句：

• They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
• The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。

9 demeanor   

n.行为；风度

参考例句：

• She is quiet in her demeanor.她举止文静。
• The old soldier never lost his military demeanor.那个老军人从来没有失去军人风度。

10 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。

11 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

12 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

14 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

16 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

17 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》

18 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

19 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

20 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

21 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

23 counterfeit   

vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的

参考例句：

• It is a crime to counterfeit money.伪造货币是犯罪行为。
• The painting looked old but was a recent counterfeit.这幅画看上去年代久远，实际是最近的一幅赝品。

24 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

25 stint   

v.节省，限制，停止；n.舍不得化，节约，限制；连续不断的一段时间从事某件事

参考例句：

• He lavished money on his children without stint.他在孩子们身上花钱毫不吝惜。
• We hope that you will not stint your criticism.我们希望您不吝指教。

26 sacrosanct   

adj.神圣不可侵犯的

参考例句：

• In India,the cow is a sacrosanct animal.牛在印度是神圣的动物。
• Philip Glass is ignorant of establishing an immutable, sacrosanct urtext.菲利普·格拉斯不屑于创立不变的、神圣的原始文本。

27 aristocrats   

n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many aristocrats were killed in the French Revolution. 许多贵族在法国大革命中被处死。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• To the Guillotine all aristocrats! 把全部贵族都送上断头台！ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

28 extort   

v.勒索，敲诈，强要

参考例句：

• The blackmailer tried to extort a large sum of money from him.勒索者企图向他勒索一大笔钱。
• They absolutely must not harm the people or extort money from them.严格禁止坑害勒索群众。

29 Undid   

v. 解开, 复原

参考例句：

• The officer undid the flap of his holster and drew his gun. 军官打开枪套盖拔出了手枪。
• He did wrong, and in the end his wrongs undid him. 行恶者终以其恶毁其身。

30 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

31 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

32 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。