纽约时报 可怕的控告指向沙特王子 “沙漠达沃斯”因此蒙尘(5)（在线收听）

Inside the hotel, female guests are encouraged to wear business attire.

酒店内提倡女嘉宾着商务套装。

But outside, they stick to the more typical Saudi dress, known as an abaya, keeping their arms and legs covered.

但出了酒店，她们还是会换上典型的沙特服饰，也即所谓的“长袍”，遮住她们的手臂以及腿部。

Last year, some women were redirected to side entrances of the hotel’s conference center, rather than the main entrance to the building.

去年，一些女嘉宾还被要求从酒店会议中心的侧门而不是大楼的主大门入场。

Much of the conference was a familiar mix of speeches and panel discussions.

会议期间大部分时间都是熟悉的演讲和小组讨论。

But some recalled the hallway chatter after Crown Prince Mohammed’s presentation on Neom: They joked that it was a giant sand castle.

有人回忆起了王储穆罕默德在演讲完他的Neom畅想之后走廊里喋喋不休的讨论之声：嘉宾们开玩笑说他的倡议不过是一座巨型的沙雕。

Even stranger were the large robots that the organizers placed in the lobby, where they engaged in conversations with the bemused guests.

更奇怪的是组织者放置在大厅里的大型机器人，那些机器人竟然还在大厅里与困惑的客人们进行了对话。

In retrospect, clouds were gathering on the horizon.

回想起来，乌云已经开始在地平线上集结了。

A few days after the foreigners checked out of the Ritz-Carlton,

外国嘉宾离开丽思卡尔顿酒店的几天后，

Crown Prince Mohammed converted it into a high-end prison for hundreds of wealthy Saudis.

王储穆罕默德便将酒店变成了囚禁数百名沙特富豪的高端监狱。

For weeks, guards kept them locked up — roughing up some — until they handed over billions of dollars in what the prince insisted were ill-gotten gains.

警卫们将他们囚禁了数周——还对部分囚犯动了粗——直到他们交出了数十亿美元被王子坚称为不义之财的资金。

Steven A. Cook, an expert on Saudi Arabia at the Council on Foreign Relations,

沙特外交关系委员会专家史蒂文·A. 库克说，

said the conference, like Crown Prince Mohammed's decision to allow women to drive,

这次会议，如同王储穆罕默德决定允许女性开车一样，

was calculated to put an appealing face on what is a ruthless attempt to transform his society.

都是设计来给无情的社会改革措施带上一副动人的面具的。

“These were ways of building constituencies that would be a cushion against opposition from vested interests in the royal family,” Mr. Cook said.

“这些举措都是为了发展支持者，以便缓解王室中既得利益者的反对态度。”库克说。

“This was all a way of signaling to this small elite that he’s got the support of all these people around the world.”

“这完全就是他向这一小部分精英人士释放讯号，让他们知道他有世界各地的所有这些人的支持。”

“Now,” he said, “we’re coming to grips with the fact that he’s the big dog.”

“现在，”他说，“我们已经逐渐认识到，他才是那条大鱼。”