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史上最成功的骗子(3)

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And it really was. When the only Spanish garrison on the island saw all these armed Americans, they assumed it was the head of a full-blown US force and surrendered.

的确如此,当岛上唯一的西班牙驻军看到那些武装的美国人时,他们以为那是一整支美国军队的首领,于是他们投降了。

Now all MacGregor needed to do was press his advantage, take a few more forts, and he'd soon have another victory to rival Ocumare.

现在麦格雷格尔需要做的就是巩固自己的优势,再拿下几个堡垒,然后他很快就能再次战胜奥库马雷。

But that didn't happen. Instead, MacGregor declared Amelia Island the Republic of East Florida, and then simply settled in to enjoy getting drunk and sunning himself.

不过胜利并没有出现。相反,麦格雷格尔宣布阿米莉亚岛为东佛罗里达共和国,然后就舒舒服服地喝了个烂醉,享受日光浴。

For MacGregor's men, this must've been a "what the-?" moment.

此刻麦格雷格尔的手下肯定一脸懵逼:纳尼???

Then MacGregor started paying them in Republic of East Florida dollars he'd made himself and it became a "Whaaa-?!"

然后麦格雷格尔开始用他赚的东佛罗里达共和国的美元支付给下属,这变成了“啊——?!”

Finally, one morning in September, the mercenaries awoke to find MacGregor had taken the ship and remaining money and simply sailed away, leaving them to their fates.

终于,在9月的一个早晨,雇佣兵们醒来时发现麦格雷格尔已经把船和剩下的钱都拿走了,就这样扬帆而去,任凭命运摆布。

At that point, they probably couldn't even summon a squeak of surprise to show how they felt.

当时那些雇佣兵们怎一个“惊呆”了得。

Following the Florida failure, MacGregor badly fell out of favor with Bolivar. So he tried again.

在佛罗里达大败后,麦格雷格尔严重失宠于玻利瓦尔,于是他又试了一次。

In 1818, MacGregor sailed back to Britain, hired 500 more men, and this time tried to conquer Panama.

1818年,麦格雷格尔乘船回到英国,又雇佣了500人,这一次他试图征服巴拿马。

Landing a force of 200 at Porto Bello, he took the city… .

他带领200人的部队在波尔图贝罗登陆,占领了这座城市……

And then he went straight back to lounging around in the sun, drinking rum and failing to do anything that might stave off a potential Spanish counterattack.

然后又直接回到了阳光下懒洋洋地躺着,喝着朗姆酒,没有做任何阻挡西班牙反击的举措。

This last bit proved important when the potential counterattack became an actual counterattack and MacGregor was forced to flee, once again leaving his mercenaries to their fates.

最后一点很重要,因为潜在的反击变成了真正的反击,麦格雷格尔被迫逃跑,又一次让他的雇佣兵们走投无路。

By now, the Scot was starting to look less like the capable general of Ocumare, and more like a shallow egotist who'd just happened to get lucky.

此时的这位苏格兰人看起来不太像奥库马雷的一位能干的将军,更像是一个碰巧走运的肤浅的自我主义者。

But his name still carried enough shine for MacGregor's surviving men to follow him on one last invasion.

但他的名字仍然为麦格雷格尔幸存的士兵们带来了足够的光芒,让他们跟随他发起了最后一次入侵。

In October, 1819, MacGregor landed outside a Royalist holdout on Venezuela's coast.

1819年10月,麦格雷格尔在委内瑞拉海岸的保皇党要塞外登陆。

It was the exact same checklist as Amelia Island and Porto Bello: MacGregor takes city? Absolutely.

这和阿米莉亚岛、贝罗港的清单一模一样:麦格雷格尔拿下了这座城市?没错。

MacGregor gets drunk rather than organize defenses? Absolutely.

麦格雷格尔宁可喝醉也不愿组织防御?没错。

When things go south MacGregor sails away and leaves his men to their fates? Absolutely.

当事情向南发展时,麦格雷格尔就会扬帆远航,让他的手下自生自灭?没错。

This time, those fates were particularly gruesome.

而这一次,这些人的命运尤其地可怕。

After the Spanish retook the city, they lined up all of MacGregor's surviving mercenaries and had them shot.

西班牙人夺回这座城市后,他们把麦格雷格尔手下所有幸存下来的雇佣兵排成一列,开枪将他们打死了。

In the aftermath of MacGregor's third colossal screw up, Simon Bolivar didn't so much throw the book at him as crush him beneath an entire library of disapproval.

在麦格雷格尔第三次搞砸之后,西蒙·玻利瓦尔并没有对他施以严刑,而是把他压在一堆反对的声音之下。

Bolivar declared his cousin-in-law a traitor.

玻利瓦尔宣布他的堂兄是叛徒。

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He issued a decree that any Venezuelan who saw MacGregor should kill him on sight.

他颁布了一项法令,任何看到麦格雷格尔的委内瑞拉人都要当场将他杀死。

But while this was the end of MacGregor's time as a revolutionary warrior, it wasn't the end of the man himself.

不过,虽然这是麦格雷格尔作为革命战士时代的终结,但这并不是他本人的终结。

When he resurfaced, it was going to be with a con that would go down in history.

当他再次露面的时候,他将和一个会被载入史册的骗子在一起。

Sprawling along the Caribbean coasts of modern-day Nicaragua and Honduras, the Mosquito Shore is exactly as unappetizing as its name suggests.

蚊子海岸沿着现在的尼加拉瓜和洪都拉斯的加勒比海岸蔓延,正如它的名字所暗示的那样令人生厌。

It's a hot, wet, desolate place where life is cheap, disease is rife, and mosquitoes omnipresent.

那里是一个炎热、潮湿、荒凉的地方,在那里生命是廉价的,疾病盛行,蚊子无处不在。

In April, 1820, Gregor MacGregor hopped off a boat and vanished into the mangrove forests of this tropical Hell, desperate to lose himself.

1820年4月,格雷戈·麦格雷格尔跳下船,消失在这个热带地狱般的红树林中,不顾一切地想要迷失自我。

By now, it wasn't just Bolivar who wanted him dead. The Spanish, the Americans, the British… all, for varying reasons, had MacGregor's name on a hit list.

现在,想要他死的不仅仅是玻利瓦尔,西班牙人、美国人、英国人……都因为各种原因把麦格雷格尔的名字列在了暗杀名单上。

In the movie of MacGregor's life, this would be the low-point, the part where all seems lost.

这段时期是麦格雷格尔人生电影的低谷期,好像一切都失去了。

But you know what always comes after the low point in any movie script? The part where the hero triumphs.

但你知道每一部电影剧本的低谷之后都会出现什么吗?没错,“英雄的胜利”。

While hiding on the Mosquito Shore, MacGregor came into contact with one of the local tribal leaders, a guy who styled himself King George Frederick Augustus.

麦格雷格尔在躲在蚊子海岸时与当地的一个部落首领进行了接触,这个人自称是国王乔治·弗雷德里克·奥古斯都。

Being a natural charmer, MacGregor got the guy drunk and spent a few days partying with him.

麦格雷格尔天生就很有魅力,他把那家伙灌醉了,和他一起开了几天派对。

By the time he emerged from the king's hut, weary and hungover, MacGregor was clutching a title deed to 8 million acres of tribal land.

当麦格雷格尔从国王的小屋里出来时他已经疲惫不堪,宿醉未醒,而他手里握着800万英亩部落土地的地契。

This piece of paper would become the basis for his audacious next move.

这张纸将成为他下一步大胆行动的基础。

Back in MacGregor's native Britain, the nation was gearing up for the coronation of George IV.

咱们回到麦格雷格尔的家乡英国,整个国家都在为乔治四世的加冕礼做准备。

There were street parties. Dignitaries from all over the world.

有街头派对,来自世界各地的政要。

In fact, there were so many dignitaries no-one noticed when one arrived from a country that didn't exist.

然而,那么多的达官贵人都没有人注意到一个来自一个不存在的国家的人。

His Serene Highness Gregor MacGregor the First, Sovereign Prince of the State of Poyais and its Dependencies, and Cacique of the Poyer Nation arrived in London in summer, 1821.

1821年夏天,格里高尔·麦格雷戈一世殿下,波亚斯及其属地的主权王子,Poyer国家元首抵达伦敦。

Just like with MacGregor's fake knighthood in 1810, no-one questioned his absurd new title. To understand why, you have to remember when this story is set.

就像1810年麦格雷格尔被封为爵士一样,没有人质疑他荒谬的新头衔。要理解其中的原因,你必须知道这个故事发生的年代。

In 1821, a whole bunch of new nations had just exploded into existence: Mexico, Gran Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Peru.

1821年,一大批新国家突然出现:墨西哥、大哥伦比亚、阿根廷、智利、巴拉圭、秘鲁。

For Londoners, it wasn't much of a stretch to believe Poyais might be among them.

对于伦敦人来说,波亚斯可能就是其中之一。

Especially when the Poyais envoy was related by marriage to Simon-freaking Bolivar.

尤其是波亚斯的使节和可恶的玻利瓦尔有姻亲关系。

But MacGregor did more than just trade on his connections to fool people.

但是麦格雷格尔做的不仅仅是利用他的关系来愚弄别人。

Under the pseudonym Thomas Strangeways, he published a guidebook to Poyais, detailing the nation's government, its geography, its climate, its architecture.

他用笔名托马斯·斯崔奇威出版了一本《波亚斯旅游指南》,详细介绍了波亚斯的政府、地理、气候和建筑。

This was serious imagination, something Tolkein would've been proud to write, and it was shot through with glimpses of a utopia.

这是一种严肃的想象,如果托尔金能写出这样的作品,他一定会感到自豪的。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
invasion [in'veiʒən]

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n. 侵入,侵略

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screw [skru:]

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n. 螺钉,螺丝,螺旋,螺旋桨,螺状物
v.

 
traitor ['treitə]

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n. 叛徒,卖国贼,出卖朋友者

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crush [krʌʃ]

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v. 压碎,碾碎,压榨
n. 压碎,压榨,拥挤

 
stretch [stretʃ]

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n. 伸展,张开
adj. 可伸缩的

 
fell [fel]

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动词fall的过去式
n. 兽皮
v

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script [skript]

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n. 手稿,脚本,手迹
vt. 为...

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disapproval [.disə'pru:vəl]

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n. 不赞成

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serene [si'ri:n]

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adj. 安详的,宁静的,平静的

 
desperate ['despərit]

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adj. 绝望的,不顾一切的

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