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The picture of Ethel that emerges is of a tough, clever autodidact and would-be opera singer growing up in genteel poverty with an indifferent mother. She becomes a union activist, a committed communist and then a passionate wife and over-anxious parent. The victim of serial betrayals herself, she puts the principle of loyalty to her husband and the communist cause above all else, even though co-operating with her accusers would have saved her life and stopped her children becoming orphans. It is impossible not to sympathise with her terrible plight, but she is by no means a wholly attractive figure. There is something of the fanatic about her.
埃塞尔的形象逐渐浮现，她是一个坚强、聪明、自学成才的人，想成为歌剧演唱家，在温文尔雅的贫困环境中长大，有一个冷漠的母亲。她成为了一名工会积极分子，一名忠诚的共产主义者，并且是一位热情的妻子和过度焦虑的母亲。作为一系列背叛的受害者，她把对丈夫和共产主义事业的忠诚置于一切之上，尽管与指控她的人合作本可以挽救她的生命，也可以避免使她的孩子成为孤儿。人们无法不同情她的糟糕处境，但她绝不是一个完全迷人的人物。她有几分狂热。
Was she innocent, at least morally, as the author maintains? The answer is probably not. In 1995 the American government released a cache of documents decrypted by the Venona project, a second-world-war counter-intelligence operation that intercepted messages from Soviet intelligence sources, which continued into the cold war. The material provides powerful evidence that Julius was indeed the linchpin of a prolific spy ring that gave Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union a valuable trove of military secrets. It seems inconceivable that Ethel was not fully aware of his activities; she probably helped him, including in recruiting her brother and Ruth.
她是否如作者所维护的那样，至少在道德上是无辜的？答案可能是否定的。1995年，美国政府公布了一组由“维诺那计划”解密的文件。“维诺那计划”是第二次世界大战期间的反情报行动，拦截来源于苏联情报的信息，该计划一直持续到冷战时期。这些材料提供了强有力的证据，证明朱利叶斯确实是一个活跃的间谍网的关键人物，这个间谍网为约瑟夫·斯大林领导的苏联提供了宝贵的军事机密。令人不可思议的是，埃塞尔没有完全意识到他的活动；她可能帮过他，包括招募她的弟弟和露丝。
But that does not legitimate her trial and execution. Crucial evidence was withheld from the defence. One of the prosecutors was the young Roy Cohn, who went on to work for Joe McCarthy and Donald Trump; his role in securing perjured witness testimony, and in secretly pushing the judge into handing down the death penalty, was disgraceful. The Venona evidence was never submitted and was anyway ambiguous about Ethel's involvement. Government lawyers knew their case was flimsy but thought that, if they threatened Ethel with execution, she would put pressure on Julius to reveal his network. They did not want to kill a young mother. As William Rogers, the deputy attorney-general, admitted, "She called our bluff."
但这并不意味着对她的审判和处决是合法的。辩方没有提供关键证据。其中一名检察官是年轻的罗伊·科恩，他后来为乔·麦卡锡和唐纳德·特朗普工作；他在确保证人作伪证和秘密推动法官判处死刑方面所扮演的角色是可耻的。维诺那计划中的证据从未提交，而且埃塞尔方面的参与也含糊不清。政府的律师知道他们的案子站不住脚，但他们认为，如果他们以死刑威胁埃塞尔，她会向朱利叶斯施压，让他公开他的间谍网络。他们不想杀死一个年轻的母亲。就像司法部副部长威廉·罗杰斯承认的那样，“她揭穿了我们的虚张声势。”
Ms Sebba rightly sees this as a great miscarriage of justice. But in exculpating Ethel almost entirely, she goes too far.
赛巴女士认为这是一次巨大的司法失败，这一想法是合理的。但在几乎完全为艾瑟尔开脱时，她做得太过头了。
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