U.S. accuses rich parents of college entry fraud美国（司法部）指控富豪家长涉嫌高校入学欺诈

In a major college admissions scandal that laid bare the elaborate lengths some wealthy parents will go to get their children into competitive American universities, federal prosecutors charged 50 people Tuesday in a brazen scheme to buy spots in the freshman classes at Yale, Stanford and other big name schools.

周二，在一起重大高校招生丑闻中，美国联邦检察官对 50 人提出了诉讼。在这桩无耻的舞弊黑幕中，涉案人员通过行贿来购买耶鲁、斯坦福和其他名校的新生入学资格。这起招生丑闻披露了一些有钱的父母是如何处心积虑地将孩子送进竞争激烈的美国高校的。

Thirty-three well-heeled parents were charged in the case, including Hollywood celebrities and prominent business leaders, and prosecutors said there could be additional indictments to come.

33 名富豪家长在本案中被指控，包括好莱坞明星和杰出的商界领袖。检察官表示，之后可能会提起更多诉讼。

The scheme unveiled Tuesday was stunning in its breadth and audacity. It was the Justice Department's largest-ever college admissions prosecution, a sprawling investigation that involved 200 agents nationwide and resulted in charges against 50 people in six states.

周二被曝光的欺诈案涉及面之广、手段之大胆令人震惊。作为美国司法部有史以来提起的最大一起高校招生诉讼，这项大规模调查动用了全国 200 名联邦探员，指控涉及到 6 个州的 50 人。

Authorities say the parents of some of the nation’s wealthiest and most privileged students sought to buy spots for their children at top universities, not only cheating the system but also potentially cheating other hardworking students out of a chance at a college education.

有关当局说，美国最富有最优越的一些学生的父母企图为他们的孩子在顶尖大学里“购买”一席之地，这不仅是钻制度的空子，还可能是在剥夺其他努力学习的学生接受大学教育的机会。

In many of the cases, prosecutors said, the students were not aware that their parents were doctoring their test scores and lying to get them into school. Federal prosecutors did not charge any students or universities with wrongdoing.

检察官说，在其中很多案件中，学生并没有意识到自己的父母是通过篡改考试成绩和欺诈使自己入学的。联邦检察官没有指控任何学生或大学有不法行为。

“The parents are the prime movers of this fraud,” Andrew E. Lelling, U.S. attorney for the district of Massachusetts, said Tuesday during a news conference. Lelling said that those parents used their wealth to create a separate and unfair admissions process for their children.

在周二的新闻发布会上，马萨诸塞州联邦检察官安德鲁·莱林说：“家长是这起欺诈案的主谋。” 莱林表示，这些父母利用他们的财富为子女另辟出一条不正当的入学道路。

“The real victims in this case are the hardworking students” who were displaced in the admissions process by “far less qualified students and their families who simply bought their way in,” Lelling said.

“这次案件的真正受害者是那些勤奋努力的学生”，他们在录取过程中，被“资质相差甚远的学生和通过行贿将孩子送进大学的家长”挤出了录取名单，莱林说。

—————  文章来源 / 纽约时报

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fraud/frɔːd/
n. 欺诈罪，欺骗罪
e.g.
搭配短语：credit card fraud
搭配短语：a $100 million fraud
lay bare
揭露，使公开；暴露
e.g.
同义词：reveal, disclose
搭配短语：lay bare sth.
搭配短语：lay bare the truth of the accident
elaborate/ɪˈlæbərət/
adj.（计划、程序等）详尽的；精心计划的
e.g.
搭配短语：elaborate plans
搭配短语：elaborate preparations
prosecutor/ˈprɑːsɪkjuːtər/
n. 检察官；公诉人
e.g.
词性拓展：prosecute (v.)
英文释义：a person who officially accuses someone of committing a crime
搭配短语：federal prosecutor
搭配短语：state prosecutor
派生词汇：prosecution（n. 起诉，检举）
brazen/ˈbreɪzn/
adj. 厚颜无耻的
e.g.
近义词：shameless
例句：She had become brazen about the whole affair.
well-heeled/ˌwel ˈhiːld/
adj. 有钱的，富裕的
e.g.
同义词：rich; wealthy
反义词：down at the heels
indictment/ɪnˈdaɪtmənt/
n.（对严重罪行的）控告，起诉
e.g.
词性拓展：indict (v.)
搭配短语：bring in an indictment against sb.
搭配短语：under indictment for...
breadth/bredθ/
n. 宽度；广度，广泛性
e.g.
近义词：width
搭配短语：the breadth of the river
英文释义：the quality of including a lot of different people, things, or ideas
例句：Her breadth of reading surprised me.
audacity/ɔːˈdæsəti/
n. 大胆，放肆
e.g.
英文释义：courage or confidence of a kind that other people find shocking or rude
例句：Your Majesty, she had the audacity to poison me!
例句：He had the audacity to blame me for his mistake!
sprawling/ˈsprɔːlɪŋ/
adj. 杂乱无序展开的；延伸范围大的
e.g.
词性拓展：sprawl (v.)
英文释义：spreading in an untidy way
例句：His handwriting is sprawling.
英文释义：“Sprawling” is good for describing things that extend across a large area.
搭配短语：a sprawling campus
doctor/ˈdɑːktər/
v. 篡改；伪造
e.g.
词性拓展：doctor（n. 医生；博士）
英文释义：to change a document in order to deceive people
例句：He had doctored the evidence.
wrongdoing/ˈrɔːŋduːɪŋ/
n. 不法行为；欺骗行径
e.g.
相关词汇：wrong（adj. 错误的）
相关词汇：doing（n. 行为）
英文释义：illegal or dishonest behaviour
例句：The company denies any wrongdoing.
prime mover
n. 主谋，主要规划人
e.g.
相关词汇：prime（adj. 主要的）
相关词汇：mover（n. 搬家工人；提议人）
mover 近义词：proposer; seconder
英文释义：a person or thing that starts something and has great influence in the way it develops
例句：She is the prime mover of the event.
attorney/əˈtɜːrni/
n. 律师（尤指代表当事人出庭者）
e.g.
词义辨析
attorney 和 lawyer
指“律师”时，attorney 和 lawyer 是包含与被包含的关系——所有的 attorney 都可以做 lawyer，但并非所有的 lawyer 都能做 attorney 的工作。在美国，上过法律学校的人都可以说是 lawyer，但做 attorney 不仅要法律学校毕业，而且还要通过一项考试，这类考试叫做 bar exams，律师考试，通过之后才可以出庭为别人辩护，把律师作为职业来从事。
buy (one's) way in/into (sth.)
买通
e.g.
英文释义：to pay money in order to gain access to a group or place
例句：He bought his way into the university with his family connections.