商務禮節美語第79期:龐氏騙局(2)

Ken早上在飲水器旁見到同事Dan和April，談起公司首席財務官Jason Smith參與龐式騙局被抓起來的事情。Dan問罪名嚴不嚴重。

D:So how serious are these charges?

A:He could end up serving a very long prison term. These days judges are pretty tough on white collar crimes.

D:I actually met Jason at a cocktail party about a year ago. He seemed very charming and bright. I remember we had an interesting conversation and he was quite knowledgeable about Asian affairs.

A:Yeah, that sounds about right. Most of these kinds of tricksters are very rwise, how would they be able to convince so many people to part with their money?

April說，搞不好，Jason會坐很長時間的牢，因爲現在法官對白領犯罪下手很重，白領犯罪在英文裏叫 white collar crime. Dan 在一次 cocktail party 雞尾酒會上見過Jason，對他印象不錯，April覺得這很正常，因爲這些人要是沒有兩下子，怎麼能說服別人把自己的錢拿出來呢? to part with one's money 是把錢交出來的意思。

K:If someone told me I could get a 200% return on my investments, I'd smell a rat. I bet some of these people had a pretty good idea they were dealing with a Ponzi scheme.

A:Good point, but it's going to be hard to find evidence they knew about it beforehand.

D:So what happens to white collar criminals in America? Is there a special jail for them?

K:In the past many of them got sent to low or medium security prisons. People used to joke about how easy it was for them.

Ken懷疑參與龐式騙局的一些投資者其實是知情的，因爲如果告訴他說有投資機會，百分之二百的回報，I'd smell a rat. 我一定會覺得可疑。Ken說，白領罪犯以前都是被送到 low or medium security prisons 安全級別中低水平的監獄，所以日子比較好過。

A:But more recently, the government has decided to make an example and has been getting much tougher.

K:If he is convicted, Jason will probably end up in a federal prison with hardcore offenders. He could be there for well over 10 years.

D:'s harsh.

K:Jason Smith says he is innocent, so we'll have to wait and see what the final verdict is. I'm just glad I didn't invest any of my money with him.

D:Me too!

A:Me three!

April解釋說，但是近來，政府決定對白領犯罪加強處罰， to make an example of someone有殺一儆百的意思。Ken說，如果法庭判處 Jason 有罪的話，Jason 就可能會坐十年以上的大牢，而且是跟 hardcore offenders惡性犯罪分子關在一起。三個人都表示，幸好沒有把自己的錢拿出來讓 Jason 去投資。