刘强东案背后：明尼苏达大学的摇钱树和性丑闻 | 纽约时报

刘强东涉嫌性侵案引发了全国吃瓜群众的关注，截至今日都没有正式的、官方的最后裁定。

下面这篇文章刊登于2018.11.13的《纽约时报》（The New York Times），我读了一遍，真是开了眼界。

文章揭露了京东创始人、CEO刘强东在明尼苏达大学进修的商业课程如何在中国捞金，以及刘强东本人在美国涉嫌性侵的细节。

推荐给“侃英语”的读者，文章有点长，请抽空阅读。

When the Chinese billionaire Richard Liu was arrested two months ago in Minneapolis on suspicion of rape, he wasn’t in town for business. Mr. Liu, a 45-year-old internet tycoon, was a student at the University of Minnesota, taking in lectures by day and enjoying dinner parties by night.

当两个月前，中国亿万富翁刘强东因涉嫌强奸在明尼阿波利斯被捕时，他前往该地的目的并非商务。现年45岁的互联网巨头刘强东当时是明尼苏达大学的学生，白天上课，晚上参加晚宴派对。

As prosecutors weigh whether to charge Mr. Liu, the case represents a setback for a university that has made progress on how it handles sexual misconduct. In recent years, the university has dealt with a series of sexual assault and harassment episodes involving students and faculty members, which have prompted a state audit and new campus policies. Now, the university is once again in the national conversation, and the focus this time is on a relatively new and lucrative academic program.

在检察官考量是否要起诉刘强东的同时，这起案件对一个在性行为不端方面取得了进步的学校而言，意味着一次倒退。近年来，这所大学处理了一系列涉及师生的性侵犯和骚扰事件，进而推动了一次州政府审查以及新的校园政策。如今，这所大学再一次处在了风口浪尖上，而这一次的聚焦点则是在相对新的、利润丰厚的学术项目。

Mr. Liu, who has denied wrongdoing, was in Minnesota for a global business program, aimed at Asian executives, that is on track to generate over $10 million for the school in tuition since starting last year. His accuser, who has not been publicly identified, is a young Chinese student at the university who volunteered for the program.

刘强东否认有不正当行为，他当时在明尼苏达州就读一个面向亚洲企管人士的全球商业课程。自去年开办以来，项目已为该校带来了超过1000万美元的学费。刘强东的指控者身份没有被公开，她是该校一名年轻的华人学生，是该项目的志愿者。

The case “puts the university administration in an impossible situation” as it tries to simultaneously protect its students and its reputation, said Kristen Houlton Shaw, the executive director of the nonprofit Sexual Violence Center in Minneapolis.

需要同时保护学生和自己的声誉的校方，在这起案件中“陷入左右为难的处境”，明尼阿波利斯非营利性组织性暴力中心执行理事克里斯滕·霍尔顿·肖(Kristen Houlton Shaw)表示。

 “The program he’s participating in is a major money maker — it brings in these highfliers and heavy hitters from around the world,” she said. “Theirprospective students are watching.”

“他参加的项目赚了很多钱——吸引了世界各地许多非富即贵的人物，”她说。“他们未来的学生正在看着。”

The police conducted an initial investigation into the rape accusation and passed along the findings to the Hennepin County attorney’s office, which says it has no deadline for deciding whether to press charges.

 警方对强奸指控进行了初步调查，并且将调查结果交给了亨内平县检察官办公室，该办公室表示决定是否提起诉讼不存在最后时限。

Mr. Liu was released less than a day after his arrest, and he returned to China. His company, JD.com, which takes in more revenue each year than anye-commerce competitor but Amazon, says he was falsely accused.

刘强东在被捕后不到一天内即被释放，随后回到中国。他的京东公司——一家年收入在电商中仅次于亚马逊的企业——表示他受到了不实指控。

The university has not publicly spoken about the episode, and would not say whether it had started its own investigation. The university declined tosay whether Mr. Liu was still enrolled in the program or eligible for a degree.

该校还没有就该事件表态，并且也不愿表示该校是否已经开始自己的调查。校方拒绝说明刘强东是否仍是项目的学生，也不愿透露他是否还能获得学位。

 “The University of Minnesota cannot comment, per federal law, on matters related to any specific allegations involving any student at the university,”said Caitlin Hurley, a spokeswoman for the school.

 “鉴于联邦法律，明尼苏达大学不能对与任何校内学生相关的具体指控置评，”该校发言人凯特琳·赫利(Caitlin Hurley)表示。

Ellen Schneider, a senior there, said many fellow students had not even heard about Mr. Liu’s arrest until she wrote a column in the school newspaper criticizing the university’s response. “It is just disappointing,” Ms.Schneider said. University administrators “did not take a stand as they should have done.”

该校的一名大四学生艾伦·施奈德(EllenSchneider)说，直到她在学校报纸上写了一篇专栏批评学校的回应之前，她的同学都没有听说过刘强东被捕事件。“太让人失望了，”施奈德说。校方管理人员“没有做出应有的表示”。

The University of Minnesota has been a draw for Chinese students. At theMinneapolis-St. Paul airport, the second language on many signs is Chinese. The main university campus east of downtown is ringed by bubble tea shops, hot pot restaurants and grocery stores where Mandarin is commonly heard.

明尼苏达大学一直吸引着中国学生。在明尼阿波利斯—圣保罗国际机场，许多指示牌上的第二语言是中文。位于市中心以东的主校区外满是珍珠奶茶、火锅餐馆和杂货铺，在这些地方经常可以听到人讲普通话。

The university counts more than 3,000 students from mainland China, HongKong and Taiwan. There are more than a dozen campus groups geared toward Chinese students, including a drama association, a music club and a Christian organization.

该校有超过3000名来自中国大陆、香港和台湾的学生。有数十个学校社团专门面向中国学生，包括一家戏剧社、一个音乐俱乐部和一个基督教组织。

Like similar programs at other schools, the university’s global doctor of business administration program caters to wealthy professionals like Mr. Liu who seek the cachet of an advanced degree. Some 236 students were enrolled as of early October.

和其他学校的类似项目一样，该校的全球工商管理博士项目面向的是刘强东这样希望获得一个高等学位的富有职场人士。10月初，约有236名学生入学。

The program, in conjunction with the elite Tsinghua University in Beijing, currently charges each student hundreds of thousands of dollars. The University of Minnesota expects to get as much as $85,000 per student from the latest class.

该项目与北京的精英学校清华大学合作。目前对每个学生的收费是数十万美元。预计最新一届学生中，每名学生可以给明尼苏达大学带来多达8.5万美元。

The majority of the coursework is completed in China, but one week of the students’ second year is spent in Minnesota. For Mr. Liu’s class, the school arranged for lectures as well as entertainment, including dinner cruises and a football game.

大多数课业都在中国完成，但这些学生就读第二年会有一周在明尼苏达州。学校不仅为刘强东的班级安排了讲课，还安排了娱乐活动，包括晚餐游轮和一场橄榄球赛。

This summer, Mr. Liu and other executives in the Carlson program took classes on topics like family wealth management and global branding, and visited local companies like 3M and General Mills. The evenings were for entertainment, including cruises on the Mississippi River and Lake Minnetonka.

今年夏天，刘强东和卡尔森项目的其他企管人士参加了家族财富管理和全球品牌管理等主题的课程，并参观了3M和通用磨坊(General Mills)等当地公司。晚上有娱乐活动，包括密西西比河和明尼通卡湖上的游轮活动。

On Aug. 30, a group, including Mr. Liu and his accuser, dined at a Japanese restaurant called Origami, according to a restaurant employee who was working that night and text messages exchanged between the accuser and the assistant of an executive who invited her to dinner. The messages were exchanged over WeChat, a Chinese messaging app. The New York Times reviewed screenshots of the messages.

8月30日，根据一名当晚在工作的餐厅员工的陈述，以及指控者与一名邀请她参加晚宴的高管助理之间的短信，包括刘强东和他的指控者在内的一群人在一间名为Origami的日本餐厅用餐。这些消息是通过中国消息应用程序微信交换的。《纽约时报》查看了消息的截图。

Dozens of bottles of wine were brought in from a nearby liquor store, Lake Wine & Spirits. Two store employees confirmed receipts showing wine purchases totaling thousands of dollars.

他们从附近的酒行Lake Wine＆Spirits带来了数十瓶葡萄酒。两名店员确认了收据，上面显示购买葡萄酒总计数千美元。

Mr. Liu’s accuser had been invited to the dinner by another executive inthe Carlson program, whom she had met while serving as a program volunteer, according to the statements she made to the police and WeChat messages sent to her by the executive’s assistant. The executive asked her to sit next to Mr.Liu, she told the police.

根据她向警方所作的陈述以及高管助理发给他的微信，刘强东的指控者是受卡尔森项目中的另一位高管邀请参加的晚宴，她因作为项目志愿者与这位高管结识。她告诉警方，这位高管要求她坐在刘强东的旁边。

The following day, the woman sent WeChat messages to friends saying thatMr. Liu had raped her after the dinner. She told them that she had been “way too drunk” and unable to stop Mr. Liu from touching her while they were in the back seat of a limo, which she also recounted to the police.

第二天，该女子向朋友发送了微信，称刘在晚餐后强奸了她。她告诉他们，她已经“太醉了”，无法阻止刘在与她坐在豪华轿车的后座时摸她，这也是她向警方讲述的一部分。

When she was driven to a house she did not recognize, she asked to be taken back to her apartment, according to her statement to the police. There, Mr. Liu forced himself on her, she told the police. She told him “no” several times, she said.

根据她对警方的陈述，当她被带到一个她不认识的房子时，她要求回到自己的公寓。她告诉警方，在那里，刘强东强奸了她。她说，她多次告诉刘“不要”。

A Carlson School administrator, Mandy Xue Bai, called the police in the morning after hearing about the alleged rape, according to the statements to the police. Ms. Bai also encouraged the woman to report the incident to the police. Ms. Bai declined to comment.

根据警方的陈述，在得知强奸指控后，卡尔森学院的一位管理人员白雪（Mandy Xue Bai，音）于上午报了案。白还鼓励这名女子向警方报告。白拒绝置评。

 “I am so very proud of our client’s courage, in coming forward and placing all of her trust and faith in the American justice system,” said Wil Florin, one of the lawyers representing Mr. Liu’s accuser.

 “我的委托人能够站出来，将她的信任与信念完全托付于美国司法系统，为此我深感自豪，”刘强东的指控者的代表律师之一威尔·弗罗林(Wil Florin)说。

Jill Brisbois, one of Mr. Liu’s lawyers, said that he was “unable to defend himself” because he “does not want to interfere with the process” while county attorneys decide whether to file charges.

刘强东的律师吉尔·布里斯博伊斯(Jill Brisbois)说，他“无法为自己辩护”，因为他“不想妨碍程序”，而县检察官则将决定是否提出指控。

“It is unfair to publish a one-sided story when once a determination has been made, all evidence will be disclosed to the public that will tell the complete story and we believe his innocence will be apparent,” she said in a statement.

 她在一份声明中说：“发表一个只有一方陈述的故事是不公平的，一旦做出认定，所有证据都会向公众披露，将事件完整呈现出来，我们相信他的清白将是显而易见的。”