韩国女孩47000条短信杀死男友 | Albert书房

1

背景

今年5月20日，22岁的美国波士顿学院亚裔学生Alexander Urtula在毕业典礼当天跳楼自杀。

▲Alexander Urtula

Alexander在波士顿大学攻读生物学的4年，不仅一直成绩十分优异，还积极参与社团活动。没人知道他死前有严重的抑郁症，一直有轻生的想法。

随着警方调查，一个可怕的事实浮现了出来：原来一直有一个人在一步步操控着他的自杀——他的韩籍女友Inyoung You。

▲外媒报道截屏

警察翻出2人过往的短信记录，近两个月内两人共有7.5万条短信。

其中，由Inyoung发出的就有4.7万条，平均下来她每天都要发约800条短信！

这些短信并不是甜蜜的负担，而是几乎句句充斥言语暴力和威胁恐吓，甚至教唆Alexander去自杀。

事件发生后Inyoung You很快退学返回了韩国。上个月，波士顿地方检察官正式宣判将以“过失杀人罪”起诉Inyoung You。

2

原文

《The New York Times》文章：

Former Boston College Student Charged in Boyfriend’s Suicide after Thousands of Texts

By Kate Taylor

A former Boston College student has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the suicide of her college boyfriend on his graduation day, prosecutors announced on Monday.

manslaughter/过失杀人，murder/谋杀，对比一下更容易理解；

involuntary/非自愿的更强调“过失”，所以involuntary manslaughter就是法律意义上更正式的说法，相当于 “过失杀人罪”；

The charge, announced by Rachael Rollins, the Suffolk County district attorney, bore similarities to the case of Michelle Carter, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2017 for repeatedly urging a close friend in text messages to kill himself.

district attorney美国地方检察官（略作D.A.），代表政府起诉罪犯；

urge/敦促，催促；text message短信的正确说法；更简略的说法是text, 见标题；

The former student, Inyoung You, 21, and her boyfriend, Alexander Urtula, 22, were attending Boston College when Mr. Urtula leapt to his death from a parking garage in the Boston neighborhood of Roxbury on May 20. Mr. Urtula’s family, from New Jersey, was in Boston that day to watch him appear in the graduation ceremony at 10 a.m. He died about 90 minutes before it began.

leapt to his death，纵身一跃，非常悲惨的画面

In a news conference, Ms. Rollins said Ms. You had been physically, verbally and psychologically abusive to Mr. Urtula over the course of an 18-month relationship, with the abuse becoming more intense and demeaning in the days and hours before his death. She said classmates and family members had observed the abuse, which was also documented in Mr. Urtula’s journal and in tens of thousands of text messages.

physically, verbally and psychologically，身体上、语言上、精神上

abusive/对(某人)虐待的

In those texts, prosecutors said, Ms. You urged Mr. Urtula hundreds of times to kill himself, using words like “go kill yourself” and “go die,” and repeatedly saying that she, his family and the world would be better off without him. Ms. You also used attempts and threats of self-harm to control Mr. Urtula, Ms. Rollins said.

self-harm/自我伤害，自残

The New York Times was unable to contact a representative for Ms. You on Monday.Prosecutors said that on the morning of Mr. Urtula’s suicide, Ms. You was tracking his location on her phone, as she frequently did, and was present on the roof of the garage at the time that he jumped.

“The indictment alleges Ms. You’s behavior was wanton and reckless, and resulted in overwhelming Mr. Urtula’s will to live,” Ms. Rollins said, “and that she created life-threatening conditions for him that she had a legal duty to alleviate, which, we allege, she failed to do.”

indictment/正式的控告；对比allegation/口头的指控（不一定已经正式提交法院）

“Domestic violence may not always look the same,” she added, “but it is always about power and control.”

Domestic violence/家庭暴力

Ms. You, who studied economics and was scheduled to graduate in May 2020, withdrew from classes in August, according to a Boston College spokesman.

economics/经济学

She is currently in South Korea, where she is from, Ms. Rollins said. Prosecutors said that a grand jury returned an indictment in the case this month, and that they were working to secure Ms. You’s return to the United States.

grand jury 指通常由23位公民做组成的大陪审团；jury指通常由12名公民组成的陪审团

“We’re in contact with somebody who is saying that they’re representing her, to see if she will voluntarily return,” Ms. Rollins said. “If she does not, we will utilize the power we have to get her back.”

In the two months before Mr. Urtula’s death, Ms. Rollins said, the couple exchanged more than 75,000 text messages, including more than 47,000 sent by Ms. You.

Asked to compare this case with the case of Ms. Carter, who was 17 when her friend, Conrad Roy III, killed himself, Ms. Rollins said that there were similarities but also significant differences.

四五年前轰动美国的案件：Conrad Roy的异地恋女朋友Michelle Carter通过短信长期催促其自杀，最终导致Roy通过汽车排出的一氧化碳自杀身亡；

Ms. Carter had very limited physical contact with Mr. Roy, but “we have, quite frankly, I would say, the opposite of that,” she said. “We have a barrage of a complete and utter attack on this man’s very will and conscience and psyche by an individual, to the tune of 47,000 text messages in the two months leading up, and an awareness, we would argue, of his frail state at that point.”

这里检察官要强调的是两个案件之间的巨大差异性，即该案件的主犯与受害者有长期实际的接触；

a barrage of/一连串的；to the tune of/达到…的数量

The Massachusetts Legislature is considering a bill called “Conrad’s Law” that would make it a crime punishable by up to five years in prison to encourage or coerce someone into killing himself or herself.

美国是联邦制国家，每个州有自己独立的议会，即立法机构/ legislature；

巧合的是此次案件和几年前Conrad Roy的案件都发生在Massachusetts/马萨诸塞州，中国人俗称的“麻省”。

The Boston College spokesman, Jack Dunn, said Mr. Urtula was a biology major. He had completed his course work in December 2018 and was working as a researcher in New York at the time of his suicide.

major除了表示“专业”也可以表示主修某专业的那位学生；再次提醒我们英文里名词用法非常丰富灵活

“Alexander was a gifted student at Boston College, who was involved in many activities, including the Philippine Society of Boston College,” Mr. Dunn said. “We continue to offer our condolences to Alex’s family.”