杜魯門：他們是賊，每一個都是賊(紐約時報)

这是转自台湾网友的译文：

紐約時報今天花了相當大的篇幅，回顧蔣宋美齡的一生（標題：蔣女士，105，中國領導人的寡婦，死亡 ）非常值得注意的事，整篇文章，從開始到結尾都不斷強調一件事，就是蔣宋美齡A了美國的錢，也清楚提及美國人對蔣宋美齡幻滅(disillusion)的 過程。台灣的部分媒體和政客只顧吹噓蔣宋美齡如何受到美國人愛戴，而隱藏美國人後來極端厭惡蔣宋美齡的事實。

因為篇幅太大，我僅就台灣部分媒體不會提及的段落翻譯出來，上下文難免不接，翻譯不好，請海涵。

Yet historians have documented the murderous path that Chiang Kai-shek led in his efforts to win, then keep, and ultimately lose power. It also became clear in later years that the Chiang family had pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars of American aid intended for the war.

但是歷史學家們紀錄了蔣介石以殘殺手腕，贏取，保有，最終失去權力的過程。後來幾年，事情變得明朗化，蔣氏家庭A了好幾億用來支援中國抗日和打***戰爭的美援。

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Although Madame Chiang developed a stellar image with the American public, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other leaders became disillusioned with her and her husband's despotic and corrupt practices. Eleanor Roosevelt was shocked at Madame Chiang's answer when asked at a dinner at the White House how the Chinese Government would handle a strike by coal miners. Madame Chiang silently drew a sharp fingernail across her neck.

"She can talk beautifully about democracy," Mrs. Roosevelt said later. "But she does not know how to live democracy."

雖然蔣女士在美國的公眾輿論裡有一種明星般的形象，法蘭克福‧羅斯福總統和其它領袖們，對她和她丈夫專制和腐敗的作為感到幻滅。Eleanor羅斯 福女士在一場白宮晚餐中，當問到蔣女士中國政府要如何處理煤礦工人罷工問題的時感到驚恐：蔣女士不發一語，用尖銳的指甲在她的脖子前比了一比。

「她可以把民主談得很漂亮，但是她不知道如何生活在民主政治裡」羅斯福女士事後說。

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By the end of the war, the loyalty of Nationalist officials melted away as the Government grew corrupt and fiscally traitorous, printing money so aggressively that the Chinese currency fell to an exchange rate of several million yuan to the dollar. Many Nationalist soldiers were reduced to begging for food because they went unpaid, yet American diplomats discovered that military supplies sent from the United States to China sometimes appeared on the black market soon after arrival.

戰爭結束前夕，國民政府的官員們對政府的忠誠已消失殆盡。政府愈來愈貪婪，甚至在財政上叛國，貪得無厭的印鈔票，使得中國對美金的匯率跌到只剩好幾 百萬分之一。許多國民政府的軍隊因沒有薪水而被迫乞討，但是美國外交官員們發現，從美國送去中國的軍事補給，有時在一抵達中國就出現在黑市上。

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Even at the busiest times of war, Madame Chiang often left her husband and disappeared into seclusion in New York for months at a time. The Chiang camp was too secretive to deny rumors about marital troubles, but Madame Chiang's retreats may also have been caused by a debilitating skin condition.

即使再戰爭最緊張的時刻，蔣女士也經常離開她的丈夫，忽然消失在紐約幾個月，蔣幫因為太神秘而無能反駁有關他們婚姻的謠言，但是蔣女士的自動消失，或許也肇因於她日益惡化的皮膚狀況。

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Madame Chiang went out shopping in her limousine one afternoon, and did not return home by evening.

在上海時，那天蔣女士如常地坐著她的大型加長Limousine上街購物...(這段講到她和毒販頭子杜月笙的恩怨)

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Madame Chiang made a splash in Washington soon afterward. She spoke forcefully and passionately to Congress, winning a roaring ovation. She then traveled across the country, appearing at Madison Square Garden and at the Hollywood Bowl.

But she earned the enmity of American G.I.'s when she returned to China's wartime capital, Chungking, with several suitcases, one of which plopped open to reveal luxurious cosmetics, lingerie and fancy groceries.

It was a small sign of the growing corruption within the Nationalists that would speed their undoing.

蔣女士很快的在華府引起風潮，她在國會強有力和熱情的演說，引起了如雷的掌聲，她然後橫越整個國家，出現在麥迪遜花園廣場和好萊屋Bowl。

但是她同時卻引起了美國軍人對她的厭惡，尤其是她回到戰時的首都重慶，帶著許多箱的皮箱，其中一個撐開來，露出了裡面奢華的化妝品，私人衣物和時髦昂貴的日用品。

這只是國民政府正迅速的走向自我毀滅，逐漸腐敗的小警訊。

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Other American officials in China also warned against the vast amounts of graft among Nationalists. More than $3 billion was appropriated to China during the war, and most of it was transmitted through T.V. Soong, who as China's foreign minister was based in Washington. It later became apparent that the Soong family suffered vicious infighting over the purloined funds..

其他在中國的美國官員也對國民政府偷雞摸狗的腐敗行徑發出警告。美國在戰時，支援中國超過三十億美元，但是大多數都是宋子文經手，宋是中國住在華府的財政首長。後來事實顯示，宋家為了分贓這些A來的美援，搞得家庭很不愉快。

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Madame Chiang traveled to Washington again in November 1948 to plead for emergency aid for the war against the Communists. Yet Congress had recently assigned another $1 billion to China, and President Truman was impatient with the Chiangs and what had become an apparently hopeless effort to shore up the Nationalist Government. Madame Chiang never returned to China.

蔣女士在1948年十月到華府來要錢打***，但是美國國會才通過對中國的十億援助，此時杜魯門總統對蔣家夫婦已經非常沒有耐心，給蔣家錢對於支持國民民政府根本沒有一點幫助。蔣女士從此沒有再回到中國。

"I can ask the American people for nothing more," she said. "It is either in your hearts to love us, or your hearts have been turned from us."

蔣女士說： 「我不會在向美國人要什麼了，要不是你們愛我們，要不就是你們的心已背離了我們。」

In her frustration, she publicly likened American politics to 'clodhopping boorishness." Coming after years of generous American support, that irritated Truman.

挫折之下，她公開的將美國政治比喻成「無恥的粗鄙無文」。美國多年來對蔣家這樣大方的支持，竟然換得這樣的評價，這激怒了杜魯門。

"They're thieves, every damn one of them," Mr. Truman said later, referring to Nationalist leaders. "They stole $750 million out of the billions that we sent to Chiang. They stole it, and it's invested in real estate down in SÄao Paolo and some right here in New York."

「他們是賊，她們每一個人都是賊」，杜魯門指的就是國民政府的領導人，「他們從我們送給蔣政府的上十億美金裡，偷取了將近七億五千萬美金。他們偷了這筆錢，而且將這筆錢投資在巴西的聖保羅，以及就在這裡，紐約的房地產。」