Hush money
意思是a bribe paid to someone to insure that something is kept secret.(为了让某人对某事保密而行的贿赂)。Hush做动词可以解释为“不要做声,掩盖”。所以,hush money就是为了防止某人揭露一个罪行或者一个丑闻而付给他的一笔钱。
这种做法由来已久,hush money这个习惯用语也至少有三百年的历史了。如:Taking hush money from the underworld gang, the witness kept his mouth shut about what he saw.(目击者从黑社会歹徒那里拿了“封口费”,对他见到的一切守口如瓶)。
我们还可以用hush up来表达“掩盖”某事的意思,hush the scandal up就是指的“把丑闻掩盖起来”。
最近,山西干河矿难发生之后,记者争先恐后地赶到出事煤矿——不是为了采访报道,而是去领取煤矿发放的“封口费”,少则上千,多则几万。煤矿方面称,领取“封口费”的记者有四五十人,这其中不乏很多“假记者”,而且“封口费”的发放持续了数日。“封口费”没能“封”住事件真相,却引发了人们的反思。
请看相关报道:
Journalists from various media organizations were paid a total of 125,700 yuan not to report on a mine accident in Shanxi province on Sept 20, the General Administration of Press and Publication said Wednesday. Investigations by the local government revealed that dozens of journalists, some genuine and some not, went to the mine not to report on the accident, but to receivehush money.
本周三,国家新闻出版总署称,9月20日山西矿难发生后,从不同媒体赶赴山西的记者共领到12.57万元“封口费”。当地政府的调查显示,这些记者去煤矿的目的不是报道矿难,而是去领取“封口费”,