段落分折：
这一大段主要围绕着皮愽迪想尽办法让马里兰州恢复支付利息而展开。商业银行家的一个显著特点就是担保自己经手的债券。而面对马里兰州和宾夕法尼亚州逃票，皮慱迪开始使出各种手段希望扭转这个局面。这些手段包括给记者好处费让他们发表对马里兰州有利的报导，与巴林银行联手促使马里兰州恢复还款⋯
原文段落：
A hallmark of merchant bankers was that they vouched for the securities they sponsored. At first, Peabody merely sent letters to Baltimore friends, scolding them about the need for Maryland to resume interest payments. Then he tired of persuasion and rewarded reporters with small gratuities for favorable articles about the state. At last, in 1845 he conspired with Barings to push Maryland into resuming payment. They set up a political slush fund to spread propaganda for debt resumption and to elect sympathetic legislators; they even drafted the clergy into giving sermons on the sanctity of contracts. By means of a secret account, the two firms transferred £1,000 to Baltimore, 90 percent from Barings and 10 percent from Peabody—a strategy Barings duplicated in Pennsylvania. Most shocking of all, Barings bribed Daniel Webster, the orator and statesman, to make speeches for debt repayment. The bankers conducted this shabby campaign with a skulking sense of guilt; it wasn’t their preferred style. “Your payment to Mr. Webster would not appear very well if it should get out,” Joshua Bates, the senior Baring partner, warned Thomas Ward, American bagman for the operation.12 Bates, a sober, diligent Bostonian, cringed at what they were doing: “I have a sort of instinctive horror of doing one thing to effect another, or using any sort of subterfuge or reserve,” he confessed to Ward.13
单词与短语：
Hallmark n. a mark indicating quality or excellence 品质证明，特点
Voucher v. to give personal assurance; guarantee 担保
securities n. stocks, shares, bonds, or other certificates 证劵
Slush fund n. a fund raised for undesignated purposes, espeically a fund raised by a group for corrupt practices, such as bribery or graft 贿赂金
Draft v. to engage someone to 使某人从事
Orator n. an eloquent and skilled public speaker 演说家
Shabby ajd. despicable; mean 卑鄙的
Skulk v. to lie in hiding, as out of cowardice or bad sonscience 躲避
sober adj. strightforward and serious 冷静
cringe v. to shrink back, as in fear 畏缩
Subterfuge n. deception used to achieve an end 诡计
金立群译文：
商人银行家们的一个特点就是他们为自己发售的债券作担保。起初，皮博迪只是写信责备巴尔的摩的朋友们，说服马里兰州必须恢复利息偿付。后来，他厌倦了劝说，转而用小账酬谢发表对马里兰州有利报道的记者们。最后，在1845年，他和巴林银行一道密谋促使马里兰州恢复偿还债务。他设立了用于收买政治官员的资金，以扩大恢复还债的宣传，选举同情他们的议员。他们甚至拉拢牧师，就合同的神圣性布道。通过秘密账户的方式，这两家公司转给巴尔的摩1000英镑，巴林兄弟公司出90%，皮博迪出10%。巴林兄弟公司对宾夕法尼亚州也用了同样的策略。最让人吃惊的是，巴林兄弟公司贿赂演说家和政治家丹尼尔・韦伯斯特，请他就债务的偿还问题作演说。银行家们怀着一种躲躲闪闪的内疚情感进行这场卑鄙的活动，而这不是他们喜欢的方式。“你给韦伯斯特先生塞钱的事一旦泄漏出去，将很不光彩。”巴林高级合伙人乔舒亚・贝茨这么告诫贿赂事件的美方中间人托马斯・沃德。(12)贝茨是波士顿人，他冷静且勤快，对他们正在做的事情有些畏畏缩缩。他向沃德坦白说：“对于举一事以成另一事或利用任何诡计和储备金，我都有一种直觉上的恐惧。”(13)
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