robber baron 強盜貴族

Lots of stock manipulation charges followed Vanderbilt around, and he almost lost his fortune to a competitor named Daniel Drew, in a fight over the Erie Railroad. The New York Times likened Vanderbilt to medieval robber barons, who as gatekeepers, or actually more of a protection racket, would charge merchants for being allowed to operate on their land without getting robbed and beaten. Robber barons didn’t do anything but charge for something they could do. Historian John Steele Gordon did some work trying to find references to medie-val robber barons anytime before the 1850 reference to Vander-bilt, and came up empty. It fit a narrative, though, so the Times went with it, but there may never have been such a creature as a robber baron. With that reference, an expression was born that is still being used today. (source: Eat People) 范德比爾特引來許多人指控他炒作股票，後來在與朱魯（Daniel Drew）競奪伊利鐵路（Erie Railroad）之後，幾乎失去全部的財產。《紐約時報》把范德比爾特比喻為中世紀的強盜貴族（robber barons）。強盜貴族其實就像收保護費的黑道，凡是行經他們土地的商人，都得奉上一筆費用，才不至遭到搶劫和毒打。強盜貴族什麼事也不做，自己能做的事讓別人去做再收費。歷史學家高登（John Steele Gordon）下了一番功夫研究，想要找出一八五○年給范德比爾特冠上強盜貴族這個稱號之前，中世紀是不是曾有強盜貴族，結果一無所獲。但是因為這樣的形容相當生動適當，所以《紐約時報》繼續使用，不過世界上可能真的從來沒有強盜貴族這種人。直到今天，大家也沿用《紐約時報》的說法。