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A common subject for British mystery stories is a death at a seaside community.
英国悬疑故事的一个常见主题是发生在海滨社区的死亡事件。
But in the northeastern state of Maine, mysterious, real deaths happened — although the victims were trees that blocked the view from a wealthy family’s summer home.
但在东北部的缅因州，却发生了神秘的、真实的死亡事件——尽管受害者是一些树木，死因是它们挡住了一个富裕家庭避暑别墅的视线。
The story begins with a home kept by Amelia Bond, former chief of the St.Louis Foundation, and Arthur Bond III, an architect.
故事从圣路易斯基金会前负责人阿米莉亚-邦德和建筑师阿瑟-邦德三世的家开始。
Their summer home is on a hill that looks out onto Camden Harbor, part of Penobscot Bay, Maine.
他们的避暑别墅坐落在一座小山上，从那里可以俯瞰卡姆登港，这是缅因州彭诺布斯科特湾的一部分。
Amelia Bond brought a powerful chemical that kills plants, an herbicide, from Missouri in 2021.
阿梅莉亚·邦德在2021年从密苏里州带来了一种强大的化学物质，一种除草剂，可以杀死植物。
She placed it near tall trees on the waterfront property of Lisa Gorman. Gorman’s home is downhill from the Bonds’ home.
她把它放在丽莎-戈尔曼海滨庄园的高大树木附近。戈尔曼的家就在邦德家的下坡处。
To make matters worse, the chemical began to spread into a neighboring park and the town's only public seaside beach. The highest level of law enforcement for the state is now investigating.
更糟糕的是，这种化学物质开始扩散到邻近的公园和镇上唯一的公共海滨沙滩。目前，该州最高级别的执法部门正在进行调查。
Paul Hodgson is a resident of Camden who, like his neighbors, feels angry about the event.
保罗·霍奇森是卡姆登的居民，他和他的邻居们一样，对这一事件感到愤怒。
"Anybody dumb enough to poison trees right next to the ocean should be prosecuted, as far as I'm concerned," he said.
他谈道：“在我看来，任何愚蠢到在紧邻海洋的地方给树木下毒的人都应该被起诉。”
When the trees and other plant life began dying, Amelia Bond told Gorman in June 2022 that the trees did not look good and offered to share the cost of removing them, Gorman's lawyer wrote in a document.
2022年6月，当树木和其他植物开始死亡时，阿米莉亚·邦德告诉戈尔曼，这些树看起来不太好，并提出分担移除它们的费用，戈尔曼的律师在一份文件中写道。
Instead, Gorman had the trees tested. Soon, she called on lawyers to take action.
相反，戈尔曼对这些树进行了测试。很快，她叫来了律师律师采取行动。
The Bonds have paid more than $1.7 million in fines and payments to the town and neighbors.
邦德一家已向镇政府和邻居支付了 170 多万美元的罚款和赔偿金。
The trees are now gone and the harbor view from the Bonds’ home is improved. Bond used a chemical named Tebuthiuron.
树木现在已经消失了，邦德家的港口景色得到了改善。邦德使用了一种名为“特丁噻草隆”的化学物质。
It stays in the soil for a long time where it continues to kill plants.
这种物质会在土壤中停留很长时间，持续杀死植物。
Scott McElroy is an Auburn University professor specializing in weed science and herbicide chemistry.
斯科特·麦克尔罗伊是奥本大学的教授，专门研究杂草科学和除草剂化学。
He said it could take six months to two years for rain to dilute the chemical, so it no longer endangers plants.
他说，需要六个月到两年的时间，雨水才能将化学物质稀释到不再危害植物的程度。
Tom Hedstrom is a local government leader in Maine.
汤姆·赫德斯托姆是缅因州的一位地方政府领导人。
"Wealth and power don't always go hand in hand with intelligence, education and morals," he said.
他谈论道：“财富和权力并不总是与智慧、教育和道德相伴而行。”
"This was atrocious and gross and any other word you want to use to describe abhorrent behavior."
“这简直是残暴、粗鄙，以及其他任何你想用来形容可恶行为的词。”
The Bonds have paid a price for their actions, which they admitted in legal agreements.
邦德一家为他们的行为付出了代价，这是他们在法律协议中承认的。
The money they paid included fees for testing damage to the environment and for using an herbicide illegally.
他们支付的款项包括对环境损害进行测试的费用，以及非法使用除草剂的费用。
They also paid more than $1.5 million to Gorman in a legal settlement.
他们还在一项法律和解中向戈尔曼支付了超过150万美元。
Hodgson said it is not just wealthy summer visitors who break the rules.
霍奇森表示，违反规定的不只是富裕的夏季游客。
He said some residents in the community have been known to cut down trees, knowing that it is illegal.
他说，社区里的一些居民明知砍伐树木是违法的，但还是会这样做。
"They just pay the fine because they have plenty of money," Hodgson said. "That's the town we live in."
“他们只是交了罚款，因为他们有很多钱，”霍奇森说。“这就是我们生活的城镇。”
这简直是残暴、粗鄙，以及其他任何你想用来形容可恶行为的词。
I’m Jill Robbins.
我是吉尔·罗宾斯。
