Show me the money  给我钱！ 

May 4th 2006 | NEW YORK 

From The Economist print edition 

（1）THE words “probate exception” do not titillate[1]. And yet a saucy[2], decade-long legal battle ______① a fortune of nearly half a billion dollars hinges on[3] this clause, which deals with the boundaries between state and federal courts in estate disputes. At issue[4] is whether Vickie Lynn Marshall, a former Playboy pin-up[5] and exotic dancer better known as Anna Nicole Smith, will get anything from the estate of her late husband, J. Howard Marshall, an oil tycoon with assets estimated _______② $1.6 billion.  

“对遗嘱公证可持有异议”这句话本身并无桃色意味。实际上，这是适用于涉及州立和联邦法庭之间处理财产纠纷的权限问题的条款。然而正是这一条款，让一场令人啼笑皆非、争夺大约5亿财产的诉讼持续十年之久。大家都对维基•琳恩•马歇尔能否从她已故丈夫的财产中分得一杯羹议论纷纷。马歇尔曾经是《花花公子》杂志的一名海报女郎和脱衣舞女，人称“安娜•尼科尔•史密斯”，她的丈夫J.霍华德•马歇尔则是一个拥有差不多16亿身家的石油大亨。 

On May 1st, Ms Smith won an important victory. Although her inheritance remains uncertain, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that she could pursue her case in federal court. （2）One suspects the justices were enjoying themselves, for once.  

5月1日，史密斯女士赢得了重大胜利。尽管她的继承权仍未明确，但美国最高法院一致裁决，她可以在联邦法院追诉。有人怀疑，法官们这是在逗闷玩儿，简直是破天荒头一次。 
（3）The details of the case have kept the tabloids busy. （4）Marshall met Ms Smith when he was wheeled[6] into the Texas strip club where she was dancing. After a courtship of a few years, full of expensive gifts (such as $2m in jewellery) and pricier promises, the two were married in 1994. She was 26, he was 89. Fourteen months later, Marshall dropped dead ________③ a heart attack, leaving nothing to Ms Smith in his will.  

那些街头小报为了捕捉此案一些细节而忙得不亦乐乎。（报道说，）马歇尔是被人用轮椅推进得克萨斯脱衣舞夜总会后结识了在那儿跳脱衣舞的史密斯。随着几年的求爱，加上数不胜数的昂贵礼物（比如200万美元的珠宝）跟一番海誓山盟之后，两人在1994年结婚。当时她26岁，而他89岁。十四个月过后，马歇尔死于心脏病，可在遗嘱中给史密斯女士分文未留。 

（5）The dispute has seen the inside of five courthouses since 1995, when Ms Smith first sued Marshall’s son, E. Pierce Marshall, in a Texas state court, accusing him of cutting her ________④ from the estate. She insists that Marshall promised her half his fortune. His son, seething[7] at what he considers Ms Smith’s gold-digging (he calls her “Miss Cleavage”), argued that Marshall had already given her $6m in gifts and did not intend to leave her more. Ms Smith got nothing from her first lawsuit, but was awarded $475m in a federal bankruptcy ruling in California in 2000. （6）A federal district court judge cut this award to $89m, and then a US appeals court ruled that the issue was not a federal matter.  

（7）The Supreme Court justices, who heard arguments in February, have not weighed in on the merits of Ms Smith’s case. （8）Indeed the buxom[8] blonde, who sniffled disingenuously during the hearings, has hardly been a sympathetic figure. The court’s opinion, written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is a technical one that measures the scope of the probate exception. It leaves _______⑤ state courts the probate or annulment[9] of a will and the administration of an estate. （9）This puts Marshall’s estate back into play, and ensures that bitter legal wrangling[10] will stretch on for years. 

今年2月就此案举行听证的最高法院法官并没有把史密斯一案当回事。事实上，这个在听证会上拿腔作势、哭哭啼啼的丰乳肥臀的金发女人，绝不是省油的灯。鲁思•巴德尔•金斯伯格法官（在一项声明中）写道，最高法院给出的是从技术层面权衡“遗嘱认证例外”范围的处理意见，至于遗嘱公证或认定无效以及财产如何分配则是州立法院的事。这就使得马歇尔的财产再度陷入纠葛之中，接下来肯定又是持续数年的激烈的法律纷争。