邓文迪：“灰姑娘”的童话落幕了

by William Langley

Wendi Deng， the continent-hopping， careerswapping， cream pie assailant-whacking wife of Rupert Murdoch， has proved only so adept at life on the big stage. Her talents are many， but ever since she married Rupert aboard his 155ft yacht 14 years ago， the odds have been stacked against her.

Mr Murdoch， as everyone knows， is really married to his business， and although his third wife may have given him a new lease of life， two daughters and an assisted passage into the 1）lucrative Chinese television market， there were many in the Murdoch cosmos who failed to take kindly to her.

“What first attracted you to your elderly billionaire husband？” was the question everybody joked about asking the young Chinese bride，a one-time waitress in a Los Angeles noodle 2）parlour. The notion of Mrs Murdoch as a dynastydevouring dragon-floozy proved hard to shift， and the news that Mr Murdoch wants a divorce on the grounds of an 3）irretrievable breakdown was surprising only in its suggestion that， when youre 82， anything is actually retrievable.

The couples troubles—regular gossip in medialand for years—have recently seeped into the mainstream. A year ago， the New York Times announced Ms Dengs“Declaration of Independence”， reporting that the pair lived largely separate lives， and that Mr Murdochs corporate 4）lieutenants were scheming to make sure that Mrs Murdoch “is kept at a distance”.

Happily， she was right by his side when， with one 5）virtuoso display of marital devotion， she became an overnight global sensation. In 2011， Mr Murdoch was giving stumbling evidence to a 6）parliamentary committee investigating phone hacking， when a protester ran in from the wings and tried to splat him with a foam pie. As others watched 7）dumbfounded， Ms Deng launched herself at the attacker and landed a fearsome， karate-style right-hander with the sound of a 8）halibut being dropped from a vast height on to a paving stone. The 9）prankster， one Jonnie Marbles， said later： “I saw the rage in her eyes. It was scary. I wouldnt want a rematch.”

邓文迪，这位鲁伯特·默多克的妻子，跨洋过海，跳换职途，为丈夫重击砸奶油派的袭击者，她证明了自己面对大舞台的生活是如此游刃有余。她才华横溢，但自从14年前，她在长达155英尺的游艇上嫁给鲁伯特后，重重困难便不断向她袭来。

默多克先生，正如众所周知的那样，其实他娶的是他的生意，尽管他的第三任妻子或许给了他新的生活、两个女儿和有助于他打入前景可观的中国电视市场的通衢大道，但默多克对她的很多事情并不太乐于接受。

“你这位年迈的亿万富翁丈夫在一开始吸引你的是什么？”这是人们在取笑这位年轻的中国新娘时常提的问题，这位新娘一度是洛杉矶一家面馆的服务生。人们认为她是个吞噬王朝的凶狠荡妇这一观点很难有所改变，默多克先生最终提出离婚的消息也是不出所料的，唯一令人惊讶的是他提出离婚的理由，说两人关系破裂到不可挽回，大家会觉得，都活到82岁了，还能有什么可以挽回的？

这对夫妇的问题——多年来都是媒体界的花边新闻——最近成为了主流话题。一年前，《纽约时报》发表了邓女士的“独立宣言”，报道称这对夫妇大部分时间过着分居生活，而且默多克公司的助理们在谋划如何确保默多克夫人“被保持在一定距离之外”。

让人高兴的是，当她精彩地展示出她对婚姻的奉献精神时，她不仅获得了对方阵营的认可，还一夜之间成为了全世界的佳话。2011年，默多克先生在向议会委员会就电话窃听丑闻提供拙劣的证据时，一位抗议者从侧厅冲进来并企图将一盘泡沫派拍向他。正当所有人都愣住之际，邓女士从凳子上跳了起来，并以右掌给了这名突袭者可怕的空手道式的一巴掌，那声响就如一条大比目鱼被人从高空往铺路石上一摔那般响亮。那个恶作剧的人，是一个叫强尼·马布尔斯的家伙，在事件之后说：“我见到她眼中的那股怒火。吓死人了。我可不想和她再对战。”

When you are as rich as Mr Murdoch， divorce is a costly and complex prospect. His previous wife， Anna， collected $1 billion when he divorced her in 1999， 17 days before marrying the then 30-year-old Ms Deng. It is unlikely that she will receive much less. Some Murdochwatchers expressed surprise that the couple hadnt settled for a simpler together-but-apart arrangement.

By taking the heavy option， Mr Murdoch has fed the notion that something 10）irresolvable has happened in the background. This was given a dose of rocket fuel by the BBCs business editor， Robert Peston， who claimed in a tweet that “the undisclosed reasons for Murdoch divorcing Deng are jaw-dropping”.

11）Allegations of Ms Dengs 12）indiscretions have flown around for years， sometimes in such profusion and detail as to suggest a deliberate smear campaign. American newspapers have， from time to time， been contacted by an anonymous 13）tipster using the Gotham City 14）pseudonym Harvey Dent to identify supposed lovers from the worlds of politics， big business or the movies.

The greater likelihood is that Ms Deng was never really cut out for life as a Murdoch， and that as her husband has aged and his power has flowed in the direction of others—particularly his grown-up children by Anna—things have become more difficult for his outsider wife.

像默多克先生那么富有的人，离婚是一件成本非常高且极为复杂的事。他的前任妻子安娜，在1999年与他离婚时获得了十亿美金，17天后，默多克就与当时年纪为30岁的邓女士结婚了。所以邓文迪将获得的也不会少到哪里去。关注默多克的人士对于两人不简单弄个“形合实分”的协议表示惊讶。

通过做出代价沉重的选择，默多克先生助长了人们的某种想法，即认为背后必定发生了一些无法解决的情况。而BBC的商业编辑罗伯特·佩斯顿则更是给这一想法添了一剂火箭燃料，他在推特微博上说：“默多克和邓文迪离婚的神秘原因让人惊讶得下巴都掉下来了。”

对于邓女士言行不检的陈述已沸沸扬扬地传了好些年了，有时候那种丰富和细节描述简直像蓄谋已久的一轮恶意诽谤。美国多间报社不时收到一名以高谭市哈维·丹特为假名的告密者的联系，并从全世界范围内的政客、商业大腕或影星中指认传闻中的秘密情人。

更大的可能是邓女士从来就不适合作为默多克家族的一员来过生活，因为她的丈夫年事已高，而其权力也已流入其他人的掌控之中——尤其是他与安娜所生的几个成年孩子——情势对于他这位局外的妻子来说已变得越来越困难。

The couple met in 1997 at a time when Murdoch was trying， with 15）uncharacteristic lack of success， to break into the Chinese media market. The story goes that Mr Murdoch was 16）berating the troops at his Hong Kong TV headquarters when Ms Deng， a junior employee， stood up and asked： “Well， why is your China strategy so bad？”

He sought her out afterwards and was struck， not only by her confidence， but by what Vogue magazine called“the kind of looks usually reserved for a James Bond 17）villainess”. Soon， she was not only his wife， but a key tool in his advance upon China.

Ms Deng was born in eastern China in 1968， one of four children. “I grew up in a funny little town called Xuzhou，”she has said. “In the countryside， very poor. We didnt have hot water.” Her parents were factory engineers and convinced Communist Party members， who named her Wenge meaning“cultural revolution”. She later changed it to Wendi， but praises her mother and father for pushing her towards learning and achievement and ultimately into a medical school in Guangzhou， close to the Hong Kong border.

这对夫妇是在1997年相遇的，当时默多克想要打入中国传媒市场，却一反常态遭遇滑铁卢。故事是默多克在香港电视总部训斥下属的时候，邓女士，作为一名低级员工，站了起来并问道：“那么，是什么原因导致你的中国策略这么失败的呢？”

他之后找她见面，还为她感到震撼，不仅仅是因为她的自信，还因为她具有《Vogue》杂志所言的“占士邦坏女郎通常具有的那类外貌”。很快，她不仅成为了他的妻子，还成为他朝中国市场进军的关键棋子。

邓女士于1968年生于中国东部，是家里四个孩子之一。“我在一个有意思的小镇长大，这个镇叫徐州，”她说过。“在乡下，非常穷。我们没有热水。”她的父母是工厂工程师和忠心的中国共产党员，给她取名“文革”，意为“文化大革命”。后来她把名字改成了文迪，但一直对父母表示感激，因为是他们对她学习的敦促，她才取得好成绩，最终进入广州（濒临香港的边界）的一所医学院。

It was there that she met an American woman， Joyce Cherry， who taught her English and became a friend. When Mrs Cherry and her husband， Jake， returned to the US， they obtained permission for Ms Deng to accompany them and to continue her studies at California State University. Not long after arriving in Los Angeles， however， Mrs Cherry discovered that Jake and the teenage Wendi were having an affair. The Cherrys divorced， and Ms Deng and Jake married. By the time it ended， 18）just four months later， Ms Deng had decided to stay in the US.

She worked punishing hours in a Chinese restaurant to support her studies， landing a prized place at Yale Business School， and later a job at Mr Murdochs Star TV 19）subsidiary. She was on a trip to drum up business in Hong Kong when the boss breezed through.

If Ms Dengs rise rings with a certain ruthlessness， her supporters insist it is not the whole story. Many claim that her influence on Rupert has been overwhelmingly good. “She is fabulous to work with， a real pro， terrific at bringing people together，” said Tina Brown， the magazine editor.

The girl from Guangzhou has the glamour， the money and the connections， but her future seems less certain. If life as Mrs Murdoch isnt always easy， it can be a lot harder when you are suddenly someone else.

就在那里，她遇到了一位教她英语并与之成为朋友的美国女士——乔伊斯·查瑞。当查瑞夫人和她的丈夫杰克回到美国后，他们为邓文迪取得签证，她得以陪同他们到美国并在加利福尼亚州立大学继续深造。然而，就在到达洛杉矶后不久，查瑞夫人便发现杰克和这位少女邓文迪有染。查瑞夫妇离婚，然后邓文迪和杰克结了婚。直到这段关系结束之时，也就是他们结婚四个月之后，邓文迪决定留在美国。

她在一家中餐馆里拼命工作来支撑她的学业，在耶鲁商学院获得珍贵的一席之地，而后在默多克旗下的星空传媒子公司谋得一职。在准备前往香港发展事业的途中，邓遇到了星空传媒的老板。

如果说邓文迪崛起的故事充斥着某种不择手段，那么她的支持者则会强调这不是整个故事的全部。很多人认为她对鲁伯特的影响是极好的。“她是一位极佳的工作伙伴，是一名真正的专业人士，在团结人方面很在行，”杂志编辑蒂娜·布朗如是说。

这位来自广州的女孩拥有美貌、财富和人脉，但她的未来却似乎不那么确定。如果说作为默多克夫人的生活并不总是很好过的话，那突然变成另外一个人定会是难上加难。