Musk无情的离婚方式及影响【硅谷钢铁侠：Elon Musk 08A】

Questions:

1. According to Justine, had Elon notified her before he filed a divorce?

2. How did Justine’s posts affect Elon and his business?

The media coverage and divorce freed Justine towrite about her private life in a much more liberated way. In the posts thatfollowed, she gave her account of how the marriage ended, her views on Musk'sgirlfriend and future second wife, and the inner workings of the divorceproceedings. For the first time, the public had access to a deeply unpleasantportrayal of Musk and received some firsthand accounts —albeit from an ex-wife– of his hardline behavior. The writing may have been biased, but it provided awindow into how Musk operated. Here's one post about the lead-up to the divorceand its rapid execution:

Divorce, for me, was like the bomb you set off whenall other options have been exhausted. I had not yet given up on the diplomacyoption, which was why I hadn't already filed. We were still in the early stagesof marital counseling (three sessions total). Elon, however, took matters intohis own hands—he tends to like to do that— when he gave me an ultimatum:“Either we fix the marriage today, or I will divorce you tomorrow.”

That night, and again the next morning, he asked mewhat I wanted to do. I stated emphatically that I was not ready to unleash thedogs of divorce; I suggested that “we” hold off for at least another week. Elonnodded, touched the top of my head, and left. Later that same morning I triedto make a purchase and discovered that he had cut off my credit card, which iswhen I also knew that he had gone ahead and filed (as it was, E did not tell medirectly; he had another person do it).

For Musk, each online missive from Justine createdanother public relations crisis that added to the endless stream of issuesfaced by his companies. The image he'd sculpted over the years appeared readyto crumble alongside his business. It was a disaster scenario.

Key Words & Phrases

1)liberated adj. 解放的，开放的 free from the restrictions
2) account n. 解释，说明
3) inner workings 内部运作
4) divorce proceedings 离婚诉讼
5) portrayal （角色的）扮演，刻画，演绎 An actor's portrayal of a character in a play or film is the way thathe or she plays the character.
6) a deeply unpleasant portrayal of Musk Musk郁郁寡欢的形象
7) albeit 虽然; 即使 although
8) hardline adj. 强硬的，不妥协的
e.g. The United States has taken a lot of criticism for its hardline stance.
美国因其强硬立场遭到众多非议。
9) provide a window into 提供一个了解…的视角
10) lead-up n. 先声，前导，前奏
e.g. The lead-up to the wedding was extremely interesting.
婚礼的前奏非常有意思。
11) execution n. 执行，实行
12) set off the bomb 引爆炸弹
13) exhaust v. 用尽，耗尽，使精疲力尽
14) give up on… 对…绝望／不抱希望
My teachers gave up on me.
老师们对我不抱任何希望了。
15) diplomacy option 外交选项（指”协商“的选项）
16) emphatically adv. 强调地，断然地，明显地
17) give somebody an ultimatum 下最后通牒
18) unleash v. 解开…绳索，释放
19) cut off the credit card 停用信用卡
20) missive n. 信件 A missive is a letter or other message thatsomeone sends.
21) add to the endless stream of issues 雪上加霜，祸不单行add insult into injury
22) sculpt v. 雕刻，雕塑
23) crumble v. 瓦解; 破碎