好英语网雪莉、具荷拉自杀背后，韩国K-pop行业的阴暗面
SEOUL, South Korea — When the K-pop star Sulli ended her own life last month, her fellow K-pop singer Goo Hara was heartbroken, bidding a farewell to her best friend in a live-streaming video. With tears running down her cheeks, Ms. Goo expressed hope that Sulli would live “as she pleases” in heaven.
韩国首尔——韩国流行音歌手雪莉(Sulli)上月结束了自己的生命后，同为歌手的具荷拉(Goo Hara)非常难过，她在一个直播视频中与她最好的朋友告别。泪流满面的具荷拉表示，她希望雪莉能“自由自在”地生活在天堂。
“I will live twice more diligently now that you are gone,” she said. “Dear fans, I will be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“你走了以后，我要加倍努力地生活，”她说。“亲爱的粉丝们，我会没事的。别为我担心。”
But on Sunday, six weeks after Sulli’s death, Ms. Goo herself was found dead in her Seoul home in what the police were calling a suicide. The suicides by two of K-pop’s most beloved stars have left fans in South Korea soul-searching over what has gone wrong in K-pop, their country’s most successful cultural export.
但在周日，也就是雪莉去世六周后，具荷拉本人被发现在首尔的家中死亡，警方称她是自杀。她们两人属于韩国乐坛最受欢迎的明星之列，其自杀让韩国乐迷们开始反思该国最成功的文化输出——K-pop到底出了什么问题。
Lee Yong-pyo, the chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, told reporters that Ms. Goo’s body was found by a maid on Sunday evening. Investigators also found a handwritten memo in which Ms. Goo expressed her despair, Mr. Lee said.
首尔警察厅负责人李容杓（Lee Yong-pyo，音）告诉记者，周日晚上，一名女佣发现了她的尸体。李容杓说，调查人员还发现了一份手写的备忘录，具荷拉在里面表达了绝望之情。
As grief-stricken fans flocked to the Seoul hospital where her body lay, her family was planning to hold the funeral in private.
悲恸的粉丝们纷纷涌向首尔安放她遗体的医院，她的家人计划举行不对外公开的葬礼。
2012年，具荷拉（中）所在的流行组合Kara在首尔演出。
Once popular mainly just in Asian countries, K-pop girl groups and boy bands, like BTS, now command huge global followings. The genre has captured the imagination of fans around the world with its fusion of synthesized songs, video art, fashionable outfits and synchronized dance routines that mix teasing sexuality with doe-eyed innocence.
曾经主要在亚洲国家流行的K-pop女子组合和BTS这样的男子团体，如今在全球拥有大量追随者。这种音乐类型融合了歌曲、视频艺术、时尚的服装，以及混合撩人性感和天真眼神的同步舞蹈，抓住了世界各地歌迷的想像。
But entertainment industry experts have long warned about the dark side of the scandal-ridden K-pop industry, which has remained largely hidden behind its glamour.
但在魅力四射的表象下，K-pop行业丑闻缠身，娱乐业专家早就对它的阴暗面发出了警告。
Legions of young South Koreans train for years, often starting in their early teens, honing their singing skills and dance moves in hopes of impressing “star management” agencies who deem them good enough to debut their first song. Even after they make the cut to become K-pop idols, their star status rarely lasts long, as younger stars with cuter looks and fancier dance moves replace them. K-pop stars in their late 20s are already considered old, and these fading idols often try to carve out new roles in acting or as solo singers or talk-show regulars — a difficult transition that is often not successful.
大批年轻的韩国人通常从十几岁开始投入多年训练，磨练歌唱技巧和舞蹈动作，希望打动“明星经纪公司”，让它们觉得自己足够优秀，可以推出首支歌曲。即使成为韩国流行偶像之后，他们的明星地位也很少能持续很长时间，因为更年轻的明星以更可爱的外表和更花哨的舞步取代了他们。30岁不到的韩国流行歌手已经被认为很老了，这些走下坡路的偶像经常试图转型，成为演员、独唱歌手或脱口秀常客——这是一个艰难的转变，通常不会成功。
The K-pop phenomenon gets disseminated largely through YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and other social media channels, where its stars are exposed to both a flood of fan letters and hateful comments and cyberbullying on everything from their looks to their singing skills to their private lives.
K-pop现象主要通过YouTube、Instagram、Twitter和其他社交媒体渠道传播，明星们在这些渠道中不仅会收到大量粉丝来信，还有充满仇恨的评论和网络霸凌，从外表到歌唱技巧再到私生活，每个方面都会受到攻击。
“From an early age, they live a mechanical life, going through a spartan training regimen,” said Lee Hark-joon, a South Korean journalist who has produced a TV documentary on the making of a K-pop girl group and co-wrote the book “K-pop Idols: Popular Culture and the Emergence of the Korean Music Industry.” “They seldom have a chance to develop a normal school life or normal social relationships as their peers do.”
“他们从小过着机械的生活，受着斯巴达式的训练，”韩国记者李赫俊（Lee Hark-joon，音）说，他曾拍摄过一部关于打造K-pop女子组合的电视纪录片，并合著了《K-pop偶像：流行文化和韩国音乐产业的崛起》(K-pop Idols: Popular Culture and the Emergence of the Korean Music Industry)一书。“他们很少有机会像同龄人那样发展正常的学校生活或正常的社会关系。”
“Their fall can be as sudden and as dramatic as their rise to the height of fame,” and all at a young age, Mr. Lee added. “Theirs is a profession especially vulnerable to psychological distress — they are scrutinized on social media around the clock, and fake news about their private lives is spread instantly.”
“他们的坠落可能和成名一样突然、一样戏剧化，”李赫俊还说，而且都是在如此年轻的时候。“他们的职业尤其容易受到心理压力的影响——他们会在社交媒体上受到无时无刻的关注，关于他们私生活的假新闻会立即传播开来。”
In 2017, Sulli, a former member of the South Korean girl group f(x), attended a memorial for another K-pop star, Kim Jong-hyun, 27, who had killed himself after leaving a note that said he was consumed by depression.
2017年，曾是韩国女子组合f(x)成员的雪莉参加了另一位K-pop歌手、27岁的金钟铉(Kim Jong-hyun)的悼念活动。金钟铉在留下一张纸条后自杀，上面写着他被抑郁所吞噬。
Sulli, 25, took her own life last month after she bitterly complained about misogynistic internet trolls, especially after she joined a feminist campaign that advocated not wearing bras.
25岁的雪莉上个月结束了自己的生命，此前她曾激烈控诉那些歧视女性的网络喷子，尤其是在她参加了一个倡导不穿胸罩的女权运动之后。
Ms. Goo, 28, a former member of the wildly popular K-pop girl group Kara, had also struggled with online attacks. Trolls spread rumors that she owed her looks largely to plastic surgery. She admitted that she had gone under the knife for droopy eyes.
28岁的具荷拉曾是广受欢迎的K-pop女子组合Kara的成员，她也曾受到网络攻击的困扰。网络喷子们散布谣言说她的美貌主要归功于整容手术。她承认她因为眼皮下垂做过手术。
Things turned worse for her after she broke up with her hair-designer boyfriend, Choi Jong-beom. And rumors spread that there was video footage of the couple engaging in sex.
在她和她的发型设计师男友崔钟范(Choi Jong-beom)分手后，事情变得更糟了。有传言称有人拥有这对情侣的性爱视频。
“I won’t be lenient on these vicious commentaries any more,” Ms. Goo wrote on her Instagram account in June, complaining about her “mental health” problems and “depression.” (After her death, such posts on her Instagram account were removed.)
“我再也不会容忍这些恶毒的评论了，”今年6月，具荷拉在她的Instagram账户上写道，她倾诉了自己的“心理健康”问题和“抑郁”。（她去世后，她Instagram上的这些帖子被删除了。）
At times, she sounded desperate, pleading for her critics to relent.
有时，她听起来很绝望，恳求批评她的人不要那么刻薄。
“Is there no one out there with a beautiful mind who can embrace people who suffer?” she pleaded.
“难道就没有一个心灵美好的人来拥抱受折磨的人们吗？””她恳求道。
“Public entertainers like myself don’t have it easy — we have our private lives more scrutinized than anyone else and we suffer the kind of pain we cannot even discuss with our family and friends,” she said. “Can you please ask yourself what kind of person you are before you post a vicious comment online?”
“像我这样的娱乐公众人物日子并不好过——我们的私生活受到的审视比任何人都多，我们甚至无法和家人朋友说起这种痛苦，”她说。“在网上发表恶意评论之前，你们能自问一下，自己是个什么样的人吗?”
The situation with her ex-boyfriend, Mr. Choi, became particularly contentious. She sued him last year, accusing him of threatening to spread the footage of them having sex. In August, he was sentenced to a year and a half in prison on charges of blackmailing, coercion and inflicting bodily harm against Ms. Goo. But his jail term was suspended by the court, keeping him free.
她与前男友崔钟范的关系尤其麻烦不断。她去年起诉他，称他威胁要传播他们的性爱视频。今年8月，他被判入狱一年半，罪名是敲诈、胁迫和对具荷拉实施人身伤害。但法庭暂缓了他的刑期，让他得以保持自由身。
Ms. Goo’s suicide has already resulted in soul-searching in South Korea. The number of people who supported an online petition to the office of President Moon Jae-in asking for harsher punishment for sexual harassment has more than doubled to 217,000 since her suicide was reported.
具荷拉的自杀已经在韩国引发了反思。自从自杀报道以来，一份向文在寅(Moon Jae-in)总统办公室发起的网上请愿支持者人数增加了一倍多，达到21.7万人，请愿书要求对性骚扰实施更严厉的惩罚。
In her last Instagram message, Ms. Goo uploaded a photo of her lying on her bed. She wrote “Jalja,” or “sleep tight.”
具荷拉的最后一条Instagram帖子是一张她躺在床上的照片。她写道，“Jalja，”意思是“晚安”。