Boy Scouts of America files for bankruptcy amid wave of potential lawsuits
恐将面临大批诉讼，美国童子军协会申请破产
Facing a wave of lawsuits over allegations of sexual abuse, the Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy Tuesday in an effort to protect the future of the embattled century-old organization.
美国童子军协会正面临着众多关于性侵指控的诉讼，因此，该协会于周二提交了破产申请，试图守住这个处境艰难的百年组织的未来。
The filing punctuates a tumultuous time for the 110-year-old organization, which continues to be one of the largest youth groups in the United States and an iconic but fading symbol of American culture.
对于拥有 110 年历史的童子军协会而言，此次破产申请中止了该组织的一个混乱时期。时至今日，该协会仍是美国最大的青少年组织之一，是一个具有代表性、但逐渐式微的美国文化标志。
Youth membership has declined more than 26 percent in the past decade. This dramatic drop in numbers has left the Boy Scouts struggling to find ways to remain relevant among increasingly busy children and parents.
过去十年间，该组织的青少年会员数已下降了超过 26%。大幅下跌的会员数量让童子军协会苦于在愈发忙碌的孩子和家长心中重拾价值。
Meanwhile, over the past decade, lawsuits, investigations and media reports have revealed internal Boy Scouts documents detailing generations of alleged abusers accused of preying on Scouts. An investigator hired by the Scouts said last year that her team had identified 12,254 victims and 7,819 perpetrators in internal documents from 1946 through 2016.
与此同时，在过去的十年间，各类诉讼、调查和媒体报道将童子军协会的很多内部文件公之于众。这些文件记录了过去几十年间，被控诉伤害童子军成员的性侵嫌犯。去年，一位童子军协会雇佣的调查人员称，她的团队从 1946 年到 2016 年间的内部文件中确定了 12254 名受害者与 7819 名施暴者。
Amid other high-profile child abuse scandals and the #MeToo movement, several states have overhauled their statute-of-limitations laws concerning child sexual abuse, opening the door to scores of potential lawsuits against the Boy Scouts.
在其他备受关注的儿童性侵丑闻和#MeToo 运动的影响下，多个州全面修订了儿童性侵相关的诉讼时效法规，为众多潜在受害者起诉童子军协会铺平了道路。
"In a way, this is an acknowledgment finally on the part of the Boy Scouts that they had this enormous problem and the problem is so large that they can't deal with it themselves," said Michael Pfau, a lawyer who said he represents about 300 alleged victims. "It is a bit of a day of reckoning for the Boy Scouts."
迈克尔·普福是一名律师，他称自己代理了约 300 名疑似受害者。他表示：“在某种意义上，这代表童子军协会终于承认他们存在巨大的问题。这个问题过于严重，以至于他们自己无法解决。清算童子军协会的日子差不多到了。”
