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These Exams Mean Everything in India. Thieves See a Gold Mine.
这些考试在印度重于一切，盗贼将其视作金矿。
The call arrived — it was go time.
电话来了，是时候出发了。
The medical doctor rushed to the airport, bound for a midnight operation hundreds of miles away in western India.
医生赶往机场，准备前往数百英里外的印度西部做一个晚间手术。
But this mission was not about saving lives.
但是手术的任务不是为了拯救生命。
The doctor carried a screwdriver, a pair of pliers, a blade and a cellphone — tools for a heist.
这位医生带了一把螺丝刀、一把钳子、一柄小刀和一部手机，这些都是盗窃工具。
His target was something worth more than gold in India’s cutthroat competition for government jobs and university placements: the question sheets for a police constable exam.
在印度竞争激烈的政府工作和大学入学考试中，他的目标物比黄金更有价值：警察考试试卷。
After landing in the city of Ahmedabad, the doctor, Shubham Mandal, was hurried to a freight warehouse on its outskirts, according to police documents and interviews with the lead investigator by The New York Times.
据警方文件和《纽约时报》对首席调查员的采访，舒巴姆·曼达尔医生在艾哈迈达巴德市落地后，被紧急送往该市郊区的一个货运仓库。
To avoid surveillance cameras, Dr. Mandal climbed through a back window into a room stacked with boxes.
为了避开监控摄像头，曼达尔从后窗爬进了一个堆满箱子的房间。
There, the police say, he pried open one marked “confidential” and took out an envelope.
警方说，在那里他撬开了一个标有“机密”字样的箱子，并取出了一个信封。
He used his phone’s camera to photograph each page inside before resealing the envelope and locking the box.
他用手机给信封里的每一页纸拍照，然后重新密封信封并锁上箱子。
He would repeat the exercise at least once in the nights that followed, as new sheets arrived at the warehouse from the printing house, in between staying at a one-star hotel nearby.
在接下来的几个夜晚，他会至少再重复一次这个行动，因为新的试卷会从印刷厂送到仓库，在等待期间，他就住在附近一家一星级酒店里。
Waiting in a car each time were three men, including, the police say, the burglary’s mastermind, Ravi Atri.
每次在车里等候的有三个人，警方称其中包括这起盗窃案的主谋拉维·阿特里。
Mr. Atri saw himself as part criminal, part Robin Hood.
阿特里认为自己既是罪犯，也是行侠仗义的罗宾汉。
He had taken the national medical school entrance exam five times, and ultimately passed, but never became a doctor.
他参加了五次全国医学院入学考试，最终通过了，但从未当医生。
Instead, he turned to stealing tests to help others.
相反，他转而开始偷试卷来帮助别人。
No job was too small for him and his gang.
他和他的团伙什么活都接。
He had previously had a hand in leaking questions on exams for nursing jobs, banking jobs, teaching jobs and slots at vocational institutes, the police say, and had been jailed at least twice.
警方称，他之前曾参与泄露护理工作、银行工作、教学工作和职业学院考试的问题，并且至少两次入狱。
The constable exam, his latest quarry, would be taken in February of this year by nearly five million people vying for 60,000 vacancies in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Atri’s home base.
警察考试是他最近的盗窃目标，今年2月，将有近500万人参加这场考试，竞争北方邦的6万个职位空缺，这里也是阿特里的家乡。
A new constable is paid about $400 a month.
新入职警察的月薪约为400美元。
But even the lowest-paid government jobs in India are coveted for their stability, and aspirants endure months of grueling study in expensive tuition centers to prepare for the exams that govern hiring.
但即使是印度工资最低的政府工作也因其稳定性而令人垂涎，渴望得到工作的人会在昂贵的补习中心苦学数月，为决定招聘的考试做准备。
Mr. Atri offered a leg up.
阿特里能为他们助一臂之力。
And now, with the constable test in his hands, the race was on.
现在警察考试的试卷已经被他拿到手，接着就是争分夺秒。
Mr. Atri sent the signal to his vast network of local agents in Uttar Pradesh.
阿特里向他在北方邦的庞大当地特工网发出了信号。
They had already booked a big restaurant hall and a lush resort where thousands of his clients would be bused in for a crash course in the answers.
他们已经预订了一个大餐厅和豪华度假村，届时将有大巴把成千上万的客户送到那里参加答案速成课程。
They just had to avoid getting caught.
他们只需要避免被抓住。
“If this works, you will get so much money that you will not need to do anything else in your life,” Mr. Atri told one of the warehouse workers he had patiently cultivated to get access to the exam, according to a police report.
“如果做成了，你会得到一大笔钱，这辈子都不用再做别的事了。”根据一份警方报告，阿特里曾对他耐心笼络的一名仓库工人这样说，以便能拿到试卷。
