新概念英语3--（一天学一篇）---课14

ltlong52010

课文14  贵族歹徒
6 h# R! F2 e9 }: p226. There was a time when the owners of shops and businesses in Chicago had to pay large sums of money to gangsters in return for 'protection.'
        曾经有一个时期,芝加哥的店主和商行的老板们不得不拿出大笔的钱给歹徒以换取'保护'。
1 W  _$ M4 i2 E" |: @4 H/ P227. If the money was not paid promptly, the gangsters would quickly put a man out of business by destroying his shop.
4 ?3 w  J- ?5 R        如果交款不及时,歹徒们就会很快捣毁他的商店,让他破产.
228. Obtaining 'protection money' is not a modern crime.
& O: T' F; t; D9 P% u3 M        榨取'保护金'并不是一种现代的罪恶行径.
6 d$ [. h2 W' ~: j- b6 s229. As long ago as the fourteenth century, an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood, made the remarkable discovery
3 u9 F" y& G$ U4 N- ?' {% k0 d* N        早在14世纪,英国人约翰.霍克伍德就有过非凡的发现:
230. that people would rather pay large sums of money than have their life work destroyed by gangsters.
5 B) R. b7 |4 m4 h% T/ y4 w        '人们情愿拿出大笔的钱,也不愿毕生的心血毁于歹徒之手.
231. Six hundred years ago, Sir John Hawkwood arrived in Italy with a band of soldiers and settled near Florence.
        600年前,约翰.霍克伍德爵士带着一队士兵来到意大利,在佛罗伦萨附近驻扎下来,
232. He soon made a name for himself and came to be known to the Italians as Giovanni Acuto.
& B2 P& Q$ }& _        很快就出了名.意大利人叫他乔凡尼.阿库托.
233. Whenever the Italian city-states were at war with each other,
        每次意大利各城邦之间打伏,
" r1 Y+ ~* w$ P3 T' Q- P! ]5 e3 W234. Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers to princes who were willing to pay the high price he demanded.
% \, ?5 ^9 b, K, d% o, \8 ^  A6 l        霍克伍德把他的士兵雇佣给愿给他出高价的君主。
5 Y" X9 d( i- }" Y235. In times of peace, when business was bad, Hawkwood and his men would march into a city-state and,
( `  K! L) l! z7 ]2 S) J3 ?        和平时期,当生意萧条时,霍克伍德便带领士兵进入某个城邦,
236. after burning down a few farms, would offer to go away if protection money was paid to them.
- w: k' q8 u1 T; f8 x& y0 B        纵火烧毁一两个农场,然后提出,如向他们缴纳保护金,他们便主动撤离。
237. Hawkwood made large sums of money in this way.
        霍克伍德用这种方法挣了大笔钱.
* H$ Z( W  O1 }$ d& F5 e238. In spite of this, the Italians regarded him as a sort of hero.
' {: X& o0 s7 {# [- f        尽管如此,意大利人还是把他视作某种英雄。
9 k6 J0 c! V8 L239. When he died at the age of eighty, the Florentines gave him a state funeral
1 n8 T6 c" Q& c) c$ H8 b6 b2 w0 t        他80岁那年死去时,佛罗伦萨人为他举行了国葬,
' V  }+ y* g' ~+ a0 X/ m240. and had a picture painted which was dedicated to the memory of 'the most valiant soldier and most notable leader, Signor Giovanni Haukodue.'
% [! ~' `0 Q8 @4 l" S        并为他画像以纪念这位'骁勇无比的战士、杰出的领袖乔凡尼.阿库托先生.'