新概念英语3--（一天学一篇）---课14

ltlong52010

课文14  贵族歹徒
$ T! K/ l6 R" N9 v9 H0 c226. 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.'
' _. [. A' w! J* r+ X- l        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'。
227. If the money was not paid promptly, the gangsters would quickly put a man out of business by destroying his shop.
        如果交款不及时,歹徒们就会很快捣毁他的商店,让他破产.
+ R6 M! l" G/ ]" G7 Y: R+ ?228. Obtaining 'protection money' is not a modern crime.
$ B( B+ ]; w% ~% V9 N& v        榨取'保护金'并不是一种现代的罪恶行径.
! x0 D$ q, s% w229. As long ago as the fourteenth century, an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood, made the remarkable discovery
        早在14世纪,英国人约翰.霍克伍德就有过非凡的发现:
7 |$ a  L* I9 u' Y/ Z230. that people would rather pay large sums of money than have their life work destroyed by gangsters.
        '人们情愿拿出大笔的钱,也不愿毕生的心血毁于歹徒之手.
$ W7 z3 Q' Q6 A7 q; u3 w+ j; k231. Six hundred years ago, Sir John Hawkwood arrived in Italy with a band of soldiers and settled near Florence.
) U1 @3 P% ~- C0 d# B( J        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.
! S% o9 U6 w: M$ n        很快就出了名.意大利人叫他乔凡尼.阿库托.
" E- c7 p9 p6 w" Y; \( R+ i233. Whenever the Italian city-states were at war with each other,
        每次意大利各城邦之间打伏,
234. Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers to princes who were willing to pay the high price he demanded.
# q% y4 H; t5 n$ K5 {2 y/ F        霍克伍德把他的士兵雇佣给愿给他出高价的君主。
: L7 a3 w2 G& T" w* O5 e8 K235. In times of peace, when business was bad, Hawkwood and his men would march into a city-state and,
* b/ u9 d1 ]" a" T' u* z9 T2 |        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,
" A, Z2 v1 c+ x) d236. after burning down a few farms, would offer to go away if protection money was paid to them.
        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。
+ o* O- j2 `  n. Z3 S% H237. Hawkwood made large sums of money in this way.
        霍克伍德用这种方法挣了大笔钱.
238. In spite of this, the Italians regarded him as a sort of hero.
2 s9 D1 T2 E& Q1 W& M" {, v. ~9 l# l        尽管如此,意大利人还是把他视作某种英雄。
239. When he died at the age of eighty, the Florentines gave him a state funeral
        他80岁那年死去时,佛罗伦萨人为他举行了国葬,
240. and had a picture painted which was dedicated to the memory of 'the most valiant soldier and most notable leader, Signor Giovanni Haukodue.'
7 K7 H' E/ x' ]5 ?! m        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.'