新概念英语3--（一天学一篇）---课14

ltlong52010

课文14  贵族歹徒
9 `  [4 h! {4 s9 {2 w! {226. 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.'
/ Q* X! o: z9 @# V+ Q2 N        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'。
) W. L5 B8 H- q227. 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.
. m# D8 F! k$ f& J228. Obtaining 'protection money' is not a modern crime.
9 k9 u( K) s0 s6 `        榨取'保护金'并不是一种现代的罪恶行径.
8 [$ Y$ Z. |' C& l# L229. 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:
230. that people would rather pay large sums of money than have their life work destroyed by gangsters.
4 w, n: Q" `+ N        '人们情愿拿出大笔的钱,也不愿毕生的心血毁于歹徒之手.
" I, \2 Q; m, A, X/ z2 E8 c9 _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.
        很快就出了名.意大利人叫他乔凡尼.阿库托.
) ?* V7 I2 {- z233. Whenever the Italian city-states were at war with each other,
        每次意大利各城邦之间打伏,
, C8 F) i+ S3 l3 R234. Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers to princes who were willing to pay the high price he demanded.
        霍克伍德把他的士兵雇佣给愿给他出高价的君主。
0 M, L, v6 x+ n3 W235. In times of peace, when business was bad, Hawkwood and his men would march into a city-state and,
2 N( b' @9 @$ l% g        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.
        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.
1 i3 N# ]0 D; L8 |& i6 b238. In spite of this, the Italians regarded him as a sort of hero.
$ z% \7 D4 G# [: [! k" X        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.'
        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.'