新概念英语3--（一天学一篇）---课14

ltlong52010

课文14  贵族歹徒
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.'
  W5 X' Q8 O. ~/ x" d        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'。
7 ^1 x5 n# y: ~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.
' L! D; g$ e6 k) @. d8 X$ d- t228. Obtaining 'protection money' is not a modern crime.
+ m" P) e) j9 \$ ]# S        榨取'保护金'并不是一种现代的罪恶行径.
5 g# ^3 c- E$ w; a229. As long ago as the fourteenth century, an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood, made the remarkable discovery
0 Q: m8 \$ b5 W, F- |1 _        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.
        '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.
' }% U8 j; i4 R: M* o5 n( V- B  k        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,
) ^5 f  b7 _# [2 Z232. He soon made a name for himself and came to be known to the Italians as Giovanni Acuto.
$ ]- h+ h* D& F  i: c7 ~        很快就出了名.意大利人叫他乔凡尼.阿库托.
, k% J8 }3 m# b. O' o# ^233. 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.
        霍克伍德把他的士兵雇佣给愿给他出高价的君主。
$ ]4 g! _+ [" l7 ^" [235. In times of peace, when business was bad, Hawkwood and his men would march into a city-state and,
2 ^$ b, e0 K; u: V$ P        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.
: x1 E! k" h1 K" N+ f6 t) L4 d, Q        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.
) {  Z" t+ O' U0 ~$ _3 [        霍克伍德用这种方法挣了大笔钱.
2 l) f" f8 O  ~: W238. In spite of this, the Italians regarded him as a sort of hero.
4 k- j- _  }( f( k6 Z        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,
6 i2 o1 v6 C# S5 v: I240. and had a picture painted which was dedicated to the memory of 'the most valiant soldier and most notable leader, Signor Giovanni Haukodue.'
  ^5 n+ t' n: O; x: Q        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.'