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.'
        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'。
0 A: e6 n( Q) t, y2 I227. 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.
8 R6 ^8 ?& A! Q# |! M+ b228. Obtaining 'protection money' is not a modern crime.
        榨取'保护金'并不是一种现代的罪恶行径.
229. As long ago as the fourteenth century, an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood, made the remarkable discovery
# X8 z& _, r  J        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.
6 G* F! U" q% d9 Q$ S; O; }/ s- [        '人们情愿拿出大笔的钱,也不愿毕生的心血毁于歹徒之手.
3 m6 Z! r5 Q3 D: i2 k7 n231. 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,
) H& [; ]- @6 C' m! o7 [232. He soon made a name for himself and came to be known to the Italians as Giovanni Acuto.
+ {' f; i# O/ C# V* L4 {        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,
# b1 `8 m" @1 [3 U2 \        每次意大利各城邦之间打伏,
! t! |9 |1 r6 J) @234. Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers to princes who were willing to pay the high price he demanded.
. E! ]1 ^6 U1 g        霍克伍德把他的士兵雇佣给愿给他出高价的君主。
1 h7 S- P& X( H* H235. In times of peace, when business was bad, Hawkwood and his men would march into a city-state and,
        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.
  S, S% z: }* `" ?4 O. V7 P' O        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.
238. In spite of this, the Italians regarded him as a sort of hero.
        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
! X+ B1 r" A' j, T6 K+ y        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.'
) X% ^+ h# r* H: V1 P        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.'