[朗誦] NCE III - 14 貴族歹徒

Lesson 14 A noble gangster


There was a time when the owners of shops and businesses in Chicago that to pay large sums of money to gangsters in return for 'protection.' If the money was not paid promptly, the gangsters would quickly put a man out of business by destroying his shop. Obtaining 'protection money' is not a modern crime. As long ago as the fourteenth century, an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood, made the remarkable discovery that people would rather pay large sums of money than have their life work destroyed by gangsters.
 
Six hundred years ago, Sir Johan Hawkwood arrived in Italy with a band of soldiers and settled near Florence. He soon made a name for himself and came to be known to the Italians as Giovanni Acuto. Whenever the Italian city-states were at war with each other, Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers to princes who were willing to pay the high price he demanded. In times of peace, when business was bad, Hawkwood and his men would march into a city-state and, after burning down a few farms, would offer to go away protection money was paid to them. Hawkwood made large sums of money in this way. In spite of this, the Italians regarded him as a sort of hero. When he died at the age of eighty, the Florentines gave him a state funeral and had a pictured with as dedicated to the memory of 'the most valiant soldier and most notable leader, Signor Giovanni Haukodue.'

New words and expressions 生詞和短語
gangster
n. 歹徒,強盜
Chicago
n. 芝加哥(美國城市)
protection
n. 保護
promptly
adv. 準時地
destroy
v. 毀掉;消滅
remarkable
adj. 不尋常的
hand
n. 幫,團夥
Florence
n. 佛羅倫薩(意大利城市)
city-state
n. (古代)城邦
hire
v. 租出,雇給
prince
n. 君主,諸候
Florentine
n. 佛羅倫薩人
funeral
n. 葬禮
dedicate
v. 奉獻,題獻給
memory
n. 紀念
valiant
adj. 英勇的
參考譯文
曾經有一個時期,芝加哥的店主和商行的老板們不得不拿出大筆的錢給歹徒以換取"保護"。如果交款不及時,歹徒們就會很快搗毀他的商店,讓他破產.榨取"保護金"並不是一種現代的罪惡行徑.早在14世紀,英國人約翰.霍克伍德就有過非凡的發現:"人們情願拿出大筆的錢,也不願畢生的心血毀於歹徒之手.
600年前,約翰.霍克伍德爵士帶著一隊士兵來到意大利,在佛羅倫薩附近駐紮下來,很快就出了名.意大利人叫他喬凡尼.阿庫托.每次意大利各城邦之間打伏,霍克伍德把他的士兵雇傭給願給他出高價的君主。和平時期,當生意蕭條時,霍克伍德便帶領士兵進入某個城邦,縱火燒毀一兩個農場,然後提出,如向他們繳納保護金,他們便主動撤離。霍克伍德用這種方法掙了大筆錢.盡管如此,意大利人還是把他視作某種英雄。他80歲那年死去時,佛羅倫薩人為他舉行了國葬,並為他畫像以紀念這位"驍勇無比的戰士、傑出的領袖喬凡尼.阿庫托先生."

所有跟帖： 

• 我又來討人嫌了 -馬奎- ♂ (162 bytes) () 09/17/2009 postreply 20:25:49

• 俺就怕您不來討人嫌呢 -lilac09- ♀ (461 bytes) () 09/17/2009 postreply 21:02:46

• 我可以負責任地告訴你 -馬奎- ♂ (210 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 08:08:42

• 回複：我可以負責任地告訴你 -lilac09- ♀ (120 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 09:28:47

• 今晚回家我看看體育新聞，然後再討論 -馬奎- ♂ (0 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 10:07:35

• two more words -馬奎- ♂ (139 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 18:58:15

• 回複：[朗誦] NCE III - 14 貴族歹徒 -eyeyey- ♀ (304 bytes) () 09/17/2009 postreply 20:41:53

• 回複：回複：[朗誦] NCE III - 14 貴族歹徒 -lilac09- ♀ (249 bytes) () 09/17/2009 postreply 21:07:52

• 回複：回複：回複：[朗誦] NCE III - 14 貴族歹徒 -eyeyey- ♀ (80 bytes) () 09/17/2009 postreply 21:12:05

• 讀的真好！ -blueswan- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/17/2009 postreply 21:39:45

• 很純正的河南駐馬店口音.讚一個! -虎總- ♂ (0 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 10:56:12

• 我說，這位虎兄弟，您要是說我是別地兒的人，俺還服 -lilac09- ♀ (217 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 11:27:32

• 別介,對你的勇氣是很佩服的.我其實一直都在揣摩您 -虎總- ♂ (577 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 11:39:55

• 呦，視頻上的大俠是您呀。俺算是見識了。 -lilac09- ♀ (138 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 11:58:29

• 問候lilac，一切安好，周末快樂。 -婉蕠- ♀ (764 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 14:30:26

• 婉蕠mm,再次謝謝支持。好美的圖，好美的音樂。 -lilac09- ♀ (75 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 15:50:21

• 我倒是想起個笑話來 -馬奎- ♂ (497 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 12:12:40

• 馬奎說得好：“希望都是一些建設性的意見。”謝謝分享，周末快樂。 -紫君- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 15:08:51

• 謝謝馬奎和紫君. Have a nice weekend! -lilac09- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/18/2009 postreply 15:53:33