請各位英語愛好者，同仁，大俠多提寶貴意見 - NCE III L.14: A Noble Gangster 貴族歹徒

讀了本課近二十遍，仍自己發現幾個須改進的地方。希望各位在整體，細節，語音,語調，節奏等方麵看看，是否哪方麵還需要注意。先謝了。
I have read this for about twenty times, and this is the forth recording. I still catch severl places which need to be improved:
1. noble; there is a schwa sound added before the /l/sound, if the schwa sound is lighter, it would be better;
2. the /r/ sound in farm is not good;
3. whenever should be read lighter;
4. who should be read lighter.



Lesson 14

A noble gangster

貴族歹徒

Listen to the tape then answer the question below.

聽錄音，然後回答以下問題。

How did Hawkwood make money in times of peace?

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.\' 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 if 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 painted which was 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.