新概念英语-第三册-第14课.docxVIP

Lesson14 A noble gangster There was a time when the owners of shop 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 protechon 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 John 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 picture painted which was dedicated to the memory of the most valiant soldier and most notable leader, Signor Giovanni Haukodue. How did Hawkwood make money in times of peace In times of peace 在和平时期 If the money 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 promptly 立即的，及时的（正式）speedily 迅速的 swiftly 迅速的 directly 立刻的 simultaneous [?sa?ml?te?ni?s] 同时的 simultaneous interpretation 同声传译 pickpocket 扒手 burglar 入室盗窃犯 highwayman 车匪路霸 smuggle sth 走私 pirate sth 盗版 traffic drugs 贩毒 put sb out of business 使某人破产 sb go bankruptcy [?b??kr?ptsi] 破产 one’s business collapse/land on rocks/goes to the dogs/fails 破产 As long ago as the fourteenth century ,an Engli