歌词
--- lesson 14 A noble gangster
贵族歹徒
--- Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
^听录音，然后回答以下问题。
--- 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'.
^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'。
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。
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。
As long ago as the fourteenth century, an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood, made the remarkable discovery
^早在14世纪,英国人约翰.霍克伍德就有过非凡的发现:
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。
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,
He soon made a name for himself and came to be known to the Italians as Giovanni Acuto.
^很快就出了名。意大利人叫他乔凡尼.阿库托。
Whenever the Italian city-states were at war with each other,
^每次意大利各城邦之间打伏,
Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers to princes who were willing to pay the high price he demanded.
^霍克伍德便把他的士兵雇佣给愿给他出高价的君主。
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,
after burning down a few farms, would offer to go away if protection money was paid to them.
^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。
Hawkwood made large sums of money in this way.
^霍克伍德用这种方法挣了大笔钱。
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。
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,
and had a picture painted which was dedicated to the memory of 'the most valiant soldier and most notable leader, Signor Giovanni Haukodue'.
^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”。
专辑信息