新概念英語(yǔ)第三冊(cè)(含lrc文本)Lesson 14 A noble gangster

Lesson 14
A noble gangster
貴族歹徒
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
聽(tīng)錄音，然后回答以下問(wèn)題。
How did Haywood 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 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(yǔ)
gangster
n. 歹徒,強(qiáng)盜
Chicago
n. 芝加哥(美國(guó)城市)
protection
n. 保護(hù)
promptly
adv. 準(zhǔn)時(shí)地
destroy
v. 毀掉;消滅
remarkable
adj. 不尋常的
band
n. 幫,團(tuán)伙
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(xiàn),題獻(xiàn)給
memory
n. 紀(jì)念
valiant
adj. 英勇的