2012考研英语辅导:新概念英语三-Anoblegangster
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’.
猜你喜欢
-
- 03-082016考研英语大纲解析之英语翻译百日冲刺指南
- 03-082016考研英语大纲解析之英语阅读百日冲刺
- 03-082016考研英语大纲解析之英语:考什么
- 03-082016考研英语(一)大纲翻译部分深度解析
- 03-082016考研英语大纲解析-完型填空定语从句解密
- 03-082016考研英语大纲公布完形填空考点梳理
- 03-082016考研英语大纲公布完形填空名词解题思路
- 03-082016考研英语大纲公布完型填空部分解析及策略
- 03-082016考研英语大纲趋稳99天冲刺备考
- 03-082016考研英语大纲作文之预测