新概念英语第三册讲义14

A noble gangster

Comprehension questions

1. Why did owners of shops and businesses in Chicago use to have to pay a lot of money?

2. What used to happen in Chicago if this money was not paid?

3. Is obtaining ‘protection money’ a modern crime?

4. How long ago was this system applied（应用）?

5. Who applied it?

6. What nationality was he?

7. Where did Sir John Hawkwood settle?

8. How did he become known to the Italians?

9. Who accompanied Sir John?

10. What did Sir John use to do with these soldiers?

11. Did the princes have to pay a high price for this service?

12. What did these princes rule?

13. How did Sir John get protection money from the princes in times of peace?

14. Did he make much money in this way?

15. How did the Italians regard him?

16. How old was Sir John when he died?

17. What did the Florentines do for him?

18. In what other way did they honour him?

Match the words in the box with the definitions

__________ a member of a group of violent criminals

__________ to get the use of sth for a short time by paying a certain amount of money

__________ extremely unusual or noticeable

__________ deserving to be noticed or to receive attention; important

__________ to get sth, especially by making an effort

__________ very brave

__________ a group of people who do sth together or who have the same idea

__________ illegal activity in general

__________ sth that is remembered about sb after they have died

__________ without delay

__________ a ceremony, usually a religious one, for burying or burning a dead person

__________ to hold an official ceremony to say that an object is special to the memory of a particular person

Study the following sentences

1. 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.

2. 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’.

Finish the passage with the following phrases

rather…than in spite of in return for make a name

in times of out of business a band of regard…as

as…as at war at the age of make money

There was a time when the owners of shops and businesses in Chicago had to pay large sums of money to gangsters ________________‘protection’. If the money was not paid promptly, the gangsters would quickly put a man _______________ by destroying his shop. Obtaining ‘protection money’ is not a modern crime. ______ long ago _____ the fourteenth century, an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood, made the remarkable discovery that people would _______ pay large sums of money ________ have their life work destroyed by gangsters.

Six hundred years ago, Sir John Hawkwood arrived in Italy with _____________ soldiers and settled near Florence. He soon __________ for himself and came to be known to the Italians as Giovanni Acuto. Whenever the Italian city-states were ____________ with each other, Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers to princes who were willing to pay the high price he demanded. _____________ 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 _________large sums of _______ in this way. __________ this, the Italians ______ him _______ a sort of hero. When he died __________ 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’.

Put the following sentences into English

1.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钱给歹徒以换取“保护”。

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2. 早在14世纪，英国人Sir John Hawkwood就有过非凡的发现：人们情愿拿出大笔钱，也不愿毕生的心血毁在歹徒手里。

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3. 600年前，Sir John Hawkwood带着一队士兵来到意大利，在佛罗伦萨附近驻扎下来。

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4. 尽管如此，意大利人还是把他视作某种英雄。

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5. 他80岁那年死去时，佛罗伦萨人为他举行了国葬，并为他画像以纪念这位“最勇敢的战士和杰出的领袖Giovanni Haukodue先生”。

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