第14课

旁白 neutral

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'.

过去，芝加哥的店主和商人们不得不向歹徒支付大笔金钱，以换取“保护”。

旁白 neutral

If the money was not paid promptly, the gangsters would quickly put a man out of business by destroying his shop.

如果不及时付款，歹徒就会捣毁店主的店铺，使其很快破产。

旁白 neutral

Obtaining 'protection money' is not a modern crime.

敲诈“保护费”并非是现代社会的罪行。

旁白 neutral

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.

远在14世纪，英国人约翰·霍克伍德爵士就有了惊人的发现，人们情愿支付大笔金钱，也不愿自己的毕生心血毁于歹徒之手。

旁白 neutral

Six hundred years ago, Sir John Hawkwood arrived in Italy with a band of soldiers and settled near Florence.

600年前，约翰·霍克伍德爵士率领一队士兵抵达意大利，在佛罗伦萨附近定居下来。

旁白 neutral

He soon made a name for himself and came to be known to the Italians as Giovanni Acuto.

他很快就出了名，意大利人称他为乔瓦尼·阿库托。

旁白 neutral

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.

无论意大利城邦之间何时交战，霍克伍德总是将他的士兵雇佣给那些愿意支付他所要求的高价的君主。

旁白 neutral

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.

在和平时期，当生意不好时，霍克伍德和他的手下就会开进一个城邦，烧毁几座农场后，提出如果向他们支付保护费，他们就离开。

旁白 neutral

Hawkwood made large sums of money in this way.

霍克伍德就是这样赚取了大笔金钱。

旁白 neutral

In spite of this, the Italians regarded him as a sort of hero.

尽管如此，意大利人还是把他看作一个英雄。

旁白 neutral

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'.

他80岁去世时，佛罗伦萨人为他举行了国葬，并绘制了一幅纪念他的画像，画像上写着：“最英勇的士兵和最杰出的领袖，乔瓦尼·霍克伍德先生”。