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1、精选新概念必背优秀文章 36 篇 沪江论坛 风中劲草 整理制作1新概念三新概念三 LessonLesson 1414 A A noblenoble gangstergangster 贵族歹徒贵族歹徒ThereThereThere waswaswas a a a timetimetime whenwhenwhen the owners of shops and businesses in Chicago had to pay large sums of money to gangsters in inin returnreturnreturn forforfor protection. If t
2、he money was not paid promptly, the gangsters would quickly put a man outoutout ofofof businessbusinessbusiness by destroying his shop. Obtaining protection money is not a modern crime. AsAsAs longlonglong agoagoago asasas the fourteenth century, an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood, made the remarkable
3、 discovery that people wouldwouldwould ratherratherrather 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 mademademade a a a namenamename forforfor himselfhi
4、mselfhimself and camecamecame to toto bebebe knownknownknown to toto the Italians as Giovanni Acuto. Whenever the Italian city-states were at atat warwarwar withwithwith each other, Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers to princes who were willing to pay the high price he demanded. In InIn timestimesti
5、mes ofofof peace, when business was bad, Hawkwood and his men would march into a city-state and, after burningburningburning downdowndown a few farms, would offerofferoffer to toto go away if protection money was paid to them. Hawkwood mademademade largelargelarge sumssumssums ofofof moneymoneymoney
6、 in this way. In InIn spitespitespite ofofof thisthisthis, the Italians regarded him as a sort of hero. When he died at atat thethethe ageageage ofofof eighty, the Florentines gave him a state funeral and had a pictured painted which was dedicated to toto thethethe memorymemorymemory ofofof the most
7、 valiant soldier and most notable leader, Signor Giovanni Haukodue. 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“。如果交款不及时,歹徒们就会很快捣毁他的商店,让他破产.榨取“保护金“并不是一种现代的罪恶行径.早在 14 世纪,英国人约翰.霍克伍德就有过非凡的发现:“人们情愿拿出大笔的钱,也不愿毕生的心血毁于歹徒之手. 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,很快就出了名.意大利人叫他乔凡尼.阿库托.每次意大利各城邦之间发生战争,霍克伍德把他的士兵雇佣给
8、愿给他出高价的君主。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,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。霍克伍德用这种方法挣了大笔钱.尽管如此,意大利人还是把他视作某种英雄。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“骁勇无比的战士、杰出的领袖乔凡尼.阿库托先生.“ LessonLesson 1717TheThe longestlongest suspensionsuspension bridgebridge inin thethe worldworld世界上最长的吊桥世界上最长的吊桥 Verrazano, an Italian
9、 about whom little is known, sailed into New York Harbour in 1524 and named it Angouleme. He described it as a very agreeable situation located within two small hills in the midst of which flowed a great river. Though Verrazano is bybyby nonono meansmeansmeans considered to be a great explorer, his
10、name will probably remain immortal, for on November 21st, 1964, the longest suspension bridge in the world was namednamednamed afterafterafter him. The Verrazano Bridge, which was designed by Othmar Ammann, joins Brooklyn to Staten Island. It has a span of 4,260 feet. The bridge is so long that the
11、shape of the earth had to be takentakentaken intointointo accountaccountaccount by its 精选新概念必背优秀文章 36 篇 沪江论坛 风中劲草 整理制作2designer. Two great towers support four huge cables. The towers are built on immense underwater platforms mademademade ofofof steel and concrete. The platforms extendextendextend to
12、 toto a depth of over 100 feet under the sea. These alone took sixteen months to build. Above the surface of the water, the towers riseriserise to toto a height of nearly 700 feet. They support the cables from which the bridge has been suspended. EachEachEach ofofof the four cables contains 26,108 l
13、engths of wire. It has been estimated that if the bridge were packedpackedpacked withwithwith cars, it would still only be carrying a third of its total capacity. However, size and strength are not the only important things about this bridge. Despite its immensity, it is both simple and elegant, ful
14、filling its designers dream to create an enormous object drawn as faintly as possible.1524 年，一位鲜为人知的意大利人维拉萨诺驾船驶进纽约港，并将该港名为安古拉姆。他对该港作了这样的描述：“地理位置十分适宜，位于两座小山的中间，一条大河从中间流过”。虽然维拉萨诺绝对算不上一个伟大的探险家，但他的名字将流芳百世，因为 1964 年11 月 21 日建成的一座世界上最长的吊桥是以他的名字命名。 维拉萨诺大桥由奥斯马.阿曼设计，连结着布鲁克林与斯塔顿岛，桥长 4,260 英尺。由于桥身太长，设计者不得不考虑了地
15、表的形状。两座巨塔支撑着 4 根粗大的钢缆。塔身建在巨大的水下钢盘混凝土平台上。平台深入海底 100 英尺。仅这两座塔就花了 16 个月才建成。塔身高出水面将近 700 英尺。高塔支撑着钢缆，而钢缆又悬吊着大桥，4 根钢缆中的每根由 26，108 股钢绳组成。据估计，若桥上摆满了汽车，也只不过是桥的总承载力的 1/3。然而，这座桥重要特点不仅是它的规模与强度。尽管此桥很大，但它的结构简单，造型优美，实现了设计者企图创造一个“尽量用细线条勾画出一个庞然大物”的梦想。 LessonLesson 2121DanielDaniel MendozaMendoza 丹尼尔丹尼尔. .门多萨门多萨Boxin
16、g matches were very popular in England two hundred years ago. In those days, boxers foughtfoughtfought withwithwith bare fists for prizeprizeprize moneymoneymoney. Because of this, they were knownknownknown asasas prize-fighters. However, boxing was very crude, for there were no rules and a prize-fighter could be seriously injured
