考研英語必背文章

　　背誦法是古老的一種學習辦法，其簡單易於操作，因此在語言學習中被不少人使用。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!

　　1

　　A noble gangster 貴族歹徒

　　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 if protection money was paid to them. Hawkwoodmade 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 painted which was dedicated to the memory of 'the most valiant soldier and most notable leader, Signor Giovanni Haukodue.'

　　曾經有一個時期,芝加哥的店主和商行的老闆們不得不拿出大筆的錢給歹徒以換取"保護"。如果交款不及時,歹徒們就會很快搗毀他的商店,讓他破產.榨取"保護金"並不是一種現代的罪惡行徑.早在14世紀,英國人約翰.霍克伍德就有過非凡的發現:"人們情願拿出大筆的錢,也不願畢生的心血毀於歹徒之手.

　　600年前,約翰.霍克伍德爵士帶著一隊士兵來到義大利,在佛羅倫薩附近駐紮下來,很快就出了名.義大利人叫他喬凡尼.阿庫託.每次義大利各城邦之間發生戰爭,霍克伍德把他的士兵僱傭給願給他出高價的君主。和平時期,當生意蕭條時,霍克伍德便帶領士兵進入某個城邦,縱火燒燬一兩個農場,然後提出,如向他們繳納保護金,他們便主動撤離。霍克伍德用這種方法掙了大筆錢.儘管如此,義大利人還是把他視作某種英雄。他80歲那年死去時,佛羅倫薩人為他舉行了國葬,併為他畫像以紀念這位"驍勇無比的戰士、傑出的領袖喬凡尼.阿庫託先生."

　　2

　　The longest suspension bridge in the world 世界上最長的吊橋

　　Verrazano, an Italian about whom little is known, sailed into New YorkHarbourin 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 by no meansconsidered to be a great explorer, his name will probably remain immortal, for on November 21st, 1964, the longest suspension bridge in the world was named after him.

　　The VerrazanoBridge, 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 shape of the earth had to be taken into account by its designer. Two great towers support four huge cables. The towers are built on immense underwater platforms made of steel and concrete. The platforms extend to a depth of over 100 feet under the sea. These alone took sixteen months to build. Above the surface of the water, the towers rise to a height of nearly 700 feet. They support the cables from which the bridge has been suspended. Each of the four cables contains 26,108 lengths of wire. It has been estimated that if the bridge were packed with 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, fulfilling its designer's dream to create 'an enormous object drawn as faintly as possible'.

　　1524年，一位鮮為人知的義大利人維拉薩諾駕船駛進紐約港，並將該港名為安古拉姆。他對該港作了這樣的描述：“地理位置十分適宜，位於兩座小山的中間，一條大河從中間流過”。雖然維拉薩諾絕對算不上一個偉大的探險家，但他的名字將流芳百世，因為1964年11月21日建成的一座世界上最長的吊橋是以他的名字命名。

　　維拉薩諾大橋由奧斯馬.阿曼設計，連結著布魯克林與斯塔頓島，橋長4,260英尺。由於橋身太長，設計者不得不考慮了地表的形狀。兩座巨塔支撐著4根粗大的鋼纜。塔身建在巨大的水下鋼盤混凝土平臺上。平臺深入海底100英尺。僅這兩座塔就花了16個月才建成。塔身高出水面將近700英尺。高塔支撐著鋼纜，而鋼纜又懸吊著大橋，4根鋼纜中的每根由26，108股鋼繩組成。據估計，若橋上擺滿了汽車，也只不過是橋的總承載力的1/3。然而，這座橋重要特點不僅是它的規模與強度。儘管此橋很大，但它的結構簡單，造型優美，實現了設計者企圖創造一個“儘量用細線條勾畫出一個龐然大物”的夢想。

　　3

　　Daniel Mendoza 丹尼爾.門多薩

　　Boxing matches were very popular in Englandtwo hundred years ago. In those days, boxers fought with bare fists for prize money. Because of this, they were known as 'prize-fighters'. However, boxing was very crude, for there were no rules and a prize-fighter could be seriously injured or even killed during a match.

　　One of the most colourful figures in boxing history was Daniel Mendoza, who was born in 1764. The use of gloves was not introduced until 1860, when the Marquis of Queensberry drew up the first set of rules. Though he was technically a prize-fighter, Mendoza did much to change crude prize-fighting into a sport, for he brought science to the game.In his day, Mendoza enjoyed tremendous popularity. He was adored by rich and poor alike.

　　Mendozarose to fame swiftly after a boxing-match when he was only fourteen years old. This attracted the attention of Richard Humphries who was then the most eminent boxer in England. He offered to train Mendoza and his young pupil was quick to learn. In fact, Mendoza soon became so successful that Humphries turned against him. The two men quarrelled bitterly and it was clear that the argument could only be settled by a fight. A match was held at Stilton, where both men fought for an hour. The public bet a great deal of money on Mendoza, but he was defeated. Mendoza met Humphries in the ring on a later occasion and he lost for a second time. It was not until his third match in 1790 that he finally beat Humphries and became Champion of England. Meanwhile, he founded a highly successful Academy and even Lord Byron became one of his pupils. He earned enormous sums of money and was paid as much as 100 pounds for a single appearance. Despite this, he was so extravagant that he was always in debt. After he was defeated by a boxer called Gentleman Jackson, he was quickly forgotten. He was sent to prison for failing to pay his debts and died in poverty in 1836.

　　兩百年前，拳擊比賽在英國非常盛行。當時，拳擊手們不戴手套，為爭奪獎金而搏鬥。因此，他們被稱作“職業拳擊手”。不過，拳擊是十分野蠻的，因為當時沒有任何比賽規則，職業拳擊手有可能在比賽中受重傷，甚至喪命。

　　拳擊史上最引人注目的人物之一是丹尼爾.門多薩，他生於1764年。1860年昆斯伯裡侯爵第一次為拳擊比賽制定了規則，拳擊比賽這才用上了手套。雖然門多薩嚴格來講不過是個職業拳擊手，但在把這種粗野的拳擊變成一種體育運動方面，他作出了重大貢獻。是他把科學引進了這項運動。門多薩在他的全盛時期深受大家歡迎，無論是富人還是窮人都對他祟拜備至。

　　門多薩在14歲時參加一場拳擊賽後一舉成名。這引起當時英國拳壇名將理查德.漢弗萊斯的注意。他主動提出教授門多薩，而年少的門多薩一學就會。事實上，門多薩不久便名聲大振，致使漢弗萊斯與他反目為敵。兩個人爭吵不休，顯而易見，只有較量一番才能解決問題。於是兩人在斯蒂爾頓設下賽場，廝打了一個小時。公眾把大筆賭注下到了門多薩身上，但他卻輸了。後來，門多薩與漢弗萊斯再次在拳擊場上較量，門多薩又輸了一場。直到1790年他們第3次對壘，門多薩才終於擊敗漢弗萊斯，成了全英拳擊冠軍。同時，他建立了一所拳擊學校，辦得很成功，連拜倫勳爵也成了他的學生。門多薩掙來大筆大筆的錢，一次出場費就多可達100英鎊。儘管收入不少，但他揮霍無度，經常債臺高築。他被一個叫傑克遜紳士的拳擊手擊敗後很快被遺忘。他因無力還債而被捕入獄，最後於1836年在貧困中死去。