六級閱讀：女海盜的沉浮精講

　　六級閱讀：女海盜的沉浮精講The Women Pirates1

　　Many people know of such names as Henry Morgan, Edward“Blackbeard ”Teach, Barbarossa, Jean Lafitte , and William Kidd2, the pirates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. But few have heard of the women pirates Catalina de Eranzo, Mary Read, and Anne Bonney. Each of these women was a rough and rugged pirate captain.

　　Catalina de Eranzo was a Spanish noble woman. The only daughter of a rich ship owner, she was a spoiled child. She learned a great deal from her brothers. Navigation was easy for her. She learned to sail any kind of vessel. Besides being a fine rider3, she was also a good shot with a pistol4 , and could handle a blunderbuss5, a sword6, or a dagger. 7

　　When her father’s second wife made her go into a convent, Catalina revolted . She clipped8 her hair, put on men’s clothes, and hopped over9 the convent10 wall.

　　Catalina made her way11 to the coast where she found a ship going to Brazil. She signed on as a navigator. When a mutiny12 broke out, she was able to take over the vessel.

　　After a trip of several months’piracy, the ship was wrecked on the coast of Peru. Dressed as a pirate , Catalina went to see her brother Michael, who was a captain in the army. She couldn’t tell him who she was. She was afraid of what the Inquisition might do to him for hiding her. Instead, she joined her brother’s company and served under him for three years.

　　Later, she signed on a pirate ship as navigator. When the captain was killed, she took over and led the crew.

　　Catalina de Eranzo was finally captured. She and her crew were sentenced to hang. She was saved at the last minute when it was proved she never attacked Spanish ships, but helped when they were in trouble .

　　. .. The days of pirates and buried treasure are gone. We remember those days as a colorful time in history, but no one is sorry that piracy is a thing of the past.

　　閱讀自測

　?、? The following a re the explanations of the words in the passage , and try to fin d the correct words:

　　1 . person on a ship who attacks and robs other ships at sea ———

　　2 . rebellion against lawful authority, especially by soldiers or sailors———

　　3 . people work on a ship, an aircraft, etc ———

　　4 . ( of a person) move by jumping on one foot———

　　5 . ship or boat, especially a large one———

　　Ⅱ. Question :

　　Do you think the days of pirates are exciting? Try to say something about it.

　　參考答案

　?、? 1. pirate 2. mutiny 3. crew 4. hop 5. vessel Ⅱ. ( 略)

　　六級閱讀：女海盜的沉浮精講 參考譯文

　　女海盜的沉浮

　　大 多數(shù)人都聽說過亨利· 摩根、愛得華·“ 黑胡子”· 蒂奇、巴爾巴羅薩、讓· 拉菲特、 威廉· 基德。這些人都是17 和18 世紀的海盜。但是, 幾乎無人聽說過女海盜凱特琳娜· 德· 伊蘭索、瑪莉· 里德和安妮· 邦妮。她們個個都是粗野的海盜頭兒。

　　凱特琳娜· 德· 伊蘭索原本是西班牙貴族小組。她是一位富有船主的唯一的女兒, 從 小就被寵壞了。她跟著哥哥們學了許多本領。航海對她而言是輕而易舉的事。凱特琳娜 學過駕駛各種各樣的船只。她不僅是優(yōu)秀的舵手, 也是神槍手, 會熟練地使用手槍、老式大 口徑短槍、劍及匕首。

　　她父親的第二任妻子送她去做修女, 凱特琳娜反抗了。她剪短頭發(fā), 穿上男裝, 翻墻逃 出了修道院。

　　凱特琳娜徑直來到海邊, 在那里發(fā)現(xiàn)一艘去巴西的船。她簽約當了領航員。一場叛亂 爆發(fā)了, 之后她控制了那艘船。

　　經(jīng)過幾個月的海盜旅程后, 這艘船在秘魯海域失事。一身海盜打扮的凱特琳娜去看望哥 哥邁克爾。她哥哥在軍隊里當上尉。她不能把自己的身份告訴哥哥, 害怕宗教法庭會因 為哥哥窩藏她而對他做出什么裁決?？伤齾s參加了哥哥所在的連隊, 并在他手下服了 三年役。

　　后來, 她又簽約做了一艘海盜船上的領航員。船長被殺之后, 她接管并領導了所有船 員。 凱特琳娜· 德· 伊蘭索最終被捕, 她和船員都被判處了絞刑。臨刑前, 事實證明她根 本就沒有襲擊西班牙船只, 而是在他們陷入困境時施以援手, 她這才得救。 ? ? 海盜及藏寶的時代已一去不復返。人們只是將歷史上那段多彩的時光留在了記憶中, 但是誰也不會因海上劫掠已成往事而感到遺憾。

　　閱讀導評

　　凱特琳娜———一朵帶刺的玫瑰: 一面是個長著一頭鮮艷的紅頭發(fā)的年輕女海盜, 另一 面是位勇敢且美麗的西班牙少女。喬·托馬斯曾說:“ 女性并不只是代表柔弱, 在她們的內(nèi)心里, 仍然保留著一種嬌柔和堅強相混合的情感。”她的性格恰恰體現(xiàn)了這一點, 海盜生活 給予許多人無限的遐想, 而女海盜的經(jīng)歷, 更是遐想中的奇葩。

　　閱讀導釋

　　1. pirate 可以指“ 海盜, 海盜船”, 還可以指“剽竊者, 盜版, 非法翻印者”。大家平時常說的“ 盜版磁帶或唱片”就是pirate label。下文出現(xiàn)的piracy 是它的名詞形式。

　　2. 這里提到的人都是當時很有名的江洋大盜, 如: 亨利·摩根( 1635—1688) , 威爾士海盜, 劫掠西屬加勒比殖民地的著名冒險家之一, 被英王查理二世敕封為爵士( 1674) , 并被委 派為駐牙買加副總督。愛得華·蒂奇( ? —1718) , 綽號“黑胡子”, 英國著名海盜, 活動 于加勒比海及大西洋北美沿海一帶, 被英國皇家海軍剿滅, 梟首示眾。威廉·基德 ( 1645—1701) , 又名“船長基德”, 英國劫掠船船長, 被控殺害自己船上的炮手并進行五 次劫掠, 被判處絞刑, 他的海盜生涯成為西方某些傳奇小說的題材。讓· 拉菲特 ( 1780—1825) , 美國路易斯安那的私掠船和走私船隊頭目, 在新奧爾良戰(zhàn)役( 1815) 中協(xié) 助美國對英軍作戰(zhàn)有功, 受到安德魯·杰克遜將軍的嘉獎, 戰(zhàn)后重操舊業(yè), 劫掠西班牙 船只。

　　3 - 7. 這里有一些生詞, 閱讀時需要注意。rider 是“騎馬人, 騎手”, 這里指“ ( 駕駛各種船只 的) 舵手”。pistol 指“ 手槍”; blunderbuss 是“ 老式大口徑短槍”; sword 是“ 劍”, 而dagger 指“ 匕首”。

　　8 - 10. 這里的clip 和cut 意思相同, 均為“ 剪”。hop 原指“( 人) 單足跳躍, 單足跳行”, 因 此, 體育項目中的三級跳遠就是hop, step and jump。這里指“ 快跳行走, 跳, 彈跳”, 如: hop on a bus ( 跳上公共汽車) ; hop out of bed ( 一躍起床) 。convent 指“女修道院”。

　　11. 這個詞組的意思是“去, 前進, 前往”。還可以指“ 發(fā)跡, 飛黃騰達, 獲得成功”, 如: He made his way by scholarship through Oxford. ( 他靠獎學金上完了牛津大學的課程。)

　　12. 這個詞的意思是“ 水手、士兵等對上級的反叛, 叛變, 嘩變, 叛亂”。