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.
    曾几何时，芝加哥的店主和商人必须向强盗缴纳巨额费用以求“保护”。如果交款不及时，这些强盗会砸掉他的店，令其破产。
    PS：There is a time, 曾几何时。
    PS++：in return for sth，以换取。。。
    PS++++: put a man out of business, 使某人破产，也可以用make sb bankrupcy代替。

    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.
    交“保护费”并不是一种现代的犯罪方式，早在14世纪，约翰·霍克伍德先生就有一个非凡的发现：人们宁愿叫巨额保护费，也不愿意让毕生心血毁于强盗之手。
    PS: would rather do A than B，宁愿做A不做B
    PS++：life work，毕生心血

    Six hundred years ago, Sir John 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.
    六百年前，约翰·霍克伍德先生带了一队士兵来到意大利，并驻扎在佛罗伦萨附近。他立刻就出名了，意大利人叫他吉范尼·阿克托。
    PS：make a name for oneself, 使某人出名

    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.
    但凡意大利城邦之间发生战争，霍克伍德先生就会把他的士兵租给那些愿意给他高价的君主们。

    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，营生很差的时候，霍克伍德先生和他的军队就会闯入某城邦，烧掉几个农场之后，就会提出如果他们提供足够的保护费，自己就会离开。
    PS: In times of peace, 在和平时期
    PS++: march into, （大摇大摆地）闯入

    Hawkwood made 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 picture painted which was dedicated to the memory of ‘the most valiant soldier and most notable leader, Signor Giovanni Haukodue’.
    霍克伍德先生通过这种方式大量敛财。尽管如此，意大利人仍视他为英雄。当他80岁去世的时候，佛罗伦萨人给予他国葬待遇，并画了一幅画，以纪念这位“骁勇无比的战士和最伟大的领袖，乔范尼·阿库托先生”。
    PS：In spite of this，尽管如此
    PS++：state funeral，国葬
    PS++++：be dedicated to，致力于，以…

    另外，我想补充一下英国享受过国葬的非王室成员
    1657 Robert Blake 海军将领 死于与西班牙的海战中，享年59岁
    1727 Issac Newton 数学家、物理学家 享年84岁
    1806 Horatio Nelson 海军将领 死于与法西联军的特拉法尔加战役，重创拿皇海军后阵亡，享年47岁(第三次反法同盟)
    1852 Arthur Wellesley 陆军将领 威灵顿公爵一世，Waterloo战役干死拿皇的反拿联军将领，享年84岁(第六次反法同盟)
    1965 Winston Churchill 海军大臣，英国首相，三巨头 带领英国打赢二战，并预言了冷战的发生，同时是个文学巨匠，享年91岁