绿色电脑桌面壁纸新概念英语第四册课文翻译：Lesson9
【课文】
Alfred the Great acted as his own spy, visiting Danish camps disguid as a minstrel. In tho days wandering minstrels were welcome everywhere. They were not fighting men, and their harp was their passport. Alfred had learned many of their ballads in his youth, and could vary his programme with acrobatic tricks and simple conjuring.
While Alfred's little army slowly began to gather at Athelney, the king himlf t out to penetrate the camp of Guthrum, the commander of the Danish invaders. The had ttled down for the winter at Chippenham： thither Alfred went. He noticed at once that discipline was slack： the Danes had the lf-confidence of conquerors, and their curity precautions were casual. They lived well, on the proceeds of raids on neighbouring regions. There they collected women as well as food and drink, and a life of ea had made them soft.
Alfred stayed in the camp a week before he returned to Athelney. The force there asmbled was trivial compared with the Danish horde. But Alfred had deduced that the Danes were no longer fit for prolonged battle： and that their commissariat had no organization, but depended on irregular raids.
So, faced with the Danish advance, Alfred did not risk open battle but harried the enemy. He was constantly on the move, drawing the Danes after him. His patrols halted the raiding parties： hunger assailed the Danish army. Now Alfred began a long ries of skirmishes -- and within a month the Danes had surrendered. The episode could reasonably rve as a unique epic of royal espionage!
BERNARD NEWMAN Spies in Britain
【New words and expressions 生词和短语】
espionage n. 间谍活动
生物知识
Alfred 公元871-899 年间任英国国王
Danish adj. 丹麦的，丹麦人的，丹麦语的元魂珠
minstrel n. 中世纪的吟游歌手
卧薪尝胆有心而力不足 wandering adj. 漫游的
harp n. 坚琴
ballad n. 民歌
acrobatic adj. 杂技的
conjuring n. 魔术
Athelney n. 阿塞尔纳(英国一个小岛)
Chippenham n. 切本哈姆(英国一个城市)骚岳
thither adv. 向那里
Dane n. 丹麦人
slack adj. 涣散的
conqueror n. 征服者
casual adj. 马虎的，随便的
precaution n. 预防，警惕
proceeds n. 所得
asmble v. 集合
trivial adj. 微不足道的
prolonged adj. 持久的
commissariat n. 军粮供应家庭伦理电视剧
harry v. 骚扰
assail v. 袭击
skirmish n. 小规模战斗
episode n. 一个事件，片断
庖丁解牛出自 epic n. 史诗
