威尼斯商人-1

The Merchant Of Venice 001


A merchant named Antonio lived in the city of Italy. Antonio was a very rich man who owned many ships. He traded with foreign countries. Antonio was loved by everyone, because he was very kind and was always ready to help. He also had lots of friends. One of his friends was a young noble man who was called Barsanio. Though Barsanio was noble he was poor. One day Barsanio visited Antonio and told him that he loved a rich noble young lady named Posha. And that many rich young men were proposing to her. So he asked Antonio to lend 3000 deckers to marry her. “I will help you with pleasure, but I have no money just now. All my ships are at sea, I will borrow some for you from Sherlock until my ships come back ”.


Sherlock was a well-known money lender in Venice, he was very rich but a miser¹. He loved making money, but hated to spend it. He lent money to merchant if you needed money and asked them to pay back more than they have borrowed. So the merchant of Venice didn’t like Sherlock. Antonio however was kind and always lend money to anyone without making any profit Sherlock was displeased² of Antonio’s way of lending money without interest. And so Sherlock wished to have a chance to harm him. Antonio went to Sherlock with Barsanio to borrow the money. :As you know, my ships are all at sea, please lend the money to my great friend Barsanio, I will pay back to you as soon as my ships come back. If I can’t pay you back within 3 months, you can punish me for it” said Antonio to Sherlock.


At first Sherlock was unwilling³ to accept this offer, but he decided⁴ to lend the money. “ I want to be your friend, so I will lend the money without any profit, but if you don’t pay back the money at the end of 3 months. You must promise to give me a pound of your flesh. I will cut a pound of your flesh from your breast.” said Sherlock Antonio loved and agreed. But Barsanio was anxious about this, because Sherlock was a cruel and cold heart man. So he said to Antonio: don’t accept this proposal. I don’t want you to borrow money from Sherlock for me.” “Don’t be afraid, my ships will return with money and goods in two months.”, replied Antonio. Then the three men went to a lawyer to draft an agreement, after that Antonio took the money from Sherlock and gave it to Barsanio.

1 miser   

n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly)

参考例句：

• The miser doesn't like to part with his money.守财奴舍不得花他的钱。
• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。

2 displeased   

a.不快的

参考例句：

• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。
• He was displeased about the whole affair. 他对整个事情感到很不高兴。

3 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。