听播客学英语 222 罗宾汉

 　　There is an English legend about a man called Robin¹ Hood². According to the legend, Robin Hood lived in the late 12th or early 13th century, at the time of King John. (People say that King John was the worst king that England ever had). Robin Hood lived as an outlaw³ in a wild place called Sherwood Forest. He and his gang of “Merry Men” robbed rich people and gave money to the poor. His greatest enemy was the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham.

　　We do not know how much truth there is in the legend. Robin Hood is a “folk hero”. He represents the resistance of ordinary people to tyranny and authority. The stories about him have remained popular for hundreds of years.

　　They are of course wonderful stories for films and television. They have heroes (“goodies”) and villains⁴ (“baddies”). And there is lots of action – riding through forests on horses, sword fights etc. The BBC is going to show a new TV series about Robin Hood later this year. Because there isn’t much wild forest left in England, the series has been filmed in Hungary. And a few weeks ago someone stole the tapes of the new series. There have been rumours⁵ that they have asked for ?1million to return the tapes, and that they will give the money to charity. The BBC are saying nothing.

1 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

2 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

3 outlaw   

n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法

参考例句：

• The outlaw hid out in the hills for several months.逃犯在山里隐藏了几个月。
• The outlaw has been caught.歹徒已被抓住了。

4 villains   

n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼

参考例句：

• The impression of villains was inescapable. 留下恶棍的印象是不可避免的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some villains robbed the widow of the savings. 有几个歹徒将寡妇的积蓄劫走了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 rumours   

n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传

参考例句：

• The rumours were completely baseless. 那些谣传毫无根据。
• Rumours of job losses were later confirmed. 裁员的传言后来得到了证实。