這個優秀文章36篇是我從新概念三、四的教材裡精心挑選出來的，其中新概念三20篇和新概念四的16篇，從貼近考研英語的角度來篩選，剔除了大部分的記敘文和說明文題材，主要就是論說文了。
加粗是考研重點詞彙和短語，要從課文句子中掌握其用法，不是很熟的最好查一下牛津或者其他詞典。劃線的重點要熟練應用的句子，儘量應用到作文中去。
新概念三 Lesson 14
A noble gangster 貴族歹徒
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。
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。
Six hundred years ago， Sir Johan 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
。 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
。
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。 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 pictured painted
which was
dedicated
to the memory of
‘the most
valiant
soldier and most
notable
leader， Signor Giovanni Haukodue。’
曾經有一個時期，芝加哥的店主和商行的老闆們不得不拿出大筆的錢給歹徒以換取“保護”。如果交款不及時，歹徒們就會很快搗毀他的商店，讓他破產。榨取“保護金”並不是一種現代的罪惡行徑。早在14世紀，英國人約翰。霍克伍德就有過非凡的發現：“人們情願拿出大筆的錢，也不願畢生的心血毀於歹徒之手。
600年前，約翰。霍克伍德爵士帶著一隊士兵來到義大利，在佛羅倫薩附近駐紮下來，很快就出了名。義大利人叫他喬凡尼。阿庫託。每次義大利各城邦之間發生戰爭，霍克伍德把他計程車兵僱傭給願給他出高價的君主。和平時期，當生意蕭條時，霍克伍德便帶領士兵進入某個城邦，縱火燒燬一兩個農場，然後提出，如向他們繳納保護金，他們便主動撤離。霍克伍德用這種方法掙了大筆錢。儘管如此，義大利人還是把他視作某種英雄。他80歲那年死去時，佛羅倫薩人為他舉行了國葬，併為他畫像以紀念這位”驍勇無比的戰士、傑出的領袖喬凡尼。阿庫託先生。“
Lesson 17
The longest suspension bridge in the world
世界上最長的吊橋
Verrazano， an Italian about whom little is known， sailed into New York Harbour in 1524 and named it Angouleme。 He
described
it as ‘a very
agreeable
situation located within two small hills in the midst of which
flowed
a great river。’
Though Verrazano is
by no means
considered
to be a great explorer， his name will
probably
remain
immortal
， for on November 21st， 1964， the longest
suspension
bridge in the world was
named after
him。
The Verrazano Bridge， which was
designed
by Othmar Ammann， joins Brooklyn to Staten Island。 It has a span of 4，260 feet。
The bridge is so long that the
shape
of the earth had to be
taken into account
by its designer。
Two great towers
support
four huge cables。 The towers are built on
immense
underwater platforms
made of
steel and concrete。 The
platforms
extend to
a depth of over 100 feet under the sea。 These alone took sixteen months to build。 Above the
surface
of the water， the towers
rise to
a
height
of nearly 700 feet。 They support the cables from which the bridge has been suspended。
Each of
the four cables
contains
26，108 lengths of wire。
It has been
estimated
that if the bridge were
packed with
cars， it would still only be carrying a third of its total
capacity
。 However， size and strength are not the only important things about this bridge。
Despite its immensity， it is both simple and
elegant
，
fulfilling
its designer‘s dream to create ’an enormous object drawn as faintly as possible‘。
1524年，一位鮮為人知的義大利人維拉薩諾駕船駛進紐約港，並將該港名為安古拉姆。他對該港作了這樣的描述：“地理位置十分適宜，位於兩座小山的中間，一條大河從中間流過”。雖然維拉薩諾絕對算不上一個偉大的探險家，但他的名字將流芳百世，因為1964年11月21日建成的一座世界上最長的吊橋是以他的名字命名。
維拉薩諾大橋由奧斯馬。阿曼設計，連結著布魯克林與斯塔頓島，橋長4，260英尺。由於橋身太長，設計者不得不考慮了地表的形狀。兩座巨塔支撐著4根粗大的鋼纜。塔身建在巨大的水下鋼盤混凝土平臺上。平臺深入海底100英尺。僅這兩座塔就花了16個月才建成。塔身高出水面將近700英尺。高塔支撐著鋼纜，而鋼纜又懸吊著大橋，4根鋼纜中的每根由26，108股鋼繩組成。據估計，若橋上擺滿了汽車，也只不過是橋的總承載力的1/3。然而，這座橋重要特點不僅是它的規模與強度。儘管此橋很大，但它的結構簡單，造型優美，實現了設計者企圖創造一個“儘量用細線條勾畫出一個龐然大物”的夢想。
