A Child's History of England.85

When the Governor of Calais related [讲述] this to the people in the Market-place, there was great weeping and distress; in the midst of which, one worthy citizen, named Eustace de Saint Pierre, rose up and said, that if the six men required were not sacrificed, the whole population would be; therefore, he offered himself as the first. Encouraged by this bright example, five other worthy citizens rose up one after another, and offered themselves to save the rest. The Governor, who was too badly wounded to be able to walk, mounted a poor old horse that had not been eaten, and conducted [带领] these good men to the gate, while all the people cried and mourned.

Edward received them wrathfully [愤怒地], and ordered the heads of the whole six to be struck off. However, the good Queen fell upon her knees, and besought [beseech: 恳求] the King to give them up to her. The King replied, 'I wish you had been somewhere else; but I cannot refuse you.' So she had them properly dressed, made a feast for them, and sent them back with a handsome [大方的] present, to the great rejoicing of the whole camp. I hope the people of Calais loved the daughter to whom she gave birth soon afterwards, for her gentle mother's sake.

Now came that terrible disease, the Plague, into Europe, hurrying from the heart of China; and killed the wretched people - especially the poor - in such enormous numbers, that one-half of the inhabitants of England are related to have died of it. It killed the cattle, in great numbers, too; and so few working men remained alive, that there were not enough left to till [耕作] the ground.

<百度百科>有关黑死病的最早记载是1348年一名叫博卡齐奥的佛罗伦萨人记录下来的。历史中对黑死病特征的记录有一些是关于淋巴腺肿的描述，与19世纪发生于亚洲的淋巴腺鼠疫相似。</百度百科>

<百度百科>西班牙型流感在18个月内便完全消失，其病株从来都没有被真正的确认。1918年的西班牙大流感，2500万~1亿人死亡。而当时的世界总人口不过17亿人左右。事后的科研表明“西班牙流感”并不源于西班牙，“零号病人”也并不出现于西班牙。为什么从欧洲向全世界蔓延的大流感被命名为“西班牙流感”？因为当时正处于一战期间，美国和欧洲参战国都实行新闻管制，只有中立国西班牙的媒体不受管制，每天报道自家的流感情况，全球媒体也跟进，甚至还给病毒起名“西班牙女郎”。</百度百科>

<网络>梅毒，意大利人称之为“西班牙病”或“法国病”，法国人称之为“意大利病”或“那不勒斯病”或“西班牙病”，英国人称之为“法国病”或“法国痘”或“大痘”，俄国人称之为“波兰病”，阿拉伯人称之为“基督徒病”，中国叫做“广州病”，日本叫做“中国病”……</网络>

After eight years of differing [争议] and quarrelling, the Prince of Wales again invaded France with an army of sixty thousand men. He went through the south of the country, burning and plundering wheresoever he went; while his father, who had still the Scottish war upon his hands, did the like in Scotland, but was harassed and worried in his retreat from that country by the Scottish men, who repaid his cruelties with interest [利息].

六级/考研单词: weep, distress, midst, worthy, saint, sacrifice, thereby, wound, mount, conduct, mourn, feast, handsome, rejoice, plague, wretched, immense, inhabit, cattle, differ, quarrel, princess, invade, harass, retreat, repay