VOA慢速英语20061004b

EXPLORATIONS - Pirates May Be Popular in Books and Movies, But Piracy¹ Remains² a ThreatBy Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Wednesday, October 04, 2006

VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:


'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'

And I'm Steve Ember with Explorations in VOA Special English. Adults and children alike enjoy stories and movies about pirates-- criminals who steal money or goods from people on ships. One of the most popular has been the movie series, Pirates of the Caribbean.

The movies star Johnny Depp as a pirate called Captain Jack³ Sparrow. But history experts say that Captain Jack and other pirates in movies and books are nothing like pirates in real life.

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VOICE ONE:

Attacks by pirates are a serious concern in the waters off the coasts of Africa, South America, Indonesia and in the Caribbean. In two thousand three, four hundred forty-five pirate attacks were reported around the world. Sixteen people were killed.


Efforts to fight piracy in the Malacca Straits included this joint⁴ naval⁵ exercise by Indonesia and Singapore in August in Jakarta

In the first three months of two thousand six, sixty-one successful or attempted pirate attacks were reported. Fifty-six such attacks were reported in the same time period the year before. Still, many pirate attacks go unreported each year.

In two thousand five, thirty-five pirate attacks were reported in Somalia. The International Maritime⁶ Bureau says the pirates target both passenger and cargo⁷ ships.

In March of two thousand six, Somali pirates seized twenty Filipino seamen⁸ on an oil ship at a southern Somali port. The pirates demanded money from the ship owners for their release. The men were released in July following negotiations⁹ for their freedom.

VOICE TWO:

Reports say modern pirates use high-speed motor boats. Most pirates force their way on to the ships, take what they want and are gone within minutes. Sometimes they kill or injure crew members.

Modern day pirates are difficult to catch. They return to small rivers or ports where there is little or no law enforcement. In some areas, pirates pay local officials to hide them from the law. And many times it is difficult to take any legal action against pirates because their attacks may take place outside any country's territorial¹⁰ waters.


Pirates attacked a French oil tanker¹¹ off Yemen in 2004

Pirates are still a major concern for most countries. International efforts continue to catch them and bring them to justice.

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VOICE ONE:

Experts say pirates have existed throughout history. Pirates robbed ancient Greek and Roman ships. People of one country sometimes used ships to raid the ships of another country.

Often, pirate ships landed on foreign shores and their crews attacked whole towns. They captured citizens and robbed them. The Vikings of Norway, Denmark and Sweden made these kinds of attacks on ships and towns in Europe. In the sixteen and seventeen hundreds, many pirates from Britain attacked the rich ships of France and Spain.


Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow

People may think these pirates are like those in popular books and movies. Like Long John Silver from Treasure Island or Captain Hook from Peter Pan. Or Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. But history experts who have studied pirates say this is mostly false.

VOICE TWO:

One expert is Marcus Rediker, a history professor at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. He has studied pirate life for more than thirty years. Professor Rediker says many pirates were former sailors. They rebelled against cruel ship captains and the poor pay and food provided by their governments. The pirates created a democratic society for themselves. They elected their own captains, developed rules about how to live together and voted on punishments for those who violated the rules.

Another modern pirate expert is David Cordingly. He wrote a book called Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among The Pirates. The book provides information about real pirates like Calico Jack and Black Bart. It tells about female pirates too, like Anne Bonney and Mary Read.

We will tell about three of the most famous pirates -- Henry Morgan, Henry Avery and Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard.

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VOICE ONE:

The government of Spain considered Henry Morgan a pirate. The British considered him a hero Britain, France, The Netherlands and Spain fought many wars for control of land, trading rights and the riches from new territories. Tensions existed among them even after they signed peace treaties.

Spain's colonies in the western part of the world provided huge amounts of gold, silver and jewels. These riches were transported to Spain in ships.

In the middle sixteen hundreds, Henry Morgan attacked Spanish cities and ships several times. He shared with the British government the gold, silver and other goods he took from Spanish ships.

Henry Morgan led one of the most famous attacks in history. He captured and burned the city of Panama in sixteen seventy-one. At the time, it was the richest city in all of Spain's colonies. The British government was very pleased with his work.

Spain's Ambassador to Britain protested the attack. The British government said Morgan would be tried for his crimes. But he never was. He became the assistant governor of Jamaica before he retired¹².

VOICE TWO:

But most pirates were not very successful. They lived as pirates for only two or three years. The history experts say that men who became pirates did not expect to live much longer than that. They knew the chances were great that they would be killed, or captured, tried and executed for their crimes.

One man, however, may have been the most successful pirate in history. His name was Henry Avery. He was also known as Long Ben Avery.

In sixteen ninety-five, Avery and his crew attacked a ship named the Gunsway. It belonged to a great ruler of India. The Gunsway carried millions of dollars in gold, silver and jewels.

Avery and his crew took the treasure. They sailed to the West Indies, then left their ship. Some of the crew went to America. Others sailed on different ships. Avery disappeared with a captain's share of the treasure. He was never caught. Nor was he ever heard from again.

VOICE ONE:

Edward Teach also became a famous pirate. He was called Blackbeard because he grew long black hair on his face. It is thought he was born in Bristol, England. He went to sea as a young man and became a pirate around seventeen fifteen.

Blackbeard was a successful pirate for about two years. Then a British Royal Navy ship caught up with him near what is now the American state of North Carolina in seventeen eighteen.

Blackbeard and his pirates fought the British. Blackbeard was killed. Members of his crew were captured and tried for their crimes. Many were executed.

VOICE TWO:

But that is not the end of the story about Blackbeard. One of the ships Blackbeard commanded was a captured French ship he renamed Queen Anne's Revenge. He lost the ship when it ran aground and sank in seventeen eighteen. Underwater research experts found the remains of a wooden ship at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of North Carolina in nineteen ninety-six. Many experts believe the sunken ship is Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge.

The researchers say the shipwreck¹³ offers a lot to study. They have found arms, ammunition¹⁴, scientific devices, gold and personal property on the wreckage¹⁵. And they continue to investigate the ship. They believe the ship is Blackbeard's because they have no evidence of any other kind of ship sinking in that area in the eighteenth century.

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VOICE ONE:

Old stories say Blackbeard may have buried some of his treasure along the coast of what are now the states of North and South Carolina. People have searched unsuccessfully for that treasure for many years.

Most experts do not believe that Blackbeard buried gold and jewels in that area or anywhere else. They say pirates in books and movies may have followed maps to buried treasure. But real pirates did not hide their money. The experts say real pirates spent their gold and silver immediately because they did not expect to live long enough to use it later.

People in the United States continue to be interested in pirates as they are shown in books and movies. There are yearly pirate celebrations in Key West, Florida and in Portland, Oregon. There are pirate museums in North Carolina. There is a pirate ride at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. There is a pirate hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. And there is even a yearly International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Nancy Steinbach. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

1 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

6 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

7 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

8 seamen   

n.海员

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather. 有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• In the storm, many seamen wished they were on shore. 在暴风雨中，许多海员想，要是他们在陆地上就好了。

9 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

10 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

11 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

12 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

13 shipwreck   

n.船舶失事，海难

参考例句：

• He walked away from the shipwreck.他船难中平安地脱险了。
• The shipwreck was a harrowing experience.那次船难是一个惨痛的经历。

14 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

15 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。