新概念英語第四冊（美音版）Royal espionage

Lesson 9
Royal espionage
王室諜報(bào)活動
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What important thing did King Alfred learn when he penetrated the Danish camp of Guthrum?
Alfred the Great acted his own spy, visiting Danish camps disguised as a minstrel. In those days wandering minstrels were welcome everywhere. They were not fighting men, and their harp was their passport. Alfred had learned many of their ballads in his youth, and could vary his programme with acrobatic tricks and simple conjuring.
While Alfred's little army slowly began to gather at Athelney, the king himself set out to penetrate the camp of Guthrum, the commander of the Danish invaders. There had settled down for the winter at Chippenham: thither Alfred went. He noticed at once that discipline was slack: the Danes had the self-confidence of conquerors, and their security precautions were casual. They lived well, on the proceeds of raids on neighbouring regions. There they collected women as well as food and drink, and a life of ease had made them soft.
Alfred stayed in the camp a week before he returned to Athelney. The force there assembled was trivial compared with the Danish horde. But Alfred had deduced that the Danes were no longer fit for prolonged battle: and that their commissariat had no organization, but depended on irregular raids.
So, faced with the Danish advance, Alfred did not risk open battle but harried the enemy. He was constantly on the move, drawing the Danes after him. His patrols halted the raiding parties: hunger assailed the Danish army. Now Alfred began a long series of skirmishes -- and within a month the Danes had surrendered. The episode could reasonably serve as a unique epic of royal espionage!
BERNARD NEWMAN Spies in Britain

New words and expressions 生詞和短語
espionage
n. 間諜活動
Alfred
公元871-899 年間任英國國王
Danish
adj. 丹麥的，丹麥人的，丹麥語的
minstrel
n. 中世紀(jì)的吟游歌手
wandering
adj. 漫游的
harp
n. 堅(jiān)琴
ballad
n. 民歌
acrobatic
adj. 雜技的
conjuring
n. 魔術(shù)
Athelney
n. 阿塞爾納（英國一個(gè)小島）
Chippenham
n. 切本哈姆（英國一個(gè)城市）
thither
adv. 向那里
Dane
n. 丹麥人
slack
adj. 渙散的
conqueror
n. 征服者
casual
adj. 馬虎的，隨便的
precaution
n. 預(yù)防，警惕
proceeds
n. 所得
assemble
v. 集合
trivial
adj. 微不足道的
prolonged
adj. 持久的
commissariat
n. 軍糧供應(yīng)
episode
n. 一個(gè)事件，片斷
epic
n. 史詩
harry
v. 騷擾
assail
v. 襲擊
skirmish
n. 小規(guī)模戰(zhàn)斗