影片對白  "Leverage", says you. "I think I feel a change in the wind," says I. I'll find us a crew.

考考你  現學現賣

 

3. Feast one's eyes on

意為"愉快地欣賞，觀看……"，例如：I'm feasting my eyes on this new sculpture--it's wonderful.

4. Worth one's salt

意為"某人（通常指被雇用的）所干的活/所起的作用值得付給他的那些錢"，例如： We couldn't find an assistant worth her salt.

這個習語來源于古羅馬的習俗，國家付給士兵買鹽的錢。

文化面面觀

Tortuga 島的傳奇

 

   Tortuga 就是片中Jack 和 Will 首先趕赴的島嶼，在那里，他們招募到了一群船員。歷史上的Tortuga 是一個著名的海盜"基地"。

A large (about 85 square miles) and rocky Island, separated by a narrow channel from the northwestern coast of Hispaniola. The island's name (?le de la Tortue, "Turtle Island") refers to its shape. Viewed from Hispaniola, it resembles a monster sea turtle floating upon the waves.

Tortuga initially served as a haven for cattle hunters on Hispaniola. The Spanish government, based at Santo Domingo, had abandoned western Hispaniola in 1605, but the colonial militia continued to attack the hunters. Mountainous and inaccessible to the north, and with only one harbor on the south, Tortuga offered safe refuge. By the 1620's, cattle hunters had a rough place of settlement near the harbor, where they sold hides to visiting merchants.

Sea rovers passing through from Europe found Tortuga a convenient harbor. The island provides good access around northern Hispaniola to the coast of Central America. To the south, Cuba and Mexico are easily reached through the Windard Passage, although the return journey against the wind is difficult. The Tortuga huntsmen soon began to supplement their income by piracy. By the late 1620's, Dutch fleets had weakened Spanish naval power, encouraging freelance marauders. To end raids from Tortuga, troops from Santo Domingo invaded the island in late 1630. But the islanders simply fled to the hills, returning as soon as the Spanish ships had left.

From 1631 to 1635, Tortuga was protected by the Providence Company, which already had a base on (Old) Providence Island, off the Honduran coast. Anthony Hilton, a former ship captain persuaded the Company to adopt Tortuga and was appointed governor. Hilton, a most persuasive rogue, had quarreled with the Barbados government and founded a colony on Nevis in 1628. He was chased away by the Spanish the following year, leaving behind large debts in Nevis and Saint Kitts.

The agreement with the Company was a rue to protect Hilton's buccaneer associates. Hilton (who died in 1634) never paid the Company for the cannon and ammunition it supplied. The Puritan minister sent by the Company fled after two years to escape his unruly flock!

Guided by an Irish sailor who had quarreled with Hilton, a force from Santo Domingo sacked the Tortuga settlement in 1635. Spanish ships attacked again in 1635 and killed any of the inhabitants they could find. Soon after, a Captain Roger Flood arrived with 300 settlers from Nevis. The Frenchmen still living on Tortuga claimed Flood abused them, forcing them to flee to Hispaniola.

The French inhabitants requested aid from Philippe de Poincy, the French governor-general. To solve his own political problems, de Poincy appointed Jean Le Vasseur governor in 1642. Le Vasseur, a skilled engineer, built an impregnable fortress near the harbor and cut all ties with France. During the next 12 years the Island became the capitol of Caribbean Piracy.