The onset5 of John’s adolescence was very late compared with that of the normal human being, and its duration was extremely prolonged. At fourteen he was physically6 comparable with a normal child of ten. When he died, at twenty-three, he was still in appearance a lad of seventeen. Yet, though physically he was always far behind his years, mentally, and not merely in intelligence but also in temperament8 and sensibility, he often seemed to be incredibly advanced beyond his actual age. This mental precocity9, I should say, was entirely10 due to imaginative power. Whereas the normal child clings to the old interests and attitudes long after more developed capacities have actually begun to awaken11 in him, John seemed to seize upon every budding novelty in his own nature and “force” it into early bloom by the sheer intensity12 and heat of his imagination.
This was obvious, for instance, in the case of his sexual experience. It should be said that his parents were for their time exceptional in their attitude to sex in their children. All three grew up unusually free from the common shames and obsessions13. Doc took a frankly15 physiological16 view of sexual development; and Pax treated the sexual curiosity and experimentation17 of her children in a perfectly18 open and humorous way.
Thus John may be said to have had an exceptionally good start. But the use which he made of it was very different from that which satisfied his brother and sister. They were exceptional only in being permitted to develop naturally, and in thus escaping the normal distortions. They did all that most children were solemnly forbidden to do, and they were not condemned20. I have no doubt that they practised whatever “vices” they happened to think of, and then passed light-heartedly to other interests. In the home circle they would prattle22 about sex and conception in a shameless manner; but not in public, “because people don’t understand yet that it doesn’t matter.” Later they obviously had their romantic attachments23. And later still they both married, and are seemingly well content.
The case of John was strikingly different. Like them, he passed in infancy24 through a phase of intense interest in his own body. Like them he found peculiar25 gratification in certain parts of his body. But whereas with them sexual interest began long before consciousness of personality had become at all precise, with John self-consciousness and other-consciousness were already vivid and detailed26 long before the onset of adolescence. Consequently, when that great change first began to affect him, and his imagination seized upon its earliest mental symptoms, he plunged27 headlong into kinds of behaviour that might have been deemed far beyond his years.
For instance, when John was ten, but physiologically28 much younger, he went through a phase of sexual interest more or less equivalent to the infantile sexuality of the normal type, but enlivened by his precocious29 intelligence and imagination. For some weeks he amused himself and outraged30 the neighbours by decorating walls and gate-posts with “naughty” drawings in which particular adults whom he disliked were caricatured in the act of committing various “wicked” practices. He also enticed32 his friends into his evil ways, and caused such a storm among the local parents that his father had to intervene. This phase, I take it, was due largely to a sense of impotence and consequent inferiority. He was trying to be sexually mature before his body was ready. After a week or two he apparently34 worked through this interest, as he had worked through the interest in personal combat.
But as the months advanced into years, he obviously felt an increasing delight in his own body, and this came in time to change his whole attitude to life. At fourteen he was generally taken for a strange child of ten, though it was not unusual for an observer sensitive to facial expression to suppose him some kind of “genius” of eighteen with arrested physique. His general proportions were those of a ten-year-old; but over a childlike skeleton he bore a lean and knotted musculature about which his father used to say that it was not quite human, and that there ought to be a long prehensile35 tail to complete the picture. How far this muscular development was due to nature, and how far to his deliberate physical culture, I do not know.
His face was already changing from the infantile to the boyish in underlying36 structure; but the ceaseless expressive37 movements of mouth and nostrils38 and brows were already stamping it with an adult, alien, and almost inhuman39 character. Thinking of him at this period, I recall a creature which appeared as urchin40 but also as sage41, as imp33 but also as infant deity42. In summer his usual dress was a coloured shirt, shorts and sandshoes, all of them fairly grubby. His large head and close platinum43 wool, and his immense green-rimmed, falcon44 eyes, gave one a sense that these commonplace clothes had been assumed as a disguise.
Such was his general appearance when he began to discover a vast attractiveness in his own person, and a startling power of seducing45 others to delight in him no less luxuriously46 than he did himself. His will to conquest was probably much exaggerated by the knowledge that from the point of view of the normal species there was something grotesque47 and repellent about him. His narcissism48 was also, I imagine, aggravated49 and prolonged by the fact that, from his own point of view, there was no other to meet him on an equal footing, none fit for him to regard with that blend of selfishness and devotion which is romantic love.
I must make it clear that in reporting John’s behaviour at this time I do not seek to defend it. Much of it seems to me outrageous50. Had it been perpetrated by anyone other than John, I should have unhesitatingly condemned it as the expression of a self-centred and shockingly perverted51 mind. But in spite of the most reprehensible52 incidents in his career, I am convinced that John was far superior to the rest of us in moral sensibility, as in intelligence. Therefore, even in respect of the seemingly disgraceful conduct which I have now to describe, I feel that the right course is not to condemn19 but to suspend judgement and try to understand. I tell myself that, if John was indeed a superior being, much of his conduct would certainly outrage31 us, simply because we, with our grosser sensibility, would never be able to apprehend53 its true nature. In fact, had his behaviour been simply an idealization of normal human behaviour, I should have been less disposed to regard him as of an essentially54 different and superior type. On the other hand it should be remembered that, though superior in capacity, he was also juvenile55, and may well have suffered in his own way from the inexperience and crudity56 of the juvenile mind. Finally, his circumstances were such as to warp57 him, for he found himself alone in a world of beings whom he regarded as only half human.
It was in his fourteenth year that John’s new consciousness of himself first appeared, and shortly after his fourteenth birthday that it expressed itself in what I can only call an orgy of ruthless vamping. I myself was one of the few persons within his circle at whom he never “set his cap,” and I was exempt58 only because he could not regard me as fair game. I was his slave, his hound, toward whom he felt a certain responsibility. One other who escaped was Judy; for there again he felt no need to enforce his attractiveness, and there again he felt responsibility and affection.
So far as I know, his first serious affair was with the unfortunate Stephen, now a consciously grown-up young man who went to business every day. Stephen had a girl friend whom he took out on Saturdays on his motor-bike. One Saturday, when John and I were returning from a business trip in my car (we had visited a rubber factory), we stopped for tea at a popular roadside café. We found Stephen and his girl inside, almost ready to leave. John persuaded them to “stay and talk to us for a bit.” The girl was obviously reluctant, having perhaps already had reason to dislike John’s behaviour toward her man; but Stephen delayed departure. Then began a most distressing59 scene. John behaved toward Stephen in a manner calculated to eclipse the young woman at his side. He prattled61. He sparkled with just the right standard of wit to fascinate Stephen and pass over the head of his simple companion. He kept the whole conversation well beyond her powers, occasionally appealing to her in a manner likely to trap her into making herself ridiculous. He faced Stephen now with the shy hauteur62 of a deer, now with seductiveness. He found excuses to move about the room and display his curiously63 feline64, though also coltish65, grace. Stephen was obviously captivated against his will, and, I feel sure, not for the first time. Toward the girl his gallantry grew laboured and false. She, poor outclassed little creature, could not conceal66 her distress60, but Stephen never noticed it, for he was hypnotized. At last she looked at her watch and tremulously snapped, “It’s frightfully late. Please take me home.” But even as they were leaving the room John enticed Stephen back for a final sally.
When the couple had gone I told John very emphatically what I thought of his behaviour. He looked at me with the offensive complacency of a cat, then drawled, “Homo sapiens!” Whether he was referring to me or to Stephen was not clear. But presently he said, “Tickle him the right way, and you’ve got him.”
A week later people were talking about the change in Stephen. They said “he ought to be ashamed to carry on that way with the boy,” and that John would be ruined. When I saw the two of them together, I felt that Stephen was struggling heroically against an obsession14. He shunned67 all physical contact with John, but when contact came, either by accident or through John’s contrivance, he was electrified68, and could not help prolonging it under a pretence69 of ragging. John himself appeared to be suffering from a conflict of luxury and disgust. It was clear that he was gratified by his conquest, but at the same time he was repelled70. Often he would terminate an amatory brawl71 with harshness, venting72 his repulsion by some unexpected piece of brutality73, pushing his thumb fiercely into Stephen’s eye, or tearing at his ear. As on an earlier occasion, my disgust and indignation at this kind of behaviour seemed to lead John to self-criticism. He was not above learning from his inferiors. His attitude to Stephen changed back to “man to man” comradeship, tempered by an almost humble74 gentleness. Stephen, too, slowly woke from his infatuation, but he woke with lasting75 scars.
For some weeks John refrained, so far as I know, from activities of this kind. But his behaviour toward his elders had become definitely more self-conscious and more body-conscious. He was evidently discovering in his own person an interest which had hitherto escaped him. He studied the art of displaying the bizarre attractiveness of his young body to the best advantage in the eyes of the inferior species. Of course he was far too intelligent to indulge in those excesses of adornment76 which so often render the adolescent ludicrous. Indeed, I doubt whether any but the most intimate and persevering77 observer would have guessed that the artistry of his behaviour was at all conscious. That it actually was so I inferred from the fact that it varied78 according to the standards of his audience, now expressing the crudest sort of self-delight and shameless seductiveness, now attaining79 to that unadorned and steely grace which was to characterize the later John.
During the eighteen months before he reached the age of sixteen John indulged in occasional and abortive80 love-affairs with older boys and young men. He was still sexually undeveloped, but imagination forestalled81 his physique, and made him capable of amatory sensitiveness beyond his years. Throughout this phase, however, he seemed indifferent to the fact that most girls showed some degree of physical repulsion in his presence.
But when he was sixteen, and in appearance a queer sort of twelve-year-old, he turned his attention to woman. For some weeks the girls with whom he came in contact had shown a more positive, often a positively82 vindictive83, attitude to him. This suggests at least that they were being forced to take note of him with new eyes, and that he had already begun to study a new technique of behaviour, directed toward the opposite sex.
Having perfected his technique, he proceeded to use it with cold deliberation upon one of the acknowledged stars of local society. This haughty84 young woman, who bore the surprising name of Europa, was the daughter of a wealthy shipowner. She was fair, large, athletic85. Her normal expression was a rather contemptuous pout86, tempered by a certain cow-like wistfulness about the eyes. She had been engaged twice, but rumour87 affirmed that her experience of the opposite sex had been far more intimate than was justified88 by mere7 betrothal89.
One afternoon down at the bathing place, accident (seemingly) brought John to the notice of Europa. She was lying in the sun, attended by her admirers. Unwitting, she had settled herself close to John’s towel. Her elbow was on the corner of it. John, needing to dry himself after a swim, approached her from behind, mildly tugged90 at the towel and murmured, “Excuse me.” She turned, found a grotesque young face close to her own, gave a start of repulsion, hastily released the towel, and recovered her composure by remarking to her audience, “Heavens! What an imp!” John must have heard.
Later, when Europa executed one of her admirable dives from the top board, John evidently managed to get entangled91 with her under water, for they came up together in close contact. John laughed, and broke away. Europa was left gasping92 for a moment, then she, too, laughed, and returned to the diving platform. John, looking like a gargoyle93, was already squatting94 on one of the boards, As she stretched her arms for the dive, she remarked with kindly95 contempt, “You won’t catch me this time, little monkey.” John dropped like a stone, and entered the water half a second behind her. After a considerable time they appeared together again. Europa was seen to smack96 his face, break from his clinging arm, and make for shore. There, she sunned and preened97 herself.
John now disported98 himself in her view, diving and swimming. He had invented a stroke of his own, very different from the “trudgeon” which was still at this time almost unchallenged in the remote northern provinces. Lying on his stomach in the water and flicking99 his feet alternately, while his arms behaved in the ordinary “trudgeon” manner, he was able to outstrip100 many experts older than himself. Some said that if he would only learn a decent stroke he would develop into a really fine swimmer. No one in the little provincial101 suburb realized that John’s eccentric stroke, or something very like it, a product of Polynesia, was even then ousting102 the “trudgeon” from the more advanced swimming circles of Europe and America, and even England.
With this eccentric stroke John displayed his prowess before the reluctantly attentive103 eyes of Europa. Presently he came out of the water and played ball with his companions, running, leaping, twisting, with that queer grace which few could detect, but by which those few were strangely enthralled104. Europa, talking to her swains, watched and was evidently intrigued.
In the course of the game John threw the ball, seemingly by accident, so that it knocked her cigarette from her hand. He leapt to her, sank on one knee, took the outraged fingers and kissed them, with mock gallantry and a suggestion of real tenderness. Every one laughed. Still holding Europa’s hand, he brought his great eyes to bear upon her face, inquiringly. The proud Europa laughed, unaccountably blushed, withdrew her hand.
This was the beginning. There is no need to follow the stages by which the urchin captured the princess. It is enough to dwell for a moment on their relations when the affair was at its height. Little knowing what was in store for her, Europa encouraged the juvenile philanderer105, not only at the swimming pool, where they gambolled106 together, but also by taking him out in her car. John, I should say, was much too wise, and much too occupied with other matters, to make his society cheap. Their meetings were not very frequent; but they were frequent enough to secure his prey107.
The metaphor108 is perhaps unjust. I do not pretend to be able to analyse John’s motives109 adequately, even the comparatively simple motives of his adolescence. Though I feel fairly sure that the origin of his attack upon Europa was his new craving111 to be admired by a woman in her prime, I can well believe that, as the relationship developed, he came to regard her in a much more complex manner. He sometimes watched her with an expression in which aloofness112 struggled not only with contempt but with genuine admiration113. His delight in her caresses114 was doubtless in part due to dawning sexual appreciation115. But though he could imaginatively judge her and enjoy her from the point of view of the male of her species, he was, I think, always conscious of her biological and spiritual inferiority to himself. The delight of conquest and the luxury of physical contact with a full-blooded and responsive woman were always for him poisoned by the sense that this contact was with a brute116, with something which could never satisfy his deeper needs, and might debase him.
On Europa the relationship had striking effects. The swains found themselves spurned117. Bitter taunts118 were flung. It was said that she had “fallen for a kid, and a freak kid, too.” She herself was obviously torn between the need to preserve her dignity and the half-sexual, half-maternal hunger which John had inspired. Horror at her plight119 and revulsion from the strangeness of the thing that had enthralled her made matters worse. She once said something to me which revealed the nerve of her feeling for John. It was at a tennis party. She and I were alone for a few minutes. Examining her racquet, she suddenly asked, “Do you blame me, about John?” While I was trying to reply, she added, “I expect you know what a power he has. He’s like — a god pretending to be a monkey. When you’ve been noticed by him, you can’t bother about ordinary people.”
The climax120 of this strange affair must have happened very shortly after that incident. I heard the story from John himself several years later. He had laughingly threatened to invade Europa’s bedroom one night by way of the window. It seemed to her an impossible feat121, and she dared him to do it. In the small hours of the following morning she woke to a soft touch on her neck. She was being kissed. Before she had time to scream a well-known boyish voice made known that the invader122 was John. What with astonishment123, amusement, defiance124 and sexual-maternal craving, Europa seems to have made but a half-hearted resistance to the boy’s advances. I can imagine that in the grip of his still childish arms she found an intoxicating125 blend of the innocent and the virile126. After some protest and sweet struggle she threw prudence127 to the winds and responded with passion. But when she began to cling to him, revulsion and horror invaded him. The spell was broken.
The caressing128 fingers, which at first had seemed to open up for him a new world of mutual129 intimacy130, affection, trust, in relation with a spirit of his own stature131, became increasingly sub-human, “as though a dog were smelling round me, or a monkey.” The impression became so strong that he finally sprang from the bed and disappeared through the window, leaving his shirt and shorts behind him. So hasty was his retreat that he actually bungled132 the descent in a most unJohn-like manner, fell heavily into a flower-bed, and limped home in the darkness with a sprained133 ankle.
For some weeks John was painfully torn between attraction and repulsion, but never again did he climb into Europa’s window. She, for her part, was evidently horrified134 at her own behaviour, for she deliberately135 avoided her boy-lover, and when she encountered him in public she acted the part of the remote though kindly adult. Presently, however, she realized that John’s attitude to her had changed, that his ardour had apparently cooled and given place to a gentle and disconcerting protectiveness.
When John took me into his confidence about his relations with Europa, he said, if I remember rightly, something like this. “That one night gave me my first real shaking. Before, I had been sure of myself; suddenly I found myself swept this way and that by currents that I could neither stem nor understand. I had done something that night which I knew deeply I was meant to do, but it was somehow all wrong. Time after time, during the next few weeks, I went to Europa intending to make love to her, but when I found her I just didn’t. Before I reached her I’d be all full of the recollection of that night, and her vital responsiveness, and her so-called beauty; but when I saw her — well, I felt as Titania felt when she woke to see that Bottom was an ass21. Dear Europa seemed just a nice old donkey, a fine one of course, but rather ridiculous and pitiable because of her soullessness. I felt no resentment136 against her, just kindness and responsibility. Once, for the sake of experiment, I started being amorous137, and she, poor thing, rejoiced like an encouraged dog. But it wouldn’t do. Something fierce in me rose up and stopped me, and filled me with an alarming desire to get my knife into her breasts and smash up her face. Then something else woke in me that looked down on the whole matter from a great height and felt a sort of passion of contemptuous affection for us both; but gave me a mighty138 scolding.”
At this point, I remember, there was a long silence. At last John told me something which it is better not to report. I did, indeed, write a careful account of this most disturbing incident in his career; and I confess that at the time I was so deeply under the spell of his personality that I could not feel his behaviour to have been vile139. I recognized, of course, that it was flagrantly unconventional. But I had so deep an affection and respect for both the persons concerned that I gladly saw the affair as John wished me to see it. Years later, when I innocently showed my manuscript to others of my species, they pointed140 out that to publish such matter would be to shock many sensitive readers, and to incur141 the charge of sheer licentiousness142.
I am a respectable member of the English middle class, and wish to remain so. All I will say, then, is that the motive110 of the behaviour which John confessed seems to have been double. First, he needed soothing143 after the disastrous144 incident with Europa, and, therefore, he sought delicate and intimate contact with a being whose sensibility and insight were not wholly incomparable with his own; with a being, moreover, who was beloved, who also loved him deeply, and would gladly go to any lengths for his sake. Second, he needed to assert his moral independence of Homo sapiens, to free himself of all deep unconscious acquiescence145 in the conventions of the species that had nurtured146 him. He needed, therefore, to break what was one of the most cherished of all the taboos147 of that species.
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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monetary
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| adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的 | |
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intrigued
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| adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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adolescence
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| n.青春期，青少年 | |
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onset
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| n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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precocity
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| n.早熟，早成 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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obsessions
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| n.使人痴迷的人（或物）( obsession的名词复数 )；着魔；困扰 | |
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obsession
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| n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感) | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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physiological
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| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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experimentation
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| n.实验，试验，实验法 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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prattle
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| n.闲谈；v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话；发出连续而无意义的声音 | |
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attachments
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| n.（用电子邮件发送的）附件( attachment的名词复数 )；附着；连接；附属物 | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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physiologically
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| ad.生理上，在生理学上 | |
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precocious
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| adj.早熟的；较早显出的 | |
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outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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enticed
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| 诱惑，怂恿( entice的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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imp
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| n.顽童 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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prehensile
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| adj.（足等）适于抓握的 | |
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underlying
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| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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platinum
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| n.白金 | |
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falcon
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| n.隼，猎鹰 | |
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seducing
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| 诱奸( seduce的现在分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
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luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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narcissism
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| n.自我陶醉，自恋 | |
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aggravated
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| 使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火 | |
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outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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51
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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52
reprehensible
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| adj.该受责备的 | |
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53
apprehend
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| vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑 | |
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54
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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55
juvenile
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| n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的 | |
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56
crudity
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| n.粗糙，生硬；adj.粗略的 | |
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warp
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| vt.弄歪，使翘曲，使不正常，歪曲，使有偏见 | |
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58
exempt
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| adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者 | |
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59
distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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60
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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61
prattled
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| v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话( prattle的过去式和过去分词 )；发出连续而无意义的声音；闲扯；东拉西扯 | |
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62
hauteur
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| n.傲慢 | |
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63
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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64
feline
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| adj.猫科的 | |
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65
coltish
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| adj.似小马的；不受拘束的；活泼的 | |
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66
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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67
shunned
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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electrified
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| v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 )；使兴奋 | |
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69
pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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70
repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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71
brawl
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| n.大声争吵，喧嚷；v.吵架，对骂 | |
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72
venting
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| 消除； 泄去； 排去； 通风 | |
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73
brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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74
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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75
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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76
adornment
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| n.装饰；装饰品 | |
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77
persevering
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| a.坚忍不拔的 | |
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78
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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79
attaining
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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80
abortive
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| adj.不成功的，发育不全的 | |
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81
forestalled
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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82
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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83
vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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84
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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85
athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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86
pout
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| v.撅嘴；绷脸；n.撅嘴；生气，不高兴 | |
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87
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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88
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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89
betrothal
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| n. 婚约, 订婚 | |
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90
tugged
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| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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91
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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92
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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93
gargoyle
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| n.笕嘴 | |
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94
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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95
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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96
smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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97
preened
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| v.（鸟）用嘴整理（羽毛）( preen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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98
disported
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| v.嬉戏，玩乐，自娱( disport的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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99
flicking
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的现在分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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100
outstrip
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| v.超过，跑过 | |
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101
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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102
ousting
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| 驱逐( oust的现在分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺 | |
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103
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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104
enthralled
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| 迷住，吸引住( enthrall的过去式和过去分词 )； 使感到非常愉快 | |
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105
philanderer
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| n.爱和女人调情的男人，玩弄女性的男人 | |
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106
gambolled
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| v.蹦跳，跳跃，嬉戏( gambol的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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107
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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108
metaphor
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| n.隐喻，暗喻 | |
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109
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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110
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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111
craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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112
aloofness
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| 超然态度 | |
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113
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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114
caresses
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| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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115
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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116
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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117
spurned
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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118
taunts
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| 嘲弄的言语，嘲笑，奚落( taunt的名词复数 ) | |
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119
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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120
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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121
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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122
invader
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| n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者 | |
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123
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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124
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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125
intoxicating
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| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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126
virile
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| adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的 | |
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127
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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128
caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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129
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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130
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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131
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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132
bungled
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| v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的过去式和过去分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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133
sprained
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| v.&n. 扭伤 | |
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134
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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135
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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136
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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137
amorous
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| adj.多情的；有关爱情的 | |
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138
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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139
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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140
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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141
incur
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| vt.招致，蒙受，遭遇 | |
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142
licentiousness
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| n.放肆，无法无天 | |
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143
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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144
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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145
acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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146
nurtured
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| 养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长 | |
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147
taboos
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| 禁忌( taboo的名词复数 )； 忌讳； 戒律； 禁忌的事物（或行为） | |
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