If it were only to see the sun rise, or to become acquainted with nature at hours excluded from the experience of civilisation4, it were worth while to be a traveller. There is something especially in the hour that precedes a Syrian dawn, which invigorates the frame and elevates the spirit. One cannot help fancying that angels may have been resting on the mountain tops during the night, the air is so sweet and the earth so still. Nor, when it wakes, does it wake to the maddening cares of Europe. The beauty of a patriarchal repose5 still lingers about its existence in spite of its degradation6. Notwithstanding all they have suffered during the European development, the manners of the Asiatic races generally are more in harmony with nature than the complicated conventionalisms which harass7 their fatal rival, and which have increased in exact proportion as the Europeans have seceded8 from those Arabian and Syrian creeds9 that redeemed10 them from their primitive11 barbarism.
But the light breaks, the rising beam falls on the gazelles still bounding on the hills of Judah, and gladdens the partridge which still calls among the ravines, as it did in the days of the prophets. About half-way between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Tancred and his companions halted at the tomb of Rachel: here awaited them a chosen band of twenty stout12 Jellaheens, the subjects of Sheikh Hassan, their escort through the wildernesses13 of Arabia Petr?a. The fringed and ribbed kerchief of the desert, which must be distinguished15 from the turban, and is woven by their own women from the hair of the camel, covered the heads of the Bedouins; a short white gown, also of home manufacture, and very rude, with a belt of cords, completed, with slippers16, their costume.
Each man bore a musket and a dagger17.
It was Baroni who had made the arrangement with Sheikh Hassan. Baroni had long known him as a brave and faithful Arab. In general, these contracts with the Bedouins for convoy18 through the desert are made by Franks through their respective consuls19, but Tancred was not sorry to be saved from the necessity of such an application, as it would have excited the attention of Colonel Brace20, who passed his life at the British Consulate21, and who probably would have thought it necessary to put on the uniform of the Bellamont yeomanry cavalry22, and have attended the heir of Montacute to Mount Sinai. Tancred shuddered23 at the idea of the presence of such a being at such a place, with his large ruddy face, his swaggering, sweltering figure, his flourishing whiskers, and his fat hands.
It was the fifth morn after the visit of Tancred to Bethany, of which he had said nothing to Baroni, the only person at his command who could afford or obtain any information as to the name and quality of her with whom he had there so singularly become acquainted. He was far from incurious on the subject; all that he had seen and all that he had heard at Bethany greatly interested him. But the reserve which ever controlled him, unless under the influence of great excitement, a reserve which was the result of pride and not of caution, would probably have checked any expression of his wishes on this head, even had he not been under the influence of those feelings which now absorbed him. A human being, animated24 by the hope, almost by the conviction, that a celestial25 communication is impending26 over his destiny, moves in a supernal27 sphere, which no earthly consideration can enter. The long musings of his voyage had been succeeded on the part of Tancred, since his arrival in the Holy Land, by one unbroken and impassioned reverie, heightened, not disturbed, by frequent and solitary29 prayer, by habitual30 fasts, and by those exciting conferences with Alonza Lara, in which he had struggled to penetrate31 the great Asian mystery, reserved however, if indeed ever expounded32, for a longer initiation33 than had yet been proved by the son of the English noble.
After a week of solitary preparation, during which he had interchanged no word, and maintained an abstinence which might have rivalled an old eremite of Engedi, Tancred had kneeled before that empty sepulchre of the divine Prince of the house of David, for which his ancestor, Tancred de Montacute, six hundred years before, had struggled with those followers34 of Mahound, who, to the consternation35 and perplexity of Christendom, continued to retain it. Christendom cares nothing for that tomb now, has indeed forgotten its own name, and calls itself enlightened Europe. But enlightened Europe is not happy. Its existence is a fever, which it calls progress. Progress to what?
The youthful votary36, during his vigils at the sacred tomb, had received solace37 but not inspiration. No voice from heaven had yet sounded, but his spirit was filled with the sanctity of the place, and he returned to his cell to prepare for fresh pilgrimages.
One day, in conference with Lara, the Spanish Prior had let drop these words: ‘Sinai led to Calvary; it may be wise to trace your steps from Calvary to Sinai.’
At this moment, Tancred and his escort are in sight of Bethlehem, with the population of a village but the walls of a town, situate on an eminence38 overlooking a valley, which seems fertile after passing the stony39 plain of Rephaim. The first beams of the sun, too, were rising from the mountains of Arabia and resting on the noble convent of the Nativity.
From Bethlehem to Hebron, Canaan is still a land of milk and honey, though not so rich and picturesque40 as in the great expanse of Palestine to the north of the Holy City. The beauty and the abundance of the promised land may still be found in Samaria and Galilee; in the magnificent plains of Esdraelon, Zabulon, and Gennesareth; and ever by the gushing41 waters of the bowery Jordan.
About an hour after leaving Bethlehem, in a secluded42 valley, is one of the few remaining public works of the great Hebrew Kings, It is in every respect worthy43 of them. I speak of those colossal44 reservoirs cut out of the native rock and fed by a single spring, discharging their waters into an aqueduct of perforated stone, which, until a comparatively recent period, still conveyed them to Jerusalem. They are three in number, of varying lengths from five to six hundred feet, and almost as broad; their depth, still undiscovered. They communicate with each other, so that the water of the uppermost reservoir, flowing through the intermediate one, reached the third, which fed the aqueduct. They are lined with a hard cement like that which coats the pyramids, and which remains45 uninjured; and it appears that hanging gardens once surrounded them. The Arabs still call these reservoirs the pools of Solomon, nor is there any reason to doubt the tradition. Tradition, perhaps often more faithful than written documents, is a sure and almost infallible guide in the minds of the people where there has been no complicated variety of historic incidents to confuse and break the chain of memory; where their rare revolutions have consisted of an eruption46 once in a thousand years into the cultivated world; where society has never been broken up, but their domestic manners have remained the same; where, too, they revere47 truth, and are rigid48 in its oral delivery, since that is their only means of disseminating49 knowledge.
There is no reason to doubt that these reservoirs were the works of Solomon. This secluded valley, then, was once the scene of his imaginative and delicious life. Here were his pleasure gardens; these slopes were covered with his fantastic terraces, and the high places glittered with his pavilions. The fountain that supplied these treasured waters was perhaps the ‘sealed fountain,’ to which he compared his bride; and here was the garden palace where the charming Queen of Sheba vainly expected to pose the wisdom of Israel, as she held at a distance before the most dexterous50 of men the two garlands of flowers, alike in form and colour, and asked the great king, before his trembling court, to decide which of the wreaths was the real one.
They are gone, they are vanished, these deeds of beauty and these words of wit! The bright and glorious gardens of the tiaraed poet and the royal sage51, that once echoed with his lyric52 voice, or with the startling truths of his pregnant aphorisms53, end in this wild and solitary valley, in which with folded arms and musing28 eye of long abstraction, Tancred halts in his ardent54 pilgrimage, nor can refrain from asking himself, ‘Can it, then, be true that all is vanity?’
Why, what, is this desolation? Why are there no more kings whose words are the treasured wisdom of countless55 ages, and the mention of whose name to this moment thrills the heart of the Oriental, from the waves of the midland ocean to the broad rivers of the farthest Ind? Why are there no longer bright-witted queens to step out of their Arabian palaces and pay visits to the gorgeous ‘house of the forest of Lebanon,’ or to where Baalbec, or Tadmor in the wilderness14, rose on those plains now strewn with the superb relics56 of their inimitable magnificence?
And yet some flat-nosed Frank, full of bustle57 and puffed58 up with self-conceit (a race spawned59 perhaps in the morasses60 of some Northern forest hardly yet cleared), talks of Progress! Progress to what, and from whence? Amid empires shrivelled into deserts, amid the wrecks61 of great cities, a single column or obelisk62 of which nations import for the prime ornament63 of their mud-built capitals, amid arts forgotten, commerce annihilated64, fragmentary literatures and populations destroyed, the European talks of progress, because, by an ingenious application of some scientific acquirements, he has established a society which has mistaken comfort for civilisation.
The soft beam of the declining sun fell upon a serene65 landscape; gentle undulations covered with rich shrubs66 or highly cultivated corn-fields and olive groves67; sometimes numerous flocks; and then vineyards fortified69 with walls and with watch-towers, as in the time of David, whose city Tancred was approaching. Hebron, too, was the home of the great Sheikh Abraham; and the Arabs here possess his tomb, which no Christian70 is permitted to visit. It is strange and touching71, that the children of Ishmael should have treated the name and memory of the Sheikh Abraham with so much reverence72 and affection. But the circumstance that he was the friend of Allah appears with them entirely73 to have outweighed74 the recollection of his harsh treatment of their great progenitor75. Hebron has even lost with them its ancient Jud?an name, and they always call it, in honour of the tomb of the Sheikh, the ‘City of a Friend.’
About an hour after Hebron, in a fair pasture, and near an olive grove68, Tancred pitched his tent, prepared on the morrow to quit the land of promise, and approach that ‘great and terrible wilderness where there was no water.’
‘The children of Israel,’ as they were called according to the custom then and now universally prevalent among the Arabian tribes (as, for example, the Beni Kahtan, Beni Kelb, Beni Salem, Beni Sobh, Beni Ghamed, Beni Seydan, Beni Ali, Beni Hateym, all adopting for their description the name of their founder), the ‘children of Israel’ were originally a tribe of Arabia Petrasa. Under the guidance of sheikhs of great ability, they emerged from their stony wilderness and settled on the Syrian border.
But they could not maintain themselves against the disciplined nations of Palestine, and they fell back to their desert, which they found intolerable. Like some of the Bedouin tribes of modern times in the rocky wastes contiguous to the Red Sea, they were unable to resist the temptations of the Egyptian cities; they left their free but distressful76 wilderness, and became Fellaheen. The Pharaohs, however, made them pay for their ready means of sustenance77, as Mehemet Ali has made the Arabs of our days who have quitted the desert to eat the harvests of the Nile. They enslaved them, and worked them as beasts of burden. But this was not to be long borne by a race whose chiefs in the early ages had been favoured by Jehovah; the patriarch Emirs, who, issuing from the Caucasian cradle of the great races, spread over the plains of Mesopotamia, and disseminated78 their illustrious seed throughout the Arabian wilderness. Their fiery79 imaginations brooded over the great traditions of their tribe, and at length there arose among them one of those men whose existence is an epoch80 in the history of human nature: a great creative spirit and organising mind, in whom the faculties81 of conception and of action are equally balanced and possessed82 in the highest degree; in every respect a man of the complete Caucasian model, and almost as perfect as Adam when he was just finished and placed in Eden.
But Jehovah recognised in Moses a human instrument too rare merely to be entrusted83 with the redemption of an Arabian tribe from a state of Fellaheen to Bedouin existence. And, therefore, he was summoned to be the organ of an eternal revelation of the Divine will, and his tribe were appointed to be the hereditary84 ministers of that mighty85 and mysterious dispensation.
It is to be noted86, although the Omnipotent87 Creator might have found, had it pleased him, in the humblest of his creations, an efficient agent for his purpose, however difficult and sublime88, that Divine Majesty89 has never thought fit to communicate except with human beings of the very highest powers. They are always men who have manifested an extraordinary aptitude90 for great affairs, and the possession of a fervent91 and commanding genius. They are great legislators, or great warriors92, or great poets, or orators93 of the most vehement94 and impassioned spirit. Such were Moses, Joshua, the heroic youth of Hebron, and his magnificent son; such, too, was Isaiah, a man, humanly speaking, not inferior to Demosthenes, and struggling for a similar and as beautiful a cause, the independence of a small state, eminent95 for its intellectual power, against the barbarian96 grandeur97 of a military empire. All the great things have been done by the little nations. It is the Jordan and the Ilyssus that have civilised the modern races. An Arabian tribe, a clan98 of the ?gean, have been the promulgators of all our knowledge; and we should never have heard of the Pharaohs, of Babylon the great and Nineveh the superb, of Cyrus and of Xerxes, had not it been for Athens and Jerusalem.
Tancred rose with the sun from his encampment at Hebron, to traverse, probably, the same route pursued by the spies when they entered the Land of Promise. The transition from Canaan to the stony Arabia is not abrupt99. A range of hills separates Palestine from a high but level country similar to the Syrian desert, sandy in some places, but covered in all with grass and shrubs; a vast expanse of downs. Gradually the herbage disappears, and the shrubs are only found tufting the ridgy100 tops of low undulating sandhills. Soon the sand becomes stony, and no trace of vegetation is ever visible excepting occasionally some thorny101 plant. Then comes a land which alternates between plains of sand and dull ranges of monotonous102 hills covered with loose flints; sometimes the pilgrim winds his way through their dull ravines, sometimes he mounts the heights and beholds103 a prospect105 of interminable desolation.
For three nights had Tancred encamped in this wilderness, halting at some spot where they could find some desert shrubs that might serve as food for the camels and fuel for themselves. His tent was soon pitched, the night fires soon crackling, and himself seated at one with the Sheikh and Baroni, he beheld106 with interest and amusement the picturesque and flashing groups around him. Their fare was scant107 and simple: bread baked upon the spot, the dried tongue of a gazelle, the coffee of the neighbouring Mocha, and the pipe that ever consoles, if indeed the traveller, whatever his hardships, could need any sustenance but his own high thoughts in such a scene, canopied108, too, by the most beautiful sky and the most delicious climate in the world.
They were in the vicinity of Mount Seir; on the morrow they were to commence the passage of the lofty range which stretches on to Sinai. The Sheikh, who had a feud109 with a neighbouring tribe, and had been anxious and vigilant110 while they crossed the open country, riding on with an advanced guard before his charge, reconnoitring from sandhill to sandhill, often creeping up and lying on his breast, so as not to be visible to the enemy, congratulated Tancred that all imminent111 danger was past.
‘Not that I am afraid of them,’ said Hassan, proudly; ‘but we must kill them or they will kill us.’ Hassan, though Sheikh of his own immediate112 family and followers, was dependent on the great Sheikh of the Jellaheen tribe, and was bound to obey his commands in case the complete clan were summoned to congregate113 in any particular part of the desert.
[Illustration: page2–083]
On the morrow they commenced their passage of the mountains, and, after clearing several ranges found themselves two hours after noon in a defile114 so strangely beautiful that to behold104 it would alone have repaid all the exertions115 and perils117 of the expedition. It was formed by precipitous rocks of a picturesque shape and of great height, and of colours so brilliant and so blended that to imagine them you must fancy the richest sunset you have ever witnessed, and that would be inferior, from the inevitable118 defect of its fleeting119 character. Here the tints120, sometimes vivid, sometimes shadowed down, were always equally fair: light blue heights, streaked121, perhaps, with scarlet122 and shaded off to lilac or purple; a cleft123 of bright orange; a broad peach-coloured expanse, veined in delicate circles and wavy124 lines of exquisite125 grace; sometimes yellow and purple stripes; sometimes an isolated126 steep of every hue127 flaming in the sun, and then, like a young queen on a gorgeous throne, from a vast rock of crimson128, and gold rose a milk-white summit. The frequent fissures129 of this defile were filled with rich woods of oleander and shrubs of every shade of green, from which rose acacia, and other trees unknown to Tancred. Over all this was a deep and cloudless sky, and through it a path winding130 amid a natural shrubbery, which princes would have built colossal conservatories131 to preserve.
”Tis a scene of enchantment132 that has risen to mock us in the middle of the desert,’ exclaimed the enraptured133 pilgrim; ‘surely it must vanish even as we gaze!’
About half-way up the defile, when they had traversed it for about a quarter of an hour, Sheikh Hassan suddenly galloped134 forward and hurled135 his spear with great force at an isolated crag, the base of which was covered with oleanders, and then looking back he shouted to his companions. Tancred and the foremost hurried up to him.
‘Here are tracks of horses and camels that have entered the valley thus far and not passed through it. They are fresh; let all be prepared.’
‘We are twenty-five men well armed,’ said Baroni. ‘It is not the Tyahas that will attack such a band.’
‘Nor are they the Gherashi or the Mezeines,’ said the Sheikh, ‘for we know what they are after, and we are brothers.’
‘They must be Alouins,’ said an Arab.
At this moment the little caravan136 was apparently137 land-locked, the defile again winding; but presently it became quite straight, and its termination was visible, though at a considerable distance.
‘I see horsemen,’ said the Sheikh; ‘several of them advance; they are not Alouins.’
He rode forward to meet them, accompanied by Tancred and Baroni.
‘Salaam138,’ said the Sheikh, ‘how is it?’ and then he added, aside to Baroni, ‘They are strangers; why are they here?’
‘Aleikoum! We know where you come from,’ was the reply of one of the horsemen. ‘Is that the brother of the Queen of the English? Let him ride with us, and you may go on in peace.’
‘He is my brother,’ said Sheikh Hassan, ‘and the brother of all here. There is no feud between us. Who are you?’
‘We are children of Jethro, and the great Sheikh has sent us a long way to give you salaam. Your desert here is not fit for the camel that your Prophet cursed. Come, let us finish our business, for we wish to see a place where there are palm trees.’
‘Are these children of Eblis?’ said Sheikh Hassan to Baroni.
‘It is the day of judgment,’ said Baroni, looking pale; ‘such a thing has not happened in my time. I am lost.’
‘What do these people say?’ inquired Tancred.
‘There is but one God,’ said Sheikh Hassan, whose men had now reached him, ‘and Mahomet is his Prophet. Stand aside, sons of Eblis, or you shall bite the earth which curses you!’
A wild shout from every height of the defile was the answer. They looked up, they looked round; the crest139 of every steep was covered with armed Arabs, each man with his musket levelled.
‘My lord,’ said Baroni, ‘there is something hidden in all this. This is not an ordinary desert foray. You are known, and this tribe comes from a distance to plunder140 you;’ and then he rapidly detailed141 what had already passed.
‘What is your force, sons of Eblis?’ said the Sheikh to the horsemen.
‘Count your men, and your muskets142, and your swords, and your horses, and your camels; and if they were all double, they would not be our force. Our great Sheikh would have come in person with ten thousand men, were not your wilderness here fit only for Giaours.’
‘Tell the young chief,’ said the Sheikh to Baroni, ‘that I am his brother, and will shed the last drop of my blood in his service, as I am bound to do, as much as he is bound to give me ten thousand piastres for the journey, and ask him what he wishes.’
‘Demand to know distinctly what these men want,’ said Tancred to Baroni, who then conferred with them.
‘They want your lordship,’ said Baroni, ‘whom they call the brother of the Queen of the English; their business is clearly to carry you to their great Sheikh, who will release you for a large ransom143.’
‘And they have no feud with the Jellaheens?’
‘None; they are strangers; they come from a distance for this purpose; nor can it be doubted that this plan has been concocted144 at Jerusalem.’
‘Our position, I fear, is fatal in this defile,’ said Tancred; ‘it is bitter to be the cause of exposing so many brave men to almost inevitable slaughter145. Tell them, Baroni, that I am not the brother of the Queen of the English; that they are ridiculously misled, and that their aim is hopeless, for all that will be ransomed146 will be my corpse147.’
Sheikh Hassan sat on his horse like a statue, with his spear in his hand and his eye on his enemy; Baroni, advancing to the strange horsemen, who were in position about ten yards from Tancred and his guardian148, was soon engaged in animated conversation. He did all that an able diplomatist could effect; told lies with admirable grace, and made a hundred propositions that did not commit his principal. He assured them very heartily149 that Tancred was not the brother of the Queen of the English; that he was only a young Sheikh, whose father was alive, and in possession of all the flocks and herds150, camels and horses; that he had quarrelled with his father; that his father, perhaps, would not be sorry if he were got rid of, and would not give a hundred piastres to save his life. Then he offered, if he would let Tancred pass, himself to go with them as prisoner to their great Sheikh, and even proposed Hassan and half his men for additional hostages, whilst some just and equitable151 arrangement could be effected. All, however, was in vain. The enemy had no discretion152; dead or alive, the young Englishman must be carried to their chief.
‘I can do nothing,’ said Baroni, returning; ‘there is something in all this which I do not understand. It has never happened in my time.’
‘There is, then, but one course to be taken,’ said Tancred; ‘we must charge through the defile. At any rate we shall have the satisfaction of dying like men. Let us each fix on our opponent. That audacious-looking Arab in a red kefia shall be my victim, or my destroyer. Speak to the Sheikh, and tell him to prepare his men. Freeman and Trueman,’ said Tancred, looking round to his English servants, ‘we are in extreme peril116; I took you from your homes; if we outlive this day, and return to Montacute, you shall live on your own land.’
‘Never mind us, my lord: if it wern’t for those rocks we would beat these niggers.’
‘Are you all ready?’ said Tancred to Baroni.
‘We are all ready.’
‘Then I commend my soul to Jesus Christ, and to the God of Sinai, in whose cause I perish.’ So saying, Tancred shot the Arab in the red kefia through the head, and with his remaining pistol disabled another of the enemy. This he did, while he and his band were charging, so suddenly and so boldly, that those immediately opposed to them were scattered153. There was a continuous volley, however, from every part of the defile, and the scene was so involved in smoke that it was impossible for Tancred to see a yard around him; still he galloped on and felt conscious that he had companions, though the shouting was so great that it was impossible to communicate. The smoke suddenly drifting, Tancred caught a glimpse of his position; he was at the mouth of the defile, followed by several of his men, whom he had not time to distinguish, and awaited by innumerable foes154.
‘Let us sell our lives dearly!’ was all that he could exclaim. His sword fell from his wounded arm; his horse, stabbed underneath155, sank with him to the ground. He was overpowered and bound. ‘Every drop of his blood,’ exclaimed the leader of the strange Arabs, ‘is worth ten thousand piastres.’
点击收听单词发音
1 ostrich | |
n.鸵鸟 | |
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2 musket | |
n.滑膛枪 | |
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3 slung | |
抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往 | |
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4 civilisation | |
n.文明,文化,开化,教化 | |
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5 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
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6 degradation | |
n.降级;低落;退化;陵削;降解;衰变 | |
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7 harass | |
vt.使烦恼,折磨,骚扰 | |
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8 seceded | |
v.脱离,退出( secede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9 creeds | |
(尤指宗教)信条,教条( creed的名词复数 ) | |
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10 redeemed | |
adj. 可赎回的,可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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11 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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13 wildernesses | |
荒野( wilderness的名词复数 ); 沙漠; (政治家)在野; 不再当政(或掌权) | |
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14 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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15 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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16 slippers | |
n. 拖鞋 | |
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17 dagger | |
n.匕首,短剑,剑号 | |
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18 convoy | |
vt.护送,护卫,护航;n.护送;护送队 | |
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19 consuls | |
领事( consul的名词复数 ); (古罗马共和国时期)执政官 (古罗马共和国及其军队的最高首长,同时共有两位,每年选举一次) | |
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20 brace | |
n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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21 consulate | |
n.领事馆 | |
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22 cavalry | |
n.骑兵;轻装甲部队 | |
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23 shuddered | |
v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
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24 animated | |
adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的 | |
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25 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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26 impending | |
a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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27 supernal | |
adj.天堂的,天上的;崇高的 | |
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28 musing | |
n. 沉思,冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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29 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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30 habitual | |
adj.习惯性的;通常的,惯常的 | |
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31 penetrate | |
v.透(渗)入;刺入,刺穿;洞察,了解 | |
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32 expounded | |
论述,详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33 initiation | |
n.开始 | |
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34 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
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35 consternation | |
n.大为吃惊,惊骇 | |
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36 votary | |
n.崇拜者;爱好者;adj.誓约的,立誓任圣职的 | |
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37 solace | |
n.安慰;v.使快乐;vt.安慰(物),缓和 | |
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38 eminence | |
n.卓越,显赫;高地,高处;名家 | |
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39 stony | |
adj.石头的,多石头的,冷酷的,无情的 | |
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40 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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41 gushing | |
adj.迸出的;涌出的;喷出的;过分热情的v.喷,涌( gush的现在分词 );滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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42 secluded | |
adj.与世隔绝的;隐退的;偏僻的v.使隔开,使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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43 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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44 colossal | |
adj.异常的,庞大的 | |
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45 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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46 eruption | |
n.火山爆发;(战争等)爆发;(疾病等)发作 | |
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47 revere | |
vt.尊崇,崇敬,敬畏 | |
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48 rigid | |
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的 | |
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49 disseminating | |
散布,传播( disseminate的现在分词 ) | |
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50 dexterous | |
adj.灵敏的;灵巧的 | |
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51 sage | |
n.圣人,哲人;adj.贤明的,明智的 | |
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52 lyric | |
n.抒情诗,歌词;adj.抒情的 | |
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53 aphorisms | |
格言,警句( aphorism的名词复数 ) | |
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54 ardent | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的 | |
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55 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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56 relics | |
[pl.]n.遗物,遗迹,遗产;遗体,尸骸 | |
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57 bustle | |
v.喧扰地忙乱,匆忙,奔忙;n.忙碌;喧闹 | |
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58 puffed | |
adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧 | |
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59 spawned | |
(鱼、蛙等)大量产(卵)( spawn的过去式和过去分词 ); 大量生产 | |
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60 morasses | |
n.缠作一团( morass的名词复数 );困境;沼泽;陷阱 | |
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61 wrecks | |
n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 );(事故中)遭严重毁坏的汽车(或飞机等);(身体或精神上)受到严重损伤的人;状况非常糟糕的车辆(或建筑物等)v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 );使(船舶)失事,使遇难,使下沉 | |
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62 obelisk | |
n.方尖塔 | |
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63 ornament | |
v.装饰,美化;n.装饰,装饰物 | |
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64 annihilated | |
v.(彻底)消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 );使无效;废止;彻底击溃 | |
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65 serene | |
adj. 安详的,宁静的,平静的 | |
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66 shrubs | |
灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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67 groves | |
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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68 grove | |
n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
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69 fortified | |
adj. 加强的 | |
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70 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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71 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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72 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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73 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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74 outweighed | |
v.在重量上超过( outweigh的过去式和过去分词 );在重要性或价值方面超过 | |
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75 progenitor | |
n.祖先,先驱 | |
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76 distressful | |
adj.苦难重重的,不幸的,使苦恼的 | |
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77 sustenance | |
n.食物,粮食;生活资料;生计 | |
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78 disseminated | |
散布,传播( disseminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79 fiery | |
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的 | |
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80 epoch | |
n.(新)时代;历元 | |
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81 faculties | |
n.能力( faculty的名词复数 );全体教职员;技巧;院 | |
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82 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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83 entrusted | |
v.委托,托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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84 hereditary | |
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的 | |
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85 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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86 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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87 omnipotent | |
adj.全能的,万能的 | |
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88 sublime | |
adj.崇高的,伟大的;极度的,不顾后果的 | |
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89 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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90 aptitude | |
n.(学习方面的)才能,资质,天资 | |
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91 fervent | |
adj.热的,热烈的,热情的 | |
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92 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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93 orators | |
n.演说者,演讲家( orator的名词复数 ) | |
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94 vehement | |
adj.感情强烈的;热烈的;(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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95 eminent | |
adj.显赫的,杰出的,有名的,优良的 | |
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96 barbarian | |
n.野蛮人;adj.野蛮(人)的;未开化的 | |
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97 grandeur | |
n.伟大,崇高,宏伟,庄严,豪华 | |
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98 clan | |
n.氏族,部落,宗族,家族,宗派 | |
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99 abrupt | |
adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的 | |
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100 ridgy | |
adj.有脊的;有棱纹的;隆起的;有埂的 | |
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101 thorny | |
adj.多刺的,棘手的 | |
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102 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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103 beholds | |
v.看,注视( behold的第三人称单数 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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104 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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105 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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106 beheld | |
v.看,注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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107 scant | |
adj.不充分的,不足的;v.减缩,限制,忽略 | |
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108 canopied | |
adj. 遮有天篷的 | |
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109 feud | |
n.长期不和;世仇;v.长期争斗;世代结仇 | |
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110 vigilant | |
adj.警觉的,警戒的,警惕的 | |
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111 imminent | |
adj.即将发生的,临近的,逼近的 | |
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112 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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113 congregate | |
v.(使)集合,聚集 | |
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114 defile | |
v.弄污,弄脏;n.(山间)小道 | |
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115 exertions | |
n.努力( exertion的名词复数 );费力;(能力、权力等的)运用;行使 | |
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116 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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117 perils | |
极大危险( peril的名词复数 ); 危险的事(或环境) | |
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118 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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119 fleeting | |
adj.短暂的,飞逝的 | |
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120 tints | |
色彩( tint的名词复数 ); 带白的颜色; (淡色)染发剂; 痕迹 | |
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121 streaked | |
adj.有条斑纹的,不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 );使布满条纹 | |
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122 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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123 cleft | |
n.裂缝;adj.裂开的 | |
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124 wavy | |
adj.有波浪的,多浪的,波浪状的,波动的,不稳定的 | |
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125 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
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126 isolated | |
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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127 hue | |
n.色度;色调;样子 | |
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128 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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129 fissures | |
n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 );裂伤;分歧;分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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130 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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131 conservatories | |
n.(培植植物的)温室,暖房( conservatory的名词复数 ) | |
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132 enchantment | |
n.迷惑,妖术,魅力 | |
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133 enraptured | |
v.使狂喜( enrapture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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134 galloped | |
(使马)飞奔,奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 ); 快速做[说]某事 | |
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135 hurled | |
v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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136 caravan | |
n.大蓬车;活动房屋 | |
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137 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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138 salaam | |
n.额手之礼,问安,敬礼;v.行额手礼 | |
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139 crest | |
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖 | |
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140 plunder | |
vt.劫掠财物,掠夺;n.劫掠物,赃物;劫掠 | |
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141 detailed | |
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的 | |
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142 muskets | |
n.火枪,(尤指)滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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143 ransom | |
n.赎金,赎身;v.赎回,解救 | |
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144 concocted | |
v.将(尤指通常不相配合的)成分混合成某物( concoct的过去式和过去分词 );调制;编造;捏造 | |
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145 slaughter | |
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀 | |
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146 ransomed | |
付赎金救人,赎金( ransom的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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147 corpse | |
n.尸体,死尸 | |
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148 guardian | |
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者 | |
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149 heartily | |
adv.衷心地,诚恳地,十分,很 | |
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150 herds | |
兽群( herd的名词复数 ); 牧群; 人群; 群众 | |
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151 equitable | |
adj.公平的;公正的 | |
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152 discretion | |
n.谨慎;随意处理 | |
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153 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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154 foes | |
敌人,仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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155 underneath | |
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面 | |
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