‘Yes; but what do you think of them? Are they the fellows I described; the men that might conquer the world?’
‘To conquer the world depends on men not only being good soldiers, but being animated1 by some sovereign principle that nothing can resist,’ replied Tancred.
‘But that we have got,’ rejoined Fakredeen.
‘But have they got it?’
‘We can give it to them.’
‘I am not so sure of that. It seems to me that we are going to establish a theocratic2 equality by the aid of the feudal3 system.’
‘That is to say, their present system,’ replied Fakredeen. ‘Islamism was propagated by men who were previously4 idolaters, and our principle may be established by those whose practice at the present time is directly opposed to it.’
‘I still cling to my first idea of making the movement from the desert,’ said Tancred: ‘the Arabians are entirely5 unsophisticated; they are now as they were in the time of Mahomet, of Moses, of Abraham: a sublime6 devotion is natural to them, and equality, properly developed, is in fact the patriarchal principle.’
‘But these are Arabians,’ said Fakredeen; ‘I am an Arabian; there is not a mookatadgi, whatever his present creed7, who does not come from Yemen, or the Hedjaz, or the Nejid.’
‘That is a great qualification,’ said Tancred, musingly8.
‘And, see what men these are!’ continued Fakredeen, with great animation10. ‘Lebanon can send forth11 more than fifty thousand well-armed, and yet let enough stay at home to guard the mulberry trees and the women. Then you can keep them for nothing; a Bedouin is not more temperate12 than a Druse, if he pleases: he will get through a campaign on olives and cheese; they do not require even tents; they bivouac in a sheepskin.’
‘And yet,’ said Tancred, ‘though they have maintained themselves, they have done nothing; now, the Arabs have always succeeded.’
‘I will tell you how that is,’ said Fakredeen. ‘It is very true that we have not done much, and that, when we descended13 into the plain, as we did in ‘63, under the Emir Yousef, we were beat, beaten back even by the Mutualis; it is that we have no cavalry15. They have always contrived16 to enlist17 the great tribes of the Syrian desert against us, as for instance, under Daher, of whom you must have heard: it was that which has prevented our development; but we have always maintained ourselves. Lebanon is the key of Syria, and the country was never unlocked unless we pleased. But this difficulty is now removed. Through Amalek we shall have the desert on our side; he is omnipotent18 in the Syrian wilderness19; and if he sends messengers through Petr?a to Derayeh, the Nejid, and through the Hedjaz, to Yemen and Oman, we could easily get a cavalry as efficient and not less numerous than our foot.’
‘The instruments will be found,’ said Tancred, ‘for it is decreed that the deed should be done. But the favour of Providence20 does not exempt21 man from the exercise of human prudence22. On the contrary, it is an agent on whose cooperation they are bound to count. I should like to see something of the great Syrian cities. I should like also to see Bagdad. It appears to me, at the first glance, that the whole country to the Euphrates might be conquered in a campaign; but then I want to know how far artillery23 is necessary, whether it be indispensable. Then again, the Lesser24 Asia; we should never lose sight of the Lesser Asia as the principal scene of our movements; the richest regions in the world, almost depopulated, and a position from which we might magnetise Europe. But suppose the Turks, through Lesser Asia, conquer Lebanon, while we are overrunning the Babylonian and Assyrian monarchies25? That will never do. I see your strength here with your own people and the Druses, and I do not underrate their qualities: but who is to garrison26 the north of Syria? Who is to keep the passes of the North? What population have you to depend on between Tripoli and Antioch, or between Aleppo and Adanah? Of all this I know nothing.’
Fakredeen had entirely imbibed27 the views of Tancred; he was sincere in his professions, fervent28 in his faith. A great feudal proprietor29, he was prepared to forsake30 his beautiful castle, his farms and villages, his vineyards, and mulberry orchards31, and forests of oaks, to assist in establishing, by his voice and his sabre, a new social system, which was to substitute the principle of association for that of dependence32 as the foundation of the Commonwealth33, under the sanction and superintendence of the God of Sinai and of Calvary. True it was that the young Syrian Emir intended, that among the consequences of the impending34 movement should be his enthronement on one of the royal seats of Asia. But we should do him injustice35, were we to convey the impression that his ardent36 cooperation with Tancred at this moment was impelled37 merely, or even principally, by these coarsely selfish considerations. Men certainly must be governed, whatever the principle of the social system, and Fakredeen felt born with a predisposition to rule.
But greater even than his desire for empire was his thirst for action. He was wearied with the glittering cage in which he had been born. He panted for a wider field and a nobler theatre, interests more vast and incidents more dazzling and comprehensive; he wished to astonish Europe instead of Lebanon, and to use his genius in baffling and controlling the thrones and dominations of the world, instead of managing the simple Sheikhs and Emirs of his mountains. His castle and fine estates were no sources of satisfaction to him. On the contrary, he viewed Canobia with disgust. It entailed38 duties, and brought no excitement. He was seldom at home and only for a few passing days: continued residence was intolerable to his restless spirit. He passed his life in perpetual movement, scudding39 about on the fleetest dromedaries, and galloping40 over the deserts on steeds of the highest race.
Though proud of his ancient house, and not unequal, when necessary, to the due representation of his position, unlike the Orientals in general, he disliked pomp, and shrank from the ceremony which awaited him. His restless, intriguing41, and imaginative spirit revelled42 in the incognito43. He was perpetually in masquerade; a merchant, a Mamlouk, a soldier of fortune, a Tartar messenger, sometimes a pilgrim, sometimes a dervish, always in pursuit of some improbable but ingenious object, or lost in the mazes44 of some fantastic plot. He enjoyed moving alone without a single attendant; and seldom in his mountains, he was perpetually in Egypt, Bagdad, Cyprus, Smyrna, and the Syrian cities. He sauntered away a good deal of his time indeed in the ports and towns of the coast, looking after his creditors45; but this was not the annoyance46 to him which it would be to most men.
Fakredeen was fond of his debts; they were the source indeed of his only real excitement, and he was grateful to them for their stirring powers. The usurers of Syria are as adroit47 and callous48 as those of all other countries, and possess no doubt all those repulsive49 qualities which are the consequence of an habitual50 control over every generous emotion. But, instead of viewing them with feelings of vengeance51 or abhorrence52, Fakredeen studied them unceasingly with a fine and profound investigation53, and found in their society a deep psychological interest. His own rapacious54 soul delighted to struggle with their rapine, and it charmed him to baffle with his artifice55 their fraudulent dexterity56. He loved to enter their houses with his glittering eye and face radiant with innocence57, and, when things were at the very worst and they remorseless, to succeed in circumventing58 them. In a certain sense, and to a certain degree, they were all his victims. True, they had gorged59 upon his rents and menaced his domains60; but they had also advanced large sums, and he had so involved one with another in their eager appetite to prey61 upon his youth, and had so complicated the financial relations of the Syrian coast in his own respect, that sometimes they tremblingly calculated that the crash of Fakredeen must inevitably62 be the signal of a general catastrophe63.
Even usurers have their weak side; some are vain, some envious64; Fakredeen knew how to titillate65 their self-love, or when to give them the opportunity of immolating66 a rival. Then it was, when he had baffled and deluded67 them, or, with that fatal frankness of which he sometimes blushingly boasted, had betrayed some sacred confidence that shook the credit of the whole coast from Scanderoon to Gaza, and embroiled68 individuals whose existence depended on their mutual14 goodwill69, that, laughing like one of the blue-eyed hyenas70 of his forests, he galloped71 away to Canobia, and, calling for his nargileh, mused72 in chuckling73 calculation over the prodigious74 sums he owed to them, formed whimsical and airy projects for his quittance, or delighted himself by brooding over the memory of some happy expedient75 or some daring feat76 of finance.
‘What should I be without my debts?’ he would sometimes exclaim; ‘dear companions of my life that never desert me! All my knowledge of human nature is owing to them: it is in managing my affairs that I have sounded the depths of the human heart, recognised all the combinations of human character, developed my own powers, and mastered the resources of others. What expedient in negotiation77 is unknown to me? What degree of endurance have I not calculated? What play of the countenance78 have I not observed? Yes, among my creditors, I have disciplined that diplomatic ability that shall some day confound and control cabinets. O, my debts, I feel your presence like that of guardian79 angels! If I be lazy, you prick80 me to action; if elate, you subdue81 me to reflection; and thus it is that you alone can secure that continuous yet controlled energy which conquers mankind.’
Notwithstanding all this, Fakredeen had grown sometimes a little wearied even of the choice excitement of pecuniary82 embarrassment83. It was too often the same story, the adventures monotonous84, the characters identical. He had been plundered85 by every usurer in the Levant, and in turn had taken them in. He sometimes delighted his imagination by the idea of making them disgorge; that is to say, when he had established that supremacy86 which he had resolved sooner or later to attain87. Although he never kept an account, his memory was so faithful that he knew exactly the amount of which he had been defrauded88 by every individual with whom he had had transactions. He longed to mulct them, to the service of the State, in the exact amount if their unhallowed appropriations89. He was too good a statesman ever to confiscate90; he confined himself to taxation91. Confiscation92 is a blunder that destroys public credit: taxation, on the contrary, improves it, and both come to the same thing.
That the proud soul of Tancred of Montacute, with its sublime aspirations93, its inexorable purpose, its empyrean ambition, should find a votary94 in one apparently95 so whimsical, so worldly, and so worthless, may at the first glance seem improbable; yet a nearer and finer examination may induce us to recognise its likelihood. Fakredeen had a brilliant imagination and a passionate96 sensibility; his heart was controlled by his taste, and, when that was pleased and satisfied, he was capable of profound feeling and of earnest conduct. Moral worth had no abstract charms for him, and he could sympathise with a dazzling reprobate97; but virtue98 in an heroic form, lofty principle, and sovereign duty invested with all the attributes calculated to captivate his rapid and refined perception, exercised over him a resistless and transcendent spell. The deep and disciplined intelligence of Tancred, trained in all the philosophy and cultured with all the knowledge of the West, acted with magnetic power upon a consciousness the bright vivacity99 of which was only equalled by its virgin100 ignorance of all that books can teach, and of those great conclusions which the studious hour can alone elaborate. Fakredeen hung upon his accents like a bee, while Tancred poured forth, without an effort, the treasures of his stored memory and long musing9 mind. He went on, quite unconscious that his companion was devoid101 of that previous knowledge, which, with all other persons, would have been a preliminary qualification for a profitable comprehension of what he said. Fakredeen gave him no hint of this: the young Emir trusted to his quick perception to sustain him, although his literary training was confined to an Arabic grammar, some sentences of wise men, some volumes of poetry, and mainly and most profitably to the clever Courier de Smyrne, and occasionally a packet of French journals which he obtained from a Levantine consul102.
It was therefore with a feeling not less than enthusiastic that Fakredeen responded to the suggestive influence of Tancred. The want that he had long suffered from was supplied, and the character he had long mused over had appeared. Here was a vast theory to be reduced to practice, and a commanding mind to give the leading impulse. However imperfect may have been his general conception of the ideas of Tancred, he clearly comprehended that their fulfilment involved his two great objects, change and action. Compared with these attainments103 on a great scale, his present acquisition and position sank into nothingness. A futurity consisting of a Syrian Emirate and a mountain castle figured as intolerable, and Fakredeen, hoping all things and prepared for anything, flung to the winds all consideration for his existing ties, whether in the shape of domains or of debts.
The imperturbable104 repose105, the grave and thoughtful daring, with which Tancred developed his revolutionary projects, completed the power with which he could now dispose of the fate of the young Emir. Sometimes, in fluttering moments of disordered reverie, Fakredeen had indulged in dreams of what, with his present companion, it appeared was to be the ordinary business of their lives, and which he discussed with a calm precision which alone half convinced Fakredeen of their feasibility. It was not for an impassioned votary to intimate a difficulty; but if Fakredeen, to elicit106 an opinion, sometimes hinted an adverse107 suggestion, the objection was swept away in an instant by an individual whose inflexible108 will was sustained by the conviction of divine favour.
点击收听单词发音
1 animated | |
adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的 | |
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2 theocratic | |
adj.神权的,神权政治的 | |
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3 feudal | |
adj.封建的,封地的,领地的 | |
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4 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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5 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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6 sublime | |
adj.崇高的,伟大的;极度的,不顾后果的 | |
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7 creed | |
n.信条;信念,纲领 | |
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8 musingly | |
adv.沉思地,冥想地 | |
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9 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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10 animation | |
n.活泼,兴奋,卡通片/动画片的制作 | |
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11 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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12 temperate | |
adj.温和的,温带的,自我克制的,不过分的 | |
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13 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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14 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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15 cavalry | |
n.骑兵;轻装甲部队 | |
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16 contrived | |
adj.不自然的,做作的;虚构的 | |
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17 enlist | |
vt.谋取(支持等),赢得;征募;vi.入伍 | |
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18 omnipotent | |
adj.全能的,万能的 | |
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19 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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20 providence | |
n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝 | |
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21 exempt | |
adj.免除的;v.使免除;n.免税者,被免除义务者 | |
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22 prudence | |
n.谨慎,精明,节俭 | |
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23 artillery | |
n.(军)火炮,大炮;炮兵(部队) | |
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24 lesser | |
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地 | |
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25 monarchies | |
n. 君主政体, 君主国, 君主政治 | |
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26 garrison | |
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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27 imbibed | |
v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 );喝;吸取;吸气 | |
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28 fervent | |
adj.热的,热烈的,热情的 | |
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29 proprietor | |
n.所有人;业主;经营者 | |
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30 forsake | |
vt.遗弃,抛弃;舍弃,放弃 | |
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31 orchards | |
(通常指围起来的)果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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32 dependence | |
n.依靠,依赖;信任,信赖;隶属 | |
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33 commonwealth | |
n.共和国,联邦,共同体 | |
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34 impending | |
a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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35 injustice | |
n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利 | |
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36 ardent | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的 | |
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37 impelled | |
v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38 entailed | |
使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 ); 需要; 限定继承; 使必需 | |
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39 scudding | |
n.刮面v.(尤指船、舰或云彩)笔直、高速而平稳地移动( scud的现在分词 ) | |
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40 galloping | |
adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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41 intriguing | |
adj.有趣的;迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词);激起…的好奇心 | |
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42 revelled | |
v.作乐( revel的过去式和过去分词 );狂欢;着迷;陶醉 | |
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43 incognito | |
adv.匿名地;n.隐姓埋名;adj.化装的,用假名的,隐匿姓名身份的 | |
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44 mazes | |
迷宫( maze的名词复数 ); 纷繁复杂的规则; 复杂难懂的细节; 迷宫图 | |
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45 creditors | |
n.债权人,债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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46 annoyance | |
n.恼怒,生气,烦恼 | |
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47 adroit | |
adj.熟练的,灵巧的 | |
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48 callous | |
adj.无情的,冷淡的,硬结的,起老茧的 | |
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49 repulsive | |
adj.排斥的,使人反感的 | |
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50 habitual | |
adj.习惯性的;通常的,惯常的 | |
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51 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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52 abhorrence | |
n.憎恶;可憎恶的事 | |
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53 investigation | |
n.调查,调查研究 | |
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54 rapacious | |
adj.贪婪的,强夺的 | |
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55 artifice | |
n.妙计,高明的手段;狡诈,诡计 | |
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56 dexterity | |
n.(手的)灵巧,灵活 | |
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57 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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58 circumventing | |
v.设法克服或避免(某事物),回避( circumvent的现在分词 );绕过,绕行,绕道旅行 | |
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59 gorged | |
v.(用食物把自己)塞饱,填饱( gorge的过去式和过去分词 );作呕 | |
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60 domains | |
n.范围( domain的名词复数 );领域;版图;地产 | |
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61 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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62 inevitably | |
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地 | |
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63 catastrophe | |
n.大灾难,大祸 | |
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64 envious | |
adj.嫉妒的,羡慕的 | |
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65 titillate | |
v.挑逗;使兴奋 | |
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66 immolating | |
v.宰杀…作祭品( immolate的现在分词 ) | |
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67 deluded | |
v.欺骗,哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68 embroiled | |
adj.卷入的;纠缠不清的 | |
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69 goodwill | |
n.善意,亲善,信誉,声誉 | |
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70 hyenas | |
n.鬣狗( hyena的名词复数 ) | |
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71 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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72 mused | |
v.沉思,冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 );沉思自语说(某事) | |
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73 chuckling | |
轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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74 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
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75 expedient | |
adj.有用的,有利的;n.紧急的办法,权宜之计 | |
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76 feat | |
n.功绩;武艺,技艺;adj.灵巧的,漂亮的,合适的 | |
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77 negotiation | |
n.谈判,协商 | |
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78 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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79 guardian | |
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者 | |
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80 prick | |
v.刺伤,刺痛,刺孔;n.刺伤,刺痛 | |
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81 subdue | |
vt.制服,使顺从,征服;抑制,克制 | |
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82 pecuniary | |
adj.金钱的;金钱上的 | |
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83 embarrassment | |
n.尴尬;使人为难的人(事物);障碍;窘迫 | |
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84 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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85 plundered | |
掠夺,抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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86 supremacy | |
n.至上;至高权力 | |
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87 attain | |
vt.达到,获得,完成 | |
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88 defrauded | |
v.诈取,骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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89 appropriations | |
n.挪用(appropriation的复数形式) | |
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90 confiscate | |
v.没收(私人财产),把…充公 | |
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91 taxation | |
n.征税,税收,税金 | |
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92 confiscation | |
n. 没收, 充公, 征收 | |
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93 aspirations | |
强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 ); 志向; 发送气音; 发 h 音 | |
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94 votary | |
n.崇拜者;爱好者;adj.誓约的,立誓任圣职的 | |
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95 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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96 passionate | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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97 reprobate | |
n.无赖汉;堕落的人 | |
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98 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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99 vivacity | |
n.快活,活泼,精神充沛 | |
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100 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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101 devoid | |
adj.全无的,缺乏的 | |
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102 consul | |
n.领事;执政官 | |
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103 attainments | |
成就,造诣; 获得( attainment的名词复数 ); 达到; 造诣; 成就 | |
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104 imperturbable | |
adj.镇静的 | |
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105 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
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106 elicit | |
v.引出,抽出,引起 | |
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107 adverse | |
adj.不利的;有害的;敌对的,不友好的 | |
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108 inflexible | |
adj.不可改变的,不受影响的,不屈服的 | |
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