Not an hour had elapsed after their conversation, when the drums again thundered. The drunken and senseless Cossacks assembled. A myriad3 Cossack caps were sprinkled over the square. A murmur4 arose, “Why? What? Why was the assembly beaten?” No one answered. At length, in one quarter and another, it began to be rumoured5 about, “Behold6, the Cossack strength is being vainly wasted: there is no war! Behold, our leaders have become as marmots, every one; their eyes swim in fat! Plainly, there is no justice in the world!” The other Cossacks listened at first, and then began themselves to say, “In truth, there is no justice in the world!” Their leaders seemed surprised at these utterances7. Finally the Koschevoi stepped forward: “Permit me, Cossacks, to address you.”
“Do so!”
“Touching8 the matter in question, gentles, none know better than yourselves that many Zaporozhtzi have run in debt to the Jew ale-house keepers and to their brethren, so that now they have not an atom of credit. Again, touching the matter in question, there are many young fellows who have no idea of what war is like, although you know, gentles, that without war a young man cannot exist. How make a Zaporozhetz out of him if he has never killed a Mussulman?”
“He speaks well,” thought Bulba.
“Think not, however, gentles, that I speak thus in order to break the truce9; God forbid! I merely mention it. Besides, it is a shame to see what sort of church we have for our God. Not only has the church remained without exterior10 decoration during all the years which by God’s mercy the Setch has stood, but up to this day even the holy pictures have no adornments. No one has even thought of making them a silver frame; they have only received what some Cossacks have left them in their wills; and these gifts were poor, since they had drunk up nearly all they had during their lifetime. I am making you this speech, therefore, not in order to stir up a war against the Mussulmans; we have promised the Sultan peace, and it would be a great sin in us to break this promise, for we swore it on our law.”
“What is he mixing things up like that for?” said Bulba to himself.
“So you see, gentles, that war cannot be begun; honour does not permit it. But according to my poor opinion, we might, I think, send out a few young men in boats and let them plunder11 the coasts of Anatolia a little. What do you think, gentles?”
“Lead us, lead us all!” shouted the crowd on all sides. “We are ready to lay down our lives for our faith.”
The Koschevoi was alarmed. He by no means wished to stir up all Zaporozhe; a breach12 of the truce appeared to him on this occasion unsuitable. “Permit me, gentles, to address you further.”
“Enough!” yelled the Cossacks; “you can say nothing better.”
“If it must be so, then let it be so. I am the slave of your will. We know, and from Scripture13 too, that the voice of the people is the voice of God. It is impossible to devise anything better than the whole nation has devised. But here lies the difficulty; you know, gentles, that the Sultan will not permit that which delights our young men to go unpunished. We should be prepared at such a time, and our forces should be fresh, and then we should fear no one. But during their absence the Tatars may assemble fresh forces; the dogs do not show themselves in sight and dare not come while the master is at home, but they can bite his heels from behind, and bite painfully too. And if I must tell you the truth, we have not boats enough, nor powder ready in sufficient quantity, for all to go. But I am ready, if you please; I am the slave of your will.”
The cunning hetman was silent. The various groups began to discuss the matter, and the hetmans of the kurens to take counsel together; few were drunk fortunately, so they decided14 to listen to reason.
A number of men set out at once for the opposite shore of the Dnieper, to the treasury15 of the army, where in strictest secrecy16, under water and among the reeds, lay concealed17 the army chest and a portion of the arms captured from the enemy. Others hastened to inspect the boats and prepare them for service. In a twinkling the whole shore was thronged19 with men. Carpenters appeared with axes in their hands. Old, weatherbeaten, broad-shouldered, strong-legged Zaporozhtzi, with black or silvered moustaches, rolled up their trousers, waded20 up to their knees in water, and dragged the boats on to the shore with stout22 ropes; others brought seasoned timber and all sorts of wood. The boats were freshly planked, turned bottom upwards23, caulked24 and tarred, and then bound together side by side after Cossack fashion, with long strands25 of reeds, so that the swell26 of the waves might not sink them. Far along the shore they built fires and heated tar1 in copper27 cauldrons to smear28 the boats. The old and the experienced instructed the young. The blows and shouts of the workers rose all over the neighbourhood; the bank shook and moved about.
About this time a large ferry-boat began to near the shore. The mass of people standing29 in it began to wave their hands from a distance. They were Cossacks in torn, ragged21 gaberdines. Their disordered garments, for many had on nothing but their shirts, with a short pipe in their mouths, showed that they had either escaped from some disaster or had caroused30 to such an extent that they had drunk up all they had on their bodies. A short, broad-shouldered Cossack of about fifty stepped out from the midst of them and stood in front. He shouted and waved his hand more vigorously than any of the others; but his words could not be heard for the cries and hammering of the workmen.
“Whence come you!” asked the Koschevoi, as the boat touched the shore. All the workers paused in their labours, and, raising their axes and chisels31, looked on expectantly.
“From a misfortune!” shouted the short Cossack.
“From what?”
“Permit me, noble Zaporozhtzi, to address you.”
“Speak!”
“Or would you prefer to assemble a council?”
“Speak, we are all here.”
The people all pressed together in one mass.
“Have you then heard nothing of what has been going on in the hetman’s dominions32?”
“What is it?” inquired one of the kuren hetmans.
“Eh! what! Evidently the Tatars have plastered up your ears so that you might hear nothing.”
“Tell us then; what has been going on there?”
“That is going on the like of which no man born or christened ever yet has seen.”
“Tell us what it is, you son of a dog!” shouted one of the crowd, apparently33 losing patience.
“Things have come to such a pass that our holy churches are no longer ours.”
“How not ours?”
“They are pledged to the Jews. If the Jew is not first paid, there can be no mass.”
“What are you saying?”
“And if the dog of a Jew does not make a sign with his unclean hand over the holy Easter-bread, it cannot be consecrated34.”
“He lies, brother gentles. It cannot be that an unclean Jew puts his mark upon the holy Easter-bread.”
“Listen! I have not yet told all. Catholic priests are going about all over the Ukraine in carts. The harm lies not in the carts, but in the fact that not horses, but orthodox Christians36[1], are harnessed to them. Listen! I have not yet told all. They say that the Jewesses are making themselves petticoats out of our popes’ vestments. Such are the deeds that are taking place in the Ukraine, gentles! And you sit here revelling37 in Zaporozhe; and evidently the Tatars have so scared you that you have no eyes, no ears, no anything, and know nothing that is going on in the world.”
[1] That is of the Greek Church. The Poles were Catholics.
“Stop, stop!” broke in the Koschevoi, who up to that moment had stood with his eyes fixed38 upon the earth like all Zaporozhtzi, who, on important occasions, never yielded to their first impulse, but kept silence, and meanwhile concentrated inwardly all the power of their indignation. “Stop! I also have a word to say. But what were you about? When your father the devil was raging thus, what were you doing yourselves? Had you no swords? How came you to permit such lawlessness?”
“Eh! how did we come to permit such lawlessness? You would have tried when there were fifty thousand of the Lyakhs[2] alone; yes, and it is a shame not to be concealed, when there are also dogs among us who have already accepted their faith.”
[2] Lyakhs, an opprobrious39 name for the Poles.
“But your hetman and your leaders, what have they done?”
“God preserve any one from such deeds as our leaders performed!”
“How so?”
“Our hetman, roasted in a brazen40 ox, now lies in Warsaw; and the heads and hands of our leaders are being carried to all the fairs as a spectacle for the people. That is what our leaders did.”
The whole throng18 became wildly excited. At first silence reigned41 all along the shore, like that which precedes a tempest; and then suddenly voices were raised and all the shore spoke42:—
“What! The Jews hold the Christian35 churches in pledge! Roman Catholic priests have harnessed and beaten orthodox Christians! What! such torture has been permitted on Russian soil by the cursed unbelievers! And they have done such things to the leaders and the hetman? Nay43, this shall not be, it shall not be.” Such words came from all quarters. The Zaporozhtzi were moved, and knew their power. It was not the excitement of a giddy-minded folk. All who were thus agitated44 were strong, firm characters, not easily aroused, but, once aroused, preserving their inward heat long and obstinately45. “Hang all the Jews!” rang through the crowd. “They shall not make petticoats for their Jewesses out of popes’ vestments! They shall not place their signs upon the holy wafers! Drown all the heathens in the Dnieper!” These words uttered by some one in the throng flashed like lightning through all minds, and the crowd flung themselves upon the suburb with the intention of cutting the throats of all the Jews.
The poor sons of Israel, losing all presence of mind, and not being in any case courageous46, hid themselves in empty brandy-casks, in ovens, and even crawled under the skirts of their Jewesses; but the Cossacks found them wherever they were.
“Gracious nobles!” shrieked47 one Jew, tall and thin as a stick, thrusting his sorry visage, distorted with terror, from among a group of his comrades, “gracious nobles! suffer us to say a word, only one word. We will reveal to you what you never yet have heard, a thing more important than I can say — very important!”
“Well, say it,” said Bulba, who always liked to hear what an accused man had to say.
“Gracious nobles,” exclaimed the Jew, “such nobles were never seen, by heavens, never! Such good, kind, and brave men there never were in the world before!” His voice died away and quivered with fear. “How was it possible that we should think any evil of the Zaporozhtzi? Those men are not of us at all, those who have taken pledges in the Ukraine. By heavens, they are not of us! They are not Jews at all. The evil one alone knows what they are; they are only fit to be spit upon and cast aside. Behold, my brethren, say the same! Is it not true, Schloma? is it not true, Schmul?”
“By heavens, it is true!” replied Schloma and Schmul, from among the crowd, both pale as clay, in their ragged caps.
“We never yet,” continued the tall Jew, “have had any secret intercourse48 with your enemies, and we will have nothing to do with Catholics; may the evil one fly away with them! We are like own brothers to the Zaporozhtzi.”
“What! the Zaporozhtzi are brothers to you!” exclaimed some one in the crowd. “Don’t wait! the cursed Jews! Into the Dnieper with them, gentles! Drown all the unbelievers!”
These words were the signal. They seized the Jews by the arms and began to hurl49 them into the waves. Pitiful cries resounded50 on all sides; but the stern Zaporozhtzi only laughed when they saw the Jewish legs, cased in shoes and stockings, struggling in the air. The poor orator51 who had called down destruction upon himself jumped out of the caftan, by which they had seized him, and in his scant52 parti-coloured under waistcoat clasped Bulba’s legs, and cried, in piteous tones, “Great lord! gracious noble! I knew your brother, the late Doroscha. He was a warrior53 who was an ornament54 to all knighthood. I gave him eight hundred sequins when he was obliged to ransom55 himself from the Turks.”
“You knew my brother?” asked Taras.
“By heavens, I knew him. He was a magnificent nobleman.”
“And what is your name?”
“Yankel.”
“Good,” said Taras; and after reflecting, he turned to the Cossacks and spoke as follows: “There will always be plenty of time to hang the Jew, if it proves necessary; but for to-day give him to me.”
So saying, Taras led him to his waggon56, beside which stood his Cossacks. “Crawl under the waggon; lie down, and do not move. And you, brothers, do not surrender this Jew.”
So saying, he returned to the square, for the whole crowd had long since collected there. All had at once abandoned the shore and the preparation of the boats; for a land-journey now awaited them, and not a sea-voyage, and they needed horses and waggons57, not ships. All, both young and old, wanted to go on the expedition; and it was decided, on the advice of the chiefs, the hetmans of the kurens, and the Koschevoi, and with the approbation58 of the whole Zaporozhtzian army, to march straight to Poland, to avenge59 the injury and disgrace to their faith and to Cossack renown60, to seize booty from the cities, to burn villages and grain, and spread their glory far over the steppe. All at once girded and armed themselves. The Koschevoi grew a whole foot taller. He was no longer the timid executor of the restless wishes of a free people, but their untrammelled master. He was a despot, who know only to command. All the independent and pleasure-loving warriors61 stood in an orderly line, with respectfully bowed heads, not venturing to raise their eyes, when the Koschevoi gave his orders. He gave these quietly, without shouting and without haste, but with pauses between, like an experienced man deeply learned in Cossack affairs, and carrying into execution, not for the first time, a wisely matured enterprise.
“Examine yourselves, look well to yourselves; examine all your equipments thoroughly,” he said; “put your teams and your tar-boxes[3] in order; test your weapons. Take not many clothes with you: a shirt and a couple of pairs of trousers to each Cossack, and a pot of oatmeal and millet62 apiece — let no one take any more. There will be plenty of provisions, all that is needed, in the waggons. Let every Cossack have two horses. And two hundred yoke63 of oxen must be taken, for we shall require them at the fords and marshy64 places. Keep order, gentles, above all things. I know that there are some among you whom God has made so greedy that they would like to tear up silk and velvet65 for foot-cloths. Leave off such devilish habits; reject all garments as plunder, and take only weapons: though if valuables offer themselves, ducats or silver, they are useful in any case. I tell you this beforehand, gentles, if any one gets drunk on the expedition, he will have a short shrift: I will have him dragged by the neck like a dog behind the baggage waggons, no matter who he may be, even were he the most heroic Cossack in the whole army; he shall be shot on the spot like a dog, and flung out, without sepulture, to be torn by the birds of prey66, for a drunkard on the march deserves no Christian burial. Young men, obey the old men in all things! If a ball grazes you, or a sword cuts your head or any other part, attach no importance to such trifles. Mix a charge of powder in a cup of brandy, quaff67 it heartily68, and all will pass off — you will not even have any fever; and if the wound is large, put simple earth upon it, mixing it first with spittle in your palm, and that will dry it up. And now to work, to work, lads, and look well to all, and without haste.”
[3] The Cossack waggons have their axles smeared69 with tar instead of grease.
So spoke the Koschevoi; and no sooner had he finished his speech than all the Cossacks at once set to work. All the Setch grew sober. Nowhere was a single drunken man to be found, it was as though there never had been such a thing among the Cossacks. Some attended to the tyres of the wheels, others changed the axles of the waggons; some carried sacks of provisions to them or leaded them with arms; others again drove up the horses and oxen. On all sides resounded the tramp of horses’ hoofs70, test-shots from the guns, the clank of swords, the lowing of oxen, the screech71 of rolling waggons, talking, sharp cries and urging-on of cattle. Soon the Cossack force spread far over all the plain; and he who might have undertaken to run from its van to its rear would have had a long course. In the little wooden church the priest was offering up prayers and sprinkling all worshippers with holy water. All kissed the cross. When the camp broke up and the army moved out of the Setch, all the Zaporozhtzi turned their heads back. “Farewell, our mother!” they said almost in one breath. “May God preserve thee from all misfortune!”
As he passed through the suburb, Taras Bulba saw that his Jew, Yankel, had already erected72 a sort of booth with an awning73, and was selling flint, screwdrivers74, powder, and all sorts of military stores needed on the road, even to rolls and bread. “What devils these Jews are!” thought Taras; and riding up to him, he said, “Fool, why are you sitting here? do you want to be shot like a crow?”
Yankel in reply approached nearer, and making a sign with both hands, as though wishing to impart some secret, said, “Let the noble lord but keep silence and say nothing to any one. Among the Cossack waggons is a waggon of mine. I am carrying all sorts of needful stores for the Cossacks, and on the journey I will furnish every sort of provisions at a lower price than any Jew ever sold at before. ’Tis so, by heavens! by heavens, ’tis so!”
Taras Bulba shrugged75 his shoulders in amazement76 at the Jewish nature, and went on to the camp.
点击收听单词发音
1 tar | |
n.柏油,焦油;vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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2 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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3 myriad | |
adj.无数的;n.无数,极大数量 | |
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4 murmur | |
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
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5 rumoured | |
adj.谣传的;传说的;风 | |
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6 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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7 utterances | |
n.发声( utterance的名词复数 );说话方式;语调;言论 | |
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8 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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9 truce | |
n.休战,(争执,烦恼等的)缓和;v.以停战结束 | |
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10 exterior | |
adj.外部的,外在的;表面的 | |
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11 plunder | |
vt.劫掠财物,掠夺;n.劫掠物,赃物;劫掠 | |
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12 breach | |
n.违反,不履行;破裂;vt.冲破,攻破 | |
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13 scripture | |
n.经文,圣书,手稿;Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》,《圣经》中的一段 | |
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14 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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15 treasury | |
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库 | |
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16 secrecy | |
n.秘密,保密,隐蔽 | |
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17 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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18 throng | |
n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集 | |
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19 thronged | |
v.成群,挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20 waded | |
(从水、泥等)蹚,走过,跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
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23 upwards | |
adv.向上,在更高处...以上 | |
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24 caulked | |
v.堵(船的)缝( caulk的过去式和过去分词 );泥…的缝;填塞;使不漏水 | |
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25 strands | |
n.(线、绳、金属线、毛发等的)股( strand的名词复数 );缕;海洋、湖或河的)岸;(观点、计划、故事等的)部份v.使滞留,使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 ) | |
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26 swell | |
vi.膨胀,肿胀;增长,增强 | |
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27 copper | |
n.铜;铜币;铜器;adj.铜(制)的;(紫)铜色的 | |
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28 smear | |
v.涂抹;诽谤,玷污;n.污点;诽谤,污蔑 | |
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29 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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30 caroused | |
v.痛饮,闹饮欢宴( carouse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31 chisels | |
n.凿子,錾子( chisel的名词复数 );口凿 | |
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32 dominions | |
统治权( dominion的名词复数 ); 领土; 疆土; 版图 | |
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33 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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34 consecrated | |
adj.神圣的,被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣,给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 );奉献 | |
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35 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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36 Christians | |
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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37 revelling | |
v.作乐( revel的现在分词 );狂欢;着迷;陶醉 | |
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38 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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39 opprobrious | |
adj.可耻的,辱骂的 | |
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40 brazen | |
adj.厚脸皮的,无耻的,坚硬的 | |
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41 reigned | |
vi.当政,统治(reign的过去式形式) | |
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42 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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43 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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44 agitated | |
adj.被鼓动的,不安的 | |
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45 obstinately | |
ad.固执地,顽固地 | |
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46 courageous | |
adj.勇敢的,有胆量的 | |
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47 shrieked | |
v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
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49 hurl | |
vt.猛投,力掷,声叫骂 | |
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50 resounded | |
v.(指声音等)回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 );产生回响;(指某处)回荡着声音 | |
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51 orator | |
n.演说者,演讲者,雄辩家 | |
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52 scant | |
adj.不充分的,不足的;v.减缩,限制,忽略 | |
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53 warrior | |
n.勇士,武士,斗士 | |
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54 ornament | |
v.装饰,美化;n.装饰,装饰物 | |
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55 ransom | |
n.赎金,赎身;v.赎回,解救 | |
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56 waggon | |
n.运货马车,运货车;敞篷车箱 | |
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57 waggons | |
四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 ); 铁路货车; 小手推车 | |
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58 approbation | |
n.称赞;认可 | |
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59 avenge | |
v.为...复仇,为...报仇 | |
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60 renown | |
n.声誉,名望 | |
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61 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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62 millet | |
n.小米,谷子 | |
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63 yoke | |
n.轭;支配;v.给...上轭,连接,使成配偶 | |
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64 marshy | |
adj.沼泽的 | |
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65 velvet | |
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的 | |
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66 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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67 quaff | |
v.一饮而尽;痛饮 | |
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68 heartily | |
adv.衷心地,诚恳地,十分,很 | |
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69 smeared | |
弄脏; 玷污; 涂抹; 擦上 | |
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70 hoofs | |
n.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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71 screech | |
n./v.尖叫;(发出)刺耳的声音 | |
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72 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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73 awning | |
n.遮阳篷;雨篷 | |
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74 screwdrivers | |
n.螺丝刀( screwdriver的名词复数 );螺丝起子;改锥;伏特加橙汁鸡尾酒 | |
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75 shrugged | |
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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76 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
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