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A Neighbour’s Landmark
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Those who spend the greater part of their time in reading or writing books are, of course, apt to take rather particular notice of accumulations of books when they come across them. They will not pass a stall, a shop, or even a bedroom-shelf without reading some title, and if they find themselves in an unfamiliar1 library, no host need trouble himself further about their entertainment. The putting of dispersed2 sets of volumes together, or the turning right way up of those which the dusting housemaid has left in an apoplectic3 condition, appeals to them as one of the lesser4 Works of Mercy. Happy in these employments, and in occasionally opening an eighteenth-century octavo, to see ‘what it is all about’, and to conclude after five minutes that it deserves the seclusion5 it now enjoys, I had reached the middle of a wet August afternoon at Betton Court —

‘You begin in a deeply Victorian manner,’ I said; ‘is this to continue?’

‘Remember, if you please,’ said my friend, looking at me over his spectacles, ‘that I am a Victorian by birth and education, and that the Victorian tree may not unreasonably6 be expected to bear Victorian fruit. Further, remember that an immense quantity of clever and thoughtful Rubbish is now being written about the Victorian age. Now,’ he went on, laying his papers on his knee, ‘that article, “The Stricken Years”, in The Times Literary Supplement the other day,-able? of course it is able; but, oh! my soul and body, do just hand it over here, will you? it’s on the table by you.’

‘I thought you were to read me something you had written,’ I said, without moving, ‘but, of course —

‘Yes, I know,’ he said. ‘Very well, then, I’ll do that first. But I should like to show you afterwards what I mean. However —’ And he lifted the sheets of paper and adjusted his spectacles.

— at Betton Court, where, generations back, two country-house libraries had been fused together, and no descendant of either stock had ever faced the task of picking them over or getting rid of duplicates. Now I am not setting out to tell of rarities I may have discovered, of Shakespeare quartos bound up in volumes of political tracts8, or anything of that kind, but of an experience which befell me in the course of my search — an experience which I cannot either explain away or fit into the scheme of my ordinary life.

It was, I said, a wet August afternoon, rather windy, rather warm. Outside the window great trees were stirring and weeping. Between them were stretches of green and yellow country (for the Court stands high on a hill-side), and blue hills far off, veiled with rain. Up above was a very restless and hopeless movement of low clouds travelling northwest. I had suspended my work — if you call it work — for some minutes to stand at the window and look at these things, and at the greenhouse roof on the right with the water sliding off it, and the Church tower that rose behind that. It was all in favour of my going steadily9 on; no likelihood of a clearing up for hours to come. I, therefore, returned to the shelves, lifted out a set of eight or nine volumes, lettered Tracts, and conveyed them to the table for closer examination.

They were for the most part of the reign10 of Anne. There was a good deal of The Late Peace, The Late War, The Conduct of the Allies: there were also Letters to a Convocation Man; Sermons preached at St Michael’s, Queen hithe; Enquiries in to a late Charge of the Rt. Rev11. the Lord Bishop12 of Winchester (or more probably Winton) to his Clergy13: things all very lively once, and indeed still keeping so much of their old sting that I was tempted14 to betake myself into an arm-chair in the window, and give them more time than I had intended. Besides, I was somewhat tired by the day. The Church clock struck four, and it really was four, for in 1889 there was no saving of daylight.

So I settled myself. And first I glanced over some of the War pamphlets, and pleased myself by trying to pick out Swift by his style from among the undistinguished. But the War pamphlets needed more knowledge of the geography of the Low Countries than I had. I turned to the Church, and read several pages of what the Dean of Canterbury said to the Society for Promoting Christian15 Knowledge on the occasion of their anniversary meeting in 1711. When I turned over to a Letter from a Beneficed Clergyman in the Country to the Bishop of C——r, I was becoming languid, and I gazed for some moments at the following sentence without surprise:

‘This Abuse (for I think myself justified16 in calling it by that name) is one which I am persuaded Your Lordship would (if ’twere known to you) exert your utmost efforts to do away. But I am also persuaded that you know no more of its existence than (in the words of the Country Song)

That which walks in Betton Wood
Knows why it walks or why it cries.’

Then indeed I did sit up in my chair, and run my finger along the lines to make sure that I had read them right. There was no mistake. Nothing more was to be gathered from the rest of the pamphlet. The next paragraph definitely changed the subject: ‘But I have said enough upon this Topick’ were its opening words. So discreet17, too, was the namelessness of the Beneficed Clergyman that he refrained even from initials, and had his letter printed in London.

The riddle18 was of a kind that might faintly interest anyone: to me, who have dabbled19 a good deal in works of folk-lore, it was really exciting. I was set upon solving it — on finding out, I mean, what story lay behind it; and, at least, I felt myself lucky in one point, that, whereas I might have come on the paragraph in some College Library far away, here I was at Betton, on the very scene of action.

The Church clock struck five, and a single stroke on a gong followed. This, I knew, meant tea. I heaved myself out of the deep chair, and obeyed the summons.

My host and I were alone at the Court. He came in soon, wet from a round of landlord’s errands, and with pieces of local news which had to be passed on before I could make an opportunity of asking whether there was a particular place in the parish that was still known as Betton Wood.

‘Betton Wood,’ he said, ‘was a short mile away, just on the crest20 of Betton Hill, and my father stubbed up the last bit of it when it paid better to grow corn than scrub oaks. Why do you want to know about Betton Wood?’

‘Because,’ I said, ‘in an old pamphlet I was reading just now, there are two lines of a country song which mention it, and they sound as if there was a story belonging to them. Someone says that someone else knows no more of whatever it may be —

Than that which walks in Betton Wood
Knows why it walks or why it cries.’

‘Goodness,’ said Philipson, ‘I wonder whether that was why . . . I must ask old Mitchell.’ He muttered something else to himself, and took some more tea, thoughtfully.

‘Whether that was why —?’ I said.

‘Yes, I was going to say, whether that was why my father had the Wood stubbed up. I said just now it was to get more plough-land, but I don’t really know if it was. I don’t believe he ever broke it up: it’s rough pasture at this moment. But there’s one old chap at least who’d remember something of it — old Mitchell.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Blest if I don’t go down there and ask him. I don’t think I’ll take you,’ he went on; ‘he’s not so likely to tell anything he thinks is odd if there’s a stranger by.’

‘Well, mind you remember every single thing he does tell. As for me, if it clears up, I shall go out, and if it doesn’t, I shall go on with the books.’

It did clear up, sufficiently21 at least to make me think it worth while to walk up the nearest hill and look over the country. I did not know the lie of the land; it was the first visit I had paid to Philipson, and this was the first day of it. So I went down the garden and through the wet shrubberies with a very open mind, and offered no resistance to the indistinct impulse — was it, however, so very indistinct? — which kept urging me to bear to the left whenever there was a forking of the path. The result was that after ten minutes or more of dark going between dripping rows of box and laurel and privet, I was confronted by a stone arch in the Gothic style set in the stone wall which encircled the whole demesne22. The door was fastened by a spring-lock, and I took the precaution of leaving this on the jar as I passed out into the road. That road I crossed, and entered a narrow lane between hedges which led upward; and that lane I pursued at a leisurely23 pace for as much as half a mile, and went on to the field to which it led. I was now on a good point of vantage for taking in the situation of the Court, the village, and the environment; and I leant upon a gate and gazed westward24 and downward.

I think we must all know the landscapes — are they by Birket Foster, or somewhat earlier? — which, in the form of wood-cuts, decorate the volumes of poetry that lay on the drawing-room tables of our fathers and grandfathers — volumes in ‘Art Cloth, embossed bindings’; that strikes me as being the right phrase. I confess myself an admirer of them, and especially of those which show the peasant leaning over a gate in a hedge and surveying, at the bottom of a downward slope, the village church spire26 — embosomed amid venerable trees, and a fertile plain intersected by hedgerows, and bounded by distant hills, behind which the orb27 of day is sinking (or it may be rising) amid level clouds illumined by his dying (or nascent) ray. The expressions employed here are those which seem appropriate to the pictures I have in mind; and were there opportunity, I would try to work in the Vale, the Grove28, the Cot, and the Flood. Anyhow, they are beautiful to me, these landscapes, and it was just such a one that I was now surveying. It might have come straight out of Gems29 of Sacred Song, selected by a Lady and given as a birthday present to Eleanor Philipson in 1852 by her attached friend Millicent Graves. All at once I turned as if I had been stung. There thrilled into my right ear and pierced my head a note of incredible sharpness, like the shriek30 of a bat, only ten times intensified31 — the kind of thing that makes one wonder if something has not given way in one’s brain. I held my breath, and covered my ear, and shivered. Something in the circulation: another minute or two, I thought, and I return home. But I must fix the view a little more firmly in my mind. Only, when I turned to it again, the taste was gone out of it. The sun was down behind the hill, and the light was off the fields, and when the clock bell in the Church tower struck seven, I thought no longer of kind mellow32 evening hours of rest, and scents33 of flowers and woods on evening air; and of how someone on a farm a mile or two off would be saying ‘How clear Betton bell sounds tonight after the rain!’; but instead images came to me of dusty beams and creeping spiders and savage34 owls35 up in the tower, and forgotten graves and their ugly contents below, and of flying Time and all it had taken out of my life. And just then into my left ear — close as if lips had been put within an inch of my head, the frightful36 scream came thrilling again.

There was no mistake possible now. It was from outside. ‘With no language but a cry’ was the thought that flashed into my mind. Hideous37 it was beyond anything I had heard or have heard since, but I could read no emotion in it, and doubted if I could read any intelligence. All its effect was to take away every vestige38, every possibility, of enjoyment39, and make this no place to stay in one moment more. Of course there was nothing to be seen: but I was convinced that, if I waited, the thing would pass me again on its aimless, endless beat, and I could not bear the notion of a third repetition. I hurried back to the lane and down the hill. But when I came to the arch in the wall I stopped. Could I be sure of my way among those dank alleys40, which would be danker and darker now! No, I confessed to myself that I was afraid: so jarred were all my nerves with the cry on the hill that I really felt I could not afford to be startled even by a little bird in a bush, or a rabbit. I followed the road which followed the wall, and I was not sorry when I came to the gate and the lodge41, and descried42 Philipson coming up towards it from the direction of the village.

‘And where have you been?’ said he.

‘I took that lane that goes up the hill opposite the stone arch in the wall.’

‘Oh! did you? Then you’ve been very near where Betton Wood used to be: at least, if you followed it up to the top, and out into the field.’

And if the reader will believe it, that was the first time that I put two and two together. Did I at once tell Philipson what had happened to me? I did not. I have not had other experiences of the kind which are called super-natural, or — normal, or — physical, but, though I knew very well I must speak of this one before long, I was not at all anxious to do so; and I think I have read that this is a common case.

So all I said was: ‘Did you see the old man you meant to?’

‘Old Mitchell? Yes, I did; and got something of a story out of him. I’ll keep it till after dinner. It really is rather odd.’

So when we were settled after dinner he began to report, faithfully, as he said, the dialogue that had taken place. Mitchell, not far off eighty years old, was in his elbow-chair. The married daughter with whom he lived was in and out preparing for tea.

After the usual salutations: ‘Mitchell, I want you to tell me something about the Wood.’

‘What Wood’s that, Master Reginald?’

‘Betton Wood. Do you remember it?’

Mitchell slowly raised his hand and pointed43 an accusing forefinger44. ‘It were your father done away with Betton Wood, Master Reginald, I can tell you that much.’

‘Well, I know it was, Mitchell. You needn’t look at me as if it were my fault.’

‘Your fault? No, I says it were your father done it, before your time.’

‘Yes, and I dare say if the truth was known, it was your father that advised him to do it, and I want to know why.’ Mitchell seemed a little amused. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘my father were woodman to your father and your grandfather before him, and if he didn’t know what belonged to his business, he’d oughter done. And if he did give advice that way, I suppose he might have had his reasons, mightn’t he now?’

‘Of course he might, and I want you to tell me what they were.’

‘Well now, Master Reginald, whatever makes you think as I know what his reasons might ’a been I don’t know how many year ago?’

‘Well, to be sure, it is a long time, and you might easily have forgotten, if ever you knew. I suppose the only thing is for me to go and ask old Ellis what he can recollect45 about it.’

That had the effect I hoped for.

‘Old Ellis!’ he growled46. ‘First time ever I hear anyone say old Ellis were any use for any purpose. I should ’a thought you know’d better than that yourself, Master Reginald. What do you suppose old Ellis can tell you better’n what I can about Betton Wood, and what call have he got to be put afore me, I should like to know. His father warn’t woodman on the place: he were ploughman — that’s what he was, and so anyone could tell you what knows; anyone could tell you that, I says.’

‘Just so, Mitchell, but if you know all about Betton Wood and won’t tell me, why, I must do the next best I can, and try and get it out of somebody else; and old Ellis has been on the place very nearly as long as you have.’

‘That he ain’t, not by eighteen months! Who says I wouldn’t tell you nothing about the Wood? I ain’t no objection; only it’s a funny kind of a tale, and ‘taint right to my thinkin’ it should be all about the parish. You, Lizzie, do you keep in your kitchen a bit. Me and Master Reginald wants to have a word or two private. But one thing I’d like to know, Master Reginald, what come to put you upon asking about it today?’

‘Oh! well, I happened to hear of an old saying about something that walks in Betton Wood. And I wondered if that had anything to do with its being cleared away: that’s all.’

‘Well, you was in the right, Master Reginald, however you come to hear of it, and I believe I can tell you the rights of it better than anyone in this parish, let alone old Ellis. You see it came about this way: that the shortest road to Allen’s Farm laid through the Wood, and when we was little my poor mother she used to go so many times in the week to the farm to fetch a quart of milk, because Mr Allen what had the farm then under your father, he was a good man, and anyone that had a young family to bring up, he was willing to allow ’em so much in the week. But never you mind about that now. And my poor mother she never liked to go through the Wood, because there was a lot of talk in the place, and sayings like what you spoke47 about just now. But every now and again, when she happened to be late with her work, she’d have to take the short road through the Wood, and as sure as ever she did, she’d come home in a rare state. I remember her and my father talking about it, and he’d say, “Well, but it can’t do you no harm, Emma,” and she’d say, “Oh! but you haven’t an idear of it, George. Why, it went right through my head,” she says, “and I came over all bewildered-like, and as if I didn’t know where I was. You see, George,” she says, “it ain’t as if you was about there in the dusk. You always goes there in the daytime, now don’t you?” and he says: “Why, to be sure I do; do you take me for a fool?” And so they’d go on. And time passed by, and I think it wore her out, because, you understand, it warn’t no use to go for the milk not till the afternoon, and she wouldn’t never send none of us children instead, for fear we should get a fright. Nor she wouldn’t tell us about it herself. “No,” she says, “it’s bad enough for me. I don’t want no one else to go through it, nor yet hear talk about it.” But one time I recollect she says, “Well, first it’s a rustling48-like all along in the bushes, coming very quick, either towards me or after me according to the time, and then there comes this scream as appears to pierce right through from the one ear to the other, and the later I am coming through, the more like I am to hear it twice over; but thanks be, I never yet heard it the three times.” And then I asked her, and I says: “Why, that seems like someone walking to and fro all the time, don’t it?” and she says, “Yes, it do, and whatever it is she wants, I can’t think”: and I says, “Is it a woman, mother?” and she says, “Yes, I’ve heard it is a woman.”

‘Anyway, the end of it was my father he spoke to your father, and told him the Wood was a bad wood. “There’s never a bit of game in it, and there’s never a bird’s nest there,” he says, “and it ain’t no manner of use to you.” And after a lot of talk, your father he come and see my mother about it, and he see she warn’t one of these silly women as gets nervish about nothink at all, and he made up his mind there was somethink in it, and after that he asked about in the neighbourhood, and I believe he made out somethink, and wrote it down in a paper what very like you’ve got up at the Court, Master Reginald. And then he gave the order, and the Wood was stubbed up. They done all the work in the daytime, I recollect, and was never there after three o’clock.’ ‘Didn’t they find anything to explain it, Mitchell? No bones or anything of that kind?’

‘Nothink at all, Master Reginald, only the mark of a hedge and ditch along the middle, much about where the quickset hedge run now; and with all the work they done, if there had been anyone put away there, they was bound to find ’em. But I don’t know whether it done much good, after all. People here don’t seem to like the place no better than they did afore.’

‘That’s about what I got out of Mitchell,’ said Philipson, ‘and as far as any explanation goes, it leaves us very much where we were. I must see if I can’t find that paper.’

‘Why didn’t your father ever tell you about the business?’ I said.

‘He died before I went to school, you know, and I imagine he didn’t want to frighten us children by any such story. I can remember being shaken and slapped by my nurse for running up that lane towards the Wood when we were coming back rather late one winter afternoon: but in the daytime no one interfered49 with our going into the Wood if we wanted to — only we never did want.’

‘Hm!’ I said, and then, ‘Do you you think you’ll be able to find that paper that your father wrote?’

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I do. I expect it’s no farther away than that cupboard behind you. There’s a bundle or two of things specially25 put aside, most of which I’ve looked through at various times, and I know there’s one envelope labelled Betton Wood: but as there was no Betton Wood any more, I never thought it would be worth while to open it, and I never have. We’ll do it now, though.’

‘Before you do,’ I said (I was still reluctant, but I thought this was perhaps the moment for my disclosure), ‘I’d better tell you I think Mitchell was right when he doubted if clearing away the Wood had put things straight.’ And I gave the account you have heard already: I need not say Philipson was interested. ‘Still there?’ he said. ‘It’s amazing. Look here, will you come out there with me now, and see what happens?’

‘I will do no such thing,’ I said, ‘and if you knew the feeling, you’d be glad to walk ten miles in the opposite direction. Don’t talk of it. Open your envelope, and let’s hear what your father made out.’

He did so, and read me the three or four pages of jottings which it contained. At the top was written a motto from Scott’s Glenfinlas, which seemed to me well-chosen:

Where walks, they say, the shrieking50 ghost.

Then there were notes of his talk with Mitchell’s mother, from which I extract only this much. ‘I asked her if she never thought she saw anything to account for the sounds she heard. She told me, no more than once, on the darkest evening she ever came through the Wood; and then she seemed forced to look behind her as the rustling came in the bushes, and she thought she saw something all in tatters with the two arms held out in front of it coming on very fast, and at that she ran for the stile, and tore her gown all to finders getting over it.’

Then he had gone to two other people whom he found very shy of talking. They seemed to think, among other things, that it reflected discredit51 on the parish. However, one, Mrs Emma Frost, was prevailed upon to repeat what her mother had told her. ‘They say it was a lady of title that married twice over, and her first husband went by the name of Brown, or it might have been Bryan [‘Yes, there were Bryans at the Court before it came into our family,’ Philipson put in], and she removed her neighbour’s landmark52: leastways she took in a fair piece of the best pasture in Betton parish what belonged by rights to two children as hadn’t no one to speak for them, and they say years after she went from bad to worse, and made out false papers to gain thousands of pounds up in London, and at last they was proved in law to be false, and she would have been tried and put to death very like, only she escaped away for the time. But no one can’t avoid the curse that’s laid on them that removes the landmark, and so we take it she can’t leave Betton before someone take and put it right again.’

At the end of the paper there was a note to this effect. ‘I regret that I cannot find any clue to previous owners of the fields adjoining the Wood. I do not hesitate to say that if I could discover their representatives, I should do my best to indemnify them for the wrong done to them in years now long past: for it is undeniable that the Wood is very curiously53 disturbed in the manner described by the people of the place. In my present ignorance alike of the extent of the land wrongly appropriated, and of the rightful owners, I am reduced to keeping a separate note of the profits derived54 from this part of the estate, and my custom has been to apply the sum that would represent the annual yield of about five acres to the common benefit of the parish and to charitable uses: and I hope that those who succeed me may see fit to continue this practice.’

So much for the elder Mr Philipson’s paper. To those who, like myself, are readers of the State Trials it will have gone far to illuminate55 the situation. They will remember how between the years 1678 and 1684 the Lady Ivy56, formerly57 Theodosia Bryan, was alternately Plaintiff and Defendant58 in a series of trials in which she was trying to establish a claim against the Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s for a considerable and very valuable tract7 of land in Shadwell: how in the last of those trials, presided over by L. C. J. Jeffreys, it was proved up to the hilt that the deeds upon which she based her claim were forgeries59 executed under her orders: and how, after an information for perjury60 and forgery61 was issued against her, she disappeared completely — so completely, indeed, that no expert has ever been able to tell me what became of her.

Does not the story I have told suggest that she may still be heard of on the scene of one of her earlier and more successful exploits?

* * * *

‘That,’ said my friend, as he folded up his papers, ‘is a very faithful record of my one extraordinary experience. And now —’

But I had so many questions to ask him, as for instance, whether his friend had found the proper owner of the land, whether he had done anything about the hedge, whether the sounds were ever heard now, what was the exact title and date of his pamphlet, etc., etc., that bed-time came and passed, without his having an opportunity to revert62 to the Literary Supplement of The Times.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 unfamiliar uk6w4     
adj.陌生的,不熟悉的
参考例句:
  • I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
  • The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。
2 dispersed b24c637ca8e58669bce3496236c839fa     
adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的
参考例句:
  • The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
  • After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后,孩子们四散回家了。
3 apoplectic seNya     
adj.中风的;愤怒的;n.中风患者
参考例句:
  • He died from a stroke of apoplexy.他死于中风。
  • My father was apoplectic when he discovered the truth.我父亲在发现真相后勃然大怒。
4 lesser UpxzJL     
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地
参考例句:
  • Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
  • She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及,但程度较轻。
5 seclusion 5DIzE     
n.隐遁,隔离
参考例句:
  • She liked to sunbathe in the seclusion of her own garden.她喜欢在自己僻静的花园里晒日光浴。
  • I live very much in seclusion these days.这些天我过着几乎与世隔绝的生活。
6 unreasonably 7b139a7b80379aa34c95638d4a789e5f     
adv. 不合理地
参考例句:
  • He was also petty, unreasonably querulous, and mean. 他还是个气量狭窄,无事生非,平庸刻薄的人。
  • Food in that restaurant is unreasonably priced. 那家饭店价格不公道。
7 tract iJxz4     
n.传单,小册子,大片(土地或森林)
参考例句:
  • He owns a large tract of forest.他拥有一大片森林。
  • He wrote a tract on this subject.他曾对此写了一篇短文。
8 tracts fcea36d422dccf9d9420a7dd83bea091     
大片土地( tract的名词复数 ); 地带; (体内的)道; (尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的)短文
参考例句:
  • vast tracts of forest 大片大片的森林
  • There are tracts of desert in Australia. 澳大利亚有大片沙漠。
9 steadily Qukw6     
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地
参考例句:
  • The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
  • Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。
10 reign pBbzx     
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势
参考例句:
  • The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
  • The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。
11 rev njvzwS     
v.发动机旋转,加快速度
参考例句:
  • It's his job to rev up the audience before the show starts.他要负责在表演开始前鼓动观众的热情。
  • Don't rev the engine so hard.别让发动机转得太快。
12 bishop AtNzd     
n.主教,(国际象棋)象
参考例句:
  • He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
  • Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。
13 clergy SnZy2     
n.[总称]牧师,神职人员
参考例句:
  • I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望,我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
  • All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。
14 tempted b0182e969d369add1b9ce2353d3c6ad6     
v.怂恿(某人)干不正当的事;冒…的险(tempt的过去分词)
参考例句:
  • I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚,但还是没开口。
  • I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。
15 Christian KVByl     
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒
参考例句:
  • They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
  • His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
16 justified 7pSzrk     
a.正当的,有理的
参考例句:
  • She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
  • The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。
17 discreet xZezn     
adj.(言行)谨慎的;慎重的;有判断力的
参考例句:
  • He is very discreet in giving his opinions.发表意见他十分慎重。
  • It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office.你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。
18 riddle WCfzw     
n.谜,谜语,粗筛;vt.解谜,给…出谜,筛,检查,鉴定,非难,充满于;vi.出谜
参考例句:
  • The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
  • Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。
19 dabbled 55999aeda1ff87034ef046ec73004cbf     
v.涉猎( dabble的过去式和过去分词 );涉足;浅尝;少量投资
参考例句:
  • He dabbled in business. 他搞过一点生意。 来自辞典例句
  • His vesture was dabbled in blood. 他穿的衣服上溅满了鲜血。 来自辞典例句
20 crest raqyA     
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖
参考例句:
  • The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
  • He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。
21 sufficiently 0htzMB     
adv.足够地,充分地
参考例句:
  • It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
  • The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。
22 demesne 7wcxw     
n.领域,私有土地
参考例句:
  • The tenants of the demesne enjoyed certain privileges.领地的占有者享有一定的特权。
  • Keats is referring to epic poetry when he mentions Homer's"proud demesne".当济慈提到荷马的“骄傲的领域”时,他指的是史诗。
23 leisurely 51Txb     
adj.悠闲的;从容的,慢慢的
参考例句:
  • We walked in a leisurely manner,looking in all the windows.我们慢悠悠地走着,看遍所有的橱窗。
  • He had a leisurely breakfast and drove cheerfully to work.他从容的吃了早餐,高兴的开车去工作。
24 westward XIvyz     
n.西方,西部;adj.西方的,向西的;adv.向西
参考例句:
  • We live on the westward slope of the hill.我们住在这座山的西山坡。
  • Explore westward or wherever.向西或到什么别的地方去勘探。
25 specially Hviwq     
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地
参考例句:
  • They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
  • The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。
26 spire SF3yo     
n.(教堂)尖顶,尖塔,高点
参考例句:
  • The church spire was struck by lightning.教堂的尖顶遭到了雷击。
  • They could just make out the spire of the church in the distance.他们只能辨认出远处教堂的尖塔。
27 orb Lmmzhy     
n.太阳;星球;v.弄圆;成球形
参考例句:
  • The blue heaven,holding its one golden orb,poured down a crystal wash of warm light.蓝蓝的天空托着金色的太阳,洒下一片水晶般明亮温暖的光辉。
  • It is an emanation from the distant orb of immortal light.它是从远处那个发出不灭之光的天体上放射出来的。
28 grove v5wyy     
n.林子,小树林,园林
参考例句:
  • On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
  • The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。
29 gems 74ab5c34f71372016f1770a5a0bf4419     
growth; economy; management; and customer satisfaction 增长
参考例句:
  • a crown studded with gems 镶有宝石的皇冠
  • The apt citations and poetic gems have adorned his speeches. 贴切的引语和珠玑般的诗句为他的演说词增添文采。
30 shriek fEgya     
v./n.尖叫,叫喊
参考例句:
  • Suddenly he began to shriek loudly.突然他开始大声尖叫起来。
  • People sometimes shriek because of terror,anger,or pain.人们有时会因为恐惧,气愤或疼痛而尖叫。
31 intensified 4b3b31dab91d010ec3f02bff8b189d1a     
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
  • The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
32 mellow F2iyP     
adj.柔和的;熟透的;v.变柔和;(使)成熟
参考例句:
  • These apples are mellow at this time of year.每年这时节,苹果就熟透了。
  • The colours become mellow as the sun went down.当太阳落山时,色彩变得柔和了。
33 scents 9d41e056b814c700bf06c9870b09a332     
n.香水( scent的名词复数 );气味;(动物的)臭迹;(尤指狗的)嗅觉
参考例句:
  • The air was fragrant with scents from the sea and the hills. 空气中荡漾着山和海的芬芳气息。
  • The winds came down with scents of the grass and wild flowers. 微风送来阵阵青草和野花的香气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
34 savage ECxzR     
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人
参考例句:
  • The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
  • He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。
35 owls 7b4601ac7f6fe54f86669548acc46286     
n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋,”我说,“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
  • The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句
36 frightful Ghmxw     
adj.可怕的;讨厌的
参考例句:
  • How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊!
  • We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。
37 hideous 65KyC     
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的
参考例句:
  • The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
  • They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗,是丑陋的畜牲。
38 vestige 3LNzg     
n.痕迹,遗迹,残余
参考例句:
  • Some upright stones in wild places are the vestige of ancient religions.荒原上一些直立的石块是古老宗教的遗迹。
  • Every vestige has been swept away.一切痕迹都被一扫而光。
39 enjoyment opaxV     
n.乐趣;享有;享用
参考例句:
  • Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同,我们这次访问更加愉快了。
  • After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话,这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。
40 alleys ed7f32602655381e85de6beb51238b46     
胡同,小巷( alley的名词复数 ); 小径
参考例句:
  • I followed him through a maze of narrow alleys. 我紧随他穿过一条条迂迴曲折的窄巷。
  • The children lead me through the maze of alleys to the edge of the city. 孩子们领我穿过迷宫一般的街巷,来到城边。
41 lodge q8nzj     
v.临时住宿,寄宿,寄存,容纳;n.传达室,小旅馆
参考例句:
  • Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗?
  • I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。
42 descried 7e4cac79cc5ce43e504968c29e0c27a5     
adj.被注意到的,被发现的,被看到的
参考例句:
  • He descried an island far away on the horizon. 他看到遥远的地平线上有个岛屿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • At length we descried a light and a roof. 终于,我们远远看见了一点灯光,一所孤舍。 来自辞典例句
43 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
44 forefinger pihxt     
n.食指
参考例句:
  • He pinched the leaf between his thumb and forefinger.他将叶子捏在拇指和食指之间。
  • He held it between the tips of his thumb and forefinger.他用他大拇指和食指尖拿着它。
45 recollect eUOxl     
v.回忆,想起,记起,忆起,记得
参考例句:
  • He tried to recollect things and drown himself in them.他极力回想过去的事情而沉浸于回忆之中。
  • She could not recollect being there.她回想不起曾经到过那儿。
46 growled 65a0c9cac661e85023a63631d6dab8a3     
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说
参考例句:
  • \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道:“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》
47 spoke XryyC     
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
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
48 rustling c6f5c8086fbaf68296f60e8adb292798     
n. 瑟瑟声,沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的
参考例句:
  • the sound of the trees rustling in the breeze 树木在微风中发出的沙沙声
  • the soft rustling of leaves 树叶柔和的沙沙声
49 interfered 71b7e795becf1adbddfab2cd6c5f0cff     
v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 );调停;妨碍;干涉
参考例句:
  • Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》
50 shrieking abc59c5a22d7db02751db32b27b25dbb     
v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • They were all shrieking with laughter. 他们都发出了尖锐的笑声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
51 discredit fu3xX     
vt.使不可置信;n.丧失信义;不信,怀疑
参考例句:
  • Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
  • They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。
52 landmark j2DxG     
n.陆标,划时代的事,地界标
参考例句:
  • The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
  • The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。
53 curiously 3v0zIc     
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地
参考例句:
  • He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
  • He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。
54 derived 6cddb7353e699051a384686b6b3ff1e2     
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取
参考例句:
  • Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
55 illuminate zcSz4     
vt.照亮,照明;用灯光装饰;说明,阐释
参考例句:
  • Dreams kindle a flame to illuminate our dark roads.梦想点燃火炬照亮我们黑暗的道路。
  • They use games and drawings to illuminate their subject.他们用游戏和图画来阐明他们的主题。
56 ivy x31ys     
n.常青藤,常春藤
参考例句:
  • Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
  • The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。
57 formerly ni3x9     
adv.从前,以前
参考例句:
  • We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
  • This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。
58 defendant mYdzW     
n.被告;adj.处于被告地位的
参考例句:
  • The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
  • The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。
59 forgeries ccf3756c474249ecf8bd23166b7aaaf1     
伪造( forgery的名词复数 ); 伪造的文件、签名等
参考例句:
  • The whole sky was filled with forgeries of the brain. 整个天空充满了头脑里臆造出来的膺品。
  • On inspection, the notes proved to be forgeries. 经过检查,那些钞票证明是伪造的。
60 perjury LMmx0     
n.伪证;伪证罪
参考例句:
  • You'll be punished if you procure the witness to commit perjury.如果你诱使证人作伪证,你要受罚的。
  • She appeared in court on a perjury charge.她因被指控做了伪证而出庭受审。
61 forgery TgtzU     
n.伪造的文件等,赝品,伪造(行为)
参考例句:
  • The painting was a forgery.这张画是赝品。
  • He was sent to prison for forgery.他因伪造罪而被关进监狱。
62 revert OBwzV     
v.恢复,复归,回到
参考例句:
  • Let us revert to the earlier part of the chapter.让我们回到本章的前面部分。
  • Shall we revert to the matter we talked about yesterday?我们接着昨天谈过的问题谈,好吗?


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