1
Singing my days,
Singing the great achievements of the present,
Singing the strong light works of engineers,
Our modern wonders, (the antique ponderous1 Seven outvied,)
In the Old World the east the Suez canal,
The New by its mighty2 railroad spann'd,
The seas inlaid with eloquent3 gentle wires;
Yet first to sound, and ever sound, the cry with thee O soul,
The Past! the Past! the Past!
The Past—the dark unfathom'd retrospect4!
The teeming5 gulf—the sleepers6 and the shadows!
The past—the infinite greatness of the past!
For what is the present after all but a growth out of the past?
(As a projectile7 form'd, impell'd, passing a certain line, still keeps on,
So the present, utterly8 form'd, impell'd by the past.)
2
Passage O soul to India!
Eclaircise the myths Asiatic, the primitive9 fables10.
Not you alone proud truths of the world,
Nor you alone ye facts of modern science,
But myths and fables of eld, Asia's, Africa's fables,
The far-darting beams of the spirit, the unloos'd dreams,
The deep diving bibles and legends,
The daring plots of the poets, the elder religions;
O you temples fairer than lilies pour'd over by the rising sun!
O you fables spurning11 the known, eluding12 the hold of the known,
mounting to heaven!
You lofty and dazzling towers, pinnacled13, red as roses, burnish'd
with gold!
Towers of fables immortal14 fashion'd from mortal dreams!
You too I welcome and fully15 the same as the rest!
You too with joy I sing.
Passage to India!
Lo, soul, seest thou not God's purpose from the first?
The earth to be spann'd, connected by network,
The races, neighbors, to marry and be given in marriage,
The oceans to be cross'd, the distant brought near,
The lands to be welded together.
A worship new I sing,
You captains, voyagers, explorers, yours,
You engineers, you architects, machinists, yours,
You, not for trade or transportation only,
But in God's name, and for thy sake O soul.
3
Passage to India!
Lo soul for thee of tableaus16 twain,
I see in one the Suez canal initiated17, open'd,
I see the procession of steamships18, the Empress Engenie's leading the van,
I mark from on deck the strange landscape, the pure sky, the level
sand in the distance,
I pass swiftly the picturesque20 groups, the workmen gather'd,
The gigantic dredging machines.
In one again, different, (yet thine, all thine, O soul, the same,)
I see over my own continent the Pacific railroad surmounting21 every barrier,
I see continual trains of cars winding22 along the Platte carrying
freight and passengers,
I hear the locomotives rushing and roaring, and the shrill24 steam-whistle,
I hear the echoes reverberate25 through the grandest scenery in the world,
I cross the Laramie plains, I note the rocks in grotesque26 shapes,
the buttes,
I see the plentiful27 larkspur and wild onions, the barren, colorless,
sage-deserts,
I see in glimpses afar or towering immediately above me the great
mountains, I see the Wind river and the Wahsatch mountains,
I see the Monument mountain and the Eagle's Nest, I pass the
Promontory29, I ascend30 the Nevadas,
I scan the noble Elk31 mountain and wind around its base,
I see the Humboldt range, I thread the valley and cross the river,
I see the clear waters of lake Tahoe, I see forests of majestic32 pines,
Or crossing the great desert, the alkaline plains, I behold33
enchanting34 mirages35 of waters and meadows,
Marking through these and after all, in duplicate slender lines,
Bridging the three or four thousand miles of land travel,
Tying the Eastern to the Western sea,
The road between Europe and Asia.
(Ah Genoese thy dream! thy dream!
Centuries after thou art laid in thy grave,
The shore thou foundest verifies thy dream.)
4
Passage to India!
Struggles of many a captain, tales of many a sailor dead,
Over my mood stealing and spreading they come,
Like clouds and cloudlets in the unreach'd sky.
Along all history, down the slopes,
As a rivulet36 running, sinking now, and now again to the surface rising,
A ceaseless thought, a varied37 train—lo, soul, to thee, thy sight,
they rise,
The plans, the voyages again, the expeditions;
Again Vasco de Gama sails forth38,
Again the knowledge gain'd, the mariner39's compass,
Lands found and nations born, thou born America,
For purpose vast, man's long probation40 fill'd,
Thou rondure of the world at last accomplish'd.
5
O vast Rondure, swimming in space,
Cover'd all over with visible power and beauty,
Alternate light and day and the teeming spiritual darkness,
Unspeakable high processions of sun and moon and countless41 stars above,
Below, the manifold grass and waters, animals, mountains, trees,
With inscrutable purpose, some hidden prophetic intention,
Now first it seems my thought begins to span thee.
Down from the gardens of Asia descending42 radiating,
Adam and Eve appear, then their myriad43 progeny44 after them,
Wandering, yearning45, curious, with restless explorations,
With questionings, baffled, formless, feverish46, with never-happy hearts,
With that sad incessant47 refrain, Wherefore unsatisfied soul? and
Whither O mocking life?
Ah who shall soothe48 these feverish children?
Who Justify49 these restless explorations?
Who speak the secret of impassive earth?
Who bind50 it to us? what is this separate Nature so unnatural51?
What is this earth to our affections? (unloving earth, without a
throb52 to answer ours,
Cold earth, the place of graves.)
Yet soul be sure the first intent remains53, and shall be carried out,
Perhaps even now the time has arrived.
After the seas are all cross'd, (as they seem already cross'd,)
After the great captains and engineers have accomplish'd their work,
After the noble inventors, after the scientists, the chemist, the
geologist54, ethnologist,
Finally shall come the poet worthy55 that name,
The true son of God shall come singing his songs.
Then not your deeds only O voyagers, O scientists and inventors,
shall be justified56,
All these hearts as of fretted57 children shall be sooth'd,
All affection shall be fully responded to, the secret shall be told,
All these separations and gaps shall be taken up and hook'd and
link'd together,
The whole earth, this cold, impassive, voiceless earth, shall be
completely Justified,
Trinitas divine shall be gloriously accomplish'd and compacted by
the true son of God, the poet,
(He shall indeed pass the straits and conquer the mountains,
He shall double the cape19 of Good Hope to some purpose,)
Nature and Man shall be disjoin'd and diffused58 no more,
The true son of God shall absolutely fuse them.
6
Year at whose wide-flung door I sing!
Year of the purpose accomplish'd!
Year of the marriage of continents, climates and oceans!
(No mere59 doge of Venice now wedding the Adriatic,)
I see O year in you the vast terraqueous globe given and giving all,
Europe to Asia, Africa join'd, and they to the New World,
The lands, geographies, dancing before you, holding a festival garland,
As brides and bridegrooms hand in hand.
Passage to India!
Cooling airs from Caucasus far, soothing60 cradle of man,
The river Euphrates flowing, the past lit up again.
Lo soul, the retrospect brought forward,
The old, most populous61, wealthiest of earth's lands,
The streams of the Indus and the Ganges and their many affluents62,
(I my shores of America walking to-day behold, resuming all,)
The tale of Alexander on his warlike marches suddenly dying,
On one side China and on the other side Persia and Arabia,
To the south the great seas and the bay of Bengal,
The flowing literatures, tremendous epics63, religions, castes,
Old occult Brahma interminably far back, the tender and junior Buddha64,
Central and southern empires and all their belongings65, possessors,
The wars of Tamerlane,the reign66 of Aurungzebe,
The traders, rulers, explorers, Moslems, Venetians, Byzantium, the
Arabs, Portuguese67,
The first travelers famous yet, Marco Polo, Batouta the Moor68,
Doubts to be solv'd, the map incognita, blanks to be fill'd,
The foot of man unstay'd, the hands never at rest,
Thyself O soul that will not brook69 a challenge.
The mediaeval navigators rise before me,
The world of 1492, with its awaken'd enterprise,
Something swelling70 in humanity now like the sap of the earth in spring,
The sunset splendor71 of chivalry72 declining.
And who art thou sad shade?
Gigantic, visionary, thyself a visionary,
With majestic limbs and pious73 beaming eyes,
Spreading around with every look of thine a golden world,
Enhuing it with gorgeous hues74.
As the chief histrion,
Down to the footlights walks in some great scena,
Dominating the rest I see the Admiral himself,
(History's type of courage, action, faith,)
Behold him sail from Palos leading his little fleet,
His voyage behold, his return, his great fame,
His misfortunes, calumniators, behold him a prisoner, chain'd,
Behold his dejection, poverty, death.
(Curious in time I stand, noting the efforts of heroes,
Is the deferment75 long? bitter the slander76, poverty, death?
Lies the seed unreck'd for centuries in the ground? lo, to God's due
occasion,
Uprising in the night, it sprouts77, blooms,
And fills the earth with use and beauty.)
7
Passage indeed O soul to primal78 thought,
Not lands and seas alone, thy own clear freshness,
The young maturity79 of brood and bloom,
To realms of budding bibles.
O soul, repressless, I with thee and thou with me,
Thy circumnavigation of the world begin,
Of man, the voyage of his mind's return,
To reason's early paradise,
Back, back to wisdom's birth, to innocent intuitions,
Again with fair creation.
8
O we can wait no longer,
We too take ship O soul,
Joyous80 we too launch out on trackless seas,
Fearless for unknown shores on waves of ecstasy81 to sail,
Amid the wafting82 winds, (thou pressing me to thee, I thee to me, O soul,)
Caroling free, singing our song of God,
Chanting our chant of pleasant exploration.
With laugh and many a kiss,
(Let others deprecate, let others weep for sin, remorse83, humiliation,)
O soul thou pleasest me, I thee.
Ah more than any priest O soul we too believe in God,
But with the mystery of God we dare not dally84.
O soul thou pleasest me, I thee,
Sailing these seas or on the hills, or waking in the night,
Thoughts, silent thoughts, of Time and Space and Death, like waters flowing,
Bear me indeed as through the regions infinite,
Whose air I breathe, whose ripples85 hear, lave me all over,
Bathe me O God in thee, mounting to thee,
I and my soul to range in range of thee.
O Thou transcendent,
Nameless, the fibre and the breath,
Light of the light, shedding forth universes, thou centre of them,
Thou mightier86 centre of the true, the good, the loving,
Thou moral, spiritual fountain—affection's source—thou reservoir,
(O pensive87 soul of me—O thirst unsatisfied—waitest not there?
Waitest not haply for us somewhere there the Comrade perfect?)
Thou pulse—thou motive23 of the stars, suns, systems,
That, circling, move in order, safe, harmonious88,
Athwart the shapeless vastnesses of space,
How should I think, how breathe a single breath, how speak, if, out
of myself,
I could not launch, to those, superior universes?
Swiftly I shrivel at the thought of God,
At Nature and its wonders, Time and Space and Death,
But that I, turning, call to thee O soul, thou actual Me,
And lo, thou gently masterest the orbs89,
Thou matest Time, smilest content at Death,
And fillest, swellest full the vastnesses of Space.
Greater than stars or suns,
Bounding O soul thou journeyest forth;
What love than thine and ours could wider amplify90?
What aspirations91, wishes, outvie thine and ours O soul?
What dreams of the ideal? what plans of purity, perfection, strength?
What cheerful willingness for others' sake to give up all?
For others' sake to suffer all?
Reckoning ahead O soul, when thou, the time achiev'd,
The seas all cross'd, weather'd the capes92, the voyage done,
Surrounded, copest, frontest God, yieldest, the aim attain'd,
As fill'd with friendship, love complete, the Elder Brother found,
The Younger melts in fondness in his arms.
9
Passage to more than India!
Are thy wings plumed93 indeed for such far flights?
O soul, voyagest thou indeed on voyages like those?
Disportest thou on waters such as those?
Soundest below the Sanscrit and the Vedas?
Then have thy bent94 unleash'd.
Passage to you, your shores, ye aged95 fierce enigmas96!
Passage to you, to mastership of you, ye strangling problems!
You, strew'd with the wrecks97 of skeletons, that, living, never reach'd you.
Passage to more than India!
O secret of the earth and sky!
Of you O waters of the sea! O winding creeks98 and rivers!
Of you O woods and fields! of you strong mountains of my land!
Of you O prairies! of you gray rocks!
O morning red! O clouds! O rain and snows!
O day and night, passage to you!
O sun and moon and all you stars! Sirius and Jupiter!
Passage to you!
Passage, immediate28 passage! the blood burns in my veins99!
Away O soul! hoist100 instantly the anchor!
Cut the hawsers—haul out—shake out every sail!
Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?
Have we not grovel'd here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes101?
Have we not darken'd and dazed ourselves with books long enough?
Sail forth—steer for the deep waters only,
Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me,
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.
O my brave soul!
O farther farther sail!
O daring joy, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?
O farther, farther, farther sail!
点击收听单词发音
1 ponderous | |
adj.沉重的,笨重的,(文章)冗长的 | |
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2 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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3 eloquent | |
adj.雄辩的,口才流利的;明白显示出的 | |
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4 retrospect | |
n.回顾,追溯;v.回顾,回想,追溯 | |
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5 teeming | |
adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 );到处都是;(指水、雨等)暴降;倾注 | |
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6 sleepers | |
n.卧铺(通常以复数形式出现);卧车( sleeper的名词复数 );轨枕;睡觉(呈某种状态)的人;小耳环 | |
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7 projectile | |
n.投射物,发射体;adj.向前开进的;推进的;抛掷的 | |
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8 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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9 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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10 fables | |
n.寓言( fable的名词复数 );神话,传说 | |
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11 spurning | |
v.一脚踢开,拒绝接受( spurn的现在分词 ) | |
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12 eluding | |
v.(尤指机敏地)避开( elude的现在分词 );逃避;躲避;使达不到 | |
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13 pinnacled | |
小尖塔般耸立的,顶处的 | |
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14 immortal | |
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的 | |
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15 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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16 tableaus | |
n.人构成的画面或场景( tableau的名词复数 );舞台造型;戏剧性的场面;绚丽的场景 | |
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17 initiated | |
n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始,创始,启蒙,介绍加入 | |
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18 steamships | |
n.汽船,大轮船( steamship的名词复数 ) | |
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19 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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20 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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21 surmounting | |
战胜( surmount的现在分词 ); 克服(困难); 居于…之上; 在…顶上 | |
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22 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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23 motive | |
n.动机,目的;adv.发动的,运动的 | |
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24 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
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25 reverberate | |
v.使回响,使反响 | |
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26 grotesque | |
adj.怪诞的,丑陋的;n.怪诞的图案,怪人(物) | |
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27 plentiful | |
adj.富裕的,丰富的 | |
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28 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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29 promontory | |
n.海角;岬 | |
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30 ascend | |
vi.渐渐上升,升高;vt.攀登,登上 | |
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31 elk | |
n.麋鹿 | |
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32 majestic | |
adj.雄伟的,壮丽的,庄严的,威严的,崇高的 | |
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33 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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34 enchanting | |
a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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35 mirages | |
n.海市蜃楼,幻景( mirage的名词复数 ) | |
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36 rivulet | |
n.小溪,小河 | |
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37 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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38 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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39 mariner | |
n.水手号不载人航天探测器,海员,航海者 | |
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40 probation | |
n.缓刑(期),(以观后效的)察看;试用(期) | |
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41 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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42 descending | |
n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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43 myriad | |
adj.无数的;n.无数,极大数量 | |
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44 progeny | |
n.后代,子孙;结果 | |
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45 yearning | |
a.渴望的;向往的;怀念的 | |
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46 feverish | |
adj.发烧的,狂热的,兴奋的 | |
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47 incessant | |
adj.不停的,连续的 | |
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48 soothe | |
v.安慰;使平静;使减轻;缓和;奉承 | |
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49 justify | |
vt.证明…正当(或有理),为…辩护 | |
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50 bind | |
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
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51 unnatural | |
adj.不自然的;反常的 | |
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52 throb | |
v.震颤,颤动;(急速强烈地)跳动,搏动 | |
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53 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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54 geologist | |
n.地质学家 | |
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55 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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56 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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57 fretted | |
焦躁的,附有弦马的,腐蚀的 | |
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58 diffused | |
散布的,普及的,扩散的 | |
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59 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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60 soothing | |
adj.慰藉的;使人宽心的;镇静的 | |
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61 populous | |
adj.人口稠密的,人口众多的 | |
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62 affluents | |
n.富裕的,富足的( affluent的名词复数 ) | |
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63 epics | |
n.叙事诗( epic的名词复数 );壮举;惊人之举;史诗般的电影(或书籍) | |
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64 Buddha | |
n.佛;佛像;佛陀 | |
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65 belongings | |
n.私人物品,私人财物 | |
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66 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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67 Portuguese | |
n.葡萄牙人;葡萄牙语 | |
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68 moor | |
n.荒野,沼泽;vt.(使)停泊;vi.停泊 | |
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69 brook | |
n.小河,溪;v.忍受,容让 | |
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70 swelling | |
n.肿胀 | |
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71 splendor | |
n.光彩;壮丽,华丽;显赫,辉煌 | |
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72 chivalry | |
n.骑士气概,侠义;(男人)对女人彬彬有礼,献殷勤 | |
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73 pious | |
adj.虔诚的;道貌岸然的 | |
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74 hues | |
色彩( hue的名词复数 ); 色调; 信仰; 观点 | |
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75 deferment | |
n.迁延,延期,暂缓 | |
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76 slander | |
n./v.诽谤,污蔑 | |
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77 sprouts | |
n.新芽,嫩枝( sprout的名词复数 )v.发芽( sprout的第三人称单数 );抽芽;出现;(使)涌现出 | |
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78 primal | |
adj.原始的;最重要的 | |
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79 maturity | |
n.成熟;完成;(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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80 joyous | |
adj.充满快乐的;令人高兴的 | |
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81 ecstasy | |
n.狂喜,心醉神怡,入迷 | |
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82 wafting | |
v.吹送,飘送,(使)浮动( waft的现在分词 ) | |
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83 remorse | |
n.痛恨,悔恨,自责 | |
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84 dally | |
v.荒废(时日),调情 | |
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85 ripples | |
逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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86 mightier | |
adj. 强有力的,强大的,巨大的 adv. 很,极其 | |
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87 pensive | |
a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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88 harmonious | |
adj.和睦的,调和的,和谐的,协调的 | |
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89 orbs | |
abbr.off-reservation boarding school 在校寄宿学校n.球,天体,圆形物( orb的名词复数 ) | |
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90 amplify | |
vt.放大,增强;详述,详加解说 | |
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91 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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92 capes | |
碎谷; 斗篷( cape的名词复数 ); 披肩; 海角; 岬 | |
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93 plumed | |
饰有羽毛的 | |
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94 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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95 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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96 enigmas | |
n.难于理解的问题、人、物、情况等,奥秘( enigma的名词复数 ) | |
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97 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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98 creeks | |
n.小湾( creek的名词复数 );小港;小河;小溪 | |
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99 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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100 hoist | |
n.升高,起重机,推动;v.升起,升高,举起 | |
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101 brutes | |
兽( brute的名词复数 ); 畜生; 残酷无情的人; 兽性 | |
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