It bears the impress of the many kinds of men of many nationalities—Arab sultans, slave-traders and pirates, Portuguese9 merchants, European explorers, and ivory-hunters—who have swaggered across the pages of its history. Four hundred years ago Vasco da Gama's exploring caravels dropped anchor in its harbour, and the architecture of the city is still Portuguese; [Pg 144] a century later the dhows of the piratical sultans of Muskat swooped10 down, giving to Zanzibar an Arab dynasty, a lucrative11 slave trade and the Arabic tongue; then a British war-ship came, bringing with it British law and order and decency12, and, under the mask of a “protectorate,” British rule. Though its golden age ended with the extermination13 of the trade in “black ivory,” it is still a place of considerable importance: the end of several submarine cables, a port of call for many steamship14 lines, a naval15 base within easy striking distance of the German and Portuguese colonies on the East Coast and guarding the lines of communication between the Cape and the Canal, and the place of export for the major portion of the world's supply of copra, cloves16, and ivory.
Seen from the harbour, Zanzibar has little to commend it. So uninviting, indeed, is the face that it turns seaward, that the story is told of an American politician sent there as consul17, who, after taking one look from the steamer's deck at the sun-baked town, with its treeless, yellow beach and its flat-roofed, whitewashed18 houses, refused to go ashore19 at all, from the next port at which the steamer called cabling his resignation to Washington. Though a city of something over one hundred thousand people, with the major portion of the trade of East Africa in its hands, Zanzibar has neither dock, jetty, nor wharf20, passengers and packages alike being disembarked in small boats and carried through the surf on the shoulders of Swahili boatmen. There are no words in the language adequate to describe the scene [Pg 145] which takes place on the beach bordering the harbour when a mail steamer comes in. The passengers—white-helmeted tourists; pompous21, drill-clad officials; sallow-faced Parsee merchants; chattering22 Hindoo artisans; haughty23, hawk-nosed Arabs; and cotton-clad Swahilis from the mainland—are unceremoniously dumped with their belongings24 on the sand, where they instantly become the centres of shouting, pleading, cursing, struggling, gesticulating, perspiring25 mobs of porters and hotel-runners, from whose rough importunities they are rescued only by the efforts of a dozen askaris, who lay their rhinoceros-hide whips about them indiscriminately.
When a poor imitation of order has been restored and the luggage has been rescued and sorted, you start for the hotel—there is only one deserving of the name—with a voluble hotel-runner clinging to your arm as though afraid you would break away, and followed by a miniature safari27 of porters balancing trunks, hat-boxes, kit-bags, gun-cases, bath-tubs, and the other impedimenta of an African traveller on their turbaned heads. Returning the ostentatious salute28 of the tan-coloured sentry29 at the head of the water-stairs, you follow your guide through a series of tortuous30 and narrow alleys31, plunge32 into the darkness of an ill-smelling tunnel, and suddenly emerge, blinded with the sun-glare, into a thoroughfare lined on either side with tiny, fascinating, hole-in-the-wall shops, whose owners rush out and offer you their silver, ivory, and ostrich33-feather wares34 vociferously35.
Quite unexpectedly the procession halts under a swinging sign bearing the legend “Afrika Hotel.” The proprietor37, a rotund, red-cheeked German who looks as if he had stepped straight out of a Munich beer-garden, escorts you pantingly up two—three—four flights of stone stairs, lined on either side with strange native weapons and East Coast curios, to a brick-floored cell under the roof, there being more likelihood of catching38 an occasional breeze, he explains, near the top. Wind in any form is as scarce in Zanzibar as rain is in the Sahara, and when they do get a breath of air strong enough to stir the window curtains it is as much of an event as a cyclone39 is in Kansas. The furniture of the room, monastic in its simplicity40, consists of an iron bed, an iron table, an iron chair, and an iron washstand supporting a tin bowl and pitcher41, for anything which is not of metal stands an excellent chance of destruction by the devastating42 swarms43 of red ants. The bed is draped with a double thickness of mosquito netting of so fine a mesh44 that the air within feels strained and unnourishing, like milk that has been skimmed and watered, and the heavy shutters45 are closed in a fruitless attempt to keep out some of the stifling46 mid-day heat, though the proprietor, after glancing at the thermometer, remarks that it isn't so hot after all, being only 120 in the shade.
“Zanzibar has neither dock, jetty, nor wharf, passengers and packages alike being disembarked in small boats and carried through the surf on the shoulders of Swahili boatmen.”
The business portion of Zanzibar is a wilderness47 of narrow streets and dim bazaars48, hemmed49 in with tiny shops and wretched dwellings51, with here and there an ancient house dating from the Portuguese occupation.
Photograph by DeLord, Zanzibar.
THE GATEWAY TO EAST AFRICA.
You are advised to go to bed in the dark, as a light would attract the mosquitoes, and never, never, under any circumstances, to get into bed until you have assured yourself that there are no mosquitoes inside the [Pg 147] curtains, though the proprietor cheerfully adds: “But you can only get fever from the black-and-white-striped ones.” Likewise, you are solemnly warned never to go out of doors during the day without a topée lest you die from sunstroke (I knew one man who took off his helmet long enough to wave good-bye to a departing friend and was dead in an hour in consequence); never to drink other than bottled water (at two rupees the bottle) lest you die from typhoid; never to stay out of doors after nightfall lest you contract malaria52; never to put on your boots without first shaking them out lest a snake or scorpion53 have chosen them to spend the night in; never to return late at night from the club without getting a policeman to escort you, lest a native thug run a knife between your shoulder-blades; and never to put your revolver under your pillow, where it cannot be reached without attracting attention, but to keep it beside you in the bed, so that you can shoot through the bedclothes without warning if you should wake up to find an intruder in your room.
The best and most interesting thing about the Afrika Hotel is its bath, a forbidding, stone-floored room, totally devoid54 of furniture or tub. It is separated from the sleeping-room by the hotel parlour, so that lady callers unaccustomed to Zanzibar ways are sometimes a trifle startled to see a gentleman whose only garment is a bath-towel pass through the parlour with a hop-skip-and-jump on his way to the bath. You clap your hands, which is the East Coast equivalent for pressing a button, and in prompt response appears an [Pg 148] ebony-skinned domestic bearing on his head a Standard Oil can filled with water. Running through a staple55 in the ceiling is a rope, and to the end of this rope he attaches the can, hoisting56 it until it swings a dozen feet above your head. Hanging from a hole in the side of the can is a cord. When you are ready for your bath you stand underneath57 the can, jerk the cord sharply, and the can empties itself over you like a cloudburst. Then you clap your hands and wait until the Swahili brings more water, when you do it all over again.
The first thing the new arrival in Zanzibar does is to bathe and put on a fresh suit of white linen58, for to appear presentable in the terrible humidity of the East Coast requires at least four white suits a day; and the second thing he does is to call upon the consul, a very homesick young gentleman, who is so glad to see any one from “God's country” that he is only too eager to spend his meagre salary in entertaining him. If it is drawing toward sunset you will probably find him just starting for the golf club, which is the rendezvous59 at nightfall for Zanzibar's European society, whose chief recreations, so far as I could see, are golf, gambling60, and gossip. With a sturdy, khaki-clad Swahili, a brass61 American eagle on the front of his fez, trotting62 between the shafts63 of the consular64 'rickshaw (the Department of State refuses to appropriate enough money to provide our representative with a carriage), and another pushing behind, you whirl down the bright red highway which leads to the suburb of Bububu; past the white residency from which the British consul-general gives [Pg 149] his orders to the little brown man who is permitted to play at ruling Zanzibar; past the police barracks, where, at sight of the eagle on the 'rickshaw coolies' fezes, the sentry on duty shouts some unintelligible65 jargon66, a bugle67 blares, and a group of native constables69 spring into line and bring their hands smartly to the salute as you pass; past the Marconi station on the cliff, where the wireless70 chatters71 ceaselessly with Bagamoyo and Kilindini and Dar-es-Salam; until you come to a sudden halt before a bungalow72, almost hidden in a wonderful tropic garden, whose broad verandas73 overlook an emerald velvet75 golf course which stretches from the highway to the sea.
Playing golf in Zanzibar always struck me as one of the most incongruous things I ever did. It seems as though one ought to devote his energies to pirating or pearl-fishing or slave-trading in a place with such a name. Moreover, there is such a continuous circus procession passing along the highway—natives in kangas of every pattern and colour; Masai and Swahili warriors76 from the mainland; Parsee bankers in victorias and Hindoo merchants in 'rickshaws; giant privates of the King's African Rifles in bottle-green tunics77 and blue puttees; veiled women of the Sultan's zenana out for an airing in cumbersome78, gaudily79 painted barouches, preceded and followed by red-jacketed lancers on white horses; perhaps his Highness himself, a dapper, discontented-looking young mulatto, whirling by in a big gray racing-car—that it is quite out of the question to keep your eye on the ball, and you play very bad golf [Pg 150] in consequence. Another trouble is that the caddies are all natives, and golf is discouraging enough in itself without having to shout “Fore!” or ask for a mashie or a putter in Swahili.
After a perfunctory round or two you go back to the club-house veranda74, where the European society of Zanzibar is seated in cane80 chairs, with the English illustrated81 weeklies, and tall glasses with ice tinkling82 in them. The talk is the talk of exiled white folk everywhere: the news contained in the Reuter's despatches which are posted each evening on the club bulletin-board; the condition of the ivory market; the prospects83 for big game-shooting under the new German game laws; the favourites for the next day's cricket match, the next week's polo game, or the next month's race meet; the latest books, the newest plays—as gathered from the illustrated weeklies; what is going to become of Smyth-Cunninghame's widow, whose husband has just died of fever; is it true that Major Buffington has been transferred from the “K. A. R.” to a line regiment84; and is Germany really looking for war?
That night the consul gives a dinner for you at the Zanzibar Club, where you are served by bare-footed servants immaculate in crimson85 turbans and white linen, and eat with solid silver from irreproachable86 china, in a room made almost comfortable by many swinging punkahs. After dinner you sit on the terrace in the dark, somewhere between the ocean and the stars, and over the coffee and cigars you listen to strange stories of “the Coast,” told by men who themselves played a [Pg 151] part in them. One man tells you what Stanley really said when, after months in the jungle without seeing a white man's face, he finally stumbled on the camp of Livingstone, and how, instead of rushing up and throwing his arms around him and crying, “Saved at last, old fellow; saved at last!” he lifted his helmet at sight of the gaunt, fever-stricken man sitting in front of the tent, and said very politely, just as he would if accosting87 a stranger on Fifth Avenue or Piccadilly, “Doctor Livingstone, I believe?” Another, a wiry, bright-eyed Frenchman, with a face tanned to the colour of mahogany, tells of the days when the route from Tanganyika to the coast was marked by the bleaching88 skeletons of slaves, and he points out to you, across the house-tops, the squalid dwelling50 in which Tippoo Tib, the greatest of all the slave-traders, died. A British commissioner89, the glow of his cigar lighting90 up his ruddy face, his scarlet91 cummerbund, and his white mess jacket, relates in strictest confidence a chapter of secret diplomatic history, and you learn how the German Foreign Office shattered the British dream of an all-red Cape-to-Cairo railway, and why England is so desirous of the Congo being placed under international control. A captain of the King's African Rifles holds you spellbound with a recital92 of the amazing exploits of the American elephant poacher, Rogers, who, jeering93 at the attempts of three governments to capture him, made himself, single-handed, the uncrowned king of Equatoria. Then a Danish ivory-hunter breaks in, and you hear all sorts of wild tales of life on safari, of ivory-trading in the [Pg 152] Lado Enclave, of brushes with the Uganda police south of Gondokoro, and of strange tribal94 customs practised in the hinterland. When the dawn begins to creep up out of the east, the Englishmen tell the drowsy95 steward96 to bring them Scotch97 and sodas98 and the Frenchmen order absinthes; then every one shakes hands with every one else and you make your way back to your hotel through the narrow, silent streets, returning the salute of the night constable68 sleepily.
No visitor leaves Zanzibar without going to the cemetery99. Like the palace, and the stone ship built by a former sultan, it is one of the show places of the city. I saw it under the guidance of a gloomy English resident, who said that he always walked there every evening “so as to get accustomed to the place before staying in it permanently100.” Leading me across the well-kept grass to two newly dug graves, he waved his hand in a “take-your-choice; they're-both-ready” gesture. “Two deaths to-day?” I queried101. “Not yet,” said he, “but we always keep a couple of graves ready-dug for Europeans. In this climate, you know, we have to bury very quickly.” For in Zanzibar, as all along the East Coast, the white man's hardest fight is with a foe102 he can feel only as a poison in his burning veins103, and can see only in the dreams of his delirium—the deadly black-water fever.
Though the streets in the outskirts104 of Zanzibar are wide, well shaded, and excellently macadamised with some kind of bright-red soil which recalls the roads outside of Colombo, in Ceylon, the business portion of the [Pg 153] town, where the natives chiefly live, is a labyrinth105 of narrow streets and dim bazaars, hemmed in with tiny shops and wretched dwellings, with here and there an ancient house dating from the Portuguese occupation, impregnable as a feudal106 castle, its massive doorways107 of exquisitely108 carved teakwood in sharp contrast to the surrounding squalor. Every shop is open to the street, and half of them, it seemed to me, are devoted109 to the sale of ivory carvings110, ostrich feathers, brassware, and silver-work, though the Arab workmanship is in all cases poorly executed and crude in design. The most typical things to be bought in Zanzibar are the quaint111 images of African animals which the natives carve from the coarser grades of ivory and which make charming, though costly112, souvenirs. Nothing is cheap in Zanzibar, or, for that matter, anywhere else in Africa, and every purchase is a matter of prolonged and wearisome negotiation113, the seller fixing a fantastic price and lowering it gradually, as he thinks discreet114, his rock-bottom figure depending upon the behaviour and appearance of the customer.
Zanzibar is still the chief ivory market of the world, the supplies of both elephant and rhino26 ivory, so I was assured by British officials, steadily increasing rather than diminishing. A few years ago it was feared that the supply of ivory would soon run out, but the indiscriminate slaughter115 of elephants has been checked, at least in British territory, by strict game laws rigidly116 enforced. Whether from the laxity of its laws or the indifference117 of its officials, German East Africa is still [Pg 154] the ivory-hunter's paradise, the extermination of elephants in that colony proceeding118 almost unchecked. When one remembers that African ivory brings all the way from fifty dollars to five hundred dollars per hundredweight in the open market, and that the tusks119 of a full-grown elephant weigh anywhere from one hundred to five hundred pounds, it will be seen that the ivory-hunter's trade is a profitable though a hazardous120 one. Other ivory-hunters, instead of going after the elephants themselves, spend their time in journeying from village to village and bartering121 with the natives for the stores of ivory—some of them the produce of centuries—which most of them possess. Unless the trader knows his business, however, the simple-minded natives will sell him the so-called “dead” ivory from the bottom of the pile rather than the “live” ivory of elephants recently killed, which, because of its greater elasticity122 and better colour, commands a much higher price, and, I might add, forms but a small part of the supply. Somewhere in the neighbourhood of half a million pounds of ivory are shipped from Zanzibar each year to make the toilet-articles and billiard-balls and piano-keys of the world.
The population of Zanzibar is pretty evenly divided between Arabs and Swahilis, with a considerable sprinkling of East Indians, who play the same r?les of peddlers, petty tradesmen, and money-lenders in the Orient that the Jews and Armenians do in the Occident123. The dress of the Swahili is as simple as it is striking: two lengths of cotton cloth, called kanga, one draped about the waist and the other about the shoulders, with [Pg 155] an extra remnant twisted into a turban, form the costume of men and women alike, though the Swahili women, in addition to the kanga proper, wear cotton pantalets resembling those in fashion in ante-bellum days, edged at the ankles with neat little frills, like those the chefs at fashionable restaurants put on lamb chops. These kangas are crudely stamped in an endless variety of startling patterns, some of the more elaborate designs looking, from a little distance, as though embroidered124. The inventiveness of the British, Belgian, and German designers must be sorely taxed, for the fashions in East Africa change as rapidly as they do in Paris and with as little warning, the kangas stamped with card-pips—hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades—which were all the rage among Zanzibar's dusky leaders of fashion for a time, suddenly giving place to those bearing crude pictures of sailing-ships or Arabic quotations125 from the Koran. One negro dandy whom I saw paraded the streets, the envied of all his fellows, wearing a kanga on which was printed, in endless repetition, the British coat of arms and the loyal motto “God Save the King!” while still another swaggered by in a garment sprinkled over with the legend in letters six inches high “Remember the Maine!” Though the important trade in cotton goods which we once had with East Africa has long since passed into British and German hands, there is a certain melancholy126 satisfaction in knowing that, so firmly does the reputation of our cottons endure, the natives of all this region still insist on the piece goods which they purchase, whether made in [Pg 156] Manchester or Dresden, bearing the stamp “American,” and will take no other.
The costumes of the Arabs, on the other hand, recall all the stories of pirates and slave-traders which one associates with this romantic coast, for the men, ignoring the law which prohibits the carrying of arms, swagger insolently127 through the streets with dagger-filled sashes and trailing scimiters, their white jibbahs flapping about their sandalled feet and their snowy turbans cocked rakishly. The dress of the Arab women of Zanzibar resembles the costume of no other people, its characteristic features being the immense, doughnut-shaped turbans and the frilled, skin-tight trousers striped like barber-poles.
ARAB WOMEN OF ZANZIBAR.
“Their dress resembles the costume of no other people, its characteristic features being the immense, doughnut-shaped turbans and the frilled, skin-tight trousers striped like barber-poles.”
The universal medium of communication in Zanzibar and along the East Coast is Swahili, this lingua franca being generally used not only between Arabs and natives, and between natives and Europeans, but between Europeans themselves, the English, French, and Portuguese traders who do business in German East Africa depending entirely128 upon this mutually understood tongue for conversing129 with the Germans. I remember once, in Dar-es-Salam, listening to an Englishman who knew no French and a Frenchman who knew no English hold an animated130 political argument, and later on bargain with the German hotel-keeper for accommodations in the same outlandish tongue.
I have always found that the farther people dwell from civilisation, the more punctilious131 they are about observing its usages. That is why English officials [Pg 157] at remote and lonely stations in India invariably put on evening clothes before they sit down to their solitary132 dinners, and why the question of precedence is not taken nearly as seriously in London or Paris or New York as it is in Entebbe or Sierra Leone. One would quite naturally suppose that the Europeans dwelling in those sun-scorched, fever-ridden, God-forsaken countries along the East Coast would adopt the careless attitude of Kipling's homesick soldier, who longed for a land “where there ain't no Ten Commandments and a man can raise a thirst”; but, strangely enough, the exact opposite is the case. There is plenty of drinking throughout Africa, it is true, for the white men dwelling there will assure you that to exist in such a climate a man must “keep his liver afloat,” but, though heavy drinking is the rule, the man who so far loses control of himself as to step beyond the bounds of decency is ostracised with a promptness and completeness unheard of in more civilised places. This respect for the social conventions was graphically133 illustrated by an unpleasant little episode which occurred during my stay in Zanzibar. A young Englishman, who had been rubber-prospecting in the wilds of the back country for nearly a year, celebrated134 his return to civilisation, or what stands out there for civilisation, by giving a stag dinner at the club. It was rather a hilarious135 affair, as such things go, and when it broke up at dawn every one had had quite as much to drink as was good for him, while the youthful host had had entirely too much. In fact, he insisted on winding136 up the jollification by smashing all the crockery and [Pg 158] glassware in sight, and, when the native steward remonstrated137, he tripped him up very neatly138 and sat on him. Some hours later, being sober and very much ashamed of himself, he sent a check for the damage he had done, together with a manly139 letter of apology, to the board of governors, which promptly140 responded by demanding his resignation. Now, to drop a man from a club in East Africa is equivalent to marooning141 him on a desert island, for out there the club is invariably the rendezvous of the respectable European society, the only place where one can get a European book or newspaper to read or a well-cooked meal to eat, and the scene of those dinners, dances, card parties, charades142, and other forms of amusement which help to make existence in that region endurable. Not content with demanding his resignation and thus closing to him the gateway to every decent form of recreation in Zanzibar, the virtuous143 board of governors notified every other club on the coast of its action, so that when business called the youngster to Mombasa or Dar-es-Salam or Louren?o Marques, he found himself barred from the privileges of the clubs in those places as well. But his punishment did not end there, for, a few days after his escapade, two club members to whom he nodded upon the street cut him dead, while another, a man whom he had known intimately for years, answered his greeting by remarking, as he raised his eyebrows144, “Really, sir, I don't think I have the pleasure of your acquaintance.”
In the happy-go-lucky days before the reorganisation of our consular service a profane145 and uncouth146 [Pg 159] lumberman named Mulligan—the name will do as well as another—was rewarded for certain political services by being appointed consul at Zanzibar. At that time the American consulate148 was in a building on the edge of the harbour and almost next door to the Sultan's palace. Mulligan had not been in Zanzibar a week before he began to complain that he was being robbed of his sleep by the women of the royal harem, who chose the comparatively cool hour just before sunrise in which to bathe on the sandy beach below the consulate windows. Mulligan, after making numerous complaints without receiving any satisfaction, openly announced that the next morning he was disturbed he would take the law into his own hands. He did not have to wait long for an opportunity, for, returning a few nights later from an unusually late séance at the club, he had scarcely fallen asleep when he was aroused by the shrieks149 of laughter of native women bathing beneath his window. Springing out of bed, he caught up a shot-gun standing150 in the corner, slipped in a shell loaded with bird-shot, and, pushing the muzzle151 out of the window, fired at random152. The roar of the discharge was echoed by a chorus of piercing screams and Arabic ejaculations of pain and terror, whereupon the consul, satisfied that he had effectually frightened the disturbers of his rest, returned to bed and to sleep. An hour later he was reawakened by his excited vice-consul, who burst into the bedroom exclaiming, “You'll have to get out of here quick, Mr. Consul! It won't be healthy for you in Zanzibar after what happened this [Pg 160] morning. There's a German boat in the harbour and if you hurry you'll just about catch her! But there's no time to spare.” “Now, what the devil have I got to get out of here for, confound you?” demanded the consul, now thoroughly153 awake and thoroughly angry. “Certainly not because I frightened a lot of nigger wenches who were waking me up at four o'clock every morning with their damned hullabaloo?” “Nigger wenches nothing!” exclaimed the vice-consul, as he began to throw his chief's belongings into a trunk. “When you let off that load of bird-shot this morning you peppered the Sultan's favourite wife, and now the old man's fairly hopping154 with rage and swears that he'll have your life even if you are the American consul.” Forty minutes later ex-Consul Mulligan ascended155 the gangway of a homeward-bound steamer, for those were the days before the British protectorate, when the tyrannical sultans of Zanzibar were laws unto themselves.
The morning before I left I went with the consul to call on his Highness Seyyid Ali bin156 Hamoud bin Mohammed, the Sultan of Zanzibar. [3] The 'rickshaw stopped with a jerk in front of the handsome iron gates of the palace; the guard turned out and presented arms, while a negro bugler157 sounded a barbaric fanfare158; an official in white linen and much gold lace met us at the entrance and escorted us up flight after flight of heavily carpeted stairs, until we emerged, breathless and perspiring, [Pg 161] on the breeze-swept upper veranda of the four-story building, which, with its long piazzas159 and its uncompromising architecture, looks more than anything else like an American summer hotel. After a quarter of an hour spent in smoking highly perfumed cigarettes, another official announced that his Highness would receive us, and we were ushered160 into a small room furnished like an office, where a pleasant-looking young negro of twenty-six or so was sitting at an American roll-top desk dictating161 letters to an English secretary. Like every one else, he was dressed entirely in white linen, with a red tarboosh, gold shoulder-straps, and pumps of white buckskin. Motioning us to be seated, he offered us more of the perfumed cigarettes, inquiring, with an Eton accent, as to the state of my health, when I arrived, what were my impressions of Zanzibar, when I intended to leave, and where I was going. As we were bowing ourselves out, after ten minutes of perfunctory conversation, the Sultan's secretary sidled up and whispered: “His Highness expects that you will give him the pleasure of staying to luncheon162.”
[3] Since this was written Sultan Ali bin Hamoud has abdicated163 in favour of his cousin, Seyyid Khalifa.
The luncheon was very much the same as one would get at Sherry's or Claridge's or the Café de Paris, except that for our special benefit a few native dishes with strange names and still stranger flavours had been added to the menu. The wines were irreproachable and the Hodeidah coffee and Aleppo cigarettes could have been had nowhere west of Suez. My eye was caught by the magnificence of the jewel-monogrammed cigarette-case which the Sultan constantly passed to me, and I ventured [Pg 162] to comment on it admiringly. “Do you like it?” said he, with a pleased smile. “It is only a trifle that I picked up last spring in Paris. Accept it from me as a little souvenir of your visit to Zanzibar—really—please do.” Quite naturally I hesitated, as who would not at accepting offhand164 a thing worth a couple of thousand rupees. The Sultan looked disappointed. “It is not worthy165 of you,” he remarked. “Some day I shall send you something more fitting,” and he put it back in his pocket. All the rest of my stay in Zanzibar I kept thinking how near I came to getting that magnificent case, and what a story it would have made to tell at dinner tables over the camembert and coffee; and it almost spoiled my visit. As I was leaving the palace the military secretary inquired: “Why on earth didn't you take the cigarette case when the Sultan offered it?” “Polite hesitation,” I replied. “I was going to accept it in just a minute.” “In the East you should accept first and hesitate afterward,” he answered.
After luncheon I played billiards166 with the Sultan. He is a good player, and it was no trouble at all to let royalty167 win gracefully168. The conversation turned on America. It seemed that the two Americans whom his Highness most admired were Theodore Roosevelt and John Philip Sousa; the one because he had visited Africa and proved himself a real shikari; the other because he had immortalised the Sultan's dominions170 in his A Typical Tune171 of Zanzibar. (It happened that a month or so later I dined with Mr. Sousa in Johannesburg and told him this incident, whereupon he offered to send the [Pg 163] Sultan an autographed copy of El Capitan. If he has forgotten to do it, this will serve to remind him that the Sultan's address is still “The Palace, Zanzibar.”) Incidentally his Highness mentioned that he was about to be married. Later on the English secretary supplemented this by explaining that his latest bride—he already had three wives—was the fifteen-year-old daughter of a well-to-do merchant in the bazaars, with whom the Sultan had been haggling172 regarding the price to be paid for the girl for a year or more. After a time we strolled out on the breeze-swept veranda. As I leaned over the railing I noticed something sticking up out of the harbour and I pointed147 to it. “What is that, your Highness?” I inquired. “A wreck173,” he answered shortly. “A wreck! A wreck of what?” I persisted. “The wreck of the Zanzibar navy,” he said, turning away—and I suddenly recalled the story of the little gun-boat with its negro crew that stood up to the great British cruiser and banged away with its toy guns until it was sent to the bottom with every man on board, and all at once I felt very sorry for this youth, whose fathers held sway over a dominion169 as large as all that part of the United States lying west of the Rocky Mountains, but which, thanks to the insatiable land hunger of the European nations, has dwindled to a territory scarcely larger than Rhode Island.
That in the not far-distant future Zanzibar will again play a part in the drama of international politics there is but little doubt. The island's position adjacent to the mainland, from which it is separated by a channel [Pg 164] less than thirty miles wide, combined with the advantages of its deep and roomy harbour, mark it naturally as the chief entrep?t of all East Africa, and the gate through which the interior of the continent is destined174 to be opened up to European settlement and exploitation. Being almost equidistant—some two thousand four hundred miles—from India, the Cape, and the Canal, and controlling the lines of cable communication with Madagascar and Mauritius, it affords a strategic position of immense importance as a naval base in the contingency175 of closing the Suez Canal in time of war. Germany has long had a greedy eye on Zanzibar, for the nation that holds it controls, both strategically and commercially, Germany's East African possessions and their capital of Dar-es-Salam. That England would be willing to turn Zanzibar over to Germany in return for the cession36 of a strip of territory through German East Africa which would permit the completion of her long-dreamed-of, and at present indefinitely interrupted, Cape-to-Cairo trunk line, there is every reason to believe. So I trust that the little brown man in the white-and-gold uniform will enjoy playing at sovereignty while he may, for if that day ever comes to pass when the red banner on his palace flagstaff is replaced with the standard of Germany, there will pass into the pleasant oblivion of the Paris boulevards the last of a long line of one-time powerful, oftentimes piratical, but always picturesque rulers, the Sultans of Zanzibar.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
atlas
|
|
| n.地图册，图表集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
gateway
|
|
| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
civilisation
|
|
| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
lessened
|
|
| 减少的，减弱的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
cape
|
|
| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
dwindled
|
|
| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
Portuguese
|
|
| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
swooped
|
|
| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
lucrative
|
|
| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
decency
|
|
| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
extermination
|
|
| n.消灭，根绝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
steamship
|
|
| n.汽船，轮船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
naval
|
|
| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
cloves
|
|
| n.丁香（热带树木的干花，形似小钉子，用作调味品，尤用作甜食的香料）( clove的名词复数 )；蒜瓣(a garlic ~|a ~of garlic) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
consul
|
|
| n.领事；执政官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
whitewashed
|
|
| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
wharf
|
|
| n.码头，停泊处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
pompous
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
chattering
|
|
| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
haughty
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
belongings
|
|
| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
perspiring
|
|
| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
rhino
|
|
| n.犀牛，钱, 现金 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
safari
|
|
| n.远征旅行(探险、考察)；探险队，狩猎队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
salute
|
|
| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
sentry
|
|
| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
tortuous
|
|
| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
alleys
|
|
| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
plunge
|
|
| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
ostrich
|
|
| n.鸵鸟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
wares
|
|
| n. 货物, 商品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
vociferously
|
|
| adv.喊叫地，吵闹地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
cession
|
|
| n.割让，转让 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
proprietor
|
|
| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
catching
|
|
| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
cyclone
|
|
| n.旋风，龙卷风 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
simplicity
|
|
| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
pitcher
|
|
| n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
devastating
|
|
| adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
swarms
|
|
| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
mesh
|
|
| n.网孔，网丝，陷阱；vt.以网捕捉，啮合，匹配；vi.适合； [计算机]网络 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
shutters
|
|
| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
stifling
|
|
| a.令人窒息的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
wilderness
|
|
| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
bazaars
|
|
| （东方国家的）市场( bazaar的名词复数 )； 义卖； 义卖市场； （出售花哨商品等的）小商品市场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
hemmed
|
|
| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
dwelling
|
|
| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
dwellings
|
|
| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
malaria
|
|
| n.疟疾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
scorpion
|
|
| n.蝎子，心黑的人，蝎子鞭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
devoid
|
|
| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
staple
|
|
| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
hoisting
|
|
| 起重，提升 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
underneath
|
|
| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
linen
|
|
| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
rendezvous
|
|
| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
gambling
|
|
| n.赌博；投机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
trotting
|
|
| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
shafts
|
|
| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
consular
|
|
| a.领事的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
unintelligible
|
|
| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
jargon
|
|
| n.术语，行话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
bugle
|
|
| n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
constable
|
|
| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
constables
|
|
| n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
wireless
|
|
| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
chatters
|
|
| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的第三人称单数 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
bungalow
|
|
| n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
verandas
|
|
| 阳台，走廊( veranda的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
veranda
|
|
| n.走廊；阳台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
velvet
|
|
| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
warriors
|
|
| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
tunics
|
|
| n.（动植物的）膜皮( tunic的名词复数 )；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
cumbersome
|
|
| adj.笨重的，不便携带的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
gaudily
|
|
| adv.俗丽地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
cane
|
|
| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
illustrated
|
|
| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
tinkling
|
|
| n.丁当作响声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
prospects
|
|
| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
regiment
|
|
| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
crimson
|
|
| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
irreproachable
|
|
| adj.不可指责的，无过失的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
accosting
|
|
| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的现在分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
bleaching
|
|
| 漂白法，漂白 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
commissioner
|
|
| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
lighting
|
|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
recital
|
|
| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
jeering
|
|
| adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
tribal
|
|
| adj.部族的，种族的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
drowsy
|
|
| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
steward
|
|
| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
scotch
|
|
| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
sodas
|
|
| n.苏打( soda的名词复数 )；碱；苏打水；汽水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
cemetery
|
|
| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
permanently
|
|
| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
queried
|
|
| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
foe
|
|
| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
veins
|
|
| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
outskirts
|
|
| n.郊外，郊区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
labyrinth
|
|
| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
feudal
|
|
| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
doorways
|
|
| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
exquisitely
|
|
| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
devoted
|
|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
carvings
|
|
| n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
quaint
|
|
| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
costly
|
|
| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
negotiation
|
|
| n.谈判，协商 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
discreet
|
|
| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
slaughter
|
|
| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
rigidly
|
|
| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
proceeding
|
|
| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
tusks
|
|
| n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
hazardous
|
|
| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
bartering
|
|
| v.作物物交换，以货换货( barter的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
elasticity
|
|
| n.弹性，伸缩力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
occident
|
|
| n.西方；欧美 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
embroidered
|
|
| adj．绣花的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
quotations
|
|
| n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
melancholy
|
|
| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
insolently
|
|
| adv.自豪地，自傲地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
conversing
|
|
| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
animated
|
|
| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
punctilious
|
|
| adj.谨慎的，谨小慎微的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
graphically
|
|
| adv.通过图表；生动地，轮廓分明地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
celebrated
|
|
| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
hilarious
|
|
| adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
winding
|
|
| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
remonstrated
|
|
| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
neatly
|
|
| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
manly
|
|
| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
marooning
|
|
| vt.把…放逐到孤岛（maroon的现在分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
142
charades
|
|
| n.伪装( charade的名词复数 )；猜字游戏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
virtuous
|
|
| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
profane
|
|
| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
uncouth
|
|
| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
consulate
|
|
| n.领事馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
shrieks
|
|
| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
muzzle
|
|
| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
random
|
|
| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
hopping
|
|
| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
ascended
|
|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
bin
|
|
| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
bugler
|
|
| 喇叭手； 号兵； 吹鼓手； 司号员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
fanfare
|
|
| n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
piazzas
|
|
| n.广场，市场( piazza的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
ushered
|
|
| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
dictating
|
|
| v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
luncheon
|
|
| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
abdicated
|
|
| 放弃（职责、权力等）( abdicate的过去式和过去分词 )； 退位，逊位 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
offhand
|
|
| adj.临时，无准备的；随便，马虎的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
billiards
|
|
| n.台球 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
royalty
|
|
| n.皇家，皇族 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
gracefully
|
|
| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
dominion
|
|
| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
dominions
|
|
| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
haggling
|
|
| v.讨价还价( haggle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
wreck
|
|
| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
destined
|
|
| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
contingency
|
|
| n.意外事件，可能性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |