Let me be persuaded that my neighbour Jenkins considers me a blockhead, and I shall never shine in conversation with him any more. Let me discover that the lovely Phoebe thinks my squint12 intolerable, and I shall never be able to fix her blandly13 with my disengaged eye again. Thank heaven, then, that a little illusion is left to us, to enable us to be useful and agreeable — that we don’t know exactly what our friends think of us — that the world is not made of looking-glass, to show us just the figure we are making, and just what is going on behind our backs! By the help of dear friendly illusion, we are able to dream that we are charming and our faces wear a becoming air of self-possession; we are able to dream that other men admire our talents — and our benignity14 is undisturbed; we are able to dream that we are doing much good — and we do a little. Thus it was with Amos Barton on that very Thursday evening, when he was the subject of the conversation at Cross Farm. He had been dining at Mr. Farquhar’s, the secondary squire15 of the parish, and, stimulated16 by unwonted gravies17 and port-wine, had been delivering his opinion on affairs parochial and otherwise with considerable animation18. And he was now returning home in the moonlight — a little chill, it is true, for he had just now no greatcoat compatible with clerical dignity, and a fur boa round one’s neck, with a waterproof19 cape20 over one’s shoulders, doesn’t frighten away the cold from one’s legs; but entirely21 unsuspicious, not only of Mr. Hackit’s estimate of his oratorical22 powers, but also of the critical remarks passed on him by the Misses Farquhar as soon as the drawing-room door had closed behind him. Miss Julia had observed that she never heard any one sniff23 so frightfully as Mr. Barton did — she had a great mind to offer him her pocket-handkerchief; and Miss Arabella wondered why he always said he was going for to do a thing. He, excellent man! was meditating24 fresh pastoral exertions26 on the morrow; he would set on foot his lending library; in which he had introduced some books that would be a pretty sharp blow to the Dissenters27 — one especially, purporting29 to be written by a working man who, out of pure zeal30 for the welfare of his class, took the trouble to warn them in this way against those hypocritical thieves, the Dissenting31 preachers. The Rev. Amos Barton profoundly believed in the existence of that working man, and had thoughts of writing to him. Dissent28, he considered, would have its head bruised32 in Shepperton, for did he not attack it in two ways? He preached Low-Church doctrine33 — as evangelical as anything to be heard in the Independent Chapel34; and he made a High-Church assertion of ecclesiastical powers and functions. Clearly, the Dissenters would feel that ‘the parson’ was too many for them. Nothing like a man who combines shrewdness with energy. The wisdom of the serpent, Mr. Barton considered, was one of his strong points.
Look at him as he winds through the little churchyard! The silver light that falls aslant35 on church and tomb, enables you to see his slim black figure, made all the slimmer by tight pantaloons, as it flits past the pale gravestones. He walks with a quick step, and is now rapping with sharp decision at the vicarage door. It is opened without delay by the nurse, cook, and housemaid, all at once — that is to say, by the robust36 maid-of-all-work, Nanny; and as Mr. Barton hangs up his hat in the passage, you see that a narrow face of no particular complexion38 — even the small-pox that has attacked it seems to have been of a mongrel, indefinite kind — with features of no particular shape, and an eye of no particular expression is surmounted39 by a slope of baldness gently rising from brow to crown. You judge him, rightly, to be about forty. The house is quiet, for it is half-past ten, and the children have long been gone to bed. He opens the sitting-room40 door, but instead of seeing his wife, as he expected, stitching with the nimblest of fingers by the light of one candle, he finds her dispensing41 with the light of a candle altogether. She is softly pacing up and down by the red firelight, holding in her arms little Walter, the year-old baby, who looks over her shoulder with large wide-open eyes, while the patient mother pats his back with her soft hand, and glances with a sigh at the heap of large and small stockings lying unmended on the table.
She was a lovely woman — Mrs. Amos Barton, a large, fair, gentle Madonna, with thick, close, chestnut42 curls beside her well-rounded cheeks, and with large, tender, short-sighted eyes. The flowing lines of her tall figure made the limpest dress look graceful43, and her old frayed44 black silk seemed to repose45 on her bust37 and limbs with a placid46 elegance47 and sense of distinction, in strong contrast with the uneasy sense of being no fit, that seemed to express itself in the rustling48 of Mrs. Farquhar’s gros de Naples. The caps she wore would have been pronounced, when off her head, utterly49 heavy and hideous50 — for in those days even fashionable caps were large and floppy51; but surmounting52 her long arched neck, and mingling53 their borders of cheap lace and ribbon with her chestnut curls, they seemed miracles of successful millinery. Among strangers she was shy and tremulous as a girl of fifteen; she blushed crimson54 if any one appealed to her opinion; yet that tall, graceful, substantial presence was so imposing55 in its mildness, that men spoke56 to her with an agreeable sensation of timidity.
Soothing57, unspeakable charm of gentle womanhood! which supersedes58 all acquisitions, all accomplishments59. You would never have asked, at any period of Mrs. Amos Barton’s life, if she sketched60 or played the piano. You would even perhaps have been rather scandalized if she had descended61 from the serene62 dignity of being to the assiduous unrest of doing. Happy the man, you would have thought, whose eye will rest on her in the pauses of his fireside reading — whose hot aching forehead will be soothed63 by the contact of her cool soft hand who will recover himself from dejection at his mistakes and failures in the loving light of her unreproaching eyes! You would not, perhaps, have anticipated that this bliss65 would fall to the share of precisely66 such a man as Amos Barton, whom you have already surmised67 not to have the refined sensibilities for which you might have imagined Mrs. Barton’s qualities to be destined68 by preestablished harmony. But I, for one, do not grudge69 Amos Barton this sweet wife. I have all my life had a sympathy for mongrel ungainly dogs, who are nobody’s pets; and I would rather surprise one of them by a pat and a pleasant morsel70, than meet the condescending71 advances of the loveliest Skye-terrier who has his cushion by my lady’s chair. That, to be sure, is not the way of the world: if it happens to see a fellow of fine proportions and aristocratic mien73, who makes no faux pas, and wins golden opinions from all sorts of men, it straightway picks out for him the loveliest of unmarried women, and says, There would be a proper match! Not at all, say I: let that successful, well-shapen, discreet74 and able gentleman put up with something less than the best in the matrimonial department; and let the sweet woman go to make sunshine and a soft pillow for the poor devil whose legs are not models, whose efforts are often blunders, and who in general gets more kicks than halfpence. She — the sweet woman — will like it as well; for her sublime75 capacity of loving will have all the more scope; and I venture to say, Mrs. Barton’s nature would never have grown half so angelic if she had married the man you would perhaps have had in your eye for her — a man with sufficient income and abundant personal eclat76. Besides, Amos was an affectionate husband, and, in his way, valued his wife as his best treasure.
But now he has shut the door behind him, and said, ‘Well, Milly!’
‘Well, dear!’ was the corresponding greeting, made eloquent77 by a smile.
‘So that young rascal78 won’t go to sleep! Can’t you give him to Nanny?’
‘Why, Nanny has been busy ironing this evening; but I think I’ll take him to her now.’ And Mrs. Barton glided79 towards the kitchen, while her husband ran up-stairs to put on his maize80-coloured dressing-gown, in which costume he was quietly filling his long pipe when his wife returned to the sitting-room. Maize is a colour that decidedly did not suit his complexion, and it is one that soon soils; why, then, did Mr. Barton select it for domestic wear? Perhaps because he had a knack82 of hitting on the wrong thing in garb83 as well as in grammar.
Mrs. Barton now lighted her candle, and seated herself before her heap of stockings. She had something disagreeable to tell her husband, but she would not enter on it at once. ‘Have you had a nice evening, dear?’
‘Yes, pretty well. Ely was there to dinner, but went away rather early. Miss Arabella is setting her cap at him with a vengeance84. But I don’t think he’s much smitten85. I’ve a notion Ely’s engaged to some one at a distance, and will astonish all the ladies who are languishing86 for him here, by bringing home his bride one of these days. Ely’s a sly dog; he’ll like that.’
‘Did the Farquhars say anything about the singing last Sunday?’
‘Yes; Farquhar said he thought it was time there was some improvement in the choir87. But he was rather scandalized at my setting the tune88 of “Lydia.” He says he’s always hearing it as he passes the Independent meeting.’ Here Mr. Barton laughed — he had a way of laughing at criticisms that other people thought damaging — and thereby89 showed the remainder of a set of teeth which, like the remnants of the Old Guard, were few in number, and very much the worse for wear. ‘But,’ he continued, ‘Mrs. Farquhar talked the most about Mr. Bridmain and the Countess. She has taken up all the gossip about them, and wanted to convert me to her opinion, but I told her pretty strongly what I thought.’
‘Dear me! why will people take so much pains to find out evil about others? I have had a note from the Countess since you went, asking us to dine with them on Friday.’
Here Mrs. Barton reached the note from the mantelpiece, and gave it to her husband. We will look over his shoulder while he reads it:—
“Sweetest Milly, Bring your lovely face with your husband to dine with us on Friday at seven — do. If not, I will be sulky with you till Sunday, when I shall be obliged to see you, and shall long to kiss you that very moment. Yours, according to your answer,
Caroline Czerlaski.”
‘Just like her, isn’t it?’ said Mrs. Barton. ‘I suppose we can go?’
‘Yes; I have no engagement. The Clerical Meeting is tomorrow, you know.’
‘And, dear, Woods the butcher called, to say he must have some money next week. He has a payment to make up.’
This announcement made Mr. Barton thoughtful. He puffed90 more rapidly, and looked at the fire.
‘I think I must ask Hackit to lend me twenty pounds, for it is nearly two months till Lady-day, and we can’t give Woods our last shilling.’
‘I hardly like you to ask Mr. Hackit, dear — he and Mrs. Hackit have been so very kind to us; they have sent us so many things lately.’
‘Then I must ask Oldinport. I’m going to write to him tomorrow morning, for to tell him the arrangement I’ve been thinking of about having service in the workhouse while the church is being enlarged. If he agrees to attend service there once or twice, the other people will come. Net the large fish, and you’re sure to have the small fry.’
‘I wish we could do without borrowing money, and yet I don’t see how we can. Poor Fred must have some new shoes; I couldn’t let him go to Mrs. Bond’s yesterday because his toes were peeping out, dear child! and I can’t let him walk anywhere except in the garden. He must have a pair before Sunday. Really, boots and shoes are the greatest trouble of my life. Everything else one can turn and turn about, and make old look like new; but there’s no coaxing91 boots and shoes to look better than they are.’
Mrs. Barton was playfully undervaluing her skill in metamorphosing boots and shoes. She had at that moment on her feet a pair of slippers92 which had long ago lived through the prunella phase of their existence, and were now running a respectable career as black silk slippers, having been neatly93 covered with that material by Mrs. Barton’s own neat fingers. Wonderful fingers those! they were never empty; for if she went to spend a few hours with a friendly parishioner, out came her thimble and a piece of calico or muslin, which, before she left, had become a mysterious little garment with all sorts of hemmed94 ins and outs. She was even trying to persuade her husband to leave off tight pantaloons, because if he would wear the ordinary gun-cases, she knew she could make them so well that no one would suspect the sex of the tailor.
But by this time Mr. Barton has finished his pipe, the candle begins to burn low, and Mrs. Barton goes to see if Nanny has succeeded in lulling95 Walter to sleep. Nanny is that moment putting him in the little cot by his mother’s bedside; the head, with its thin wavelets of brown hair, indents96 the little pillow; and a tiny, waxen, dimpled fist hides the rosy97 lips, for baby is given to the infantile peccadillo98 of thumb-sucking. So Nanny could now join in the short evening prayer, and all could go to bed. Mrs. Barton carried up-stairs the remainder of her heap of stockings, and laid them on a table close to her bedside, where also she placed a warm shawl, removing her candle, before she put it out, to a tin socket99 fixed100 at the head of her bed. Her body was very weary, but her heart was not heavy, in spite of Mr. Woods the butcher, and the transitory nature of shoe-leather; for her heart so overflowed101 with love, she felt sure she was near a fountain of love that would care for husband and babes better than she could foresee; so she was soon asleep. But about half-past five o’clock in the morning, if there were any angels watching round her bed — and angels might be glad of such an office they saw Mrs. Barton rise up quietly, careful not to disturb the slumbering102 Amos, who was snoring the snore of the just, light her candle, prop72 herself upright with the pillows, throw the warm shawl round her shoulders, and renew her attack on the heap of undarned stockings. She darned away until she heard Nanny stirring, and then drowsiness103 came with the dawn; the candle was put out, and she sank into a doze104. But at nine o’clock she was at the breakfast-table, busy cutting bread-and-butter for five hungry mouths, while Nanny, baby on one arm, in rosy cheeks, fat neck, and night-gown, brought in a jug105 of hot milk-and-water. Nearest her mother sits the nine-year-old Patty, the eldest106 child, whose sweet fair face is already rather grave sometimes, and who always wants to run up-stairs to save mamma’s legs, which get so tired of an evening. Then there are four other blond heads — two boys and two girls, gradually decreasing in size down to Chubby107, who is making a round O of her mouth to receive a bit of papa’s ‘baton’. Papa’s attention was divided between petting Chubby, rebuking108 the noisy Fred, which he did with a somewhat excessive sharpness, and eating his own breakfast. He had not yet looked at Mamma, and did not know that her cheek was paler than usual. But Patty whispered, ‘Mamma, have you the headache?’
Happily coal was cheap in the neighbourhood of Shepperton, and Mr. Hackit would any time let his horses draw a load for ‘the parson’ without charge; so there was a blazing fire in the sitting-room, and not without need, for the vicarage garden, as they looked out on it from the bow-window, was hard with black frost, and the sky had the white woolly look that portends109 snow.
Breakfast over, Mr. Barton mounted to his study, and occupied himself in the first place with his letter to Mr. Oldinport. It was very much the same sort of letter as most clergymen would have written under the same circumstances, except that instead of perambulate, the Rev. Amos wrote preambulate, and instead of ‘if haply’, ‘if happily’, the contingency111 indicated being the reverse of happy. Mr. Barton had not the gift of perfect accuracy in English orthography112 and syntax, which was unfortunate, as he was known not to be a Hebrew scholar, and not in the least suspected of being an accomplished113 Grecian. These lapses114, in a man who had gone through the Eleusinian mysteries of a university education, surprised the young ladies of his parish extremely; especially the Misses Farquhar, whom he had once addressed in a letter as Dear Mads., apparently115 an abbreviation for Madams. The persons least surprised at the Rev. Amos’s deficiencies were his clerical brethren, who had gone through the mysteries themselves.
At eleven o’clock, Mr. Barton walked forth116 in cape and boa, with the sleet117 driving in his face, to read prayers at the workhouse, euphemistically called the ‘College’. The College was a huge square stone building, standing118 on the best apology for an elevation119 of ground that could be seen for about ten miles around Shepperton. A flat ugly district this; depressing enough to look at even on the brightest days. The roads are black with coal-dust, the brick houses dingy120 with smoke; and at that time — the time of handloom weavers122 — every other cottage had a loom121 at its window, where you might see a pale, sickly-looking man or woman pressing a narrow chest against a board, and doing a sort of treadmill123 work with legs and arms. A troublesome district for a clergyman; at least to one who, like Amos Barton, understood the ‘cure of souls’ in something more than an official sense; for over and above the rustic124 stupidity furnished by the farm-labourers, the miners brought obstreperous125 animalism, and the weavers in an acrid126 Radicalism127 and Dissent. Indeed, Mrs. Hackit often observed that the colliers, who many of them earned better wages than Mr. Barton, ‘passed their time in doing nothing but swilling128 ale and smoking, like the beasts that perish’ (speaking, we may presume, in a remotely analogical sense); and in some of the alehouse corners the drink was flavoured by a dingy kind of infidelity, something like rinsings of Tom Paine in ditch-water. A certain amount of religious excitement created by the popular preaching of Mr. Parry, Amos’s predecessor129, had nearly died out, and the religious life of Shepperton was falling back towards low-water mark. Here, you perceive, was a terrible stronghold of Satan; and you may well pity the Rev. Amos Barton, who had to stand single-handed and summon it to surrender. We read, indeed, that the walls of Jericho fell down before the sound of trumpets130; but we nowhere hear that those trumpets were hoarse131 and feeble. Doubtless they were trumpets that gave forth clear ringing tones, and sent a mighty132 vibration133 through brick and mortar134. But the oratory135 of the Rev. Amos resembled rather a Belgian railway-horn, which shows praiseworthy intentions inadequately137 fulfilled. He often missed the right note both in public and private exhortation138, and got a little angry in consequence. For though Amos thought himself strong, he did not feel himself strong. Nature had given him the opinion, but not the sensation. Without that opinion he would probably never have worn cambric bands, but would have been an excellent cabinetmaker and deacon of an Independent church, as his father was before him (he was not a shoemaker, as Mr. Pilgrim had reported). He might then have sniffed139 long and loud in the corner of his pew in Gun Street Chapel; he might have indulged in halting rhetoric140 at prayer-meetings, and have spoken faulty English in private life; and these little infirmities would not have prevented him, honest faithful man that he was, from being a shining light in the dissenting circle of Bridgeport. A tallow dip, of the long-eight description, is an excellent thing in the kitchen candlestick, and Betty’s nose and eye are not sensitive to the difference between it and the finest wax; it is only when you stick it in the silver candlestick, and introduce it into the drawing-room, that it seems plebeian141, dim, and ineffectual. Alas for the worthy136 man who, like that candle, gets himself into the wrong place! It is only the very largest souls who will be able to appreciate and pity him — who will discern and love sincerity142 of purpose amid all the bungling143 feebleness of achievement.
But now Amos Barton has made his way through the sleet as far as the College, has thrown off his hat, cape, and boa, and is reading, in the dreary144 stone-floored dining-room, a portion of the morning service to the inmates145 seated on the benches before him. Remember, the New Poor-law had not yet come into operation, and Mr. Barton was not acting146 as paid chaplain of the union, but as the pastor25 who had the cure of all souls in his parish, pauper147 as well as other. After the prayers he always addressed to them a short discourse148 on some subject suggested by the lesson for the day, striving if by this means some edifying149 matter might find its way into the pauper mind and conscience — perhaps a task as trying as you could well imagine to the faith and patience of any honest clergyman. For, on the very first bench, these were the faces on which his eye had to rest, watching whether there was any stirring under the stagnant150 surface.
Right in front of him — probably because he was stone-deaf, and it was deemed more edifying to hear nothing at a short distance than at a long one — sat ‘Old Maxum’, as he was familiarly called, his real patronymic remaining a mystery to most persons. A fine philological151 sense discerns in this cognomen152 an indication that the pauper patriarch had once been considered pithy153 and sententious in his speech; but now the weight of ninety-five years lay heavy on his tongue as well as in his ears, and he sat before the clergyman with protruded154 chin, and munching155 mouth, and eyes that seemed to look at emptiness.
Next to him sat Poll Fodge — known to the magistracy of her county as Mary Higgins — a one-eyed woman, with a scarred and seamy face, the most notorious rebel in the workhouse, said to have once thrown her broth156 over the master’s coat-tails, and who, in spite of nature’s apparent safeguards against that contingency, had contributed to the perpetuation157 of the Fodge characteristics in the person of a small boy, who was behaving naughtily on one of the back benches. Miss Fodge fixed her one sore eye on Mr. Barton with a sort of hardy158 defiance159.
Beyond this member of the softer sex, at the end of the bench, sat ‘Silly Jim’, a young man afflicted160 with hydrocephalus, who rolled his head from side to side, and gazed at the point of his nose. These were the supporters of Old Maxum on his right.
On his left sat Mr. Fitchett, a tall fellow, who had once been a footman in the Oldinport family, and in that giddy elevation had enunciated161 a contemptuous opinion of boiled beef, which had been traditionally handed down in Shepperton as the direct cause of his ultimate reduction to pauper commons. His calves162 were now shrunken, and his hair was grey without the aid of powder; but he still carried his chin as if he were conscious of a stiff cravat163; he set his dilapidated hat on with a knowing inclination164 towards the left ear; and when he was on field-work, he carted and uncarted the manure165 with a sort of flunkey grace, the ghost of that jaunty166 demeanour with which he used to usher167 in my lady’s morning visitors. The flunkey nature was nowhere completely subdued168 but in his stomach, and he still divided society into gentry169, gentry’s flunkeys, and the people who provided for them. A clergyman without a flunkey was an anomaly, belonging to neither of these classes. Mr. Fitchett had an irrepressible tendency to drowsiness under spiritual instruction, and in the recurrent regularity170 with which he dozed171 off until he nodded and awaked himself, he looked not unlike a piece of mechanism172, ingeniously contrived173 for measuring the length of Mr. Barton’s discourse.
Perfectly174 wide-awake, on the contrary, was his left-hand neighbour, Mrs. Brick, one of those hard undying old women, to whom age seems to have given a network of wrinkles, as a coat of magic armour175 against the attacks of winters, warm or cold. The point on which Mrs. Brick was still sensitive — the theme on which you might possibly excite her hope and fear — was snuff. It seemed to be an embalming176 powder, helping177 her soul to do the office of salt.
And now, eke178 out an audience of which this front benchful was a sample, with a certain number of refractory179 children, over whom Mr. Spratt, the master of the workhouse, exercised an irate180 surveillance, and I think you will admit that the university-taught clergyman, whose office it is to bring home the gospel to a handful of such souls, has a sufficiently181 hard task. For, to have any chance of success, short of miraculous182 intervention183, he must bring his geographical184, chronological185, exegetical186 mind pretty nearly to the pauper point of view, or of no view; he must have some approximate conception of the mode in which the doctrines187 that have so much vitality188 in the plenum of his own brain will comport189 themselves in vacuo — that is to say, in a brain that is neither geographical, chronological, nor exegetical. It is a flexible imagination that can take such a leap as that, and an adroit190 tongue that can adapt its speech to so unfamiliar191 a position. The Rev. Amos Barton had neither that flexible imagination, nor that adroit tongue. He talked of Israel and its sins, of chosen vessels, of the Paschal lamb, of blood as a medium of reconciliation192; and he strove in this way to convey religious truth within reach of the Fodge and Fitchett mind. This very morning, the first lesson was the twelfth chapter of Exodus193, and Mr. Barton’s exposition turned on unleavened bread. Nothing in the world more suited to the simple understanding than instruction through familiar types and symbols! But there is always this danger attending it, that the interest or comprehension of your hearers may stop short precisely at the point where your spiritual interpretation194 begins. And Mr. Barton this morning succeeded in carrying the pauper imagination to the dough-tub, but unfortunately was not able to carry it upwards195 from that well-known object to the unknown truths which it was intended to shadow forth.
Alas! a natural incapacity for teaching, finished by keeping ‘terms’ at Cambridge, where there are able mathematicians196, and butter is sold by the yard, is not apparently the medium through which Christian197 doctrine will distil198 as welcome dew on withered199 souls.
And so, while the sleet outside was turning to unquestionable snow, and the stony200 dining-room looked darker and drearier201, and Mr. Fitchett was nodding his lowest, and Mr. Spratt was boxing the boys’ ears with a constant rinforzando, as he felt more keenly the approach of dinner-time, Mr. Barton wound up his exhortation with something of the February chill at his heart as well as his feet. Mr. Fitchett, thoroughly202 roused now the instruction was at an end, obsequiously203 and gracefully204 advanced to help Mr. Barton in putting on his cape, while Mrs. Brick rubbed her withered forefinger205 round and round her little shoe-shaped snuff-box, vainly seeking for the fraction of a pinch. I can’t help thinking that if Mr. Barton had shaken into that little box a small portion of Scotch206 high-dried, he might have produced something more like an amiable207 emotion in Mrs. Brick’s mind than anything she had felt under his morning’s exposition of the unleavened bread. But our good Amos laboured under a deficiency of small tact64 as well as of small cash; and when he observed the action of the old woman’s forefinger, he said, in his brusque way, ‘So your snuff is all gone, eh?’
Mrs. Brick’s eyes twinkled with the visionary hope that the parson might be intending to replenish208 her box, at least mediately209, through the present of a small copper210.
‘Ah, well! you’ll soon be going where there is no more snuff. You’ll be in need of mercy then. You must remember that you may have to seek for mercy and not find it, just as you’re seeking for snuff.’
At the first sentence of this admonition, the twinkle subsided211 from Mrs. Brick’s eyes. The lid of her box went ‘click!’ and her heart was shut up at the same moment.
But now Mr. Barton’s attention was called for by Mr. Spratt, who was dragging a small and unwilling212 boy from the rear. Mr. Spratt was a small-featured, small-statured man, with a remarkable213 power of language, mitigated214 by hesitation215, who piqued216 himself on expressing unexceptionable sentiments in unexceptional language on all occasions.
‘Mr. Barton, sir — aw — aw — excuse my trespassing217 on your time — aw — to beg that you will administer a rebuke218 to this boy; he is — aw — aw — most inveterate219 in ill-behaviour during service-time.’
The inveterate culprit was a boy of seven, vainly contending against ‘candles’ at his nose by feeble sniffing220. But no sooner had Mr. Spratt uttered his impeachment221, than Miss Fodge rushed forward and placed herself between Mr. Barton and the accused.
‘That’s my child, Muster222 Barton,’ she exclaimed, further manifesting her maternal223 instincts by applying her apron224 to her offspring’s nose. ‘He’s al’ys a-findin’ faut wi’ him, and a-poundin’ him for nothin’. Let him goo an’ eat his roost goose as is a-smellin’ up in our noses while we’re a-swallering them greasy225 broth, an’ let my boy alooan.’
Mr. Spratt’s small eyes flashed, and he was in danger of uttering sentiments not unexceptionable before the clergyman; but Mr. Barton, foreseeing that a prolongation of this episode would not be to edification, said ‘Silence!’ in his severest tones.
‘Let me hear no abuse. Your boy is not likely to behave well, if you set him the example of being saucy226.’ Then stooping down to Master Fodge, and taking him by the shoulder, ‘Do you like being beaten?’
‘No-a.’
‘Then what a silly boy you are to be naughty. If you were not naughty, you wouldn’t be beaten. But if you are naughty, God will be angry, as well as Mr. Spratt; and God can burn you for ever. That will be worse than being beaten.’
Master Fodge’s countenance227 was neither affirmative nor negative of this proposition.
‘But,’ continued Mr. Barton, ‘if you will be a good boy, God will love you, and you will grow up to be a good man. Now, let me hear next Thursday that you have been a good boy.’
Master Fodge had no distinct vision of the benefit that would accrue228 to him from this change of courses. But Mr. Barton, being aware that Miss Fodge had touched on a delicate subject in alluding229 to the roast goose, was determined230 to witness no more polemics231 between her and Mr. Spratt, so, saying good morning to the latter, he hastily left the College.
The snow was falling in thicker and thicker flakes232, and already the vicarage-garden was cloaked in white as he passed through the gate. Mrs. Barton heard him open the door, and ran out of the sitting-room to meet him.
‘I’m afraid your feet are very wet, dear. What a terrible morning! Let me take your hat. Your slippers are at the fire.’
Mr. Barton was feeling a little cold and cross. It is difficult, when you have been doing disagreeable duties, without praise, on a snowy day, to attend to the very minor233 morals. So he showed no recognition of Milly’s attentions, but simply said, ‘Fetch me my dressing-gown, will you?’
‘It is down, dear. I thought you wouldn’t go into the study, because you said you would letter and number the books for the Lending Library. Patty and I have been covering them, and they are all ready in the sitting-room.’
‘Oh, I can’t do those this morning,’ said Mr. Barton, as he took off his boots and put his feet into the slippers Milly had brought him; ‘you must put them away into the parlour.’
The sitting-room was also the day nursery and schoolroom; and while Mamma’s back was turned, Dickey, the second boy, had insisted on superseding234 Chubby in the guidance of a headless horse, of the red-wafered species, which she was drawing round the room, so that when Papa opened the door Chubby was giving tongue energetically.
‘Milly, some of these children must go away. I want to be quiet.’
‘Yes, dear. Hush235, Chubby; go with Patty, and see what Nanny is getting for our dinner. Now, Fred and Sophy and Dickey, help me to carry these books into the parlour. There are three for Dickey. Carry them steadily236.’
Papa meanwhile settled himself in his easy-chair, and took up a work on Episcopacy, which he had from the Clerical Book Society; thinking he would finish it and return it this afternoon, as he was going to the Clerical Meeting at Milby Vicarage, where the Book Society had its headquarters.
The Clerical Meetings and Book Society, which had been founded some eight or ten months, had had a noticeable effect on the Rev. Amos Barton. When he first came to Shepperton he was simply an evangelical clergyman, whose Christian experiences had commenced under the teaching of the Rev. Mr. Johns, of Gun Street Chapel, and had been consolidated237 at Cambridge under the influence of Mr. Simeon. John Newton and Thomas Scott were his doctrinal ideals; he would have taken in the “Christian Observer” and the “Record,” if he could have afforded it; his anecdotes238 were chiefly of the pious-jocose kind, current in dissenting circles; and he thought an Episcopalian Establishment unobjectionable.
But by this time the effect of the Tractarian agitation239 was beginning to be felt in backward provincial240 regions, and the Tractarian satire241 on the Low-Church party was beginning to tell even on those who disavowed or resisted Tractarian doctrines. The vibration of an intellectual movement was felt from the golden head to the miry toes of the Establishment; and so it came to pass that, in the district round Milby, the market-town close to Shepperton, the clergy110 had agreed to have a clerical meeting every month, wherein they would exercise their intellects by discussing theological and ecclesiastical questions, and cement their brotherly love by discussing a good dinner. A Book Society naturally suggested itself as an adjunct of this agreeable plan; and thus, you perceive, there was provision made for ample friction242 of the clerical mind.
Now, the Rev. Amos Barton was one of those men who have a decided81 will and opinion of their own; he held himself bolt upright, and had no self-distrust. He would march very determinedly243 along the road he thought best; but then it was wonderfully easy to convince him which was the best road. And so a very little unwonted reading and unwonted discussion made him see that an Episcopalian Establishment was much more than unobjectionable, and on many other points he began to feel that he held opinions a little too far-sighted and profound to be crudely and suddenly communicated to ordinary minds. He was like an onion that has been rubbed with spices; the strong original odour was blended with something new and foreign. The Low-Church onion still offended refined High Church nostrils244, and the new spice was unwelcome to the palate of the genuine onion-eater.
We will not accompany him to the Clerical Meeting today, because we shall probably want to go thither245 some day when he will be absent. And just now I am bent246 on introducing you to Mr. Bridmain and the Countess Czerlaski, with whom Mr. and Mrs. Barton are invited to dine tomorrow.
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1
rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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2
buoyed
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| v.使浮起( buoy的过去式和过去分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神 | |
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3
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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wig
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| n.假发 | |
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awry
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| adj.扭曲的，错的 | |
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tickling
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| 反馈，回授，自旋挠痒法 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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11
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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squint
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| v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
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13
blandly
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| adv.温和地，殷勤地 | |
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14
benignity
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| n.仁慈 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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17
gravies
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| n.肉汁( gravy的名词复数 )；肉卤；意外之财；飞来福 | |
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18
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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19
waterproof
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| n.防水材料；adj.防水的；v.使...能防水 | |
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20
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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21
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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22
oratorical
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| adj.演说的，雄辩的 | |
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23
sniff
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| vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视 | |
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24
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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pastor
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| n.牧师，牧人 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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dissenters
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| n.持异议者，持不同意见者( dissenter的名词复数 ) | |
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dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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purporting
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| v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的现在分词 ) | |
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30
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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dissenting
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| adj.不同意的 | |
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32
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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33
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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aslant
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| adv.倾斜地；adj.斜的 | |
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robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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39
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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40
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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41
dispensing
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| v.分配( dispense的现在分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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42
chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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43
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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44
frayed
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| adj.磨损的v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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46
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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47
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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48
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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49
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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50
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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51
floppy
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| adj.松软的，衰弱的 | |
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52
surmounting
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| 战胜( surmount的现在分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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53
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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54
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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55
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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56
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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57
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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58
supersedes
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| 取代，接替( supersede的第三人称单数 ) | |
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59
accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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60
sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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61
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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62
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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63
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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64
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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65
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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66
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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67
surmised
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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68
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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69
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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70
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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71
condescending
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| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
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72
prop
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| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
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73
mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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74
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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75
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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76
eclat
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| n.显赫之成功，荣誉 | |
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77
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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78
rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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79
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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maize
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| n.玉米 | |
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81
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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82
knack
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| n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法 | |
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83
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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84
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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85
smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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86
languishing
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| a. 衰弱下去的 | |
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87
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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88
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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89
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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91
coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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92
slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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93
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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94
hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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95
lulling
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| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的现在分词形式） | |
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96
indents
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| v.切割…使呈锯齿状( indent的第三人称单数 )；缩进排版 | |
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97
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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98
peccadillo
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| n.轻罪，小过失 | |
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socket
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| n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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101
overflowed
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| 溢出的 | |
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102
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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103
drowsiness
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| n.睡意；嗜睡 | |
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104
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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105
jug
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| n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂 | |
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106
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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chubby
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| adj.丰满的，圆胖的 | |
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rebuking
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的现在分词 ) | |
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109
portends
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| v.预示( portend的第三人称单数 )；预兆；给…以警告；预告 | |
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110
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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contingency
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| n.意外事件，可能性 | |
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orthography
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| n.拼字法，拼字式 | |
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113
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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114
lapses
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| n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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115
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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117
sleet
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| n.雨雪；v.下雨雪，下冰雹 | |
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118
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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119
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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120
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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121
loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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122
weavers
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| 织工，编织者( weaver的名词复数 ) | |
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123
treadmill
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| n.踏车；单调的工作 | |
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124
rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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125
obstreperous
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| adj.喧闹的，不守秩序的 | |
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126
acrid
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| adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的 | |
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127
radicalism
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| n. 急进主义, 根本的改革主义 | |
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128
swilling
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| v.冲洗( swill的现在分词 )；猛喝；大口喝；（使）液体流动 | |
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129
predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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130
trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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131
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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132
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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133
vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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134
mortar
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| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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135
oratory
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| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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136
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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137
inadequately
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| ad.不够地；不够好地 | |
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138
exhortation
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| n.劝告，规劝 | |
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139
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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140
rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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141
plebeian
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| adj.粗俗的；平民的；n.平民；庶民 | |
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142
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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143
bungling
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| adj.笨拙的，粗劣的v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的现在分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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144
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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145
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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146
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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147
pauper
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| n.贫民，被救济者，穷人 | |
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148
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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149
edifying
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| adj.有教训意味的，教训性的，有益的v.开导，启发( edify的现在分词 ) | |
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150
stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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151
philological
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| adj.语言学的，文献学的 | |
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152
cognomen
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| n.姓；绰号 | |
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153
pithy
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| adj.(讲话或文章)简练的 | |
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154
protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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155
munching
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| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的现在分词 ) | |
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156
broth
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| n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等) | |
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157
perpetuation
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| n.永存，不朽 | |
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158
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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159
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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160
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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161
enunciated
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| v.（清晰地）发音( enunciate的过去式和过去分词 )；确切地说明 | |
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162
calves
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| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
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163
cravat
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| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
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164
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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165
manure
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| n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥 | |
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166
jaunty
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| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
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167
usher
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| n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员 | |
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168
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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169
gentry
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| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
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170
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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171
dozed
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| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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172
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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173
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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174
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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175
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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176
embalming
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| v.保存（尸体）不腐( embalm的现在分词 )；使不被遗忘；使充满香气 | |
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177
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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178
eke
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| v.勉强度日，节约使用 | |
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179
refractory
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| adj.倔强的，难驾驭的 | |
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180
irate
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| adj.发怒的，生气 | |
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181
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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182
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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183
intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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184
geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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185
chronological
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| adj.按年月顺序排列的，年代学的 | |
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186
exegetical
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| adj.评释的，解经的 | |
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187
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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188
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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189
comport
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| vi.相称，适合 | |
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190
adroit
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| adj.熟练的，灵巧的 | |
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191
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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192
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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193
exodus
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| v.大批离去，成群外出 | |
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194
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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195
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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196
mathematicians
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| 数学家( mathematician的名词复数 ) | |
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197
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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198
distil
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| vt.蒸馏；提取…的精华，精选出 | |
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199
withered
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|
| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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200
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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201
drearier
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| 使人闷闷不乐或沮丧的( dreary的比较级 )； 阴沉的； 令人厌烦的； 单调的 | |
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202
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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203
obsequiously
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204
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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205
forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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206
scotch
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| 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 | |
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207
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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208
replenish
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| vt.补充；(把…)装满；(再)填满 | |
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209
mediately
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| 在中间，间接 | |
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210
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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211
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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212
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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213
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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214
mitigated
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| v.减轻，缓和( mitigate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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215
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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216
piqued
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| v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 )；激起（好奇心） | |
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217
trespassing
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| [法]非法入侵 | |
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218
rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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219
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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220
sniffing
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| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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221
impeachment
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| n.弹劾；控告；怀疑 | |
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222
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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223
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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224
apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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225
greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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226
saucy
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| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
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227
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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228
accrue
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| v.(利息等)增大，增多 | |
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229
alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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230
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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231
polemics
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| n.辩论术，辩论法；争论( polemic的名词复数 )；辩论；辩论术；辩论法 | |
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232
flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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233
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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234
superseding
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| 取代，接替( supersede的现在分词 ) | |
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235
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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236
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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237
consolidated
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| a.联合的 | |
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238
anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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239
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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240
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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241
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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242
friction
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| n.摩擦，摩擦力 | |
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243
determinedly
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| adv.决意地；坚决地，坚定地 | |
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244
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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245
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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246
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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