Mother-in-law is unlearned except in the housekeeper’s art, and this conveys nothing very definite as regards locality to her mind. England, Europe even, is as indefinite a place as the Shinto heaven. Somewhere out beyond the harbour, which she can see from our verandah, even beyond green-wooded Hoyaki and Cape1 Nomo, but that is all she knows or can imagine. We are going away, therefore she will not be the further recipient2 of the[198] “handsome presents” in which her soul delights. I quite comprehend that this is the direction her thoughts will take, and it is really to assure herself that Kotmasu’s statement is absolutely true that she has toiled3 up the hillside in the hot sun so early in the day.
Why she has brought Aki to the family council I cannot conceive; but Aki has brought a tortoise about the size of a silver dollar, with which he contentedly4 plays in the sun on the verandah, where I can see his funny little shaven head, with its tufts of black hair, bobbing about, above the edge of the lower half of our sliding-panel window as we talk. No doubt he has brought some fantastically shaped and gorgeously coloured doughtoy out from the folds of his outer garment to keep the tortoise company.
“So you are going away?” says mother-in-law in Japanese, Mousmé’s efforts to[199] teach her even a few words of English having proved quite unavailing.
“Yes,” I reply; “we are going to England soon.”
I somehow feel as though I were committing a robbery; and her next remark serves rather to deepen my disquietude.
“You are going to take my daughter with you, honourable5 sir?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you would only require her whilst you remained in Nagasaki.”
I have never yet succeeded in making my mother-in-law understand the permanency of my attachment6, and I do not hope to accomplish the feat7 now; but I explain, hinting that there will be “handsome presents” to all the members of her (for me inconveniently8 large) household when we take our departure.
This, if nothing else, she comprehends; and she offers no further objection to Mousmé’s accompanying me.
[200]
In many respects I like this queer little painted doll of a mother-in-law, who has really wonderfully beautiful brown hair, and a childish way and smile, notwithstanding her seven children, and underlying10 native rapacity11 on a small and engagingly frank scale. So I suggest that Mousmé and I shall give a farewell entertainment to my Japanese relations, and this idea meets with her most cordial approval.
I smile to myself at having mollified her so easily, and reflect that, as Kotmasu once philosophically12 remarked, marriage was cheaper after all, and I should have no cash payment to make for permission to take Mousmé with me.
Mother-in-law is quite content now, and as firmly convinced as ever that I am a “velly much rich honourable English sir,” for thus Oka always describes me. She insists upon prostrating13 herself most outrageously14, to the disarrangement of her obi,[201] on the end of which she unfortunately steps when she takes her leave, which she does as soon as she is satisfied that it is really my intention to ask all my relations to a farewell fête.
Mousmé is, I fancy, a little alarmed at the prospect15; for as soon as her mother has gone with Aki weeping at her side, and apparently16 refusing to be comforted by his mother’s more or less specious17 promises, because of the disappearance18 of his tortoise, which has doubtless fallen down amongst Oka’s progeny19 through a crack in the verandah floor, she exclaims in an awe-struck voice:
“Cy-reel, do you know how many there are?”
“No,” I am forced to admit.
“They are as numerous as the bees in the garden.”
“Very well,” I answer resignedly; “we must do our best.”
[202]
“They are very strange, some of them, very strange persons indeed,” she continues, with a look of surprise that I am not frightened.
“The more bees, the greater the honey,” I reply, quoting a maxim20 that may be hers, or her mother’s, or one of national adoption21.
Her little face—perhaps she is dreading22 all the fuss and bother and pain of taking leave of people she may care for—becomes more sober than ever.
“But there is a barber!”
I exhibit no surprise.
She takes my hand to prepare me for the last and greatest shock of all.
“Cy-reel, I am afraid that there may be a sampan boy.”
This is coming down in the world with a vengeance24. But what are the odds25? So I reassure26 her.
“Mother is sure to let it be known. Perhaps, even, people who are not relations[203] may come, people I should not care to know,” resumed Mousmé, drawing herself up, and looking ridiculously funny in her sudden affectation of pride—and after the sampan man, too!
I shall have a queer party, it is certain. Never mind. Only, I must caution Mousmé not to mention her uncle the barber to Lou when we get to England, nor refer even casually27 to the brother-in-law who earns a living as a sampan rower.
During the next few days Mousmé is very busy. She knows, if I do not, what a superior and lavish28 entertainment will be expected of the “very much rich English sir;” men and women from the town seem to be clicking our wicket gate after them all day long, and walking up the path to the house interminably.
Mousmé has ordered everything which can in any way assist in confirming their belief in my importance and wealth. The[204] piéces de résistance of the feast are different sorts of Huntley and Palmer’s biscuits. I know well how little Aki’s eyes will gleam at the mere29 sight of the sugared ones.
These biscuits, strange to say, will stamp the entertainment as one of superior character. They are, of course, very dear, and Mousmé knows they will be duly appreciated.
She tells me in an awed30 voice that her numerous relatives will come early and depart late.
“Will, perhaps, not go until all these wonderful biscuits have disappeared.”
I smilingly pretend to be very terrified.
We have entertained our vast collection of relatives; and possibly more than one stranger unawares.
What a quaint31 conglomeration32 they proved! How they all could be related[205] still puzzles me; but related undoubtedly33 most of them were, from “gilded youths” (some of Mousmé’s numerous cousins-in-law) in their bowler34 hats and other pseudo-European garments, with the silly faces of idlers, to the much-feared sampan rower, who proved quite a gentleman in manners.
Mousmé and I received them, and listened to their profuse35 compliments, whilst I, at least, was inwardly amused at their salutations and kow-towing, performed even by the ladies on all-fours.
Oka and his wife hand round tiny cups of tea, equally minute plates of candied beans, plums in sugar, and cherries in vinegar; and as our guests’ tastes are satisfied, they pass out into the garden, gay with lanterns, and full of music performed by some strolling samisen players whose services I secured.
These really play well. If only they would not sing!
[206]
My numerous relatives are in no hurry to go. But at length, quite late, the last family has left us, with their lanterns in their hands and reiterated36 good wishes and compliments on their lips; and the garden is again silent save for the chirruping cicalas, who, like the poor, are indeed always with us, the splash of the fountains, and the hoarse38, sepulchral39 croak40, croak of awakened41 frogs.
We linger, Mousmé and I, a little while in the garden, which at the end of the month we shall give over into other hands, and then we go in, and Mousmé smokes a little pipe ere retiring to rest. It took me some time to get accustomed to the habit, which seems to afford her such unqualified delight, but now I am resigned. The tobacco is so mild, and the little silver pipe with its thimble-sized bowl looks so toy-like and innocent; and now I find, from the papers and magazines Lou sends[207] me, that it is becoming quite the fashion for women and girls in England to smoke mild and scented42 cigarettes sub rosa.
Mousmé knocks out the ashes from her pipe on the edge of her little ember bowl, with a metallic43 pin, pin, pan, and then, taking off her day garment of plum-coloured brocade, slips into a dressing-gown robe of blue linen44, with wide sleeves and an obi of powder-blue muslin, which she knots in the inevitable45 exaggerated butterfly bow round her supple46 waist.
I shall, after all, be sorry to leave this strange Eastern home of mine, with its queer noises at the dead of night, and its fragrant47 garden, the sweet perfume from which drifts in and even penetrates48 through our blue mosquito-curtain of stout49 gauze, when we leave, as we frequently do, the panels of our outer wall pushed back for air.
Then there is the trouble of packing;[208] the bother of going through all the letters and papers which I at first, when home-sick, commenced to keep because they came from home, and afterwards because I was too indolent to destroy them. All this must be done now, however; must indeed be begun to-morrow. There are Mousmé’s belongings50, too, which she is already packing in her mind’s eye in ridiculous little lacquer boxes, which would be battered51 into matchwood ere they were stowed in the hold.
I lie awake for some time thinking over all this, and watching the big night-moths52 come in through the open panel of the window, and then flutter round the idol’s head for a moment ere singeing53 their poor soft wings at the flame of the lamp burning before its placid54 features. Some of them are so big that they make quite an appreciable55 noise on the white matting floor when they fall headlong on to it. I fall asleep watching—
[209]
“the deadly gyrations of the poor fascinated things, on suicide intent,”
and dream that I am pursued by huge monsters of moths with heads like the awful masks I see every day in the curio shops. And I frighten little Mousmé nearly out of her wits, just as it is getting light, by my frantic56 attempts to escape from my dream-bred horrors, and the environment of the mosquito-curtain.
When I am fully9 awake we sit bolt upright on our mattress57 bed, and laugh just like children; I because Mousmé, with face screwed up in half-laughter, half-tears, looks so comical with her eyes blinking at the light; and she because it is such a relief for her to find that “Cy-reel is not gone mad after all.”
Mousmé and I spent the first part of the day shopping, buying Japanese curios and native silks and embroideries58 for those at home, a very expensive cabinet with whole[210] nests of tiny drawers for Lou—frankly, to propitiate59 her—and European articles when and where we could get them for the “handsome presents” of which my mother-in-law and Mousmé’s numerous brothers and sisters are so fond.
Mousmé’s dress is an ideal one for such an amusement as shopping. It is simply astounding60 how much she can stow away mysteriously in the many pockets of her wide sleeves alone.
Down at Ako San’s, the jeweller, near the quay61, whose shop is a general dép?t for things European, she packs away, I can scarce conceive where, half the numerous little purchases we make. I take the rest; and then loaded, both of us, arms, pockets and all, we slowly climb the hill to our home, which is already partially62 dismantled63 in view of our departure.
It has that terrible, painful vacancy64 of a house half-deserted. It seems no longer[211] to belong to us, as though the ghosts of possible future tenants65 already possessed66 it. Poor tiny house, which will probably know Mousmé’s laugh no more!
Whilst Mousmé is wrapping up our presents in soft, silky textured67 rice-paper ready for their recipients68, I get together some of my things.
Alas37! when I come to sort my clothing, I am made painfully aware that when I land in England I shall be shabby and out-of-date.
There is a whole pile of European clothing on the floor near my writing-table, the sunlight cruelly exposing all its shabbinesses; but little of it will be of use. I shall give some of the best of the garments remaining when I have selected mine, to Mousmé’s two elder brothers. They will be delighted even if the things don’t fit. They possess minds happily unvexed by such momentous69 questions as “bagging at[212] the knees” and “a bad fit about the back and shoulders.” Happy Japanese mashers!
At last I have persuaded Mousmé that her toy trunks and lacquer boxes are no use for travelling to England. She has never had anything else, and can scarcely understand why they will not do.
I have bought her, through the kind agency of Kotmasu (who is up with us nearly all day long, now that we are going to leave so soon), a big trunk—a veritable Saratoga, I fondly believe—which had belonged to a deceased lady missionary70. Into this trunk, with infinite care, Mousmé is placing all her little belongings, packed for double security in the lacquer boxes, with storks71, frogs and fishes decorating them, which I had condemned72.
Really, Mousmé has quite a respectable amount of luggage.
This will be something in her favour at[213] any rate in sister Lou’s eyes. What a gorgeous little fairy she will look in all her fantastic finery!
A possible new owner of the house has been here this morning; and although he was terribly polite and ridiculous in his lengthy-phrased humility73 and repeated prostrations, he did not succeed in dispelling74 the impression all possible new owners seem to create, namely, that the old owner is an intruder whose presence is only by sufferance, though his lease may not have actually expired. This attitude of this one—the man about to take possession—is a bit of human nature; the same, I found, in Japan as elsewhere.
We finish our packing at sunset.
Nothing now remains75 visible in our bare-stripped home except the things we retain for our use, which will be packed in confusion at the moment of departure.
We fully intended to go down to the[214] great tea-house to-night for the last time; but although we both say we are too tired, we are in truth both aware that we have no heart for mixing with the merry throng76, or for watching the geishas dancing. So we go to rest.
“Our last night here,” as Mousmé says, with a little choked sob23. Everything is now described as “last.”
It is terribly melancholy77.
In the morning we go round the garden, and Mousmé gathers a posy of the choicest flowers, pink-cupped lotus, gardenias78 and roses; she buries her face in it to hide the tears I know are falling in salt dew upon the fragrant blossoms. Then we feed the gold-fish, and watch them poke79 their red-gold heads just above the surface, making rippling80 circles which widen and rock the lily-leaves and lotus blossoms. And whilst we are doing all this in the sunlit garden of our late home, we can hear Oka’s deep, gruff[215] voice giving directions to the men who, with dilapidated rikishas now turned into hand-trucks, are loading up our luggage to take it down to the quay and on board the steamer.
“That is the last,” we hear Oka say in gruff tones; “mind that the honourable English sir’s effects are not damaged.”
“Yes, that is the last,” says one of the porters.
“This is the last,” says Mousmé, opening her hand over the gold-fish pond.
We go up the path to the house in silence; look sorrowfully into each of the bare, empty rooms; take leave of Oka, and Oka’s wife, who is in tears; press a shining new yen81 into each of the innumerable children’s hands, even into that of the brown baby in Oka’s wife’s arms, whose tiny fist is not large enough to hold the shining silver, in which it sees only a new plaything; and then walk away out of the[216] garden of sweet flowers to follow our porters with the luggage.
Next morning we are to sail soon after sunrise, and we get up to see the last of Nagasaki and our home, now a mere matchbox-looking villa82 (when seen from the deck of our steamer down here in the harbour) perched high up on the hillside, in company with scores of other similar abodes83.
As we drift out from our moorings in mid-harbour, we catch sight of it for the last time, and Mousmé through her tears kisses her fingers to it.
We wave our hands and handkerchiefs to those on shore, to Kotmasu, a tiny figure on the quay, and to the men who have congregated84 in their sampans, like a flock of water-fowl, to see the great jokisen off.
Then we pass through the narrow neck of the harbour, with the towering green slopes of the hills seeming almost about to[217] fall on top of us, past Hoyaki, out into the ocean beyond.
Mousmé, who stands by my side all the time, her hand clutching my arm, gives a shuddering85 little sob.
Who can blame her?
With every throb86 of the engines, every heave of the huge vessel87 to the ocean swell88, we are carried farther and farther into the—for her—unknown.
And it is only the unknown which is terrible.
The End
点击收听单词发音
1 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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2 recipient | |
a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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3 toiled | |
长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 ); 艰难缓慢地移动,跋涉 | |
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4 contentedly | |
adv.心满意足地 | |
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5 honourable | |
adj.可敬的;荣誉的,光荣的 | |
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6 attachment | |
n.附属物,附件;依恋;依附 | |
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7 feat | |
n.功绩;武艺,技艺;adj.灵巧的,漂亮的,合适的 | |
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8 inconveniently | |
ad.不方便地 | |
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9 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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10 underlying | |
adj.在下面的,含蓄的,潜在的 | |
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11 rapacity | |
n.贪婪,贪心,劫掠的欲望 | |
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12 philosophically | |
adv.哲学上;富有哲理性地;贤明地;冷静地 | |
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13 prostrating | |
v.使俯伏,使拜倒( prostrate的现在分词 );(指疾病、天气等)使某人无能为力 | |
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14 outrageously | |
凶残地; 肆无忌惮地; 令人不能容忍地; 不寻常地 | |
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15 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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16 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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17 specious | |
adj.似是而非的;adv.似是而非地 | |
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18 disappearance | |
n.消失,消散,失踪 | |
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19 progeny | |
n.后代,子孙;结果 | |
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20 maxim | |
n.格言,箴言 | |
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21 adoption | |
n.采用,采纳,通过;收养 | |
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22 dreading | |
v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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23 sob | |
n.空间轨道的轰炸机;呜咽,哭泣 | |
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24 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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25 odds | |
n.让步,机率,可能性,比率;胜败优劣之别 | |
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26 reassure | |
v.使放心,使消除疑虑 | |
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27 casually | |
adv.漠不关心地,无动于衷地,不负责任地 | |
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28 lavish | |
adj.无节制的;浪费的;vt.慷慨地给予,挥霍 | |
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29 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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30 awed | |
adj.充满敬畏的,表示敬畏的v.使敬畏,使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31 quaint | |
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的 | |
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32 conglomeration | |
n.团块,聚集,混合物 | |
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33 undoubtedly | |
adv.确实地,无疑地 | |
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34 bowler | |
n.打保龄球的人,(板球的)投(球)手 | |
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35 profuse | |
adj.很多的,大量的,极其丰富的 | |
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36 reiterated | |
反复地说,重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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38 hoarse | |
adj.嘶哑的,沙哑的 | |
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39 sepulchral | |
adj.坟墓的,阴深的 | |
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40 croak | |
vi.嘎嘎叫,发牢骚 | |
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41 awakened | |
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
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42 scented | |
adj.有香味的;洒香水的;有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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43 metallic | |
adj.金属的;金属制的;含金属的;产金属的;像金属的 | |
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44 linen | |
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的 | |
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45 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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46 supple | |
adj.柔软的,易弯的,逢迎的,顺从的,灵活的;vt.使柔软,使柔顺,使顺从;vi.变柔软,变柔顺 | |
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47 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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48 penetrates | |
v.穿过( penetrate的第三人称单数 );刺入;了解;渗透 | |
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50 belongings | |
n.私人物品,私人财物 | |
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51 battered | |
adj.磨损的;v.连续猛击;磨损 | |
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52 moths | |
n.蛾( moth的名词复数 ) | |
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53 singeing | |
v.浅表烧焦( singe的现在分词 );(毛发)燎,烧焦尖端[边儿];烧毛 | |
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54 placid | |
adj.安静的,平和的 | |
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55 appreciable | |
adj.明显的,可见的,可估量的,可觉察的 | |
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56 frantic | |
adj.狂乱的,错乱的,激昂的 | |
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57 mattress | |
n.床垫,床褥 | |
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58 embroideries | |
刺绣( embroidery的名词复数 ); 刺绣品; 刺绣法 | |
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59 propitiate | |
v.慰解,劝解 | |
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60 astounding | |
adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊,使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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61 quay | |
n.码头,靠岸处 | |
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62 partially | |
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲 | |
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63 dismantled | |
拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 ); 拆卸; 废除; 取消 | |
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64 vacancy | |
n.(旅馆的)空位,空房,(职务的)空缺 | |
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65 tenants | |
n.房客( tenant的名词复数 );佃户;占用者;占有者 | |
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66 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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67 textured | |
adj.手摸时有感觉的, 有织纹的 | |
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68 recipients | |
adj.接受的;受领的;容纳的;愿意接受的n.收件人;接受者;受领者;接受器 | |
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69 momentous | |
adj.重要的,重大的 | |
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70 missionary | |
adj.教会的,传教(士)的;n.传教士 | |
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71 storks | |
n.鹳( stork的名词复数 ) | |
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72 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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73 humility | |
n.谦逊,谦恭 | |
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74 dispelling | |
v.驱散,赶跑( dispel的现在分词 ) | |
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75 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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76 throng | |
n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集 | |
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77 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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78 gardenias | |
n.栀子属植物,栀子花( gardenia的名词复数 ) | |
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79 poke | |
n.刺,戳,袋;vt.拨开,刺,戳;vi.戳,刺,捅,搜索,伸出,行动散慢 | |
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80 rippling | |
起涟漪的,潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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81 yen | |
n. 日元;热望 | |
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82 villa | |
n.别墅,城郊小屋 | |
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83 abodes | |
住所( abode的名词复数 ); 公寓; (在某地的)暂住; 逗留 | |
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84 congregated | |
(使)集合,聚集( congregate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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85 shuddering | |
v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
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86 throb | |
v.震颤,颤动;(急速强烈地)跳动,搏动 | |
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87 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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88 swell | |
vi.膨胀,肿胀;增长,增强 | |
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