One of the principle advantages of common sense is that it protects the man who is gifted with it from hazardous1 enterprises, the risky2 character of which he scents3.
Only to risk when possessing perfect knowledge of a subject is the sure means of never being drawn4 into a transaction by illusory hopes.
An exact conception of things is more indispensable to perfect success than a thousand other more brilliant but less substantial gifts.
"However," says Yoritomo, "in order to make success our own, it is not sufficient to have the knowledge of things, one must above all know oneself.
"On the great world-stage, each one occupies a place which at the start may not always be in the first rank.
"Nevertheless, work, intelligence, directness of thought and, above all, common sense, can exert a positive influence on the future superiority of the situation.
"Before everything else, it is indispensable that we should never delude5 ourselves about the position which we occupy.
"To define it exactly, one should call to mind the wise adage6 which says:
Know thyself.
"But this knowledge is rare.
"Presumptuous7 persons readily imagine that they attract the eyes of every one, even if they be in the last rank.
"Timid persons will hide themselves behind others and, notwithstanding, they are very much aggrieved8 not to be seen.
"Ambitious persons push away the troublesome ones, in order that they themselves may get the first places.
"Lazy persons just let them do it.
"Irresolute9 persons hesitate before sitting down in vacant places and are consumed with regrets from the time they perceive that others, better prepared, take possession of them; the more so as they no longer get back their own, for, during their hesitation10, another has seated, himself there.
"Enthusiasts11 fight to reach the first rank, but are so fatigued12 by their violent struggles that they fall, tired out, before they have attained13 their object.
"Obstinate14 people persist in coveting15 inaccessible16 places and spend strength without results, which they might have employed more judiciously17.
"People of common sense are the only ones who experience no nervous tension because of this struggle.
"They calculate their chances, compute18 the time, do not disturb themselves uselessly, and never abandon their present position until they have a firm grasp on the following place.
"They do not seek to occupy a rank which their knowledge would not permit them to keep; they draw on that faculty19 with which they are gifted to learn the science of true proportion.
"They do not meddle20 in endeavors to reform laws; they submit to them, by learning how to adapt them to their needs, and respect them by seeking to subordinate their opinion to the principle on which they are based.
"Persons who have no common sense are the only ones to revolt against the laws of the country where they live.
"The wise man will recognize that they have been enacted21 to protect him and that to be opposed to their observance would be acting22 as an enemy to oneself."
However, people will say, if laws are so impeccable in their right to authority, how is it that their interpretation23 leads so often to disputes?
It is easy to reply that lawsuits24 are rarely instituted by men of common sense; they leave this burden to people of evil intent, who imagine thus to make a doubtful cause triumph.
It must be conceded that this means succeeds at times with them, when they are dealing25 with timid or irresolute persons; but those who have contracted the habit of reasoning, and who never undertake anything without consulting common sense, will never allow themselves to be drawn into the by-paths of sophistry26.
If they are forced to enter there temporarily, in order to pursue the adversary27, who has hidden himself there, they will leave these paths as soon as necessity does not force them to remain there longer and with delight regain28 the broad road of rectitude.
A few pages further on we find a reflection which the Shogun, always faithful to his principles of high morality, specially29 addresses to those who make a profession of humility30.
"Obedience31," he says, "ought to be considered as a means; but, for the one who wishes to succeed, in no sense can it be honored as a virtue32.
"If it be a question of submission33 to law, that is nothing else but the performance of a strict duty; this is a kind of compact which the man of common sense concludes with society, to which he promises his support for the maintenance of a protection from which he will be the first to benefit.
"This obedience might be set down as selfishness were it not endorsed34 by common sense.
"There are people, it is true, who, even altho wishing to support their neighbor when called upon to do so by the law, seek to evade35 this duty if left to themselves.
"These are pirates who have broken completely not only with the spirit of equity36, but also with simple common sense.
"It is always foolish to set the example of insubordination, for, if it were followed, it would not be long before general disorder37 would appear.
"Some men were sitting one day on the edge of an inlet and were trying with a net to catch fish, whose playful movements the men were following through the limpid38 water.
"According to their character, their perseverance39, their cleverness, and the ingenuity40 of the means employed, they caught a proportionate number of fish; but those who caught the least had one or two.
"This success encouraged them, and they began again in good earnest, each one in his own way, when a stranger appeared; he was armed with a long branch of a tree, which he plunged41 in the pond, touching42 the bottom and stirring up the mud, which, as it scattered43, rose to the surface of the water.
"The limpidity44 of the water was immediately changed; one could no longer see the fish, and the fishermen decided45 to discontinue their sport.
"But the man only laughed at their discomfiture46 and, brandishing47 a large net, he threw it in his turn, chaffing them at the patient cunning by which they had, he said, taken such a poor haul.
"He brought up some fish, it is true, but at each haul he was obliged to lose so much time in removing the impurities48, the débris, and the weeds of all kinds from the net that very soon the fishermen had the satisfaction of seeing him punished for his mean conduct.
"What he took was scarcely more than what the smartest among them had taken, and his net, filthy49 from the mud, torn by the roots that he was unable to avoid, was soon good for nothing."
Might it not be from this fable50 that we have taken the expression, "to fish in troubled waters," of which without a doubt the good Yoritomo furnished the origin many, many centuries ago?
His prophetic mind is unveiled again in the following advice that not a business man of the twentieth century would reject.
"Common sense," he says, "when it is a question of the relations of men as to what concerns business or society, ought to adopt the characteristic of that animal called the chameleon51.
"His natural color is dull, but he has the gift of reflecting the color of the objects on which he rests.
"Near a leaf, he takes the tint52 of hope.
"On a lotus, he is glorified53 with the blue of the sky.
"Is this to say that his nature changes to the point of modifying his natural color?
"No; he does not cease to possess that which recalls the color of the ground, and the ephemeral color which he appropriates is only a semblance54, in order that he may be more easily mistaken for the objects themselves.
"The man who boasts of possessing common sense, altho preserving his personality, ought not to fail, if he wants to succeed, to reflect that of the person whom he wishes to aid him in succeeding."
Let it not be understood for a moment, that we advise any one to act contrary to the impulses of justice.
But cleverness is a part of common sense in business, and assimilation is essential to success.
It is not necessary to abandon one's convictions in order to reflect principles which, without contradicting them, give them a favorable color.
Common sense can remain intact and be differently colored, according as it is applied55 to the arts, politics, or science.
It would not deserve its name if it did not know how to yield to circumstances, in order to adorn56 the momentary57 caprice with flowers of reason.
In the primitive58 ages, common sense consisted in keeping oneself in a perpetual state of defense59; attack was also at times prescribed, by virtue of the principle that it is pernicious to allow one's rights to be imperiled.
Attack was also at times a form of repression60.
It was also a lesson in obedience and a reminder61 not to misunderstand individual rights.
In later times, common sense served to make the advantages of harmony appreciated.
It directed the descendants of peoples exclusively warlike toward the secret place where science unfolds itself to the gaze of the vulgar; then it taught them to provide for their existence by working.
It has demonstrated to them the necessity of reflection, by inciting62 them to model their present course of life on the lessons which come from the past.
It has given them the means to evoke63 it easily and effectively.
It has injected into their veins64 the calmness which permits them to draw just conclusions and to adopt toward preceding reasonings the attitude of absolute neutrality, without which all former presentiments65 are marred66 by error.
Each epoch67 was, for common sense, an opportunity to manifest itself differently.
At the moment when poetry was highly honored, it would have been unreasonable68 to have ignored it, for the bards69 excited great enthusiasm by their songs which gave birth to heroes.
And now, imbued70 with the principles which in his day might be taken to represent what we to-day call advanced ideas, Yoritomo continues:
"Common sense can, then, without renouncing71 its devotion to truth, take various forms or shades, for the truth of yesterday is not always the truth of to-day.
"The gods of the past are considered simply as idols72 in our day and the virtues73 of the distant past would be, at present, moral defects which would prevent men from winning the battle of life, whose ideal is The Best for which all the faculties74 should strive."
The Shogun also touches lightly on a subject which, already discust in his time, has become, in our day, a burning truth; it is a question of a fault, which in the world of practical life and in that of business can cause considerable injury to him who allows it to be implanted in him.
We refer to that tendency which has been adorned75 or rather branded successively with the names of hypochondria, pessimism76, and lastly neurasthenia, an appellation77 which comprises all kinds of nervous diseases, the characteristic of which is incurable78 melancholy79.
"There are people," he says, "who are afflicted80 with a special color-blindness.
"Everything they look at assumes immediately to their eyes the most somber81 hues82.
"They see in a flower only the germ of dry-rot; the most ideal beauty appears to them only like the negligible covering of some hideous83 skeleton.
"However, they hang on to this life which they do not cease to calumniate84, and people of common sense are rarely found who will try to reason with them from a common-sense standpoint:
"'Since life is so insupportable to you, why do you impose upon yourself the obligation to struggle with it?
"'Only insane people try to prolong their sojourn85 in a place where they suffer martyrdom.'
"It is true that when, perchance, this argument is placed before them, they do not fail to reply by invoking86 the shame of desertion.
"'Well, is not then the interest of the struggle to which we are subjected a sufficient attraction to keep us at our post?'"
And, always enamored with the doctrine87, which we are now assiduously maintaining, he concludes:
"Common sense is, at times, the unfolding of a magnificent force which incites88 us to attune89 our environment to actualities.
"One must not, however, fall into excess and draw a huge sword to pierce the clouds, which obscure the sun.
"If struggle is praiseworthy when we have to face a real enemy, it becomes worthy90 of scorn and laughter if we attack a puerile91 or imaginary adversary.
"But the number of people incapable92 of appreciating the true color of things is not limited to those who enshroud them in black.
"There are others, on the contrary, who obstinately93 insist upon surrounding them with a halo of sunlight only existing in their imagination.
"For such deluded94 people, obstacles seen from a distance take on the most attractive appearance; they would be readily disposed to enjoy them and only consent to allow them a certain importance if they absolutely obstruct95 the way.
"But until the moment when impossibility confronts them, do they deny its existence or underrate its importance by attributing a favorable influence to it.
"This propensity96 to see all in the ideal would be enviable if it did not wound common sense, which revenges itself by refusing to these improvident97 people the help of the reasoning power necessary to sustain them in the crisis of discouragement which brings about irresistibly98 the establishment of error.
"These unbalanced people rarely experience success, for they are unable, as long as their blindness lasts, to mark out a line of serious conduct for themselves.
"All projects built on the quicksands of false deductions99 will perish without even leaving behind them material sufficient to reconstruct them.
"It is impossible to combat strongly enough this tendency to self-delusion, which inclines us to become the prey100 of untruth, by preventing the birth of faith, based on preceding success.
"Sincere conviction, on the contrary, will lead us to refute strongly all the false arguments, which impede101 thought and would choke it in order to allow unadulterated pleasure to be installed on the ruins of common sense.
"The battle of life demands warriors102 and conquerors103 as well as critics, less brilliant, perhaps, but just as worthy of admiration104, for their mission is equally important, altho infinitely105 more obscure.
"Whether he be a peasant tilling his field or a rich capitalist manipulating his gold, he who works in order to satisfy the needs or luxury of his existence is a fighter whose hours are spent in occupations more or less dangerous.
"From time to time, however, a cessation of hostilities106 is produced; such always follows the appearance of common sense which, by giving to things their true proportions, causes the greater part of inequalities to disappear.
"Finally, he who cultivates this virtue unostentatiously will always be protected from the caprices of fortune; if he is poor, common sense will indicate to him the way to cease to be poor, and, if chance has given him birth in opulence107, the counsels of experience will demonstrate to him the frailty108 of possessions that one has not acquired by personal effort."
This conclusion is strikingly true, for it is certain that prosperity attained by personal effort is less likely to fade away than an inherited fortune, whose owner can only understand the ordinary pleasure of a possession which he has not ardently109 desired.
He who is the maker110 of his own position is more able to maintain it; he knows the price of the efforts which he had to make in order to construct it, and, armed with common sense, he is as able to defend his treasure as to enjoy the sweet savor111 of a thing which he has desired, longed for, and won by the force of his will and judgment112, placed at the service of circumstances and directed toward success.
点击收听单词发音
1 hazardous | |
adj.(有)危险的,冒险的;碰运气的 | |
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2 risky | |
adj.有风险的,冒险的 | |
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3 scents | |
n.香水( scent的名词复数 );气味;(动物的)臭迹;(尤指狗的)嗅觉 | |
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4 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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5 delude | |
vt.欺骗;哄骗 | |
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6 adage | |
n.格言,古训 | |
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7 presumptuous | |
adj.胆大妄为的,放肆的,冒昧的,冒失的 | |
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8 aggrieved | |
adj.愤愤不平的,受委屈的;悲痛的;(在合法权利方面)受侵害的v.令委屈,令苦恼,侵害( aggrieve的过去式);令委屈,令苦恼,侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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9 irresolute | |
adj.无决断的,优柔寡断的,踌躇不定的 | |
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10 hesitation | |
n.犹豫,踌躇 | |
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11 enthusiasts | |
n.热心人,热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 ) | |
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12 fatigued | |
adj. 疲乏的 | |
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13 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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14 obstinate | |
adj.顽固的,倔强的,不易屈服的,较难治愈的 | |
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15 coveting | |
v.贪求,觊觎( covet的现在分词 ) | |
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16 inaccessible | |
adj.达不到的,难接近的 | |
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17 judiciously | |
adv.明断地,明智而审慎地 | |
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18 compute | |
v./n.计算,估计 | |
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19 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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20 meddle | |
v.干预,干涉,插手 | |
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21 enacted | |
制定(法律),通过(法案)( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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23 interpretation | |
n.解释,说明,描述;艺术处理 | |
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24 lawsuits | |
n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 ) | |
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25 dealing | |
n.经商方法,待人态度 | |
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26 sophistry | |
n.诡辩 | |
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27 adversary | |
adj.敌手,对手 | |
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28 regain | |
vt.重新获得,收复,恢复 | |
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29 specially | |
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地 | |
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30 humility | |
n.谦逊,谦恭 | |
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31 obedience | |
n.服从,顺从 | |
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32 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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33 submission | |
n.服从,投降;温顺,谦虚;提出 | |
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34 endorsed | |
vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 );在(尤指支票的)背面签字;在(文件的)背面写评论;在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品 | |
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35 evade | |
vt.逃避,回避;避开,躲避 | |
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36 equity | |
n.公正,公平,(无固定利息的)股票 | |
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37 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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38 limpid | |
adj.清澈的,透明的 | |
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39 perseverance | |
n.坚持不懈,不屈不挠 | |
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40 ingenuity | |
n.别出心裁;善于发明创造 | |
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41 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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42 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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43 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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44 limpidity | |
n.清澈,透明 | |
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45 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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46 discomfiture | |
n.崩溃;大败;挫败;困惑 | |
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47 brandishing | |
v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 );炫耀 | |
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48 impurities | |
不纯( impurity的名词复数 ); 不洁; 淫秽; 杂质 | |
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49 filthy | |
adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的 | |
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50 fable | |
n.寓言;童话;神话 | |
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51 chameleon | |
n.变色龙,蜥蜴;善变之人 | |
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52 tint | |
n.淡色,浅色;染发剂;vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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53 glorified | |
美其名的,变荣耀的 | |
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54 semblance | |
n.外貌,外表 | |
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55 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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56 adorn | |
vt.使美化,装饰 | |
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57 momentary | |
adj.片刻的,瞬息的;短暂的 | |
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58 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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59 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
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60 repression | |
n.镇压,抑制,抑压 | |
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61 reminder | |
n.提醒物,纪念品;暗示,提示 | |
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62 inciting | |
刺激的,煽动的 | |
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63 evoke | |
vt.唤起,引起,使人想起 | |
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64 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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65 presentiments | |
n.(对不祥事物的)预感( presentiment的名词复数 ) | |
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66 marred | |
adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
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67 epoch | |
n.(新)时代;历元 | |
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68 unreasonable | |
adj.不讲道理的,不合情理的,过度的 | |
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69 bards | |
n.诗人( bard的名词复数 ) | |
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70 imbued | |
v.使(某人/某事)充满或激起(感情等)( imbue的过去式和过去分词 );使充满;灌输;激发(强烈感情或品质等) | |
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71 renouncing | |
v.声明放弃( renounce的现在分词 );宣布放弃;宣布与…决裂;宣布摒弃 | |
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72 idols | |
偶像( idol的名词复数 ); 受崇拜的人或物; 受到热爱和崇拜的人或物; 神像 | |
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73 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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74 faculties | |
n.能力( faculty的名词复数 );全体教职员;技巧;院 | |
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75 adorned | |
[计]被修饰的 | |
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76 pessimism | |
n.悲观者,悲观主义者,厌世者 | |
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77 appellation | |
n.名称,称呼 | |
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78 incurable | |
adj.不能医治的,不能矫正的,无救的;n.不治的病人,无救的人 | |
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79 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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80 afflicted | |
使受痛苦,折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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81 somber | |
adj.昏暗的,阴天的,阴森的,忧郁的 | |
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82 hues | |
色彩( hue的名词复数 ); 色调; 信仰; 观点 | |
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83 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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84 calumniate | |
v.诬蔑,中伤 | |
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85 sojourn | |
v./n.旅居,寄居;逗留 | |
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86 invoking | |
v.援引( invoke的现在分词 );行使(权利等);祈求救助;恳求 | |
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87 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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88 incites | |
刺激,激励,煽动( incite的第三人称单数 ) | |
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89 attune | |
v.使调和 | |
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90 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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91 puerile | |
adj.幼稚的,儿童的 | |
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92 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
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93 obstinately | |
ad.固执地,顽固地 | |
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94 deluded | |
v.欺骗,哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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95 obstruct | |
v.阻隔,阻塞(道路、通道等);n.阻碍物,障碍物 | |
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96 propensity | |
n.倾向;习性 | |
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97 improvident | |
adj.不顾将来的,不节俭的,无远见的 | |
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98 irresistibly | |
adv.无法抵抗地,不能自持地;极为诱惑人地 | |
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99 deductions | |
扣除( deduction的名词复数 ); 结论; 扣除的量; 推演 | |
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100 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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101 impede | |
v.妨碍,阻碍,阻止 | |
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102 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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103 conquerors | |
征服者,占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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104 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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105 infinitely | |
adv.无限地,无穷地 | |
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106 hostilities | |
n.战争;敌意(hostility的复数);敌对状态;战事 | |
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107 opulence | |
n.财富,富裕 | |
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108 frailty | |
n.脆弱;意志薄弱 | |
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109 ardently | |
adv.热心地,热烈地 | |
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110 maker | |
n.制造者,制造商 | |
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111 savor | |
vt.品尝,欣赏;n.味道,风味;情趣,趣味 | |
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112 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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