McGee, himself, was camouflaged4 beneath an assortment6 of things and stuff that would have made Panhandle Pete of funny-paper fame look like a smartly dressed gentleman in comparison. His make-up was not calculated to allow observers much chance to criticize his own physical attributes or failings.
A bit of reddish-brown hair managed to crop up in sundry7 places outside the distorted corners of the clownish thing that had been issued him in the name of an overseas cap. The part of his shirt collar that almost swallowed his ears and chin came very near hiding his freckled8 snub nose. But it didn’t. The nose insisted on protruding9 enough to be seen. Jimmy’s eyes, alone, were open and ready for inspection10. Any one might have guessed the nationality of his ancestors by the laughing blue of his eyes. What could be seen of his features hinted that he owned a strong, good-looking face. Perhaps his long length of wide limb would have given him some individuality among a gang of six-footers, for he was exceptionally tall. Unfortunately his height was lost in the bulk of war-like paraphernalia11 that jangled from countless12 straps13, ropes, and belts. Otherwise his identity was completely blanketed.
Nobody, except one of his own kind, would have ever recognized him as an American soldier. He was a sad departure from all that Army regulations and magazine covers had insisted upon as a typical member of the “best dressed and best fed army” in the world. Most likely Jimmy’s own mother would have passed him up as a straying peddler. Perhaps Sergeant14 George Neil, McGee’s pal15 and bunkie, might have recognized him by the stout16, strong-muscled legs which were swathed in muddy war-putees,—that ended in a final strip of thin raglings below his knees,—and moved in an easy-going stride peculiar17 to his own ideas of speed.
However strange and disillusioning18, Private, 1st Class, Jimmy McGee may have appeared to the men who designed the uniform and equipment of American soldiers, there was nothing about the boy to distinguish him apart from thousands of comrades in soiled and torn olive-drab, who had come out of the Chateau-Thierry rackett with their appreciation19 for neatly20 made packs and dress-parade tactics all shot to hell.
Appearances had long since ceased to count in his young life. He had forgotten all of the old O. D. stuff, after discovering that “squads right” and saluting21 could never win a guerre. Consequently Jimmy ambled22 along, loaded down to the hubs under a confusion of equipment and souvenirs that he had collected from three fronts during the past eight months, without a thought of anything, except the height of the hill that he was climbing and the emptiness of his stomach. The fact that he didn’t know just exactly where he was, or where his outfit23 might be, wasn’t causing him any worries. He had been separated from the battery too many times already and this latest separation was only twenty-four hours old,—a mere24 trifle to Jimmy McGee.
“Lost—strayed—and stolen—Guess I’m all three of ’em—tous ensemble25, as the Frogs would rattle26 in that darn machine gun language of theirs,” muttered McGee as he shifted the weight of a blanket roll that looked as if it contained a Baby Grand piano and a fat-legged stool.
“Well, I’ll find the outfit before the guerre encores, anyhow. If I don’t I’ll turn myself in for salvage—anythin’ to keep from bein’ an M. P. or gettin’ in the Quartermaster Corps27. Those guys don’t——”
Honk28!... Honk!... Honk!...
Jimmy shut his mouth and got himself off of the road, just in time to miss being pressed into an old-fashioned pancake under the wheels of a truck that whizzed by like an Austrian 88.
“Great Gods! I’d rather promenade29 along the top of a trench30 in broad daylight than leave my life in the hands of those fool truck-drivers. They ain’t got a bit of respect for a man’s body—ought to let ’em drive a tank across No Man’s Land under a barrage31 once or twice—maybe then they’d quit tryin’ to kill us poor guys that’s fightin’ this guerre.”
McGee thought some pretty hard things about truck drivers in general after getting that load off his chest and started to make another hill, being careful to hang close to the side of the road.
“What outfit, Buddy32?”
Jimmy McGee stopped still in his tracks, steadied himself against his cane to keep from rolling back down the steep hill, and shook himself so roughly before answering that the tinware, brass33, steel and other whatnots which were a part of his baggage made a noise like the cows coming home.
“Twenty-Sixth Division, Jack,” he shot back, as if he were putting over a little barrage all by himself.
Then he advanced cautiously to inspect the strange-looking person who had asked him the old familiar question. For a passing moment Jimmy was pretty sure that the old gas had got to his eyes at last, or that his thoughts were getting the best of him. Surely the man who sat on the grass and was all rigged up like the soldiers in the Sunday papers and popular monthlies, must be a model—A sort of guide or index for his kind, thought Jimmy.
At last, after what seemed ten years to the waiting, strange one, the dust-sprinkled Yank said outloud, more to himself than anyone else, “Oui—it moves and breathes—guess it’s real—take a chance, anyhow.” Then to the object of his remarks: “What outfit, yourself, old man?”
“None—that is, so far,” was the astonishing answer, made in a voice that hadn’t taken on the tone of confidence which Jimmy knew well could only be found out where he and a bunch of his side-kickers had been living during the past few months.
“Well—that’s a hell of a good outfit to belong to. Guess you ain’t bothered with second lieutenants34 much then, eh?” queried35 Jimmy, pushing his shapeless roll over his head and letting it fall to the earth with a thud.
“How do you mean—worried?” asked the wondering man, whose appearance brought back memories of the hated O. D. days to Jimmy.
“Oh, you never had many of ’em hangin’ around you for salutes36, givin’ foolish commands that ought to be listed with dead letters in the office at Washington. That’s what I’m gettin’ at.... Get me, now?”
A gas-mask, two bulging37 musettes, the bottom of a mess-kit, and a French canteen were thrown to the ground. McGee’s great height began to assert itself. He stretched his long arms and shook a case of field-glasses and a German luger aloose from their insecure attachments38 to his left shoulder straps.
“Yes, I see now. No, can’t say that I’ve minded them so much as I haven’t been in the Army long,” replied Jimmy’s roadside find.
“So,” muttered Jimmy reflectively. “Say, when in hell did you enlist39 anyway?”
“I didn’t—I was drafted,” answered O. D., as McGee had already mentally nicknamed the man in front of him.
“Oui—Oui—I compree,” said the product of eight months in the mud and rain of the Western Front, nodding his head affirmatively.
Silence for a moment and then Jimmy said what was on his mind.
“Say, how does it feel to be that way buddy? It don’t bother you at nights does it?”
“Don’t quite understand you,” stammered40 the product of General Crowder’s machine.
“Pas compree, eh? Just like a Frenchman when he don’t want to give you what you want,” answered Jimmy. “Well I’ll try to shoot away the camouflage5 this time. Don’t you ever wish that you’d enlisted41?”
“Sure—I wanted to enlist when the war first started but my Dad had just died and he didn’t leave much; not enough to pay his funeral expenses. My mother has always been sickly and Mary hadn’t finished her business-schooling yet. I had to work like the deuce to keep things going— Then I was drafted.”
“That’s just the way with this damn army,” interrupted Jimmy sympathetically. “They do everything like the French, backwards42. Why the devil couldn’t they have let you stay home and take care of your mother and Mary? There’s enough of us big hams without any cares to fight this war. Who is Mary, your sister?” asked Jimmy bluntly; but he meant to be gentle.
“Yes, she is my sister; only nineteen. Two years younger than me,” explained the drafted man.
“How’s Mary and your ma makin’ it now?” was Jimmy’s next question.
“Mary’s finished business school and has a good job. I make a twenty-dollar allotment, and my mother gets twenty-five dollars from the Government along with that. They’re doing pretty good now, so their letters tell me,” was the frank response.
Jimmy sat down next to the recruit and started to hack43 off a couple of slices of bread according to the French way of doing it. He gave him a slice.
“Slap some of this confiture on it,” pointing to a tin of jam. “You won’t mind if I call you O. D., will you?”
“No; but what makes you want to call me that? My right name’s William G. Preston.”
“Damn glad to know you, Bill,” said Jimmy, shooting out his right hand; “but about this O. D. stuff?”
“What’s that gold stripe on your sleeve for?” gasped44 Bill. “Have you been over here six months?” was the amazing question.
“Oui, but that’s a wound stripe on the right sleeve—this is the sleeve for service chevrons45,” and McGee exhibited two greasy46 and rumpled47 service chevrons.
Bill gasped a second time. “Why, you’ve been here twelve months. You must have come over on the first troop-ship. Where and how were you wounded?”
The questions were coming too fast for Jimmy McGee. He reached for his gas-mask and tin hat.
“Hold it a minute till I get my wind—all right. I’ve been here twelve months—I’m sure o’ that. No, I didn’t come over on the first troop-ship. I sailed over on the first mule48-ship—one of those twenty-three-day-at-sea-affairs. In those days we didn’t have separate stalls for the mules49 and men. Everybody and everythin’ cushayed together down in the hold—except the officers, of course.”
“I came over in eight days, and on a big liner— A mule-ship—uuggh!” shuddered50 William G. Preston, soon to be regenerated51 under the name of O. D. “But where did you get wounded, and how?”
“I got it in the calf52 of the leg—fragment from high explosive that the Heinies were rainin’ down the night we staged a battle at Seicheprey—first fight of the guerre for the Americans, you know,” asserted McGee, solemnly. “I only got a little tear in the muscle. Poor old Gordon, my pal, he got his left shoulder and part of his head torn off. He died quick, though; didn’t suffer much. They gave his folks the D. S. C., as he did some big hero stuff. But that ain’t gettin’ Frank much,” soliloquized the veteran of Seicheprey, reminiscently.
Jimmy saw that Preston was getting too interested and might ask for a story about the war, so he directed traffic in another direction.
“You didn’t give me a chance to tell you why I want to call you O. D. Now, you see, we call anything that is regulation, red tape, and all that kind of stuff, O. D.—just a sort of nickname. When I first saw you I thought you was a soldier out of the drill-regulation book or a model for some magazine artist. You see, you’re all made up accordin’ to the blue-print. Carry your blankets just so; wear your cap at a right slant53; got your blouse buttoned up. Hell fire! you’re O. D.-lookin’, that’s all. You’re the first of that kind I’ve seen in a mighty54 long time, so I’m going to call you O. D.... From now on you’re O. D.... Compree?”
“Have it your way. What’s your name?” asked O. D.
“McGee. Jimmy, most of the gang calls me. Do the same.”
“All right, Jimmy.”
“You say you’re a replacement55?”
“Yes. I arrived in Bar-le-Duc yesterday with a detail and got separated from it. The A. P. M. told me to take this road and keep on going until I located my regiment,” explained O. D.
“Got lost, myself, last night,” admitted Jimmy. “What outfit are you goin’ to?”
“The One Hundred and Third Field Artillery56. What division is that?” O. D.’s question was drowned under Jimmy’s whoop57.
“Well, I’m a son-of-a-gun! That’s my own outfit—Twenty-sixth, Yankee Division, of course,” shouted McGee as he slapped O. D. across his shoulders. “What the hell do you know about that! I’ll get you assigned to my battery. Shake, old man, we’ll fight the rest of this guerre together.”
Jimmy’s words, and the bread and jam that the Yankee Division V handed out, did a lot to send the spirits of O. D. shooting up the ladder of hope. Perhaps the war and the front wasn’t going to be so terrible, after all he had read about it. Surely not, if it had a bunch of fellows up there like Jimmy McGee, thought O. D.
“Gosh, I was hungry! This stuff is saving my life,” admitted O. D., gladly, as he left trailing evidence of the confiture around the corners of his lips. “Since I got lost from my detail last night I haven’t had a thing to eat.... I can’t talk this French, so I was out of luck for breakfast. I was just thinking about breaking into this stuff”—and he showed his emergency rations58 of “corned willy” and hardtack—“but the officer told me that I was not to touch them unless it was a case of absolute emergency,” concluded O. D.
“Bon—très-beans! Take his advice, boy: never touch that stuff unless you are up against it mighty hard. Just a little of that embalmed59 mule will kill any good man. Guess my stomach got used to it, as I’ve been eatin’ it for damn near six months straight. I’ll get us a regular feed when we hit a village to-night. Leave it to me.”
“Can you talk this lingo60?” asked O. D., as if it were beyond possibilities to juggle61 the language of the French around on an American tongue.
“Oui, not beaucoup. Cum see—cum saw,” he replied, indicating a very little bit by his hands. “But I can parley62 enough to get a feed and a place to cushay. You know cushay means sleep and monjay means eat. That’s about all you got to know. And combien—that’s how much. They’ll tell you that toot sweet.”
“How the dickens do I get a drink of water?—I’m about dying of thirst. Haven’t had a drop of water in three days, since we left the replacement camp.”
“Oh, my God, man! You’re in the wrong place to get water. The French don’t use that stuff at all. They think we’re nuts when we ask for water to drink. You got to get used to that vinegar that they call van blanc or van rouge63. Here, take a swig of this stuff.” Jimmy unscrewed the cork64 from his French canteen and offered it to O. D.
“What’s in it?”
“Oh, some of their old, rotten van rouge—red wine, you know. But it’s better than nothin’.”
O. D. took a swallow, made a hard face and let a little more go down, then he handed it back with the remark that it was sour.
“Oui, but say la guerre. Gotta get used to that stuff, I guess,” and he nearly drained the canteen. “Smoke?” he asked, pulling out a package of bruised65 Lucky Strikes.
“No, thanks.”
“You’ll get the habit after you’ve been up with us awhile. Nothin’ like a cigarette, boy, in them damp dugouts when you’re waitin’ for some party to come off.”
After the old blue smoke began to issue from his mouth and nostrils66 Jimmy felt a bit talkative.
“So you goin’ to be an artilleryman, eh?”
“Yes; but the funny thing is that I’m an infantryman—that is, they trained me in that kind of stuff. I never was on a horse in my life. Never saw a real cannon68, either,” answered O. D.
“Can that stuff. You don’t need to know anythin’ about ridin’ a horse in this man’s army. I joined the artillery to keep from walkin’ and I’ve been walkin’ most of the time since I enlisted. We never saw a cannon, except those pea-shooters we had back in the States, until we hit France. Just goes to show how this army’s bein’ run. They send you up to the artillery and you were trained for infantry67. Soon they’ll be sendin’ up submarine-chasers for caissons,” declared McGee.
“Say, Jimmy, wish you’d tell me something about the front, so I’ll know how to act when I get there,” pleaded O. D.
“Ah, forget that front idea. You’ll never know the difference—unless, of course, you get a fistfull of shrapnel in the face or a bellyful of gas. Course, that makes it different.”
“Shrapnel! Gas! Gee1, those are bad actors up there, I heard. Is it raining shrapnel all the time, and does the gas come over every day, or what?” asked O. D. kind of hopelessly.
“No, it ain’t nothin’ like that, O. D. There ain’t no flags flyin’ or music playin’ when the boys go over the top, either. You’re liable to get a down-pour of shrapnel, a shell-burst, or a bunch of gas any old time. There’s no set rules for the way that stuff comes over—sorta like goin’ to business every day after you get used to it. A man gets accustomed to stayin’ up all night and jugglin’ ninety-five pound shells, firin’ a piece, or rammin’ bayonets in Boche pigs. The hunger and cold is about the worst thing. You’ll drift into the stuff easy enough,” consoled the Yank.
“Some time, when you get a chance, will you tell me about some of your experiences in the war?”
“Oui—when I get time, some day,” promised Jimmy. “Well, are you set for another little hike? Guess it’s about three bells. We can make ’bout seven kilometers before dark and we’ll look for a chambre—that’s a room in French; then we’ll monjay and cushay. It’ll never do to hit a town after dark. You’re out of luck in this country to find a room or anything once the sun goes down. They never make a light on account of Boche planes. Might as well be in a barren desert as get into a French town after nightfall.”
“I’m ready,” answered O. D., buckling69 up his harness and rising.
“It takes me quite a bit of time to get all of this junk on me,” apologized McGee, as he began throwing musettes over his shoulders and buckling on belts and other stuff. O. D. gave him a hand and pretty soon Jimmy McGee was once more arrayed in all the glory of a front-line veteran.
“Guess we’ll hang onto this hunk of du pan. It’s mighty hard to get bread in these French places,” said McGee, falling into the old stride that he patronized when on the stem in France.

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收听单词发音

1
gee
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n.马;int.向右!前进!,惊讶时所发声音;v.向右转 | |
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2
cane
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n.手杖,细长的茎,藤条;v.以杖击,以藤编制的 | |
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3
leisurely
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adj.悠闲的;从容的,慢慢的 | |
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4
camouflaged
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v.隐蔽( camouflage的过去式和过去分词 );掩盖;伪装,掩饰 | |
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camouflage
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n./v.掩饰,伪装 | |
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assortment
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n.分类,各色俱备之物,聚集 | |
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sundry
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adj.各式各样的,种种的 | |
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8
freckled
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adj.雀斑;斑点;晒斑;(使)生雀斑v.雀斑,斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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protruding
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v.(使某物)伸出,(使某物)突出( protrude的现在分词 );凸 | |
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10
inspection
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n.检查,审查,检阅 | |
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paraphernalia
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n.装备;随身用品 | |
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12
countless
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adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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13
straps
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n.带子( strap的名词复数 );挎带;肩带;背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 );用皮带抽打;包扎;给…打绷带 | |
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14
sergeant
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n.警官,中士 | |
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pal
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n.朋友,伙伴,同志;vi.结为友 | |
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17
peculiar
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adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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disillusioning
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使不再抱幻想,使理想破灭( disillusion的现在分词 ) | |
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appreciation
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n.评价;欣赏;感谢;领会,理解;价格上涨 | |
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20
neatly
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adv.整洁地,干净地,灵巧地,熟练地 | |
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21
saluting
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v.欢迎,致敬( salute的现在分词 );赞扬,赞颂 | |
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ambled
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v.(马)缓行( amble的过去式和过去分词 );从容地走,漫步 | |
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23
outfit
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n.(为特殊用途的)全套装备,全套服装 | |
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mere
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adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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ensemble
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n.合奏(唱)组;全套服装;整体,总效果 | |
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rattle
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v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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corps
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n.(通信等兵种的)部队;(同类作的)一组 | |
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honk
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n.雁叫声,汽车喇叭声 | |
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promenade
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n./v.散步 | |
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trench
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n./v.(挖)沟,(挖)战壕 | |
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barrage
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n.火力网,弹幕 | |
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buddy
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n.(美口)密友,伙伴 | |
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brass
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n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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lieutenants
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n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 );副职官员;空军;仅低于…官阶的官员 | |
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35
queried
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v.质疑,对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 );询问 | |
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salutes
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n.致敬,欢迎,敬礼( salute的名词复数 )v.欢迎,致敬( salute的第三人称单数 );赞扬,赞颂 | |
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37
bulging
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膨胀; 凸出(部); 打气; 折皱 | |
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attachments
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n.(用电子邮件发送的)附件( attachment的名词复数 );附着;连接;附属物 | |
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enlist
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vt.谋取(支持等),赢得;征募;vi.入伍 | |
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stammered
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v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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enlisted
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adj.应募入伍的v.(使)入伍, (使)参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 );获得(帮助或支持) | |
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backwards
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adv.往回地,向原处,倒,相反,前后倒置地 | |
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43
hack
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n.劈,砍,出租马车;v.劈,砍,干咳 | |
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gasped
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v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要 | |
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45
chevrons
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n.(警察或士兵所佩带以示衔级的)∧形或∨形标志( chevron的名词复数 ) | |
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46
greasy
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adj. 多脂的,油脂的 | |
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rumpled
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v.弄皱,使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
mule
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n.骡子,杂种,执拗的人 | |
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mules
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骡( mule的名词复数 ); 拖鞋; 顽固的人; 越境运毒者 | |
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50
shuddered
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v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
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51
regenerated
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v.新生,再生( regenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
calf
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n.小牛,犊,幼仔,小牛皮 | |
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53
slant
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v.倾斜,倾向性地编写或报道;n.斜面,倾向 | |
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54
mighty
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adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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55
replacement
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n.取代,替换,交换;替代品,代用品 | |
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56
artillery
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n.(军)火炮,大炮;炮兵(部队) | |
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57
whoop
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n.大叫,呐喊,喘息声;v.叫喊,喘息 | |
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58
rations
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定量( ration的名词复数 ); 配给量; 正常量; 合理的量 | |
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59
embalmed
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adj.用防腐药物保存(尸体)的v.保存(尸体)不腐( embalm的过去式和过去分词 );使不被遗忘;使充满香气 | |
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60
lingo
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n.语言不知所云,外国话,隐语 | |
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61
juggle
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v.变戏法,纂改,欺骗,同时做;n.玩杂耍,纂改,花招 | |
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62
parley
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n.谈判 | |
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63
rouge
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n.胭脂,口红唇膏;v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
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64
cork
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n.软木,软木塞 | |
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65
bruised
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[医]青肿的,瘀紫的 | |
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66
nostrils
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鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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67
infantry
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n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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68
cannon
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n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮 | |
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69
buckling
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扣住 | |
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