Now, had slavery been intrinsically a moral and social evil, yet its protection was in the compact between the States; and to the honest mind, there was but one course for the North to adopt when she concluded that she could no longer endure her connexion with slavery. This was, to restore to the South the pledges, the fulfilment of which had become irksome; and to dissolve the union peacefully and fairly, as it had been formed, leaving us in possession of our own country and rights, to bear our own sin, and pursue our own destiny. It was the federal compact alone, which gave the North any right to govern the South. If they repudiated14 that contract, it was annihilated15 equally for both parties. Thenceforward their claim to legislate16 for the South, or exercise any power over her, was baseless and iniquitous17. No fair mind will dispute, that even though slavery had been an indefensible wrong, the South ought not to have permitted herself to be assailed19 for it, in an equal union which 351 she had sovereignly entered with this institution expressly recognized. But that basis of argument we utterly20 repudiate13. We will not defend ourselves from such premises21. We claim to have been justified22, not only by the Constitution of the United States, but by God and the right, in our rights to slaves. Our status in the Federal union was, so far, as equal, as honourable23, as legal, as free from ethical24 taint25, as that of any other States with their property in horses, ships, land, and factories.
We have, in another place, (the Life of Jackson,) stated with sufficient fulness, the admitted facts and doctrines27 of the Constitution, which justified the Southern States in resuming their independence, when the compact, to which they had partially28 yielded it, was destroyed. The indisputable proofs (now fully12 admitted by anti-slavery men) might be cited, which showed that their election of a sectional President, with other aggressions, were intended to destroy the most acknowledged and vital rights of the States. Had Virginia assumed her attitude of resistance upon that event, she might have defended it by that maxim30, so obvious to every just mind, that it is righteous and wise to meet the first clear aggression29, even though its practical mischiefs31 be unimportant: that "a people should rather contend for their rights upon their threshold than upon their hearthstone." But we had stronger justification32 still. The aggression intended was practically vast and ruinous in its results. It has been shown in previous chapters, that the destruction of African slavery among us was vital to us, because emancipation33 by such means would be destructive of 352 the very framework of society, and of our most fundamental rights and interests. All our statesmen, of all parties, had taught us, not only that the reserved rights of the States were the bulwarks34 of the liberties of the people, but that emancipation by federal aggression would lead to the destruction of all other rights. A Clay, as much as a Calhoun, proclaimed that when abolition35 overthrew36 slavery in the South, it also would equally overthrow37 the Constitution. Calhoun, and other Southern statesmen, with a sagacity which every day confirms, had forewarned us, that when once abolition by federal aggression came, these other sure results would follow: that the same greedy lust38 of power which had meddled39 between masters and slaves, would assuredly, and for the stronger reason, desire to use the political weight of the late slaves against their late masters: that having enforced a violent emancipation, they would enforce, of course, negro suffrage40, negro eligibility41 to office, and a full negro equality: that negro equality thus theoretically established would be practical negro superiority: that the tyrant42 section, as it gave to its victims, the white men of the South, more and more causes of just resentment43, would find more and more violent inducements to bribe44 the negroes, with additional privileges and gifts, to assist them in their domination: that this miserable46 career must result in one of two things, either a war of races, in which the whites or the blacks would be, one or the other, exterminated47; or amalgamation48. But while we believe that "God made of one blood all nations of men to dwell under the whole heavens," we know that the African has become, according to a well-known 353 law of natural history, by the manifold influences of the ages, a different, fixed49 species of the race, separated from the white man by traits bodily, mental and moral, almost as rigid50 and permanent as those of genus. Hence the offspring of an amalgamation must be a hybrid51 race, stamped with all the feebleness of the hybrid, and incapable52 of the career of civilization and glory as an independent race. And this apparently53 is the destiny which our conquerors54 have in view. If indeed they can mix the blood of the heroes of Manassas with this vile45 stream from the fens18 of Africa, then they will never again have occasion to tremble before the righteous resistance of Virginian freemen; but will have a race supple55 and vile enough to fill that position of political subjection, which they desire to fix on the South.
But although Virginia well knew that the very existence of society was assailed by these aggressions, so strict was her loyalty56 to the Constitution, she refused to make the election of a sectional President the immediate57 occasion of resistance, because, outrage58 as it was, it was nominally59 effected by the forms of the Constitution. When her sisters, more advanced than herself in the spirit of resistance, resumed their independence, she refused to follow them. When, warned by thickening events, she assembled her Convention, immediate embodiment of her own sovereignty, it was not a convention of secessionists. Only twenty-five, out of the hundreds of members, advocated that extreme remedy. But she did by this Convention, what she had already done by her General Assembly: she repeated the assertion of the great principles on which the government 354 was founded; that it was built on the free consent of States originally sovereign, and not on force; that however wrongfully any State might resume its independence without just cause, the only remedy was conciliation60, and not force; that therefore the coercion61 of a sovereign State was unlawful, mischievous62, and must be resisted. There Virginia took her stand—on this foundation right, as essential to the well-being of assailant as of assailed. It was not for slavery that she deliberately63 resolved to draw the sword, cardinal64 as she knew circumstances rendered slavery at this time; but for this corner-stone of all constitutional liberty, North and South. And this, too, was a principle which she had always held against all assailants, in all ages of the Republick. She had asserted it firmly against her own favourite, Andrew Jackson, in the case of South Carolina, notwithstanding her disapproval65 of the nullifying doctrine26 then held by that State. She only asserted her time-honoured creed66 now. It was not until the claim to subjugate67 sovereign States was practically applied68, that Virginia drew the sword; and then, not for slavery, but for the Constitution, and the liberties of a continent, which it had protected.
It is therefore a great and an odious69 perversion70 of the truth, to say that the defensive71 movement of the South was a war to extend and perpetuate72 slavery. African slavery was not the cause, but the occasion of the strife73, on either side. On the Northern side it was merely the pretext74, employed by that aggressive section to carry out ambitious projects of domination. To the South, it was merely the circumstance of the controversy, that the right assailed was our right to the 355 labour of our servants. It was not the circumstance for which we contended, but the principle—the great cause of moral right, justice, and regulated liberty. It was therefore a gross injustice75 to burden our cause, in the minds of the rest of the world, with the odium which the prejudices of Christendom have attached to the name of slaveholder. Even those who are unable to overcome those prejudices, would, if just and magnanimous, approve our attempt to defend ourselves.
Finally: the means by which this defence has been overpowered were as iniquitous as the attack. A war was waged, precipitated76 by treachery, aggravated77 by every measure of barbarity condemned78 by the laws of nations, by the agency of multitudinous hordes79 of foreign mercenaries, and semi-civilized80 slaves seduced81 from their owners; against captives, women, children, and private property; with the attempt to let loose upon our little community (which they found otherwise unconquerable) a servile insurrection and all the horrors of domestic assassination—an attempt disappointed only by the good feeling and good character which the servants themselves had learned from the humanity of their masters. The impartial82 and magnanimous mind which weighs these facts cannot but feel itself swelling83 with an unutterable sense of indignation. The Southern people feel little impulse to give expression to their sense of the enormous wrongs, in reproaches or vituperations of those who have thus destroyed them. When resistance was practicable, they gave a more expressive84 and seemly utterance85 to this sentiment, in the energy of their blows. Let the heroick spirit in which the soldiers of Virginia and the South struck for their 356 liberties, and suffered, and died, represent our appreciation86 of this injustice. A righteous God, for our sins towards Him, has permitted us to be overthrown87 by our enemies and His. It is vain to complain in the ear of a maddening tempest. Although our people are now oppressed with present sufferings and a prospective88 destiny more cruel and disastrous89 than has been visited on any civilized people of modern ages, they suffer silently, disdaining91 to complain, and only raising to the chastening heavens, the cry, "How long, O Lord?" Their appeal is to history, and to Him. They well know, that in due time, they, although powerless themselves, will be avenged92 through the same disorganizing heresies93 under which they now suffer, and through the anarchy94 and woes95 which they will bring upon the North. Meantime, let the arrogant96 and successful wrongdoers flout97 our defence with disdain90: we will meet them with it again, when it will be heard; in the day of their calamity98, in the pages of impartial history, and in the Day of Judgment99.
The End
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1 cupidity | |
n.贪心,贪财 | |
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2 testaments | |
n.遗嘱( testament的名词复数 );实际的证明 | |
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3 lawful | |
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的 | |
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4 habitually | |
ad.习惯地,通常地 | |
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5 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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6 authorized | |
a.委任的,许可的 | |
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7 expounder | |
陈述者,说明者 | |
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8 eminently | |
adv.突出地;显著地;不寻常地 | |
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9 well-being | |
n.安康,安乐,幸福 | |
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10 controversy | |
n.争论,辩论,争吵 | |
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11 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
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12 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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13 repudiate | |
v.拒绝,拒付,拒绝履行 | |
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14 repudiated | |
v.(正式地)否认( repudiate的过去式和过去分词 );拒绝接受;拒绝与…往来;拒不履行(法律义务) | |
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15 annihilated | |
v.(彻底)消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 );使无效;废止;彻底击溃 | |
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16 legislate | |
vt.制定法律;n.法规,律例;立法 | |
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17 iniquitous | |
adj.不公正的;邪恶的;高得出奇的 | |
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18 fens | |
n.(尤指英格兰东部的)沼泽地带( fen的名词复数 ) | |
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19 assailed | |
v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 );困扰;质问;毅然应对 | |
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20 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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21 premises | |
n.建筑物,房屋 | |
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22 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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23 honourable | |
adj.可敬的;荣誉的,光荣的 | |
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24 ethical | |
adj.伦理的,道德的,合乎道德的 | |
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25 taint | |
n.污点;感染;腐坏;v.使感染;污染 | |
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26 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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27 doctrines | |
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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28 partially | |
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲 | |
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29 aggression | |
n.进攻,侵略,侵犯,侵害 | |
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30 maxim | |
n.格言,箴言 | |
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31 mischiefs | |
损害( mischief的名词复数 ); 危害; 胡闹; 调皮捣蛋的人 | |
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32 justification | |
n.正当的理由;辩解的理由 | |
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33 emancipation | |
n.(从束缚、支配下)解放 | |
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34 bulwarks | |
n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 );保障;支柱;舷墙 | |
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35 abolition | |
n.废除,取消 | |
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36 overthrew | |
overthrow的过去式 | |
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37 overthrow | |
v.推翻,打倒,颠覆;n.推翻,瓦解,颠覆 | |
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38 lust | |
n.性(淫)欲;渴(欲)望;vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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39 meddled | |
v.干涉,干预(他人事务)( meddle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40 suffrage | |
n.投票,选举权,参政权 | |
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41 eligibility | |
n.合格,资格 | |
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42 tyrant | |
n.暴君,专制的君主,残暴的人 | |
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43 resentment | |
n.怨愤,忿恨 | |
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44 bribe | |
n.贿赂;v.向…行贿,买通 | |
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45 vile | |
adj.卑鄙的,可耻的,邪恶的;坏透的 | |
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46 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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47 exterminated | |
v.消灭,根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48 amalgamation | |
n.合并,重组;;汞齐化 | |
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49 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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50 rigid | |
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的 | |
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51 hybrid | |
n.(动,植)杂种,混合物 | |
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52 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
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53 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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54 conquerors | |
征服者,占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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55 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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56 loyalty | |
n.忠诚,忠心 | |
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57 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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58 outrage | |
n.暴行,侮辱,愤怒;vt.凌辱,激怒 | |
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59 nominally | |
在名义上,表面地; 应名儿 | |
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60 conciliation | |
n.调解,调停 | |
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61 coercion | |
n.强制,高压统治 | |
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62 mischievous | |
adj.调皮的,恶作剧的,有害的,伤人的 | |
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63 deliberately | |
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
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64 cardinal | |
n.(天主教的)红衣主教;adj.首要的,基本的 | |
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65 disapproval | |
n.反对,不赞成 | |
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66 creed | |
n.信条;信念,纲领 | |
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67 subjugate | |
v.征服;抑制 | |
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68 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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69 odious | |
adj.可憎的,讨厌的 | |
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70 perversion | |
n.曲解;堕落;反常 | |
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71 defensive | |
adj.防御的;防卫的;防守的 | |
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72 perpetuate | |
v.使永存,使永记不忘 | |
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73 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
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74 pretext | |
n.借口,托词 | |
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75 injustice | |
n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利 | |
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76 precipitated | |
v.(突如其来地)使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 );促成;猛然摔下;使沉淀 | |
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77 aggravated | |
使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 ); 使更严重; 激怒; 使恼火 | |
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78 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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79 hordes | |
n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 );部落 | |
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80 civilized | |
a.有教养的,文雅的 | |
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81 seduced | |
诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 ); 勾引; 诱使堕落; 使入迷 | |
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82 impartial | |
adj.(in,to)公正的,无偏见的 | |
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83 swelling | |
n.肿胀 | |
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84 expressive | |
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
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85 utterance | |
n.用言语表达,话语,言语 | |
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86 appreciation | |
n.评价;欣赏;感谢;领会,理解;价格上涨 | |
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87 overthrown | |
adj. 打翻的,推倒的,倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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88 prospective | |
adj.预期的,未来的,前瞻性的 | |
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89 disastrous | |
adj.灾难性的,造成灾害的;极坏的,很糟的 | |
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90 disdain | |
n.鄙视,轻视;v.轻视,鄙视,不屑 | |
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91 disdaining | |
鄙视( disdain的现在分词 ); 不屑于做,不愿意做 | |
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92 avenged | |
v.为…复仇,报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 );为…报复 | |
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93 heresies | |
n.异端邪说,异教( heresy的名词复数 ) | |
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94 anarchy | |
n.无政府状态;社会秩序混乱,无秩序 | |
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95 woes | |
困境( woe的名词复数 ); 悲伤; 我好苦哇; 某人就要倒霉 | |
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96 arrogant | |
adj.傲慢的,自大的 | |
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97 flout | |
v./n.嘲弄,愚弄,轻视 | |
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98 calamity | |
n.灾害,祸患,不幸事件 | |
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99 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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