The country of the Amazonian women ran in deep mountain gorges2 back from the sea to a tableland and certain forested peaks. At the foot of the gorge1 spread salt meadows, flat and green, overbreathed by the fragrant3 sea wind. Here was capital pasturage, and here on a day came down from the plateau a dozen mounted women driving before them flock and herd4. The day was warm, the meadows bright. These gave to shining sands, the sands to sapphire5 sea. Behind the level green sprang the wood. Lowing and bleating6, cattle and sheep came to the grass. The drovers saw all disposed, then, hot and tired with much work from dawn till noon, dismounted, fastened their horses in the wood and went down to the sea. Having bathed, with laughter and play, they stretched themselves upon the sand and opened a great wallet that held bread and dried meat, and untied7 the mouth of a wine skin.
Their town was built three leagues away, in a cup of the mountain excellently guarded by grey crags. They thought that it had always been there, though indeed the old wise women said no. They said that their mothers had told them that their mothers’ mothers had heard of a time when there was a battle at the edge of the world, and that then fifty women, fleeing, had climbed to these mountains and here built a town and kept ancient customs. These were the ancestresses and divine! However that might be, here was now the town and the people. A queen ruled them.{140} On certain ritual days of the year they had intercourse9 with men of two neighbouring nations. Of the children born they kept the girls, but when the boys had seen twelve summers they sent these to the father nation. Year by year their ways of life, at first not so strange, grew to seem strange and stranger yet to the peoples who heard of them and elaborated and legended what they heard. To themselves it was old nature, very right and proper, dear, familiar life!
The drovers lying upon the sand, between the blue sea and the salt meadow, were all on the younger side of prime. Among them was Lindane, the Queen’s daughter. The sea-wind caressed10 them, they heard the contented11 voices and movements of the grazing beasts, they had bread and red wine and sweet rest. When they had eaten they posted two watchers, and the rest closed their eyes.
To the left of where they lay dipped into the sea a hook of land, a long, crooked12 finger of Mother Earth. The watchers looked inland toward the wealth in the meadows, the horses fastened in the wood. The world hereabouts went little to sea; the sea made no danger save to small fishing craft in rough weather. The watchers never saw until too late the long, dark boat, fifty-oared, with sails beside, with carven prow14, that stole around the crooked finger.... The watchers heard the sails when they rattled15 down, and sharply turned to see the prow touch the sand and the men leap forth16—and all so close the eyes might be seen! “Awake! Awake!” cried the watchers and snatched bow and quiver. The ten sprang up, seized weapons; all raced for the wood and those tied steeds. Close after them, with shouts, came the sea-rovers.
There were fifty and five strong young men, strong and{141} untamed as eagles, swoopers from islands below the horizon. The chief was Sandanis. Elsewhere upon the far-stretching mainland coast they had lifted spoil in their talons18, robbing towns that spoke19 a dialect akin20 to their own. The long boat held wrought21 gold and brass22, rich woven goods, strange weapons, objects of value. Here upon this strand23 was stopping only to fill the water casks. But when they saw the sleeping forms the sea-eagles again set beak24 and talon17.
At first they did not know the twelve for women, for they were not habited like the women of the islands or of any country that the sea-rovers knew, and they were tall and deeply bronzed, and they showed a practised hand with javelin26 and with bow and arrow. They ran like deer, and the sea-rovers ran at their heels. They menaced the pursuit as they ran, then, reaching the wood, plunged27 past tree and swinging vines to the tethered horses. They waited not to untie8, but each stripping knife from sheath, severed28 the bridle29 and sprang to steed. One further minute and they might have shown clean heels, won away to their mountain fastness. But the fifty were on them, keen as winter wolves, knife-armed, javelin-armed, knowing their quarry30 now for the famed women! A hundred hands caught at bridle and mane, or used knife or flung javelin against the horses. Of these several sank to earth, others, rearing, beat with their hooves at the foe31. One only escaped, making with its rider at a furious gallop32 for the trail, the upward-running gorge and the crag-guarded town.
Yet mounted or with foot upon the ground, the remaining Amazons fought for life and freedom. They fought with knife and shortened javelin, being unable to use bow{142} and arrow in the close conflict. They fought strongly, with skill, with desperation and tenacious33 courage. Lives were lost from among the sea-rovers, bitter wounds were given. But the sea-rovers were fifty and they who had brought the cattle to the salt meadows were twelve. And one was gone and two were slain34 and two had death hurts. The seven that were left were overpowered, dragged to earth and bound with thongs35 and cords.
Lindane, the Queen’s daughter, fought with Sandanis, the king of the sea-rovers, a second strong man giving him needed help. It took the two to bind37 her. Sandanis’s hands upon her wrists, the other’s against her shoulders, they forced her down the sands, they lifted and flung her over the boat side. All the seven were brought to the boat and guarded there while the sea-rovers gathered wood and burned their dead.
The sea-rovers drew out to no great length the details of that rite38. In their minds was a humming thought of the fled Amazon and of possible rescue. Kindling39 the pyre, they left it blazing there, at the edge of the wood. A forewind had sprung up and they took advantage. Making sail in haste, they left behind the golden sands and the salt meadows and the dark, mounting forests of that land.
The sun went down, the moon came up. The women yet lay where they had been flung. Then Lindane rose to her knees, and with her two or three of the more resilient sort. They looked astern, and by the light of the great full moon saw, sinking from them, their country-shore and all it held of home and friends. Lindane, straining at her bonds, broke them, and with her doubled hands struck Sandanis that was nearest to her. Sandanis, thinking himself conqueror40, laughed. He seized the Amazon’s wrists,{143} struggled with her, and nodded to his helper to wrap the thong36 about her arms. Enmeshed again, she turned her head and prayed to the sea.
When the moon was an hour high they came to an islet known to be desolate42, a mere43 hand’s breadth of waste sand and rock, blanched44 by the moon. The favourable45 wind had fallen, and the rowers wished not to row through this night. They pushed prow upon the shelving sand, they left the boat and took with them those captured women. They had store of meat and wine. They ate and drank, sitting in the moonlight upon the sand, above the murmuring sea, and they set food and drink before their captives. Their tongue and the women’s tongue had one origin. Victor and vanquished47 understood much of each other’s speech. “Eat, drink!” said the sea-rovers. “Our country is going to be your country.” When they themselves had finished their meal, then, with noise and laughter, they cast lots. The moon shone very brightly, a soft daylight seemed to visit the place.
Sandanis was the island king. He cast no lot, but made his choice at once, and her he chose was for the king alone. “I take the flame-top,” he said.
The king’s comrades laughed and clamoured. “O Sandanis, she will turn thee red too! She is demon48!”
“I am her demon bridegroom,” said Sandanis with answering laughter. “I have come from afar to her!”
The moon climbed to her meridian49, and all the islet was bathed in light. It was light upon the beach where life lay, shaped into men and women; it was light where the sea-rovers’ king held between his arms Lindane whom he had bound. The dawn when it came hardly made it seem more light. The dawn reddened, burned scarlet50 in sea and in{144} sky. The wide-winged birds sailed and circled and with harsh voices uttered their cry to the morning. The sun sprang out of the sea, and he was red and strong. Sandanis and his companions once more bestowed51 those captive women in the boat and pushing from the desolate isle41, themselves leaped in and lifted oars52. The favourable wind sprang forth again; they hoisted53 sails and steered54 for the island that they called home.
Five days they sailed or rowed as the wind sent them on or failed them. The second night Lindane’s teeth met in Sandanis’s shoulder. In return he struck her so mighty55 a blow that she lay stunned56, the moonlight blanching57 her backward-drawn face. Sandanis, regarding her, felt he knew not what of ruth. He bathed his own wound with wine and he forced wine between the Amazon’s lips. She stirred, opened her eyes and raised herself upon her hand. “Flame-top!” he said, “where did you learn to bite so hard?”
But “Let me go!” was all her answer. “Let me go!” and the ruth passed for that time from his heart.
When the sixth morning broke it showed the island. The sea-rovers broke into a chant of rejoicing for home, but the women they had rapt away looked on a picture of their own home, their home that the morning did not show.
Limestone58 cliffs had the island with woods climbing to mountain pastures, and above these a rounded mountain-top. Many springs it had, and sunny glades59, and deep ravines where the shade was black. Huge spreading trees it had, and blossomy meads and hillsides planted with the vine, and fields of waving grain. It owned sheep and goats and oxen, horses and herds60 of swine, fed by the each-year-renewed rain of beech-nut and acorn61. Coming to the hu{145}man, herdsmen were there, shepherds and shepherdesses, and tillers of the earth, both men and women. Artisans also the island held, though not so many of these. But carpenter, mason, and smith were there, shipwright62 and bowyer and others beside. And old prowess in such lines and now old custom had given these and like crafts to men. Certain crafts leaned to women and women were traders-in-little. Household offices fell to women, and women ground at the mills, and all the garments, whether for use or ornament63 that the people wore, were of their weaving and fashioning, and the food they prepared and cooked, and in their hands was the cleanliness of all, and they kept alight the fires. Also they bore and long suckled the children, and gave them their early training.
Above the mass of the island population, men and women, bond and free, stood in self-seized and self-confirmed rank the warlike sort, the fillers of long boats, the sea-eagles swooping64 upon other islands and the shadowy mainland, traders-in-great on occasion, raptors of goods and of lives when that better suited. Out of this body of war men, young and in prime and old, had risen by degrees the elder-wise, the firm and politic65, to become a council and point the road their history should tread, and at last from captains, chiefs, and counsellors had come the chief of chiefs, the casting voice, the king. And all these were men, and when they died they left to their sons. Next in caste stood the attendants and ministers and interpreters of the gods, and these were men and women, as the gods themselves were male and female. But, aided by that topmost caste, the priest was gaining over the priestess, the god over the goddess. The highest god, the ruler of the rest, was held to be by nature male. In the island, man and{146} woman professed66 to heal the body. But the dominant67 wind blew for the man-physician and against the woman. Both men and women made minstrelsy, and men and women wove the dance. But in the island they that bore rule and heaped together the fruit of war and directed public action were men. And the servants of the gods that were strongest to persuade or to awe68 were men.
To this island came the Amazon.
The cliffs lifted higher, the green grew brighter, the sea-eagles saw their harbour and its small white quay69, and their town on the hill above the sea, saw the folk hastening down from the gates. They raised a home-coming song, welcoming shouts rang from the water-side. The boat flew on with sail and oar13. The sails rattled down, the oars sent it forward, it lay beside the gleaming, landing place. Arms were outstretched, there prevailed a leaning down, a springing up, shouts, vaunts, welcomes, a swarm70 of bodies, a humming of the mind. Here was home-in-triumph for the sea-eagles; here was land-of-captivity for the women from that old continent.
The house of Sandanis! That was a very great house according to the notions of the island and the time. It was filled with bond and free, but with more of the bond than the free. When they reached it, built above the town, and entered a court that enclosed for shade two vast sycamores, forth from the inner rooms to meet her son came the widowed woman, the old island queen. With her moved her two daughters, Lindace and Ardis, and behind them pressed the women of the household.
The king’s men who had robbed with the king took each to his own house his share of the spoil that had been heaped{147} in the king’s court and portioned there. Brass and gold had been heaped, and weapons and implements71 and rich stuffs and adornments, and among these had place the captives from that ancient strand. With a beating of voices a crowd entered the court. Sun and shade struggled there. Women were weighed against gold and brass. All things were parted and in the mean time the feast was made and set in Sandanis’s hall. Bondsmen took away to each sea-rover’s house his chosen spoil. To the six of greatest fame went the six Amazons, companions of Lindane. But in the court, beneath the hugest sycamore, yet rested the gold and brass, the weapons, the rich stuff and the woman set apart to Sandanis the king. The crowd of the unconsidered dwindled72. The chief men passed with Sandanis into his kingly hall, there to feast and carouse73 and recite mighty deeds.
The island folk had looked with curiosity upon those stranger women, unlike other women, different from what the gods had created women to be! Hands had touched them, voices had beaten against them. But now six of the seven had been taken away, and all the crowd was dwindling74. There came and stood before the Amazon shared to the king three priests of the island, priests of a warlike god who was become the chief deity75. One was a man past middle-age, a dark enthusiast76. The other two were younger.
“Woman-out-of-nature,” said the first, “who is your country-god?”
Lindane sat silent among goods and weapons and cunningly wrought matters in silver and brass and gold. “She is dumb,” said those who had gathered behind the priests. “Maybe the king has cut out her tongue!”
“Speak, man-woman!” said the second priest, inferior{148} to the first. “Who is the god of your country? Whoever he be he is less than our god!”
“They have,” said one behind, “a goddess only, no god!”
“Woman and captive, answer the chief priest!” said the youngest priest, and he turned red as he spoke.
But the Amazon did not answer. The chief priest’s look darkened over her. “Not to us the offence, but to the god!” he said; and turning with the two, went away.
The press in the king’s court further lessened77. Came, threading her way through the groups, an old handmaid, one named Eunica. She spoke to Lindane. “My mistresses, the old queen and her daughters, would have speech with you, Amazon!”
Lindane followed her across the court and by a passage to a steep stair, and so to an upper room lined with oak. Here sat the old queen with a silver distaff in her hands, and beside her a basket of coloured wool. The daughters sat near her on cushions, and they, too, had distaffs, and in the back of the room handmaids wove at a mighty loom78.
Spoke the old queen. “Stranger woman, were you bond or free before my son the king took you?”
Said Lindane, “My mother is the queen of my country.”
“Then you shall have,” answered the old queen, “an ivory distaff to spin with. There are here three daughters of kings, and they all have ivory distaffs. Sit down and spin.”
There was but an hour to spin before dusk fell, with supper for that great house. All descended79 from the upper room, but they did not eat, that eve, in hall, because the king and his chief men were feasting there, and wine, wine, wine was flowing.{149}
In Sandanis’s hall the torchlight was bright, but through the rest of the house it flared80 dim. At last the Amazon came to a place where was hardly any light, to a cell in the wall where she would sleep that night with Eunica, the old handmaid. So near was it to the great central room of the house that there might be heard in waves the mingled81 voices of the feasting men. What light there was seemed to come from that place of triumph, stealing through cracks in the wall.
Eunica had a bed of straw spread with sheepskins. The two bondwomen sat upon it, in the cell narrow as a tomb.
“I was the daughter of a king,” said old Eunica. “Sandanis’s father brought me here. Then I was young like you, but my hair was never red like yours. The old queen was young, too. She made herself a terror to me, but Myrtus cared more for my hand than he did for her whole body. But Myrtus died. Long, long ago, Myrtus died.... Sandanis was to have wed25 the king’s sister of the next island. But the maiden82 perished at sea, being brought here by her brothers. Now there is talk of a bride from another island. When she comes, if Sandanis yet holds you in liking83, she will hate you. She will find occasion against you. When Sandanis likes you no longer, then, if you break a water-jar, or if there is a knot in your weaving, she will have you beaten. And when Sandanis likes you no longer, he will not care—he will not lift a finger to help you!”
“Sandanis.... That is his voice now in the hall. It is as though the sea were behind me and about and before.... Ah, Sandanis! I hate thee!”
“Hate or love, be wolf or dog—by all the dark gods, what does it matter?” said Eunica.{150}
“Has it been always, in your earth, that a man could do so with a woman?”
“Always that ever I heard of,” answered Eunica. “I do not know where time goes to, behind us.”
“Will not the women conspire84 and slay85 them?”
But Eunica laughed at that. “When creatures are tamed, the power to bound and to rend86 is there and is not there!”
“Now, by the goddess! I would untame them!”
Eunica laughed again. “Then, to show the way, each must rend its own hunter! Now I had Milon by Myrtus, and I could not rend Myrtus.—I have wonder if you would rend King Sandanis.”
Rising, she moved to the wall and with her fingers loosened a wedge of wood, broad as an axe-head. The cell became more light, the sound of revel87 fuller and more plain. The old handmaid came back to the pallet. In the hall they sang war the glorious, the chief exalted88, the warlike gods. They sang man-strength and what they called freedom. They sang the rape89 of gold and land, the rape of women and the rape of lives. The harp-strings were struck, wine flowed, men beat fist against board. With flashing eyes, with eloquence90 of gesture, starting to their feet, men declaimed their virtues91. All through the king’s house was listening; up and down ran an hypnotized, inner murmuring. “It must be so. It must be so.”
The night passed, and the next day and night, other days and other nights. Sandanis the king and Lindane from the Amazon country drew together, dragged apart, and neither knew at times whether a passion of love or a passion of hatred92 was what their souls meant....
In this island stood a principal fane, built to the god of{151} the sea-rovers, in a wood that topped a cliff that fell sheer to a foaming93 sea. Here came Sandanis and his following to sacrifice, and to hear from the dark priest who lived by the fane if a bride from the island that on clear days might be seen afar would bring luck to the king’s house, binding94 in amity95 Sandanis and the king of that land. The wood was dark, the poplars shook in a whistling wind, the priest divined, and brought the king an answer from the god. “The bride will bring fortune if the prow of the ship sent to bring her is touched with the life of the king’s latest prey96.”
Sandanis heard. “That would mean,” he said, “the bulls I took from the herdsmen of the red island.” And he sent for the bulls and sacrificed them.
That done with due ceremonies, a fifty-oared ship, the prow smeared97 with bull’s blood, quitted quay and harbour for the myriad-painted sea and the island like a little cloud upon the horizon. No great number of days and back it came, broken-winged, less twenty of its oarsmen. No bride was with it, but a story of disaster, sudden inexplicable98 enmity of that island folk, found arrayed against them when they landed.... There arose a murmur46 in King Sandanis’s town.
Said Sandanis in council, “That island woman is not fair, and her brother who is king much resembles a quicksand. As well not treat with him, nor be called his friend!”
The cattle of the island fell sick. From every dell and meadow and mountain pasture came herdsmen ominously99 shaking the head, bringing to the town one tale. A solemn procession wound, men and women, and the king at the head, up to the fane above the sea. The god was pro{152}pitiated; the priest, a poplar wand in his hand, stood as in a trance, then opened his mouth and gave forth the words of the god. “The cattle will grow strong when the horns of a black, a white, and a red bull are touched with the life of the king’s latest prey.”
The crowd murmured like the sacred grove100. “That would mean,” said Sandanis, “the hare that yesterday ran through the court and was taken from under my cloak where it lay on the ground.” And he sent for the hare and sacrificed it, and touched the horns of the bulls with the blood. Likewise he gave to the god three great pots of brass and an image of silver.
That was one day. The next he took bow and quiver and with eight companions went hunting in the forest that stretched to the mountain-top. “I will shoot stag or doe that shall be latest prey,” said Sandanis to himself. But, going, a prodigy101 occurred. The sky blackened, then lightning rived an oak before him, and the spread of the bolt caused the king to reel, and made as dead for an hour right arm and right knee. The eight wove a litter of branches and brought him down through the forest. In sight of the king’s house vigour102 returned, and he stepped from the litter and made them scatter103 the branches. But he spoke no more of hunting, but held silence and a knitted brow. Entering the house, he went into his chamber104 and shutting out all, lay there in darkness and strife105 of mind. The eight, parting from the king, were not silent.
The cattle continued to sicken and to die. A monstrous106 hailstorm came and cut down the wheat and beat into ruin the dusters of young grapes. The fishermen of the island took few fish in their nets and those not the ones desired. At last the people said openly, “The king’s latest{153} prey, that he took with his two hands, who is it but that woman from the Amazon country?”
Sandanis, in his house, listened to the chief priest of the island, and he listened with a hunted mind and a divided will. “Man cannot avoid the god!” warned the dark priest. “If the god’s hand points to this abhorrent107 and barbarian108 woman, will King Sandanis say him nay109?”
“And if I did?” said Sandanis.
The priest rose and stood in the shadowy place. The king of men, the priest of the gods—these two were, or seemed to be, the greatest of the shapes that trod the earth! The king-shape appeared to have sinew and bulk, the priest-shape height. Sometimes the king-shape twisted the neck of the priest-shape, but ever the next hour it rose the same. Sometimes the priest-shape made the king-shape creep upon the earth, but never could it keep it there. Sometimes the two were friends, and though they used differing darts110, pursued the same quarry. Sometimes the two were one, priest-kings. In the countries where that was so the ruler-shape had power indeed.... In this island of the blue sea king and priest were two. But the priest had in his quiver awe of the huge supernatural. And all shapes, king-shapes and others, deeply feared those arrows, dipped in juices not of earth.
When now the chief priest stood in the dusk of the king’s chamber, Sandanis saw the bow in his hands and the arrow headed against himself. “King Sandanis! King Sandanis! The god will part your house from you, all your friends and your island—”
Sandanis, sitting upon his couch, clenched111 hands upon the wrought cedar112. The chief priest felt for and found a master arrow, and found it the sooner for that he, also, at{154} times, knew lands deeper than the land of worldly loss. He towered, he became the invulnerable Archer113. “Are you more great, O man! than God? Are you more wise than the Immortal114? Do you withstand? Then your part in him will dissolve like a cloud! It will pass like a cry when he is not listening!”
A seabird went by the king’s door with a whistling cry. Rose the priest’s voice, “A portent115!—A portent!—”
Men took and bound the Amazon in the king’s house. The priests made proclamation of a great and solemn procession to the fane and the altar above the sea. That was to be in the morning. In the deep middle of the night stole King Sandanis to the room hollowed in stone where there was wont116 to be kept the sacrifice until the east was red.
The two men without the door said naught117, but rested on the earth, their heads wrapped in their mantles119. The king went in, and there were two torches, burning gold-coloured and straight, and between them, bound to a stone sat Lindane.
Sandanis took station opposite. “Lindane! Lindane!”
Lindane opened her eyes. “Thou who would slay me! Are there no queens and priestesses to draw breath and cry ‘Save’?”
“Queens are but kings’ wives or mothers. If the god says ‘Sacrifice!’ will the priestesses say him nay?”
“The god! O Thou-who-bringest-forth! where art thou, my goddess?”
“Lindane, I love thee—and yet thou must die!”
“O Earth! this love!”
“Such as love is on earth, I have it for thee.”
“Maybe so,” answered the Amazon. “I have been{155} weary of the sun since you took me by numbers on my own sea-strand.”
“By strength of my own arm, also!”
“Strong arm, dull wit, unjust heart!”
“O woman, are you so different from me?”
“If I had here an apple,” said Lindane, “I would cut it in two, and give Sandanis half, keeping half myself. The two halves would not be different, but the king would have one, and a slave for the sacrifice the other!”
Sandanis came nearer to her. They kept silence in the rock-hewn place, then the island king uttered a cry. “When we fought that day in the wood by the salt meadow, yea, by the god! when I sent a javelin through the neck of your great white horse and dragged you down, it was as though many times we had fought and loved before!”
“Much fighting, little loving.—O my mother! O my queen!”
“Thou art for the sacrifice. I may not touch thee to help thee. The god has said it.”
“O Earth! This love that a god can make to be put off and on like a garment!”
“Unless a king were god, he could not help—”
“And would he then?... O my goddess, hear me!”
“The god’s word is over every goddess.... Lindane that diest, live if thou canst!”
“The grey rock town upon the grey mountains—”
“I that thought it was sweet, find it bitter to be king—”
“O my goddess! Back to me comes every sin.... The cock is crowing!”
The door was opened by the men without. King Sandanis hid head and face in his mantle118 and went from the{156} rock chamber, hallowed to the sacrifice. The cock crew again, the dawn opened slowly, like a red flower.
The processions formed in the town, in the countryside, before the king’s high house. The participants carried a sacred torch, they carried images of the god, they carried baskets of flowers and burning incense120. Music went with them. The priests and King Sandanis walked at the head, and behind them walked the Amazon. “Now the god will smile upon us!” sang the people. “For here is the king’s latest prey!”
In the wood, before the image of the god, upon the altar, they took the life of the sacrifice, and they touched with it the prows121 of the ships in the harbour, and the horns of bulls, red, white and black.
点击收听单词发音
1 gorge | |
n.咽喉,胃,暴食,山峡;v.塞饱,狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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2 gorges | |
n.山峡,峡谷( gorge的名词复数 );咽喉v.(用食物把自己)塞饱,填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 );作呕 | |
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3 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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4 herd | |
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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5 sapphire | |
n.青玉,蓝宝石;adj.天蓝色的 | |
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6 bleating | |
v.(羊,小牛)叫( bleat的现在分词 );哭诉;发出羊叫似的声音;轻声诉说 | |
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7 untied | |
松开,解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 ); 解除,使自由; 解决 | |
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8 untie | |
vt.解开,松开;解放 | |
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9 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
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10 caressed | |
爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11 contented | |
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的 | |
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12 crooked | |
adj.弯曲的;不诚实的,狡猾的,不正当的 | |
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13 oar | |
n.桨,橹,划手;v.划行 | |
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14 prow | |
n.(飞机)机头,船头 | |
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15 rattled | |
慌乱的,恼火的 | |
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16 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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17 talon | |
n.爪;(如爪般的)手指;爪状物 | |
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18 talons | |
n.(尤指猛禽的)爪( talon的名词复数 );(如爪般的)手指;爪状物;锁簧尖状突出部 | |
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19 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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20 akin | |
adj.同族的,类似的 | |
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21 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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22 brass | |
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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23 strand | |
vt.使(船)搁浅,使(某人)困于(某地) | |
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24 beak | |
n.鸟嘴,茶壶嘴,钩形鼻 | |
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25 wed | |
v.娶,嫁,与…结婚 | |
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26 javelin | |
n.标枪,投枪 | |
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27 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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28 severed | |
v.切断,断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 );断,裂 | |
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29 bridle | |
n.笼头,束缚;vt.抑制,约束;动怒 | |
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30 quarry | |
n.采石场;v.采石;费力地找 | |
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31 foe | |
n.敌人,仇敌 | |
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32 gallop | |
v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔;飞速发展 | |
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33 tenacious | |
adj.顽强的,固执的,记忆力强的,粘的 | |
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34 slain | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词) | |
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35 thongs | |
的东西 | |
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36 thong | |
n.皮带;皮鞭;v.装皮带 | |
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37 bind | |
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
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38 rite | |
n.典礼,惯例,习俗 | |
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39 kindling | |
n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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40 conqueror | |
n.征服者,胜利者 | |
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41 isle | |
n.小岛,岛 | |
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42 desolate | |
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂 | |
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43 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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44 blanched | |
v.使变白( blanch的过去式 );使(植物)不见阳光而变白;酸洗(金属)使有光泽;用沸水烫(杏仁等)以便去皮 | |
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45 favourable | |
adj.赞成的,称赞的,有利的,良好的,顺利的 | |
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46 murmur | |
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
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47 vanquished | |
v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 );战胜;克服;抑制 | |
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48 demon | |
n.魔鬼,恶魔 | |
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49 meridian | |
adj.子午线的;全盛期的 | |
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50 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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51 bestowed | |
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52 oars | |
n.桨,橹( oar的名词复数 );划手v.划(行)( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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53 hoisted | |
把…吊起,升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54 steered | |
v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 );操纵;控制;引导 | |
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55 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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56 stunned | |
adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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57 blanching | |
adj.漂白的n.热烫v.使变白( blanch的现在分词 );使(植物)不见阳光而变白;酸洗(金属)使有光泽;用沸水烫(杏仁等)以便去皮 | |
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58 limestone | |
n.石灰石 | |
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59 glades | |
n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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60 herds | |
兽群( herd的名词复数 ); 牧群; 人群; 群众 | |
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61 acorn | |
n.橡实,橡子 | |
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62 shipwright | |
n.造船工人 | |
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63 ornament | |
v.装饰,美化;n.装饰,装饰物 | |
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64 swooping | |
俯冲,猛冲( swoop的现在分词 ) | |
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65 politic | |
adj.有智虑的;精明的;v.从政 | |
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66 professed | |
公开声称的,伪称的,已立誓信教的 | |
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67 dominant | |
adj.支配的,统治的;占优势的;显性的;n.主因,要素,主要的人(或物);显性基因 | |
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68 awe | |
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧 | |
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69 quay | |
n.码头,靠岸处 | |
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70 swarm | |
n.(昆虫)等一大群;vi.成群飞舞;蜂拥而入 | |
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71 implements | |
n.工具( implement的名词复数 );家具;手段;[法律]履行(契约等)v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 );执行;贯彻;使生效 | |
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72 dwindled | |
v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73 carouse | |
v.狂欢;痛饮;n.狂饮的宴会 | |
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74 dwindling | |
adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 ) | |
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75 deity | |
n.神,神性;被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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76 enthusiast | |
n.热心人,热衷者 | |
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77 lessened | |
减少的,减弱的 | |
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78 loom | |
n.织布机,织机;v.隐现,(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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79 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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80 Flared | |
adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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81 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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82 maiden | |
n.少女,处女;adj.未婚的,纯洁的,无经验的 | |
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83 liking | |
n.爱好;嗜好;喜欢 | |
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84 conspire | |
v.密谋,(事件等)巧合,共同导致 | |
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85 slay | |
v.杀死,宰杀,杀戮 | |
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86 rend | |
vt.把…撕开,割裂;把…揪下来,强行夺取 | |
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87 revel | |
vi.狂欢作乐,陶醉;n.作乐,狂欢 | |
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88 exalted | |
adj.(地位等)高的,崇高的;尊贵的,高尚的 | |
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89 rape | |
n.抢夺,掠夺,强奸;vt.掠夺,抢夺,强奸 | |
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90 eloquence | |
n.雄辩;口才,修辞 | |
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91 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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92 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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93 foaming | |
adj.布满泡沫的;发泡 | |
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94 binding | |
有约束力的,有效的,应遵守的 | |
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95 amity | |
n.友好关系 | |
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96 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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97 smeared | |
弄脏; 玷污; 涂抹; 擦上 | |
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98 inexplicable | |
adj.无法解释的,难理解的 | |
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99 ominously | |
adv.恶兆地,不吉利地;预示地 | |
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100 grove | |
n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
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101 prodigy | |
n.惊人的事物,奇迹,神童,天才,预兆 | |
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102 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
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103 scatter | |
vt.撒,驱散,散开;散布/播;vi.分散,消散 | |
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104 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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105 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
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106 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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107 abhorrent | |
adj.可恶的,可恨的,讨厌的 | |
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108 barbarian | |
n.野蛮人;adj.野蛮(人)的;未开化的 | |
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109 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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110 darts | |
n.掷飞镖游戏;飞镖( dart的名词复数 );急驰,飞奔v.投掷,投射( dart的第三人称单数 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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111 clenched | |
v.紧握,抓紧,咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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112 cedar | |
n.雪松,香柏(木) | |
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113 archer | |
n.射手,弓箭手 | |
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114 immortal | |
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的 | |
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115 portent | |
n.预兆;恶兆;怪事 | |
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116 wont | |
adj.习惯于;v.习惯;n.习惯 | |
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117 naught | |
n.无,零 [=nought] | |
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118 mantle | |
n.斗篷,覆罩之物,罩子;v.罩住,覆盖,脸红 | |
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119 mantles | |
vt.&vi.覆盖(mantle的第三人称单数形式) | |
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120 incense | |
v.激怒;n.香,焚香时的烟,香气 | |
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121 prows | |
n.船首( prow的名词复数 ) | |
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