For,—and a shrouding1 sheet:
O, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
—Song in Hamlet.
“Stand back! stand off, the whole of ye!” said Esther hoarsely2 to the crowd, which pressed too closely on the corpse3; “I am his mother, and my right is better than that of ye all! Who has done this? Tell me, Ishmael, Abiram, Abner! open your mouths and your hearts, and let God's truth and no other issue from them. Who has done this bloody4 deed?”
Her husband made no reply, but stood, leaning on his rifle, looking sadly, but with an unaltered eye, at the mangled5 remains6 of his son. Not so the mother, she threw herself on the earth, and receiving the cold and ghastly head into her lap, she sat contemplating7 those muscular features, on which the death-agony was still horridly8 impressed, in a silence far more expressive9 than any language of lamentation10 could have proved.
The voice of the woman was frozen in grief. In vain Ishmael attempted a few words of rude consolation11; she neither listened nor answered. Her sons gathered about her in a circle, and expressed, after their uncouth12 manner, their sympathy in her sorrow, as well as their sense of their own loss, but she motioned them away, impatiently with her hand. At times her fingers played in the matted hair of the dead, and at others they lightly attempted to smooth the painfully expressive muscles of its ghastly visage, as the hand of the mother is seen lingering fondly about the features of her sleeping child. Then starting from their revolting office, her hands would flutter around her, and seem to seek some fruitless remedy against the violent blow, which had thus suddenly destroyed the child in whom she had not only placed her greatest hopes, but so much of her maternal13 pride. While engaged in the latter incomprehensible manner, the lethargic15 Abner turned aside, and swallowing the unwonted emotions which were rising in his own throat, he observed—
“Mother means that we should look for the signs, that we may know in what manner Asa has come by his end.”
“We owe it to the accursed Siouxes!” answered Ishmael: “twice have they put me deeply in their debt! The third time, the score shall be cleared!”
But, not content with this plausible16 explanation, and, perhaps, secretly glad to avert17 their eyes from a spectacle which awakened18 so extraordinary and unusual sensations in their sluggish19 bosoms20, the sons of the squatter22 turned away in a body from their mother and the corpse, and proceeded to make the enquiries which they fancied the former had so repeatedly demanded. Ishmael made no objections; but, though he accompanied his children while they proceeded in the investigation23, it was more with the appearance of complying with their wishes, at a time when resistance might not be seemly, than with any visible interest in the result. As the borderers, notwithstanding their usual dulness, were well instructed in most things connected with their habits of life, an enquiry, the success of which depended so much on signs and evidences that bore so strong a resemblance to a forest trail, was likely to be conducted with skill and acuteness. Accordingly, they proceeded to the melancholy25 task with great readiness and intelligence.
Abner and Enoch agreed in their accounts as to the position in which they had found the body. It was seated nearly upright, the back supported by a mass of matted brush, and one hand still grasping a broken twig26 of the alders27. It was most probably owing to the former circumstance that the body had escaped the rapacity28 of the carrion29 birds, which had been seen hovering30 above the thicket31, and the latter proved that life had not yet entirely32 abandoned the hapless victim when he entered the brake. The opinion now became general, that the youth had received his death-wound in the open prairie, and had dragged his enfeebled form into the cover of the thicket for the purpose of concealment34. A trail through the bushes confirmed this opinion. It also appeared, on examination, that a desperate struggle had taken place on the very margin35 of the thicket. This was sufficiently36 apparent by the trodden branches, the deep impressions on the moist ground, and the lavish37 flow of blood.
“He has been shot in the open ground and come here for a cover,” said Abiram; “these marks would clearly prove it. The boy has been set upon by the savages39 in a body, and has fou't like a hero as he was, until they have mastered his strength, and then drawn40 him to the bushes.”
To this probable opinion there was now but one dissenting41 voice, that of the slow-minded Ishmael, who demanded that the corpse itself should be examined in order to obtain a more accurate knowledge of its injuries. On examination, it appeared that a rifle bullet had passed directly through the body of the deceased, entering beneath one of his brawny42 shoulders, and making its exit by the breast. It required some knowledge in gun-shot wounds to decide this delicate point, but the experience of the borderers was quite equal to the scrutiny43; and a smile of wild, and certainly of singular satisfaction, passed among the sons of Ishmael, when Abner confidently announced that the enemies of Asa had assailed44 him in the rear.
“It must be so,” said the gloomy but attentive45 squatter. “He was of too good a stock and too well trained, knowingly to turn the weak side to man or beast! Remember, boys, that while the front of manhood is to your enemy, let him be who or what he may, you ar' safe from cowardly surprise. Why, Eester, woman! you ar' getting beside yourself; with picking at the hair and the garments of the child! Little good can you do him now, old girl.”
“See!” interrupted Enoch, extricating46 from the fragments of cloth the morsel47 of lead which had prostrated48 the strength of one so powerful; “here is the very bullet!”
Ishmael took it in his hand and eyed it long and closely.
“There's no mistake,” at length he muttered through his compressed teeth. “It is from the pouch49 of that accursed trapper. Like many of the hunters he has a mark in his mould, in order to know the work his rifle performs; and here you see it plainly—six little holes, laid crossways.”
“I'll swear to it!” cried Abiram, triumphantly50. “He show'd me his private mark, himself, and boasted of the number of deer he had laid upon the prairies with these very bullets! Now, Ishmael, will you believe me when I tell you the old knave51 is a spy of the red-skins?”
The lead passed from the hand of one to that of another, and unfortunately for the reputation of the old man, several among them remembered also to have seen the aforesaid private bullet-marks, during the curious examination which all had made of his accoutrements. In addition to this wound, however, were many others of a less dangerous nature, all of which were supposed to confirm the supposed guilt52 of the trapper.
The traces of many different struggles were to be seen, between the spot where the first blood was spilt and the thicket to which it was now generally believed Asa had retreated, as a place of refuge. These were interpreted into so many proofs of the weakness of the murderer, who would have sooner despatched his victim, had not even the dying strength of the youth rendered him formidable to the infirmities of one so old. The danger of drawing some others of the hunters to the spot, by repeated firing, was deemed a sufficient reason for not again resorting to the rifle, after it had performed the important duty of disabling the victim. The weapon of the dead man was not to be found, and had doubtless, together with many other less valuable and lighter53 articles, that he was accustomed to carry about his person, become a prize to his destroyer.
But what, in addition to the tell-tale bullet, appeared to fix the ruthless deed with peculiar54 certainty on the trapper, was the accumulated evidence furnished by the trail; which proved, notwithstanding his deadly hurt, that the wounded man had still been able to make a long and desperate resistance to the subsequent efforts of his murderer. Ishmael seemed to press this proof with a singular mixture of sorrow and pride: sorrow, at the loss of a son, whom in their moments of amity55 he highly valued; and pride, at the courage and power he had manifested to his last and weakest breath.
“He died as a son of mine should die,” said the squatter, gleaning56 a hollow consolation from so unnatural57 an exultation58: “a dread59 to his enemy to the last, and without help from the law! Come, children; we have the grave to make, and then to hunt his murderer.”
The sons of the squatter set about their melancholy office, in silence and in sadness. An excavation60 was made in the hard earth, at a great expense of toil61 and time, and the body was wrapped in such spare vestments as could be collected among the labourers. When these arrangements were completed, Ishmael approached the seemingly unconscious Esther, and announced his intention to inter24 the dead. She heard him, and quietly relinquished62 her grasp of the corpse, rising in silence to follow it to its narrow resting place. Here she seated herself again at the head of the grave, watching each movement of the youths with eager and jealous eyes. When a sufficiency of earth was laid upon the senseless clay of Asa, to protect it from injury, Enoch and Abner entered the cavity, and trode it into a solid mass, by the weight of their huge frames, with an appearance of a strange, not to say savage38, mixture of care and indifference63. This well-known precaution was adopted to prevent the speedy exhumation64 of the body by some of the carnivorous beasts of the prairie, whose instinct was sure to guide them to the spot. Even the rapacious65 birds appeared to comprehend the nature of the ceremony, for, mysteriously apprised66 that the miserable67 victim was now about to be abandoned by the human race, they once more began to make their airy circuits above the place, screaming, as if to frighten the kinsmen68 from their labour of caution and love.
Ishmael stood, with folded arms, steadily69 watching the manner in which this necessary duty was performed, and when the whole was completed, he lifted his cap to his sons, to thank them for their services, with a dignity that would have become one much better nurtured70. Throughout the whole of a ceremony, which is ever solemn and admonitory, the squatter had maintained a grave and serious deportment. His vast features were visibly stamped with an expression of deep concern; but at no time did they falter71, until he turned his back, as he believed for ever, on the grave of his first-born. Nature was then stirring powerfully within him, and the muscles of his stern visage began to work perceptibly. His children fastened their eyes on his, as if to seek a direction to the strange emotions which were moving their own heavy natures, when the struggle in the bosom21 of the squatter suddenly ceased, and, taking his wife by the arm, he raised her to her feet as if she had been an infant, saying, in a voice that was perfectly72 steady, though a nice observer would have discovered that it was kinder than usual—
“Eester, we have now done all that man and woman can do. We raised the boy, and made him such as few others were like, on the frontiers of America; and we have given him a grave. Let us go our way.”
The woman turned her eyes slowly from the fresh earth, and laying her hands on the shoulders of her husband, stood, looking him anxiously in the eyes.
“Ishmael! Ishmael!” she said, “you parted from the boy in your wrath73!”
“May the Lord pardon his sins freely as I have forgiven his worst misdeeds!” calmly returned the squatter: “woman, go you back to the rock and read your Bible; a chapter in that book always does you good. You can read, Eester; which is a privilege I never did enjoy.”
“Yes, yes,” muttered the woman, yielding to his strength, and suffering herself to be led, though with strong reluctance74 from the spot. “I can read; and how have I used the knowledge! But he, Ishmael, he has not the sin of wasted l'arning to answer for. We have spared him that, at least! whether it be in mercy, or in cruelty, I know not.”
Her husband made no reply, but continued steadily to lead her in the direction of their temporary abode75. When they reached the summit of the swell76 of land, which they knew was the last spot from which the situation of the grave of Asa could be seen, they all turned, as by common concurrence77, to take a farewell view of the place. The little mound78 itself was not visible; but it was frightfully indicated by the flock of screaming birds which hovered79 above. In the opposite direction a low, blue hillock, in the skirts of the horizon, pointed80 out the place where Esther had left the rest of her young, and served as an attraction to draw her reluctant steps from the last abode of her eldest81 born. Nature quickened in the bosom of the mother at the sight; and she finally yielded the rights of the dead, to the more urgent claims of the living.
The foregoing occurrences had struck a spark from the stern tempers of a set of beings so singularly moulded in the habits of their uncultivated lives, which served to keep alive among them the dying embers of family affection. United to their parents by ties no stronger than those which use had created, there had been great danger, as Ishmael had foreseen, that the overloaded82 hive would swarm83, and leave him saddled with the difficulties of a young and helpless brood, unsupported by the exertions84 of those, whom he had already brought to a state of maturity85. The spirit of insubordination, which emanated86 from the unfortunate Asa, had spread among his juniors; and the squatter had been made painfully to remember the time when, in the wantonness of his youth and vigour87, he had, reversing the order of the brutes88, cast off his own aged14 and failing parents, to enter into the world unshackled and free. But the danger had now abated89, for a time at least; and if his authority was not restored with all its former influence, it was admitted to exist, and to maintain its ascendency a little longer.
It is true that his slow-minded sons, even while they submitted to the impressions of the recent event, had glimmerings of terrible distrusts, as to the manner in which their elder brother had met with his death. There were faint and indistinct images in the minds of two or three of the oldest, which portrayed90 the father himself, as ready to imitate the example of Abraham, without the justification91 of the sacred authority which commanded the holy man to attempt the revolting office. But then, these images were so transient, and so much obscured in intellectual mists, as to leave no very strong impressions, and the tendency of the whole transaction, as we have already said, was rather to strengthen than to weaken the authority of Ishmael.
In this disposition92 of mind, the party continued their route towards the place whence they had that morning issued on a search which had been crowned with so melancholy a success. The long and fruitless march which they had made under the direction of Abiram, the discovery of the body, and its subsequent interment, had so far consumed the day, that by the time their steps were retraced93 across the broad track of waste which lay between the grave of Asa and the rock, the sun had fallen far below his meridian94 altitude. The hill had gradually risen as they approached, like some tower emerging from the bosom of the sea, and when within a mile, the minuter objects that crowned its height came dimly into view.
“It will be a sad meeting for the girls!” said Ishmael, who, from time to time, did not cease to utter something which he intended should be consolatory95 to the bruised96 spirit of his partner. “Asa was much regarded by all the young; and seldom failed to bring in from his hunts something that they loved.”
“He did, he did,” murmured Esther; “the boy was the pride of the family. My other children are as nothing to him!”
“Say not so, good woman,” returned the father, glancing his eye a little proudly at the athletic97 train which followed, at no great distance, in the rear”. Say not so, old Eester, for few fathers and mothers have greater reason to be boastful than ourselves.”
“Thankful, thankful,” muttered the humbled98 woman; “ye mean thankful, Ishmael!”
“Then thankful let it be, if you like the word better, my good girl,—but what has become of Nelly and the young? The child has forgotten the charge I gave her, and has not only suffered the children to sleep, but, I warrant you, is dreaming of the fields of Tennessee at this very moment. The mind of your niece is mainly fixed99 on the settlements, I reckon.”
“Ay, she is not for us; I said it, and thought it, when I took her, because death had stripped her of all other friends. Death is a sad worker in the bosom of families, Ishmael! Asa had a kind feeling to the child, and they might have come one day into our places, had things been so ordered.”
“Nay, she is not gifted for a frontier wife, if this is the manner she is to keep house while the husband is on the hunt. Abner, let off your rifle, that they may know we ar' coming. I fear Nelly and the young ar' asleep.” The young man complied with an alacrity100 that manifested how gladly he would see the rounded, active figure of Ellen, enlivening the ragged33 summit of the rock. But the report was succeeded by neither signal nor answer of any sort. For a moment, the whole party stood in suspense101, awaiting the result, and then a simultaneous impulse caused the whole to let off their pieces at the same instant, producing a noise which might not fail to reach the ears of all within so short a distance.
“Ah! there they come at last!” cried Abiram, who was usually among the first to seize on any circumstance which promised relief from disagreeable apprehensions102.
“It is a petticoat fluttering on the line,” said Esther; “I put it there myself.”
“You ar' right; but now she comes; the jade103 has been taking her comfort in the tent!”
“It is not so,” said Ishmael, whose usually inflexible104 features were beginning to manifest the uneasiness he felt. “It is the tent itself blowing about loosely in the wind. They have loosened the bottom, like silly children as they ar', and unless care is had, the whole will come down!”
The words were scarcely uttered before a rushing blast of wind swept by the spot where they stood, raising the dust in little eddies105, in its progress; and then, as if guided by a master hand, it quitted the earth, and mounted to the precise spot on which all eyes were just then riveted106. The loosened linen107 felt its influence and tottered108; but regained109 its poise110, and, for a moment, it became tranquil111. The cloud of leaves next played in circling revolutions around the place, and then descended112 with the velocity113 of a swooping114 hawk115, and sailed away into the prairie in long straight lines, like a flight of swallows resting on their expanded wings. They were followed for some distance by the snow-white tent, which, however, soon fell behind the rock, leaving its highest peak as naked as when it lay in the entire solitude116 of the desert.
“The murderers have been here!” moaned Esther. “My babes! my babes!”
For a moment even Ishmael faltered117 before the weight of so unexpected a blow. But shaking himself, like an awakened lion, he sprang forward, and pushing aside the impediments of the barrier, as if they had been feathers, he rushed up the ascent118 with an impetuosity which proved how formidable a sluggish nature may become, when thoroughly119 aroused.
点击收听单词发音
1 shrouding | |
n.覆盖v.隐瞒( shroud的现在分词 );保密 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 hoarsely | |
adv.嘶哑地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 corpse | |
n.尸体,死尸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 mangled | |
vt.乱砍(mangle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 contemplating | |
深思,细想,仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 ); 注视,凝视; 考虑接受(发生某事的可能性); 深思熟虑,沉思,苦思冥想 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 horridly | |
可怕地,讨厌地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 expressive | |
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 lamentation | |
n.悲叹,哀悼 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 consolation | |
n.安慰,慰问 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 uncouth | |
adj.无教养的,粗鲁的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 maternal | |
adj.母亲的,母亲般的,母系的,母方的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 lethargic | |
adj.昏睡的,懒洋洋的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 plausible | |
adj.似真实的,似乎有理的,似乎可信的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 avert | |
v.防止,避免;转移(目光、注意力等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 awakened | |
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 sluggish | |
adj.懒惰的,迟钝的,无精打采的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 bosoms | |
胸部( bosom的名词复数 ); 胸怀; 女衣胸部(或胸襟); 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 squatter | |
n.擅自占地者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 investigation | |
n.调查,调查研究 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 inter | |
v.埋葬 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 twig | |
n.小树枝,嫩枝;v.理解 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 alders | |
n.桤木( alder的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 rapacity | |
n.贪婪,贪心,劫掠的欲望 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 carrion | |
n.腐肉 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 hovering | |
鸟( hover的现在分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 thicket | |
n.灌木丛,树林 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 concealment | |
n.隐藏, 掩盖,隐瞒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 margin | |
n.页边空白;差额;余地,余裕;边,边缘 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 lavish | |
adj.无节制的;浪费的;vt.慷慨地给予,挥霍 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 savages | |
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 dissenting | |
adj.不同意的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 brawny | |
adj.强壮的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 scrutiny | |
n.详细检查,仔细观察 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 assailed | |
v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 );困扰;质问;毅然应对 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 attentive | |
adj.注意的,专心的;关心(别人)的,殷勤的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 extricating | |
v.使摆脱困难,脱身( extricate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 morsel | |
n.一口,一点点 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 prostrated | |
v.使俯伏,使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 );(指疾病、天气等)使某人无能为力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 pouch | |
n.小袋,小包,囊状袋;vt.装...入袋中,用袋运输;vi.用袋送信件 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 knave | |
n.流氓;(纸牌中的)杰克 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 guilt | |
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 lighter | |
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 amity | |
n.友好关系 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 gleaning | |
n.拾落穗,拾遗,落穗v.一点点地收集(资料、事实)( glean的现在分词 );(收割后)拾穗 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 unnatural | |
adj.不自然的;反常的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 exultation | |
n.狂喜,得意 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 excavation | |
n.挖掘,发掘;被挖掘之地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 toil | |
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 relinquished | |
交出,让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 ); 放弃 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 exhumation | |
n.掘尸,发掘;剥璐 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 rapacious | |
adj.贪婪的,强夺的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 apprised | |
v.告知,通知( apprise的过去式和过去分词 );评价 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
67 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
68 kinsmen | |
n.家属,亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
69 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
70 nurtured | |
养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 ); 培育; 滋长; 助长 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
71 falter | |
vi.(嗓音)颤抖,结巴地说;犹豫;蹒跚 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
72 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
73 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
74 reluctance | |
n.厌恶,讨厌,勉强,不情愿 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
75 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
76 swell | |
vi.膨胀,肿胀;增长,增强 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
77 concurrence | |
n.同意;并发 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
78 mound | |
n.土墩,堤,小山;v.筑堤,用土堆防卫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
79 hovered | |
鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
80 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
81 eldest | |
adj.最年长的,最年老的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
82 overloaded | |
a.超载的,超负荷的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
83 swarm | |
n.(昆虫)等一大群;vi.成群飞舞;蜂拥而入 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
84 exertions | |
n.努力( exertion的名词复数 );费力;(能力、权力等的)运用;行使 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
85 maturity | |
n.成熟;完成;(支票、债券等)到期 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
86 emanated | |
v.从…处传出,传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 );产生,表现,显示 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
87 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
88 brutes | |
兽( brute的名词复数 ); 畜生; 残酷无情的人; 兽性 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
89 abated | |
减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 ); 减去; 降价; 撤消(诉讼) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
90 portrayed | |
v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 );描述;描绘;描画 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
91 justification | |
n.正当的理由;辩解的理由 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
92 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
93 retraced | |
v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 );回忆;回顾;追溯 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
94 meridian | |
adj.子午线的;全盛期的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
95 consolatory | |
adj.慰问的,可藉慰的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
96 bruised | |
[医]青肿的,瘀紫的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
97 athletic | |
adj.擅长运动的,强健的;活跃的,体格健壮的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
98 humbled | |
adj. 卑下的,谦逊的,粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下,贬低 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
99 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
100 alacrity | |
n.敏捷,轻快,乐意 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
101 suspense | |
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
102 apprehensions | |
疑惧 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
103 jade | |
n.玉石;碧玉;翡翠 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
104 inflexible | |
adj.不可改变的,不受影响的,不屈服的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
105 eddies | |
(水、烟等的)漩涡,涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
106 riveted | |
铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 ); 把…固定住; 吸引; 引起某人的注意 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
107 linen | |
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
108 tottered | |
v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 );踉跄;蹒跚;摇摇欲坠 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
109 regained | |
复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 ); 赢回; 重回; 复至某地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
110 poise | |
vt./vi. 平衡,保持平衡;n.泰然自若,自信 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
111 tranquil | |
adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
112 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
113 velocity | |
n.速度,速率 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
114 swooping | |
俯冲,猛冲( swoop的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
115 hawk | |
n.鹰,骗子;鹰派成员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
116 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
117 faltered | |
(嗓音)颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 ); 支吾其词; 蹒跚; 摇晃 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
118 ascent | |
n.(声望或地位)提高;上升,升高;登高 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
119 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |