~1~
When I was twenty-four years old, my uncle was killed in a laboratory explosion. He had been a scientist of renown2 and a chemical inventor who had devoted3 his life to the unravelling4 of the secrets of the synthetic5 foods of Germany. For some years I had been his trusted assistant. In our Chicago laboratory were carefully preserved food samples that had been taken from the captured submarines in years gone by; and what to me was even more fascinating, a collection of German books of like origin, which I had read with avidity. With the exception of those relating to submarine navigation, I found them stupidly childish and decided6 that they had been prepared to hide the truth and not reveal it.
My uncle had bequeathed me both his work and his fortune, but despairing of my ability worthily7 to continue his own brilliant researches on synthetic food, I turned my attention to the potash problem, in which I had long been interested. My reading of early chemical works had given me a particular interest in the reclamation8 of the abandoned potash mines of Stassfurt. These mines, as any student of chemical history will know, were one of the richest properties of the old German state in the days before the endless war began and Germany became isolated9 from the rest of the world. The mines were captured by the World in the year 2020, and were profitably operated for a couple of decades. Meanwhile the German lines were forced many miles to the rear before the impregnable barrier of the Ray had halted the progress of the World Armies.
A few years after the coming of the Ray defences, occurred what history records as "The Tragedy of the Mines." Six thousand workmen went down into the potash mines of Stassfurt one morning and never came up again. The miners' families in the neighbouring villages died like weevils in fumigated10 grain. The region became a valley of pestilence11 and death, and all life withered12 for miles around. Numerous governmental projects were launched for the recovery of the potash mines but all failed, and for one hundred and eleven years no man had penetrated14 those accursed shafts16.
Knowing these facts, I wasted no time in soliciting17 government aid for my project, but was content to secure a permit to attempt the recovery with private funds, with which my uncle's fortune supplied me in abundance.
In April, 2151, I set up my laboratory on the edge of the area of death. I had never accepted the orthodox view as to the composition of the gas that issued from the Stassfurt mines. In a few months I was gratified to find my doubts confirmed. A short time after this I made a more unexpected and astonishing discovery. I found that this complex and hitherto misunderstood gas could, under the influence of certain high-frequency electrical discharges, be made to combine with explosive violence with the nitrogen of the atmosphere, leaving only a harmless residue18. We wired the surrounding region for the electrical discharge and, with a vast explosion of weird19 purple flame, cleared the whole area of the century-old curse. Our laboratory was destroyed by the explosion. It was rebuilt nearer the mine shafts from which the gas still slowly issued. Again we set up our electrical machinery20 and dropped our cables into the shafts, this time clearing the air of the mines.
A hasty exploration revealed the fact that but a single shaft15 had remained intact. A third time we prepared our electrical machinery. We let down a cable and succeeded in getting but a faint reaction at the bottom of the shaft. After several repeated clearings we risked descent.
Upon arrival at the bottom we were surprised to find it free from water, save for a trickling21 stream. The second thing we discovered was a pile of huddled22 skeletons of the workmen who had perished over a century previous. But our third and most important discovery was a boring from which the poisonous gas was slowly issuing. It took but a few hours to provide an apparatus23 to fire this gas as fast as it issued, and the potash mines of Stassfurt were regained24 for the world.
My associates were for beginning mining operations at once, but I had been granted a twenty years' franchise25 on the output of these mines, and I was in no such haste. The boring from which this poisonous vapour issued was clearly man-made; moreover I alone knew the formula of that gas and had convinced myself once for all as to its man-made origin. I sent for microphones and with their aid speedily detected the sound of machinery in other workings beneath.
It is easy now to see that I erred26 in risking my own life as I did without the precaution of confiding27 the secret of my discovery to others. But those were days of feverish28 excitement. Impulsively29 I decided to make the first attack on the Germans as a private enterprise and then call for military aid. I had my own equipment of poisonous bombs and my sapping and mining experts determined30 that the German workings were but eighty metres beneath us. Hastily, among the crumbling31 skeletons, we set up our electrical boring machinery and began sinking a one-metre shaft towards the nearest sound.
After twenty hours of boring, the drill head suddenly came off and rattled33 down into a cavern34. We saw a light and heard guttural shouting below and the cracking of a gun as a few bullets spattered against the roof of our chamber35. We heaved down our gas bombs and covered over our shaft. Within a few hours the light below went out and our microphones failed to detect any sound from the rocks beneath us. It was then perhaps that I should have called for military aid, but the uncanny silence of the lower workings proved too much for my eager curiosity. We waited two days and still there was no evidence of life below. I knew there had been ample time for the gas from our bombs to have been dissipated, as it was decomposed36 by contact with moisture. A light was lowered, but this brought forth37 no response.
I now called for a volunteer to descend38 the shaft. None was forthcoming from among my men, and against their protest I insisted on being lowered into the shaft. When I was a few metres from the bottom the cable parted and I fell and lay stunned39 on the floor below.
~2~
When I recovered consciousness the light had gone out. There was no sound about me. I shouted up the shaft above and could get no answer. The chamber in which I lay was many times my height and I could make nothing out in the dark hole above. For some hours I scarcely stirred and feared to burn my pocket flash both because it might reveal my presence to lurking40 enemies and because I wished to conserve41 my battery against graver need.
But no rescue came from my men above. Only recently, after the lapse42 of years, did I learn the cause of their deserting me. As I lay stunned from my fall, my men, unable to get answer to their shoutings, had given me up for dead. Meanwhile the apparatus which caused the destruction of the German gas had gone wrong. My associates, unable to fix it, had fled from the mine and abandoned the enterprise.
After some hours of waiting I stirred about and found means to erect43 a rough scaffold and reach the mouth of the shaft above me. I attempted to climb, but, unable to get a hold on the smooth wet rock, I gave up exhausted44 and despairing. Entombed in the depths of the earth, I was either a prisoner of the German potash miners, if any remained alive, or a prisoner of the earth itself, with dead men for company.
Collecting my courage I set about to explore my surroundings. I found some mining machinery evidently damaged by the explosion of our gas bombs. There was no evidence of men about, living or dead. Stealthily I set out along the little railway track that ran through a passage down a steep incline. As I progressed I felt the air rapidly becoming colder. Presently I stumbled upon the first victim of our gas bombs, fallen headlong as he was fleeing. I hurried on. The air seemed to be blowing in my face and the cold was becoming intense. This puzzled me for at this depth the temperature should have been above that on the surface of the earth.
After a hundred metres or so of going I came into a larger chamber. It was intensely cold. From out another branching passage-way I could hear a sizzling sound as of steam escaping. I started to turn into this passage but was met with such a blast of cold air that I dared not face it for fear of being frozen. Stamping my feet, which were fast becoming numb45, I made the rounds of the chamber, and examined the dead miners that were tumbled about. The bodies were frozen.
One side of this chamber was partitioned off with some sort of metal wall. The door stood blown open. It felt a little warmer in here and I entered and closed the door. Exploring the room with my dim light I found one side of it filled with a row of bunks47--in each bunk46 a corpse48. Along the other side of the room was a table with eating utensils49 and back of this were shelves with food packages.
I was in danger of freezing to death and, tumbling several bodies out of the bunks, I took the mattresses50 and built of them a clumsy enclosure and installed in their midst a battery heater which I found. In this fashion I managed to get fairly warm again. After some hours of huddling51 I observed that the temperature had moderated.
My fear of freezing abated52, I made another survey of my surroundings and discovered something that had escaped my first attention. In the far end of the room was a desk, and seated before it with his head fallen forward on his arms was the form of a man. The miners had all been dressed in a coarse artificial leather, but this man was dressed in a woven fabric53 of cellulose silk.
The body was frozen. As I tumbled it stiffly back it fell from the chair exposing a ghastly face. I drew away in a creepy horror, for as I looked at the face of the corpse I suffered a sort of waking nightmare in which I imagined that I was gazing at my own dead countenance54.
I concluded that my normal mind was slipping out of gear and proceeded to back off and avail myself of a tube of stimulant55 which I carried in my pocket.
This revived me somewhat, but again, when I tried to look upon the frozen face, the conviction returned that I was looking at my own dead self.
I glanced at my watch and figured out that I had been in the German mine for thirty hours and had not tasted food or drink for nearly forty hours. Clearly I had to get myself in shape to escape hallucinations. I went back to the shelves and proceeded to look for food and drink. Happily, due to my work in my uncle's laboratory, these synthetic foods were not wholly strange to me. I drank copiously56 of a non-alcoholic chemical liquor and warmed on the heater and partook of some nitrogenous and some starchy porridges. It was an uncanny dining place, but hunger soon conquers mere57 emotion, and I made out a meal. Then once more I faced the task of confronting this dead likeness58 of myself.
This time I was clear-headed enough. I even went to the miners' lavatory59 and, jerking down the metal mirror, scrutinized60 my own reflection and reassured61 myself of the closeness of the resemblance. My purpose framed in my mind as I did this. Clearly I was in German quarters and was likely to remain there. Sooner or later there must be a rescuing party.
Without further ado, I set about changing my clothing for that of the German. The fit of the dead man's clothes further emphasized the closeness of the physical likeness. I recalled my excellent command of the German language and began to wonder what manner of man I was supposed to be in this assumed personality. But my most urgent task was speedily to make way with the incriminating corpse. With the aid of the brighter flashlight which I found in my new pockets, I set out to find a place to hide the body.
The cold that had so frightened me had now given way to almost normal temperature. There was no longer the sound of sizzling steam from the unexplored passage-way. I followed this and presently came upon another chamber filled with machinery. In one corner a huge engine, covered with frost, gave off a chill greeting. On the floor was a steaming puddle62 of liquid, but the breath of this steam cut like a blizzard63. At once I guessed it. This was a liquid air engine. The dead engineer in the corner helped reveal the story. With his death from the penetrating64 gas, something had gone wrong with the engine. The turbine head had blown off, and the conveying pipe of liquid air had poured forth the icy blast that had so nearly frozen me along with the corpses65 of the Germans. But now the flow of liquid had ceased, and the last remnants were evaporating from the floor. Evidently the supply pipe had been shut off further back on the line, and I had little time to lose for rescuers were probably on the way.
Along one of the corridors running from the engine room I found an open water drain half choked with melting ice. Following this I came upon a grating where the water disappeared. I jerked up the grating and dropped a piece of ice down the well-like shaft. I hastily returned and dragged forth the corpse of my double and with it everything I had myself brought into the mine. Straightening out the stiffened66 body I plunged67 it head foremost into the opening. The sound of a splash echoed within the dismal68 depths.
I now hastened back to the chamber into which I had first fallen and destroyed the scaffolding I had erected69 there. Returning to the desk where I had found the man whose clothing I wore, I sat down and proceeded to search my abundantly filled pockets. From one of them I pulled out a bulky notebook and a number of loose papers. The freshest of these was an official order from the Imperial Office of Chemical Engineers. The order ran as follows:
Capt. Karl Armstadt
Laboratory 186, E. 58.
Report is received at this office of the sound of sapping operations in potash mine D5. Go at once and verify the same and report of condition of gas generators70 and make analyses of output of the same.
Evidently I was Karl Armstadt and very happily a chemical engineer by profession. My task of impersonation so far looked feasible--I could talk chemical engineering.
The next paper I proceeded to examine was an identification folder71 done up in oiled fabric. Thanks to German thoroughness it was amusingly complete. On the first page appeared what I soon discovered to be my pedigree for four generations back. The printed form on which all this was minutely filled out made very clear statements from which I determined that my father and mother were both dead.
I, Karl Armstadt, twenty-seven years of age, was the fourteenth child of my mother and was born when she was forty-two years of age. According to the record I was the ninety-seventh child of my father and born when he was fifty-four. As I read this I thought there was something here that I misunderstood, although subsequent discoveries made it plausible72 enough. There was no further record of my plentiful73 fraternity, but I took heart that the mere fact of their numerical abundance would make unlikely any great show of brotherly interest, a presumption74 which proved quite correct.
On the second page of this folder I read the number and location of my living quarters, the sources from which my meals and clothing were issued, as well as the sizes and qualities of my garments and numerous other references to various details of living, all of which seemed painstakingly75 ridiculous at the time.
I put this elaborate identification paper back into its receptacle and opened the notebook. It proved to be a diary kept likewise in thorough German fashion. I turned to the last pages and perused76 them hastily.
The notes in Armstadt's diary were concerned almost wholly with his chemical investigations78. All this I saw might be useful to me later but what I needed more immediately was information as to his personal life. I scanned back hastily through the pages for a time without finding any such revelations. Then I discovered this entry made some months previously80:
"I cannot think of chemistry tonight, for the vision of Katrina dances before me as in a dream. It must be a strange mixture of blood-lines that could produce such wondrous81 beauty. In no other woman have I seen such a blackness of hair and eyes combined with such a whiteness of skin. I suppose I should not have danced with her--now I see all my resolutions shattered. But I think it was most of all the blackness of her eyes. Well, what care, we live but once!"
I read and re-read this entry and searched feverishly82 in Armstadt's diary for further evidence of a personal life. But I only found tedious notes on his chemical theories. Perhaps this single reference to a woman was but a passing fancy of a man otherwise engrossed83 in his science. But if rescuers came and I succeeded in passing for the German chemist the presence of a woman in my new r?le of life would surely undo84 all my effort. If no personal acquaintance of the dead man came with the rescuing party I saw no reason why I could not for the time pass successfully as Armstadt. I should at least make the effort and I reasoned I could best do this by playing the malingerer85 and appearing mentally incompetent86. Such a ruse77, I reasoned, would give me opportunity to hear much and say little, and perhaps so get my bearings in the new r?le that I could continue it successfully.
Then, as I was about to return the notebook to my pocket, my hopes sank as I found this brief entry which I had at first scanning overlooked:
"It is twenty days now since Katrina and I have been united. She does not interfere87 with my work as much as I feared. She even lets me talk chemistry to her, though I am sure she understands not one word of what I tell her. I think I have made a good selection and it is surely a permanent one. Therefore I must work harder than ever or I shall not get on."
This alarmed me. Yet, if Armstadt had married he made very little fuss about it. Evidently it concerned him chiefly in relation to his work. But whoever and whatever Katrina was, it was clear that her presence would be disastrous88 to my plans of assuming his place in the German world.
Pondering over the ultimate difficulty of my situation, but with a growing faith in the plan I had evolved for avoiding immediate79 explanations, I fell into a long-postponed sleep. The last thing I remember was tumbling from my chair and sprawling89 out upon the floor where I managed to snap out my light before the much needed sleep quite overcame me.
~3~
I was awakened90 by voices, and opened my eyes to find the place brightly lighted. I closed them again quickly as some one approached and prodded91 me with the toe of his boot.
"Here is a man alive," said a voice above me.
"He is Captain Armstadt, the chemist," said another voice, approaching; "this is good. We have special orders to search for him."
The newcomer bent92 over and felt my heart. I was quite aware that it was functioning normally. He shook me and called me by name. After repeated shakings I opened my eyes and stared at him blankly, but I said nothing. Presently he left me and returned with a stretcher. I lay inertly93 as I was placed thereon and borne out of the chamber. Other stretcher-bearers were walking ahead. We passed through the engine room where mechanics were at work on the damaged liquid air engine. My stretcher was placed on a little car which moved swiftly along the tunnel.
We came into a large subterranean94 station and I was removed and brought before a bevy95 of white garbed96 physicians. They looked at my identification folder and then examined me. Through it all I lay limp and as near lifeless as I could simulate, and they succeeded in getting no speech out of me. The final orders were to forward me post haste to the Imperial Hospital for Complex Gas Cases.
After an eventless journey of many hours I was again unloaded and transferred to an elevator. For several hundred metres we sped upward through a shaft, while about us whistled a blast of cold, crisp air. At last the elevator stopped and I was carried out to an ambulance that stood waiting in a brilliantly lighted passage arched over with grey concrete. I was no longer beneath the surface of the earth but was somewhere in the massive concrete structure of the City of Berlin.
After a short journey our ambulance stopped and attendants came out and carried my litter through an open doorway97 and down a long hall into the spacious98 ward32 of a hospital.
From half closed eyes I glanced about apprehensively99 for a black-haired woman. With a sigh of relief I saw there were only doctors and male attendants in the room. They treated me most professionally and gave no sign that they suspected I was other than Capt. Karl Armstadt, which fact my papers so eloquently101 testified. The conclusion of their examination was voiced in my presence. "Physically102 he is normal," said the head physician, "but his mind seems in a stupor103. There is no remedy, as the nature of the gas is unknown. All that can be done is to await the wearing off of the effect."
I was then left alone for some hours and my appetite was troubling me. At last an attendant approached with some savoury soup; he propped104 me up and proceeded to feed me with a spoon.
I made out from the conversation about me that the other patients were officers from the underground fighting forces. An atmosphere of military discipline pervaded105 the hospital and I felt reassured in the conclusion that all visiting was forbidden.
Yet my thoughts turned repeatedly to the black-eyed Katrina of Armstadt's diary. No doubt she had been informed of the rescue and was waiting in grief and anxiety to see him. So both she and I were awaiting a tragic106 moment--she to learn that her husband or lover was dead, I for the inevitable107 tearing off of my protecting disguise.
After some days the head physician came to my cot and questioned me. I gazed at him and knit my brows as if struggling to think.
"You were gassed in the mine," he kept repeating, "can you remember?"
"Yes," I ventured, "I went to the mine, there was the sound of boring overhead. I set men to watch; I was at the desk, I heard shouting, after that I cannot remember."
"They were all dead but you," said the doctor.
"All dead," I repeated. I liked the sound of this and so kept on mumbling108 "All dead, all dead."
~4~
My plan was working nicely. But I realized I could not keep up this r?le for ever. Nor did I wish to, for the idleness and suspense109 were intolerable and I knew that I would rather face whatever problems my recovery involved than to continue in this monotonous110 and meaningless existence. So I convalesced111 by degrees and got about the hospital, and was permitted to wait on myself. But I cultivated a slowness and brevity of speech.
One day as I sat reading the attendant announced, "A visitor to see you, sir."
Trembling with excitement and fear I tensely waited the coming of the visitor.
Presently a stolid-faced young man followed the attendant into the room. "You remember Holknecht," said the nurse, "he is your assistant at the laboratory."
I stared stupidly at the man, and cold fear crept over me as he, with puzzled eyes, returned my gaze.
"You are much changed," he said at last. "I hardly recognize you."
"I have been very ill," I replied.
Just then the head physician came into the room and seeing me talking to a stranger walked over to us. As I said nothing, Holknecht introduced himself. The medical man began at once to enlarge upon the peculiarities112 of my condition. "The unknown gas," he explained, "acted upon the whole nervous system and left profound effects. Never in the records of the hospital has there been so strange a case."
Holknecht seemed quite awed113 and completely credulous114.
"His memory must be revived," continued the head physician, "and that can best be done by recalling the dominating interest of his mind."
"Captain Armstadt was wholly absorbed in his research work in the laboratory," offered Holknecht.
"Then," said the physician, "you must revive the activity of those particular brain cells."
With that command the laboratory assistant was left in charge. He took his new task quite seriously. Turning to me and raising his voice as if to penetrate13 my dulled mentality115, he began, "Do you not remember our work in the laboratory?"
"Yes, the laboratory, the laboratory," I repeated vaguely116.
Holknecht described the laboratory in detail and gradually his talk drifted into an account of the chemical research. I listened eagerly to get the threads of the work I must needs do if I were to maintain my r?le as Armstadt.
Knowing now that visitors were permitted me, I again grew apprehensive100 over the possible advent117 of Katrina. But no woman appeared, in fact I had not yet seen a woman among the Germans. Always it was Holknecht and, strictly118 according to his orders, he talked incessant119 chemistry.
~5~
The day I resumed my normal wearing apparel I was shown into a large lounging room for convalescents. I seated myself a short distance apart from a group of officers and sat eyeing another group of large, hulking fellows at the far end of the room. These I concluded to be common soldiers, for I heard the officers in my ward grumbling120 at the fact that they were quartered in the same hospital with men of the ranks.
Presently an officer came over and took a seat beside me. "It is very rarely that you men in the professional service are gassed," he said. "You must have a dull life, I do not see how you can stand it."
"But certainly," I replied, "it is not so dangerous."
"And for that reason it must be stupid--I, for one, think that even in the fighting forces there is no longer sufficient danger to keep up the military morale121. Danger makes men courageous--without danger courage declines--and without courage what advantage would there be in the military life?"
"Suppose," I suggested, "the war should come to an end?"
"But how can it?" he asked incredulously. "How can there be an end to the war? We cannot prevent the enemy from fighting."
"But what," I ventured, "if the enemy should decide to quit fighting?"
"They have almost quit now," he remarked with apparent disgust; "they are losing the fighting spirit--but no wonder--they say that the World State population is so great that only two per cent of its men are in the fighting forces. What I cannot see is how a people so peaceful can keep from utter degeneration. And they say that the World State soldiers are not even bred for soldiering but are picked from all classes. If they should decide to quit fighting, as you suggest, we also would have to quit--it would intolerable--it is bad enough now."
"But could you not return to industrial life and do something productive?"
"Productive!" sneered122 the fighter. "I knew that you professional men had no courage--it is not to be expected--but I never before heard even one of your class suggest a thing like that--a military man do something productive! Why don't you suggest that we be changed to women?" And with that my fellow patient rose and, turning sharply on his metal heel, walked away.
The officer's attitude towards his profession set me thinking, and I found myself wondering how far it was shared by the common soldiers. The next day when I came out into the convalescent corridor I walked past the group of officers and went down among the men whose garments bore no medals or insignia. They were unusually large men, evidently from some specially123 selected regiment124. Picking out the most intelligent looking one of the group I sat down beside him.
"Is this the first time you have been gassed?" I inquired.
"Third time," replied the soldier.
"I should think you would have been discharged."
"Discharged," said the soldier, in a perplexed125 tone, "why I am only forty-four years old, why should I be discharged unless I get in an explosion and lose a leg or something?"
"But you have been gassed three times," I said, "I should think they ought to let you return to civil life and your family."
The soldier looked hard at the insignia of my rank as captain. "You professional officers don't know much, do you? A soldier quit and do common labor1, now that's a fine idea. And a family! Do you think I'm a Hohenzollern?" At the thought the soldier chuckled126. "Me with a family," he muttered to himself, "now that's a fine idea."
I saw that I was getting on dangerous ground but curiosity prompted a further question: "Then, I suppose, you have nothing to hope for until you reach the age of retirement127, unless war should come to an end?"
Again the soldier eyed me carefully. "Now you do have some queer ideas. There was a man in our company who used to talk like that when no officers were around. This fellow, his name was Mannteufel, said he could read books, that he was a forbidden love-child and his father was an officer. I guess he was forbidden all right, for he certainly wasn't right in his head. He said that we would go out on the top of the ground and march over the enemy country and be shot at by the flying planes, like the roof guards, if the officers had heard him they would surely have sent him to the crazy ward--why he said that the war would be over after that, and we would all go to the enemy country and go about as we liked, and own houses and women and flying planes and animals. As if the Royal House would ever let a soldier do things like that."
"Well," I said, "and why not, if the war were over?"
"Now there you go again--how do you mean the war was over, what would all us soldiers do if there was no fighting?"
"You could work," I said, "in the shops."
"But if we worked in the shops, what would the workmen do?"
"They would work too," I suggested.
The soldier was silent for a time. "I think I get your idea," he said. "The Eugenic128 Staff would cut down the birth rates so that there would only be enough soldiers and workers to fill the working jobs."
"They might do that," I remarked, wishing to lead him on.
"Well," said the soldier, returning to the former thought, "I hope they won't do that until I am dead. I don't care to go up on the ground to get shot at by the fighting planes. At least now we have something over our heads and if we are going to get gassed or blown up we can't see it coming. At least--"
Just then the officer with whom I had talked the day before came up. He stopped before us and scowled129 at the soldier who saluted130 in hasty confusion.
"I wish, Captain," said the officer addressing me, "that you would not take advantage of these absurd hospital conditions to disrupt discipline by fraternizing with a private."
At this the soldier looked up and saluted again.
"Well?" said the officer.
"He's not to blame, sir," said the soldier, "he's off his head."
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1
labor
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n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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2
renown
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n.声誉,名望 | |
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3
devoted
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adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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4
unravelling
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解开,拆散,散开( unravel的现在分词 ); 阐明; 澄清; 弄清楚 | |
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5
synthetic
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adj.合成的,人工的;综合的;n.人工制品 | |
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6
decided
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adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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7
worthily
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重要地,可敬地,正当地 | |
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8
reclamation
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n.开垦;改造;(废料等的)回收 | |
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9
isolated
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adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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10
fumigated
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v.用化学品熏(某物)消毒( fumigate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
pestilence
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n.瘟疫 | |
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12
withered
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adj. 枯萎的,干瘪的,(人身体的部分器官)因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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13
penetrate
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v.透(渗)入;刺入,刺穿;洞察,了解 | |
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14
penetrated
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adj. 击穿的,鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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15
shaft
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n.(工具的)柄,杆状物 | |
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16
shafts
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n.轴( shaft的名词复数 );(箭、高尔夫球棒等的)杆;通风井;一阵(疼痛、害怕等) | |
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17
soliciting
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v.恳求( solicit的现在分词 );(指娼妇)拉客;索求;征求 | |
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18
residue
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n.残余,剩余,残渣 | |
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19
weird
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adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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machinery
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n.(总称)机械,机器;机构 | |
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trickling
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n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 );淌;使)慢慢走;缓慢移动 | |
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huddled
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挤在一起(huddle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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23
apparatus
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n.装置,器械;器具,设备 | |
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regained
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复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 ); 赢回; 重回; 复至某地 | |
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25
franchise
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n.特许,特权,专营权,特许权 | |
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erred
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犯错误,做错事( err的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
confiding
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adj.相信人的,易于相信的v.吐露(秘密,心事等)( confide的现在分词 );(向某人)吐露(隐私、秘密等) | |
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28
feverish
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adj.发烧的,狂热的,兴奋的 | |
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29
impulsively
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adv.冲动地 | |
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determined
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adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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31
crumbling
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adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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32
ward
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n.守卫,监护,病房,行政区,由监护人或法院保护的人(尤指儿童);vt.守护,躲开 | |
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33
rattled
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慌乱的,恼火的 | |
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34
cavern
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n.洞穴,大山洞 | |
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35
chamber
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n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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36
decomposed
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已分解的,已腐烂的 | |
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37
forth
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adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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38
descend
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vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
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39
stunned
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adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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40
lurking
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潜在 | |
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41
conserve
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vt.保存,保护,节约,节省,守恒,不灭 | |
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42
lapse
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n.过失,流逝,失效,抛弃信仰,间隔;vi.堕落,停止,失效,流逝;vt.使失效 | |
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43
erect
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n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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44
exhausted
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adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
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45
numb
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adj.麻木的,失去感觉的;v.使麻木 | |
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46
bunk
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n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位;废话 | |
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47
bunks
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n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位( bunk的名词复数 );空话,废话v.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 );空话,废话 | |
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48
corpse
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n.尸体,死尸 | |
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49
utensils
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器具,用具,器皿( utensil的名词复数 ); 器物 | |
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50
mattresses
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褥垫,床垫( mattress的名词复数 ) | |
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51
huddling
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n. 杂乱一团, 混乱, 拥挤 v. 推挤, 乱堆, 草率了事 | |
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52
abated
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减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 ); 减去; 降价; 撤消(诉讼) | |
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53
fabric
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n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织 | |
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54
countenance
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n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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55
stimulant
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n.刺激物,兴奋剂 | |
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56
copiously
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adv.丰富地,充裕地 | |
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57
mere
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adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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58
likeness
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n.相像,相似(之处) | |
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59
lavatory
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n.盥洗室,厕所 | |
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60
scrutinized
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v.仔细检查,详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
reassured
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adj.使消除疑虑的;使放心的v.再保证,恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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62
puddle
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n.(雨)水坑,泥潭 | |
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63
blizzard
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n.暴风雪 | |
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64
penetrating
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adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的 | |
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65
corpses
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n.死尸,尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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66
stiffened
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加强的 | |
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67
plunged
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v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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68
dismal
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adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的 | |
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69
ERECTED
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adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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70
generators
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n.发电机,发生器( generator的名词复数 );电力公司 | |
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71
folder
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n.纸夹,文件夹 | |
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72
plausible
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adj.似真实的,似乎有理的,似乎可信的 | |
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73
plentiful
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adj.富裕的,丰富的 | |
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74
presumption
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n.推测,可能性,冒昧,放肆,[法律]推定 | |
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75
painstakingly
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adv. 费力地 苦心地 | |
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76
perused
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v.读(某篇文字)( peruse的过去式和过去分词 );(尤指)细阅;审阅;匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览(某篇文字) | |
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77
ruse
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n.诡计,计策;诡计 | |
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78
investigations
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(正式的)调查( investigation的名词复数 ); 侦查; 科学研究; 学术研究 | |
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79
immediate
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adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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80
previously
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adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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81
wondrous
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adj.令人惊奇的,奇妙的;adv.惊人地;异乎寻常地;令人惊叹地 | |
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82
feverishly
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adv. 兴奋地 | |
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83
engrossed
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adj.全神贯注的 | |
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84
undo
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vt.解开,松开;取消,撤销 | |
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85
malingerer
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n.装病以逃避职责的人 | |
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86
incompetent
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adj.无能力的,不能胜任的 | |
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87
interfere
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v.(in)干涉,干预;(with)妨碍,打扰 | |
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88
disastrous
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adj.灾难性的,造成灾害的;极坏的,很糟的 | |
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89
sprawling
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adj.蔓生的,不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 );蔓延;杂乱无序地拓展;四肢伸展坐着(或躺着) | |
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awakened
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v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
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91
prodded
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v.刺,戳( prod的过去式和过去分词 );刺激;促使;(用手指或尖物)戳 | |
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92
bent
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n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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93
inertly
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adv.不活泼地,无生气地 | |
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94
subterranean
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adj.地下的,地表下的 | |
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95
bevy
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n.一群 | |
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96
garbed
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v.(尤指某类人穿的特定)服装,衣服,制服( garb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97
doorway
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n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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98
spacious
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adj.广阔的,宽敞的 | |
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99
apprehensively
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adv.担心地 | |
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100
apprehensive
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adj.担心的,恐惧的,善于领会的 | |
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101
eloquently
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adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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102
physically
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adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律 | |
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103
stupor
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v.昏迷;不省人事 | |
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104
propped
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支撑,支持,维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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105
pervaded
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v.遍及,弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106
tragic
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adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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107
inevitable
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adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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108
mumbling
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含糊地说某事,叽咕,咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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109
suspense
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n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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110
monotonous
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adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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111
convalesced
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v.康复( convalesce的过去式 ) | |
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112
peculiarities
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n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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113
awed
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adj.充满敬畏的,表示敬畏的v.使敬畏,使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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114
credulous
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adj.轻信的,易信的 | |
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115
mentality
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n.心理,思想,脑力 | |
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116
vaguely
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adv.含糊地,暖昧地 | |
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117
advent
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n.(重要事件等的)到来,来临 | |
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118
strictly
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adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
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119
incessant
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adj.不停的,连续的 | |
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120
grumbling
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adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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121
morale
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n.道德准则,士气,斗志 | |
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122
sneered
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讥笑,冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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123
specially
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adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地 | |
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124
regiment
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n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制 | |
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125
perplexed
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adj.不知所措的 | |
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126
chuckled
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轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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127
retirement
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n.退休,退职 | |
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128
eugenic
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adj.优生的 | |
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129
scowled
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怒视,生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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130
saluted
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v.欢迎,致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 );赞扬,赞颂 | |
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