~1~
My research was progressing nicely and I had discovered that in this field of chemistry also my knowledge of the outer world would give me tremendous advantages over all competitors. Eagerly I worked at the laboratory, spending most of my evenings in study. Occasionally I attended the educational pictures or dined on the Level of Free Women with my chemical associates and spent an hour or so at dancing or at cards. My life had settled into routine unbroken by adventure. Then I received a notice to report for the annual examination at the Physical Efficiency Laboratory. I went with some misgivings2, but the ordeal3 proved uneventful. A week later I received a most disturbing communication, a bulky and official looking packet bearing the imprint4 of the Eugenic Office. I nervously5 slit6 the envelope and drew forth7 a letter:
"You are hereby notified that you have reached a stage of advancement8 in your professional work that marks you a man of superior gifts, and, having been reported as physically9 perfect you are hereby honoured with the high privilege and sacred duties of election to paternity. Full instructions for your conduct in this duty to the State will be found in the enclosed folder10."
In nervous haste I scanned the printed folder:
"Your first duty will be to visit the boys' school for which passport is here enclosed. The purpose of this is to awaken11 the paternal12 instincts that you may better appreciate and feel the holy obligation and privilege conferred upon you. You will also find enclosed cards of introduction to three women whom the Eugenic Office finds to be fitted as mothers of your children. That natural selection may have a limited play you are permitted to select only one woman from each three assigned. Such selection must be made and reported within thirty days, after which a second trio will be assigned you. Until such final selection has been recorded you are expressly forbidden to conduct yourself toward these women in an amorous15 manner."
Next followed a set of exacting16 rules for the proper deportment, in the carrying out of these duties to which the State had assigned me.
A crushing sense of revulsion, a feeling of loathing17 and uncleanliness overwhelmed me as I pushed aside the papers. Coming from a world where the right of the individual to freedom and privacy in the matrimonial and paternal relations was recognized as a fundamental right of man, I found this officious communication, with its detailed19 instruction, appalling20 and revolting.
A man cravenly clings to life and yet there are instincts in his soul which will cause him to sell life defiantly21 for a mere22 conception of a moral principle. To become by official mandate23 a father of a numerous German progeny24 was a thing to which I could not and would not submit. Many times that day as I automatically pursued my work, I resolved to go to some one in authority and give myself up to be sent to the mines as a prisoner of war, or more likely to be executed as a spy. Cold reason showed me the futility25 of neglecting or attempting to avoid an assigned duty. It was a military civilization and I had already seen enough of this ordered life of Berlin to know that there was no middle ground of choice between explicit26 obedience27 and open rebellion. Nor need I concern myself with what punishment might be provided for this particular disobedience for I saw that rebellion for me would mean an investigation29 that would result in complete tearing away of the protecting mask of my German identity.
But after my first tumultuous feeling subsided30 I realized that something more than my own life was at stake. Already possessed31 of much intimate knowledge of the life within Berlin I believed that I was in a way to come into possession of secrets of vast and vital importance to the world. To gain these secrets, to escape from the walls of Berlin, was a more than personal ambition; it was an ambition for mankind.
After a day or two of deliberation I therefore decided32 against any rash rebellion. Moreover, as nothing compromising was immediately required of me, I detached and mailed the four coupons34 provided, having duly filled in the time at which I should make the preliminary calls.
~2~
On the day and hour appointed I presented the school card to the elevator operator, who punched it after the manner of his kind, and duly deposited me on the level of schools for boys of the professional groups. A lad of about sixteen met me at the elevator and conducted me to the school designated.
The master greeted me with obsequious35 gravity, and waved me to the visitor's seat on a raised platform. "You will be asked to speak," he said, "and I beg that you will tell the boys of the wonderful chemical discoveries that won you the honours of election to paternity."
"But," I protested, as I glanced at the boys who were being put through their morning drill in the gymnasium, "I fear the boys of such age will not comprehend the nature of my work."
"Certainly not," he replied, "and I would rather you did not try to simplify it for their undeveloped minds, merely speak learnedly of your work as if you were addressing a body of your colleagues. The less the boys understand of it the more they will be impressed with its importance, and the more ambitious they will be to become great chemists."
This strange philosophy of education annoyed me, but I did not have time to argue further for the bell had rung and the boys were filing in with strict military precision. There were about fifty of them, all in their twelfth year, and of remarkable36 uniformity in size and development. The blanched37 skin, which marked the adult faces of Berlin, was, in the pasty countenance38 of those German boys, a more horrifying39 spectacle. Yet they stood erect40 and, despite their lack of colour, were evidently a well nourished, well exercised group of youngsters.
As the last boy reached his place the master motioned with his hand and fifty arms moved in unison41 in a mechanical salute42.
"We have with us this morning," said the master, "a chemist who has won the honours of paternity with his original thought. He will tell you about his work which you cannot understand--you should therefore listen attentively43."
After a few more sentences of these paradoxical axioms on education, the master nodded, and, as I had been instructed, I proceeded to talk of the chemical lore44 of poison gases.
"And now," said the master, when I resumed my seat, "we will have a review lesson. You will first recite in unison the creed45 of your caste."
"We are youth of the super-race," began the boys in a sing-song and well timed chorus. "We belong to the chemical group of the intellectual levels, being born of sires who were great chemists, born of great chemists for many generations. It is our duty to learn while we are yet young all that we may ever need to know, to keep our minds free from forbidden knowledge and to resist the temptation to think on unnecessary things. So we may be good Germans, loyal to the House of Hohenzollern and to the worship of the old German God and the divine blood of William the Great."
The schoolmaster, who had nodded his head in unison with the rhythm of the recitation, now smiled in satisfaction. "That was very good," he said. "I did not hear one faltering46 voice. Now you may recite individually in your alphabetical47 order.
"Anton, you may describe the stages in the evolution of the super-man."
Anton, a flaxen-haired youngster, arose, saluted48 like a wooden soldier, and intoned the following monologue49:
"Man is an animal in the process of evolving into a god. The method of this evolution is a struggle in which the weak perish and the strong survive. First in this process of man's evolution came the savage50, who lived with the lions and the apes. In the second stage came the dark races who built the so-called ancient civilizations, and fought among themselves to possess private property and women and children. Third came the barbarian51 Blond Brutes52, who were destined54 to sire the super-race, but the day had not yet come, and they mixed with the dark races and produced the mongrel peoples, which make the fourth. The fifth stage is the pure bred Blond Brutes, uncontaminated by inferior races, which are the men, who under God's direction, built the Armoured City of Berlin in which to breed the Supermen who are to conquer the mongrel peoples. The sixth, last and culminating stage of the evolution of man is the Divinity in human form which is our noble House of Hohenzollern, descended55 physically from William the Great, and spiritually from the soul of God Himself, whose statue stands with that of the Mighty56 William at the portals of the Emperor's palace."
It had been a noble effort for so young a memory and as the proud master looked at me expectantly I could do nothing less than nod my appreciation57.
The master now gave Bruno the following cue:
"Name the four kinds of government and explain each."
From the sad-eyed youth of twelve came this flow of wisdom:
"The first form of government is monarchy58, in which the people are ruled by a man who calls himself a king but who has no divine authority so that the people sometimes failed to respect him and made revolutions and tried to govern themselves. The second form of government is a republic, sometimes called a democracy. It is usually co-existent with the lawyer, the priest, the family and the greed for gold. But in reality this government is by the rich men, who let the poor men vote and think they have a share in the government, thus to keep them contented59 with their poverty. The third form of government is proletariat socialism in which the people, having abolished kings and rich men, attempt to govern themselves; but this they cannot do for the same reason that a man cannot lift himself by his shoestraps--"
At this point Bruno faltered60 and his face went chalky white. The teacher being directly in front of the standing61 pupil did not see what had happened, while I, with fleeting62 memory of my own school days, suppressed my mirth behind a formal countenance, as the stoic63 Bruno resumed his seat.
The master marked zero on the roll and called upon Conrad, next in line, to finish the recitation.
"The fourth and last form of government," recited Conrad, "is autocratic socialism, the perfect government that we Germans have evolved from proletariat socialism which had destroyed the greed for private property and private family life, so that the people ceased to struggle individually and were ready to accept the Royal House, divinely appointed by God to govern them perfectly64 and prepare them to make war for the conquest of the world."
The recitations now turned to repetitions of the pedigree and ranking of the various branches of the Royal House. But it was a mere list of names like the begats of Genesis and I was not able to profit much by this opportunity to improve my own neglected education. As the morning wore on the parrot-like monologues65 shifted to elementary chemistry.
The master had gone entirely66 through the alphabet of names and now called again the apt Anton for a more brilliant demonstration67 of his system of teaching. "Since we have with us a chemist who has achieved powers of original thought, I will permit you, Anton, to demonstrate that even at the tender age of twelve you are capable of original thought."
Anton rose gravely and stood at attention. "And what shall I think about?" he asked.
"About anything you like," responded the liberal minded schoolmaster, "provided it is limited to your permitted field of psychic68 activity."
Anton tilted69 back his head and gazed raptly at a portrait of the Mighty William. "I think," he said, "that the water molecule70 is made of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen."
A number of the boys shook their heads in disapproval71, evidently recognizing the thought as not being original, but the teacher waited in respectful silence for the founts of originality72 to burst forth in Anton's mind.
"And I think," continued Anton, "that if the water molecule were made of four atoms of nitrogen and one of oxygen, it would be a great economy, for after we had bathed in the water we could evaporate it and make air and breath it, and after we had breathed it we could condense it again and use it to drink--"
"But that would be unsanitary," piped a voice from the back of the room.
To this interruption Anton, without taking his gaze from the face of William, replied, "Of course it would if we didn't sterilize73 it, but I was coming to that. We would sterilize it each time."
The master now designated two boys to take to the guardhouse of the school the lad who had spoken without permission. He then produced a red cardboard cross adorned74 with the imperial eagle and crossed test-tubes of the chemists' insignia and I was honoured by being asked to decorate Anton for his brilliant exploit in original thought.
"Our intellectual work of the day is over," resumed the master, "but in honour of our guest we will have, a day in advance, our weekly exercises in emotion. Heinrich, you may recite for us the category of emotions."
"The permitted emotions," said Heinrich, "are: First, anger, which we should feel when a weak enemy offends us. Second, hate, which is a higher form of anger, which we should feel when a powerful enemy offends us. Third, sadness, which we should feel when we suffer. Fourth, mirth, which we should feel when our enemy suffers. Fifth, courage, which we feel at all times because we believe in our strength. Sixth, humility75, which we should feel only before our superiors. Seventh, and greatest, is pride, which we should feel at all times because we are Germans.
"The forbidden emotions are very numerous. The chief ones which we must guard against are: First, pity, which is a sadness when our enemy suffers; to feel this is exceedingly wicked. Second, envy, which is a feeling that some one else is better than we are, which we must not feel at all because it is destructive of pride. Third, fear, which is a lack of courage. Fourth, love, which is a confession76 of weakness, and is permissible77 only to women and dogs."
"Very good," said the master, "I will now grant you permission to feel some of the permitted emotions. We will first conduct a chemical experiment. I have in this bottle a dangerous explosive and as I drop in this pellet it may explode and kill us all, but you must show courage and not fear." He held the pellet above the mouth of the bottle, but his eyes were on his pupils. As he dropped the pellet into the bottle, he knocked over with his foot a slab78 of concrete, which fell to the floor with a resounding79 crash. A few of the boys jumped in their seats, and the master gravely marked them as deficient80 in courage.
"You now imagine that you are adult chemists and that the enemy has produced a new form of gas bomb, a gas against which we have no protection. They are dropping the gas bombs into our ventilating shafts81 and are killing82 our soldiers in the mines. You hate the enemy--hate hard--make your faces black with hate and rage. Adolph, you are expressing mere anger. There, that is better. You never can be a good German until you learn to hate.
"And now we will have a permitted emotion that you all enjoy; the privilege to feel mirth is a thing for which you should be grateful.
"An enemy came flying over Berlin--and this is a true story. I can remember when it happened. The roof guard shot at him and winged his plane, and he came down in his parachute, which missed the roof of the city and fell to the earth outside the walls but within the first ring of the ray defences. He knew that he could not pass beyond this and he wandered about for many days within range of the glasses of the roof guards. When he was nearly starved he came near the wall and waved his white kerchief, which meant he wished to surrender and be taken into the city."
At this point one of the boys tittered, and the master stopped his story long enough to mark a credit for this first laugh.
"As the enemy aviator83 continued to walk about waving his cowardly flag another enemy plane saw him and let down a line, but the roof guards shelled and destroyed the plane. Then other planes came and attempted to pick up the man with lines. In all seven planes were destroyed in attempting to rescue one man. It was very foolish and very comical. At last the eighth plane came and succeeded in reaching the man a line without being winged. The roof batteries shot at the plane in vain--then the roof gunners became filled with good German hate, and one of them aimed, not at the plane, but at the man swinging on the unstable84 wire line two thousand metres beneath. The shell exploded so near that the man disappeared as by magic, and the plane flew off with the empty dangling85 line."
As the story was finished the boys who had listened with varying degrees of mechanical smiles now broke out into a chorus of raucous86 laughter. It was a forced unnatural87 laughter such as one hears from a bad actor attempting to express mirth he does not feel.
When the boys had ceased their crude guffaws88 the master asked, "Why did you laugh?"
"Because," answered Conrad, "the enemy were so stupid as to waste seven planes trying to save one man."
"That is fine," said the master; "we should always laugh when our enemy is stupid, because then he suffers without knowing why he suffers. If the enemy were not stupid they would cease fighting and permit us to rule them and breed the stupidity out of them, as it has been bred out of the Germans by our good old God and the divine mind of the House of Hohenzollern."
The boys were now dismissed for a recess89 and went into the gymnasium to play leap frog. But the sad-eyed Bruno promptly90 returned and saluted.
"You may speak," said the master.
"I wish, Herr Teacher," said Bruno, "to petition you for permission to fight with Conrad."
"But you must not begin a fight," admonished91 the master, "unless you can attach to your opponent the odium of causing the strife92."
"But he did cause the odium," said Bruno; "he stuck it into my leg with a pin while I was reciting. The Herr Father saw him do it, "--and the boy turned his eyes towards me in sad and serious appeal.
The schoolmaster glanced at me inquiringly and I corroborated93 the lad's accusation94.
"Then," said the master, "you have a casus belli that is actually true, and if you can make Conrad admit his guilt95 I will exchange your mark for his."
Bruno saluted again and started to leave. Then he turned back and said, "But Conrad is two kilograms heavier than I am, and he may not admit it."
"Then," said the teacher, "you must know that I cannot exchange the marks, for victory in a fight compensates96 for the fault that caused it. But if you wish I will change the marks now, but then you cannot fight."
"But I wish to fight," said Bruno, "and so does Conrad. We arranged it before recitation that he was to stick me with the pin."
"Such diplomacy97!" exulted98 the master when the lad had gone, "and to think that they can only be chemists!"
~3~
As the evening hour drew near which I had set for my call on the first of the potential mothers assigned me by the Eugenic Staff, I re-read the rules for my conduct:
"On the occasion of this visit you must wear a full dress uniform, including all orders, decorations and badges of rank and service to which you are entitled. This is very important and you should call attention thereto and explain the full dignity and importance of your rank and decorations.
"When you call you will first present the card of authorization99. You will then present your identification folder and extol100 the worth and character of your pedigree.
"Then you will ask to see the pedigree of the woman, and will not fail to comment favourably101 thereon. If she be already a mother you will inquire in regard to her children. If she be not a mother, you will supplicate102 her to speak of her potential children. You will extol the virtue103 of her offspring--or her visions thereof,--and will not fail to speak favourably of their promise of becoming great chemists whose service will redound104 to the honour of the German race and the Royal House.
"After the above mentioned matters have been properly spoken of, you may compliment the mother upon her own intelligence and fitness as a mother of scientists. But you will refrain from all reference to her beauty of person, lest her thoughts be diverted from her higher purpose to matters of personal amours.
"You will not prolong your call beyond the hours consistent with dignity and propriety105, nor permit the mother to perceive your disposition106 toward her."
Surely nothing in such formal procedure could be incompatible107 with my own ideals of propriety. Taking with me my card of authorization bearing the name "Frau Karoline, daughter of Ernest Pfeiffer, Director of the Perfume Works," I now ventured to the Level of Maternity108.
Countless109 women passed me as I walked along. They were erect of form and plain of feature, with expressions devoid110 of either intelligence or passion. Garbed111 in formless robes of sombre grey, like saints of song and story, they went their way with solemn resignation. Some of them led small children by the hand; others pushed perambulators containing white robed infants being taken to or from the nurseries for their scheduled stays in the mothers' individual apartments.
The actions of the mothers were as methodical as well trained nurses. In their faces was the cold, pallid112 light of the mother love of the madonnas of art, uncontaminated by the fretful excitement of the mother love in a freer and more uncertain world.
Even the children seemed wooden cherubim. They were physically healthy beyond all blemish113, but they cooed and smiled in a subdued114 manner. Already the ever present "verboten" of an ordered life seemed to have crept into the small souls and repressed the instincts of anarchy115 and the aspirations116 of individualism. As I walked among these madonnas of science and their angelic offspring, I felt as I imagined a man of earthly passions would feel if suddenly loosed in a mediaeval and orthodox heaven; for everything about me breathed peace, goodness, and coldness.
At the door of her apartment Frau Karoline greeted me with formal gravity. She was a young woman of twenty years, with a high forehead and piercing eyes. Her face was mobile but her manner possessed the dignity of the matron assured of her importance in the world. Her only child was at the nursery at the time, in accordance with the rules of the level that forbids a man to see his step-children. But a large photograph, aided by Frau Karoline's fulsome117 description and eulogies118, gave me a very clear picture of the high order of the young chemist's intelligence though that worthy119 had but recently passed his first birthday.
The necessary matters of the inspection120 of pedigrees and the signing of my card of authorization had been conducted by the young mother with the cool self-possession of a well disciplined school-mistress. Her attitude and manner revealed the thoroughness of her education and training for her duties and functions in life. And yet, though she relieved me so skilfully121 of what I feared would be an embarrassing situation, I conceived an intense dislike for this most exemplary young mother, for she made me feel that a man was a most useless and insignificant123 creature to be tolerated as a necessary evil in this maternal124 world.
"Surely," said Frau Karoline, as I returned her pedigree, "you could not do better for your first born child than to honour me with his motherhood. Not only is my pedigree of the purest of chemical lines, reaching back to the establishment of the eugenic control, but I myself have taken the highest honours in the training for motherhood."
"Yes," I acknowledged, "you seem very well trained."
"I am particularly well versed," she continued, "in maternal psychology125; and I have successfully cultivated calmness. In the final tests before my confirmation126 for maternity I was found to be entirely free from erotic and sentimental127 emotions."
"But," I ventured, "is not maternal love a sentimental emotion?"
"By no means," replied Frau Karoline. "Maternal love of the highest order, such as I possess, is purely128 intellectual; it recognizes only the passions for the greatness of race and the glory of the Royal House. Such love must be born of the intellect; that is why we women of the scientific group are the best of all mothers. Thus, were I not wholly free from weak sentimentality, I might desire that my second child be sired by the father of my first, but the Eugenic Office has determined129 that I would bear a stronger child from a younger father, therefore I acquiesced130 to their change of assignment without emotion, as becomes a proper mother of our well bred race. My first child is extremely intellectual but he is not quite perfect physically, and a mother such as I should bear only perfect children. That alone is the supreme131 purpose of motherhood. Do you not see that I am fitted for perfect motherhood?"
"Yes," I replied, as I recalled that my instructions were to pay compliments, "you seem to be a perfect mother."
But the cold and logical perfection of Frau Karoline dampened my curiosity and oppressed my spirit of adventure, and I closed the interview with all possible speed and fled headlong to the nearest elevator that would carry me from the level.
~4~
In my first experience I had suffered nothing worse than an embarrassing half hour, so, with more confidence I pressed the bell the second evening, at the apartment of Frau Augusta, daughter of Gustave Schnorr, Authority on Synthetic132 Nicotine133.
Frau Augusta was a woman of thirty-five. She was well-preserved, more handsome and less coldly inhuman134 than the younger woman.
"We will get the formalities over since you have been told they are necessary," said Frau Augusta, as she reached for my card and folder and, at the same time, handing me her own pedigree.
Peering over the top of the chart that recorded the antecedents of Gustave Schnorr, I saw his daughter going through my own folder with the business-like dispatch of a society dowager examining the "character" of a new housemaid.
"Ah, yes," she said, raising her brows. "I thought I knew the family. Your Uncle Otto was my second mate. He is the father of my third son and my twin girls. I have no more promising33 children. Have you ever met him? He is in the aluminum135 tempering laboratories."
I could only stare stupidly, struck dumb with embarrassment136.
"No, I suppose not," went on Frau Augusta, "it is hardly to be expected since you have upwards137 of a hundred uncles." She arose and, going toward a shelf where half a dozen pictures of half a dozen men reposed138 in an orderly row, took the second one of the group and handed it to me.
"He is a fine man," she said, with a very full degree of pride for a past and partial possession. "I fear the Staff erred13 in transferring him, but then of course the twin girls were most unexpected and unfortunate since the Armstadt line is supposed to sire seventy-five per cent, male offspring.
"What do you think? Isn't the Eugenic Office a little unfair at times? My fifth man thought so. He said it was a case of politics. I don't know. I thought politics was something ancient that they had in old books like churches and families."
"I am sure I do not know," I murmured, as I fumbled139 the portrait of my putative140 uncle.
"Of course," continued the voluble Fran Augusta, "you must not think I am criticizing the authorities. It is all very necessary. And for the most part I think they have done very well by me. My ten children have six fathers. All of them but the first were men of most gracious manner and superior intelligence. The first one had his paternity right revoked141, so I feel satisfied on that score, even if his son is not gifted--and yet the boy has beautiful hair--I think he would make an excellent violinist. But then perhaps he wouldn't have been able to play, so maybe it is all right, though I would think music would be more easily learned than chemistry. But then since I cannot read either I ought not to judge. I will show you his picture. I may as well show you all their pictures. I don't see why you elected fathers should not see our children--but then I suppose it might produce quarrels. Some women are so foolish and insist on talking about the children they have already borne in a way that makes a man feel that his own children could never come up to them. Now I never do that. Why should one? The future is always more interesting than the past. I haven't a single child that has not won the porcelain142 cross for obedience. Even my youngest--he is only fourteen months--obeys as if he were a full grown man. Some say mental and physical excellence143 are not correlated--but that is a prejudice because of those great labour beasts. There isn't one of my children that has fallen below the minimum growth standards, except my third daughter, and her father was undersized, so it is no fault of mine."
As the loquacious144 mother chattered145 on, she produced an album, through which I now turned, inspecting the annual photographs of her blond brood, each of which was labelled with the statistics of physical growth and the tests of psychic development.
Strive as I might I could think of no comments to make, but the mother came to the rescue. Unfastening the binding146 of the loose leaf album she hastily shuffled147 the sheets and brought into an orderly array on the table before me ten photographs all taken at the age of one year. "That is the only fair way to view them," she said, "for of course one cannot compare the picture of a boy of fifteen with an infant of one year. But at an equal age the comparison is fair to all and now you can surely tell me which is the most intelligent."
I gazed hopelessly at the infantile portraits which, despite their varied148 paternity, looked as alike as a row of peas in a pod.
"Oh, well," said Frau Augusta, "after all is it fair to ask you, since the twins are your cousins?"
Desperately149 I wondered which were the twins.
"They resemble you quite remarkably150, don't you think so? Except that your hair is quite dark for an Armstadt." Frau Augusta turned and glanced furtively151 at my identification folder. "Of course! your mother. I had almost forgotten who your mother was, but now I remember, she had most remarkably dark hair. It will probably prove a dominant152 characteristic and your children will also be dark haired. Now I should like that by way of a change."
I became alarmed at this turn of the conversation toward the more specific function of my visit, and resolved to make my exit with all possible speed "consistent with dignity and propriety."
Meanwhile, as she reassembled the scattered153 sheets of the portrait album, the official mother chattered on concerning her children's attributes, while I shifted uneasily in my chair and looked about the room for my hat--forgetting in my embarrassment that I was dwelling154 in a sunless, rainless city and possessed no hat.
At last there was a lull155 in the monologue and I arose and said I must be going.
Frau Augusta looked pained and I recalled that I had not yet complimented her upon her intelligence and fitness to be the mother of coming generations of chemical scientists, but I stubbornly resolved not to resume my seat.
"You are young," said Frau Augusta, who had risen and shifted her position till she stood between me and the door. "Surely you have not yet made many calls on the maternity level." Then she sighed, "I do not see why they assign a man only three names to select from. Surely they could be more liberal." She paused and her face hardened. "And to think that you men are permitted to call as often as you like upon those degenerate156 hussies who have been forbidden the sacred duties of motherhood. It is a very wicked institution, that level of lust157--some day we women--we mothers of Berlin--will rise in our wrath158 and see that they are banished159 to the mines, for they produce nothing but sin and misery160 in this man-made world."
"Yes," I said, "the system is very wrong, but--"
"But the authorities, you need not say it, I have heard it all before, the authorities, always the authorities. Why should men always be the authorities? Why do we mothers of Berlin have no rights? Why are we not consulted in these matters? Why must we always submit?"
Then suddenly, and very much to my surprise, she placed her hands upon my shoulders and said hoarsely161: "Tell me about the Free Level. Are the women there more beautiful than I?"
"No," I said, "very few of them are beautiful, and those of the labour groups are most gross and stupid."
"Then why," wailed162 Frau Augusta, "was I not allowed to go? Why was I penned up here and made to bear children when others revel163 in the delights of love and song and laughter?"
"But," I said, shocked at this unexpected revelation of character, "yours is the more honourable164, more virtuous165 life. You were chosen for motherhood because you are a woman of superior intelligence."
"It's a lie," cried Frau Augusta. "I have no intelligence. I want none. But I am as beautiful as they. But no, they would not let me go. They penned me up here with these saintly mothers and these angelic children. Children, children everywhere, millions and millions of them, and not a man but doctors, and you elected fathers who are sent here to bring us pain and sorrow. You say nothing of love--your eyes are cold. The last one said he loved me--the brute53! He came but thrice, when my child was born he sent me a flower. But that is the official rule. And I hate him, and hate his child that has his lying eyes."
The distraught woman covered her face with her hands and burst into violent weeping.
When she had ceased her sobs166 I tried to explain to her the philosophy of contentment with life's lot. I told her of the seamy side of the gown that cloaks licentiousness167 and of the sorrows and bitterness of the ashes of burned out love. With the most iridescent168 words at my command I painted for her the halo of the madonna's glory, and translated for her the English verse that informs us that there is not a flower in any land, nor a pearl in any sea, that is as beautiful and lovely as any child on any mother's knee.
But I do not think I altogether consoled Frau Augusta for my German vocabulary was essentially169 scientific, not poetic170. But I made a noble effort and when I left her I felt very much the preacher, for the function of the preacher, not unlike death, is to make us cling to those ills we have when we would fly to others that we know not of.
~5~
There remained but one card unsigned of the three given me.
Frau Matilda, daughter of Siegfried Oberwinder, Analine Analyst171, was registered as eighteen and evidently an inexperienced mother-elect as I was a father-elect. The nature of the man is to hold the virgin172 above the madonna, and in starting on my third journey to the maternity level, I found hitherto inexperienced feelings tugging173 at my heartstrings and resolved that whatever she might be, I would be dignified174 and formal yet most courteous175 and kind.
My ring was answered by a slender, frightened girl. She was so shy that she could only nod for me to enter. I offered my card and folder, smiling to reassure176 her, but she retreated precipitously into a far corner and sat staring at me beseechingly178 with big grey eyes that seemed the only striking feature of her small pinched face.
"I am sorry if I frighten you," I said, "but of course you know that I am sent by the eugenic authorities. I will not detain you long. All that is really necessary is for you to sign this card."
She timidly signed the card and returned it to the corner of the table.
I felt extremely sorry for the fluttering creature; and, knowing that I could not alter her lot, I sought to speak words of encouragement. "If you find it hard now," I said, "it is only because you are young and a stranger to life, but you will be recompensed when you know the joys of motherhood."
At my words a look of consecrated179 purpose glowed in the girl's white face. "Oh, yes," she said eagerly. "I wish very much to be a mother. I have studied so hard to learn. I wish only to give myself to the holy duties of maternity. But I am so afraid."
"But you need not be afraid of me," I said. "This is only a formal call which I have made because the Eugenic Staff ordered it so. But it seems to me that some better plan might be made for these meetings. Some social life might be arranged so that you would become acquainted with the men who are to be the fathers of your children under less embarrassing circumstances."
"I try so hard not to be afraid of men, for I know they are necessary to eugenics."
"Yes," I said dryly, "I suppose they are, though I think I would prefer to put it that the love of man and woman is necessary to parenthood."
"Oh, no," she said in a frightened voice, "not that, that is very wicked."
"So you were taught that you should not love men? No wonder you are afraid of them."
"I was taught to respect men for they are the fathers of children," she replied.
"Then," I asked, deciding to probe the philosophy of the education for maternity, "why are not the fathers permitted to enjoy their fatherhood and live with the mother and the children?"
Frau Matilda now gazed at me with open-mouthed astonishment180. "What a beautiful idea!" she exclaimed with rapture181.
"Yes, I rather like it myself--the family--"
"The family!" cried the girl in horror.
"That is what we were talking about."
"But the family is forbidden. It is very wrong, very uneugenic. You must be a wicked man to speak to me of that."
"You have been taught some very foolish ideas," I replied.
"How dare you!" she cried, in alarm. "I have been taught what is right, and I want to do what is right and loyal. I passed all my examinations. I am a good mother-elect, and you say these forbidden things to me. You talk of love and families. You insult me. And if you select me, I shall--I shall claim exemption,--"and with that she rose and darted182 through the inner door.
I waited for a time and then gently approached the door, which I saw had swung to with springs and had neither latch183 nor lock. My gentle rap upon the hollow panel was answered by a muffled184 sob28. I realized the hopelessness of further words and silently turned from the door and left the apartment.
The streets of the level were almost deserted185 for the curfew had rung and the lights glowed dim as in a hospital ward14 at night. I hurried silently along, shut in by enclosing walls and the lowering ceiling of the street. From everywhere I seemed to feel upon me the beseeching177, haunting grey eyes of Frau Matilda. My soul was troubled, for it seemed to stagger beneath the burden of its realization186 of a lost humanity. And with me walked grey shadows of other men, felt-footed through the gloom, and they walked hurriedly as men fleeing from a house of death.
~6~
My next duty as a German father-elect was to report to the Eugenic Office. There at least I could deal with men; and there I went, nursing rebellion yet trying my utmost to appear outwardly calm.
To the clerk I offered my three signed cards by way of introduction.
"And which do you select?" asked the oldish man over his rimless187 glasses.
"None."
"Ah, but you must."
"But what if I refuse to do so?"
"That is most unusual."
"But does it ever happen?"
"Well, yes," admitted the clerk, "but only by Petition Extraordinary to the Chief of the Staff. But it is most unusual, and if he refuses to grant it you may be dishonoured188 even to the extent of having your election to paternity suspended, may be even permanently189 cancelled."
"You mean"--I stammered190.
"Exactly--you refuse to accept any one of the three women when all are most scientifically selected for you. Does it not throw some doubts upon your own psychic fitness for mating at all? If I may suggest, Herr Colonel--it would be wiser for you to select some one of the three--you have yet plenty of time."
"No," I said, trying to hide my elation18. "I will not do so. I will make the Petition Extraordinary to your chief."
"Now?" stammered the clerk.
"Yes, now; how do I go about it?"
"You must first consult the Investigator191."
After a few formalities I was conducted to that official.
"You refuse to make selection?" inquired the Investigator.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because," I replied, "I am engaged upon some chemical research of most unusual nature--"
"Yes," nodded the Investigator, "I have just looked that up. The more reason you should be honoured with paternity."
"Perhaps," I said, "you are not informed of the grave importance of the research. If you will consult Herr von Uhl of the Chemical Staff--"
"Entirely unnecessary," he retorted; "paternity is also important. Besides it takes but little time. No more than you need for recreation."
"But I do not find it recreation. I have not been able to concentrate my mind on my work since I received notice of my election to paternity."
"But you were warned against this," he said; "you have no right to permit the development of disturbing romantic emotions. They may be bad for your work, but they are worse for eugenics. So, if you have made romantic love to the mothers of Berlin, your case must be investigated."
"But I have not."
"Then why has this disturbed you?"
"Because," I replied, "this system of scientific paternity offends my instincts."
The investigator ogled192 me craftily193. "What system would you prefer instead?" he asked.
I saw he was trying to trap me into disloyal admissions. "I have nothing to propose," I stated. "I only know that I find the paternity system offensive to me, and that the position I am placed in incapacitates me for my work."
The investigator made some notes on a pad.
"That is all for the present," he said. "I will refer your case to the Chief."
Two days later I received an order to report at once to Dr. Ludwig Zimmern, Chief of the Eugenic Staff.
The Chief, with whom I was soon cloistered194, was a man of about sixty years. His face revealed a greater degree of intelligence than I had yet observed among the Germans, nor was his demeanour that of haughty195 officiousness, for a kindly196 warmth glowed in his soft dark eyes.
"I have a report here," said Dr. Zimmern, "from my Investigator. He recommends that your rights of paternity be revoked on the grounds that he believes yours to be a case of atavistic radicalism197. In short he thinks you are rebellious198 by instinct, and that you are therefore unsafe to father the coming generation. It is part of the function of this office to breed the rebellious instinct out of the German race. What have you to say in answer to these charges?"
"I do not want to seem rebellious," I stammered, "but I wish to be relieved of this duty."
"Very well," said Zimmern, "you may be relieved. If you have no objection I will sign the recommendation as it stands."
Surely, I thought, this man does not seem very bitter toward my traitorous199 instincts.
Zimmern smiled and eyed me curiously200. "You know," he said, "that to possess a thought and to speak of it indiscreetly are two different things."
"Certainly," I replied, emboldened201 by his words. "A man cannot do original work in science if he possesses a mind that never thinks contrary to the established order of things."
The clerks in the outer office must have thought my case a grievous one for I was closeted with their chief for nearly an hour. Though our conversation was vague and guarded, I knew that I had discovered in Dr. Ludwig Zimmern, Chief of the Eugenic Staff, a man guilty himself of the very crime of possessing rebellious instincts for which he had decided me unfit to sire German children. And when I finally took my leave I carried with me his private card and an invitation to call at his apartment to continue our conversation.
~7~
In the weeks that followed, my acquaintance with the Chief of the Eugenic Staff ripened202 rapidly into a warm friendship. The frank manner in which he revealed his dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in Germany pleased me greatly. Zimmern was interested in my chemical researches and quickly comprehended their importance.
"I know so little of chemistry," he deplored203, "yet on it our whole life hangs. That is why I am so glad of an opportunity to talk to you. I do not approve of so much ignorance of each other's work on the part of our scientists. Our old university system was better. Then a scientist in any field knew something of the science in all fields. But now we are specialized204 from childhood. Take, for example, yourself. You are at work on a great problem by which all of our labour stands to be undone205 if you chemists do not solve it, and yet you do not understand how we will all be undone. I think you should know more of what it means, then you will work better. Is it not so?"
"Perhaps," I said, "but I have little time. I am working too hard now."
"Then," said Zimmern, "you should spend more time in pleasure on the Free Level. Two days ago I conferred with the Emperor's Advisory206 Staff, and I learned that grave changes are threatened. That is one reason I am so interested in this protium on which you chemists are working. If you do not solve this problem and replenish207 the food supply, the Emperor has decided that the whole Free Level with its five million women must be abolished. His Majesty208 will have no half-way measures. He is afraid to take part of these women away, lest the intellectual workers rebel like the labourers did in the last century when their women were taken away piecemeal209."
"But what will His Majesty do with these five million women?" I inquired, eagerly desirous to learn more.
"Do? What can he do with the women?" exclaimed Dr. Zimmern in a low pitched but vibrant210 voice. "He thinks he will make workers of them. He does not seem to appreciate how specialized they are for pleasure. He will make machine tenders of them to relieve the workmen, who are to be made soldiers. He would make surface soldiers out of these blind moles211 of the earth, put amber212 glasses on them and train them to run on the open ground and carry the war again into the sunlight. It is folly213, sheer folly, and madness. His Majesty, I fear, reads too much of old books. He always was historically inclined."
On a later occasion Zimmern gave me the broad outlines of the history of German Eugenics.
"Our science of applied214 Eugenics," he said, "began during the Second World War. Our scientists had long known that the same laws of heredity by which plants and animals had been bred held true with man, but they had been afraid to apply those laws to man because the religion of that day taught that men had souls and that human life was something too sacred to be supervised by science. But William III was a very fearless man, and he called the scientists together and asked them to outline a plan for the perfection of the German race.
"At first all they advocated was that paternity be restricted to the superior men. This broke up the old-fashioned family where every man chose his own wife and sired as many children as he liked. There were great mutterings about that, and if we had not been at war, there would have been rebellion. The Emperor told the people it was a military necessity. The death toll215 of war then was great and there was urgent need to increase the birth rate, so the people submitted and women soon ceased to complain because they could no longer have individual husbands. The children were supported by the state, and if they had legitimate216 fathers of the approved class they were left in the mothers' care. As all women who were normal and healthy were encouraged to bear children, there was a great increase in the birth rate, which came near resulting in the destruction of the race by starvation.
"As soon as a sufficient number of the older generation that had believed in the religious significance of the family and marriage system had died out, the ambitious eugenists set about to make other reforms. The birth rate was cut down by restricting the privilege of motherhood to a selected class of women. The other women were instructed in the arts of pleasing man and avoiding maternity, and that is where we have the origin of our free women. In those days they were free to associate with men of all classes. Indeed any other plan would at first have been impossible.
"A second fault was that the superior men for whom paternity was permitted were selected from the official and intellectual classes. The result was that the quality of the labourers deteriorated217. So two strains were established, the one for the production of the intellectual workers, and the other for producing manual workers. From time to time this specialization has increased until now we have as many strains of inheritance as there are groups of useful characteristics known to be hereditary218.
"We have produced some effects," mused219 Zimmern, "which were not anticipated, and which have been calling forth considerable criticism. His Majesty sends me memorandums nearly every year, after he reviews the maternity levels, insisting that the feminine beauty of the race is, as a whole, deteriorating220. And yet this is logical enough. With the exception of our small actor-model strain, the characteristics for which we breed have only the most incidental relation to feminine beauty. The type of the labour female is, as you have seen, a buxom221, fleshly beauty; youth and full nutrition are essential to its display, and it soon fades. In the scientific strains it seems that the power of original thought correlates with a feminine type that is certainly not beautiful. Doubtless not understanding this you may have felt that you were discriminated222 against in your assignment. But the clerical mind with its passion for monotonous223 repetition of petty mental processes seems to correlate with the most exquisite224 and refined feminine features. Those scintillating225 beauties on the Free Level who have ever at their beck our wisest men are from our clerical strain,--but of course they are only the rejects. It is unfortunate that you cannot see the more privileged specimens226 in the clerical maternity level.
"But I digress to that which is of no consequence. The beauty of women is unimportant but the number of women is very important. When some women were specialized for motherhood then there were surplus women. At first they made workers of them. The war was then conducted on a larger scale than now. We had not yet fully122 specialized the soldier class. All the young men went to war; and, when they came back and went to work, they became bitterly jealous of the women workers and made an outcry that those who could not fight should not work. The men workers drove the women from industry, hoping thereby227 each to possess a mistress. As a result the great number of unproductive women was a drain upon the state. All sorts of schemes were proposed to reduce the number of female births but most of these were unscientific. In studying the records it was found that the offspring of certain men were predominantly males. By applying this principle of selection we have, with successive generations, been able to reduce the proportion of female births to less than half the old rate.
"But the sexual impulse of the labourers made them restless and rebellious, and the support of the free women for these millions of workers was a great economic waste. When animals had been bred to large size and great strength their sexuality had decreased, while their power as beasts of burden increased. The same principle applied to man has resulted in more docile228 workers. By beginning with the soldiers and mine workers, who were kept away from women, and by combining proper training with the hereditary selection, we solved that problem and removed all knowledge of women from the minds of the workmen."
"But how about paternity among the workers?" I asked.
"Those who are selected are removed to special isolated229 quarters. They are told they are being taken to serve as His Majesty's body guard; and they never go back to mingle230 with their fellows."
I then related for the doctor my conversation with the workman who asked me about women.
"So," said Zimmern, "there has been a leak somewhere; knowledge is hard to bottle. Still we have bottled most of it and the labourer accepts his loveless lot. But it could not be done with the intellectual worker."
Dr. Zimmern smiled cynically231. "At least," he added, "we don't propose to admit that it can be done. And that, Col. Armstadt, is what I was remarking about the other evening. Unless you chemists can solve the protium problem, Germany must cut her population swiftly, if we do not starve out altogether. His Majesty's plan to turn the workmen into soldiers and make workers of the free women will not solve it. It is too serious for that. The Emperor's talk about the day being at hand is all nonsense. He knows and we know that these mongrel herds232, as he calls the outside enemy, are not so degenerate.
"We may have improved the German stock in some ways by our scientific breeding, but science cannot do much in six generations, and what we have accomplished233, I as a member of the Eugenist Staff, can assure you has really been attained234 as much by training as by breeding, though the breeding is given the credit. Our men are highly specialized, and once outside the walls of Berlin they will find things so different that this very specialization will prove a handicap. The mongrel peoples are more adaptable235. Our workmen and soldiers are large in physique, but dwarfed236 of intellect. The enemy will beat us in open war, and, even if we should be victorious237 in war, we could not rule them. Either we solve this food business or we all turn soldiers and go out into the blinding sunlight and die fighting."
I ventured as a wild remark: "At least, if we get outside there will be plenty of women."
The older man looked at me with the superiority of age towards youth. "Young man," he said, "you have not read history; you do not understand this love and family doctrine238; it exists in the outside world today just as it did two centuries ago. The Germans in the days of the old surface wars made too free with the enemy's women, and that is why they ran us into cover here and penned us up. These mongrel people will fight for their women when they will fight for nothing else. We have not bred all the lust out of our workmen either. It is merely dormant239. Once they are loosed in the outer world they will not understand this thing and they will again make free with the enemy's women, and then we shall all be exterminated240."
Dr. Zimmern got up and filled a pipe with synthetic tobacco and puffed241 energetically as he walked about the room. "What do you say about this protium ore?" he asked; "will you be able to solve the problem?"
"Yes," I said, "I think I shall."
"I hope so," replied my host, "and yet sometimes I do not care; somehow I want this thing to come to an end. I want to see what is outside there. I think, perhaps, I would like to fly.
"What troubles me is that I do not see how we can ever do it. We have bred and trained our race into specialization and stupidity. We wouldn't know how to go out and join this World State if they would let us."
Dr. Zimmern paced the room in silence for a time. "Do you know," he said, "I should like to see a negro, a black man with kinky hair--it must be queer."
"Yes," I answered, "there must be many queer things out there."
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1
eugenic
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| adj.优生的 | |
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misgivings
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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imprint
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| n.印痕，痕迹；深刻的印象；vt.压印，牢记 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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slit
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| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
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7
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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8
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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10
folder
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| n.纸夹，文件夹 | |
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awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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12
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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13
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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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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15
amorous
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| adj.多情的；有关爱情的 | |
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exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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18
elation
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| n.兴高采烈，洋洋得意 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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mandate
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| n.托管地；命令，指示 | |
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progeny
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| n.后代，子孙；结果 | |
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futility
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| n.无用 | |
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explicit
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| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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coupons
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| n.礼券( coupon的名词复数 )；优惠券；订货单；参赛表 | |
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obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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blanched
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| 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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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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horrifying
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| a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的 | |
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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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41
unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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42
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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43
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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44
lore
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| n.传说；学问，经验，知识 | |
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45
creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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46
faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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47
alphabetical
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| adj.字母（表）的，依字母顺序的 | |
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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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49
monologue
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| n.长篇大论，（戏剧等中的）独白 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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52
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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54
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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55
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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56
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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57
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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58
monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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59
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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60
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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61
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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62
fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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63
stoic
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| n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者 | |
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64
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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65
monologues
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| n.（戏剧）长篇独白( monologue的名词复数 )；滔滔不绝的讲话；独角戏 | |
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66
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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67
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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68
psychic
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| n.对超自然力敏感的人；adj.有超自然力的 | |
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69
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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70
molecule
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| n.分子，克分子 | |
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71
disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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72
originality
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| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
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73
sterilize
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| vt.使不结果实；使绝育；使无效；杀菌，消毒 | |
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74
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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75
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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76
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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77
permissible
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| adj.可允许的，许可的 | |
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78
slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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79
resounding
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| adj. 响亮的 | |
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80
deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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81
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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82
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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83
aviator
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| n.飞行家，飞行员 | |
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84
unstable
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| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
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85
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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86
raucous
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| adj.(声音)沙哑的，粗糙的 | |
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87
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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88
guffaws
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| n.大笑，狂笑( guffaw的名词复数 )v.大笑，狂笑( guffaw的第三人称单数 ) | |
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89
recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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90
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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91
admonished
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| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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92
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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93
corroborated
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 ) | |
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94
accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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95
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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96
compensates
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| 补偿，报酬( compensate的第三人称单数 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款） | |
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97
diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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98
exulted
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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99
authorization
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| n.授权，委任状 | |
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100
extol
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| v.赞美，颂扬 | |
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101
favourably
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| adv. 善意地，赞成地 =favorably | |
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102
supplicate
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| v.恳求；adv.祈求地，哀求地，恳求地 | |
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103
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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104
redound
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| v.有助于；提；报应 | |
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105
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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106
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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107
incompatible
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| adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的 | |
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108
maternity
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| n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的 | |
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109
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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110
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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111
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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112
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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113
blemish
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| v.损害；玷污；瑕疵，缺点 | |
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114
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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115
anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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116
aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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117
fulsome
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| adj.可恶的，虚伪的，过分恭维的 | |
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118
eulogies
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| n.颂词，颂文( eulogy的名词复数 ) | |
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119
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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120
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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121
skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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122
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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123
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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124
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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125
psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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126
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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127
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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128
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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129
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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130
acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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131
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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132
synthetic
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| adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品 | |
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133
nicotine
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| n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱 | |
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134
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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135
aluminum
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| n.(aluminium)铝 | |
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136
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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137
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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138
reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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139
fumbled
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| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
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140
putative
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| adj.假定的 | |
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141
revoked
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| adj.[法]取消的v.撤销，取消，废除( revoke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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142
porcelain
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| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
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143
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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144
loquacious
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| adj.多嘴的，饶舌的 | |
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145
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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146
binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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147
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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148
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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149
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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150
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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151
furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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152
dominant
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| 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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153
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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154
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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155
lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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156
degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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157
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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158
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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159
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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160
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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161
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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162
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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163
revel
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| vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢 | |
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164
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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165
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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166
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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167
licentiousness
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| n.放肆，无法无天 | |
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168
iridescent
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| adj.彩虹色的，闪色的 | |
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169
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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170
poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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171
analyst
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| n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家 | |
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172
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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173
tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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174
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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175
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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176
reassure
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| v.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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177
beseeching
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| adj.恳求似的v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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178
beseechingly
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| adv. 恳求地 | |
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179
consecrated
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|
| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
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180
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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181
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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182
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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183
latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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184
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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185
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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186
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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187
rimless
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| adj.无边的 | |
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188
dishonoured
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| a.不光彩的，不名誉的 | |
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189
permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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190
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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191
investigator
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| n.研究者，调查者，审查者 | |
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192
ogled
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| v.（向…）抛媚眼，送秋波( ogle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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193
craftily
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| 狡猾地，狡诈地 | |
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194
cloistered
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| adj.隐居的，躲开尘世纷争的v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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195
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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196
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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197
radicalism
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| n. 急进主义, 根本的改革主义 | |
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198
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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199
traitorous
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| adj. 叛国的, 不忠的, 背信弃义的 | |
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200
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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201
emboldened
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| v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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202
ripened
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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203
deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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204
specialized
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| adj.专门的，专业化的 | |
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205
undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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206
advisory
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| adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询 | |
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207
replenish
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| vt.补充；(把…)装满；(再)填满 | |
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208
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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209
piecemeal
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| adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块 | |
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210
vibrant
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| adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的 | |
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211
moles
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| 防波堤( mole的名词复数 )； 鼹鼠； 痣； 间谍 | |
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212
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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213
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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214
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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215
toll
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| n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟) | |
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216
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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217
deteriorated
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| 恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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218
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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219
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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220
deteriorating
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| 恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 ) | |
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221
buxom
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| adj.（妇女）丰满的，有健康美的 | |
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222
discriminated
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| 分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待 | |
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223
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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224
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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225
scintillating
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| adj．才气横溢的,闪闪发光的; 闪烁的 | |
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226
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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227
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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228
docile
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| adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的 | |
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229
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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230
mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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231
cynically
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| adv.爱嘲笑地，冷笑地 | |
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232
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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233
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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234
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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235
adaptable
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| adj.能适应的，适应性强的，可改编的 | |
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236
dwarfed
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| vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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237
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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238
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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239
dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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240
exterminated
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| v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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241
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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