His errand was one of importance. A crisis was approaching in his affairs and he was determined2 to settle, once and for all, whether poor Polly’s money was to be sacrificed to her father’s increasing demands, or whether she could safely be allowed to follow her own wishes and give five thousand dollars of it to the lover whose future fortunes seemed to depend upon his possession of this amount.
Ephraim Earle had told her with something like a curse that he should expect from her this very sum on the first of the month, but if this demand were satisfied then Clarke’s own hopes must go, for his friends in the Cleveland works were fast becoming impatient, and Mr. Wright had written only two days before that if the amount demanded from him was not forthcoming in a fortnight, they would be obliged to listen to the overtures3 of a certain capitalist who was only waiting for Clarke’s withdrawal4 to place his own nephew in the desired place.
Clarke Unwin had not visited the Earle cottage since Ephraim took up his abode5 in it. Polly had refused to go there, and he himself felt no call to intrude6 upon a man who was personally disagreeable to him, and whom he could not but regard as a tyrant7 to the sweet girl whose life had been all sunshine till this man came into it with his preposterous8 demands and insatiable desire for money.
On this day, however, he had received her permission to present her case to her father and see what could be done with him. Perhaps when that father came to know her need he would find that he did not want the money as much as he made out; at all events the attempt was worth trying, and thus it was that Clarke braved the storm on this October night to interview a man he hated.
As he approached the brow of the hill he heard a noise of mingled9 laughter and singing, and glancing from under his umbrella he perceived that the various windows of the cottage were brilliantly lighted. The sight gave him a shock. “He is having one of his chess and checker orgies,” he commented to himself, and demurred11 at intruding12 himself at a time so unfavorable. But the remembrance of his mother and Polly, sitting together in anxious expectation of the good effects of his visit, determined him to proceed; and triumphing over his own disgust, he worked his way as rapidly as possible, and soon stood knee-deep in the snow that was piled up before the cottage door. The wind was blowing from the north and it struck him squarely as he raised his hand to the knocker, but though it bit into his skin, he paused a moment to listen to the final strains of old Cheeseborough’s voice, as he sang with rare sweetness a quaint13 old English ballad14.
When it was over Clarke knocked. A sudden pushing back of chairs over a bare floor announced that his summons had been heard, and presently he had the satisfaction of seeing the door open and the figure of Mr. Earle standing15 before him. Clarke did not wait to be addressed.
“I am Clarke Unwin,” he announced. “May I be allowed the pleasure of a few minutes’ conversation with you?”
“A few minutes,” emphasized the other, drawing back with almost too free an air of hospitable16 welcome. “I hope you will not limit yourself to a few minutes, my boy; we have too good company here for that.” And without waiting for any demur10 on the part of his more than unwilling17 guest, he flung open a door at the right, and ushered18 him, greatly against his will, into the large parlor19 where Clarke had last stood with Polly at his side.
Just now it was filled with the choicest of the convivial20 spirits in town, most of whom had been playing checkers or chess and smoking till not a face present was fully21 visible. Yet Clarke, in the one quick glance he threw about him, recognized most if not all of the persons present—Horton by his oaths, which rang out with more or less good-natured emphasis with every play he made, and the three cronies in the corner by various characteristics well known in Hamilton, where these men passed for “the three disgraces.”
One person only was a perfect stranger to Clarke, but him he scarcely noticed, so intent was he on his errand and the desire he had of speaking to Mr. Earle alone.
“Hurrah! Come! Here’s Clarke Unwin!” shouted a voice from the depths of the smoky pall22. “Brought your flute23 with you? Nobody comes here without some means of entertaining the company.”
“Off with your coat; there’s snow sticking to it! Uh! You’ve robbed the room of all the heat there was in it,” grumbled24 old Cheeseborough, whose fretfulness nobody minded because of the good nature that underlay25 it.
“Freedom Hall, this!” whispered Earle, still with that over-officious air Clarke had noticed in him at the doorway26. “Sit with your coat on, or sit with it off; anything to suit yourself; only one thing we insist on—you must take a good glass-full of this piping hot cider before you speak a word. So much for good fellowship. Afterward27 you shall do as you please.”
“I have not come for enjoyment28, but business,” put in Clarke, waving the glass aside and looking with some intentness into the face of the man upon whose present disposition29 depended so much of his own happiness and that of the young girl he had taken to his heart.
Earle, who had a secret pride in his own personal appearance which, now that he was in good physical condition, was not without a certain broad handsomeness, strutted30 back a pace and surveyed Clarke with interest.
“You are looking,” said he, “to see how I compare with that picture over your head. Well, as I take it, that picture, though painted sixteen years ago, does not do me justice. What do you think?”
Clarke, somewhat taken aback, as much by the smile which accompanied these words, as by the words themselves, hesitated for a moment and then boldly said:
“What you have gained in worldly knowledge and intercourse31 with men you have lost in that set purpose which gives character to the physiognomy and fills all its traits with individuality. In that face on the wall I see the inventor, but in yours, as it now confronts me, the——”
“Well, what?”
“The centre of this very delightful32 group,” finished Clarke, suavely33.
It was said with a bow which included the whole assembly. Earle laughed and one or two about him frowned, but Clarke, heeding34 nobody, asked if he could not have a moment’s conversation with his host in the hall.
Earle, with a side glance directed, as Clarke thought, toward the one slight man in the corner whose face was unfamiliar35 to him, shook his head at this suggestion and blurted36 out: “That’s against the rules. When the Hail-Fellow-Well-Met Society comes together it is as one body. What is whispered in one corner is supposed to be heard in the next. Out with your business then, here. I have no secrets and can scarcely suppose you to have.”
If this was meant to frighten Clarke off it did not succeed. He determined to speak, and speak as he was commanded right there and then.
“Well,” said he, “since you force me to take the town into our confidence, I will. Your daughter——”
“Ah,” quoth Earle, genially37, “she has remembered, then, that she has a father. She sends me her love, probably. Dear girl, how kind of her on this wintry night!”
“She sends you her respects,” Clarke corrected, frankly38, “and wants to know if you insist upon having the last few dollars that she possesses.”
“Oh, what taste!” broke in the father, somewhat disconcerted. “I did think you would have better judgment39 than to discuss money matters in a social gathering40 like this. But since you have introduced the topic you may say to my dutiful little girl that since I have only asked for such sums as she is perfectly41 able to part with, I shall certainly expect her to recognize my claim upon her without hesitation42 or demur. Have you anything more to say, Mr. Unwin?”
Clarke, whose eye had wandered to the stranger in the corner, felt no desire to back out of the struggle, unpleasing as this publicity43 was. He therefore answered with a determined nod, and with a few whispered words which caused a slight decrease in the air of bravado44 with which his host regarded him.
“You persist,” that individual remarked, “notwithstanding the rules I have had the honor of quoting to you? I should not have expected it of you, Mr. Unwin; but since your time is short, as you say, and the subject must be discussed, what do you advise, gentlemen? Shall I listen to the plea of this outsider—outsider as regards this meeting, I mean, not as regards my feelings toward him as a father—and break our rules by taking him into another room, or shall I risk a blush or two for my charming little daughter’s perversity45, and hear him out in your very good company and perhaps, under your equally good and worthy46 advice?”
“Hear him here!” piped up Cheeseborough, whose wits were somewhat befuddled47 by something stronger than cider.
“No, no, shame!” shouted Emmons. “Polly is a good girl and we have no business meddling48 with her affairs. Let them have their talk upstairs. I can find enough here to interest me.”
“Yes, yes, there’s the game! Let’s finish the game! Such interruptions are enough to spoil all nice calculations.”
“You were making for the king row.”
“Checkmate in three moves!”
“Here! fill up my glass first!”
“I declare if my pipe hasn’t gone out!”
Clarke, who heard these various exclamations49 without heeding them, glanced at Earle for his decision, but Earle’s eye was on the man in the farthest corner.
“Well, we’ll go upstairs!” he announced shortly wheeling about and leading the way into the hall. Clarke followed and was about to close the door behind him when a slim figure intervened between him and the door, and the stranger he had previously50 noticed glided51 into the hall.
“Who’s this?” he asked, noticing that this man showed every sign of accompanying them.
“A friend,” retorted Earle, “one of the devoted52 kind who sticks closer than a brother.”
Clarke, astonished, surveyed the thin young man who waited at the foot of the stairs and remarked nonchalantly, “I do not know him.” Earle, with a shrug53 of the shoulders, went upstairs.
“You may have the opportunity later,” he dryly remarked; “at present, try and fix your attention on me.” They proceeded to the inventor’s workroom, where they found a light already burning.
“Sit down!” commanded Earle, with something of the authority which his years, if not his prospective54 attitude toward the young man warranted. But he did not sit himself, nor did the friend who had followed him upstairs and who now hovered55 about somewhere in the background. “It will take Emmons just ten minutes to perfect the ‘mate’ he has threatened,” observed Earle as they faced each other. “Can you finish your talk in as short a time? For I must be down there before they start a fresh game.”
“Five minutes should suffice me,” returned Clarke, “but you may need a longer time for argument. Shall I state just what our situation is as regards this money you want from Polly?”
“If you will be so good!”
“With that man listening in the doorway?”
“With that man listening in the doorway.”
“Polly has no money to spare, Mr. Earle. Of the twenty thousand left her you have already had ten——”
“For my just debts, Mr. Unwin.”
“For your just debts, granted, Mr. Earle, but those debts were not incurred56 for her benefit, nor have you ever deigned57 to particularize to her just what they were.”
“I would not burden her young mind.”
“No, it has been enough for you to burden her purse.”
“I should have burdened her conscience had I neglected to ask for her assistance.”
“And will you now, by declining to take away her last hope, allow her the means of retrieving58 the fortune of which you have so nearly robbed her?”
“Her hopes? Her means? I think you are speaking for yourself, sir.”
“In speaking for myself, I speak for her; our interests are identical.”
“You flatter yourself; Miss Earle is not yet your wife.”
“Would you come between us?”
“God forbid! I am willing that Polly, as you call her, should marry whom she will—when I am dead.”
“Or when you have robbed her of every cent she owns.”
“Oh, what language! I marvel59 you have not more delicacy60 of expression, Mr. Unwin. Your father was noted61 for his refinement62.”
“He had not to deal with—” the word was almost out, but Clarke restrained himself—“with a man who could forsake63 his motherless child in her tender years, only to expect unbounded sacrifices from her when she has attained64 maturity65.”
“I expect no more than she will be glad to grant. Maida has pride—so have you. You would neither of you like to see her father in jail.”
Clarke bounded to his feet.
“We do not imprison66 men here for debt,” he cried.
“No, but you do for theft.”
The word, so much worse than any he was prepared for, turned Clarke pale. He looked to right and left and shrank as he caught the eye of the slim watcher in the hall beyond.
“You surely are not a criminal,” he whispered. “That man——”
“Never mind that man. Our ten minutes are fast flying by and you do not yet seem to see that I cannot afford to relinquish67 my hold on Polly.”
“Do you mean that your debts——”
“Were incurred in private? Certainly, and under circumstances which place me in a dilemma68 of no very pleasing nature. If they are not all paid by the first of next month, I shall have to subject my very conscientious69 little daughter to the obloquy70 of visiting her father in prison. It is a shame, but such is the injustice71 of men.”
“You have stolen then?”
“Too harsh a word, Clarke. I have borrowed money for the purpose of perfecting my experiments. The experiments have failed, and the money—well, the man from whom I borrowed it will have it, that is all. He is strict in his views, notwithstanding his long forbearance.”
“Who is this man? I should like to talk to him. That fellow behind you is surely not he?”
“Oh, no; he is only a detective.”
“A detective!”
“Who likes my table and bed so well he never knows when he has had enough of either.”
“Shameful!” sprang from Clarke’s set lips, as his eyes flew first to the watchful72 but nonchalant figure in the hall, and then to the tall, commanding form of the man who could accept his degrading situation with such an air of mingled sarcasm73 and resignation.
“And you are the man to whom the French government sent her badge of honor!”
“The same, Clarke,” tapping his breast.
“And you dare to call Polly your child; dare to return to Hamilton with this disgrace upon you, to make her life a hell and——”
“Maida is my child; and as for this disgrace, as you call it, it will be easy enough for her to elude74 that; a certain check drawn75 on her bank and signed by her name will do it.”
“I should like to be sure of that,” returned Clarke, springing back into the hall and confronting the man who stood there. “If you are a detective,” said he, “you are here in the interest of the man whom Mr. Earle has robbed?”
The slight young man, in no wise disconcerted, smiled politely, but with an air of quiet astonishment76 directed mainly toward Ephraim Earle.
“I am here in the interest of Brown, Shepherd, & Co., certainly,” said he. “But I have uttered no such word as robbed, nor will, unless the first of the month shows Mr. Earle’s indebtedness to them unpaid77.”
“I see. In what city does Brown, Shepherd, & Co. do business?”
“In New York, sir.”
“Merchants, lawyers, bankers, or what?”
“Bankers.”
“Oh, I remember; in Nassau street?”
“Just so.”
Mr. Earle, who had taken up a cigar from his table while this short colloquy78 took place, stepped forward.
“A very strict firm, thorough, and not much given to showing mercy, eh?”
“Not much,” smiled the man.
“You see!” gesticulated Mr. Earle, turning to Clarke with a significant smile.
Clarke, with a sudden heartsick sense of what this all meant to him, assumed a stern air.
“Mr. Earle,” said he, “I must entreat79 that you come at once and present this matter to Polly. She ought to know particulars, that she may judge whether or not she will sacrifice her fortune to save you from the disgrace you have incurred.”
“What, now, with my house full of guests? Impossible. The affair will keep till to-morrow. I will be down to-morrow and tell her anything you wish.”
“She cannot wait till to-morrow. I must send the letter to-morrow which decides my future.”
“That’s unfortunate; but you can send your letter all the same. I know what her decision will be.”
Clarke felt that he knew too, but would not admit it to himself.
“I have said my say,” he remarked. “Either you will let her know your precise position to-night, or I will take it upon myself to ask her for the money for my own uses. She will not deny me, if I press her, any more than she will probably deny you. So take your choice. I am going back to the friends below.”
Earle, who had not expected such condign80 treatment from one whom he had hitherto regarded as a boy, glanced at the detective, and, with the characteristic shrug he had picked up in foreign countries, cried out in somewhat smothered81 tones, in which caution struggled oddly with his natural bravado:
“Well, we’ll compromise. I cannot leave the H. F. W. M.; but I’ll tell you what I will do. I’ll write out the situation for my daughter, and you shall carry the paper with you. Won’t that do, considering the circumstances, eh?”
Clarke, to whom this man’s character was a perfect anomaly, murmured a hesitating consent and hurried down into the room below. Earle followed him, and, entering with frank jocularity, in striking contrast with the other’s dejected appearance, he cheerfully called out:
“Well, I’ve convinced the boy, somewhat, against his will, I own, that a few thousands spent on the invention I have now on hand will bring in a much larger fortune to Maida than that I have perhaps rather recklessly expended82. It was just so when I was perfecting my first invention, don’t you remember? Every dollar I spent on it was begrudged83 me, and yet see what an outcome there was to it at last.”
“Yes, yes; but where is all that money now?” queried84 old Cheeseborough, wagging his iron gray head. “Nobody here ever saw a dollar of it, and I have heard people say they don’t believe you ever got it.”
“Would you bring up the saddest hours of my life?” asked Earle, with a sudden cloud on his brow. “I got the money, but—” he stopped, shook himself and changed his tone for one of cheerful command. “Here, you! Start a fresh game, Emmons. I see that your checkmate is good. I’ve got to write a letter. Who will bet that I won’t get my six pages done before Hale will succeed in getting three men into the king row?”
“I will!”
“Put down your dollar then!”
“There it is.”
“And there’s mine, with a condition to boot. I’ll write the letter in this room, and give Cheeseborough another chance at a song, if you say so.”
“Done! Fire away, old man; here goes my first move!”
“And here my first word.”
And, to Clarke’s mingled surprise and disgust, Earle threw himself down before a table, took up a pen and began to write. Cheeseborough piped up with his thin, sweet voice something between a dirge85 and a chant, and Horton went on with his oaths.
点击收听单词发音
1 plodding | |
a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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2 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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3 overtures | |
n.主动的表示,提议;(向某人做出的)友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 );(歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的)序曲,前奏曲 | |
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4 withdrawal | |
n.取回,提款;撤退,撤军;收回,撤销 | |
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5 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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6 intrude | |
vi.闯入;侵入;打扰,侵扰 | |
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7 tyrant | |
n.暴君,专制的君主,残暴的人 | |
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8 preposterous | |
adj.荒谬的,可笑的 | |
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9 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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10 demur | |
v.表示异议,反对 | |
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11 demurred | |
v.表示异议,反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12 intruding | |
v.侵入,侵扰,打扰( intrude的现在分词);把…强加于 | |
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13 quaint | |
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的 | |
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14 ballad | |
n.歌谣,民谣,流行爱情歌曲 | |
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15 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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16 hospitable | |
adj.好客的;宽容的;有利的,适宜的 | |
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17 unwilling | |
adj.不情愿的 | |
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18 ushered | |
v.引,领,陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19 parlor | |
n.店铺,营业室;会客室,客厅 | |
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20 convivial | |
adj.狂欢的,欢乐的 | |
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21 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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22 pall | |
v.覆盖,使平淡无味;n.柩衣,棺罩;棺材;帷幕 | |
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23 flute | |
n.长笛;v.吹笛 | |
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24 grumbled | |
抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 发牢骚; 咕哝; 发哼声 | |
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25 underlay | |
v.位于或存在于(某物)之下( underlie的过去式 );构成…的基础(或起因),引起n.衬垫物 | |
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26 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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27 afterward | |
adv.后来;以后 | |
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28 enjoyment | |
n.乐趣;享有;享用 | |
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29 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
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30 strutted | |
趾高气扬地走,高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
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32 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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33 suavely | |
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34 heeding | |
v.听某人的劝告,听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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35 unfamiliar | |
adj.陌生的,不熟悉的 | |
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36 blurted | |
v.突然说出,脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37 genially | |
adv.亲切地,和蔼地;快活地 | |
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38 frankly | |
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
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39 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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40 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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41 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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42 hesitation | |
n.犹豫,踌躇 | |
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43 publicity | |
n.众所周知,闻名;宣传,广告 | |
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44 bravado | |
n.虚张声势,故作勇敢,逞能 | |
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45 perversity | |
n.任性;刚愎自用 | |
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46 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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47 befuddled | |
adj.迷糊的,糊涂的v.使烂醉( befuddle的过去式和过去分词 );使迷惑不解 | |
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48 meddling | |
v.干涉,干预(他人事务)( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
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49 exclamations | |
n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 );感叹;感叹语;感叹词 | |
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50 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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51 glided | |
v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 );掠过;(鸟或飞机 ) 滑翔 | |
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52 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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53 shrug | |
v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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54 prospective | |
adj.预期的,未来的,前瞻性的 | |
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55 hovered | |
鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫 | |
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56 incurred | |
[医]招致的,遭受的; incur的过去式 | |
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57 deigned | |
v.屈尊,俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58 retrieving | |
n.检索(过程),取还v.取回( retrieve的现在分词 );恢复;寻回;检索(储存的信息) | |
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59 marvel | |
vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异;n.令人惊异的事 | |
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60 delicacy | |
n.精致,细微,微妙,精良;美味,佳肴 | |
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61 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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62 refinement | |
n.文雅;高尚;精美;精制;精炼 | |
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63 forsake | |
vt.遗弃,抛弃;舍弃,放弃 | |
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64 attained | |
(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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65 maturity | |
n.成熟;完成;(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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66 imprison | |
vt.监禁,关押,限制,束缚 | |
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67 relinquish | |
v.放弃,撤回,让与,放手 | |
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68 dilemma | |
n.困境,进退两难的局面 | |
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69 conscientious | |
adj.审慎正直的,认真的,本着良心的 | |
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70 obloquy | |
n.斥责,大骂 | |
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71 injustice | |
n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利 | |
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72 watchful | |
adj.注意的,警惕的 | |
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73 sarcasm | |
n.讥讽,讽刺,嘲弄,反话 (adj.sarcastic) | |
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74 elude | |
v.躲避,困惑 | |
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75 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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76 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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77 unpaid | |
adj.未付款的,无报酬的 | |
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78 colloquy | |
n.谈话,自由讨论 | |
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79 entreat | |
v.恳求,恳请 | |
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80 condign | |
adj.应得的,相当的 | |
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81 smothered | |
(使)窒息, (使)透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 ); 覆盖; 忍住; 抑制 | |
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82 expended | |
v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 );使用(钱等)做某事;用光;耗尽 | |
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83 begrudged | |
嫉妒( begrudge的过去式和过去分词 ); 勉强做; 不乐意地付出; 吝惜 | |
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84 queried | |
v.质疑,对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 );询问 | |
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85 dirge | |
n.哀乐,挽歌,庄重悲哀的乐曲 | |
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