Surely no spot could seem more felicitously6 chosen for the favorite Indian game. The ground rose about the chungke-yard like the walls of an amphitheatre, on every side save the slope toward the "beloved square" and the river, furnishing an ideal position of vantage for spectators were they even more numerous than the hundreds of Cherokees of all ages that had gathered on the steep acclivities to overlook the game—some ranged on the terrace or turfy ridge7 around the chungke-yard, formed by the earth thrown out when the depressed8 area was delved9 down long ago, others disposed beneath the spreading trees, others still, precariously10 perched on clifty promontories12 beetling13 out from the sharp ascent14. Above all, Chilhowee Mountain, aflare with the scarlet16 glow of its autumnal woods, touched the blue sky. The river, of a kindred blue, with a transient steely change under the shadow of a cloud, showed flashes of white foam17, for the winds were rushing down from the Great Smoky Mountains, which were revealed for an instant in a clear hard azure18 against the pearl-tinted horizon—then again only a mirage19, an illusion, a dream of stupendous ranges in the shimmering20 mist.
In the idle, sylvan21, tribal22 life of that date, one hundred and fifty years ago, it might seem that there was scant23 duty recognized, imposing24 serious occupation, to debar the population of Tennessee Town from witnessing the long-drawn25 game, which was continued sometimes half the day by the same hardy26 young warriors27, indefatigable29 despite the hot sun and the tense exercise, straining every muscle. A few old women, their minds intent upon the preparation of dinner, a few of the very young children, relishing31 their own pottering devices as of a finer flavor of sport, a few old men, like other old men elsewhere, with thoughts of the past so vivid that the present could show but a pallid33 aspect—these were absent, and were not missed. For the most part, however, the little dwellings35 were vacant. The usual groups of loungers had deserted36 the public buildings, which consisted of a bark-and-log house of three rooms, or divisions, at each angle of the "beloved square," and in which were transacted37 the business affairs of the town;—one, painted red, was the "war-cabin," whence arms, ammunition38, etc., were distributed, the divisions implying distinctions as to rank among the warriors; another, painted white, was devoted39 to the priestcraft of the "beloved men"—head men of note, conjurers, and prophets; the cabin of the aged40 councilors faced the setting sun, as an intimation that their wars were ended and their day done; and in the fourth cabin met the "second men," as the traders called the subordinate authorities who conducted municipal affairs, so to speak—the community labor of raising houses, and laying off and planting with maize41 and pompions the common fields to be tilled by the women, "who fret42 at the very shadow of a crow," writes an old trader. All these cabins were now still and silent in the sun. The dome-shaped town-house, of a different style of architecture, plastered within and without with red clay, placed high on the artificial mound, and reached by an ascent of stairs which were cut in regular gradations in the earth, lacked its strange religious ceremonies; its secret colloguing council of chiefs with the two princes of the town; its visitors of distinction, ambassadors from other towns or Indian nations; its wreaths of tobacco sent forth44 from diplomatically smoked pipes; its strategic "talks;" its exchange of symbolic45 belts and strings46 of wampum and of swans' wings—white, or painted red and black, as peace hovered47 or war impended—and other paraphernalia48 of the savage49 government. Even the trading-house showed a closed door, and the English trader, his pipe in his mouth, smoked with no latent significance, but merely to garner51 its nicotian solace52, sat with a group of the elder braves and watched the barbaric sport with an interest as keen as if he had been born and bred an Indian instead of native to the far-away dales of Devonshire. Nay53, he bet on the chances of the game with as reckless a nerve as a Cherokee,—always the perfect presentment of the gambler,—despite the thrift54 which characterized his transactions at the trading-house, where he was wont56 to drive a close bargain, and look with the discerning scrupulousness57 of an expert into the values of the dressing58 of a deerskin offered in barter59. But the one pursuit was pleasure, and the other business. The deerskins which he was wearing were of phenomenal softness and beauty of finish, for the spare, dapper man was arrayed like the Indians, in fringed buckskin shirt and leggings; but he was experiencing a vague sentiment of contempt for his attire61. He had been recently wearing a garb62 of good camlet-cloth and hose and a bravely cocked hat, for he was just returned from a journey to Charlestown, five hundred miles distant, where he had made a considerable stay, and his muscles and attitude were still adjusted to the pride of preferment and the consciousness of being unwontedly smart. Indeed, his pack-train, laden63 with powder and firearms, beads64 and cloth, cutlery and paints, for his traffic with the Indians under the license65 which he held from the British government, had but come in the previous day, and he had still the pulses of civilization beating in his veins66.
For this reason, perhaps, as he sat, one elbow on his knee, his chin in his hand, his sharp, commercially keen face softened67 by a thought not akin68 to trade, his eyes were darkened, while he gazed at one of the contestants69, with a doubt that had little connection with the odds71 which he had offered. He was troubled by a vague regret, a speculation72 of restless futility73, for it concerned a future so unusual that no detail could be predicted from the resources of the present. And yet this sentiment was without the poignancy74 of personal grief—it was only a vicarious interest that animated75 him. For himself, despite the flattering, smooth reminiscence of the camlet-cloth yet lingering in the nerves of his finger-tips, the recent relapse into English speech, the interval76 spent once more among the stir of streets and shops, splendid indeed to an unwonted gaze, the commercial validities, which he so heartily78 appreciated, of the warehouses79, and crowded wharves81, and laden merchantmen swinging at anchor in the great harbor, he was satisfied. He was possessed82 by that extraordinary renunciation of civilization which now and again was manifested by white men thrown among the Cherokee tribe—sometimes, as in his instance, a trader, advanced in years, "his pile made," to use the phrase of to-day, the world before him where to choose a home; sometimes a deserter from the British or French military forces, according to the faction83 which the shifting Cherokees affected84 at the time; more than once a captive, spared for some whim85, set at liberty, free to go where he would—all deliberately86 and of choice cast their lot among the Cherokees; lived and died with the treacherous88 race. Whether the wild sylvan life had some peculiarly irresistible90 attraction; whether the world beyond held for them responsibilities and laborious91 vocations92 and irksome ties which they would fain evade93; whether they fell under the bewitchment of "Herbert's Spring," named from an early commissioner94 of Indian affairs, after drinking whereof one could not quit the region of the Great Smoky Mountains, but remained in that enchanted95 country for seven years, fascinated, lapsed96 in perfect content—it is impossible to say. There is a tradition that when the attraction of the world would begin to reassert its subtle reminiscent forces, these renegades of civilization were wont to repair anew to this fountain to quaff97 again of the ancient delirium98 and to revive its potent99 spell. Abram Varney had no such necessity in his own case; he only doubted the values of his choice as fitted for another.
Apart from this reflection, it was natural that his eyes should follow the contestant70 whom he had backed for a winner to the tune100 of more silver bangles, and "ear-bobs," and strings of "roanoke," and gunpowder101, and red and white paint, than he was minded to lightly lose. He had laid his wagers102 with a keen calculation of the relative endowments of the players, their dexterity103, their experience, their endurance. He was not influenced by any pride of race in the fact that his champion was also a white man, who, indeed, carried a good share of the favor of the spectators.
A strange object was this champion, at once pathetic and splendid. No muscular development could have been finer, no athletic104 grace more pronounced than his physique displayed. The wild life and training of the woods and the savage wars had brought out all the constitutional endurance and strength inherited from his stanch105 English father and his hardy Scotch106 mother. Both had been murdered by the Cherokees in a frontier massacre107, and as a boy of ten years of age, his life spared in some freak of the moment, he had been conveyed hither, exhorted108 to forget, adopted into the tribe, brought up with their peculiar89 kindness in the rearing of children, taught all the sylvan arts, and trained to the stern duties of war by the noted109 chief Colannah Gigagei, himself, the Great Red Raven110 of Tennessee Town (sometimes called Quorinnah, the name being a favorite war-title specially111 coveted). The youth had had his baptism of fire in the ceaseless wars which the Cherokees waged against the other Indian tribes. He had already won the "warrior28's crown" and his "war-name," a title conferred only upon the bravest of the brave. He was now Otasite, the "Man-killer" of Tennessee Town. He was just twenty years of age, and Abram Varney, gazing at him, wondered what the people in Charlestown would think of him could they see him. For a few days, a week, perhaps, the trader would refer all his thoughts to this civilized112 standard.
Tall, alert as an Indian, supple113 too, but heavier and more muscular, Otasite was instantly to be distinguished114 by his build from among the other young men, although, like the Indians, he wore a garb of dressed deerskin. His face, albeit115 no stranger to the use of their pigments116 and unguents, still showed fair and freckled117. His hair bore no resemblance to their lank118 black locks; of an auburn hue119 and resolutely120 curling, it defied the tonsure122 to which it had been for years subjected, coming out crisp and ringleted close to his head where he was designed to be bald, and on the top, where the "war-lock" was permitted to grow, it floated backward in two long tangled123 red curls that gave the lie direct to the Indian similitude affected by the two surmounting124 tips of eagle feathers. He was arrayed in much splendor126, according to aboriginal127 standards; the fringed seams of his hunting shirt and leggings, fashioned of fine white dressed doeskin, as pliable128 as "Canton silk crape," were hung with fawns129' trotters; his moccasins were white and streaked130 with parti-colored paint; he had a curious prickly belt of wolves' teeth, which intimated his moral courage as well as sylvan prowess, for the slaying131 of these beasts was esteemed132 unlucky, and shooting at them calculated to spoil the aim of a gun; many glancing, glittering strings of "roanoke" swung around his neck.
Nothing could have been finer, athletically133 considered, than his attitude at this moment of the trader's speculative134 observation. The discoidal quartz135 chungke-stone[2] had been hurled136 with a tremendous fling along the smooth sandy stretch of the yard, its flat edge, two inches wide, and the curiously exact equipoise of its fashioning causing it to bowl swiftly along a great distance, to fall only when the original impetus137 should fail; his competitor, Wyejah, a sinewy138, powerful young brave, his buckskin garb steeped in some red dye that gave him the look when at full speed of the first flying leaf of the falling season, his ears split and barbarically distended139 on wire hoops140[3] and hung with silver rings, his moccasins scarlet, his black hair decorated with cardinal141 wings, had just sent his heavy lance, twelve feet long, skimming through the air; then Otasite, running swiftly but lightly abreast142 with him, launched his own long lance with such force and nicety of aim that its point struck the end of Wyejah's spear, still in flight in mid-air, deflecting143 its direction, and sending it far afield from the chungke-stone which it was designed in falling to touch. This fine cast counted one point in the game, which is of eleven points, and the Indian braves among the spectators howled like civilized young men at a horse-race.
The sport was very keen, the contest being exceedingly close, for Wyejah had long needed only one additional point to make him a winner, and when Otasite had failed to score he had also failed. The swift motion, the graceful144 agility145, the smiling face of Otasite,—for it was a matter of the extremest exaction146 in the Indian games that however strenuous147 the exertion148 and tense the strain upon the nerves and grievous the mischances of the sport, the utmost placidity149 of manner and temper must be preserved throughout,—all appealed freshly to the trader, although it was a long-accustomed sight.
"Many a man in Charlestown—a well-to-do man" (applying the commercial standard of value)—"would be proud to have such a son," he muttered, a trifle dismayed by the perverse150 incongruities151 of fate. "He would have sent the boy to school. If there was money enough he would have sent him to England to be educated—and none too good for him!"
The shadows of the two players, all foreshortened by the approach of noontide, bobbed about in dwarfish152 caricature along the smooth sandy stretch. The great chungke-pole, an obelisk153 forty feet high planted on a low mound in the centre of the chungke-yard, and with a target at its summit used for trials of skill in marksmanship, cast a diminished simulacrum on the ground at its base scarcely larger than the chungke-lances. Now and again these heavy projectiles155 flew through the air, impelled156 with an incredible force and a skill so accurate that it seemed impossible that both contestants should not excel. There was a moment, however, when Otasite might have made the decisive point to score eleven had not the chungke-stone slipped from the hand of Wyejah as he cast it, falling only a few yards distant. Otasite's lance, flung instantly, shot far beyond that missile, for which, had the stone been properly thrown, he should have aimed. Wyejah, disconcerted and shaken by the mischance, launching his lance at haphazard157, almost mechanically, struck by obvious accident the flying lance of his adversary158, deflecting its course—the decisive cast, for which he had striven so long in vain, and which was now merely fortuitous.
The crowds of Indian gamblers, with much money and goods at hazard upon the event, some, indeed, having staked the clothes upon their backs, the rifles and powder for their winter hunt that should furnish them with food, were at once in a clamor of discussion as to the fair adjustment of the throw in the score. The backers of Wyejah claimed the accidental hit as genuine and closing the game. The backers of Otasite protested that it could not be thus held, since Wyejah's defective160 cast of the chungke-stone debarred their champion from the possibility of first scoring the eleventh point, which chance was his by right, it being his turn to play; they met the argument caviling at Otasite's lack of aim by the counter-argument that one does not aim at a moving object where it is at the moment, but with an intuitive calculation of distance and speed where it will be when reached by the projectile154 hurled after it, illustrating161 cleverly by the example of shooting with bow and arrow at a bird on the wing.
Otasite and Wyejah both, preserved an appearance of joyous162 indifference163. With their lances poised164 high in the right hand they were together running swiftly up the long alley165 again to the starting-point, Otasite commenting on the evident lack of intention in Wyejah's lucky cast with a loud, jocosely166 satiric167 cry, "Hala! Hala!" (signifying, "You are too many for me!")
"Lord! how the boy does yell!" Abram Varney exclaimed, a smile pervading168 the wrinkles wrought169 about his eyes by much pondering on the problems of the Indian trade, feeling incongruously a sort of elation170 in the youth's noisy shouts, which echoed blatantly171 from the rocky banks of the Tennessee River, and with reduced arrogance172 and in softer tones from the cliffs of towering Chilhowee.
A sympathetic sentiment glowed in the dark eyes of an Indian chief on the slope hard by, the great Colannah Gigagei. He was fast aging now; the difficulties of diplomacy173 constantly increasing in view of individual aggressions and encroachments of the Carolina colonists175 on the east, and the ever specious176 wiles177 and suave178 allurements179 of the French on the west, to win the Cherokees from their British alliance; the impossibility, in the gentle patriarchal methods of the Cherokee government, to control the wild young men of the tribe, who, as the half-king, Atta-Kulla-Kulla said, "often acted like madmen rather than people of sense" (and it is respectfully submitted that this peculiarity180 has been observed in other young men elsewhere); the prophetic vision, doubtless, of the eventual181 crushing of his people in the collisions of the great international struggle of the Europeans for the possession of this country,—all fostered tokens of time in the face of Colannah, and bowed his straight back, and set an unwonted quiver in the nerves of his old hand that had been firm in his heyday182, and strong and crafty183 and cruelly bloody184. But his face now was softened with pleasure, and the pride it expressed was almost tender.
"When a few years ago the Governor of South Carolina," he said majestically186, speaking in the Cherokee tongue but for the English names (he pronounced the title "Goweno"), "offered to take some Cherokee youths to train in his schools and make scholars of them, I thanked him with affection, for his thought was kind. But I told him that if he would send some South Carolina youths to the Cherokee nation to be trained, we would make men of them!"
His blanket, curiously woven of feathers and wild hemp187, requiring years of labor in its intricate manufacture, fell away from one gaunt arm as he lifted it to point with a kingly gesture at the young white man as the illustration of his training. Every muscle of strength was on parade in the splendid pose of hurling188 the great chungke-spear through the air, as Otasite thus passed the interval while waiting the decision of the umpire of the game. Then, with a laugh, oddly blent of affection and pride, Colannah took his way down the slope and toward the council-house: the council sat there much in these days of 1753, clouded with smoke and perplexity.
Judging by this specimen189 of his athletic training to feats190 of prowess, Colannah Gigagei might boast to the "Goweno" of South Carolina. It was not, however, merely in muscle that the young captive excelled. As Abram Varney thought of certain sterling191 manly192 traits of the highest type which this poor waif had developed here in this incongruous environment, one might suppose from the sheer force of heredity, he shook his head silently, and his eyes clouded, the pulses of Charlestown still beating in his veins. For he was wont to leave for months the treasures of his trading-house, not merely a matter of trinkets and beads, but powder, lead, and firearms, sufficient for accoutring an expedition for the "war-path," and great store of cloths, cutlery, paints, in the charge of this valiant193 gamester of chungke, stanch alike against friend and foe194, as safely as if its wealth were beneath his own eye. So insecure had become the Cherokee allegiance to the government that it was impossible now under its uncertain protection to retain white men from the colonies here in his employ as agents and under-traders, or, indeed, those whose interest and profits amounted to an ownership in a share of the stock. The earlier traders in neighboring towns one by one had gone, affecting a base several hundred miles nearer the white settlements. Some had shifted altogether from the tribe, and secured a post among the Chickasaws, who were indubitably loyal to the British. While their withdrawal195 added to Varney's profits,—for each trader was allowed to hold at this time a license only for two Indian towns, it being before the date of the issuance of general licenses196, and the custom which they had relinquished197, the barter with the Cherokees for deerskins, now came from long distances, drawn as by a magnet to his trading-house at Tennessee Town,—it had resulted in his isolation198, and for years he had been almost the only British subject west of the Great Smoky Mountains. He had no fear of the Cherokees, however—not even should the political sky, always somewhat overcast199, become yet more lowering. He had long been accustomed to these Indians, and he felt that he had fast friends among them. His sane200 mercantile judgment201 appraised202 and appreciated the added opportunities of his peculiar position, which he would not lightly throw away, and the development of Otasite's incongruous commercial values not only removed the possibility of loss during his absence, but added to his facilities in enabling him to secure the fidelity203 of Indians as packmen, hitherto impracticable, but now rendered to Otasite as one of the tribe. He had recognized with satisfaction, mingled204 with amusement, national traits in the boy, who, despite his Indian training, would not, like them, barter strings of wampum measuring "from elbow to wrist" without regard to the relative length of arm. Yet he had none of the Indian deceit and treachery. He was blunt, sincere, and bold. His alertness in computation gave Varney genuine pleasure, although they wrangled205 much as to his method, for he used the Cherokee numeration, and it set the trader's mercantile teeth on edge to hear twenty called "tahre skoeh"—two tens.
"And why not?" Otasite would demand, full of faith in his own education. "The Chickasaw will say 'pokoole toogalo'—ten twos"—and he would smile superior. This was his world, and these his standards—the Cherokees and the Chickasaws!
He was not to be easily influenced or turned save by some spontaneous acquiescence206 of his own mind, and Varney found himself counting "skoeh chooke kaiere" (the old one's hundred) before he ever induced Otasite to say instead "one thousand."
The boy even ventured on censorship in his turn. "You say 'Cherokees' and 'Chickasaws' when you speak of the Tsullakee and the Chickasaw; why don't you then say the English-es and the French-es?" For the plural208 designation of these tribes was a colonial invention.
His bulldog tenacity209, his orderly instincts, his providence210, so contrary to the methods of the wasteful211 Indian, his cheerful industry, his indomitable energy and perseverance,—all were so national that in days gone past Varney used now and again to clap him on the shoulder with a loud, careless vaunt, "British to the marrow212!"
A fact, doubtless—and all of a sudden it had begun to seem a very serious fact. So very serious, indeed, that the old trader did not notice the crisis in the chungke-yard, the increasing excitement in the crowds of spectators, the clamors presently when the game was declared a draw and the bets off, the stir of the departing groups. It was silence at last that smote213 upon his senses with the effect of interruption which the continuance of sound had not been able to compass. He drew himself up with a perplexed214 sigh, and looked drearily215 over the expanse of the river. Its long glittering reaches were vacant, a rare circumstance, for the Cherokees of that date were almost amphibious in habit, reveling in the many lovely streams of their mountain country; on the banks their towns were situated216, and this fact doubtless contributed to the neatness of their habitations and personal cleanliness, to which the travelers of those times bear a surprised testimony217. The light upon the water was aslant218 now from a westering sun, and glittering on the snowy breasts of a cluster of swans drifting, dreaming perhaps, on the current. The scarlet boughs219 on the summit of Chilhowee were motionless against the azure zenith. Not even the vaguest tissue of mist now lingered about the majestic185 domes220 of the Great Smoky Mountains, painted clearly and accurately221 in fine and minute detail in soft dense222 velvet223 blues224 against the hard polished mineral blue of the horizon. The atmosphere was so exquisitely226 luminous227 and pellucid228 that it might have seemed a fit medium to dispel229 uncertainty230 in other than merely material subjects of contemplation. Nevertheless he did not see his way clearly, and when he came within view of his trading-house he paused as abruptly231 as if he had found his path blocked by an obstacle.
There, seated on the step of the closed door which boasted the only lock and key in Tennessee Town, or for the matter of that in all the stretch of the Cherokee country west of the Great Smoky Range, was Otasite, the incongruity232 of his auburn curls and his Indian headdress seeming a trifle more pronounced than usual, since it had been for a time an unfamiliar233 sight. He was awaiting the coming of the trader, and was singing meanwhile in a loud and cheerful voice, "Drink with me a cup of wine," a ditty which he had heard in his half-forgotten childhood. The robust234 full tones gave no token of the draught235 made upon his endurance by the heavy exercise of the day, but he seemed a bit languid from the heat, and his doeskin shirt was thrown open at the throat, showing his broad white chest, and in its centre the barbarous blue discolorations of the "warrior's marks." These disfigurements, made by the puncturing236 of the flesh with gars' teeth and inserting in the wound paint and pitch, indelible testimonials to his deeds of courage and prowess, Otasite valued as he did naught237 else on earth, and he would have parted with his right hand as readily. The first had been bestowed238 upon him after he had gone, a mighty239 gun-man, against the Muscogees. The others he had won in the course of a long, furious, and stubborn contest of the tribe with the Chickasaws, who, always impolitic, headlong, and brave, were now reduced by their own valor240 in their many wars from ten thousand fighting men to a few hundred. He had attained241 the "warrior's crown" when he had shown their kindred Choctaws a mettle242 as fierce and a craft as keen as their own. And now he was looking at Abram Varney with kindly243 English eyes and an expression about the brow, heavily freckled, that almost smote the tears from the elder man. The trader knew from long experience what was coming, but suddenly he had begun to regard it differently. Always upon the end of each journey from Charlestown he had been met here within a day or two by Otasite on the same mission. The long years as they passed had wrought only external changes since, as a slender wistful boy of eleven years, heart-sick, homeless, forlorn, friendless, save for his Indian captors, likely, indeed, to forget all language but theirs, he had first come with his question, always in English, always with a faltering244 eyelash and a deprecatory lowered voice, "Did you hear anything in Charlestown of any people named 'Queetlee'?"
This was the distorted version of his father's name that Colannah had preserved. As to the child himself, his memory had perhaps been shaken by the events of that terrible night of massacre, which he only realized as a frightful245 awakening246 from sleep to smoke, flames, screams, the ear-splitting crack of rifle-shots at close quarters, the shock of a sudden hurt—and then, after an interval of unconsciousness, a transition to a new world of strange habitudes that grew speedily familiar, and of unexpected kindness that became dear to a frank, affectionate heart. Perhaps in the isolations of the frontier life he had never heard his father addressed by his surname by a stranger; he was called "Jan" by his wife, and her name was "Eelin," and this Otasite knew, and this was all he knew, save that he himself also had been called "Jan."
"They don't want you, my buck60, or they would have been after you," the trader used to reply, being harder, perhaps when he was younger. Besides, he honestly thought the cadaverous brat247, all legs, like a growing colt, and skinny arms, was better off here in the free woodland life which he himself considered no hardship, and affected long after necessity or interest had dictated248 his environment. The little lad was safe in the care of the powerful chief Colannah Gigagei of Tennessee Town, who had adopted him, and who was a man of great force and influence. Why should the child seek a home among his own people, unwelcome doubtless, to eat the meagre crust of charity, or serve as an overworked drudge249 somewhere on the precarious11 frontier? The trader did not greatly deplore250 the lack of religious training, for in the remote settlements this was often still an unaccustomed luxury, albeit some thirty years had now gone by since Sir Francis Nicholson, then the Governor, declared that no colony could flourish without a wider diffusion251 of the gospel and education, and forthwith ordered spiritual drill, so to speak, in the way of preaching and schooling252. Although himself described as "a profane253, passionate254, headstrong man, bred a soldier," as if the last fact were an excuse for the former, he contributed largely to the furtherance of these pious255 objects, "spending liberally all his salary and perquisites256 of office," for which generous trait of character an early and strait-laced historian is obviously of the opinion that General Nicholson should have been suffered to swear in peace and, as it were, in the odor of sanctity.
More than once, when in Charlestown, Varney, notwithstanding his persuasions258 on the subject, had been minded to inquire concerning the "Queetlees," who he understood from Colannah had come originally from Cumberland in England. With his mercantile cronies he had canvassed259 the question whether the queer, evidently distorted name could have been "Peatley" or "Patey" or "Petrie,"—for the Cherokees always substituted "Q" for "P," as the latter letter they could not pronounce,—and after this transient consideration the matter would drop.
As the child, running about the Indian town with his new-found playmates, grew robust and merry-hearted, and happiness, confidence, and strength brought their embellishing260 influence to the expression of his large dark gray eyes and straightened the nervous droop261 from his thin little shoulders, the trader noticed casually262 once or twice how comely263 the brat had become, and he experienced a fleeting264, half-ridiculing pity for his mother—how the woman would have resented and resisted the persistent265 shearing266 and shaving of those silken, loosely twining red curls! Then he thought of her no more. But when the child had come to man's estate, when he was encased in a network of muscle like elastic267 steel wires, when stature268 and strength had made him alike formidable and splendid, when the development of his temperament269 illustrated270 virtues271 so stanch that they seemed the complement272 of his physical endowment and a part of his resolute121 personality, the old trader thought of the boy's father, and thought of him daily—how the sturdy Cumbrian yeoman would have rejoiced in so stalwart a son! Thus, with this vague bond of sympathy with a man whom he had never seen, never known, so long ago, so cruelly dead, this intuitive divination273 of his paternal274 sentiment, Varney's fatherly attitude grew more definite daily and became accustomed, and he was jealous of the influence of Colannah, who in turn was jealous of his influence.
Now as Varney stood in the dusky trading-house among the kegs and bags and bales of goods, the high peak of the interior of the roof lost in the lofty shadows, he felt that he had been much in default in long-past years, and he experienced a very definite pang275 of conscience as Otasite swung abruptly around a stack of arms, a new rifle in his hand, the flint and pan of which he had been keenly examining.
He lifted his eyes suddenly with that long-lashed dreary276 look of his childhood.
"Did you hear of any Queetlees in Charlestown?" he asked.
"It is you who should seek your kindred, Jan Queetlee!" Varney said impulsively277, calling him by his unaccustomed English name. "It is you who should go to Charlestown to find the Queetlees!"
Otasite's face showed suddenly the unwonted expression of fear. He recoiled278 abruptly, and Abram Varney was sensible of a deep depression. It was as he had thought. The wish for restoration to those of his name and his kindred which had animated the boy's earlier years had now dwindled279 to a mere50 abstract sentiment of loyalty280 as of clanship, but was devoid281 of expectation, of intention. All the members of his immediate282 family had perished in the massacre, and he had been trained to regard this as the fortunes of war, cherishing no personal antagonism283, as elsewhere among civilized people reconciliations284 are frequent between the victors and the friends of the slain286 in battle. Moreover, he was not brought close to it. The participators in the affray were of the distant Ayrate settlements of the tribe, southeast of the mountains, and not individualized. The Indians of Tennessee Town, which was then one of the most remote of the Cherokee villages of the Ottare division, and this perhaps was the reason it was selected as his home, were not concerned in the foray, nor were any others of the Overhill towns. Thus he had grown up without the thirst for vengeance287, which showed how little the methods of his Cherokee environment had influenced his heart. And truly the far-away Queetlees, if any such were cognizant of his existence, had troubled themselves nothing about it, and had infinitely288 less claim on his gratitude289 and filial affection than Colannah. They had left him to be as a waif, a slave. He had been reared as a son, nursed and tended, fed and fostered, bedecked in splendor, armed in costly290 and formidable wise, given command and station, carefully trained in all that the Indian knew.
"Colannah would never consent!" he said at last.
Abram Varney afterward291 wondered why he should then have had a vision—oh, so futile292, so fleeting, so fantastic!—of the twenty, the forty, nay, the sixty years that this man, so munificently293 endowed by nature, might pass here among the grotesque294, uncouth295 barbarities of the savage Cherokee, while his heritage—his religion, the religion into which he was born of Christian296 parents, his name and nation, his tongue and station, his opportunity—doubtless some fair, valid77, valuable future—all lay there to the eastward297 but scant five hundred miles away on the Carolina coast. He said as much, and the retort came succinctly298, "You live here!"
Otasite's English speech was as simple as a child's, but he thought as diplomatically as Colannah himself, whom he esteemed the greatest man in all the world, and he could argue in the strategic Cherokee method. Nevertheless, to give him full sway, that everything possible might be said in contravention of the proposition, the old trader lapsed into the Indian speech, that was indeed from long usage like a mother tongue to them both. He stayed here, he said, from choice, it was true, but for the sake of the trade that gave him wealth, and with wealth he could return to the colonies at any time, and go whither he would in all the world. But Otasite was restricted; he had no goods for trade, no adequate capital to invest; he could only return to the colonies while young, to work, to make a way, to secure betimes a place appropriate to his riper years. Even this could not be done without great difficulty,—witness how many settlers came empty-handed to barely exist on the frontier and wrest299 a reluctant living from the wilderness,—and it could not be done at all without friends. Now he, Abram Varney, was prepared to stand his friend; Otasite could take a place in the service of the company, in the main depot300 of the trade at Charlestown. His knowledge of the details of the business of which Abram Varney's long absences had given him experience; of the needs of the Cherokee nation; of the ever-continued efforts of the French traders, by means of the access to the Overhill towns afforded by the Cherokee and Tennessee rivers, despite the great distance from their settlements on the Mississippi, to insinuate301 their supplies at lower prices, in the teeth of the Cherokee treaty with the British monopolizing302 such traffic, and bring down profits—all would have a special and recognized value and be appreciated by his mercantile associates, who would further the young man's advancement303. Thence he could at his leisure make inquiries304 concerning his father's family, and doubtless in the course of time be restored to his kindred.
Otasite listened throughout with the courteous305 air of deliberation which his Indian training required him to accord to any discourse306, without interruption, however unwelcome or trivial it might be esteemed. Then, smiling slowly, he shook his head.
"You cannot be serious," he said. "It would break old Colannah's heart, who has been like a father to me."
Abram Varney too had the British bulldog tenacity. "What will you do, then," he asked slowly and significantly, "when Colannah takes up arms against the British government? Will you fight men of your own blood?"
He was reinforced in this argument by the habit of thought of the Indians—the absolute absence of tribal dissensions, of internecine307 strife308, so marked among the Cherokees: here no man's hand was lifted against his brother.
Jan Queetlee palpably winced309. Come what might, he could never fight for the Cherokees against the British—his father's people, his mother's people—no more than he could fight for the British against his adopted tribe—the Cherokee—and he the "Man-killer!"
"They will fight each other," said Varney weightily, "and the day is not far—the day is not far!"
For in 1753 the cumulative310 discontents of the tribe were near the crisis, earnestly fostered by the French on the western boundaries, that vast domain311 then known as Louisiana, toward whose siren voice the Cherokees had ever lent a willing ear. The building by the British government, two or three years later, of those great defensive312 works, Fort Prince George and Fort Loudon, situated respectively at the eastern and western extremities313 of the Cherokee territory, mounted with cannon314 and garrisoned315 by British forces, served to hold them in check and quieted them for a time, but only for a time. Jan Queetlee, by reason of his close association with the chiefs, knew far more than Varney dreamed of the bitterness roused in the hearts of the Indians by friction317 with the government, the aggressions of the individual colonist174, the infringements319 of their privileges in the treaty, and in opposition320 the influence of the ever seductive suavity321 of the French.
As with a sudden hurt, Jan Queetlee cried out with a poignant322 voice against the government and its patent unfaith, striking his clinched323 fist so heavily on the head of a keg of powder that the stout324 fibres of the wood burst beneath the passionate blow, and in a moment he was covered with the flying particles of the black dust. Realizing the possibility of an explosion should a candle or a pipe be lighted here, Varney did not wait for the return of one of the brawny325 packmen to remove the keg to a cave beneath the trading-house, which he utilized326 for storage as a cellar, but addressed himself to the job. Jan Queetlee silently assisted, his face darker, more lowering with the thought in his mind than with the smears327 of the powder.
Varney remembered this afterward, and that he himself, diverted by the accident from the trend of his argument, had launched out in a tirade328 against the government as they worked together, the young Briton's energy, industry, and persistence329 so at variance330 with the aspect of his tufted topknot of feathers on his auburn curls, and the big blue warrior's marks on his broad white chest. For Varney too had his grievances331 against the powers that were; but his woes332 were personal. He vehemently333 condemned334 the reconciliation285 which the government had effected between the Muscogees and the Cherokees, for although there were more deerskins to be had for export when the Indian hunters were at pacific leisure, Varney had considered the recent war between these tribes an admirable vent159 for gunpowder and its profitable sale; and since the savages335 must always be killing336, it was manifestly best for all concerned that they should kill each other. He could not sufficiently337 deride338 the happy illustration which Governor Glen had given them (in his fatuity339, Varney thought) of the values of peace and concord340. In the presence of the two delegations342 the mediating343 Governor had taken an arrow and shown them with what ease it could be broken; then how impossible he found it to break a quiverful of arrows, thus demonstrating the strength in union. Varney argued that the Indians would readily perceive a further application of the principle and turn it to account, combining against the colonists. In the same spirit he animadverted upon a monopoly from which he was excluded in common with the traders in general, and which had been granted to a mercantile company seeking to establish posts among the Choctaws. The enterprise, although favored by the government, obviously because, undertaken on a scale of phenomenal magnitude, it promised to dislodge the French and their long-established trade among the Choctaws, and bring that powerful tribe to a British allegiance, had finally proved a failure; and with a bitter joy in this fact he alternately contemned344 and pitied the government, because it could not wrest this valuable opportunity from the iron grasp of the "Mississippi Louisianians." He had, too, a censorious word for the French commercially—called them "peddlers," celebrated345 their deceitful wiles, underrated the quality of their cloths, and inconsistently berated346 them for their low prices, finding a logical parity347 in all these matters in the tenets of their religion, which they had so vainly and so zealously348 sought to instill into the unreceptive hearts of the unimpressionable Choctaw.[4]
With the plethora349 of interest involved in these subjects, Varney grew oblivious350 of the theme that had earlier occupied his mind. It recurred351 no more to his thoughts until several days had passed. He then chanced to be occupied with his new goods in his cavern352. It was illumined only from above; there was a trap-door in the floor of the trading-house, and thence a pale tempered light drifted down, scarcely convenient, but sufficient for his purposes. Once he noticed that a shadow flickered353 across it. He experienced a momentary355 surprise, for he had left no one in the building, and the outer door being locked, he imagined it could not be forced without noise enough to rouse him. Again the shadow flickered across the trap-door; then ensued a complete eclipse of the scant glimmer356 of light. There was a step upon the ladder which served as stairway—a man was descending357.
Varney felt a sudden constriction358 about his throat. He realized an impending359 crisis; the door above had been closed; by the sound he knew that the ladder was now removed and laid upon the ground. He had an idea—he could see naught—that the unknown invisible man had seated himself on the ladder on the ground, where he remained motionless, silent, in anger, in grief, or some strange savage whim hardly possible for a civilized creature to divine.
The time that passed in this black nullity—he never could compute360 it—moments, doubtless, but it seemed hours, tried to the utmost the nerve of the entrapped361 trader, albeit inured362 by twenty years' experience to the capricious temper of the Cherokee Indians. He felt he could better endure the suspense363 could he only see his antagonist364, identify him, and thus guess his purpose, and shape his own course from his knowledge of character. But with some acquired savage instinct he, too, remained silent, null, passive; one might have thought him absent. Perhaps his quiescence207, indeed, fostered some doubt of his presence here, for suddenly there sounded the rasping of flint on steel, the spunk365 was aglow366, and then in the timorous367 flame of the kindling368 candle, taken from his own stores above, Varney recognized the face and figure of the stately and imperious old chief Colannah. The next moment he remembered something far more pertinent369. He called out in an agitated370 voice to the Indian to beware of the powder with which the place was largely stocked.
"I came for that," said Colannah in Cherokee, with unaccustomed fingers snuffing the wick as he had seen Varney perform the process, for the Indians used torches and fires of split cane371 for purposes of illumination.
"For God's sake, what have I done?" cried the trader in an agony of terror, desirous to bring his accusation372 to the point as early as might be and compass his release, thus forestalling373 the violent end of an explosion.
"What do the English always?—you have robbed me!" said Colannah, the light strong on his fierce indignant features, his garb of fringed buckskin, his many rich strings of the ivory-like roanoke about his neck, his gayly bedecked and feathered head, and in shadowy wise revealing the rough walls of the cave, the boxes and bales of goods, the reserve stock, as it were, the stands of arms, and the kegs and bags of powder.
As Varney, half crouching374 on the ground, noted the latter in the dusk, he cried out precipitately375, "Robbed you of what? My God! let us go upstairs. I'll give it back, whatever it is, twice over, fourfold! Don't swing the candle around that way, Colannah! the powder will blow us and the whole trading-house into the Tennessee River."
Colannah nodded acquiescence, the stately feathers on his head gleaming fitfully in the clare-obscure of the cavern. "That is why I came! Then the British government could demand no satisfaction for the life of the British subject—an accident—the old chief of Tennessee Town killed with him. And I should be avenged377."
"For what? My God!" Varney had not before called upon the Lord for twenty years. To hold a diplomatic conversation with an enraged378 wild Indian, flourishing a lighted candle in a powder magazine, is calculated to bring even the most self-sufficient and forgetful sinner to a sense of his dependence379 and helplessness. The lighted candle was a more subjugating380 weapon than a drawn sword. He had contemplated381 springing upon the stanch old warrior, although, despite the difference in age, he was no match for the Indian, in order to seek to extinguish it. He reflected, however, that in the struggle a flaring382 spark might cause the ignition of scattered383 particles of the powder about the floor, and thus precipitate376 the explosion which he shuddered384 to imagine. "For what, Colannah?" he asked again, in a soothing385 smooth cadence386, "for what, my comrade, my benefactor387 for years, my best-beloved friend—avenged on me for what? Let's go upstairs!"
The flicker354 of the wavering candle showed a smile of contempt on the face of the angry Indian for a moment, and admonished388 Varney that in view of the Cherokees' relish30 of the torture his manifestations389 of anxiety but prolonged his jeopardy390. It brought, too, a fuller realization391 of the gravity of the situation in that the Indian should so valiantly392 risk himself. He evidently intended to take the trader's life, but in such wise that no vengeance for his death should fall upon the Cherokee nation. Abram Varney summoned all his courage, which was not inconsiderable, and had been cultivated by the wild and uncertain conditions of his life. Assured that he could do naught to hasten his release, he awaited the event in a sort of stoical patience, dreading393, however, every motion, every sound, the least stir setting his expectant nerves aquiver. Silence, quiescence, brought the disclosure earlier than he had feared.
"When I took the boy Jan Queetlee—why do I call him thus, instead of by the name he has earned for himself, the noble Otasite of Tennessee Town?"—the old chief began as deliberately, as disregardfully of the surroundings as if seated under the boughs of one of the giant oaks on the safe slopes of Chilhowee yonder—"when I took him away from the braves who had overcome the South Carolina stationers, I owed him no duty. He was puny394 and ill and white and despised! You British say the Indian has no pity. A man's son or brother or father or mother has claims upon him. Otasite was naught to me, a mere eeankke!" (a captive). "I owed the child no duty. My love was voluntary. I gave it a free gift; no duty! And he was little, and drooping395, and meagre, and ill all the time! But he grew; soon no such boy in the Cherokee nation, soon hardly such a warrior in all the land—not even Otasite of Watauga, nor yet Otasite of Eupharsee; perhaps at his age Oconostota excelled" (Oconostota always was preeminently known as the "Great Warrior"). He paused to shake his head and meditate396 on difficult comparisons and instances of prowess. After an interval which, long enough, seemed to the trembling trader illimitable, he recommenced abruptly: "Says the Goweno long time ago to me, 'Is not there a white youth among you?' I say, 'He is content; he has no white friends, it seems.' Says the Goweno to me, 'Ah, ah, we must look into this!' and says no more."
Colannah flung back his head and laughed so long and so loud that every echo of the sarcastic397 guttural tones, striking back from the stone walls of the cavern, smote Varney with as definite a shock as a blow.
"And now," the Cherokee resumed, with a changed aspect and a pathetic cadence, "I am an old man, and I lean upon Otasite. My sons are all dead—one in the wars with the Muscogee and two slain by the Chickasaw. And the last he said to me, with his lingering latest breath, loath398 to go and leave me desolate399, 'But you have an adopted son, you have the noble Otasite.' And now," his voice was firm again, "if I have him not, I go too, and you go. We go together."
"I will not advise him to quit the nation—never again!" cried Varney, suddenly enlightened, fervently400 repudiating401 his interference. "Since you disapprove402, he shall not return to Carolina. He cannot go without me—my help; he could not find a place—a home. Bold and fine as he is here, he would be strange there; he knows naught of the ways of the colonists. He would be poor, despised, while here he has been like the first, the best. His pride could never stoop to a life like a slave's; his pride would break his heart. Let me undo403 the mischief404 I have wrought; let me unsay the unthinking, foolish words I have spoken."
It was perhaps with the faith that the artful trader could best turn the young fellow's mind back to its wonted content, as his crafty arguments had already so potently405 aroused this wild, new dissatisfaction, that Colannah at last consented to liberate87 Varney for this essay, not without a cogent406 reminder407 that he would be held responsible for its failure. And indeed in recanting his former urgency, when he sought out Otasite, Varney exerted himself to the utmost.
"You are satisfied here. You know the life. Like me, you love it. If I, who can choose, prefer it, why not you?"
But Otasite shook his head.
"When I talk to you of the colonies I speak as a man does of a dream," Varney continued. "It is something true and something false. I add here and I let slip there to make out the connection, and give the symmetry of truth to the picture. But did I ever tell you how they love money in the colonies, how they cheat and strive and slave their lives away to add to their store; how they reverence408 and worship the wealth of others till it seems that a rich man can do no wrong—if he is rich enough? Did I ever tell you this? The poor, they are despised for being poor, and they are let to suffer. Here poverty is not permitted. If a man lose his dwelling34 by fire, the town builds him another house. You know this. If a man fail in his winter hunt, the others give of their abundance. Here one is rated by his personal worth. Here the deed is held to be fine, not the mere thing. Here you are valued as the great Otasite, and all men give you honor for your courage. There you are Jan Queetlee, a penniless clod, and all men despise you and pass you by." [5]
But again Otasite shook his head.
It was no spurious flare15 of ambition, ineffectual, illusory; no discontented yearning409 for a different, a wider life that the trader's ill-advised words had roused. That sentiment of loyalty to the British government, which had never sought to claim Jan Queetlee as a subject, seemed bred in his bone and born in his blood. Perhaps it was the stuff of which long afterward the Tories of the Revolution were made. He could not lift his hand against this aloof410, indifferent fetich. And yet take part against the Cherokees, whom he loved as they loved him! For with his facilities for understanding the trend of the politics of the day he could no longer blind himself to the approach of the war of the tribe with the British government, which, indeed, came within the decade. The sons of Colannah, slain in the cruel wars with other Indians, had been to him like brothers, and in their loss he had felt his full and bitter share of the grief of a common household. Even yet he and Colannah were wont to sadly talk of them with that painful elimination411 of their names, a mark of Indian reverence to the dead, substituting the euphemism412 "the one who is gone," and linger for hours over the fire at night or on the shady river-bank in sunlit afternoons, rehearsing their deeds and recalling their traits, and repeating their sayings with that blending of affectionate pride and sorrow that is the consolation413 of bereavement414 when time has somewhat softened its pangs415 and made memory so dear. And Colannah had been like a father—it seemed to Jan Queetlee as if he had had no other father. He could not leave Colannah, old, desolate, and alone. Yet the war was surely coming apace, as they both knew, a war which already tore his heart in sunder416, in which he could evade taking part against his own—his own of both factions417—only by going at once and going far. He could decide no such weighty matter.
At last he determined418 he would leave it to fate, to chance, showing how truly a gambler his Indian training had made him. He would stake the crisis on a game at chungke; if he won, as he told Varney, he would go to Carolina, and take sides with neither faction; if he lost, he would cast his future with the Cherokee nation.
Varney, thoroughly419 uneasy, had come to feel a personal interest involved. If Otasite quitted the country, he felt his life would hardly be safe here, since the craft of Colannah had drawn from the unsuspecting young fellow the details of the plan of removal to Charlestown which he had proposed. And yet Varney himself was averse420 to any change, unless it was indeed necessary. When put to the test he felt he would rather live in the Cherokee nation than anywhere else in all the world, and he valued his commerce with the tribe and his license from the government, under duly approved bond and security, to conduct that traffic in Tennessee Town and Tellico as naught else on earth. He manifested so earnest and genuine a desire to repair the damage of his ill-starred suggestion that Colannah, showing his age in his haste and his tremulousness and excitement, disclosed to him in a flutter of triumphant421 glee that he had a spell to work which naught could withstand—a draught from Herbert's Spring to offer to Otasite. Thither422 some fifty miles he had dispatched a runner for a jar of the magic water, and after drinking of it Otasite could not quit for seven years the Cherokee nation even if he would.
It was in the council-house that the mystic beverage423 was quaffed424. There had been guests—head men from Great Tellico and Citico—during the afternoon, received in secret conclave425, and now that their deliberations were concluded and they were gone, Otasite, not admitted to the council, being one of those warriors who did the fighting of the battles devised by the "beloved men," strolled into the deserted, dome-like place. Its walls, plastered with red clay, were yet more ruddy for a cast of the westering sun. The building was large enough to accommodate several hundred people, and around the walls were cane seats, deftly426 constructed and artificially whitened, making, according to an old writer, "very genteel settees or couches." Tired with the stress of mental depression and anxiety as physical effort could not tame him, and vaguely427 prescient of evil, Otasite had flung himself down on one of these, which was spread with dressed panther-skins, his hands clasped under his head, his scalp-lock of two auburn curls dangling428 over them.
Through the tall narrow doorway429 the autumnal landscape was visible, blazing with all the fervors of summer; the mountains, however, were more softly blue, the sunlight of a richer glister; the river, now steel, now silver, now amber430, reflected the atmosphere as a sensitive soul reflects the moods of those most dear; the forests, splendid with color, showed the lavish431 predominance of the rich reds characteristic of the Chilhowee woods; a dreamlike haze432 over all added a vague ideality that made the scene like some fondest memory or a glamourous forecast.
"Akoo-e-a!" (summer yet!) said Colannah, his eyes too on the scene, as he sat on a buffalo-rug in the centre of the floor drawing in the last sweet fragrant433 breaths from his long-stemmed pipe, curiously wrought of stone, for in the manufacture of these pipes the Cherokees of that day were said to excel all other Indians. The young Briton experienced no mawkish434 pang to note that it was ornamented435 at one end by a dangling scalp, greatly treasured, the interior of the skin painted red for its preservation436. He had, in fact, a pipe of his own with a scalp much like it. Indeed, his trophy437 was a fine specimen, and it had been a feat125 to take it, for it had once covered a hot Chickasaw head.
"Akoo-e-a! the day is warm!" remarked Colannah. He lifted his storied pipe, and with its long stem silently motioned to a young Indian woman, indicating a great jar of water. She quickly filled one of those quaint438 bowls, or cups, of the Cherokee manufacture, and advanced with it to Otasite; but the proffer439 was in the nature of an interruption of his troubled thoughts, and he irritably440 waved her away.
"I am displeased441 with you," said Colannah sternly, lifting his dark, deeply sunken eyes to where the "Man-killer" lay at full length on the cane settee. "You set me aside. You have no thoughts for me—no words. Yet you can talk when you go to the trading-house. You have words and to spare for the trader. You can drink with him. You can sing, 'Drink with me a cup of wine.'" He lifted his raucous442 old voice in ludicrous travesty443 of the favorite catch, for sometimes the two Britons, so incongruous in point of age, education, sentiment, and occupation, cemented their bond as compatriots by carousing444 together in a mild way.
But this ebullition of temper had naught of the ludicrous in Jan Queetlee's estimation. He was pierced to the heart.
"Aketohta!" (Father!) he cried reproachfully. He had sprung to his feet, and stood looking down at the old chief, who would not look at him, but kept his eyes on the landscape without, now and then drawing a long, lingering whiff from his pipe.
"Aketohta! I have no thought for you!—who alone have taken thought for me! I have words for the trader and silence for you! You say keen things, and you know they are not true! You know that I had rather drink water with you than wine with him. I am not thirsty; but since it is you who offer it"—His expression changed; he broke into sudden pleasant laughter, and with a rollicking stave of the song, "Drink with me a cup of wine," he caught the bowl from the girl's hand and drained it at a draught.
"Seohsta-quo!" (Good!) cried Colannah, visibly refreshed, as if his own thirst were vicariously slaked445. But Otasite stood blankly staring, the bowl motionless in his hand. "It is well for wine to be old," he said wonderingly, "but not water."
For his palate was accustomed to the exquisite225 sparkle and freshness of the mountain fountains, and this had come from far.
The crafty Colannah stolidly446 repressed his delight, save for the glitter in his eyes fixed447 on the azure and crimson448 and silver landscape glimmering449 beyond the dusky portals of the terra-cotta walls. "Nawohti! nawohti!" (Rum!) he said, with an affectation of severity. "You drink too much of the trader's strong physic! You have no love now for the sweet, clear water." And he shook his head with the uncompromising reproof450 of a mentor451 of present times as he growled452 disjointedly, "Nawohti! nawohti!"
Otasite nothing questioned the genuineness of this demonstration453, for the Cherokee rulers, in common with those of other tribes, had long waged a vigorous opposition to the importation of strong drink into their country; indeed, as far back as 1704, when holding a solemn conference with Governor Daniel of North Carolina to form a general treaty of friendship, the chiefs of several tribes petitioned the government of the Lords Proprietors454 for a law, which was afterward enacted455 (and disregarded), forbidding any white man to sell or give rum to an Indian, and prescribing penalties for its infringement318. It was not the first time that Otasite had heard unfavorably of the influences of "nawohti," which, by the way, with the Cherokees signified physic, as well as spirituous liquor, a synonymous definition which more civilized people have sought to apply. He was content that he and the old chief were once more in affectionate accord, and he did not seek to interpret the flash of triumph in Colannah's face.
For seven years! for seven years! the white "Man-killer" could not, if he would, quit the Cherokee country. Well might the old chief's eyes glisten456! The youth was like a son to his lonely age, and Otasite's prowess the pride of his life. And like others elsewhere he had softened as age came on, and loved the domestic fireside and the companionship about the hearth457, hearing without participating in the hilarious458 talk of the young, and looking out at the world through the eyes of the new generation, undaunted, expectant, aglow with a spirit that had long ago smouldered in his own; for the fierce Indian at the last was but an old man.
Abram Varney, too, experienced a recurrence459 of ease. He had unwittingly imbibed460 much outlandish superstition461 in his residence among the Cherokees, and indeed other traders and settlers long believed in the enchaining fascination462 of Herbert's Spring, and drank or refrained as they would stay or go.
Otasite, however, was all unaware463 of the spell cast upon him when he came into the chungke-yard the next day, arrayed in his finest garb, the white dressed doeskin glittering in the sun, his necklaces of beads, his belt of wolf fangs464, his flying feet in their white moccasins—all catching465 the light with a differing effect of brilliancy.
Varney watched him;—with the two eagle feathers stiff and erect466 on his proud head, his two incongruous long auburn curls, that did duty as a "war-lock," floating backward in the breeze, he ran so deftly, so swiftly, with so assured and so graceful a gait that the mere observation of such symmetrical motion was a pleasure. The trader had scarcely a pulse of anxiety. Indeed, disingenuously467 profiting by the tip afforded by Herbert's Spring, he was heavily backing Wyejah as a winner!
A windy day it was; the clouds raced through the sky, and their shadows skimming over the valleys and slopes challenged their speed. The Tennessee River was singing, singing! The mountains were as clearly and definitely blue as the heavens. That revelation of ranges on the far horizon unaccustomed to the view, only vouchsafed468 by some necromancy469 of the clarified autumnal air, never before seemed so distinct, so alluring—new lands, new hopes, new life they suggested. Wyejah's scarlet attire, its fringes tasseled470 with the spurs of the wild turkey, rendered his lithe471 figure strongly marked against these illusory ethereal tints472 as he sped abreast with Otasite along the level sandy stretch of the chungke-yard. And how well he played! Varney realized this with a satisfaction as of having already won his wagers, many and large, for Otasite would leave the nation should he be victorious473, and having drunk unwittingly of Herbert's Spring, he could not quit the Cherokee country, although he himself was still unaware of having quaffed of those mystic waters. Therefore defeat was obviously his portion. Whenever the trader thought anew of his secret knowledge of this fact he offered odds on Wyejah, and glanced at him with approbation—at the young Indian warrior's face fiercely, eagerly smiling, his great flattened474 ears distended on their wire hoops, his dark eyes full of sombre brilliance475. How well he played! and how hard the skill of his opponent pressed him! How accurate was the aim of the long lance of Otasite as he poised his weight on the supple tips of his white moccasins and hurled the missile through the air; how strong and firm his grasp that sent the circular, quartz chungke-stone, whirling along the sand; how tirelessly his long sinewy steps sped back and forth in the swift dashes up and down the smooth spaces of the chungke-yard; how faithfully he was doing his best, regardless of his own preference in the interests that he had adventured on the result! How like a Briton born it was, Abram Varney thought, for he alone knew of Otasite's resolution, and the significance of the game to him, that the boy could thus see fair play between the factions that warred within him for his future. He had staked the future on the event,—and suddenly it was the present!
A wild clamor of excitement, of applause, rose up from the throats of the crowd in the natural amphitheatre, clanging and clattering476 in long guttural cries,—all intensified477 by a relish of the unexpected, a joy in a new sensation, for Wyejah had never before been beaten, and Otasite was the victor at chungke.
Abram Varney felt his heart leap into his throat, then sink like lead; Colannah, triumphant, knowing naught of the subtler significance of the contest, joyful478, aglow with pride, rose up in his splendid feathered mantle479, standing257 high on the slope, to sign to the boy his pleasure in the victory. The sunlight fell, glittering very white, on the young fellow's doeskin garb, his prickly belt of fangs, his bare chest with the blue warrior's marks, the curls of his auburn scalp-lock tossing in the wind. He had seemed hitherto stoical, unmoved by victory as he would have appeared in defeat; but Varney, eager to get at him, to combat his resolution, knew that he was stunned480 by the complications presented by this falling out of the event. He visibly faltered481 as his eye met the triumph and affection expressed in Colannah's quivering old face. He could not respond to its congratulation. He dropped on one knee suddenly, bending low, affecting to find something amiss with one of his moccasins.
Wyejah, too, could seem unmoved by victory, but indifference to defeat was more difficult to simulate. He had in the first moment of its realization felt the blood rush to his head; despite his strong nerve his hand trembled; the smile of placidity which it was a point of honor to preserve became a fixed grin. Several other young braves had come into the yard, and were idly tossing the lance at the great chungke-pole—as a billiardist of the civilized life of that day might pocket the balls with a purposeless cue after a match. Wyejah, too, had cast his lance aslant; then he idly hurled the chungke-stone with a muscular fling along the spaces of the white sand. His nerve was shaken, his aim amiss, his great strength deflected482. The heavy discoidal quartz stone skimmed through the air above the stretch of sand, and striking with its beveled edge the kneeling figure on the temple, the future of the victor at chungke became in one moment the past.
The trader could only have likened the scene that ensued to the moment of an earthquake or some other stupendous convulsion of nature. In the midst of the confusion, the wild cries, the swift running figures, the surging of the crowds into the chungke-yard that obliterated483 the wide glare of the sun on the white sand, he made good his escape. He knew enough of the trend of Cherokee thought to be prescient of the fate of the scapegoat484. Colannah in the first burst of grief he knew would blame himself that he should have tempted485 fate by the mystic draught from Herbert's Spring to hold here that bright young form for seven years longer. How sadly true!—for seven years Otasite would remain, and seven to that, and, alack, seven more, and forever! Soon, however, the natural impulses of the Indian's temper, intensified by long cultivation486, would be reasserted. He would cast about for revenge, remembering the first suggestion of the departure of Otasite, and from whom it had emanated487. But for the English trader and his specious wiles, the old chief would argue, would Otasite have thought of forsaking488 his foster nation, his adopted father, for the selfish, indifferent British, the "Goweno" at Charlestown, who cared for him nothing? The trader it was who had brought this calamity489 upon them, who had in effect, by the hand of another, administered the fatal draught. Seek for him!—hale him forth! —wreak upon him the just, unappeasable vengeance of the forever bereaved490!
The old trader had evinced an instinct in flight and concealment491 that an animal might envy. No probable hiding-place he selected, such as might be known or divined—a cave, the attic492 of his trading-house, the cellar beneath—all obvious, all instantly explored. Instead, he slipped into a rift55 in the rocks along the river-bank. Myriads493 of such crevices494 there were in the tilted495 strata—unheeded, unremarked, too strait and restricted to suggest the idea of refuge, too infinitely numerous for search. There, unable in the narrow compass to turn, even to shift a numbing496 muscle of his lean old body, in all the constraint497 of a standing posture498, he was held in the flexure of the rock like some of its fossils,—as unsuspected as a ganoid of the days of eld that had once been imprisoned499 thus in the sediment500 of seas that had long ebbed501 hence,—or the fern vestiges502 in a later formation finding a witness in the imprint503 in the stone of the symmetry of its fronds504. He listened to the hue and cry for him; then to the sudden tramp of hoofs505 as a pursuing party went out to overtake him, presumably on his way to Charlestown, maintaining a very high rate of speed, for the Cherokees of that period had some famously fine horses.
Straining his senses—all unnaturally506 alert—he distinguished, as the afternoon wore on, the details of the preparations for the barbarous sepulture of the young Briton. Now and then the cracking of rifle-shots betokened507 the shooting of his horses and cattle and all the living things among his possessions—a practice already in its decadence508 among the Cherokees, and later, influenced by the utilitarian509 methods of civilization, altogether abandoned. Swift steps here and there throughout the town intimated errands to gather all his choicest effects to be buried with him, for his future use. To this custom, it is said, and the great security of the fashioning of the sepulchres of the Cherokees, may be attributed the fact that little of their pottery510, arms, beads, medals, the more indestructible of their personal possessions, can be found in this region where so lately they were a numerous people; for the effects of the dead, however valued, were never removed or the graves robbed, even by an Indian enemy. The Cherokees rarely permitted the presence of an alien at the ceremonies of the interment of one of the tribe; but Varney in times past had seen and heard enough to realize, without any definite effort of the imagination, how Otasite, arrayed in his most gorgeous apparel, his beautiful English face painted vermilion, would be placed in a sitting posture in front of his house, and there in the sunlit afternoon remain for a space, looking in, as it were, at the open door. Presently sounded the wild lamentations and melancholy511 cadences512 of the funeral song; the tones rose successively from a deep bass43 to a tenor513, then to a shrill514 treble, falling again to a full bass chorus, with the progression of the mystic syllables515, "Yah! Yo-he-wah! Yah! Yo-he-wah!" (said to signify "Jehovah"). This announced that the funeral procession, bearing the body, was going thrice around the house of the dead, where he had lived in familiar happiness these many years, and beneath which he would rest in solemn silence in his deep, deep grave, covered with heavy timbers and many layers of bark, and the stanch red clay, maintaining a sitting posture, and facing the east, while the domestic life of homely516 cheer would go on over his unheeding head as he awaited the distant and universal resurrection of the body, in which the Cherokee religion inculcated a full and firm faith.
The sun went down, and through all the night sounded the plaints of grief. Late the moon rose, striking aslant on the melancholy Tennessee River, full of deep shadows and vaguely pathetic pallid glimmers517. A wind sprang up for a time, then suddenly sank to silence and stillness. A frost fell with a keen icy chill. Mists gathered, and the day did not break,—it seemed as if it might never dawn again; only a pallid visibility came gradually upon clouds that had enshrouded all the world. The earth and the sky were alike indistinguishable; the mountains were as valleys, the valleys as plains. One might scarcely make shift to see a hand before the face. Through this white pall32, this cloud of nullity, came ever the dolorous518 chant, "Yo-he-ta-wah! Yo-he-ta-weh! Yo-he-ta-hah! Yo-he-ta-heh!" as in their grief and poignant bereavement the ignorant and barbarous Indians called upon the God who made them, and He who made them savages doubtless heard them.
Creeping out into the invisibility of the clouded day, Abram Varney had not great fear of detection. The mists that shielded him from view furthered still his flight, for his footsteps were hardly to be distinguished amidst the continual dripping of the moisture from the leaves of the dank autumnal woods. At night he knew the savages would be most on the alert. They would scarcely suspect his flight in the broad day. Moreover, their suspicions of his presence here were lulled519; craftily520 enough he followed after the horsemen who fancied they were pursuing him—they would scarcely look for their quarry521 hard on their own heels. He experienced no sentiment but one of intense satisfaction when, as invisible as a spirit, he passed his own trading-house, and divined from the sounds within that the Indians were busy in sacking it, albeit a greater financial loss than seems probable at the present day; for the Indian trade was a very considerable commerce, as the accounts of those times will show. The English and French governments did not disdain522 to compete for its monopoly with various nations of Indians, for the sake of gaining control of the savages thereby523, in view of supplies furnished by the white traders vending524 these commodities and resident in the tribes.
Recollections of the items and values of his invoices525, afflicting526 to Varney's commercial spirit, threaded his consciousness only when again safe in Charlestown. He reached that haven527 at last by the exercise of great good judgment. He realized that another party would presently be sent out when no news of capture came from the earlier pursuers; he divined that the second expedition would take the Chickasaw path, for being friendly to the British, that tribe would naturally be thought of as a refuge to an Englishman in trouble with the Cherokees; therefore Varney, lest he be overtaken on the way, avoided with a great struggle the temptation, mustered528 all his courage, and adopting an unprecedented529 expedient530, turned off to the country of the Muscogees. These Indians, always more or less inimical to the colonists, bloodthirsty, cruel, crafty, and but recently involved in a furious war against the Cherokees, were glad to thwart531 Colannah in any cherished scheme of revenge, and received the fugitive532 kindly. Although but for this fact his temerity533 in venturing among them would have cost him his life, they ministered to his needs with great hospitality, and forwarded him on his way to Charlestown, sending a strong guard with him as far as Long Cane settlement, a little above Ninety-Six.
Wyejah also made his escape. Appalled534 by the calamity of the accidental blow, he "took sanctuary535." In the supreme536 moment of excitement he flung himself into the Tennessee River, and while eagerly sought by the emissaries of Colannah in the woods, he swam to Choté, "beloved town," the city of refuge of the whole Cherokee nation, where the shedder of blood was exempt from vengeance. As years went by, however, either because of the death of Colannah, or because time had so far softened the bereavement of the friends of Otasite that they were prevailed upon to accept the "satisfaction," the presents required even from an in voluntary homicide, he was evidently freed from the restricted limits of the "ever-sacred soil," for his name is recorded in the list of warriors who went to Charlestown in 1759 to confer with Governor Lyttleton on the distracted state of the frontier, and being held as one of the hostages of that unlucky embassy, he perished in the massacre of the Cherokees by the garrison316 of Fort Prince George, after the treacherous murder of the commandant, Captain Coytmore, by a ruse537 of the Indian king, Oconostota.
Abram Varney never ventured back among "the Nation," as he called the Cherokees, as if they were the only nation on the earth. Now and again in their frequent conferences with the Governor at Charlestown, rendered necessary by their ever-recurrent friction with the British government, he sought out members of the delegation341 for some news of his old friends, his old haunts. Not one of them would take his hand; not one would hear his voice; they looked beyond him, through him, as if he were the impalpable atmosphere, as if he did not exist.
It was a little thing,—the displeasure of such men—mere savages,—but it cut him to the heart. So long they had been his friends, his associates, as the chief furniture of the world!
He busied himself with the affairs of his firm at Charlestown, but for a time he was much changed, much cast down, for he had a sense of responsibility, and his conscience was involved, and although he had sought to do good he had only wrought harm, and irreparable harm. He grew old very fast, racked as he was by rheumatism538, a continual reminder of the stern experiences of his flight. He had other reminders539 in his unquiet thoughts, but he grew garrulous540 at a much later date. Years intervened before he was wont to sit in front of the warehouse80, with his stick between his knees, his hands clasped on the round knob at its top, his chin on his hands, and cheerily chirp541 of his days in "the Nation." The softening542 touch of time brought inevitably543 its glamours544 and its peace; his bleared old eyes, fixed on the glittering expanse of the harbor, beheld545 with pleasure, instead of the sea, the billowy reaches of that mighty main of mist-crested mountains known as the Great Smoky Range, and through all his talk, and continually through his mind, flitted the bright animated presence of the victor at chungke.
点击收听单词发音
1 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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2 labor | |
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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3 exempt | |
adj.免除的;v.使免除;n.免税者,被免除义务者 | |
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4 rotunda | |
n.圆形建筑物;圆厅 | |
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5 mound | |
n.土墩,堤,小山;v.筑堤,用土堆防卫 | |
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6 felicitously | |
adv.恰当地,适切地 | |
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7 ridge | |
n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭 | |
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8 depressed | |
adj.沮丧的,抑郁的,不景气的,萧条的 | |
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9 delved | |
v.深入探究,钻研( delve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10 precariously | |
adv.不安全地;危险地;碰机会地;不稳定地 | |
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11 precarious | |
adj.不安定的,靠不住的;根据不足的 | |
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12 promontories | |
n.岬,隆起,海角( promontory的名词复数 ) | |
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13 beetling | |
adj.突出的,悬垂的v.快速移动( beetle的现在分词 ) | |
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14 ascent | |
n.(声望或地位)提高;上升,升高;登高 | |
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15 flare | |
v.闪耀,闪烁;n.潮红;突发 | |
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16 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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17 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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18 azure | |
adj.天蓝色的,蔚蓝色的 | |
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19 mirage | |
n.海市蜃楼,幻景 | |
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20 shimmering | |
v.闪闪发光,发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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21 sylvan | |
adj.森林的 | |
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22 tribal | |
adj.部族的,种族的 | |
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23 scant | |
adj.不充分的,不足的;v.减缩,限制,忽略 | |
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24 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
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25 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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26 hardy | |
adj.勇敢的,果断的,吃苦的;耐寒的 | |
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27 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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28 warrior | |
n.勇士,武士,斗士 | |
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29 indefatigable | |
adj.不知疲倦的,不屈不挠的 | |
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30 relish | |
n.滋味,享受,爱好,调味品;vt.加调味料,享受,品味;vi.有滋味 | |
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31 relishing | |
v.欣赏( relish的现在分词 );从…获得乐趣;渴望 | |
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32 pall | |
v.覆盖,使平淡无味;n.柩衣,棺罩;棺材;帷幕 | |
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33 pallid | |
adj.苍白的,呆板的 | |
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34 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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35 dwellings | |
n.住处,处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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36 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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37 transacted | |
v.办理(业务等)( transact的过去式和过去分词 );交易,谈判 | |
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38 ammunition | |
n.军火,弹药 | |
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39 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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40 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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41 maize | |
n.玉米 | |
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42 fret | |
v.(使)烦恼;(使)焦急;(使)腐蚀,(使)磨损 | |
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43 bass | |
n.男低音(歌手);低音乐器;低音大提琴 | |
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44 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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45 symbolic | |
adj.象征性的,符号的,象征主义的 | |
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46 strings | |
n.弦 | |
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47 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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48 paraphernalia | |
n.装备;随身用品 | |
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49 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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50 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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51 garner | |
v.收藏;取得 | |
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52 solace | |
n.安慰;v.使快乐;vt.安慰(物),缓和 | |
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53 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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54 thrift | |
adj.节约,节俭;n.节俭,节约 | |
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55 rift | |
n.裂口,隙缝,切口;v.裂开,割开,渗入 | |
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56 wont | |
adj.习惯于;v.习惯;n.习惯 | |
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57 scrupulousness | |
n.一丝不苟;小心翼翼 | |
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58 dressing | |
n.(食物)调料;包扎伤口的用品,敷料 | |
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59 barter | |
n.物物交换,以货易货,实物交易 | |
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60 buck | |
n.雄鹿,雄兔;v.马离地跳跃 | |
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61 attire | |
v.穿衣,装扮[同]array;n.衣着;盛装 | |
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62 garb | |
n.服装,装束 | |
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63 laden | |
adj.装满了的;充满了的;负了重担的;苦恼的 | |
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64 beads | |
n.(空心)小珠子( bead的名词复数 );水珠;珠子项链 | |
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65 license | |
n.执照,许可证,特许;v.许可,特许 | |
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66 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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67 softened | |
(使)变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 ); 缓解打击; 缓和; 安慰 | |
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68 akin | |
adj.同族的,类似的 | |
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69 contestants | |
n.竞争者,参赛者( contestant的名词复数 ) | |
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70 contestant | |
n.竞争者,参加竞赛者 | |
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71 odds | |
n.让步,机率,可能性,比率;胜败优劣之别 | |
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72 speculation | |
n.思索,沉思;猜测;投机 | |
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73 futility | |
n.无用 | |
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74 poignancy | |
n.辛酸事,尖锐 | |
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75 animated | |
adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的 | |
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76 interval | |
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
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77 valid | |
adj.有确实根据的;有效的;正当的,合法的 | |
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78 heartily | |
adv.衷心地,诚恳地,十分,很 | |
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79 warehouses | |
仓库,货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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80 warehouse | |
n.仓库;vt.存入仓库 | |
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81 wharves | |
n.码头,停泊处( wharf的名词复数 ) | |
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82 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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83 faction | |
n.宗派,小集团;派别;派系斗争 | |
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84 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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85 whim | |
n.一时的兴致,突然的念头;奇想,幻想 | |
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86 deliberately | |
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
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87 liberate | |
v.解放,使获得自由,释出,放出;vt.解放,使获自由 | |
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88 treacherous | |
adj.不可靠的,有暗藏的危险的;adj.背叛的,背信弃义的 | |
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89 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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90 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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91 laborious | |
adj.吃力的,努力的,不流畅 | |
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92 vocations | |
n.(认为特别适合自己的)职业( vocation的名词复数 );使命;神召;(认为某种工作或生活方式特别适合自己的)信心 | |
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93 evade | |
vt.逃避,回避;避开,躲避 | |
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94 commissioner | |
n.(政府厅、局、处等部门)专员,长官,委员 | |
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95 enchanted | |
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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96 lapsed | |
adj.流失的,堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 );陷入;倒退;丧失 | |
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97 quaff | |
v.一饮而尽;痛饮 | |
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98 delirium | |
n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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99 potent | |
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 | |
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100 tune | |
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整 | |
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101 gunpowder | |
n.火药 | |
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102 wagers | |
n.赌注,用钱打赌( wager的名词复数 )v.在(某物)上赌钱,打赌( wager的第三人称单数 );保证,担保 | |
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103 dexterity | |
n.(手的)灵巧,灵活 | |
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104 athletic | |
adj.擅长运动的,强健的;活跃的,体格健壮的 | |
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105 stanch | |
v.止住(血等);adj.坚固的;坚定的 | |
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106 scotch | |
n.伤口,刻痕;苏格兰威士忌酒;v.粉碎,消灭,阻止;adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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107 massacre | |
n.残杀,大屠杀;v.残杀,集体屠杀 | |
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108 exhorted | |
v.劝告,劝说( exhort的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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109 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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110 raven | |
n.渡鸟,乌鸦;adj.乌亮的 | |
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111 specially | |
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地 | |
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112 civilized | |
a.有教养的,文雅的 | |
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113 supple | |
adj.柔软的,易弯的,逢迎的,顺从的,灵活的;vt.使柔软,使柔顺,使顺从;vi.变柔软,变柔顺 | |
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114 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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115 albeit | |
conj.即使;纵使;虽然 | |
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116 pigments | |
n.(粉状)颜料( pigment的名词复数 );天然色素 | |
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117 freckled | |
adj.雀斑;斑点;晒斑;(使)生雀斑v.雀斑,斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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118 lank | |
adj.瘦削的;稀疏的 | |
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119 hue | |
n.色度;色调;样子 | |
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120 resolutely | |
adj.坚决地,果断地 | |
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121 resolute | |
adj.坚决的,果敢的 | |
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122 tonsure | |
n.削发;v.剃 | |
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123 tangled | |
adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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124 surmounting | |
战胜( surmount的现在分词 ); 克服(困难); 居于…之上; 在…顶上 | |
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125 feat | |
n.功绩;武艺,技艺;adj.灵巧的,漂亮的,合适的 | |
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126 splendor | |
n.光彩;壮丽,华丽;显赫,辉煌 | |
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127 aboriginal | |
adj.(指动植物)土生的,原产地的,土著的 | |
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128 pliable | |
adj.易受影响的;易弯的;柔顺的,易驾驭的 | |
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129 fawns | |
n.(未满一岁的)幼鹿( fawn的名词复数 );浅黄褐色;乞怜者;奉承者v.(尤指狗等)跳过来往人身上蹭以示亲热( fawn的第三人称单数 );巴结;讨好 | |
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130 streaked | |
adj.有条斑纹的,不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 );使布满条纹 | |
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131 slaying | |
杀戮。 | |
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132 esteemed | |
adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 );敬重;认为;以为 | |
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133 athletically | |
adv.竞赛地,运动比赛地,具运动员风范地 | |
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134 speculative | |
adj.思索性的,暝想性的,推理的 | |
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135 quartz | |
n.石英 | |
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136 hurled | |
v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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137 impetus | |
n.推动,促进,刺激;推动力 | |
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138 sinewy | |
adj.多腱的,强壮有力的 | |
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139 distended | |
v.(使)膨胀,肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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140 hoops | |
n.箍( hoop的名词复数 );(篮球)篮圈;(旧时儿童玩的)大环子;(两端埋在地里的)小铁弓 | |
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141 cardinal | |
n.(天主教的)红衣主教;adj.首要的,基本的 | |
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142 abreast | |
adv.并排地;跟上(时代)的步伐,与…并进地 | |
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143 deflecting | |
(使)偏斜, (使)偏离, (使)转向( deflect的现在分词 ) | |
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144 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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145 agility | |
n.敏捷,活泼 | |
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146 exaction | |
n.强求,强征;杂税 | |
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147 strenuous | |
adj.奋发的,使劲的;紧张的;热烈的,狂热的 | |
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148 exertion | |
n.尽力,努力 | |
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149 placidity | |
n.平静,安静,温和 | |
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150 perverse | |
adj.刚愎的;坚持错误的,行为反常的 | |
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151 incongruities | |
n.不协调( incongruity的名词复数 );不一致;不适合;不协调的东西 | |
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152 dwarfish | |
a.像侏儒的,矮小的 | |
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153 obelisk | |
n.方尖塔 | |
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154 projectile | |
n.投射物,发射体;adj.向前开进的;推进的;抛掷的 | |
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155 projectiles | |
n.抛射体( projectile的名词复数 );(炮弹、子弹等)射弹,(火箭等)自动推进的武器 | |
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156 impelled | |
v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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157 haphazard | |
adj.无计划的,随意的,杂乱无章的 | |
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158 adversary | |
adj.敌手,对手 | |
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159 vent | |
n.通风口,排放口;开衩;vt.表达,发泄 | |
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160 defective | |
adj.有毛病的,有问题的,有瑕疵的 | |
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161 illustrating | |
给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 ); 说明; 表明; (用示例、图画等)说明 | |
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162 joyous | |
adj.充满快乐的;令人高兴的 | |
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163 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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164 poised | |
a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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165 alley | |
n.小巷,胡同;小径,小路 | |
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166 jocosely | |
adv.说玩笑地,诙谐地 | |
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167 satiric | |
adj.讽刺的,挖苦的 | |
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168 pervading | |
v.遍及,弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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169 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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170 elation | |
n.兴高采烈,洋洋得意 | |
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171 blatantly | |
ad.公开地 | |
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172 arrogance | |
n.傲慢,自大 | |
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173 diplomacy | |
n.外交;外交手腕,交际手腕 | |
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174 colonist | |
n.殖民者,移民 | |
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175 colonists | |
n.殖民地开拓者,移民,殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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176 specious | |
adj.似是而非的;adv.似是而非地 | |
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177 wiles | |
n.(旨在欺骗或吸引人的)诡计,花招;欺骗,欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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178 suave | |
adj.温和的;柔和的;文雅的 | |
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179 allurements | |
n.诱惑( allurement的名词复数 );吸引;诱惑物;有诱惑力的事物 | |
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180 peculiarity | |
n.独特性,特色;特殊的东西;怪癖 | |
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181 eventual | |
adj.最后的,结局的,最终的 | |
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182 heyday | |
n.全盛时期,青春期 | |
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183 crafty | |
adj.狡猾的,诡诈的 | |
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184 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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185 majestic | |
adj.雄伟的,壮丽的,庄严的,威严的,崇高的 | |
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186 majestically | |
雄伟地; 庄重地; 威严地; 崇高地 | |
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187 hemp | |
n.大麻;纤维 | |
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188 hurling | |
n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的现在分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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189 specimen | |
n.样本,标本 | |
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190 feats | |
功绩,伟业,技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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191 sterling | |
adj.英币的(纯粹的,货真价实的);n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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192 manly | |
adj.有男子气概的;adv.男子般地,果断地 | |
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193 valiant | |
adj.勇敢的,英勇的;n.勇士,勇敢的人 | |
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194 foe | |
n.敌人,仇敌 | |
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195 withdrawal | |
n.取回,提款;撤退,撤军;收回,撤销 | |
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196 licenses | |
n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准,许可,颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 ) | |
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197 relinquished | |
交出,让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 ); 放弃 | |
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198 isolation | |
n.隔离,孤立,分解,分离 | |
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199 overcast | |
adj.阴天的,阴暗的,愁闷的;v.遮盖,(使)变暗,包边缝;n.覆盖,阴天 | |
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200 sane | |
adj.心智健全的,神志清醒的,明智的,稳健的 | |
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201 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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202 appraised | |
v.估价( appraise的过去式和过去分词 );估计;估量;评价 | |
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203 fidelity | |
n.忠诚,忠实;精确 | |
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204 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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205 wrangled | |
v.争吵,争论,口角( wrangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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206 acquiescence | |
n.默许;顺从 | |
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207 quiescence | |
n.静止 | |
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208 plural | |
n.复数;复数形式;adj.复数的 | |
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209 tenacity | |
n.坚韧 | |
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210 providence | |
n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝 | |
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211 wasteful | |
adj.(造成)浪费的,挥霍的 | |
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212 marrow | |
n.骨髓;精华;活力 | |
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213 smote | |
v.猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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214 perplexed | |
adj.不知所措的 | |
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215 drearily | |
沉寂地,厌倦地,可怕地 | |
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216 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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217 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
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218 aslant | |
adv.倾斜地;adj.斜的 | |
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219 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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220 domes | |
n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 );像圆屋顶一样的东西;圆顶体育场 | |
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221 accurately | |
adv.准确地,精确地 | |
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222 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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223 velvet | |
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的 | |
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224 blues | |
n.抑郁,沮丧;布鲁斯音乐 | |
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225 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
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226 exquisitely | |
adv.精致地;强烈地;剧烈地;异常地 | |
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227 luminous | |
adj.发光的,发亮的;光明的;明白易懂的;有启发的 | |
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228 pellucid | |
adj.透明的,简单的 | |
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229 dispel | |
vt.驱走,驱散,消除 | |
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230 uncertainty | |
n.易变,靠不住,不确知,不确定的事物 | |
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231 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
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232 incongruity | |
n.不协调,不一致 | |
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233 unfamiliar | |
adj.陌生的,不熟悉的 | |
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234 robust | |
adj.强壮的,强健的,粗野的,需要体力的,浓的 | |
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235 draught | |
n.拉,牵引,拖;一网(饮,吸,阵);顿服药量,通风;v.起草,设计 | |
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236 puncturing | |
v.在(某物)上穿孔( puncture的现在分词 );刺穿(某物);削弱(某人的傲气、信心等);泄某人的气 | |
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237 naught | |
n.无,零 [=nought] | |
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238 bestowed | |
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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239 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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240 valor | |
n.勇气,英勇 | |
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241 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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242 mettle | |
n.勇气,精神 | |
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243 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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244 faltering | |
犹豫的,支吾的,蹒跚的 | |
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245 frightful | |
adj.可怕的;讨厌的 | |
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246 awakening | |
n.觉醒,醒悟 adj.觉醒中的;唤醒的 | |
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247 brat | |
n.孩子;顽童 | |
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248 dictated | |
v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
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249 drudge | |
n.劳碌的人;v.做苦工,操劳 | |
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250 deplore | |
vt.哀叹,对...深感遗憾 | |
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251 diffusion | |
n.流布;普及;散漫 | |
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252 schooling | |
n.教育;正规学校教育 | |
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253 profane | |
adj.亵神的,亵渎的;vt.亵渎,玷污 | |
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254 passionate | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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255 pious | |
adj.虔诚的;道貌岸然的 | |
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256 perquisites | |
n.(工资以外的)财务补贴( perquisite的名词复数 );额外收入;(随职位而得到的)好处;利益 | |
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257 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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258 persuasions | |
n.劝说,说服(力)( persuasion的名词复数 );信仰 | |
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259 canvassed | |
v.(在政治方面)游说( canvass的过去式和过去分词 );调查(如选举前选民的)意见;为讨论而提出(意见等);详细检查 | |
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260 embellishing | |
v.美化( embellish的现在分词 );装饰;修饰;润色 | |
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261 droop | |
v.低垂,下垂;凋萎,萎靡 | |
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262 casually | |
adv.漠不关心地,无动于衷地,不负责任地 | |
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263 comely | |
adj.漂亮的,合宜的 | |
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264 fleeting | |
adj.短暂的,飞逝的 | |
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265 persistent | |
adj.坚持不懈的,执意的;持续的 | |
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266 shearing | |
n.剪羊毛,剪取的羊毛v.剪羊毛( shear的现在分词 );切断;剪切 | |
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267 elastic | |
n.橡皮圈,松紧带;adj.有弹性的;灵活的 | |
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268 stature | |
n.(高度)水平,(高度)境界,身高,身材 | |
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269 temperament | |
n.气质,性格,性情 | |
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270 illustrated | |
adj. 有插图的,列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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271 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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272 complement | |
n.补足物,船上的定员;补语;vt.补充,补足 | |
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273 divination | |
n.占卜,预测 | |
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274 paternal | |
adj.父亲的,像父亲的,父系的,父方的 | |
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275 pang | |
n.剧痛,悲痛,苦闷 | |
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276 dreary | |
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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277 impulsively | |
adv.冲动地 | |
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278 recoiled | |
v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 );退缩;报应;返回 | |
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279 dwindled | |
v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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280 loyalty | |
n.忠诚,忠心 | |
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281 devoid | |
adj.全无的,缺乏的 | |
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282 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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283 antagonism | |
n.对抗,敌对,对立 | |
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284 reconciliations | |
和解( reconciliation的名词复数 ); 一致; 勉强接受; (争吵等的)止息 | |
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285 reconciliation | |
n.和解,和谐,一致 | |
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286 slain | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词) | |
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287 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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288 infinitely | |
adv.无限地,无穷地 | |
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289 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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290 costly | |
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的 | |
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291 afterward | |
adv.后来;以后 | |
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292 futile | |
adj.无效的,无用的,无希望的 | |
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293 munificently | |
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294 grotesque | |
adj.怪诞的,丑陋的;n.怪诞的图案,怪人(物) | |
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295 uncouth | |
adj.无教养的,粗鲁的 | |
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296 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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297 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
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298 succinctly | |
adv.简洁地;简洁地,简便地 | |
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299 wrest | |
n.扭,拧,猛夺;v.夺取,猛扭,歪曲 | |
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300 depot | |
n.仓库,储藏处;公共汽车站;火车站 | |
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301 insinuate | |
vt.含沙射影地说,暗示 | |
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302 monopolizing | |
v.垄断( monopolize的现在分词 );独占;专卖;专营 | |
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303 advancement | |
n.前进,促进,提升 | |
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304 inquiries | |
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听 | |
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305 courteous | |
adj.彬彬有礼的,客气的 | |
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306 discourse | |
n.论文,演说;谈话;话语;vi.讲述,著述 | |
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307 internecine | |
adj.两败俱伤的 | |
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308 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
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309 winced | |
赶紧避开,畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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310 cumulative | |
adj.累积的,渐增的 | |
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311 domain | |
n.(活动等)领域,范围;领地,势力范围 | |
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312 defensive | |
adj.防御的;防卫的;防守的 | |
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313 extremities | |
n.端点( extremity的名词复数 );尽头;手和足;极窘迫的境地 | |
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314 cannon | |
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮 | |
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315 garrisoned | |
卫戍部队守备( garrison的过去式和过去分词 ); 派部队驻防 | |
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316 garrison | |
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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317 friction | |
n.摩擦,摩擦力 | |
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318 infringement | |
n.违反;侵权 | |
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319 infringements | |
n.违反( infringement的名词复数 );侵犯,伤害 | |
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320 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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321 suavity | |
n.温和;殷勤 | |
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322 poignant | |
adj.令人痛苦的,辛酸的,惨痛的 | |
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323 clinched | |
v.(尤指两人)互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 );解决(争端、交易),达成(协议) | |
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325 brawny | |
adj.强壮的 | |
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326 utilized | |
v.利用,使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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327 smears | |
污迹( smear的名词复数 ); 污斑; (显微镜的)涂片; 诽谤 | |
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328 tirade | |
n.冗长的攻击性演说 | |
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329 persistence | |
n.坚持,持续,存留 | |
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330 variance | |
n.矛盾,不同 | |
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331 grievances | |
n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 );苦衷;不满;牢骚 | |
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332 woes | |
困境( woe的名词复数 ); 悲伤; 我好苦哇; 某人就要倒霉 | |
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333 vehemently | |
adv. 热烈地 | |
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334 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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335 savages | |
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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336 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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337 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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338 deride | |
v.嘲弄,愚弄 | |
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339 fatuity | |
n.愚蠢,愚昧 | |
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340 concord | |
n.和谐;协调 | |
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341 delegation | |
n.代表团;派遣 | |
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342 delegations | |
n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 );委托,委派 | |
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343 mediating | |
调停,调解,斡旋( mediate的现在分词 ); 居间促成; 影响…的发生; 使…可能发生 | |
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344 contemned | |
v.侮辱,蔑视( contemn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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345 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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346 berated | |
v.严厉责备,痛斥( berate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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347 parity | |
n.平价,等价,比价,对等 | |
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348 zealously | |
adv.热心地;热情地;积极地;狂热地 | |
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349 plethora | |
n.过量,过剩 | |
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350 oblivious | |
adj.易忘的,遗忘的,忘却的,健忘的 | |
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351 recurred | |
再发生,复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 ); 治愈 | |
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352 cavern | |
n.洞穴,大山洞 | |
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353 flickered | |
(通常指灯光)闪烁,摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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354 flicker | |
vi./n.闪烁,摇曳,闪现 | |
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355 momentary | |
adj.片刻的,瞬息的;短暂的 | |
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356 glimmer | |
v.发出闪烁的微光;n.微光,微弱的闪光 | |
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357 descending | |
n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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358 constriction | |
压缩; 紧压的感觉; 束紧; 压缩物 | |
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359 impending | |
a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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360 compute | |
v./n.计算,估计 | |
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361 entrapped | |
v.使陷入圈套,使入陷阱( entrap的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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362 inured | |
adj.坚强的,习惯的 | |
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363 suspense | |
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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364 antagonist | |
n.敌人,对抗者,对手 | |
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365 spunk | |
n.勇气,胆量 | |
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366 aglow | |
adj.发亮的;发红的;adv.发亮地 | |
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367 timorous | |
adj.胆怯的,胆小的 | |
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368 kindling | |
n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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369 pertinent | |
adj.恰当的;贴切的;中肯的;有关的;相干的 | |
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370 agitated | |
adj.被鼓动的,不安的 | |
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371 cane | |
n.手杖,细长的茎,藤条;v.以杖击,以藤编制的 | |
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372 accusation | |
n.控告,指责,谴责 | |
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373 forestalling | |
v.先发制人,预先阻止( forestall的现在分词 ) | |
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374 crouching | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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375 precipitately | |
adv.猛进地 | |
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376 precipitate | |
adj.突如其来的;vt.使突然发生;n.沉淀物 | |
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377 avenged | |
v.为…复仇,报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 );为…报复 | |
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378 enraged | |
使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 ); 歜; 激愤 | |
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379 dependence | |
n.依靠,依赖;信任,信赖;隶属 | |
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380 subjugating | |
v.征服,降伏( subjugate的现在分词 ) | |
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381 contemplated | |
adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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382 flaring | |
a.火焰摇曳的,过份艳丽的 | |
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383 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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384 shuddered | |
v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
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385 soothing | |
adj.慰藉的;使人宽心的;镇静的 | |
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386 cadence | |
n.(说话声调的)抑扬顿挫 | |
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387 benefactor | |
n. 恩人,行善的人,捐助人 | |
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388 admonished | |
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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389 manifestations | |
n.表示,显示(manifestation的复数形式) | |
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390 jeopardy | |
n.危险;危难 | |
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391 realization | |
n.实现;认识到,深刻了解 | |
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392 valiantly | |
adv.勇敢地,英勇地;雄赳赳 | |
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393 dreading | |
v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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394 puny | |
adj.微不足道的,弱小的 | |
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395 drooping | |
adj. 下垂的,无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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396 meditate | |
v.想,考虑,(尤指宗教上的)沉思,冥想 | |
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397 sarcastic | |
adj.讥讽的,讽刺的,嘲弄的 | |
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398 loath | |
adj.不愿意的;勉强的 | |
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399 desolate | |
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂 | |
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400 fervently | |
adv.热烈地,热情地,强烈地 | |
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401 repudiating | |
v.(正式地)否认( repudiate的现在分词 );拒绝接受;拒绝与…往来;拒不履行(法律义务) | |
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402 disapprove | |
v.不赞成,不同意,不批准 | |
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403 undo | |
vt.解开,松开;取消,撤销 | |
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404 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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405 potently | |
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406 cogent | |
adj.强有力的,有说服力的 | |
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407 reminder | |
n.提醒物,纪念品;暗示,提示 | |
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408 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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409 yearning | |
a.渴望的;向往的;怀念的 | |
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410 aloof | |
adj.远离的;冷淡的,漠不关心的 | |
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411 elimination | |
n.排除,消除,消灭 | |
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412 euphemism | |
n.婉言,委婉的说法 | |
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413 consolation | |
n.安慰,慰问 | |
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414 bereavement | |
n.亲人丧亡,丧失亲人,丧亲之痛 | |
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415 pangs | |
突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 ); 悲痛 | |
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416 sunder | |
v.分开;隔离;n.分离,分开 | |
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417 factions | |
组织中的小派别,派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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418 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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419 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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420 averse | |
adj.厌恶的;反对的,不乐意的 | |
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421 triumphant | |
adj.胜利的,成功的;狂欢的,喜悦的 | |
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422 thither | |
adv.向那里;adj.在那边的,对岸的 | |
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423 beverage | |
n.(水,酒等之外的)饮料 | |
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424 quaffed | |
v.痛饮( quaff的过去式和过去分词 );畅饮;大口大口将…喝干;一饮而尽 | |
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425 conclave | |
n.秘密会议,红衣主教团 | |
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426 deftly | |
adv.灵巧地,熟练地,敏捷地 | |
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427 vaguely | |
adv.含糊地,暖昧地 | |
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428 dangling | |
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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429 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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430 amber | |
n.琥珀;琥珀色;adj.琥珀制的 | |
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431 lavish | |
adj.无节制的;浪费的;vt.慷慨地给予,挥霍 | |
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432 haze | |
n.霾,烟雾;懵懂,迷糊;vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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433 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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434 mawkish | |
adj.多愁善感的的;无味的 | |
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435 ornamented | |
adj.花式字体的v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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436 preservation | |
n.保护,维护,保存,保留,保持 | |
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437 trophy | |
n.优胜旗,奖品,奖杯,战胜品,纪念品 | |
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438 quaint | |
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的 | |
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439 proffer | |
v.献出,赠送;n.提议,建议 | |
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440 irritably | |
ad.易生气地 | |
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441 displeased | |
a.不快的 | |
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442 raucous | |
adj.(声音)沙哑的,粗糙的 | |
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443 travesty | |
n.歪曲,嘲弄,滑稽化 | |
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444 carousing | |
v.痛饮,闹饮欢宴( carouse的现在分词 ) | |
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445 slaked | |
v.满足( slake的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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446 stolidly | |
adv.迟钝地,神经麻木地 | |
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447 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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448 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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449 glimmering | |
n.微光,隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光,发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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450 reproof | |
n.斥责,责备 | |
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451 mentor | |
n.指导者,良师益友;v.指导 | |
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452 growled | |
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说 | |
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453 demonstration | |
n.表明,示范,论证,示威 | |
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454 proprietors | |
n.所有人,业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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455 enacted | |
制定(法律),通过(法案)( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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456 glisten | |
vi.(光洁或湿润表面等)闪闪发光,闪闪发亮 | |
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457 hearth | |
n.壁炉炉床,壁炉地面 | |
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458 hilarious | |
adj.充满笑声的,欢闹的;[反]depressed | |
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459 recurrence | |
n.复发,反复,重现 | |
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460 imbibed | |
v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 );喝;吸取;吸气 | |
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461 superstition | |
n.迷信,迷信行为 | |
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462 fascination | |
n.令人着迷的事物,魅力,迷恋 | |
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463 unaware | |
a.不知道的,未意识到的 | |
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464 fangs | |
n.(尤指狗和狼的)长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 );(蛇的)毒牙;罐座 | |
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465 catching | |
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住 | |
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466 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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467 disingenuously | |
adv.不诚实地,不坦白地 | |
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468 vouchsafed | |
v.给予,赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 );允诺 | |
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469 necromancy | |
n.巫术;通灵术 | |
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470 tasseled | |
v.抽穗, (玉米)长穗须( tassel的过去式和过去分词 );使抽穗, (为了使作物茁壮生长)摘去穗状雄花;用流苏装饰 | |
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471 lithe | |
adj.(指人、身体)柔软的,易弯的 | |
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472 tints | |
色彩( tint的名词复数 ); 带白的颜色; (淡色)染发剂; 痕迹 | |
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473 victorious | |
adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
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474 flattened | |
[医](水)平扁的,弄平的 | |
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475 brilliance | |
n.光辉,辉煌,壮丽,(卓越的)才华,才智 | |
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476 clattering | |
发出咔哒声(clatter的现在分词形式) | |
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477 intensified | |
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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478 joyful | |
adj.欢乐的,令人欢欣的 | |
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479 mantle | |
n.斗篷,覆罩之物,罩子;v.罩住,覆盖,脸红 | |
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480 stunned | |
adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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481 faltered | |
(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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482 deflected | |
偏离的 | |
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483 obliterated | |
v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 );涂去;擦掉;彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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484 scapegoat | |
n.替罪的羔羊,替人顶罪者;v.使…成为替罪羊 | |
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485 tempted | |
v.怂恿(某人)干不正当的事;冒…的险(tempt的过去分词) | |
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486 cultivation | |
n.耕作,培养,栽培(法),养成 | |
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487 emanated | |
v.从…处传出,传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 );产生,表现,显示 | |
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488 forsaking | |
放弃( forsake的现在分词 ); 弃绝; 抛弃; 摒弃 | |
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489 calamity | |
n.灾害,祸患,不幸事件 | |
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490 bereaved | |
adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去(希望、生命等)( bereave的过去式和过去分词);(尤指死亡)使丧失(亲人、朋友等);使孤寂;抢走(财物) | |
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491 concealment | |
n.隐藏, 掩盖,隐瞒 | |
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492 attic | |
n.顶楼,屋顶室 | |
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493 myriads | |
n.无数,极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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494 crevices | |
n.(尤指岩石的)裂缝,缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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495 tilted | |
v. 倾斜的 | |
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496 numbing | |
adj.使麻木的,使失去感觉的v.使麻木,使麻痹( numb的现在分词 ) | |
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497 constraint | |
n.(on)约束,限制;限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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498 posture | |
n.姿势,姿态,心态,态度;v.作出某种姿势 | |
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499 imprisoned | |
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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500 sediment | |
n.沉淀,沉渣,沉积(物) | |
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501 ebbed | |
(指潮水)退( ebb的过去式和过去分词 ); 落; 减少; 衰落 | |
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502 vestiges | |
残余部分( vestige的名词复数 ); 遗迹; 痕迹; 毫不 | |
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503 imprint | |
n.印痕,痕迹;深刻的印象;vt.压印,牢记 | |
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504 fronds | |
n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 ) | |
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505 hoofs | |
n.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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506 unnaturally | |
adv.违反习俗地;不自然地;勉强地;不近人情地 | |
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507 betokened | |
v.预示,表示( betoken的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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508 decadence | |
n.衰落,颓废 | |
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509 utilitarian | |
adj.实用的,功利的 | |
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510 pottery | |
n.陶器,陶器场 | |
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511 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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512 cadences | |
n.(声音的)抑扬顿挫( cadence的名词复数 );节奏;韵律;调子 | |
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513 tenor | |
n.男高音(歌手),次中音(乐器),要旨,大意 | |
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514 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
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515 syllables | |
n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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516 homely | |
adj.家常的,简朴的;不漂亮的 | |
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517 glimmers | |
n.微光,闪光( glimmer的名词复数 )v.发闪光,发微光( glimmer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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518 dolorous | |
adj.悲伤的;忧愁的 | |
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519 lulled | |
vt.使镇静,使安静(lull的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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520 craftily | |
狡猾地,狡诈地 | |
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521 quarry | |
n.采石场;v.采石;费力地找 | |
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522 disdain | |
n.鄙视,轻视;v.轻视,鄙视,不屑 | |
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523 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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524 vending | |
v.出售(尤指土地等财产)( vend的现在分词 );(尤指在公共场所)贩卖;发表(意见,言论);声明 | |
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525 invoices | |
发票( invoice的名词复数 ); (发货或服务)费用清单; 清单上货物的装运; 货物的托运 | |
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526 afflicting | |
痛苦的 | |
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527 haven | |
n.安全的地方,避难所,庇护所 | |
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528 mustered | |
v.集合,召集,集结(尤指部队)( muster的过去式和过去分词 );(自他人处)搜集某事物;聚集;激发 | |
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529 unprecedented | |
adj.无前例的,新奇的 | |
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530 expedient | |
adj.有用的,有利的;n.紧急的办法,权宜之计 | |
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531 thwart | |
v.阻挠,妨碍,反对;adj.横(断的) | |
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532 fugitive | |
adj.逃亡的,易逝的;n.逃犯,逃亡者 | |
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533 temerity | |
n.鲁莽,冒失 | |
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534 appalled | |
v.使惊骇,使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的;丧胆的 | |
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535 sanctuary | |
n.圣所,圣堂,寺庙;禁猎区,保护区 | |
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536 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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537 ruse | |
n.诡计,计策;诡计 | |
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538 rheumatism | |
n.风湿病 | |
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539 reminders | |
n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 );提醒…的东西;(告知该做某事的)通知单;提示信 | |
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540 garrulous | |
adj.唠叨的,多话的 | |
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541 chirp | |
v.(尤指鸟)唧唧喳喳的叫 | |
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542 softening | |
变软,软化 | |
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543 inevitably | |
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地 | |
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544 glamours | |
n.魅力,诱惑力( glamour的名词复数 ) | |
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545 beheld | |
v.看,注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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