For six months after Hall’s departure for San Francisco I heard nothing from him. Notwithstanding my intense desire to know what he was doing, I did not seek to disturb him in his retirement2. In the meantime things ran on as usual in the world, only a ripple3 being caused by renewed discoveries of small nuggets of artemisium on the Tetons, a fact which recalled to my mind the remark of my friend when he dislodged a flake4 of the metal from a crevice5 during our ascent6 of the peak. At last one day I received this telegram at my office in New York:
“SAN FRANCISCO, May 16, 1940.
“Come at once. The mystery is solved.
“(Signed) HALL.”
As soon as I could pack a grip I was flying westward7 one hundred miles an hour. On reaching San Francisco, which had made enormous strides since the opening of the twentieth century, owing to the extension of our Oriental possessions, and which already ranked with New York and Chicago among the financial capitals of the world, I hastened to Hall’s laboratory. He was there expecting me, and, after a hearty8 greeting, during which his elation9 over his success was manifest, he said:
“I am compelled to ask you to make a little journey. I found it impossible to secure the necessary privacy here, and, before opening my experiments, I selected a site for a new laboratory in an unfrequented spot among the mountains this side of Lake Tahoe. You will be the first man, with the exception of my two devoted10 assistants, to see my apparatus11, and you shall share the sensation of the critical experiment.”
“Then you have not yet completed your solution of the secret?”
“Yes, I have; for I am as certain of the result as if I had seen it, but I thought you were entitled to be in with me at the death.”
From the nearest railway station we took horses to the laboratory, which occupied a secluded12 but most beautiful site at an elevation13 of about six thousand feet above sea-level. With considerable surprise I noticed a building surmounted14 with a dome15, recalling what we had seen from the Grand Teton on the roof of Dr. Syx’s mill. Hall, observing my look, smiled significantly, but said nothing. The laboratory proper occupied a smaller building adjoining the domed16 structure. Hall led the way into an apartment having but a single door and illuminated17 by a skylight.
“This is my sanctum sanctorum,” he said, “and you are the first outsider to enter it. Seat yourself comfortably while I proceed to unveil a little corner of the artemisium mystery.”
Near one end of the room, which was about thirty feet in length, was a table, on which lay a glass tube about two inches in diameter and thirty inches long. In the farther end of the tube gleamed a lump of yellow metal, which I took to be gold. Hall and I were seated near another table about twenty-five feet distant from the tube, and on this table was an apparatus furnished with a concave mirror, whose optical axis18 was directed towards the tube. It occurred to me at once that this apparatus would be suitable for experimenting with electric waves. Wires ran from it to the floor, and in the cellar beneath was audible the beating of an engine. My companion made an adjustment or two, and then remarked:
“Now, keep your eyes on the lump of gold in the farther end of the tube yonder. The tube is exhausted19 of air, and I am about to concentrate upon the gold an intense electric influence, which will have the effect of making it a kind of kathode pole. I only use this term for the sake of illustration. You will recall that as long ago as the days of Crookes it was known that a kathode in an exhausted tube would project particles, or atoms, of its substance away in straight lines. Now watch!”
I fixed20 my attention upon the gold, and presently saw it enveloped21 in a most beautiful violet light. This grew more intense, until, at times, it was blinding, while, at the same moment, the interior of the tube seemed to have become charged with a luminous22 vapor23 of a delicate pinkish hue24.
“Watch! Watch!” said Hall. “Look at the nearer end of the tube!”
“Why, it is becoming coated with gold!” I exclaimed.
He smiled, but made no reply. Still the strange process continued. The pink vapor became so dense25 that the lump of gold was no longer visible, although the eye of violet light glared piercingly through the colored fog. Every second the deposit of metal, shining like a mirror, increased, until suddenly there came a curious whistling sound. Hall, who had been adjusting the mirror, jerked away his hand and gave it a flip26, as if hot water had spattered it, and then the light in the tube quickly died away, the vapor escaped, filling the room with a peculiar27 stimulating28 odor, and I perceived that the end of the glass tube had been melted through, and the molten gold was slowly dripping from it.
“I carried it a little too far,” said Hall, ruefully rubbing the back of his hand, “and when the glass gave way under the atomic bombardment a few atoms of gold visited my bones. But there is no harm done. You observed that the instant the air reached the kathode, as I for convenience call the electrified29 mass of gold, the action ceased.”
“But your anode, to continue your simile,” I said, “is constantly exposed to the air.”
“True,” he replied, “but in the first place, of course, this is not really an anode, just as the other is not actually a kathode. As science advances we are compelled, for a time, to use old terms in a new sense until a fresh nomenclature can be invented. But we are now dealing30 with a form of electric action more subtile in its effects than any at present described in the text-books and the transactions of learned societies. I have not yet even attempted to work out the theory of it. I am only concerned with its facts.”
“But wonderful as the exhibition you have given is, I do not see,” I said, “how it concerns Dr. Syx and his artemisium.”
“Listen,” replied Hall, settling back in his chair after disconnecting his apparatus. “You no doubt have been told how one night the Syx engine was heard working for a few minutes, the first and only night work it was ever known to have done, and how, hardly had it started up when a fire broke out in the mill, and the engine was instantly stopped. Now there is a very remarkable31 story connected with that, and it will show you how I got my first clew to the mystery, although it was rather a mere32 suspicion than a clew, for at first I could make nothing out of it. The alleged33 fire occurred about a fortnight after our discovery of the double tunnel. My mind was then full of suspicions concerning Syx, because I thought that a man who would fool people with one hand was not likely to deal fairly with the other.
“It was a glorious night, with a full moon, whose face was so clear in the limpid34 air that, having found a snug35 place at the foot of a yellow-pine-tree, where the ground was carpeted with odoriferous needles, I lay on my back and renewed my early acquaintance with the romantically named mountains and ‘seas’ of the Lunar globe. With my binocular I could trace those long white streaks36 which radiate from the crater37 ring, called ‘Tycho,’ and run hundreds of miles in all directions over the moon. As I gazed at these singular objects I recalled the various theories which astronomers38, puzzled by their enigmatical aspect, have offered to a more or less confiding39 public concerning them.
“In the midst of my meditation40 and moon gazing I was startled by hearing the engine in the Syx works suddenly begin to run. Immediately a queer light, shaped like the beam of a ship’s searchlight, but reddish in color, rose high in the moonlit heavens above the mill. It did not last more than a minute or two, for almost instantly the engine was stopped, and with its stoppage the light faded and soon disappeared. The next day Dr. Syx gave it out that on starting up his engine in the night something had caught fire, which compelled him immediately to shut down again. The few who had seen the light, with the exception of your humble41 servant, accepted the doctor’s explanation without a question. But I knew there had been no fire, and Syx’s anxiety to spread the lie led me to believe that he had narrowly escaped giving away a vital secret. I said nothing about my suspicions, but upon inquiry42 I found out that an extra and pressing order for metal had arrived from the Austrian government the very day of the pretended fire, and I drew the inference that Syx, in his haste to fill the order—his supply having been drawn43 low—had started to work, contrary to his custom, at night, and had immediately found reason to repent44 his rashness. Of course, I connected the strange light with this sudden change of mind.
“My suspicion having been thus stimulated45, and having been directed in a certain way, I began, from that moment to notice closely the hours during which the engine labored46. At night it was always quiet, except on that one brief occasion. Sometimes it began early in the morning and stopped about noon. At other times the work was done entirely47 in the afternoon, beginning sometimes as late as three or four o’clock, and ceasing invariably at sundown. Then again it would start at sunrise and continue the whole day through.
“For a long time I was unable to account for these eccentricities48, and the problem was not rendered much clearer, although a startling suggestiveness was added to it, when, at length, I noticed that the periods of activity of the engine had a definite relation to the age of the moon. Then I discovered, with the aid of an almanac, that I could predict the hours when the engine would be busy. At the time of new moon it worked all day; at full moon, it was idle; between full moon and last quarter, it labored in the forenoon, the length of its working hours increasing as the quarter was approached; between last quarter and new moon, the hours of work lengthened49, until, as I have said, at new moon they lasted all day; between new moon and first quarter, work began later and later in the forenoon as the quarter was approached, and between first quarter and full moon the laboring50 hours rapidly shortened, being confined to the latter part of the afternoon, until at full moon complete silence reigned51 in the mill.”
“Well! well!” I broke in, greatly astonished by Hall’s singular recital52, “you must have thought Dr. Syx was a cross between an alchemist and an astrologer.”
“Note this,” said Hall, disregarding my interruption, “the hours when the engine worked were invariably the hours during which the moon was above the horizon!”
“What did you infer from that?” “Of course, I inferred that the moon was directly concerned in the mystery; but how? That bothered me for a long time, but a little light broke into my mind when I picked up, on the mountain-side, a dead bird, whose scorched53 feathers were bronzed with artemisium, and sometime later another similar victim of a mysterious form of death. Then came the attack on the mine and its tragic54 finish. I have already told you what I observed on that occasion. But, instead of helping55 to clear up the mystery, it rather complicated it for a time. At length, however, I reasoned my way partly out of the difficulty. Certain things which I had noticed in the Syx mill convinced me that there was a part of the building whose existence no visitor suspected, and, putting one thing with another, I inferred that the roof must be open above that secret part of the structure, and that if I could get upon a sufficiently56 elevated place I could see something of what was hidden there.
“At this point in the investigation57 I proposed to you the trip to the top of the Teton, the result of which you remember. I had calculated the angles with great care, and I felt certain that from the apex58 of the mountain I should be able to get a view into the concealed59 chamber60, and into just that side of it which I wished particularly to inspect. You remember that I called your attention to a shining object underneath61 the circular opening in the roof. You could not make out what it was, but I saw enough to convince me that it was a gigantic parabolic mirror. I’ll show you a smaller one of the same kind presently.
“Now, at last, I began to perceive the real truth, but it was so wildly incredible, so infinitely62 remote from all human experience, that I hardly ventured to formulate63 it, even in my own secret mind. But I was bound to see the thing through to the end. It occurred to me that I could prove the accuracy of my theory with the aid of a kite. You were kind enough to lend your assistance in that experiment, and it gave me irrefragable evidence of the existence of a shaft64 of flying atoms extending in a direct line between Dr. Syx’s pretended mine and the moon!”
“Hall!” I exclaimed, “you are mad!” My friend smiled good-naturedly, and went on with his story.
“The instant the kite shrivelled and disappeared I understood why the works were idle when the moon was not above the horizon, why birds flying across that fatal beam fell dead upon the rocks, and whence the terrible master of that mysterious mill derived65 the power of destruction that could wither66 an army as the Assyrian host in Byron’s poem
“Melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.”
“But how did Dr. Syx turn the flying atoms against his enemies?” I asked.
“In a very simple manner. He had a mirror mounted so that it could be turned in any direction, and would shunt the stream of metallic67 atoms, heated by their friction68 with the air, towards any desired point. When the attack came he raised this machine above the level of the roof and swept the mob to a lustrous69, if expensive, death.”
“And the light at night—”
“Was the shining of the heated atoms, not luminous enough to be visible in broad day, for which reason the engine never worked at night, and the stream of volatilized artemisium was never set flowing at full moon, when the lunar globe is above the horizon only during the hours of darkness.”
“I see,” I said, “whence came the nuggets on the mountain. Some of the atoms, owing to the resistance of the air, fell short and settled in the form of impalpable dust until the winds and rains collected and compacted them in the cracks and crevices70 of the rocks.”
“That was it, of course.”
“And now,” I added, my amazement71 at the success of Hall’s experiments and the accuracy of his deductions72 increasing every moment, “do you say that you have also discovered the means employed by Dr. Syx to obtain artemisium from the moon?”
“Not only that,” replied my friend, “but within the next few minutes I shall have the pleasure of presenting to you a button of moon metal, fresh from the veins73 of Artemis herself.”
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1 narrative | |
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
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2 retirement | |
n.退休,退职 | |
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3 ripple | |
n.涟波,涟漪,波纹,粗钢梳;vt.使...起涟漪,使起波纹; vi.呈波浪状,起伏前进 | |
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4 flake | |
v.使成薄片;雪片般落下;n.薄片 | |
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5 crevice | |
n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝;缺口 | |
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6 ascent | |
n.(声望或地位)提高;上升,升高;登高 | |
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7 westward | |
n.西方,西部;adj.西方的,向西的;adv.向西 | |
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8 hearty | |
adj.热情友好的;衷心的;尽情的,纵情的 | |
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9 elation | |
n.兴高采烈,洋洋得意 | |
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10 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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11 apparatus | |
n.装置,器械;器具,设备 | |
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12 secluded | |
adj.与世隔绝的;隐退的;偏僻的v.使隔开,使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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13 elevation | |
n.高度;海拔;高地;上升;提高 | |
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14 surmounted | |
战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 ); 克服(困难); 居于…之上; 在…顶上 | |
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15 dome | |
n.圆屋顶,拱顶 | |
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16 domed | |
adj. 圆屋顶的, 半球形的, 拱曲的 动词dome的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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17 illuminated | |
adj.被照明的;受启迪的 | |
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18 axis | |
n.轴,轴线,中心线;坐标轴,基准线 | |
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19 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
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20 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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21 enveloped | |
v.包围,笼罩,包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22 luminous | |
adj.发光的,发亮的;光明的;明白易懂的;有启发的 | |
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23 vapor | |
n.蒸汽,雾气 | |
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24 hue | |
n.色度;色调;样子 | |
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25 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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26 flip | |
vt.快速翻动;轻抛;轻拍;n.轻抛;adj.轻浮的 | |
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27 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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28 stimulating | |
adj.有启发性的,能激发人思考的 | |
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29 electrified | |
v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 );使兴奋 | |
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30 dealing | |
n.经商方法,待人态度 | |
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31 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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32 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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33 alleged | |
a.被指控的,嫌疑的 | |
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34 limpid | |
adj.清澈的,透明的 | |
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35 snug | |
adj.温暖舒适的,合身的,安全的;v.使整洁干净,舒适地依靠,紧贴;n.(英)酒吧里的私房 | |
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36 streaks | |
n.(与周围有所不同的)条纹( streak的名词复数 );(通常指不好的)特征(倾向);(不断经历成功或失败的)一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 );使布满条纹 | |
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37 crater | |
n.火山口,弹坑 | |
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38 astronomers | |
n.天文学者,天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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39 confiding | |
adj.相信人的,易于相信的v.吐露(秘密,心事等)( confide的现在分词 );(向某人)吐露(隐私、秘密等) | |
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40 meditation | |
n.熟虑,(尤指宗教的)默想,沉思,(pl.)冥想录 | |
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41 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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42 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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43 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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44 repent | |
v.悔悟,悔改,忏悔,后悔 | |
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45 stimulated | |
a.刺激的 | |
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46 labored | |
adj.吃力的,谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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47 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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48 eccentricities | |
n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 );反常;怪癖 | |
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49 lengthened | |
(时间或空间)延长,伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50 laboring | |
n.劳动,操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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51 reigned | |
vi.当政,统治(reign的过去式形式) | |
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52 recital | |
n.朗诵,独奏会,独唱会 | |
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53 scorched | |
烧焦,烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 ); 使(植物)枯萎,把…晒枯; 高速行驶; 枯焦 | |
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54 tragic | |
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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55 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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56 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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57 investigation | |
n.调查,调查研究 | |
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58 apex | |
n.顶点,最高点 | |
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59 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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60 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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61 underneath | |
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面 | |
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62 infinitely | |
adv.无限地,无穷地 | |
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63 formulate | |
v.用公式表示;规划;设计;系统地阐述 | |
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64 shaft | |
n.(工具的)柄,杆状物 | |
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65 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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66 wither | |
vt.使凋谢,使衰退,(用眼神气势等)使畏缩;vi.枯萎,衰退,消亡 | |
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67 metallic | |
adj.金属的;金属制的;含金属的;产金属的;像金属的 | |
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68 friction | |
n.摩擦,摩擦力 | |
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69 lustrous | |
adj.有光泽的;光辉的 | |
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70 crevices | |
n.(尤指岩石的)裂缝,缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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71 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
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72 deductions | |
扣除( deduction的名词复数 ); 结论; 扣除的量; 推演 | |
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73 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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