All plant-life is now profusely5, riotously6 luxuriant. A drenching7 winter, following a wet autumn, preceded a late, showery spring; thus, and because of which, the pastures and cornfields, the orchards8 and gardens, are rich with verdure and promise to a degree unknown since the proverbial year of 1870.
Some few sultry days have we had, but the true Australian summer has not, so far, appeared in its lurid9, wasting splendour. Hardly a ripening10 tinge11 is yet visible on the wide-waving prairies, the bespangled meadows, the shaded forest lawns. Wild flowers of every shape and hue12—blue and scarlet13, pink and orange, white and yellow, perfumed or scentless—glorify the landscape.
As we drive along, this balmy, breezy, sun-bright day, through the champaign, which lies anear and around an inland country town, let us (if haply it may tend to dispel15 some small portion of the ignorance of our British friends as to the 'bush of Australia') put on record the 'scenes and sounds of a far clime' in this season of the year.
The wheat crops, standing16 strong and level for leagues around, as high, generally, as the rail fence which protects them, have not as yet been assailed17; but the reaper18 and binder19 has made many a foray into the hayfields. Here we notice one of the results of machinery20. In the majority of instances the oats, though green of hue, are in sheaves and 475stooks. The time-honoured spring romance of fragrant21 haycocks is hastening to its doom22, inasmuch as the greater portion of the oat-crop saved is intended to be reduced into chaff23, as being more portable or saleable in that form. It is obviously better economy, by using the reaper and string-binder, to have it arranged mechanically in sheaves and hand-placed in stooks. It is then more convenient for loading, stacking, and the final operation of the chaff-cutter. Most of these sheaves are six feet and over in height. Heavy-headed, too, withal. We were informed that four tons of chaff to the acre is not an uncommon24 yield this year. The lambs, which are running with their mothers in the great enclosures, wire-fenced and ring-barked as to timber, through which the high road passes, are wonderfully well-grown and healthy-looking. The percentage, averaging from eighty to ninety, is exceptionally high, when it is considered that the expense of tendance is nominal25. From five to seven thousand ewes—even more sometimes—are running in each paddock, unwatched and untended till marking-time, thence to the shearing26, which is also the weaning period. This year the shepherd-kings have a right royal time of it, though not more than sufficient to compensate28 them for the losses and crosses of the last decade. Apropos29 of this woolly people, here approaches an aged30 shepherd. He is mounted, so that he has received his cheque. Solvent31 and resolved, he is journeying to the town, on pleasure bent32, of a rational nature let us hope. The flies of mid-day are troublesome, but he has a net-veil round his weather-beaten face; so has the steady veteran steed. The collie, following dutifully, is unprotected from flies, but accoutred with a wire muzzle—not, as the young lady from the city supposed, to prevent his biting the sheep, but lest he should swallow the innocent-seeming morsel33 of meat by the wayside, intended for vagrom canines34, and containing the deadly crystals of strychnine. Certes, with plenteousness the land runs o'er, this gracious year of our Lord 1887. The cattle lounging about the roads—the roads, like the fields, knee-deep in thick green grass—with their shining coats and plump bodies, testify to the bounty35 of the season. The birds call and twitter. The skylark, faint reflex as he is of his English compeer, yet mounts skyward and sings his shorter lay rejoicingly. The wild-duck, gladsome and unharmed, swims in 476the meres36 which here and there divide the river meadows. The fat beeves in the paddock ruminate37 contemplatively, or recline around some patriarchal tree. All nature is joyous38; the animated39 portion 'rich in spirits and health,' the vegetable contingent40 spreading forth41 and burgeoning42 in unchecked development. As we pass Bungāwannāh, one of the large estates, formerly43 squattages, which alternate with the farms and smaller pastoral holdings, a fallow doe with her fawn44 starts up from the long grass, gazing at us with startled but mildly-timid eye. They are outliers from a herd27 of nearly a hundred, which have increased from a few head placed there by a former proprietor45.
In this our Centennial year it must be conceded that Australia is a land of varied46 products. We pass orchards where the apples are reddening fast, where apricots are turning pink, and the green fig47 slowly filling its luscious48 sphere. We note the vivid green of the many-acred vineyards, now in long rows, giving an air of formal regularity49 to the cultivated portion of the foreground. Then we descry50 the dark green and gold of an orangery, hard by the river-bank—in this year a most profitable possession to the proprietor.
Amid this abundance we miss one figure sufficiently51 familiar to the traveller in other lands, or the European resident, viz. 'the poor man.' He may be somewhere about, but we do not encounter him. He does not solicit52 alms, at any rate. His nearest counterpart is the swagman or pedestrian labourer. He is differentiated53 from the shearer54 and the 'rouseabout' (the shearing-shed casual labourer), who travel, the former invariably, the latter occasionally, on horseback. But the humble55 dependant56 upon the aristocratic squatter57 or prosperous farmer is a well-fed, fairly well-dressed personage, who affords himself an unlimited58 allowance of tobacco. Say that he elects to journey afoot in an equestrian59 country, he needs pity or charity from no man.
When one thinks of England, with its three hundred souls to the square mile, one cannot but be thankful, in spite of the ignorant, insolent60 diatribes61 of the Ben Tillett agitator62 class, for the condition of the labouring classes in this favoured country. They are at a premium63, and will be for years to come, while tens of thousands of acres of arable64 land are awaiting the hands which shall clear and plant them. 477Meanwhile, a small annual rent is obtained for the State by means of purely65 pastoral possession—a form of occupation destined66 to be surely, if slowly, superseded67 by agriculture, when demanded by the needs of a more developed epoch68 and a denser69 population.
This particular district has for many years been settled after a fashion which permits of moderate-sized holdings. For a lengthened70 period, therefore, have the exotic trees and shrubs71, which even the humblest farms boast, grown and flourished. The tall, columnar poplars, the wavy72, tremulous aspens, the umbrageous73 elms, are large of girth, stately of height, and broad of shade. They are to be seen around the farm-house, or near the mansion74 which peeps out amid wood and meadow. Here a row of stately elms borders the roadside, affording a grateful shade to the weary wayfarer75. The season has been exceptionally humid, as when
Low thunders bring the mellow76 rain
Which makes thee broad and deep.
Yet the oak is not so common. Slow of growth, he does not seem to assimilate himself to all soils, although in a few localities he may be observed doing no discredit77 to his British comrades. The lime, the Oriental plane, the ash, the willow78, and the sycamore proclaim the generous nature of the soil and climate which they have reached, so far across the foam79. Besides these are the noble Paulownia imperialis, majestic80 with gigantic leaves and purple-scented flowers; the catalpa and even the magnolia, beauteous and fragrant—a botanic miracle. The olive grows rapidly, forgetting oft in eagerness to add branch to branch to mature the fruit, which will one day furnish a valuable export.
All these with others in this last season are spreading their green pennants81 to the summer breeze—grateful in shade to the traveller wearied and adust; beautiful to the eye of the lover of all plant-life; 'things of beauty and of joy for ever,' even to those whose sense of harmonious82 landscape-arrangement is rudimentary and undeveloped.
We halt for an instant on the verdant83 level, hard by the little creek84 whose waters, this gracious year, run yet with musical monotone, to watch the drivers of these high-piled 478waggons, who are even now unloosing their teams. There are five waggons85, which, with wheels of the adamantine iron-bark eucalyptus86, are warranted to carry the heaviest loads procurable87; and heavy loads they are. Forty bales of wool in each, or thereabouts. Sixty or seventy horses in the five teams, all 'grade' Clydesdales or Suffolks, and averaging in value from £25 to £35 each. The 200 bales of wool are worth, say at £20 each, £4000; £1500 for the team horses; £300 for the waggons. A not inconsiderable total of values. Stay! In haste we have forgotten the sixty sets of harness and the tarpaulins,—£5000 or £6000 in all. A large property to be in the hands of five young fellows hardly known to the proprietor of the freight. It is fortunate that there are no robber barons88 at this time of day to demand tribute, or land pirates and buccaneers, except those who collect the intercolonial protective duties.
The hare which runs across the road in front of us is an introduced, imported animal, like the deer we saw a while back. He is becoming numerous, but, unlike his cousin and comrade, 'Brer Rabbit,' has not been disastrously89 destructive. The settlers eat him at present. 'Brer Rabbit' in some districts has commenced to reverse the process.
Among the manifold natural beauties of the season we must by no means omit the hedgerows; in beauteous blossom these, and though, perhaps, chiefly too wild and luxuriant, yet affording pleasing contrast to the bare utilitarianism of rail and wire fence, and the monotony of the barked, murdered woods. Various are they, ranging from the dark green of the hawthorn90, lovely with sweet souvenir bloom of long-past English springs, to the pink flower-masses of the quince, the crimson91 showers of the rose-hedges, and the yellow hair of the Acacia armata; while high, towering, thorny92, impervious93, with brightest glittering greenery, grows the Osage orange—a transatlantic importation, which in some respects is the most effective green wall known, being a species of live barbed wire, with an agreeable appearance of leafage, yet exuding94 a bitter juice, which prevents its mutilation by live stock. All these, interspersed95 occasionally with the sweetbriar, the scent14 and wild-rose flower of which almost atone96 for its predatory habits, its illegal occupation of Crown Lands. In one instance an economical or patriotic97 farmer had permitted the fast-growing 479eucalyptus saplings to interlace his 'drop' fence—an effective and not wholly unpicturesque road border.
From time to time amid the larger enclosures we came across a half-forlorn, half-picturesque patch 'where once a garden smiled.' A roofless cottage, a score of elms and poplars, with straggling rose-bushes abloom among the thistles, mark the abandoned homestead. In the 'distressful98 country' these would be the signs of an eviction99. Here, when Michael or Patrick unhouses himself, he does so with a comfortable cheque in his pocket and the wherewithal to 'take up' a larger holding, perhaps six hundred and forty acres, or even in the central district, two thousand five hundred, by the payment in cash to the Crown—of how much does the reader unlearned in the New South Wales land laws believe? Two shillings per acre! The remaining balance of eighteen shillings per acre to be paid in twenty years, with interest at five per cent, or ninepence per acre annually100! The neighbouring landholder has bought out honest Pat or Donald, or Fran?ois or Wilhelm, as the case may be—several nationalities being here represented—giving him a handsome profit in cash for his labour and outlay101. The fences are then pulled down, the roof falls in, the elms, the poplars, with a few peach-trees and roses, alone remain to tell the tale of the deserted102 homestead. As we pass one of these, a grand cloth-of-gold bush, six feet and more in height, hanging over a fence, tempts103 us with its fragrant clusters. We choose a lovely bud and an opening flower, with its curiously-blended shades of gold and faintest pink, and, much moralising, go our way.
In the good old days, when there was no salvation104 outside of vast pastoral holdings, when small freeholds were considered not only inexpedient but immoral105, this was held to be a waterless region, unfit for the habitation of man, away from the river frontage. Now near every farm appears a dam or other successful method of conserving106 water. The homesteads, too, are well built, and substantial for the most part, standing in neatly-kept gardens and fruitful orchards. Milch kine graze in the fields or stroll about the grassy107 roadways, sleek-skinned, well-bred, and profitable-looking.
No indications save those of comfortable living and easy-going rural prosperity present themselves. Buggies or tax-carts with active horses, driven mostly by farmers' wives or 480daughters, trot108 briskly along the high-road to the town, going to or returning from their marketing109. Occasionally a girl on horseback canters by, sometimes escorted, often without cavalier or attendant. The road-maintenance man jogs by in his covered cart, filling up ruts with metal here and there, or clearing a drain where the storm-water runs too impetuously. In all this savage110 land which I have described in detail, there are no lions or tigers, no bushrangers, no Indians. In fact, but for a few varieties of vegetation, one might fancy oneself back again in rural England.
点击收听单词发音
1 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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2 acme | |
n.顶点,极点 | |
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3 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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4 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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5 profusely | |
ad.abundantly | |
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6 riotously | |
adv.骚动地,暴乱地 | |
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7 drenching | |
n.湿透v.使湿透( drench的现在分词 );在某人(某物)上大量使用(某液体) | |
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8 orchards | |
(通常指围起来的)果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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9 lurid | |
adj.可怕的;血红的;苍白的 | |
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10 ripening | |
v.成熟,使熟( ripen的现在分词 );熟化;熟成 | |
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11 tinge | |
vt.(较淡)着色于,染色;使带有…气息;n.淡淡色彩,些微的气息 | |
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12 hue | |
n.色度;色调;样子 | |
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13 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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14 scent | |
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉 | |
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15 dispel | |
vt.驱走,驱散,消除 | |
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16 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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17 assailed | |
v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 );困扰;质问;毅然应对 | |
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18 reaper | |
n.收割者,收割机 | |
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19 binder | |
n.包扎物,包扎工具;[法]临时契约;粘合剂;装订工 | |
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20 machinery | |
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构 | |
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21 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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22 doom | |
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定 | |
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23 chaff | |
v.取笑,嘲笑;n.谷壳 | |
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24 uncommon | |
adj.罕见的,非凡的,不平常的 | |
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25 nominal | |
adj.名义上的;(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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26 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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27 herd | |
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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28 compensate | |
vt.补偿,赔偿;酬报 vi.弥补;补偿;抵消 | |
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29 apropos | |
adv.恰好地;adj.恰当的;关于 | |
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30 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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31 solvent | |
n.溶剂;adj.有偿付能力的 | |
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32 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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33 morsel | |
n.一口,一点点 | |
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34 canines | |
n.犬齿( canine的名词复数 );犬牙;犬科动物 | |
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35 bounty | |
n.慷慨的赠予物,奖金;慷慨,大方;施与 | |
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36 meres | |
abbr.matrix of environmental residuals for energy systems 能源系统环境残留矩阵 | |
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37 ruminate | |
v.反刍;沉思 | |
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38 joyous | |
adj.充满快乐的;令人高兴的 | |
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39 animated | |
adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的 | |
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40 contingent | |
adj.视条件而定的;n.一组,代表团,分遣队 | |
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41 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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42 burgeoning | |
adj.迅速成长的,迅速发展的v.发芽,抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 );迅速发展;发(芽),抽(枝) | |
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43 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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44 fawn | |
n.未满周岁的小鹿;v.巴结,奉承 | |
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45 proprietor | |
n.所有人;业主;经营者 | |
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46 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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47 fig | |
n.无花果(树) | |
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48 luscious | |
adj.美味的;芬芳的;肉感的,引与性欲的 | |
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49 regularity | |
n.规律性,规则性;匀称,整齐 | |
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50 descry | |
v.远远看到;发现;责备 | |
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51 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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52 solicit | |
vi.勾引;乞求;vt.请求,乞求;招揽(生意) | |
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53 differentiated | |
区分,区别,辨别( differentiate的过去式和过去分词 ); 区别对待; 表明…间的差别,构成…间差别的特征 | |
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54 shearer | |
n.剪羊毛的人;剪切机 | |
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55 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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56 dependant | |
n.依靠的,依赖的,依赖他人生活者 | |
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57 squatter | |
n.擅自占地者 | |
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58 unlimited | |
adj.无限的,不受控制的,无条件的 | |
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59 equestrian | |
adj.骑马的;n.马术 | |
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60 insolent | |
adj.傲慢的,无理的 | |
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61 diatribes | |
n.谩骂,讽刺( diatribe的名词复数 ) | |
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62 agitator | |
n.鼓动者;搅拌器 | |
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63 premium | |
n.加付款;赠品;adj.高级的;售价高的 | |
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64 arable | |
adj.可耕的,适合种植的 | |
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65 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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66 destined | |
adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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67 superseded | |
[医]被代替的,废弃的 | |
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68 epoch | |
n.(新)时代;历元 | |
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69 denser | |
adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的 | |
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70 lengthened | |
(时间或空间)延长,伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71 shrubs | |
灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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72 wavy | |
adj.有波浪的,多浪的,波浪状的,波动的,不稳定的 | |
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73 umbrageous | |
adj.多荫的 | |
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74 mansion | |
n.大厦,大楼;宅第 | |
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75 wayfarer | |
n.旅人 | |
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76 mellow | |
adj.柔和的;熟透的;v.变柔和;(使)成熟 | |
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77 discredit | |
vt.使不可置信;n.丧失信义;不信,怀疑 | |
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78 willow | |
n.柳树 | |
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79 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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80 majestic | |
adj.雄伟的,壮丽的,庄严的,威严的,崇高的 | |
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81 pennants | |
n.校旗( pennant的名词复数 );锦标旗;长三角旗;信号旗 | |
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82 harmonious | |
adj.和睦的,调和的,和谐的,协调的 | |
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83 verdant | |
adj.翠绿的,青翠的,生疏的,不老练的 | |
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84 creek | |
n.小溪,小河,小湾 | |
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85 waggons | |
四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 ); 铁路货车; 小手推车 | |
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86 eucalyptus | |
n.桉树,桉属植物 | |
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87 procurable | |
adj.可得到的,得手的 | |
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88 barons | |
男爵( baron的名词复数 ); 巨头; 大王; 大亨 | |
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89 disastrously | |
ad.灾难性地 | |
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90 hawthorn | |
山楂 | |
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91 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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92 thorny | |
adj.多刺的,棘手的 | |
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93 impervious | |
adj.不能渗透的,不能穿过的,不易伤害的 | |
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94 exuding | |
v.缓慢流出,渗出,分泌出( exude的现在分词 );流露出对(某物)的神态或感情 | |
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95 interspersed | |
adj.[医]散开的;点缀的v.intersperse的过去式和过去分词 | |
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96 atone | |
v.赎罪,补偿 | |
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97 patriotic | |
adj.爱国的,有爱国心的 | |
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98 distressful | |
adj.苦难重重的,不幸的,使苦恼的 | |
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99 eviction | |
n.租地等的收回 | |
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100 annually | |
adv.一年一次,每年 | |
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101 outlay | |
n.费用,经费,支出;v.花费 | |
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102 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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103 tempts | |
v.引诱或怂恿(某人)干不正当的事( tempt的第三人称单数 );使想要 | |
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104 salvation | |
n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困 | |
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105 immoral | |
adj.不道德的,淫荡的,荒淫的,有伤风化的 | |
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106 conserving | |
v.保护,保藏,保存( conserve的现在分词 ) | |
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107 grassy | |
adj.盖满草的;长满草的 | |
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108 trot | |
n.疾走,慢跑;n.老太婆;现成译本;(复数)trots:腹泻(与the 连用);v.小跑,快步走,赶紧 | |
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109 marketing | |
n.行销,在市场的买卖,买东西 | |
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110 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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