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CHAPTER XXVIII.
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The sun shines alike upon the just and the unjust, and it would seem to follow that all men should be judged by the same measure in the more important actions and emotions of their lives. To apply the principle of a double standard to mankind is to run the risk of producing some very curious results in morality. And yet, there are undoubtedly1 cases in which a man has a claim to special consideration and, as it were, to a trial by a special jury. There have been many great statesmen whose private practice in regard to financial transactions has been more than shady, and there have been others whose private lives have been spotless, but whose political doings have been unscrupulous in the extreme. There are professions and careers in which it is sufficient to act precisely3 as all others engaged in the same occupation would act, and in which the most important element of success is a happy faculty4 of keeping the brain power at the same unvarying pressure, neither high nor low, but always ready to be used, and in such a state that it may always be relied upon to perform the same amount of work in a given time. There are other occupations 395in which there are necessarily moments of enormous activity at uncertain intervals5, followed by periods of total relaxation6 and rest. One might divide all careers roughly into two classes, and call the one the continuous class and the other the intermittent7. The profession of the novelist falls within the latter division. Very few men or women who have written well have succeeded in reducing the exercise of their art to a necessary daily function of the body. Very few intellectual machines can be made to bear the strain of producing works of imagination in regular quantities throughout many years at an unvarying rate, day after day. Neither the brain nor the body will bear it, and if the attempt be made either the one or the other, or both, will ultimately suffer. Without being necessarily spasmodic, the storyteller’s activity is almost unavoidably intermittent. There are men who can take up the pen and drive it during seven, eight and even nine hours a day for six weeks or two months and who, having finished their story, either fall into a condition of indolent apathy8 until the next book has to be written, or return at once to some favourite occupation which produces no apparent result, and of which the public has never heard. There are many varieties of the genus author. There is the sailor author, who only comes ashore9 to write his book and puts to sea again as soon as it is in the publisher’s hands. There is the hunting author, who as in the case of Anthony Trollope, keeps his body in such condition that he can do a little good work every day of the year, a great and notable exception to the rule. There is the student author, whose laborious10 work of exegesis11 will never be heard of, but who interrupts it from time to time in order to produce a piece of brilliant fiction, returning to his Sanscrit each time with renewed interest and industry. There is the musical author, whose preference would have led him to be a professional musician, but who had not quite enough talent for it, or not quite enough technical facility or whose musical 396education began a little too late. There is the adventurous12 author, who shoots in Africa or has a habit of spending the winter in eastern Siberia. There is the artistic14 author, who may be found in out-of-the-way towns in Italy, patiently copying old pictures, as though his life depended upon his accuracy, or sketching15 ragged16 boys and girls in very ragged water-colour. There is the social author—and he is not always the least successful in his profession—who is a favourite everywhere, who can dance and sing and act, and who regards the occasional production of a novel as an episode in his life. There is the author who prepares himself many months beforehand for what he intends to do by frequenting the society, whether high or low, which he wishes to depict17, who writes his book in one month of the year and spends the other eleven in observing the manners and customs of men and women. There is the author who lives in solitary18 places and evolves his characters out of his inner consciousness and who occasionally descends19, manuscript in hand, from his inaccessible20 fastnesses and ravages21 all the coasts of Covent Garden, Henrietta Street and the Strand22, until he has got his price and disappears as suddenly as he came, taking his gold with him, no man knows whither. There is the author whom no man can boast of having ever seen, who never answers a letter, nor gives an autograph, nor lets any one but his publisher know where he lives, but whose three volumes appear punctually twice a year and whose name is familiar in many mouths. Unless he is to be found described in an encyclop?dia you will never know whether he is old or young, black or grey, good-looking or ugly, straight or hunchbacked. He is to you a vague, imaginary personage, surrounded by a pillar of cloud. In reality he is perhaps a fat little man of fifty, who wears gold-rimmed spectacles and has discovered that he can only write if he lives in one particular Hungarian village with a name that baffles pronunciation, and whose chief interest in life lies in the study 397of socialism or the cholera23 microbe. Then again, there is the fighting author, grim, grey and tough as a Toledo blade, who has ridden through many a hard-fought field in many lands and has smelled more gunpowder24 in his time than most great generals, out of sheer love for the stuff. There is also the pacific author, who frequents peace congresses and makes speeches in favour of a general disarming25 of all nations. There are countless26 species and varieties of the genus. There is even the poet author, who writes thousands of execrable verses in secret and produces exquisite27 romances in prose only because he can do nothing else.

If we admit that novels, on the whole, are a good to society at large, as most people, excepting authors themselves, are generally ready to admit, we grant at the same time that they must be produced by individuals possessing the necessary talents and characteristics of intelligence. And if it is shown that a majority of these individuals do their work in a somewhat erratic28 fashion, and behave somewhat erratically29 while they are doing it, such defects must be condoned30, at least, if not counted to them for positive righteousness. With many of them the appearance of a new idea within the field of their mental vision is equivalent to a command to write, which they are neither able nor anxious to resist; and, if they are men of talent, it is very hard for them to turn their attention to anything else until the idea is expressed on paper. Let them not be thought heartless or selfish if they sometimes seem to care nothing for what happens around them while they are subject to the imperious domination of the new idea. They are neither the one nor the other. They are simply unconscious, like a man in a cataleptic trance. The plainest language conveys no meaning to their abstracted comprehension, the most startling sights produce no impression upon their sense; they are in another world, living and talking with unseen creations of their own fancy and for the time being they are not to be considered as ordinary 398human beings, nor judged by the standard to which other men are subject.

It would not therefore be just to say that during the days which followed the breaking off of his engagement with Mamie Trimm, George Wood was cruel or unfeeling because he was wholly unconscious of her existence throughout the greater part of each twenty-four hours. By a coincidence which he would certainly not have invoked31, a train of thought had begun its course in his brain within an hour or two of the catastrophe32, and he was powerless to stop himself in the pursuit of it until he had reached the end. During nine whole days he never left the house, and scarcely went out of his room except to eat his meals, which he did in a summary fashion without wasting time in superfluous33 conversation. On the morning of the tenth day he knew that he was at the last chapter and he sat down at his table in that state of mind to which a very young author is brought by a week and a half of unceasing fatigue34 and excitement. The room swam with him, and he could see nothing distinctly except his paper, the point of his pen, and the moving panorama35 in his brain, of which it was essential to catch every detail before it had passed into the outer darkness from which ideas cannot be brought back. His hand was icy cold, moist and unsteady and his face was pale, the eyelids36 dark and swollen37, and the veins38 on the temples distended39. He moved his feet nervously40 as he wrote, shrugged41 his left shoulder with impatience42 at the slightest hesitation43 about the use of a word, and his usually imperturbable44 features translated into expression every thought, as rapidly as he could put it into words with his pen. The house might have burned over his head, and he would have gone on writing until the paper under his hand was on fire. No ordinary noise would have reached his ears, conscious only of the scratching of the steel point upon the smooth sheet. He could have worked as well in the din13 of a public room in a hotel, or in the crowded hall of a great 399railway station, as in the silence and solitude45 of his own chamber46. He had reached the point of abstraction at which nothing is of the slightest consequence to the writer provided that the ink will flow and the paper will not blot47. Like a skilled swordsman, he was conscious only of his enemy’s eye and of the state of the weapons. The weapons were pen, ink and paper, and the enemy was the idea to be pursued, overtaken, pierced and pinned down before it could assume another shape, or escape again into chaos48. The sun rose above the little paved brick court below his window, and began to shine into the window itself. Then a storm came up and the sky turned suddenly black, while the wind whistled through the yard with that peculiarly unnatural50 sound which it makes in great cities, so different from its sighing and moaning and roaring amongst trees and rocks. The first snowflakes were whirled against the panes52 of glass and slid down to the frame in half-transparent patches. The wind sank again, and the snow fluttered silently down like the unwinding of an endless lace curtain from above. Then, the flakes51 were suddenly illuminated53 by a burst of sunshine and melted as they fell and turned to bright drops of water in the air, and then vanished again, and the small piece of sky above the great house on the other side of the yard was once more clear and blue, as a sapphire54 that has been dipped in pure water. It was afternoon, and George was unconscious of the many changes of the day, unconscious that he had not eaten nor drunk since morning, and that he had even forgotten to smoke. One after another the pages were numbered, filled and tossed aside, as he went on, never raising his head nor looking away from his work lest he should lose something of the play upon which all his faculties55 were inwardly concentrated, and of which it was his business to transcribe56 every word, and to note every passing attitude and gesture of the actors who were performing for his benefit.

Some one knocked at the door, gently at first and then 400more loudly. Then, receiving no answer, the person’s footsteps could be heard retreating towards the landing. The firing of a cannon57 in the room would hardly have made George turn his head at that moment, much less the rapping of a servant’s knuckles58 upon a wooden panel. Several minutes elapsed, and then heavier footsteps were heard again, and the latch59 was turned and the door moved noiselessly on its hinges. Jonah Wood’s iron-grey head appeared in the opening. George had heard nothing and during several seconds the old gentleman watched him curiously60. He had the greatest consideration for his son’s privacy when at work, though he could not readily understand the terribly disturbing effect of an interruption upon a brain so much more sensitively organised than his own. Now, however, the case was serious, and George must be interrupted, cost what it might. He was evidently unconscious that any one was in the room, and his back was turned as he sat. Jonah Wood resolved to be cautious.

“George!” he whispered, rather hoarsely61. But George did not hear.

There was nothing to be done but to cross the room and rouse him. The old man stepped as softly as he could upon the uncarpeted wooden floor, and placed himself between the light and the writer. George looked up and started violently, so that his pen flew into the air and fell upon the boards. At the same time he uttered a short, sharp cry, neither an oath nor exclamation62, but a sound such as a man might make who is unexpectedly and painfully wounded in battle. Then he saw his father and laughed nervously.

“You frightened me. I did not see you come in,” he said quickly.

“I am sorry,” said his father, not understanding at all how a man usually calm and courageous64 could be so easily startled. “It is rather important, or I would not interrupt you. Mr. Sherrington Trimm is down stairs.”

“What does he want?” George asked vaguely65 and 401looking as though he had forgotten who Sherrington Trimm was.

“He wants you, my boy. You must go down at once. It is very important. Tom Craik was buried yesterday.”

“Buried!” exclaimed George. “I did not know he was dead.”

“I understand that he died several days ago, in consequence of that fit of anger he had. You remember? What is the matter with you, George?”

“Cannot you see what is the matter?” George cried a little impatiently. “I am just finishing my book. What if the old fellow is dead? He has had plenty of leisure to change his will—in all this time. What does Sherry want?”

“He did not change his will, and Mr. Trimm wants to read it to you. George, you do not seem to realise that you are a very rich man, a very, very rich man,” repeated Jonah Wood with weighty emphasis.

“It will do quite as well if he reads the confounded thing to you,” said George, picking up his pen from the floor beside him, examining the point and then dipping it into the ink.

He was never quite sure how much of his indifference66 was assumed and how much of it was real, resulting from his extreme impatience to finish his work. But to Jonah Wood, it had all the appearance of being genuine.

“I am surprised, George,” said the old gentleman, looking very grave. “Are you in your right mind? Are you feeling quite well? I am afraid this good news has upset you.”

George rose from the table with a look of disgust, bent67 down and looked over the last lines he had written, and then stood up.

“If nothing else will satisfy anybody, I suppose I must go down,” he said regretfully. “Why did not the old brute68 leave the money to you instead of to me? You do not imagine I am going to keep it, do you? Most of it is yours anyhow.”

402“I understand,” answered Jonah Wood, pushing him gently towards the door, “that the estate is large enough to cover what I lost four or five times over, if not more. It is very important——”

“Do you mean to say it is as much as that?” George asked in some surprise.

“That seems to be the impression,” answered his father with an odd laugh, which George had not heard for many years. Jonah Wood was ashamed of showing too much satisfaction. It was his principle never to make any exhibition of his feelings, but his voice could not be altogether controlled, and there was an unusual light in his eyes. George, who by this time had collected his senses, and was able to think of something besides his story, saw the change in his father’s face and understood it.

“It will be jolly to be rich again, won’t it, father?” he said, familiarly and with more affection than he generally showed by manner or voice.

“Very pleasant, very pleasant indeed,” answered Jonah Wood with the same odd laugh. “Mr. Trimm tells me he has left you the house as it stands with everything in it, and the horses—everything. I must say, George, the old man has made amends69 for all he did. It looks very like an act of conscience.”

“Amends? Yes, with compound interest for a dozen years or more, if all this is true. Well, here goes the millionaire,” he exclaimed as they left the room together.

It would be hard to imagine a position more completely disagreeable than that in which Sherrington Trimm was placed on that particular afternoon. It was bad enough to have to meet George at all after what had happened, but it was most unpleasant to appear as the executor of the very will which had caused so much trouble, to feel that he was bringing to the heir the very document which his wife had stolen out of his own office, and handing over to him the fortune which his wife had 403tried so hard to bring into his own daughter’s hands. But Sherrington Trimm’s reputation for honesty and his courageous self-possession had carried him through many difficult moments in life, and he would never have thought of deputing any one else to fulfil the repugnant task in his stead.

Jonah Wood left his son at the door of the sitting-room70 and discreetly71 disappeared. George went in and found the lawyer standing63 before the fire with a roll of papers in his hands. He was a little pale and careworn72, but his appearance was as neat and dapper and brisk as ever.

“George,” he said frankly73 as he took his hand, “poor Tom has left you everything, as he said he would. Now, I can quite imagine that the sight of me is not exactly pleasant to you. But business is business and this has got to be put through, so just consider that I am the lawyer and forget that I am Sherry Trimm.”

“I shall never forget that you are Sherry Trimm,” George answered. “You and I can avoid unpleasant subjects and be as good friends as ever.”

“You are a good fellow, George. The best proof of it is that not a word has been breathed about this affair. We have simply announced that the engagement is broken off.”

“Then Mamie has refused to change her mind,” observed George, wondering how he could ever have been engaged to marry her, and how he could have forgotten that at his last meeting with Sherry Trimm he had still left the matter open, refusing to withdraw his promise. But between that day and this he had lived through many emotions and changing scenes in the playhouse of his brain, and his own immediate74 past seemed immensely distant from his present.

“Mamie would not change her mind, if I would let her,” Trimm answered briefly75. “Let us get to business. Here is the will. I opened it yesterday after the funeral in the presence of the family and the witnesses as usual in such cases.”

404“Excuse me,” George said. “I am very glad that I was not present, but would it not have been proper to let me know?”

“It would have been, of course. But as there was no obligation in the matter, I did not. I supposed that you would hear of the death almost as soon as it was known. You and your father were known to be on bad terms with Tom and if you had been sent for it would have looked as though we had all known what was in the will. People would have supposed in that case that you must have known it also, and you would have been blamed for not treating the old gentleman with more consideration than you did. I have often heard you say sharp things about him at the club. This is a surprise to you. There is no reason for letting anybody suppose that it is not. A lot of small good reasons made one big good one between them.”

“I see,” said George. “Thank you. You were very wise.”

He took the document from Trimm’s hands and read it hastily. The touch of it was disagreeable to him as he remembered where he had last seen it.

“I had supposed that he would make another after what I said to him,” George remarked. “You are quite sure he did not?”

“Positive. He never allowed it to be out of his sight after he found it. It was under his pillow when he died. The last words that anybody could understand were to the effect that you should have the money, whether you wanted it or not. It was a fixed76 idea with him. I suppose you know why. He felt that some of it belonged to your father by right. The transaction by which he got it was legal—but peculiar49. There are peculiarities77 in my wife’s family.”

Sherry Trimm looked away and pulled his grizzled moustache nervously.

“There will be a good many formalities,” he continued. “Tom owned property in several different States. I have brought you the schedule. You can have 405possession in New York immediately, of course. It will take some little time to manage the rest, proving the will half a dozen times over. If you care to move into the house to-morrow, there is no objection, because there is nobody to object.”

“I have a proposition to make,” said George. “My father is a far better man of business than I. Could you not tell me in round numbers about what I have to expect, and then go over these papers with him?”

“In round numbers,” repeated Trimm thoughtfully. “The fact is, he managed a great deal of his property himself. I suppose I could tell you within a million or two.”

“A million or two!” exclaimed George. Sherry Trimm smiled at the intonation78.

“You are an enormously rich man,” he said quietly. “The estate is worth anywhere from twelve to fifteen millions of dollars.”

“All mine?”

“Look at the will. He never spent a third of his income, so far as I could find out.”

George said nothing more, but began to walk up and down the room nervously. He detested79 everything connected with money, and had only a relative idea of its value, but he was staggered by the magnitude of the fortune thus suddenly thrown into his hands. He understood now the expression he had seen on his father’s face.

“I had no conception of the amount,” he said at last. “I thought it might be a million.”

“A million!” laughed Trimm scornfully. “A man does not live, as he lived, on forty or fifty thousand a year. It needs more than that. A million is nothing nowadays. Every man who wears a good coat has a million. There is not a man living in Fifth Avenue who has less than a million.”

“I wonder how it looks on paper,” said George. “I will try and go through the schedule with you myself.”

406An hour later George was once more in his room. For a few moments he stood looking through the window at the old familiar brick wall and at the windows of the house beyond, but his reflections were very vague and shapeless. He could not realise his position nor his importance, as he drummed a tattoo80 on the glass with his nails. He was trying to think of the changes that were inevitable81 in the immediate future, of his life in another house, of the faces of his old acquaintances and of the expression some of them would wear. He wondered what Johnson would say. The name, passing through his mind, recalled his career, his work and the unfinished chapter that lay on the table behind him. In an instant his brain returned to the point at which he had been interrupted. Tom Craik, Sherry Trimm, the will and the millions vanished into darkness, and before he was fairly aware of it he was writing again.

The days were short and he was obliged to light the old kerosene82 lamp with the green shade which had served him through so many hours of labour and study. The action was purely83 mechanical and did not break his train of thought, nor did it suggest that in a few months he would think it strange that he should ever have been obliged to do such a thing for himself. He wrote steadily84 on to the end, and signed his name and dated the manuscript before he rose from his seat. Then he stretched himself, yawned and looked at his watch, returned to the table and laid the sheets neatly85 together in their order with the rest and put the whole into a drawer.

“That job is done,” he said aloud, in a tone of profound satisfaction. “And now, I can think of something else.”

Thereupon, without as much as thinking of resting himself after the terrible strain he had sustained during ten days, he proceeded to dress himself with a scrupulous2 care for the evening, and went down stairs to dinner. He found his father in his accustomed place before the fire, reading as usual, and holding his heavy 407book rigidly86 before his eyes in a way that would have made an ordinary man’s hand ache.

“I have finished my book!” cried George as he entered the room.

“Ah, I am delighted to hear it. Do you mean to say that you have been writing all the afternoon since Mr. Trimm went away?”

“Until half an hour ago.”

“Well, you have exceptionally strong nerves,” said the old gentleman, mechanically raising his book again. Then as though he were willing to make a concession87 to circumstances for once in his life, he closed it with a solemn clapping sound and laid it down.

“George, my boy,” he said impressively, “you are enormously wealthy. Do you realise the fact?”

“I am also enormously hungry,” said George with a laugh. “Is there any cause or reason in the nature of the cook or of anything else why you and I should not be fed?”

“To tell the truth, I had a little surprise for you,” answered his father. “I thought we ought to do something to commemorate88 the event, so I went out and got a brace89 of canvas-backs from Delmonico’s and a bottle of good wine. Kate is roasting the ducks and the champagne90 is on the ice. It was a little late when I got back—sorry to keep you waiting, my boy.”

“Sorry!” cried George. “The idea of being sorry for anything when there are canvas-backs and champagne in the house. You dear old man! I will pay you for this, though. You shall live on the fat of the land for the rest of your days!”

“Enough is as good as a feast,” observed Jonah Wood with great gravity.

“What roaring feasts we will have—or what stupendously plentiful91 enoughs, if you like it better! Father, you are better already. I heard you laugh to-day as you used to laugh when I was a boy.”

“A little prosperity will do us both good,” said the old gentleman, who was rapidly warming into geniality92.

408“I say,” suggested George. “I have finished my book, and you have nothing to do. Let us pack up our traps and go to Paris and paint the town a vivid scarlet93.”

“What?” asked Jonah Wood, to whom slang had always been a mystery.

“Paint the town red,” repeated George. “In short, have a spree, a lark94, a jollification, you and I.”

“I would like to see Paris again, well enough, if that is what you mean. By the way, George, your heart does not seem to trouble you much, just at present.”

“Why should it? I sometimes wish it would, in the right direction.”

“You have your choice now, George, you have your choice, now, of the whole female population of the globe——”

“Of all the girls beside the water, From Janeiro to Gibraltar, as the old song says,” laughed George.

“Precisely so. You can have any of them for the asking. Money is a great power, my boy, a great power. You must be careful how you use it.”

“I shall not use it. I shall give it all to you to spend because it will amuse you, and I will go on writing books because that is the only thing I can do approximately well. Do you know? I believe I shall be ridiculous in the character of the rich man.”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 undoubtedly Mfjz6l     
adv.确实地,无疑地
参考例句:
  • It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
  • He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。
2 scrupulous 6sayH     
adj.审慎的,小心翼翼的,完全的,纯粹的
参考例句:
  • She is scrupulous to a degree.她非常谨慎。
  • Poets are not so scrupulous as you are.诗人并不像你那样顾虑多。
3 precisely zlWzUb     
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地
参考例句:
  • It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
  • The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。
4 faculty HhkzK     
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员
参考例句:
  • He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
  • He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。
5 intervals f46c9d8b430e8c86dea610ec56b7cbef     
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息
参考例句:
  • The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴,有阵雨。
  • Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。
6 relaxation MVmxj     
n.松弛,放松;休息;消遣;娱乐
参考例句:
  • The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
  • She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。
7 intermittent ebCzV     
adj.间歇的,断断续续的
参考例句:
  • Did you hear the intermittent sound outside?你听见外面时断时续的声音了吗?
  • In the daytime intermittent rains freshened all the earth.白天里,时断时续地下着雨,使整个大地都生气勃勃了。
8 apathy BMlyA     
n.漠不关心,无动于衷;冷淡
参考例句:
  • He was sunk in apathy after his failure.他失败后心恢意冷。
  • She heard the story with apathy.她听了这个故事无动于衷。
9 ashore tNQyT     
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸
参考例句:
  • The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前,孩子们就上岸了。
  • He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。
10 laborious VxoyD     
adj.吃力的,努力的,不流畅
参考例句:
  • They had the laborious task of cutting down the huge tree.他们接受了伐大树的艰苦工作。
  • Ants and bees are laborious insects.蚂蚁与蜜蜂是勤劳的昆虫。
11 exegesis v77yi     
n.注释,解释
参考例句:
  • An allegorical exegesis of scripture supported these views.一个寓言圣经注释支持这些观点。
  • Within this context,Fraser is capable of exegesis that goes beyond the obvious.在这一背景下,弗雷泽能够作些富有新意的诠释。
12 adventurous LKryn     
adj.爱冒险的;惊心动魄的,惊险的,刺激的 
参考例句:
  • I was filled with envy at their adventurous lifestyle.我很羨慕他们敢于冒险的生活方式。
  • He was predestined to lead an adventurous life.他注定要过冒险的生活。
13 din nuIxs     
n.喧闹声,嘈杂声
参考例句:
  • The bustle and din gradually faded to silence as night advanced.随着夜越来越深,喧闹声逐渐沉寂。
  • They tried to make themselves heard over the din of the crowd.他们力图让自己的声音盖过人群的喧闹声。
14 artistic IeWyG     
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的
参考例句:
  • The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
  • These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。
15 sketching 2df579f3d044331e74dce85d6a365dd7     
n.草图
参考例句:
  • They are sketching out proposals for a new road. 他们正在草拟修建新路的计划。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • "Imagination is busy sketching rose-tinted pictures of joy. “飞舞驰骋的想象描绘出一幅幅玫瑰色欢乐的场景。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
16 ragged KC0y8     
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的
参考例句:
  • A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
  • Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。
17 depict Wmdz5     
vt.描画,描绘;描写,描述
参考例句:
  • I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
  • Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。
18 solitary 7FUyx     
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士
参考例句:
  • I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
  • The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际,显得十分壮美。
19 descends e9fd61c3161a390a0db3b45b3a992bee     
v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 );下去;下降;下斜
参考例句:
  • This festival descends from a religious rite. 这个节日起源于宗教仪式。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The path descends steeply to the village. 小路陡直而下直到村子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
20 inaccessible 49Nx8     
adj.达不到的,难接近的
参考例句:
  • This novel seems to me among the most inaccessible.这本书对我来说是最难懂的小说之一。
  • The top of Mount Everest is the most inaccessible place in the world.珠穆朗玛峰是世界上最难到达的地方。
21 ravages 5d742bcf18f0fd7c4bc295e4f8d458d8     
劫掠后的残迹,破坏的结果,毁坏后的残迹
参考例句:
  • the ravages of war 战争造成的灾难
  • It is hard for anyone to escape from the ravages of time. 任何人都很难逃避时间的摧残。
22 strand 7GAzH     
vt.使(船)搁浅,使(某人)困于(某地)
参考例句:
  • She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
  • The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。
23 cholera rbXyf     
n.霍乱
参考例句:
  • The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
  • Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。
24 gunpowder oerxm     
n.火药
参考例句:
  • Gunpowder was introduced into Europe during the first half of the 14th century.在14世纪上半叶,火药传入欧洲。
  • This statement has a strong smell of gunpowder.这是一篇充满火药味的声明。
25 disarming Muizaq     
adj.消除敌意的,使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 );使息怒
参考例句:
  • He flashed her a disarming smile. 他朝她笑了一下,让她消消气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • We will agree to disarming troops and leaving their weapons at military positions. 我们将同意解除军队的武装并把武器留在军事阵地。 来自辞典例句
26 countless 7vqz9L     
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的
参考例句:
  • In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
  • I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。
27 exquisite zhez1     
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的
参考例句:
  • I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
  • I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。
28 erratic ainzj     
adj.古怪的,反复无常的,不稳定的
参考例句:
  • The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
  • The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。
29 erratically 4fe0a2084ae371616a604c4e0b6beb73     
adv.不规律地,不定地
参考例句:
  • Police stopped him for driving erratically. 警察因其驾驶不循规则而把他拦下了。 来自辞典例句
  • Magnetitite-bearing plugs are found erratically from the base of the Critical Zone. 含磁铁岩的岩栓不规则地分布于关键带的基底以上。 来自辞典例句
30 condoned 011fd77ceccf9f1d2e07bc9068cdf094     
v.容忍,宽恕,原谅( condone的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Terrorism can never be condoned. 决不能容忍恐怖主义。
  • They condoned his sins because he repented. 由于他的悔悟,他们宽恕了他的罪。 来自辞典例句
31 invoked fabb19b279de1e206fa6d493923723ba     
v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 );行使(权利等);祈求救助;恳求
参考例句:
  • It is unlikely that libel laws will be invoked. 不大可能诉诸诽谤法。
  • She had invoked the law in her own defence. 她援引法律为自己辩护。 来自《简明英汉词典》
32 catastrophe WXHzr     
n.大灾难,大祸
参考例句:
  • I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
  • This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。
33 superfluous EU6zf     
adj.过多的,过剩的,多余的
参考例句:
  • She fined away superfluous matter in the design. 她删去了这图案中多余的东西。
  • That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it.我这样写的时候觉得这个请求似乎是多此一举。
34 fatigue PhVzV     
n.疲劳,劳累
参考例句:
  • The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
  • I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。
35 panorama D4wzE     
n.全景,全景画,全景摄影,全景照片[装置]
参考例句:
  • A vast panorama of the valley lay before us.山谷的广阔全景展现在我们面前。
  • A flourishing and prosperous panorama spread out before our eyes.一派欣欣向荣的景象展现在我们的眼前。
36 eyelids 86ece0ca18a95664f58bda5de252f4e7     
n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 );眼睛也不眨一下;不露声色;面不改色
参考例句:
  • She was so tired, her eyelids were beginning to droop. 她太疲倦了,眼睑开始往下垂。
  • Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
37 swollen DrcwL     
adj.肿大的,水涨的;v.使变大,肿胀
参考例句:
  • Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着,她的双腿已经肿了。
  • A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她,她的手臂肿起来了。
38 veins 65827206226d9e2d78ea2bfe697c6329     
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理
参考例句:
  • The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的,感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》
39 distended 86751ec15efd4512b97d34ce479b1fa7     
v.(使)膨胀,肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • starving children with huge distended bellies 鼓着浮肿肚子的挨饿儿童
  • The balloon was distended. 气球已膨胀。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
40 nervously tn6zFp     
adv.神情激动地,不安地
参考例句:
  • He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇,努力忍着不哭出来。
  • He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。
41 shrugged 497904474a48f991a3d1961b0476ebce     
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
42 impatience OaOxC     
n.不耐烦,急躁
参考例句:
  • He expressed impatience at the slow rate of progress.进展缓慢,他显得不耐烦。
  • He gave a stamp of impatience.他不耐烦地跺脚。
43 hesitation tdsz5     
n.犹豫,踌躇
参考例句:
  • After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天,他终于直说了。
  • There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。
44 imperturbable dcQzG     
adj.镇静的
参考例句:
  • Thomas,of course,was cool and aloof and imperturbable.当然,托马斯沉着、冷漠,不易激动。
  • Edward was a model of good temper and his equanimity imperturbable.爱德华是个典型的好性子,他总是沉着镇定。
45 solitude xF9yw     
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方
参考例句:
  • People need a chance to reflect on spiritual matters in solitude. 人们需要独处的机会来反思精神上的事情。
  • They searched for a place where they could live in solitude. 他们寻找一个可以过隐居生活的地方。
46 chamber wnky9     
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所
参考例句:
  • For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说,牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
  • The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。
47 blot wtbzA     
vt.弄脏(用吸墨纸)吸干;n.污点,污渍
参考例句:
  • That new factory is a blot on the landscape.那新建的工厂破坏了此地的景色。
  • The crime he committed is a blot on his record.他犯的罪是他的履历中的一个污点。
48 chaos 7bZyz     
n.混乱,无秩序
参考例句:
  • After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后,城市一片混乱。
  • The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。
49 peculiar cinyo     
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的
参考例句:
  • He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
  • He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。
50 unnatural 5f2zAc     
adj.不自然的;反常的
参考例句:
  • Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗?
  • She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。
51 flakes d80cf306deb4a89b84c9efdce8809c78     
小薄片( flake的名词复数 ); (尤指)碎片; 雪花; 古怪的人
参考例句:
  • It's snowing in great flakes. 天下着鹅毛大雪。
  • It is snowing in great flakes. 正值大雪纷飞。
52 panes c8bd1ed369fcd03fe15520d551ab1d48     
窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The sun caught the panes and flashed back at him. 阳光照到窗玻璃上,又反射到他身上。
  • The window-panes are dim with steam. 玻璃窗上蒙上了一层蒸汽。
53 illuminated 98b351e9bc282af85e83e767e5ec76b8     
adj.被照明的;受启迪的
参考例句:
  • Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
  • the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市
54 sapphire ETFzw     
n.青玉,蓝宝石;adj.天蓝色的
参考例句:
  • Now let us consider crystals such as diamond or sapphire.现在让我们考虑象钻石和蓝宝石这样的晶体。
  • He left a sapphire ring to her.他留给她一枚蓝宝石戒指。
55 faculties 066198190456ba4e2b0a2bda2034dfc5     
n.能力( faculty的名词复数 );全体教职员;技巧;院
参考例句:
  • Although he's ninety, his mental faculties remain unimpaired. 他虽年届九旬,但头脑仍然清晰。
  • All your faculties have come into play in your work. 在你的工作中,你的全部才能已起到了作用。 来自《简明英汉词典》
56 transcribe tntwJ     
v.抄写,誉写;改编(乐曲);复制,转录
参考例句:
  • We need volunteers to transcribe this manuscript.我们需要自愿者来抄写这个文稿。
  • I am able to take dictation in English and transcribe them rapidly into Chinese.我会英文记录,还能立即将其改写成中文。
57 cannon 3T8yc     
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮
参考例句:
  • The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
  • The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。
58 knuckles c726698620762d88f738be4a294fae79     
n.(指人)指关节( knuckle的名词复数 );(指动物)膝关节,踝v.(指人)指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 );(指动物)膝关节,踝
参考例句:
  • He gripped the wheel until his knuckles whitened. 他紧紧握住方向盘,握得指关节都变白了。
  • Her thin hands were twisted by swollen knuckles. 她那双纤手因肿大的指关节而变了形。 来自《简明英汉词典》
59 latch g2wxS     
n.门闩,窗闩;弹簧锁
参考例句:
  • She laid her hand on the latch of the door.她把手放在门闩上。
  • The repairman installed an iron latch on the door.修理工在门上安了铁门闩。
60 curiously 3v0zIc     
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地
参考例句:
  • He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
  • He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。
61 hoarsely hoarsely     
adv.嘶哑地
参考例句:
  • "Excuse me," he said hoarsely. “对不起。”他用嘶哑的嗓子说。
  • Jerry hoarsely professed himself at Miss Pross's service. 杰瑞嘶声嘶气地表示愿为普洛丝小姐效劳。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
62 exclamation onBxZ     
n.感叹号,惊呼,惊叹词
参考例句:
  • He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
  • The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号,以引起读者的注意。
63 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
64 courageous HzSx7     
adj.勇敢的,有胆量的
参考例句:
  • We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
  • He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。
65 vaguely BfuzOy     
adv.含糊地,暖昧地
参考例句:
  • He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
  • He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面,对一切都视而不见。
66 indifference k8DxO     
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎
参考例句:
  • I was disappointed by his indifference more than somewhat.他的漠不关心使我很失望。
  • He feigned indifference to criticism of his work.他假装毫不在意别人批评他的作品。
67 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
参考例句:
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
68 brute GSjya     
n.野兽,兽性
参考例句:
  • The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
  • That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲,它咬人。
69 amends AzlzCR     
n. 赔偿
参考例句:
  • He made amends for his rudeness by giving her some flowers. 他送给她一些花,为他自己的鲁莽赔罪。
  • This country refuses stubbornly to make amends for its past war crimes. 该国顽固地拒绝为其过去的战争罪行赔罪。
70 sitting-room sitting-room     
n.(BrE)客厅,起居室
参考例句:
  • The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
  • Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。
71 discreetly nuwz8C     
ad.(言行)审慎地,慎重地
参考例句:
  • He had only known the perennial widow, the discreetly expensive Frenchwoman. 他只知道她是个永远那么年轻的寡妇,一个很会讲排场的法国女人。
  • Sensing that Lilian wanted to be alone with Celia, Andrew discreetly disappeared. 安德鲁觉得莉莲想同西莉亚单独谈些什么,有意避开了。
72 careworn YTUyF     
adj.疲倦的,饱经忧患的
参考例句:
  • It's sad to see the careworn face of the mother of a large poor family.看到那贫穷的一大家子的母亲忧劳憔悴的脸庞心里真是难受。
  • The old woman had a careworn look on her face.老妇脸上露出忧心忡忡的神色。
73 frankly fsXzcf     
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
参考例句:
  • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
  • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说,我不反对改革。
74 immediate aapxh     
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
参考例句:
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
75 briefly 9Styo     
adv.简单地,简短地
参考例句:
  • I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
  • He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。
76 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
参考例句:
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
77 peculiarities 84444218acb57e9321fbad3dc6b368be     
n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪
参考例句:
  • the cultural peculiarities of the English 英国人的文化特点
  • He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another. 他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。
78 intonation ubazZ     
n.语调,声调;发声
参考例句:
  • The teacher checks for pronunciation and intonation.老师在检查发音和语调。
  • Questions are spoken with a rising intonation.疑问句是以升调说出来的。
79 detested e34cc9ea05a83243e2c1ed4bd90db391     
v.憎恶,嫌恶,痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • They detested each other on sight. 他们互相看着就不顺眼。
  • The freethinker hated the formalist; the lover of liberty detested the disciplinarian. 自由思想者总是不喜欢拘泥形式者,爱好自由者总是憎恶清规戒律者。 来自辞典例句
80 tattoo LIDzk     
n.纹身,(皮肤上的)刺花纹;vt.刺花纹于
参考例句:
  • I've decided to get my tattoo removed.我已经决定去掉我身上的纹身。
  • He had a tattoo on the back of his hand.他手背上刺有花纹。
81 inevitable 5xcyq     
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的
参考例句:
  • Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
  • The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。
82 kerosene G3uxW     
n.(kerosine)煤油,火油
参考例句:
  • It is like putting out a fire with kerosene.这就像用煤油灭火。
  • Instead of electricity,there were kerosene lanterns.没有电,有煤油灯。
83 purely 8Sqxf     
adv.纯粹地,完全地
参考例句:
  • I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
  • This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。
84 steadily Qukw6     
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地
参考例句:
  • The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
  • Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。
85 neatly ynZzBp     
adv.整洁地,干净地,灵巧地,熟练地
参考例句:
  • Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
  • The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。
86 rigidly hjezpo     
adv.刻板地,僵化地
参考例句:
  • Life today is rigidly compartmentalized into work and leisure. 当今的生活被严格划分为工作和休闲两部分。
  • The curriculum is rigidly prescribed from an early age. 自儿童时起即已开始有严格的课程设置。
87 concession LXryY     
n.让步,妥协;特许(权)
参考例句:
  • We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
  • That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。
88 commemorate xbEyN     
vt.纪念,庆祝
参考例句:
  • This building was built to commemorate the Fire of London.这栋大楼是为纪念“伦敦大火”而兴建的。
  • We commemorate the founding of our nation with a public holiday.我们放假一日以庆祝国庆。
89 brace 0WzzE     
n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备
参考例句:
  • My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
  • You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。
90 champagne iwBzh3     
n.香槟酒;微黄色
参考例句:
  • There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
  • They sat there swilling champagne.他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。
91 plentiful r2izH     
adj.富裕的,丰富的
参考例句:
  • Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
  • Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。
92 geniality PgSxm     
n.和蔼,诚恳;愉快
参考例句:
  • They said he is a pitiless,cold-blooded fellow,with no geniality in him.他们说他是个毫无怜悯心、一点也不和蔼的冷血动物。
  • Not a shade was there of anything save geniality and kindness.他的眼神里只显出愉快与和气,看不出一丝邪意。
93 scarlet zD8zv     
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的
参考例句:
  • The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
  • The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了,深红的颜色变成了绯红,绯红又变为浅红。
94 lark r9Fza     
n.云雀,百灵鸟;n.嬉戏,玩笑;vi.嬉戏
参考例句:
  • He thinks it cruel to confine a lark in a cage.他认为把云雀关在笼子里太残忍了。
  • She lived in the village with her grandparents as cheerful as a lark.她同祖父母一起住在乡间非常快活。


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