And bare boughs are instructive, too, as well as beautiful. They suggest to one the endless vicissitudes17 and cataclysms18 in the history of growth; they show us how the knotted trunk acquires its final form, and by what course of evolution branch added to branch builds up at last the whole noble shape of the buttressed19 beech20 or the spreading horse-chestnut. Take, for example, our dear old friend the ash. In summer you can hardly discern through a canopy21 of green the outline of his bent22 boughs, curved downwards23 by their own weight of heavy feathery foliage, each leaf a little branch with numerous spreading leaflets. But when autumn comes, and the heavy leaves drop off one by one, you get revealed at once the peculiar24 beauty of his mode of growth—that delicious combination of angular and curved form which makes the ash the acknowledged king of the winter woodland. All the branches dip gracefully25 in a long arch towards the end, and then rise again with an abrupt26 curve; this hooked type of terminal bough2 being so distinctive27 and so well marked an ashy feature that you can tell an ash by it afar off in its wintry nakedness as you whirl by in a train at a mile’s distance, especially if it happens to be silhouetted28 against the sky on a bare ridge29 or hilltop. The growth of the oak, on the other hand, so gnarled and irregular, is quite equally characteristic; while the disposition30 of the buds soon reveals the fact that this very irregularity itself owes its origin in the last resort to a survival of the fittest among many abortive31 branches. For the oak tries, as it were, to grow symmetrically like a conifer; but frost and wind play such havoc32 with its delicate young shoots that it never succeeds in realizing its ideal, but grows habitually33 distorted against its will by external agencies.
Nor does our winter leave us wholly leafless. Even in England we have a fair sprinkling of native-born evergreens35. And I really don’t know that I would wish them more frequent; for nothing can be more monotonous37, more sickly sweet, than the unvarying green of tropical forests; while the grateful contrast of drooping38 birch twigs or big-budded bare oak branches with the dark and sombre verdure of our northern Scotch39 firs, is in itself one of the chief charms of English winter. During the Tertiary period, indeed, our English woods were full of large-leaved evergreens of the southern types—camphors and cinnamons, and rhododendrons and liquidambars; but with the coming on of the Great Ice Age those lush southern forms were driven southward for ever, leaving us only the Scotch fir, the yew40, and the juniper, with a few broader-leaved kinds of shiny evergreen36, of which holly34, ivy41, and box are the most familiar examples. These, with the exotic laurels42 and aucubas, the daphnes and the laurustinuses, are quite enough to diversify43 pleasantly our northern scenery. Then our recent acquisitions of exotic conifers, like the Douglas pines, the sequoias, and the beautiful glaucous firs, “the greenest of things blue, the bluest of things green,” which now abound44 in plantations45, have done much to redeem46 the surviving reproach of the glacial epoch47.
Not that any of these plants are really evergreen in the stricter sense that most people imagine. All our foliage alike is, strictly48 speaking, annual, and all alike deciduous49; but while oaks and beeches50 shed their dead leaves in our climate in autumn, pines, firs, and hollies51 retain theirs on the tree till the succeeding spring, and then let them drop quietly off, unperceived amid the pale glory of the fresh green foliage. The larch52 is a well-known example of a conifer which behaves in this respect like the oak or the birch; while its ally, the spruce-fir, keeps on the dead or dying leaves through the winter months, and then shuffles53 them off unobtrusively as the new foliage develops. The evergreens get the advantage of utilizing54 any stray scrap55 of winter sunshine; but then they have to protect their living green material with a thick coat of glazed56 outer cells; the deciduous trees, on the other hand, withdraw all the living protoplasm in autumn into the live layer of the bark, drop the dead skeletons of the leaves on the ground, and utilize57 the protoplasm afresh for the formation of young leaves when spring comes round once more in due season. Nothing is lost; everything is economized58, hoarded59, and finally used up again.

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1
boughs
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大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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2
bough
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n.大树枝,主枝 | |
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consolations
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n.安慰,慰问( consolation的名词复数 );起安慰作用的人(或事物) | |
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artistic
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adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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denizens
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n.居民,住户( denizen的名词复数 ) | |
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dense
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a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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foliage
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n.叶子,树叶,簇叶 | |
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underlying
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adj.在下面的,含蓄的,潜在的 | |
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pry
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vi.窥(刺)探,打听;vt.撬动(开,起) | |
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joints
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接头( joint的名词复数 ); 关节; 公共场所(尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所) (非正式); 一块烤肉 (英式英语) | |
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lissom
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adj.柔软的,轻快而优雅的 | |
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twigs
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细枝,嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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subdivided
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再分,细分( subdivide的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pendulous
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adj.下垂的;摆动的 | |
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cataract
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n.大瀑布,奔流,洪水,白内障 | |
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concealed
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a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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vicissitudes
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n.变迁,世事变化;变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 );盛衰兴废 | |
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cataclysms
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n.(突然降临的)大灾难( cataclysm的名词复数 ) | |
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19
buttressed
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v.用扶壁支撑,加固( buttress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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beech
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n.山毛榉;adj.山毛榉的 | |
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21
canopy
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n.天篷,遮篷 | |
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bent
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n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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downwards
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adj./adv.向下的(地),下行的(地) | |
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24
peculiar
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adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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gracefully
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ad.大大方方地;优美地 | |
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abrupt
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adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的 | |
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distinctive
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adj.特别的,有特色的,与众不同的 | |
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silhouetted
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显出轮廓的,显示影像的 | |
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ridge
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n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭 | |
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disposition
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n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
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abortive
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adj.不成功的,发育不全的 | |
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32
havoc
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n.大破坏,浩劫,大混乱,大杂乱 | |
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habitually
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ad.习惯地,通常地 | |
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34
holly
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n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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35
evergreens
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n.常青树,常绿植物,万年青( evergreen的名词复数 ) | |
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evergreen
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n.常青树;adj.四季常青的 | |
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monotonous
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adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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drooping
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adj. 下垂的,无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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39
scotch
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n.伤口,刻痕;苏格兰威士忌酒;v.粉碎,消灭,阻止;adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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40
yew
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n.紫杉属树木 | |
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ivy
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n.常青藤,常春藤 | |
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42
laurels
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n.桂冠,荣誉 | |
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43
diversify
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v.(使)不同,(使)变得多样化 | |
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44
abound
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vi.大量存在;(in,with)充满,富于 | |
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45
plantations
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n.种植园,大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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46
redeem
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v.买回,赎回,挽回,恢复,履行(诺言等) | |
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47
epoch
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n.(新)时代;历元 | |
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48
strictly
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adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
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49
deciduous
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adj.非永久的;短暂的;脱落的;落叶的 | |
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50
beeches
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n.山毛榉( beech的名词复数 );山毛榉木材 | |
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51
hollies
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n.冬青(常绿灌木,叶尖而硬,有光泽,冬季结红色浆果)( holly的名词复数 );(用作圣诞节饰物的)冬青树枝 | |
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52
larch
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n.落叶松 | |
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53
shuffles
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n.洗(纸牌)( shuffle的名词复数 );拖着脚步走;粗心地做;摆脱尘世的烦恼v.洗(纸牌)( shuffle的第三人称单数 );拖着脚步走;粗心地做;摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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54
utilizing
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v.利用,使用( utilize的现在分词 ) | |
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55
scrap
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n.碎片;废料;v.废弃,报废 | |
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56
glazed
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adj.光滑的,像玻璃的;上过釉的;呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式);上釉于,上光;(目光)变得呆滞无神 | |
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57
utilize
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vt.使用,利用 | |
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58
economized
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v.节省,减少开支( economize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
hoarded
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v.积蓄并储藏(某物)( hoard的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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