But when you sow or transplant these lush herbs of the hedgerow on to the bare and open heath, they come into competition at once with other and far hardier24 upland bushes. The plants of the moor are indeed unlike such pampered25 odalisques of the deep banks and rich lowlands. Stern children of the heights, their stems are hard and wiry, their leaves small and dry; their flowers feel like tissue-paper; their growing shoots have none of that luxuriant tenderness, that translucent26 delicacy27, which characterizes the long sprays of hedgerow dog-rose and hedgerow bramble. All is arid28 and parsimonious29, as in some Highland30 cottage. Our daintily bred foxgloves, decayed gentlewomen, stunted31 and dwarfed32 in that inhospitable soil, can scarce find nutriment in the thirsty sand to send up a feeble parody33 of their purple spikes; in long droughts they droop34 and fail for lack of a drop of water. You must make a deep pocket of garden mould in the midst of the heath if you want them to thrive; and even then, unless you keep constantly cutting down the heather and gorse about them, they are overtopped and outlived by the native vegetation.
To dwellers35 in towns, that mere36 phrase, “the struggle for life among plants,” seems a quaint37 exaggeration. They cannot believe that creatures so rooted and so passive as plants can struggle at all for anything. The pitched battles of the animals they can understand, because they can see the kestrel swooping38 down upon the linnet, the weasel scenting39 the spoor of the rabbit to his burrow19. But the pitched battle of the plants sounds to them but a violent metaphor40, a poetical42 trick of language, a notion falsely pressed into the service of the naturalist43 by some mistaken analogy. In reality, those few of us who have fully44 read ourselves into the confidence and intimacy45 of the beautiful green things, know well that nowhere on earth is the struggle for life so real, so intense, so continuous, so merciless as among the herbs and flowers. Every weed in the meadows, every creeper in the woodland, is battling for its own hand each day and all day long against a crushing competition. It is battling for food and drink, for air and sunlight, for a place to stand in, for a right to existence. Its rivals around are striving hard with their roots to deprive it of its fair share of water and of manure11; are striving hard with their leaves to forestall46 it in access to carbonic acid and sunshine; are striving hard with their flowers to entice47 away the friendly bee and the fertilizing48 beetle15; are striving hard with their winged or protected seeds to anticipate the vacant spots on which it fain would cast its own feeble offspring. A struggle for the Hinterland goes on without ceasing. The very fact that plants can hardly move at all from the spot where they grow makes the competition in the end all the fiercer. They are perpetually intriguing49 among stones and crannies to insinuate50 their roots here, and to get beforehand on their rivals with their seedlings51 there; they fight for drops of water after summer showers, like the victims shut up in the Black Hole of Calcutta; they spread their leaves close in rosettes along the ground, so as to monopolize52 space and kill down competition; they press upward toward the sun so as to catch the first glance of the bountiful rays, and to grasp before their neighbours at every floating speck53 of carbonic acid.
This is no poetic41 fancy. It is sober and literal biological truth. The green fields around us are one vast field of battle. And you can realize it at once if you only think what we mean by a flower-garden. We want to induce peonies and hollyhocks and geraniums and roses to smile around our houses, and what do we do for them? We “make a bed,” as we say; in other words, we begin by clearing away all the stouter55 and better-adapted native competitors. Go, dock and thistle; go, grass and nettle56! We will have pansies here, and sweet-peas, and gilly-flowers! So we root them all up, turn and break the stiff clods, put in rich leaf-mould, manure it from the farmyard, and plant at measured distances the components57 of our nosegay. Tall white garden lilies take the place of knotweed; the larkspur mocks the sky where the dandelion spread before its golden constellations58. Yet even so, we have not permanently59 secured our end. Original sin reappears as ragwort and hawkweed. Every day or two we must go round and “weed the beds,” as we say; the very familiarity of phrase and act blinds our minds to the truth that what we are really doing is to limit the struggle, to check the competition. We pull up here a shepherd’s-purse and there a chickweed, that the Iceland poppies may have room to raise their black-capped buds, and that the groundsel may not steal all the light and air from our shrinking nemophilas. Relax your care for a week or two, and what then do you find? The goosefoots and couch-grasses have lived down the mignonette; the russet docks are overshadowing your white Japanese anemones60. Abandon the garden for a year, and the native vegetation has avenged61 itself on the intruders in a war of extermination62. The thistles have cut off the lilies-of-the-valley, as Israel cut off the Canaanites; not a spike22 remains63 of your sky-blue monkshood before the purple standard of the victorious64 burdocks. Here and there, it is true, some hardy65 perennial66, some stout54 iris67 or sweet-william, armed with its sword-shaped foliage68, will continue the unequal strife69 for a miserable70 year or two of guerrilla warfare71, like Hereward Wake in the Isle72 of Ely; but sooner or later the stronger will win, and your garden will become a mere nursery of weeds, whose flying thistle-down will invade and usurp73 the neighbouring meadows.
Plants, in point of fact, have more needs than animals; therefore, perforce, they struggle harder. The beasts require but food and drink; the herbs require from the soil water and nitrogenous matter for their roots; they require from the air, carbon, which is their true solid food, for their leaves; they need sunlight, which is the motive74 power, for their growth and assimilation; insects to fertilize75 them, birds or breezes to disperse76 their seeds. For all these they struggle ceaselessly among themselves; and the struggle is all the deadlier because it is carried on at such very close quarters.

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1
alas
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int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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2
boggy
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adj.沼泽多的 | |
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moor
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n.荒野,沼泽;vt.(使)停泊;vi.停泊 | |
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4
outgrown
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长[发展] 得超过(某物)的范围( outgrow的过去分词 ); 长[发展]得不能再要(某物); 长得比…快; 生长速度超过 | |
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5
throttled
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v.扼杀( throttle的过去式和过去分词 );勒死;使窒息;压制 | |
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countless
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adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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hordes
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n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 );部落 | |
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providence
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n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝 | |
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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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denizens
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n.居民,住户( denizen的名词复数 ) | |
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manure
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n.粪,肥,肥粒;vt.施肥 | |
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12
perch
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n.栖木,高位,杆;v.栖息,就位,位于 | |
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snails
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n.蜗牛;迟钝的人;蜗牛( snail的名词复数 ) | |
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14
beetles
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n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 ) | |
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beetle
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n.甲虫,近视眼的人 | |
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robins
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n.知更鸟,鸫( robin的名词复数 );(签名者不分先后,以避免受责的)圆形签名抗议书(或请愿书) | |
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17
asylum
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n.避难所,庇护所,避难 | |
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18
skulks
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v.潜伏,偷偷摸摸地走动,鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的第三人称单数 ) | |
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19
burrow
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vt.挖掘(洞穴);钻进;vi.挖洞;翻寻;n.地洞 | |
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20
burrows
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n.地洞( burrow的名词复数 )v.挖掘(洞穴),挖洞( burrow的第三人称单数 );翻寻 | |
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21
lizard
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n.蜥蜴,壁虎 | |
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spike
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n.长钉,钉鞋;v.以大钉钉牢,使...失效 | |
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23
spikes
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n.穗( spike的名词复数 );跑鞋;(防滑)鞋钉;尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 );偷偷地给某人的饮料加入(更多)酒精( 或药物);把尖状物钉入;打乱某人的计划 | |
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24
hardier
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能吃苦耐劳的,坚强的( hardy的比较级 ); (植物等)耐寒的 | |
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25
pampered
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adj.饮食过量的,饮食奢侈的v.纵容,宠,娇养( pamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
translucent
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adj.半透明的;透明的 | |
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27
delicacy
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n.精致,细微,微妙,精良;美味,佳肴 | |
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arid
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adj.干旱的;(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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parsimonious
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adj.吝啬的,质量低劣的 | |
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highland
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n.(pl.)高地,山地 | |
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stunted
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adj.矮小的;发育迟缓的 | |
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32
dwarfed
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vt.(使)显得矮小(dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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33
parody
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n.打油诗文,诙谐的改编诗文,拙劣的模仿;v.拙劣模仿,作模仿诗文 | |
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34
droop
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v.低垂,下垂;凋萎,萎靡 | |
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35
dwellers
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n.居民,居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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mere
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adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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37
quaint
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adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的 | |
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38
swooping
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俯冲,猛冲( swoop的现在分词 ) | |
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39
scenting
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vt.闻到(scent的现在分词形式) | |
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40
metaphor
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n.隐喻,暗喻 | |
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41
poetic
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adj.富有诗意的,有诗人气质的,善于抒情的 | |
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42
poetical
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adj.似诗人的;诗一般的;韵文的;富有诗意的 | |
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43
naturalist
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n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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44
fully
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adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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45
intimacy
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n.熟悉,亲密,密切关系,亲昵的言行 | |
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46
forestall
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vt.抢在…之前采取行动;预先阻止 | |
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47
entice
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v.诱骗,引诱,怂恿 | |
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48
fertilizing
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v.施肥( fertilize的现在分词 ) | |
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49
intriguing
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adj.有趣的;迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词);激起…的好奇心 | |
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50
insinuate
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vt.含沙射影地说,暗示 | |
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51
seedlings
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n.刚出芽的幼苗( seedling的名词复数 ) | |
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52
monopolize
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v.垄断,独占,专营 | |
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53
speck
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n.微粒,小污点,小斑点 | |
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55
stouter
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粗壮的( stout的比较级 ); 结实的; 坚固的; 坚定的 | |
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56
nettle
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n.荨麻;v.烦忧,激恼 | |
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57
components
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(机器、设备等的)构成要素,零件,成分; 成分( component的名词复数 ); [物理化学]组分; [数学]分量; (混合物的)组成部分 | |
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58
constellations
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n.星座( constellation的名词复数 );一群杰出人物;一系列(相关的想法、事物);一群(相关的人) | |
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59
permanently
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adv.永恒地,永久地,固定不变地 | |
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60
anemones
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n.银莲花( anemone的名词复数 );海葵 | |
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61
avenged
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v.为…复仇,报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 );为…报复 | |
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62
extermination
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n.消灭,根绝 | |
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63
remains
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n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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64
victorious
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adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
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65
hardy
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adj.勇敢的,果断的,吃苦的;耐寒的 | |
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66
perennial
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adj.终年的;长久的 | |
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67
iris
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n.虹膜,彩虹 | |
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68
foliage
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n.叶子,树叶,簇叶 | |
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69
strife
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n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
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70
miserable
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adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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71
warfare
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n.战争(状态);斗争;冲突 | |
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72
isle
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n.小岛,岛 | |
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73
usurp
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vt.篡夺,霸占;vi.篡位 | |
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74
motive
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n.动机,目的;adv.发动的,运动的 | |
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75
fertilize
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v.使受精,施肥于,使肥沃 | |
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76
disperse
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vi.使分散;使消失;vt.分散;驱散 | |
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