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首页 » 英文短篇小说 » Philistia » CHAPTER XXIII. — THE STREETS OF ASKELON.
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CHAPTER XXIII. — THE STREETS OF ASKELON.
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Before the end of the quarter, two things occurred which made almost as serious a difference to Ernest’s and Edie’s lives as the dismissal from Pilbury Regis Grammar School. It was about a week or ten days after Herr Max’s unfortunate visit that Ernest awoke one morning with a very curious and unpleasant taste in his mouth, accompanied by a violent fit of coughing. He knew what the taste was well enough; and he mentioned the matter casually1 to Edie a little later in the morning. Edie was naturally frightened at the symptoms, and made him go to see the school doctor. The doctor felt his pulse attentively2, listened with his stethoscope at the chest, punched and pummelled the patient all over in the most orthodox fashion, and asked the usual inquisitorial personal questions about all the other members of his family. When he heard about Ronald’s predisposition, he shook his head seriously, and feared there was really something in it. Increased vocal3 resonance4 at the top of the left lung, he must admit. Some tendency to tubercular deposit there, and perhaps even a slight deep-seated cavity. Ernest must take care of himself for the present, and keep himself as free as possible from all kind of worry or anxiety.

‘Is it consumption, do you think, Dr. Sanders?’ Edie asked breathlessly.

‘Well, consumption, Mrs. Le Breton, is a very vague and indefinite expression,’ said the doctor, tapping his white shirtcuff with his nail in his slowest and most deliberate manner. ‘It may mean a great deal, or it may mean very little. I don’t want in any way to alarm you, or to alarm your husband; but there’s certainly a marked incipient5 tendency towards tubercular deposit. Yes, tubercular deposit... Well, if you ask me the question point-blank, I should say so... certainly... I should say it was phthisis, very little doubt of it... In short, what some people would call consumption.’

Ernest went home with Edie, comforting her all the way as well as he was able, and trying to make light of it, but feeling in his own heart that the look-out was decidedly beginning to gather blacker and darker than ever before them. Through the rest of that term he worked as well as he could; but Edie noticed every morning that the cough was getting worse and worse; and long before the time came for them to leave Pilbury he had begun to look distinctly delicate. Care for Edie and for the future was telling on him: his frame had never been very robust6, and the anxieties of the last year had brought out the same latent hereditary7 tendency which had shown itself earlier and more markedly in the case of his brother Ronald.

Meanwhile, Dr. Greatrex was assiduous in looking about for something or other that Ernest could turn his hand to, and writing letters with indefatigable8 kindness to all his colleagues and correspondents: for though he was, as Ernest said, a most unmitigated humbug9, that was really his only fault; and when his sympathies were once really aroused, as the Le Bretons had aroused them, there was no stone he would leave unturned if only his energy could be of any service to those whom he wished to benefit. But unfortunately in this case it couldn’t. ‘I’m at my wit’s end what to do with you, Le Breton,’ he said kindly10 one morning to Ernest: ‘but how on earth I’m to manage anything, I can’t imagine. For my own part, you know, though your conduct about that poor man Schurz (a well-meaning harmless fanatic11, I dare say) was really a public scandal—from the point of view of parents I mean, my dear fellow, from the point of view of parents—I should almost be inclined to keep you on here in spite of it, and brave the public opinion of Pilbury Regis, if it depended entirely12 upon my own judgment13. But in the management of a school, my dear boy, as you yourself must be aware, a head master isn’t the sole and only authority; there are the governors, for example, Le Breton, and—and—and, ur, there’s Mrs. Greatrex. Now, in all matters of social discipline and attitude, Mrs. Greatrex is justly of equal authority with me; and Mrs. Greatrex thinks it would never do to keep you at Pilbury. So, of course, that practically settles the question. I’m awfully14 sorry, Le Breton, dreadfully sorry, but I don’t see my way out of it. The mischief’s done already, to some extent, for all Pilbury knows now that Schurz came down here to stop with you at your lodgings15: but if I were to keep you on they’d say I didn’t disapprove16 of Schurz’s opinions, and that would naturally be simple ruination for the school—simple ruination.’

Ernest thanked him sincerely for the trouble he had taken, but wondered desperately17 in his own heart what sort of future could ever be in store for them.

The second event was less unexpected, though quite equally embarrassing under existing circumstances. Hardly more than a month before the end of the quarter, a little black-eyed baby daughter came to add to the prospective18 burdens of the Le Breton family. She was a wee, fat, round-faced, dimpled Devonshire lass to look at, as far surpassing every previous baby in personal appearance as each of those previous babies, by universal admission, had surpassed all their earlier predecessors—a fact which, as Mr. Sanders remarked, ought to be of most gratifying import both to evolutionists and to philanthropists in general, as proving the continuous and progressive amelioration of the human race: and Edie was very proud of her indeed, as she lay placidly19 in her very plain little white robes on the pillow of her simple wickerwork cradle. But Ernest, though he learned to love the tiny intruder dearly afterwards, had no heart just then to bear the conventional congratulations of his friends and fellow-masters. Another mouth to feed, another life dependent upon him, and little enough, as it seemed, for him to feed it with. When Edie asked him what they should name the baby—he had just received an adverse20 answer to his application for a vacant secretaryship—he crumpled21 up the envelope bitterly in his hand, and cried out in his misery22, ‘Call her Pandora, Edie, call her Pandora; for we’ve got to the very bottom of the casket, and there is nothing at all left for us now but hope—and even of that very little!’

So they duly registered her name as Pandora; but her mother shortened it familiarly into Dot; and as little Dot she was practically known ever after.

Almost as soon as poor Edie was able to get about again, the time came when they would have to leave Pilbury Regis. The doctor’s search had been quite ineffectual, and he had heard of absolutely nothing that was at all likely to suit Ernest Le Breton. He had tried Government offices, Members of Parliament, colonial friends, every body he knew in any way who might possibly know of vacant posts or appointments, but each answer was only a fresh disappointment for him and for Ernest. In the end, he was fain to advise his peccant under-master, since nothing else remained for it, that he had better go up to London for the present, take lodgings, and engage in the precarious23 occupation known as ‘looking about for something to turn up.’ On the morning when Edie and he were to leave the town, Dr. Greatrex saw Ernest privately24 in his own study.

‘I wish very much I could have gone to the station to see you off, Le Breton,’ he said, pressing his hand warmly; ‘but it wouldn’t do, you know, it wouldn’t do, and Mrs. Greatrex wouldn’t like it. People would say I sympathised secretly with your political opinions, which might offend Sir Matthew Ogle25 and others of our governors. But I’m sorry to get rid of you, really and sincerely sorry, my dear fellow; and apart from personal feeling, I’m sure you’d have made a good master in most ways, if it weren’t for your most unfortunate socialistic notions. Get rid of them, Le Breton, I beg of you: do get rid of them. Well, the only thing I can advise you now is to try your hand, for the present only—till something turns up, you know—at literature and journalism26. I shall be on the look-out for you still, and shall tell you at once of anything I may happen to hear of. But meanwhile, you must try to be earning something. And if at any time, my dear friend, you should be temporarily in want of money,’—the doctor said this in a shame-faced, hesitating sort of way, with not a little humming and hawing—‘in want of money for immediate27 necessities merely, if you’ll only be so kind as to write and tell me, I should consider it a pleasure and a privilege to lend you a ten pound note, you know—just for a short time, till you saw your way clear before you. Don’t hesitate to ask me now, be sure; and I may as well say, write to me at the school, Le Breton, not at the school-house, so that even Mrs. Greatrex need never know anything about it. In fact, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve put a small sum into this envelope—only twenty pounds—which may be of service to you, as a loan, as a loan merely; if you’ll take it—only till something turns up, you know—you’ll really be conferring a great favour upon me. There, there, my dear boy; now don’t be offended: I’ve borrowed money myself at times, when I was a young man like you, and I hadn’t a wife and family then as an excuse for it either. Put it in your pocket, there’s a good fellow; you’ll need it for Mrs. Le Breton and the baby, you see; now do please put it in your pocket.’

The tears rode fast and hot in Ernest’s eyes, and he grasped the doctor’s other hand with grateful fervour. ‘Dear Dr. Greatrex,’ he said as well as he was able, ‘it’s too kind of you, too kind of you altogether. But I really can’t take the money. Even after the expenses of Edie’s illness and of baby Dot’s wardrobe, we have a little sum, a very little sum laid by, that’ll help us to tide over the immediate present. It’s too good of you, too good of you altogether. I shall remember your kindness for ever with the most sincere and heartfelt gratitude29.’

As Ernest looked into the doctor’s half-averted eyes, swimming and glistening30 just a little with sympathetic moisture, his heart smote31 him when he thought that he had ever described that good, kindly, generous man as an unmitigated humbug. ‘It shows how little one can trust the mere28 outside shell of human beings,’ he said to Edie, self-reproachfully, as they sat together in their hare third-class carriage an hour later. ‘The humbug’s just the conventional mask of his profession—necessary enough, I suppose, for people who are really going to live successfully in the world as we find it: the heart within him’s a thousand times warmer and truer and more unspoiled than one could ever have imagined from the outer covering. He offered me his twenty pounds so delicately and considerately that but for my father’s blood in me, Edie, for your sake, I believe I could almost have taken it.’

When they got to London, Ernest wished to leave Edie and Dot at Arthur Berkeley’s rooms (he knew nowhere else to leave them), while he went out by himself to look about for cheap lodgings. Edie was still too weak, he said, to carry her baby about the streets of London in search of apartments. But Edie wouldn’t hear of this arrangement; she didn’t quite like going to Arthur’s, and she felt sure she could bargain with the London landladies32 a great deal more effectually than a man like Ernest—which was an important matter in the present very reduced condition of the family finances. In the end it was agreed that they should both go out on the hunt together, but that Ernest should be permitted to relieve Edie by turns in taking care of the precious baby.

‘They’re dreadful people, I believe, London landladies,’ said Edie, in her most housewifely manner; ‘regular cheats and skinflints, I’ve always heard, who try to take you in on every conceivable point and item. We must be very careful not to let them get the better of us, Ernest, and to make full inquiries33 about all extras, and so forth34, beforehand.’

They turned towards Holloway and the northern district, to look for cheap rooms, and they saw a great many, more or less dear, and more or less dirty and unsuitable, until their poor hearts really began to sink within them. At last, in despair, Edie turned up a small side street in Holloway, and stopped at a tiny house with a clean white curtain in its wee front bay window. ‘This is awfully small, Ernest,’ she said, despondently35, ‘but perhaps, after all, it might really suit us.’

The door was opened for them by a tall, raw-boned, hard-faced woman, the very embodiment and personification of Edie’s ideal skinflint London landlady36. Might they see the lodgings, Edie asked dubiously37. Yes, they might, indeed, mum, answered the hard-faced woman. Edie glanced at Ernest significantly, as who should say that these would really never do.

The lodgings were very small, but they were as clean as a new pin. Edie began to relent, and thought, perhaps in spite of the landlady, they might somehow manage to put up with them. ‘What was the rent?’

The hard-faced landlady looked at Edie steadily38, and then answered ‘Fifteen shillings, mum.’

‘Oh, that’s too much for us, I’m afraid,’ said Edie ruefully. ‘We don’t want to go as high as that. We’re very poor and quiet people.’

‘Well, mum,’ the landlady assented39 quickly, ‘it is ‘igh for the rooms, perhaps, mum, though I’ve ‘ad more; but it IS ‘igh, mum. I won’t deny it. Still, for you, mum, and the baby, I wouldn’t mind making it twelve and sixpence.’

‘Couldn’t you say half-a-sovereign?’ Edie asked timidly, emboldened40 by success.

‘Arf a suvveran, mum? Well, I ‘ardly rightly know,’ said the hard-faced landlady deliberately41. ‘I can’t say without askin’ of my ‘usband whether he’ll let me. Excuse me a minnit, mum; I’ll just run down and ask ‘im.’

Edie glanced at Ernest, and whispered doubtfully, ‘They’ll do, but I’m afraid she’s a dreadful person.’

Meanwhile, the hard-faced landlady had run downstairs quickly, and called out in a pleasant voice of childish excitement to her husband. ‘John, John,’ she cried—‘drat that man, where’s he gone to. Oh, a smokin’ of course, in the back kitching. Oh, John, there’s the sweetest little lady you ever set eyes on, all in black, with a dear baby, a dear little speechless infant, and a invalid42 ‘usband, I should say by the look of ‘im, ‘as come to ask the price of the ground floor lodgin’s. And seein’ she was so nice and kindlike, I told her fifteen shillings, instead of a suvveran; and she says, can’t you let ‘em for less? says she; and she was that pretty and engagin’ that I says, well, for you I’ll make it twelve and sixpence, mum, says I: and says she, you couldn’t say ‘arf a suvveran, could you? and says I, I’ll ask my ‘usband: and oh, John, I DO wish you’d let me take ‘em at that, for a kinder, sweeter-lookin’ dearer family I never did, an’ that I tell you.’

John drew his pipe slowly out of his mouth—he was a big, heavy, coachman-built sort of person, in waistcoat and shirt-sleeves—and answered with a kindly smile, ‘Why, Martha, if you want to take ‘em for ‘arf a suvveran, in course you’d ought to do it. Got a baby, pore thing, ‘ave she now? Well, there, there, you just go this very minnit, and tell ‘em as you’ll take ‘em.’

The hard-faced landlady went up the stairs again, only stopping a moment to observe parenthetically that a sweeter little lady she never did, and what was ‘arf-a-crown a week to you and me, John? and then, holding the corner of her apron43 in her hand, she informed Edie that her ‘usband was prepared to accept the ten shillings weekly.

‘I’ll try to make you and the gentleman comfortable, mum,’ she said, eagerly; ‘the gentleman don’t look strong, now do he? We must try to feed ‘im up and keep ‘im cheerful. And we’ve got plenty of flowers to make the room bright, you see: I’m very fond of flowers myself, mum: seems to me as if they was sort of company to one, like, and when you water ‘em and tend ‘em always, I feel as if they was alive, and got to know one again, I do, and that makes one love ‘em, now don’t it, mum? To see ‘em brighten up after you’ve watered ‘em, like that there maiden-’air fern there, why it’s enough to make one love ‘em the same as if they was Christians44, mum.’ There was a melting tenderness in her voice when she talked about the flowers that half won over Edie’s heart, even in spite of her hard features.

‘I’m glad you’re so fond of flowers, Mrs.——. Oh, you haven’t told us your name yet,’ Edie said, beginning vaguely45 to suspect that perhaps the hard-faced landlady wasn’t quite as bad as she looked to a casual observer.

‘Alliss, mum,’ the landlady answered, filling up Edie’s interrogatory blank. ‘My name is ‘Alliss.’

‘Alice what?’ Edie asked again.

‘Oh, no, mum, you don’t rightly understand me,’ the landlady replied, getting very red, and muddling46 up her aspirates more decidedly than ever, as people with her failing always do when they want to be specially47 deliberate and emphatic48: ‘not Halice, but ‘Alliss; haitch, hay, hell, hell, hi, double hess—‘Alliss: my full name’s Martha ‘Alliss, mum; my ‘usband’s John ‘Alliss. When would you like to come in?’

‘At once,’ Edie answered. ‘We’ve left our luggage at the cloak-room at Waterloo, and my husband will go back and fetch it, while I stop here with the baby.’

‘Not that, he shan’t, indeed, mum,’ cried the hard-faced landlady, hastily; ‘beggin’ your pardon for sayin’ so. Our John shall go—that’s my ‘usband, mum; and you shall give ‘im the ticket. I wouldn’t let your good gentleman there go, and ‘im so tired, too, not for the world, I wouldn’t. Just you give me the ticket, mum, and John shall go this very minnit and fetch it.’

‘But perhaps your husband’s busy,’ said Ernest, reflecting upon the probable cost of cab hire; ‘and he’ll want a cab to fetch it in.’

‘Bless your ‘eart, sir,’ said the landlady, busily arranging things all round the room meanwhile for the better accommodation of the baby, ‘’e ain’t noways busy ‘e ain’t. ‘E’s a lazy man, nowadays, John is: retired49 from business, ‘e says, sir, and ain’t got nothink to do but clean the knives, and lay the fires, and split the firewood, and such like. John were a coachman, sir, in a gentleman’s family for most of ‘is life, man and boy, these forty year, come Christmas; and we’ve saved a bit o’ money between us, so as we don’t need for nothink: and ‘e don’t want the cab, puttin’ you to expense, sir, onnecessary, to bring the luggage round in. ‘E’ll just borrer the hand-barrer from the livery in the mews, sir, and wheel it round ‘isself, in ‘arf an hour, and make nothink of it. Just you give me the ticket, and set you right down there, and I’ll make you and the lady a cup of tea at once, and John’ll bring round the luggage by the time you’ve got your things off.’

Ernest looked at Edie, and Edie looked at Ernest. Could they have judged too hastily once more, after their determination to be lenient50 in first judgments51 for the future? So Ernest gave Mrs. Halliss the cloak-room ticket, and Mrs. Halliss ran downstairs with it immediately. ‘John,’ the cried again, ‘—drat that man, where’s ‘e gone to? Oh, there you are, dearie! Just you put on your coat an’ ‘at as fast as ever you can, and borrer Tom Wood’s barrer, and run down to Waterloo, and fetch up them two portmanteaus, will you? And you drop in on the way at the Waterfield dairy—not Jenkins’s: Jenkins’s milk ain’t good enough for them—and tell ‘em to send round two penn’orth of fresh this very minnit, do y’ear, John, this very minnit, as it’s extremely pertickler. And a good thing I didn’t give you them two eggs for your dinner, as is fresh-laid by our own ‘ens this mornin’, and no others like ‘em to be ‘ad in London for love or money; and they shall ‘ave ‘em boiled light for their tea this very evenin’. And you look sharp, John,—drat the man, ‘ow long ‘e is—for I tell yon, these is reel gentlefolk, and them pore too, which makes it all the ‘arder; and they’ve got to be treated the same in every respect as if they was paying a ‘ole suvverin, bless their ‘earts, the pore creechurs.’

‘Pore,’ said John, vainly endeavouring to tear on his coat with becoming rapidity under the influence of Mrs. Halliss’s voluble exhortations52. ‘Pore are they, pore things? and so they may be. I’ve knowed the sons of country gentlemen, and that baronights too, Martha, as ‘ad kep’ their ‘ounds, redooced to be that pore as they couldn’t have afforded to a took our lodgings, even ‘umble as they may be. Pore ain’t nothink to do with it noways, as respecks gentility. I’ve lived forty years in gentlemen’s families, up an’ down, Martha, and I think I’d ought to know somethink about the ‘abits and manners of the aristocracy. Pore ain’t in the question at all, it ain’t, as far as breedin’ goes: and if they’re pore, and got to be gentlefolks too all the same’—John spoke53 of this last serious disability in a tone of unfeigned pity—‘why, Martha, wot I says is, we’d ought to do the very best we can for ‘em any ‘ow, now, oughtn’t we?’

‘Drat the man!’ cried Mrs. Halliss again, impatiently; ‘don’t stand talkin’ and sermonin’ about it there no longer like a poll parrot, but just you run along and send in the milk, like a dear, will you? or that dear little lady’ll have to be waitin’ for her tea—and her with a month-old baby, too, the pretty thing, just to think of it!’

And indeed, long before John Halliss had got back again with the two wee portmanteaus—‘I could ‘a carried that lot on my ‘ead,’ he soliloquised when he saw them, ‘without ‘avin’ troubled to wheel round a onnecessary encumbrance54 in the way of a barrer’—Mrs. Halliss had put the room tidy, and laid the baby carefully in a borrowed cradle in the corner, and brought up Edie and Ernest a big square tray covered by a snow-white napkin—‘My own washin’, mum’—and conveying a good cup of tea, a couple of crisp rolls, and two such delicious milky55 eggs as were never before known in the whole previous history of the county of Middlesex. And while they drank their tea, Mrs. Halliss insisted upon taking the baby down into the kitchen, so that they mightn’t be bothered, pore things; for the pore lady must be tired with nursin’ of it herself the livelong day, that she must: and when she got it into the kitchen, she was compelled to call over the back yard wall to Mrs. Bollond, the greengrocer’s wife next door, with the ultimate view to getting a hare’s brain for the dear baby to suck at through a handkerchief. And Mrs. Bollond, being specially so invited, came in by the area door, and inspected the dear baby; and both together arrived at the unanimous conclusion that little Dot was the very prettiest and sweetest child that ever sucked its fat little fingers, Lord bless her!

And in the neat wee parlour upstairs, Edie, pouring out tea from the glittering tin teapot into one of the scrupulously56 clean small whitey-gold teacups, was saying meanwhile to Ernest, ‘Well, after all, Ernest dear, perhaps London landladies aren’t all quite as black as they’re usually painted.’ A conclusion which neither Edie nor Ernest had ever after any occasion for altering in any way.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 casually UwBzvw     
adv.漠不关心地,无动于衷地,不负责任地
参考例句:
  • She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
  • I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。
2 attentively AyQzjz     
adv.聚精会神地;周到地;谛;凝神
参考例句:
  • She listened attentively while I poured out my problems. 我倾吐心中的烦恼时,她一直在注意听。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She listened attentively and set down every word he said. 她专心听着,把他说的话一字不漏地记下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 vocal vhOwA     
adj.直言不讳的;嗓音的;n.[pl.]声乐节目
参考例句:
  • The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
  • Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。
4 resonance hBazC     
n.洪亮;共鸣;共振
参考例句:
  • Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
  • The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。
5 incipient HxFyw     
adj.起初的,发端的,初期的
参考例句:
  • The anxiety has been sharpened by the incipient mining boom.采矿业初期的蓬勃发展加剧了这种担忧。
  • What we see then is an incipient global inflation.因此,我们看到的是初期阶段的全球通胀.
6 robust FXvx7     
adj.强壮的,强健的,粗野的,需要体力的,浓的
参考例句:
  • She is too tall and robust.她个子太高,身体太壮。
  • China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道,中国希望保持经济强势增长,以减少贫困和失业状况。
7 hereditary fQJzF     
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的
参考例句:
  • The Queen of England is a hereditary ruler.英国女王是世袭的统治者。
  • In men,hair loss is hereditary.男性脱发属于遗传。
8 indefatigable F8pxA     
adj.不知疲倦的,不屈不挠的
参考例句:
  • His indefatigable spirit helped him to cope with his illness.他不屈不挠的精神帮助他对抗病魔。
  • He was indefatigable in his lectures on the aesthetics of love.在讲授关于爱情的美学时,他是不知疲倦的。
9 humbug ld8zV     
n.花招,谎话,欺骗
参考例句:
  • I know my words can seem to him nothing but utter humbug.我知道,我说的话在他看来不过是彻头彻尾的慌言。
  • All their fine words are nothing but humbug.他们的一切花言巧语都是骗人的。
10 kindly tpUzhQ     
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
  • A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。
11 fanatic AhfzP     
n.狂热者,入迷者;adj.狂热入迷的
参考例句:
  • Alexander is a football fanatic.亚历山大是个足球迷。
  • I am not a religious fanatic but I am a Christian.我不是宗教狂热分子,但我是基督徒。
12 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
13 judgment e3xxC     
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见
参考例句:
  • The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
  • He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。
14 awfully MPkym     
adv.可怕地,非常地,极端地
参考例句:
  • Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
  • I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。
15 lodgings f12f6c99e9a4f01e5e08b1197f095e6e     
n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍
参考例句:
  • When he reached his lodgings the sun had set. 他到达公寓房间时,太阳已下山了。
  • I'm on the hunt for lodgings. 我正在寻找住所。
16 disapprove 9udx3     
v.不赞成,不同意,不批准
参考例句:
  • I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
  • She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员,但她的父母不赞成。
17 desperately cu7znp     
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地
参考例句:
  • He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
  • He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。
18 prospective oR7xB     
adj.预期的,未来的,前瞻性的
参考例句:
  • The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
  • They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。
19 placidly c0c28951cb36e0d70b9b64b1d177906e     
adv.平稳地,平静地
参考例句:
  • Hurstwood stood placidly by, while the car rolled back into the yard. 当车子开回场地时,赫斯渥沉着地站在一边。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
  • The water chestnut floated placidly there, where it would grow. 那棵菱角就又安安稳稳浮在水面上生长去了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
20 adverse 5xBzs     
adj.不利的;有害的;敌对的,不友好的
参考例句:
  • He is adverse to going abroad.他反对出国。
  • The improper use of medicine could lead to severe adverse reactions.用药不当会产生严重的不良反应。
21 crumpled crumpled     
adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式
参考例句:
  • She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
  • She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。
22 misery G10yi     
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦
参考例句:
  • Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
  • He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。
23 precarious Lu5yV     
adj.不安定的,靠不住的;根据不足的
参考例句:
  • Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
  • He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家,他过得是朝不保夕的生活。
24 privately IkpzwT     
adv.以私人的身份,悄悄地,私下地
参考例句:
  • Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
  • The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。
25 ogle f0UyA     
v.看;送秋波;n.秋波,媚眼
参考例句:
  • He likes to ogle at the pretty girls.他爱盯着漂亮的女孩子。
  • All she did was hang around ogling the men in the factory.她所做的就只是在工厂里荡来荡去,朝男人抛媚眼。
26 journalism kpZzu8     
n.新闻工作,报业
参考例句:
  • He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师,可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
  • He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。
27 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。
28 mere rC1xE     
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
参考例句:
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
29 gratitude p6wyS     
adj.感激,感谢
参考例句:
  • I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
  • She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。
30 glistening glistening     
adj.闪耀的,反光的v.湿物闪耀,闪亮( glisten的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼里闪着晶莹的泪花。
  • Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼睛中的泪水闪着柔和的光。 来自《用法词典》
31 smote 61dce682dfcdd485f0f1155ed6e7dbcc     
v.猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去式 )
参考例句:
  • Figuratively, he could not kiss the hand that smote him. 打个比方说,他是不能认敌为友。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
  • \"Whom Pearl smote down and uprooted, most unmercifully.\" 珠儿会毫不留情地将这些\"儿童\"踩倒,再连根拔起。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
32 landladies 9460cc0128a0dc03a9135025652719dc     
n.女房东,女店主,女地主( landlady的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The landladies paid court to her, in the obsequious way landladies have. 女店主们以她们特有的谄媚方式向她献殷勤。 来自辞典例句
33 inquiries 86a54c7f2b27c02acf9fcb16a31c4b57     
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听
参考例句:
  • He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释,等候进一步调查。
  • I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
34 forth Hzdz2     
adv.向前;向外,往外
参考例句:
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
35 despondently 9be17148dd640dc40b605258bbc2e187     
adv.沮丧地,意志消沉地
参考例句:
  • It had come to that, he reflected despondently. 事情已经到了这个地步了,他沉思着,感到心灰意懒。 来自辞典例句
  • He shook his head despondently. 他沮丧地摇摇头。 来自辞典例句
36 landlady t2ZxE     
n.女房东,女地主
参考例句:
  • I heard my landlady creeping stealthily up to my door.我听到我的女房东偷偷地来到我的门前。
  • The landlady came over to serve me.女店主过来接待我。
37 dubiously dubiously     
adv.可疑地,怀疑地
参考例句:
  • "What does he have to do?" queried Chin dubiously. “他有什么心事?”琴向觉民问道,她的脸上现出疑惑不解的神情。 来自汉英文学 - 家(1-26) - 家(1-26)
  • He walked out fast, leaving the head waiter staring dubiously at the flimsy blue paper. 他很快地走出去,撇下侍者头儿半信半疑地瞪着这张薄薄的蓝纸。 来自辞典例句
38 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。
39 assented 4cee1313bb256a1f69bcc83867e78727     
同意,赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The judge assented to allow the prisoner to speak. 法官同意允许犯人申辩。
  • "No," assented Tom, "they don't kill the women -- they're too noble. “对,”汤姆表示赞同地说,“他们不杀女人——真伟大!
40 emboldened 174550385d47060dbd95dd372c76aa22     
v.鼓励,使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Emboldened by the wine, he went over to introduce himself to her. 他借酒壮胆,走上前去向她作自我介绍。
  • His success emboldened him to expand his business. 他有了成就因而激发他进一步扩展业务。 来自《简明英汉词典》
41 deliberately Gulzvq     
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地
参考例句:
  • The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
  • They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。
42 invalid V4Oxh     
n.病人,伤残人;adj.有病的,伤残的;无效的
参考例句:
  • He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
  • A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。
43 apron Lvzzo     
n.围裙;工作裙
参考例句:
  • We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
  • She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。
44 Christians 28e6e30f94480962cc721493f76ca6c6     
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
  • His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。
45 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。
46 muddling dd2b136faac80aa1350cb5129e920f34     
v.弄乱,弄糟( muddle的现在分词 );使糊涂;对付,混日子
参考例句:
  • Don't do that—you're muddling my papers. 别动—你会弄乱我的文件的。
  • In our company you see nobody muddling along. 在咱们公司,看不到混日子的人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
47 specially Hviwq     
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地
参考例句:
  • They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
  • The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。
48 emphatic 0P1zA     
adj.强调的,着重的;无可置疑的,明显的
参考例句:
  • Their reply was too emphatic for anyone to doubt them.他们的回答很坚决,不容有任何人怀疑。
  • He was emphatic about the importance of being punctual.他强调严守时间的重要性。
49 retired Njhzyv     
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
参考例句:
  • The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
  • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
50 lenient h9pzN     
adj.宽大的,仁慈的
参考例句:
  • The judge was lenient with him.法官对他很宽大。
  • It's a question of finding the means between too lenient treatment and too severe punishment.问题是要找出处理过宽和处罚过严的折中办法。
51 judgments 2a483d435ecb48acb69a6f4c4dd1a836     
判断( judgment的名词复数 ); 鉴定; 评价; 审判
参考例句:
  • A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
  • He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。
52 exhortations 9577ef75756bcf570c277c2b56282cc7     
n.敦促( exhortation的名词复数 );极力推荐;(正式的)演讲;(宗教仪式中的)劝诫
参考例句:
  • The monuments of men's ancestors were the most impressive exhortations. 先辈们的丰碑最能奋勉人心的。 来自辞典例句
  • Men has free choice. Otherwise counsels, exhortations, commands, prohibitions, rewards and punishments would be in vain. 人具有自由意志。否则,劝告、赞扬、命令、禁规、奖赏和惩罚都将是徒劳的。 来自辞典例句
53 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
54 encumbrance A8YyP     
n.妨碍物,累赘
参考例句:
  • Only by overcoming our weaknesses can we advance without any encumbrance;only by uniting ourselves in our struggle can we be invincible.克服缺点才能轻装前进,团结战斗才能无往不胜。
  • Now I should be an encumbrance.现在我成为累赘了。
55 milky JD0xg     
adj.牛奶的,多奶的;乳白色的
参考例句:
  • Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
  • I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。
56 scrupulously Tj5zRa     
adv.一丝不苟地;小心翼翼地,多顾虑地
参考例句:
  • She toed scrupulously into the room. 她小心翼翼地踮着脚走进房间。 来自辞典例句
  • To others he would be scrupulously fair. 对待别人,他力求公正。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史


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