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CHAPTER XIII.—GODS OF CULTIVATION.
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BY  far the most interesting in the curious group of artifically-made gods are those which are sacrificed in connexion with agriculture. These deities1 appeal to us from several points of view. In the first place, they form, among agricultural races as a whole, the most important and venerated2 objects of worship. In the second place, it is largely through their influence or on their analogy, as I believe, that so many other artificial gods came to be renewed or sacrificed annually3. In the third place, it is the gods of agriculture who are most of all slain4 sacramentally, whose bodies are eaten by their votaries6 in the shape of cakes of bread or other foodstuffs8, and whose blood is drunk in the form of wine. The immediate9 connexion of these sacramental ceremonies with the sacrifice of the mass, and the identification of the Christ with bread and wine, give to this branch of our enquiry a peculiar10 importance from the point of view of the evolution of Christianity. We must therefore enter at some little length into the genesis of these peculiar and departmental gods, who stand so directly in the main line of evolution of the central divine figure in the Christian11 religion.

All over the world, wherever cultivation13 exists, a special class of corn-gods or grain-gods is found, deities of the chief foodstuff7,—be it maize14, or dates, or plantain, or rice—and it is a common feature of all these gods that they are represented by human or quasi-human victims, who are annually slain at the time of sowing. These human gods 273are believed to reappear once more in the form of the crop that rises from their sacred bodies; their death and resurrection are celebrated15 in festivals; and they are eaten and drunk sacramentally by their votaries, in the shape of first-fruits, or of cakes and wine, or of some other embodiment of the divine being. We have therefore to enquire16 into the origin of this curious superstition17, which involves, as it seems to me, the very origin of cultivation itself as a human custom. And I must accordingly bespeak18 my readers’ indulgence if I diverge19 for a while into what may seem at first a purely20 botanical digression.

Most people must have been struck by the paradox21 of cultivation. A particular plant in a state of nature, let us say, grows and thrives only in water, or in some exceedingly moist and damp situation. You take up this waterside plant with a trowel one day, and transfer it incontinently to a dry bed in a sun-baked garden; when lo! the moisture-loving creature, instead of withering22 and dying, as one might naturally expect of it, begins to grow apace, and to thrive to all appearance even better and more lustily than in its native habitat. Or you remove some parched23 desert weed from its arid24 rock to a moist and rainy climate; and instead of dwindling25, as one imagines it ought to do under the altered conditions, it spreads abroad in the deep rich mould of a shrubbery bed, and attains26 a stature27 impossible to its kind in its original surroundings. Our gardens, in fact, show us side by side plants which, in the wild state, demand the most varied28 and dissimilar habitats. Siberian squills blossom amicably29 in the same bed with Italian tulips; the alpine30 saxifrage spreads its purple rosettes in friendly rivalry31 with the bog-loving marsh-marigold or the dry Spanish iris32. The question, therefore, sooner or later occurs to the enquiring33 mind: How can they all live together so well here in man’s domain34, when in the outside world each demands and exacts so extremely different and specialised a situation?

Of 274course it is only an inexperienced biologist who could long be puzzled by this apparent paradox. He must soon see the true solution of the riddle35, if he has read and digested the teachings of Darwin. For the real fact is, in a garden or out of it, most of these plants could get on very well in a great variety of climates or situations—if only they were protected against outside competition. There we have the actual crux36 of the problem. It is not that the moisture-loving plants cannot live in dry situations, but that the dry-loving plants, specialised and adapted for the post, can compete with them there at an immense advantage, and so, in a very short time, live them down altogether. Every species in a state of nature is continually exposed to the ceaseless competition of every other; and each on its own ground can beat its competitors. But in a garden, the very thing we aim at is just to restrict and prevent competition; to give each species a fair chance for life, even in conditions where other and better-adapted species can usually outlive it. This, in fact, is really at bottom all that we ever mean by a garden—a space of ground cleared, and kept clear, of its natural vegetation (commonly called in this connexion weeds), and deliberately37 stocked with other plants, most or all of which the weeds would live down if not artificially prevented.

We see the truth of this point of view the moment the garden is, as we say, abandoned—that is to say, left once more to the operation of unaided nature. The plants with which we have stocked it loiter on for a while in a feeble and uncertain fashion, but are ultimately choked out by the stronger and better-adapted weeds which compose the natural vegetation of the locality. The dock and nettle38 live down in time the larkspur and the peony. The essential thing in the garden is, in short, the clearing of the ground from the weeds—that is, in other words, from the native vegetation. A few minor39 things may or may not be added, such as manuring, turning the soil, protecting with 275shelter, and so forth40; but the clearing is itself the one thing needful.

Slight as this point seems at first sight, I believe it includes the whole secret of the origin of tillage, and therefore, by implication, of the gods of agriculture. For, looked at in essence, cultivation is weeding, and weeding is cultivation. When we say that a certain race cultivates a certain plant-staple, we mean no more in the last resort than that it sows or sets it in soil artificially cleared of competing species. Sowing without clearing is absolutely useless. So the question of the origin of cultivation resolves itself at last simply into this—how did certain men come first to know that by clearing ground of weeds and keeping it clear of them they could promote the growth of certain desirable human foodstuffs?

To begin with, it may be as well to premise41 that the problem of the origin of cultivation is a far more complex one than appears at first sight. For we have not only to ask, as might seem to the enquirer42 unaccustomed to such investigations43, “How did the early savage44 first find out that seeds would grow better when planted in open soil, already freed from weeds or natural competitors?” but also the other and far more difficult question, “How did the early savage ever find out that plants would grow from seeds at all?” That, I take it, is the real riddle of the situation, and it is one which, so far as I know, has hitherto escaped all enquirers into the history and origin of human progress.

Fully45 to grasp the profound nature of this difficulty we must throw ourselves back mentally into the condition and position of primitive46 man. We ourselves have known so long and so familiarly the fact that plants grow from seeds—that the seed is the essential reproductive part of the vegetable organism—that we find it hard to unthink that piece of commonplace knowledge, and to realise that what to us is an almost self-evident truth is to the primitive savage a long and difficult inference. Our own common and 276certain acquaintance with the fact, indeed, is entirely-derived from the practice of agriculture. We have seen seeds sown from our earliest childhood. But before agriculture grew up, the connexion between seed and seedling47 could not possibly be known or even suspected by primitive man, who was by no means prone48 to make abstract investigations into the botanical nature or physiological49 object of the various organs in the herbs about him. That the seed is the reproductive part of the plant was a fact as little likely in itself to strike him as that the stamens were the male organs, or that the leaves were the assimilative and digestive surfaces. He could only have found out that plants grew from seeds by the experimental process of sowing and growing them. Such an experiment he was far from likely ever to try for its own sake. He must have been led to it by some other and accidental coincidence.

Now what was primitive man likely to know and observe about the plants around him? Primarily one thing only: that some of them were edible50, and some were not. There you have a distinction of immediate interest to all humanity. And what parts of plants were most likely to be useful to him in this respect as foodstuffs? Those parts which the plant had specially51 filled up with rich material for its own use or the use of its offspring. The first are the roots, stocks, bulbs, corms, or tubers in which it lays by foodstuffs for its future growth; the second are the seeds which it produces and enriches in order to continue its kind to succeeding generations.

Primitive man, then, knows the fruits, seeds, and tubers, just as the squirrel, the monkey, and the parrot know them, as so much good foodstuff, suitable to his purpose. But why should he ever dream of saving or preserving some of these fruits or seeds, when he has found them, and of burying them in the soil, on the bare off-chance that by pure magic, as it were, they might give rise to others? No idea could be more foreign to the nature and 277habits of early man. In the first place, he is far from provident52; his way is to eat up at once what he has killed or picked; and in the second place, how could he ever come to conceive that seeds buried in the ground could possibly produce more seeds in future? Nay53, even if he did know it—which is well-nigh impossible—would he be likely, feckless creature that he is, to save or spare a handful of seeds to-day in order that other seeds might spring from their burial-place in another twelvemonth? The difficulty is so enormous when one fairly faces it that it positively54 staggers one; we begin to wonder whether really, after all, the first steps in cultivation’ could ever have been taken.

The savage, when he has killed a deer or a game-bird, does not bury a part of it or an egg of it in the ground, in the expectation that it will grow into more deer or more bird hereafter. Why, then, should he, when he has picked a peck of fruits or wild cereals, bury some of them in the ground, and expect a harvest? The savage is a simple and superstitious55 person; but I do not think he is quite such a fool as this proceeding56 would make him out to be. He is not likely ever to have noticed that plants in the wild state grow from seeds—at least prior to the rise of agriculture, from which, as I believe, he first and slowly gained that useful knowledge. And he certainly is not likely ever to have tried deliberate experiments upon the properties of plants, as if he were a Fellow of the Royal Society. These two roads being thus effectually blocked to us, we have to enquire, “Was there ever any way in which primitive man could have blundered blindfold57 upon a knowledge of the truth, and could have discovered incidentally to some other function of his life the two essential facts that plants grow from seeds, and that the growth and supply of useful food-plants can be artificially increased by burying or sowing such seeds in ground cleared of weeds, that is to say of the natural competing vegetation?”

I 278believe there is one way, and one way only, in which primitive man was at all likely to become familiar with these facts. I shall try to show that all the operations of primitive agriculture very forcibly point to this strange and almost magical origin of cultivation; that all savage agriculture retains to the last many traces of its origin; and that the sowing of the seed itself is hardly considered so important and essential a part of the complex process as certain purely superstitious and bloodthirsty practices that long accompany it. In one word, not to keep the reader in doubt any longer, I am inclined to believe that cultivation and the sowing of seeds for crops had their beginning as an adjunct of the primitive burial system.

Up to the present time, so far as I know, only one origin for cultivation has ever been even conjecturally58 suggested; and that is a hard one. It has been said that the first hint of cultivation may have come from the observation that seeds accidentally cast out on the kitchen-middens, or on the cleared space about huts, caves, or other human dwelling-places, germinated59 and produced more seeds in succeeding seasons. Very probably many savages60 have observed the fact that food-plants frequently grow on such heaps of refuse. But that observation alone does not bring us much nearer to the origin of cultivation. For why should early man connect such a fact with the seeds more than with the bones, the shells, or the mere61 accident of proximity62? We must rid our minds of all the preconceptions of inductive and experimental science, and throw ourselves mentally back into the position of the savage to whom nature is one vast field of unrelated events, without fixed63 sequence or physical causation. Moreover, a kitchen-midden is not a cleared space: on the contrary, it is a weed-bed of extraordinary luxuriance. It brings us no nearer the origin of clearing.

There is, however, one set of functions in which primitive men do actually perform all the essential acts of agriculture, without in the least intending it; and that is the almost 279universal act of the burial of the dead. Burial is, so far as I can see, the only object for which early races, or, what comes to the same thing, very low savages, ever turn or dig the ground. We have seen already that the original idea of burial was to confine the ghost or corpse64 of the dead man by putting a weight of earth on top of him; and lest this should be insufficient65 to keep him from troublesome reappearances, a big stone was frequently rolled above his mound66 or tumulus, which is the origin of all our monuments, now diverted to the honour and commemoration of the deceased. But the point to which I wish just now to direct attention is this—that in the act of burial, and in that act alone, we get a first beginning of turning the soil, exposing fresh earth, and so incidentally eradicating67 the weeds. We have here, in short, the first necessary prelude68 to the evolution of agriculture.

The next step, of course, must be the sowing of the seed. And here, I venture to think, funeral customs supply us with the only conceivable way in which such sowing could ever have begun. For early men would certainly not waste the precious seeds which it took them so much time and trouble to collect from the wild plants around them, in mere otiose69 scientific experiments on vegetable development. But we have seen that it is the custom of all savages to offer at the tombs of their ancestors food and drink of the same kind as they themselves are in the habit of using. Now, with people in the hunting stage, such offerings would no doubt most frequently consist of meat, the flesh of the hunted beasts or game-birds; but they would also include fish, fruits, seeds, tubers, and berries, and in particular such rich grains as those of the native pulses and cereals. Evidence of such things being offered at the graves of the dead has been collected in such abundance by Dr. Tylor, Mr. Frazer, and Mr. Herbert Spencer, that I need not here adduce any further examples of so familiar a practice.

What must be the obvious result? Here, and here alone, 280the savage quite unconsciously sows seeds upon newly-turned ground, deprived of its weeds, and further manured by the blood and meat of the frequent sacrificial offerings. These seeds must often spring up and grow apace, with a rapidity and luxuriance which cannot fail to strike the imagination of the primitive hunter. Especially will this be the case with that class of plants which ultimately develop into the food-crops of civilised society. For the peculiarity70 of these plants is that they are one and all—maize, corn, or rice, pease, beans, or millet—annuals of rapid growth and portentous71 stature; plants which have thriven in the struggle for existence by laying up large stores of utilisable material in their seeds for the use of the seedling; and this peculiarity enables them to start in life in each generation exceptionally well endowed, and so to compete at an advantage with all their fellows. Seeds of such a sort would thrive exceedingly in the newly-turned and well-manured soil of a grave or barrow; and producing there a quantity of rich and edible grain, would certainly attract the attention of that practical and observant man, the savage. For though he is so incurious about what are non-essentials, your savage is a peculiarly longheaded person about all that concerns his own immediate advantage.

What conclusion would at once be forced upon him? That seeds planted in freshly-turned and richly-manured soil produce threefold and fourfold? Nothing of the sort. He knows naught72 of seeds and manures and soils; he would at once conclude, after his kind, that the dreaded73 and powerful ghost in the barrow, pleased with the gifts of meat and seeds offered to him, had repaid those gifts in kind by returning grain for grain a hundredfold out of his own body. This original connexion of ideas seems to me fully to explain that curious identification of the ghost or spirit with the corn or other foodstuff which Mr. Frazer has so wonderfully and conclusively74 elaborated in The Golden Bough75.

Some 281little evidence is even forthcoming that vegetation actually does show exceptional luxuriance on graves and barrows. The Rev12. Alexander Stewart of Ballachulish mentions that the milkmaids in Lochaber and elsewhere in the Scotch76 highlands used to pour a little milk daily from the pail on the “fairy knowes,” or prehistoric77 barrows; and the consequence was that “these fairy knolls78 were clothed with a more beautiful verdure than any other spot in the country.” In Fiji, Mr. Fison remarks that yam-plants spring luxuriantly from the heaps of yam presented to ancestral spirits in the sacred stone enclosure or temenos; and two or three recent correspondents (since this chapter was first printed in a monthly review) have obligingly communicated to me analogous79 facts from Madagascar, Central Africa, and the Malay Archipelago. It is clear from their accounts that graves do often give rise to crops of foodstuffs, accidentally springing from the food laid upon them.

Just at first, under such circumstances, the savage would no doubt be content merely to pick and eat the seeds that thus grew casually80, as it were, on the graves or barrows of his kings and kinsfolk. But in process of time it would almost certainly come about that the area of cultivation would be widened somewhat. The first step toward such widening, I take it, would arise from the observation that cereals and other seeds only throve exceptionally upon newly-made graves, not on graves in general. For as soon as the natural vegetation reasserted itself, the quickening power of the ghost would seem to be used up. Thus it might be found well to keep fresh ghosts always going for agricultural purposes. Hence might gradually arise a habit of making a new grave annually, at the most favourable81 sowing-time, which last would come to be recognised by half-unconscious experiment and observation. And this new grave, as I shall show reason for believing a little later, would be the grave, not of a person who happened to die then and there accidentally, but 282of a deliberate victim, slain in order to provide a spirit of vegetation,—an artificial god,—and to make the corn grow with vigour82 and luxuriance. Step by step, I believe, it would at length be discovered that if only you dug wide enough, the corn would grow well around as well as upon the actual grave of the divine victim. Thus slowly there would develop the cultivated field, the wider clearing, dug up or laboured by hand, and finally the ploughed field, which yet remains83 a grave in theory and in all essentials.

I have ventured to give this long and apparently84 unessential preamble85, because I wish to make it clear that the manufactured or artificial god of the corn-field or other cultivated plot really dates back to the very origin of cultivation. Without a god, there would be no corn-field at all; and the corn-field, I believe, is long conceived merely as the embodiment of his vegetative spirit. Nay, the tilled field is often at our own day, and even in our own country, a grave in theory.

It is a mere commonplace at the present time to say that among early men and savages every act of life has a sacred significance; and agriculture especially is everywhere and always invested with a special sanctity. To us, it would seem natural that the act of sowing seed should be regarded as purely practical and physiological; that the seed should be looked upon merely as the part of the plant intended for reproduction, and that its germination86 should be accepted as a natural and normal process. Savages and early men, however, have no such conceptions. To them the whole thing is a piece of natural magic; you sow seeds, or, to be more accurate, you bury certain grains of foodstuff in the freshly-turned soil, with certain magical rites87 and ceremonies; and then, after the lapse89 of a certain time, plants begin to grow upon this soil, from which you finally obtain a crop of maize or wheat or barley90. The burial of the seeds or grains is only one part of the 283magical cycle, no more necessarily important for the realisation of the desired end than many others.

And what are the other magical acts necessary in order that grain-bearing plants may grow upon the soil prepared for their reception? Mr. Frazer has collected abundant evidence for answering that question, a small part of which I shall recapitulate91 here for the benefit of those who have not read his remarkable92 work, referring students to The Golden Bough itself for fuller details and collateral93 developments. At the same time I should like to make it clearly understood that Mr. Frazer is personally in no way responsible for the use I here make of his admirable materials.

All the world over, savages and semi-civilised people are in the habit of sacrificing human victims, whose bodies are buried in the field with the seed of corn or other bread-stuffs. Often enough the victim’s blood is mixed with the grain in order to fertilise it. The most famous instance is that of the Khonds of Orissa, who chose special victims, known as Meriahs, and offered them up to ensure good harvests. The Meriah was often kept for years before being sacrificed. He was regarded as a consecrated94 being, and treated with extreme affection, mingled95 with deference96. A Meriah youth, on reaching manhood, was given a wife who was herself a Meriah; their offspring were all brought up as victims. “The periodical sacrifices,” says Mr. Frazer, “were generally so arranged by tribes and divisions of tribes that each head of a family was enabled, at least once a year, to procure97 a shred98 of flesh for his fields, generally about the time when his chief crop was laid down.” On the day of the sacrifice, which was horrible beyond description in its details, the body was cut to pieces, and the flesh hacked99 from it was instantly taken home by the persons whom each village had deputed to bring it. On arriving at its destination, it was divided by the priest into two portions, one of which he buried in a hole in the ground, with his back turned and without looking 284at it. Then each man in the village added a little earth to cover it, and the priest poured water over the mimic100 tumulus. The other portion of the flesh the priest divided into as many shares as there were heads of houses present. Each head of a house buried his shred in his own field, placing it in the earth behind his back without looking. The other remains of the human victim—the head, the bones, and the intestines—were burned on a funeral-pile, and the ashes were scattered101 over the fields, or mixed with the new corn to preserve it from injury. Every one of these details should be carefully noted102.

Now, in this case, it is quite clear to me that every field is regarded as essentially103 a grave; portions of the divine victim are buried in it; his ashes are mixed with the seed; and from the ground thus treated he springs again in the form of corn, or rice, or turmeric. These customs, as Mr. Frazer rightly notes, “imply that to the body of the Meriah there was ascribed a direct or intrinsic power of making the crops to grow. In other words, the flesh and ashes of the victim were believed to be endowed with a magical or physical power of fertilising the land.” More than that, it seems to me that the seed itself is not regarded as sufficient to produce a crop: it is the seed buried in the sacred grave with the divine flesh which germinates104 at last into next year’s foodstuffs.

A few other points must be noticed about this essential case, which is one of the most typical instances of manufactured godhead. The Meriah was only satisfactory if he had been purchased—“bought with a price,” like the children who were built as foundation-gods into walls; or else was the child of a previous Meriah—in other words, was of divine stock by descent and inheritance. Khonds in distress105 often sold their children as Meriahs, “considering the beatification” (apotheosis, I would rather say) “of their souls certain, and their death, for the benefit of mankind, the most honourable106 possible.” This sense of the sacrifice as a case of “one man dying for the people” is most 285marked in our accounts, and is especially interesting from its analogy to Christian reasoning. A man of the Panua tribe was once known to upbraid107 a Khond because he had sold for a Meriah his daughter whom the Panu芒 wished to marry; the Khonds around at once comforted the insulted father, exclaiming, “Your child died that all the world may live.” Here and elsewhere we have the additional idea of a piacular value attached to the sacrifice, about which more must be said in a subsequent chapter. The death of the Meriah was supposed to ensure not only good crops, but also “immunity from all disease and accident.” The Khonds shouted in his dying ear, “We bought you with a price; no sin rests with us.” It is also worthy108 of notice that the victim was anointed with oil, a point which recalls the very name of Christus. Once more, the victim might not be bound or make any show of resistance; but the bones of his arms and his legs were often broken to render struggling impossible. Sometimes, however, he was stupefied with opium109, one of the ordinary features in the manufacture of gods, as we have already seen, being such preliminary stupefaction. Among the various ways in which the Meriah was slain I would particularly specify110 the mode of execution by squeezing him to death in the cleft111 of a tree. I mention these points here, though they somewhat interrupt the general course of our argument, because of their great importance as antecedents of the Christian theory. In fact, I believe the Christian legend to have been mainly constructed out of the details of such early god-making sacrifices; I hold that Christ is essentially one such artificial god; and I trust the reader will carefully observe for himself as we proceed how many small details (such as the breaking of the bones) recall in many ways the incidents of the passion and the crucifixion.

The Khonds, however, have somewhat etherealised the conception of artificial god-making by allowing one victim to do for many fields together. Other savages are more prodigal112 286of divine crop-raisers. To draw once more from Mr. Frazer’s storehouse—the Indians of Guayaquil, in South America, used to sacrifice human blood and the hearts of men when they sowed their fields. The ancient Mexicans, conceiving the maize as a personal being who went through the whole course of life between seed-time and harvest, sacrificed new-born babes when the maize was sown, older children when it had sprouted113, and so on till it was fully ripe, when they sacrificed old men. May we not parallel with this instance the singular fact that the Romans had as their chief agricultural deity114 Saturnus, the god of sowing, but had also several other subsidiary crop-deities, such as Seia, who has to do with the corn when it sprouts115, Segetia, with the corn when shot up, and Tutilina with the corn stored in the granary? (An obvious objection based on the numerous gods of childhood and practical arts at Rome will be answered in a later chapter.) The Pawnees, again, annually sacrificed a human victim in spring, when they sowed their fields. They thought that an omission116 of this sacrifice would be followed by the total failure of the crops of maize, beans, and pumpkins117. In the account of one such sacrifice of a girl in 1837 or 1838, we are told: “While her flesh was still warm, it was cut in small pieces from the bones, put in little baskets, and taken to a neighbouring corn-field. Here the head chief took a piece of the flesh from a basket, and squeezed a drop of blood upon the newly-deposited grains of corn. His example was followed by the rest, till all the seed had been sprinkled with the blood; it was then covered up with earth.” Many other cases might be quoted from America.

In West Africa, once more, a tribal118 queen used to sacrifice a man and woman in the month of March. They were killed with spades and hoes, and their bodies buried in the middle of a field which had just been tilled. At Lagos, in Guinea, it was the custom annually to impale119 a young girl alive soon after the spring equinox in order to 287secure good crops. A similar sacrifice is still annually offered at Benin. The Marimos, a Bechuana tribe, sacrifice a human being for the crops. The victim chosen is generally a short stout120 man. He is seized by violence or intoxicated121 (note that detail) and taken to the fields, where he is killed amongst the wheat “to serve as seed.” After his blood has coagulated in the sun, it is burned, along with that peculiarly sacred part, the frontal bone, the flesh attached to it, and the brain; the ashes are then scattered over the ground to fertilise it. Such scattering122 of the ashes occurs in many instances, and will meet us again in the case of Osiris.

In India, once more, the Gonds, like the Khonds, kidnapped Brahman boys, and kept them as victims to be sacrificed on various occasions. At sowing and reaping, after a triumphal procession, one of the lads was killed by being punctured123 with a poisoned arrow. His blood was then sprinkled over the ploughed field or the ripe crop, and his flesh was sacramentally devoured124. The last point again will call at a later stage for further examination.

I will detail no more such instances (out of the thousands that exist) for fear of seeming tedious. But the interpretation125 I put upon the facts is this. Originally, men noticed that food-plants grew abundantly from the laboured and well-manured soil of graves. They observed that this richness sprang from a coincidence of three factors—digging, a sacred dead body, and seeds of foodstuffs. In time, they noted that if you dug wide enough and scattered seed far enough, a single corpse was capable of fertilising a considerable area. The grave grew into the field or garden. But they still thought it necessary to bury some one in the field; and most of the evidence shows that they regarded this victim as a divine personage; that they considered him the main source of growth or fertility; and that they endeavoured to deserve his favour by treating him well during the greater part of his lifetime. For in many of the accounts it is expressly stated 288that the intended victim was treated as a god or as a divine king, and was supplied with every sort of luxury up to the moment of his immolation126. In process of time, the conception of the field as differing from the grave grew more defined, and the large part borne by seed in the procedure was more fully recognised. Even so, however, nobody dreamed of sowing the seed alone without the body of a victim. Both grain and flesh or blood came to be regarded alike as “seed”: that is to say, the concurrence127 of the two was considered necessary to produce the desired effect of germination and fertility. Till a very late period, either the actual sacrifice or some vague remnant of it remained as an essential part of cultivation. Mr. Frazer’s pages teem128 with such survivals in modern folk-custom. From his work and from other sources, I will give a few instances of these last dying relics129 of the primitive superstition.

Mr. Gomme, in his Ethnology in Folklore130, supplies an account of a singular village festival in Southern India. In this feast, a priest, known as the Potraj, and specially armed with a divine whip, like the scourge131 of Osiris, sacrifices a sacred buffalo132, which is turned loose when a calf133, and allowed to feed and roam about the village. In that case, we have the common substitution of an animal for a human victim, which almost always accompanies advancing civilisation134. At the high festival, the head of the buffalo was struck off at a single blow, and placed in front of the shrine135 of the village goddess. Around were placed vessels136 containing the different cereals, and hard by a heap of mixed grains with a drill-plough in the centre. The carcase was then cut up into small pieces, and each cultivator received a portion to bury in his field. The heap of grain was finally divided among all the cultivators, to be buried by each one in his field with the bit of flesh. At last, the head, that very sacred part, was buried before a little temple, sacred to the goddess of boundaries. The goddess is represented by a shapeless stone—no doubt a Terminus, 289or rather the tombstone of an artificial goddess, a girl buried under an ancient boundary-mark. Here we have evidently a last stage of the same ritual which in the case of the Khonds was performed with a human victim. It is worth while noting that, as part of this ceremony, a struggle took place for portions of the victim.

A still more attenuated137 form of the same ceremony is mentioned by Captain Harkness and others, as occurring among the Badagas of the Nilgiri Hills. I condense their accounts, taking out of each such elements as are most cognate138 to our purpose. Among these barbarians139, the first furrow140 is ploughed by a low-caste Kurrumbar, who gives his benediction141 to the field, without which there would be no harvest. Here, the member of the aboriginal142 race is clearly looked upon as a priest or kinsman143 of the local gods, whose cooperation must be obtained by later intrusive144 races. But the Kurrumbar does not merely bless the field; he also sets up a stone in its midst; and then, prostrating145 himself before the stone, he sacrifices a goat, the head of which he keeps as his perquisite146. This peculiar value of the oracular head retained by the priest is also significant. When harvest-time comes, the same Kurrumbar is summoned once more, in order that he may reap the first handful of corn, an episode the full importance of which will only be apparent to those who have read Mr. Frazer’s analysis of harvest customs. But in this case also, the appearance of the sacred stone is pregnant with meaning. We can hardly resist the inference that we have here to do with the animal substitute for a human sacrifice of the god-making order, in which the victim was slaughtered148, a stone set up to mark the site of the sacrifice, and the head preserved as a god to give oracles149, in the fashion with which we are already familiar. Comparing this instance with the previous one of the sacred buffalo and the still earlier cases of ancestral heads preserved as gods for oracular purposes, I think the affiliation150 is too clear to be disregarded.

Evidence 290of similar customs elsewhere exists in such abundance that I can only give a very small part of it at present, lest I should assign too much space to a subordinate question; I hope to detail the whole of it hereafter in a subsequent volume. Here is a striking example from Mr. Gomme’s Ethnology in Folklore, the analogy of which with preceding instances will at once be apparent.

“At the village of Holne, situated151 on one of the spurs of Dartmoor, is a field of about two acres, the property of the parish, and called the Ploy153 Field. In the centre of this field stands a granite154 pillar (Menhir) six or seven feet high. On May-morning, before daybreak, the young men of the village used to assemble there, and then proceed to the moor152, where they selected a ram5 lamb, and, after running it down, brought it in triumph to the Ploy Field, fastened it to the pillar, cut its throat, and then roasted it whole, skin, wool, etc. At midday a struggle took place, at the risk of cut hands, for a slice, it being supposed to confer luck for the ensuing year on the fortunate devourer155. As an act of gallantry the young men sometimes fought their way through the crowd to get a slice for the chosen amongst the young women, all of whom, in their best dresses, attended the Ram Feast, as it was called. Dancing, wrestling, and other games, assisted by copious156 libations of cider during the afternoon, prolonged the festivity till midnight.”

Here again we get several interesting features of the primitive ritual preserved for us. The connexion with the stone which enshrines the original village deity is perfectly157 clear. This stone no doubt represents the place where the local foundation-god was slain in very remote ages; and it is therefore the proper place for the annual renewal158 sacrifices to be offered. The selection of Maymorning for the rite88; the slaughter147 at the stone pillar; the roasting of the beast whole; the struggle for the pieces; and the idea that they would confer luck, all show survival of primitive feeling. So does the cider, sacramental 291intoxication being an integral part of all these proceedings159. Every detail, indeed, has its meaning for those who look close; for the struggle at midday is itself significant, as is also the prolongation of the feast till midnight. But we miss the burial of the pieces in the fields; in so far, the primitive object of the rite seems to have been forgotten or overlooked in Devonshire.

A still more attenuated survival is quoted by Mr. Gomme from another English village. “A Whitsuntide custom in the parish of King’s Teignton, Devonshire, is thus described: A lamb is drawn160 about the parish on Whitsun Monday in a cart covered with garlands of lilac, laburnum, and other flowers, when persons are requested to give something towards the animal and attendant expenses; on Tuesday it is killed and roasted whole in the middle of the village. The lamb is then sold in slices to the poor at a cheap rate. The origin of the custom is forgotten, but a tradition, supposed to trace back to heathen days, is to this effect: The village suffered from a dearth161 of water, when the inhabitants were advised by their priests to pray to the gods for water; whereupon the water sprang up spontaneously in a meadow about a third of a mile above the river, in an estate now called Rydon, amply sufficient to supply the wants of the place, and at present adequate, even in a dry summer, to work three mills. A lamb, it is said, has ever since that time been sacrificed as a votive thank-offering at Whitsuntide in the manner before mentioned. The said water appears like a large pond, from which in rainy weather may be seen jets springing up some inches above the surface in many parts. It has ever had the name of ‘Fair Water.’”

I mention this curious instance here, because it well illustrates162 the elusive163 way in which such divine customs of various origins merge164 into one another; and also the manner in which different ideas are attached in different places to very similar ceremonies. For Mr. Frazer has shown that the notion of a rain-charm is also closely bound up with 292the gods of agriculture; the Khond Meriah must weep, or there will be no rain that year; his red blood must flow, or the turmeric will not produce its proper red colour. (Compare the red blood that flowed from Poly-dorus’s cornel, and the Indian’s blood that drops from the Canadian bloodroot.) In this last instance of the King’s Teignton ceremony, it is the rain-charm that has most clearly survived to our days: and there are obvious references to a human sacrifice offered up to make a river-god in times long gone, and now replaced by an animal victim. The garlands of lilac, laburnum, and other flowers are, however, common adornments of the artificial god of cultivation; they occurred in the Dionvsiac rites and the Attis festival, and are still preserved in many European customs.

Very closely bound up with the artificial gods of cultivation are the terminal gods with whom I dealt in the last chapter; so closely that it is sometimes impossible to separate them. We have already seen some instances of this connexion; the procession of the sacred victim usually ends with a perlustration of the boundaries. This perlustration is often preceded by the head of the thean-thropic victim. Such a ceremony extends all over India; in France and other European countries it survives in the shape of the rite known as Blessing165 the Fields, where the priest plays the same part as is played among the Nilgiri hillsmen by the low-caste Kurrumbar. In this rite, the Host is carried round the bounds of the parish, as the head of the sacred buffalo is carried round at the Indian festival. In some cases every field is separately visited. I was told as a boy in Normandy that a portion of the Host (stolen or concealed166, I imagine) was sometimes buried in each field, but of this curious detail I can now obtain no confirmatory evidence, and I do not insist upon it. We must remember, however, that the Host is the body of Christ, and that its presence in such cases is the exact analogue167 of the carrying round the pieces of the Meriah.

In 293England, the ceremony merges168 into that of Beating the Bounds, already described; though I believe the significance of the boy-victims, and the necessity for whipping them as a rain-charm, will now be more apparent than when we last met with it.

In many cases, all the world over, various animals come to replace the human victim-god. Thus we learn from Festus that the Romans sacrificed red-haired puppies in spring, in the belief that the crops would thus grow ripe and ruddy; and there can be little doubt that these puppies, like the lamb sacrifice at Holne and King’s Teignton, were a substitute for an original human victim. Even so, the Egyptians, as we shall see, sacrificed red-haired men as the representatives of Osiris, envisaged169 as a corn-god. In some cases, indeed, we have historical evidence of the human god being replaced at recent dates by a divine animal-victim; for example, in Chinna Kimedy, after the British had suppressed human sacrifices, a goat took the place of the sacred Meriah.

Mannhardt has collected much evidence of the curious customs still (or lately) existing in modern Europe, which look like survivals in a very mitigated170 form of the same superstition. These are generally known by the name of “Carrying out Death,” or “Burying the Carnival171.” They are practised in almost every country of Europe, and relics of them survive even in England. The essence of these ceremonies consists in an effigy172 being substituted for the human victim. This effigy is treated much as the victim used to be. Sometimes it is burned, sometimes thrown into a river, and sometimes buried piecemeal173. In Austrian Silesia, for example, the effigy is burned, and while it is burning a general struggle takes place for the pieces, which are pulled out of the flames with bare hands. (Compare the struggle among the Khonds, and also at the Potraj festival and the Holne sacrifice.) Each person who secures a fragment of the figure ties it to a branch of the largest tree in his garden, or buries it in his field, in the 294belief that this causes the crops to grow better. Sometimes a sheaf of corn does duty for the victim, and portions of it are buried in each field as fertilisers. In the Hartz Mountains, at similar ceremonies, a living man is laid on a baking-trough and carried with dirges174 to a grave; but a glass of brandy is substituted for him at the last moment. Here the spirit is the equivalent of a god. In other cases the man is actually covered with straw, and so lightly buried. In Italy and Spain, a similar custom bore the name of “Sawing the Old Woman.” In Palermo, a real old woman was drawn through the streets on a cart, and made to mount a scaffold, where two mock executioners proceeded to saw through a bladder of blood which had been fitted to her neck. The blood gushed175 out, and the old woman pretended to swoon and die. This is obviously a mitigation of a human sacrifice. At Florence, an effigy stuffed with walnuts176 and dried figs177 represented the Old Woman. At mid-Lent, this figure was sawn through the middle in the Mercato Nuovo, and when the dried fruits tumbled out they were scrambled178 for by the crowd, as savages scrambled for fragments of the human victim or his animal representative. Upon all this subject a mass of material has been collected by Mannhardt and Mr. Frazer. Perhaps the most interesting case of all is the Russian ceremony of the Funeral of Yarilo. In this instance, the people chose an old man and gave him a small coffin180 containing a figure representing Yarilo. This he carried out of the town, followed by women chanting dirges, as the Syrian women mourned for Adonis, and the Egyptians for Osiris. In the open fields a grave was dug, and into it the figure was lowered amid weeping and wailing181.

Myth and folk-lore also retain many traces of the primitive connexion. Thus, in the genuine American legend of Hiawatha, the hero wrestles182 with and vanquishes183 Mon-damin, and where he buries him springs up for the first time the maize, or Indian-corn plant. Similar episodes occur 295in the Finnish Kalevala and other barbaric epics184. According to Mr. Chalmers, the Motu tribe in New Guinea say that yams sprang first from the bones of a murdered man, which were buried in a grave. After some time, the grave was opened, and the bones were found to be no longer bones, but large and small yams of different colours.

In order to complete our preliminary survey of these artificial gods of cultivation, before we proceed to the consideration of the great corn-gods and wine-gods, it may be well to premise that in theory at least the original victim seems to have been a king or chief, himself divine, or else at least a king’s son or daughter, one of the divine stock, in whose veins185 flowed the blood of the earlier deities. Later on, it would seem, the temporary king was often allowed to do duty for the real king; and for this purpose he seems frequently to have been clad in royal robes, and treated with divine and royal honours. Examples of this complication will crop up in the sequel. For the present I will only refer to the interesting set of survivals, collected by Mr. Gomme, where temporary kings or mayors in England are annually elected, apparently for the sake of being sacrificed only. In many of these cases we get mere fragmentary portions of the original rite; but by piecing them all together, we obtain on the whole a tolerably complete picture of the original ceremonial observance. At St. Germans in Cornwall, the mock mayor was chosen under the large walnut-tree at the May-fair; he was made drunk overnight, in order to fit him for office, and was in that state drawn round the nut-tree, much as we saw the mayor of Bovey rode round the Bovey stone on his accession to the mayoralty. The mayor of St. Germans also displayed his royal character by being mounted on the wain or cart of old Teutonic and Celtic sovereignty. At Lostwithiel, the mock mayor was dressed with a crown on his head, and a sceptre in his hand, and had a sword borne before him. At Penrhyn, the mayor was preceded by torch-bearers and town sergeants186, and though he was not 296actually burnt, either in play or in effigy, bonfires were lighted, and fireworks discharged, which connect the ceremony with such pyre-sacrifices of cremationists as the festival of the Tyrian Melcarth and the Baal of Tarsus. On Halgaver Moor, near Bodmin, a stranger was arrested, solemnly tried in sport, and then trained in the mire187 or otherwise ill-treated. At Polperro, the mayor was gen-rally “some half-witted or drunken fellow,” in either case, according to early ideas, divine; he was treated with ale, and, “having completed the perambulation of the town,” was wheeled by his attendants into the sea. There, he was allowed to scramble179 out again, as the mock victim does in many European ceremonies; but originally, I do not doubt, he was drowned as a rain-charm.

These ceremonies, at the time when our authorities learnt of them, had all degenerated188 to the level of mere childish pastimes; but they contain in them, none the less, persistent189 elements of most tragic190 significance, and they point back to hideous191 and sanguinary god-making festivals. In most of them we see still preserved the choice of the willing or unconscious victim; the preference for a stranger, a fool, or an idiot; the habit of intoxicating192 the chosen person; the treatment of the victim as king, mayor, or governor; his scourging193 or mocking; his final death; and his burning on a pyre, or his drowning as a rain-charm. All these points are still more clearly noticeable in the other form of survival where the king or divine victim is represented, not by a mock or temporary king, but by an image or effigy. Such is the common case of King Carnival, who is at last burnt in all his regalia, or thrown into a river. Our own Guy Fawkes, though fastened upon the personality of a particular unpopular historical character, seems to be the last feeble English representative of such a human victim. I will not elaborate this point any further (considerations of space forbid), but will refer the reader for additional examples to Mr. Gomme’s 297Village Community, and Mr. Frazer’s wonderful collection of examples in The Golden Bough.

The general conclusion I would incline to draw from all these instances is briefly194 this. Cultivation probably began with the accidental sowing of grains upon the tumuli of the dead. Gradually it was found that by extending the dug or tilled area and sowing it all over, a crop would grow upon it, provided always a corpse was buried in the centre. In process of time divine corpses195 were annually provided for the purpose, and buried with great ceremony in each field. By-and-bye it was found sufficient to offer up a single victim for a whole tribe or village, and to divide his body piecemeal among the fields of the community. But the crops that grew in such fields were still regarded as the direct gifts of the dead and deified victims, whose soul was supposed to animate196 and fertilize197 them. As cultivation spread, men became familiarised at last with the conception of the seed and the ploughing as the really essential elements in the process; but they still continued to attach to the victim a religious importance, and to believe in the necessity of his presence for good luck in the harvest. With the gradual mitigation of savagery198 an animal sacrifice was often substituted for a human one; but the fragments of the animal were still distributed through the fields with a mimic or symbolical199 burial, just as the fragments of the man-god had formerly200 been distributed. Finally, under the influence of Christianity and other civilised religions, an effigy was substituted for a human victim, though an animal sacrifice was often retained side by side with it, and a real human being was playfully killed in pantomime.

In early stages, however, I note that the field or garden sometimes retains the form of a tumulus. Thus Mr. Turner, the Samoan missionary201, writes of the people of Tana, in the New Hebrides:

“They bestow202 a great deal of labour on their yam plantations203, and keep them in fine order. You look over a reed 298fence, and there you see ten or twenty mounds204 of earth, some of them seven feet high and sixty in circumference205. These are heaps of loose earth without a single stone, all thrown up by the hand. In the centre they plant one of the largest yams whole, and round the sides some smaller ones.”

This looks very much like a tumulus in its temenos. I should greatly like to know whether a victim is buried in it.

I may add that the idea of the crop being a gift from the deified ancestor or the divine-human victim is kept up in the common habit of offering the first-fruits to the dead, or to the gods, or to the living chief, their representative and descendant. Of the equivalence of these three ceremonies, I have given some evidence in my essay on Tree-Worship appended to my translation of the Attis of Catullus. For example, Mr. Turner says of these same Tanese in the New Hebrides:

“The spirits of their departed ancestors were among their gods. Chiefs who reached an advanced age were, after death, deified, addressed by name, and prayed to on various occasions. They were supposed especially to preside over the growth of the yams and the different fruit-trees. The first-fruits were presented to them, and in doing this they laid a little of the fruit on some stone or shelving branch of the tree, or some more temporary altar.., in the form of a table.... All being quiet, the chief acted as high priest and prayed aloud thus: ‘Compassionate father, here is some food for you; eat it; be kind to us on account of it.’ And instead of an Amen, all united in a loud shout.”

Similar evidence is abundant elsewhere. I summarise206 a little of it. Every year the Kochs of Assam, when they gather their first-fruits, offer some to their ancestors, calling them even by name, and clapping their hands to summon them. The people of Kobi and Sariputi, two villages in Ceram, “offer the first-fruits of the paddy in the form of cooked rice to their ancestors as a token of gratitude207.” 299The ceremony is called “Feeding the Dead.” In the Tenimber and Timorlaut Islands, the first-fruits of the paddy are offered to the spirits of the ancestors, who are worshipped as guardian208 gods or household lares. The people of Luzon worship chiefly the souls of their ancestors, and offer to them the first-fruits of the harvest. In Fiji the earliest of the yams are presented to the ancestral ghosts in the sacred stone enclosure; and no man may taste of the new crop till after this presentation.

In other cases it is gods rather than ghosts to whom the offering is made, though among savages the distinction is for the most part an elusive one. But in not a few instances the first-fruits are offered, not to spirits or gods at all, but to the divine king himself, who is the living representative and earthly counterpart of his deified ancestors. Thus in Ashantee a harvest festival is held in September, when the yams are ripe. During the festival the king eats the new yams, but none of the people may eat them till the close of the festival, which lasts a fortnight. The Hovas, of Madagascar, present the first sheaves of the new grain to the sovereign. The sheaves are carried in procession to the palace from time to time as the grain ripens209. So, in Burmah, when the pangati fruits ripen210, some of them used to be taken to the king’s palace that he might eat of them; no one might partake of them before the king. In short, what is offered in one place to the living chief is offered in another place to his dead predecessor211, and is offered in a third place to the great deity who has grown slowly out of them. The god is the dead king; the king, as in ancient Egypt, is the living god, and the descendant of gods, his deified ancestors. Indeed, the first-fruits seem sometimes to be offered to the human victim himself, in his deified capacity, and sometimes to the Adonis, or Osiris, who is his crystallised embodiment. Our own harvest festival seems to preserve the offering in a Christianised form.

Finally, I will add that in many cases it looks as though the 300divine agriculture-victim were regarded as the king in person, the embodiment of the village or tribal god, and were offered up, himself to himself, at the stone which forms the monument and altar of the primitive deity. Of this idea we shall see examples when we go on to examine the great corn-gods and wine-gods of the Mediterranean212 region.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 deities f904c4643685e6b83183b1154e6a97c2     
n.神,女神( deity的名词复数 );神祗;神灵;神明
参考例句:
  • Zeus and Aphrodite were ancient Greek deities. 宙斯和阿佛洛狄是古希腊的神。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Taoist Wang hesitated occasionally about these transactions for fearof offending the deities. 道士也有过犹豫,怕这样会得罪了神。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文
2 venerated 1cb586850c4f29e0c89c96ee106aaff4     
敬重(某人或某事物),崇敬( venerate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • My father venerated General Eisenhower. 我父亲十分敬仰艾森豪威尔将军。
  • He used the sacraments and venerated the saints. 他行使圣事,崇拜圣人。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史
3 annually VzYzNO     
adv.一年一次,每年
参考例句:
  • Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
  • They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。
4 slain slain     
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词)
参考例句:
  • The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
  • His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。
5 ram dTVxg     
(random access memory)随机存取存储器
参考例句:
  • 512k RAM is recommended and 640k RAM is preferred.推荐配置为512K内存,640K内存则更佳。
6 votaries 55bd4be7a70c73e3a135b27bb2852719     
n.信徒( votary的名词复数 );追随者;(天主教)修士;修女
参考例句:
7 foodstuff HjmxR     
n.食料,食品
参考例句:
  • They handled groceries and foodstuff.他们经营食品杂货。
  • Construct a international foodstuff promotion and exhibition trade center.建成国际食品会展经贸中心。
8 foodstuffs 574623767492eb55a85c5be0d7d719e7     
食物,食品( foodstuff的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Imports of foodstuffs accounted for a small proportion of total imports. 食物进口仅占总进口额的一小部份。
  • Many basic foodstuffs, such as bread and milk, are tax-free. 许多基本食物如牛奶和面包是免税的。
9 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。
10 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。
11 Christian KVByl     
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒
参考例句:
  • They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
  • His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
12 rev njvzwS     
v.发动机旋转,加快速度
参考例句:
  • It's his job to rev up the audience before the show starts.他要负责在表演开始前鼓动观众的热情。
  • Don't rev the engine so hard.别让发动机转得太快。
13 cultivation cnfzl     
n.耕作,培养,栽培(法),养成
参考例句:
  • The cultivation in good taste is our main objective.培养高雅情趣是我们的主要目标。
  • The land is not fertile enough to repay cultivation.这块土地不够肥沃,不值得耕种。
14 maize q2Wyb     
n.玉米
参考例句:
  • There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
  • We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。
15 celebrated iwLzpz     
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的
参考例句:
  • He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
  • The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。
16 enquire 2j5zK     
v.打听,询问;调查,查问
参考例句:
  • She wrote to enquire the cause of the delay.她只得写信去询问拖延的理由。
  • We will enquire into the matter.我们将调查这事。
17 superstition VHbzg     
n.迷信,迷信行为
参考例句:
  • It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
  • Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。
18 bespeak EQ7yI     
v.预定;预先请求
参考例句:
  • Today's events bespeak future tragedy.今天的事件预示着未来的不幸。
  • The tone of his text bespeaks certain tiredness.他的笔调透出一种倦意。
19 diverge FlTzZ     
v.分叉,分歧,离题,使...岔开,使转向
参考例句:
  • This is where our opinions diverge from each other.这就是我们意见产生分歧之处。
  • Don't diverge in your speech.发言不要离题。
20 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。
21 paradox pAxys     
n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法;自相矛盾的人(物)
参考例句:
  • The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
  • The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。
22 withering 8b1e725193ea9294ced015cd87181307     
使人畏缩的,使人害羞的,使人难堪的
参考例句:
  • She gave him a withering look. 她极其蔑视地看了他一眼。
  • The grass is gradually dried-up and withering and pallen leaves. 草渐渐干枯、枯萎并落叶。
23 parched 2mbzMK     
adj.焦干的;极渴的;v.(使)焦干
参考例句:
  • Hot winds parched the crops.热风使庄稼干透了。
  • The land in this region is rather dry and parched.这片土地十分干燥。
24 arid JejyB     
adj.干旱的;(土地)贫瘠的
参考例句:
  • These trees will shield off arid winds and protect the fields.这些树能挡住旱风,保护农田。
  • There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
25 dwindling f139f57690cdca2d2214f172b39dc0b9     
adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句
26 attains 7244c7c9830392f8f3df1cb8d96b91df     
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的第三人称单数 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况)
参考例句:
  • This is the period at which the body attains maturity. 这是身体发育成熟的时期。
  • The temperature a star attains is determined by its mass. 恒星所达到的温度取决于它的质量。
27 stature ruLw8     
n.(高度)水平,(高度)境界,身高,身材
参考例句:
  • He is five feet five inches in stature.他身高5英尺5英寸。
  • The dress models are tall of stature.时装模特儿的身材都较高。
28 varied giIw9     
adj.多样的,多变化的
参考例句:
  • The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
  • The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。
29 amicably amicably     
adv.友善地
参考例句:
  • Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵,口吻也马上变得温和了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The couple parted amicably. 这对夫妻客气地分手了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
30 alpine ozCz0j     
adj.高山的;n.高山植物
参考例句:
  • Alpine flowers are abundant there.那里有很多高山地带的花。
  • Its main attractions are alpine lakes and waterfalls .它以高山湖泊和瀑布群为主要特色。
31 rivalry tXExd     
n.竞争,竞赛,对抗
参考例句:
  • The quarrel originated in rivalry between the two families.这次争吵是两家不和引起的。
  • He had a lot of rivalry with his brothers and sisters.他和兄弟姐妹间经常较劲。
32 iris Ekly8     
n.虹膜,彩虹
参考例句:
  • The opening of the iris is called the pupil.虹膜的开口处叫做瞳孔。
  • This incredible human eye,complete with retina and iris,can be found in the Maldives.又是在马尔代夫,有这样一只难以置信的眼睛,连视网膜和虹膜都刻画齐全了。
33 enquiring 605565cef5dc23091500c2da0cf3eb71     
a.爱打听的,显得好奇的
参考例句:
  • a child with an enquiring mind 有好奇心的孩子
  • Paul darted at her sharp enquiring glances. 她的目光敏锐好奇,保罗飞快地朝她瞥了一眼。
34 domain ys8xC     
n.(活动等)领域,范围;领地,势力范围
参考例句:
  • This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
  • This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。
35 riddle WCfzw     
n.谜,谜语,粗筛;vt.解谜,给…出谜,筛,检查,鉴定,非难,充满于;vi.出谜
参考例句:
  • The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
  • Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。
36 crux 8ydxw     
adj.十字形;难事,关键,最重要点
参考例句:
  • The crux of the matter is how to comprehensively treat this trend.问题的关键是如何全面地看待这种趋势。
  • The crux of the matter is that attitudes have changed.问题的要害是人们的态度转变了。
37 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。
38 nettle KvVyt     
n.荨麻;v.烦忧,激恼
参考例句:
  • We need a government that will grasp the nettle.我们需要一个敢于大刀阔斧地处理问题的政府。
  • She mightn't be inhaled as a rose,but she might be grasped as a nettle.她不是一朵香气扑鼻的玫瑰花,但至少是可以握在手里的荨麻。
39 minor e7fzR     
adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修
参考例句:
  • The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
  • I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。
40 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。
41 premise JtYyy     
n.前提;v.提论,预述
参考例句:
  • Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
  • We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。
42 enquirer 31d8a4fd5840b80e88f4ac96ef2b9af3     
寻问者,追究者
参考例句:
  • The "National Enquirer" blazoned forth that we astronomers had really discovered another civilization. 《国民询问者》甚至宣称,我们天文学家已真正发现了其它星球上的文明。
  • Should we believe a publication like the national enquirer? 我们要相信像《国家探秘者》之类的出版物吗?
43 investigations 02de25420938593f7db7bd4052010b32     
(正式的)调查( investigation的名词复数 ); 侦查; 科学研究; 学术研究
参考例句:
  • His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查,但没有发现什么。
  • He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。
44 savage ECxzR     
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人
参考例句:
  • The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
  • He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。
45 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
46 primitive vSwz0     
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物
参考例句:
  • It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
  • His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。
47 seedling GZYxQ     
n.秧苗,树苗
参考例句:
  • She cut down the seedling with one chop.她一刀就把小苗砍倒了。
  • The seedling are coming up full and green.苗长得茁壮碧绿。
48 prone 50bzu     
adj.(to)易于…的,很可能…的;俯卧的
参考例句:
  • Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
  • He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。
49 physiological aAvyK     
adj.生理学的,生理学上的
参考例句:
  • He bought a physiological book.他买了一本生理学方面的书。
  • Every individual has a physiological requirement for each nutrient.每个人对每种营养成分都有一种生理上的需要。
50 edible Uqdxx     
n.食品,食物;adj.可食用的
参考例句:
  • Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
  • This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得,那种吃不得。
51 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。
52 provident Atayg     
adj.为将来做准备的,有先见之明的
参考例句:
  • A provident father plans for his children's education.有远见的父亲为自己孩子的教育做长远打算。
  • They are provident statesmen.他们是有远见的政治家。
53 nay unjzAQ     
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者
参考例句:
  • He was grateful for and proud of his son's remarkable,nay,unique performance.他为儿子出色的,不,应该是独一无二的表演心怀感激和骄傲。
  • Long essays,nay,whole books have been written on this.许多长篇大论的文章,不,应该说是整部整部的书都是关于这件事的。
54 positively vPTxw     
adv.明确地,断然,坚决地;实在,确实
参考例句:
  • She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
  • The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。
55 superstitious BHEzf     
adj.迷信的
参考例句:
  • They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。
  • These superstitious practices should be abolished as soon as possible.这些迷信做法应尽早取消。
56 proceeding Vktzvu     
n.行动,进行,(pl.)会议录,学报
参考例句:
  • This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
  • The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。
57 blindfold blindfold     
vt.蒙住…的眼睛;adj.盲目的;adv.盲目地;n.蒙眼的绷带[布等]; 障眼物,蒙蔽人的事物
参考例句:
  • They put a blindfold on a horse.他们给马蒙上遮眼布。
  • I can do it blindfold.我闭着眼睛都能做。
58 conjecturally 9d1edb8948e68e6ef47c1fbc9ed60d5e     
adj.推测的,好推测的
参考例句:
  • There is something undeniably conjectural about such claims. 这类声明中有些东西绝对是凭空臆测。 来自辞典例句
  • As regarded its origin there were various explanations, all of which must necessarily have been conjectural. 至于其来源,则有着种种解释,当然都是些臆测。 来自英汉文学 - 红字
59 germinated 34800fedce882b7815e35b85cf63273d     
v.(使)发芽( germinate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • First, the researchers germinated the seeds. 研究人员首先让种子发芽。 来自辞典例句
  • In spring they are germinated and grown for a year in beds. 春季里,他们在苗床发芽并生长一年。 来自辞典例句
60 savages 2ea43ddb53dad99ea1c80de05d21d1e5     
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • There're some savages living in the forest. 森林里居住着一些野人。
  • That's an island inhabited by savages. 那是一个野蛮人居住的岛屿。
61 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。
62 proximity 5RsxM     
n.接近,邻近
参考例句:
  • Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
  • Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。
63 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。
64 corpse JYiz4     
n.尸体,死尸
参考例句:
  • What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
  • The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。
65 insufficient L5vxu     
adj.(for,of)不足的,不够的
参考例句:
  • There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
  • In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代,科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。
66 mound unCzhy     
n.土墩,堤,小山;v.筑堤,用土堆防卫
参考例句:
  • The explorers climbed a mound to survey the land around them.勘探者爬上土丘去勘测周围的土地。
  • The mound can be used as our screen.这个土丘可做我们的掩蔽物。
67 eradicating cf9ed8736a32d45cce133ae90d20d180     
摧毁,完全根除( eradicate的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Objective: To study the acute and chronic toxicity of Ten-flavor-acne eradicating-capsule. 目的:探讨复方中药合剂十味平痤胶囊的急性及慢性毒性。
  • We are on the verge of eradicating polio in the world. 我们已在世界消除小儿?痹症的边缘了。
68 prelude 61Fz6     
n.序言,前兆,序曲
参考例句:
  • The prelude to the musical composition is very long.这首乐曲的序曲很长。
  • The German invasion of Poland was a prelude to World War II.德国入侵波兰是第二次世界大战的序幕。
69 otiose NJyx5     
adj.无效的,没有用的
参考例句:
  • In the knowledge that learned during school,can say basically otiose.在校期间学了的知识,可以说基本上没有用的。
  • Their policies are otiose,since there are better ways to help the poor,such as direct cash transfers.政府的政策都是多余的,因为还有别的更好的方法可以帮助穷人,如直接拨款。
70 peculiarity GiWyp     
n.独特性,特色;特殊的东西;怪癖
参考例句:
  • Each country has its own peculiarity.每个国家都有自己的独特之处。
  • The peculiarity of this shop is its day and nigth service.这家商店的特点是昼夜服务。
71 portentous Wiey5     
adj.不祥的,可怕的,装腔作势的
参考例句:
  • The present aspect of society is portentous of great change.现在的社会预示着重大变革的发生。
  • There was nothing portentous or solemn about him.He was bubbling with humour.他一点也不装腔作势或故作严肃,浑身散发着幽默。
72 naught wGLxx     
n.无,零 [=nought]
参考例句:
  • He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。
  • I hope that all your efforts won't go for naught.我希望你的努力不会毫无结果。
73 dreaded XuNzI3     
adj.令人畏惧的;害怕的v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的过去式和过去分词)
参考例句:
  • The dreaded moment had finally arrived. 可怕的时刻终于来到了。
  • He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. 他害怕非得在医院过圣诞节不可。 来自《用法词典》
74 conclusively NvVzwY     
adv.令人信服地,确凿地
参考例句:
  • All this proves conclusively that she couldn't have known the truth. 这一切无可置疑地证明她不可能知道真相。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • From the facts,he was able to determine conclusively that the death was not a suicide. 根据这些事实他断定这起死亡事件并非自杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》
75 bough 4ReyO     
n.大树枝,主枝
参考例句:
  • I rested my fishing rod against a pine bough.我把钓鱼竿靠在一棵松树的大树枝上。
  • Every bough was swinging in the wind.每条树枝都在风里摇摆。
76 scotch ZZ3x8     
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
参考例句:
  • Facts will eventually scotch these rumours.这种谣言在事实面前将不攻自破。
  • Italy was full of fine views and virtually empty of Scotch whiskey.意大利多的是美景,真正缺的是苏格兰威士忌。
77 prehistoric sPVxQ     
adj.(有记载的)历史以前的,史前的,古老的
参考例句:
  • They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
  • It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。
78 knolls 10e6bc9e96f97e83fad35374bcf19f02     
n.小圆丘,小土墩( knoll的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • He carefully surveyed the ridges and knolls once more, and also the ravines and gullies. 他又注意地巡视着那些梁和峁,还有沟和壑。 来自互联网
79 analogous aLdyQ     
adj.相似的;类似的
参考例句:
  • The two situations are roughly analogous.两种情況大致相似。
  • The company is in a position closely analogous to that of its main rival.该公司与主要竞争对手的处境极为相似。
80 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。
81 favourable favourable     
adj.赞成的,称赞的,有利的,良好的,顺利的
参考例句:
  • The company will lend you money on very favourable terms.这家公司将以非常优惠的条件借钱给你。
  • We found that most people are favourable to the idea.我们发现大多数人同意这个意见。
82 vigour lhtwr     
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力
参考例句:
  • She is full of vigour and enthusiasm.她有热情,有朝气。
  • At 40,he was in his prime and full of vigour.他40岁时正年富力强。
83 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
84 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
85 preamble 218ze     
n.前言;序文
参考例句:
  • He spoke without preamble.他没有开场白地讲起来。
  • The controversy has arisen over the text of the preamble to the unification treaty.针对统一条约的序文出现了争论。
86 germination e3b6166de2e0bafce0467a9f740b91e3     
n.萌芽,发生;萌发;生芽;催芽
参考例句:
  • At the onset of germination, the hypocotyl elongates rapidly by cell enlargement. 萌发开始时,下胚轴依靠细胞增大而迅速伸长。 来自辞典例句
  • Excessive moisture is unfavourable for soybean germination. 水分过多对于大豆萌发是不利的。 来自辞典例句
87 rites 5026f3cfef698ee535d713fec44bcf27     
仪式,典礼( rite的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • to administer the last rites to sb 给某人举行临终圣事
  • He is interested in mystic rites and ceremonies. 他对神秘的仪式感兴趣。
88 rite yCmzq     
n.典礼,惯例,习俗
参考例句:
  • This festival descends from a religious rite.这个节日起源于宗教仪式。
  • Most traditional societies have transition rites at puberty.大多数传统社会都为青春期的孩子举行成人礼。
89 lapse t2lxL     
n.过失,流逝,失效,抛弃信仰,间隔;vi.堕落,停止,失效,流逝;vt.使失效
参考例句:
  • The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
  • I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。
90 barley 2dQyq     
n.大麦,大麦粒
参考例句:
  • They looked out across the fields of waving barley.他们朝田里望去,只见大麦随风摇摆。
  • He cropped several acres with barley.他种了几英亩大麦。
91 recapitulate CU9xx     
v.节述要旨,择要说明
参考例句:
  • Let's recapitulate the main ideas.让我们来概括一下要点。
  • It will be helpful to recapitulate them.在这里将其简要重述一下也是有帮助的。
92 remarkable 8Vbx6     
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的
参考例句:
  • She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
  • These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。
93 collateral wqhzH     
adj.平行的;旁系的;n.担保品
参考例句:
  • Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
  • Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押,这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。
94 consecrated consecrated     
adj.神圣的,被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣,给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 );奉献
参考例句:
  • The church was consecrated in 1853. 这座教堂于1853年祝圣。
  • They consecrated a temple to their god. 他们把庙奉献给神。 来自《简明英汉词典》
95 mingled fdf34efd22095ed7e00f43ccc823abdf     
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系]
参考例句:
  • The sounds of laughter and singing mingled in the evening air. 笑声和歌声交织在夜空中。
  • The man and the woman mingled as everyone started to relax. 当大家开始放松的时候,这一男一女就开始交往了。
96 deference mmKzz     
n.尊重,顺从;敬意
参考例句:
  • Do you treat your parents and teachers with deference?你对父母师长尊敬吗?
  • The major defect of their work was deference to authority.他们的主要缺陷是趋从权威。
97 procure A1GzN     
vt.获得,取得,促成;vi.拉皮条
参考例句:
  • Can you procure some specimens for me?你能替我弄到一些标本吗?
  • I'll try my best to procure you that original French novel.我将尽全力给你搞到那本原版法国小说。
98 shred ETYz6     
v.撕成碎片,变成碎片;n.碎布条,细片,些少
参考例句:
  • There is not a shred of truth in what he says.他说的全是骗人的鬼话。
  • The food processor can shred all kinds of vegetables.这架食品加工机可将各种蔬菜切丝切条。
99 hacked FrgzgZ     
生气
参考例句:
  • I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
  • I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。
100 mimic PD2xc     
v.模仿,戏弄;n.模仿他人言行的人
参考例句:
  • A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
  • He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。
101 scattered 7jgzKF     
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的
参考例句:
  • Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来,塞进文件夹里。
102 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
103 essentially nntxw     
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上
参考例句:
  • Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
  • She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。
104 germinates 335cd40ecc52b44d57012bca267e68c3     
n.(使)发芽( germinate的名词复数 )v.(使)发芽( germinate的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • Water Chestnut germinates and grows again. 冬天枯萎了的马蹄都再次萌芽生长。 来自互联网
  • Once the seed germinates very carefully remove it from the sand, vermiculite, or burlap bags. 种子一旦发芽后,小心从沙地、蛭石或者粗布麻袋把它拿走。 来自互联网
105 distress 3llzX     
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛
参考例句:
  • Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
  • Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。
106 honourable honourable     
adj.可敬的;荣誉的,光荣的
参考例句:
  • I don't think I am worthy of such an honourable title.这样的光荣称号,我可担当不起。
  • I hope to find an honourable way of settling difficulties.我希望设法找到一个体面的办法以摆脱困境。
107 upbraid jUNzP     
v.斥责,责骂,责备
参考例句:
  • The old man upbraided him with ingratitude.那位老人斥责他忘恩负义。
  • His wife set about upbraiding him for neglecting the children.他妻子开始指责他不照顾孩子。
108 worthy vftwB     
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的
参考例句:
  • I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
  • There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。
109 opium c40zw     
n.鸦片;adj.鸦片的
参考例句:
  • That man gave her a dose of opium.那男人给了她一剂鸦片。
  • Opium is classed under the head of narcotic.鸦片是归入麻醉剂一类的东西。
110 specify evTwm     
vt.指定,详细说明
参考例句:
  • We should specify a time and a place for the meeting.我们应指定会议的时间和地点。
  • Please specify what you will do.请你详述一下你将做什么。
111 cleft awEzGG     
n.裂缝;adj.裂开的
参考例句:
  • I hid the message in a cleft in the rock.我把情报藏在石块的裂缝里。
  • He was cleft from his brother during the war.在战争期间,他与他的哥哥分离。
112 prodigal qtsym     
adj.浪费的,挥霍的,放荡的
参考例句:
  • He has been prodigal of the money left by his parents.他已挥霍掉他父母留下的钱。
  • The country has been prodigal of its forests.这个国家的森林正受过度的采伐。
113 sprouted 6e3d9efcbfe061af8882b5b12fd52864     
v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 );抽芽;出现;(使)涌现出
参考例句:
  • We can't use these potatoes; they've all sprouted. 这些土豆儿不能吃了,都出芽了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The rice seeds have sprouted. 稻种已经出芽了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
114 deity UmRzp     
n.神,神性;被奉若神明的人(或物)
参考例句:
  • Many animals were seen as the manifestation of a deity.许多动物被看作神的化身。
  • The deity was hidden in the deepest recesses of the temple.神藏在庙宇壁龛的最深处。
115 sprouts 7250d0f3accee8359a172a38c37bd325     
n.新芽,嫩枝( sprout的名词复数 )v.发芽( sprout的第三人称单数 );抽芽;出现;(使)涌现出
参考例句:
  • The wheat sprouts grew perceptibly after the rain. 下了一场雨,麦苗立刻见长。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The sprouts have pushed up the earth. 嫩芽把土顶起来了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
116 omission mjcyS     
n.省略,删节;遗漏或省略的事物,冗长
参考例句:
  • The omission of the girls was unfair.把女孩排除在外是不公平的。
  • The omission of this chapter from the third edition was a gross oversight.第三版漏印这一章是个大疏忽。
117 pumpkins 09a64387fb624e33eb24dc6c908c2681     
n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 );南瓜的果肉,南瓜囊
参考例句:
  • I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜,但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸,并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分(高三)
118 tribal ifwzzw     
adj.部族的,种族的
参考例句:
  • He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
  • The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。
119 impale h4iym     
v.用尖物刺某人、某物
参考例句:
  • Do not push me,or I wil impale you on my horns!别推我,要不我会用我的角顶你。
  • I poisoned him,but I did not impale him on a spear!我毒死了他,但是我没有把他插在长矛上!
121 intoxicated 350bfb35af86e3867ed55bb2af85135f     
喝醉的,极其兴奋的
参考例句:
  • She was intoxicated with success. 她为成功所陶醉。
  • They became deeply intoxicated and totally disoriented. 他们酩酊大醉,东南西北全然不辨。
122 scattering 91b52389e84f945a976e96cd577a4e0c     
n.[物]散射;散乱,分散;在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的;分散在不同范围的;广泛扩散的;(选票)数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式);散布;驱散
参考例句:
  • The child felle into a rage and began scattering its toys about. 这孩子突发狂怒,把玩具扔得满地都是。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The farmers are scattering seed. 农夫们在播种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
123 punctured 921f9ed30229127d0004d394b2c18311     
v.在(某物)上穿孔( puncture的过去式和过去分词 );刺穿(某物);削弱(某人的傲气、信心等);泄某人的气
参考例句:
  • Some glass on the road punctured my new tyre. 路上的玻璃刺破了我的新轮胎。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • A nail on the road punctured the tyre. 路上的钉子把车胎戳穿了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
124 devoured af343afccf250213c6b0cadbf3a346a9     
吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光
参考例句:
  • She devoured everything she could lay her hands on: books, magazines and newspapers. 无论是书、杂志,还是报纸,只要能弄得到,她都看得津津有味。
  • The lions devoured a zebra in a short time. 狮子一会儿就吃掉了一匹斑马。
125 interpretation P5jxQ     
n.解释,说明,描述;艺术处理
参考例句:
  • His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
  • Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。
126 immolation wazx9     
n.牺牲品
参考例句:
  • We still do;living in a world in which underclared aggression, war,hypocrisy,chicanery,anarchy and impending immolation are part of our daily lives, we all want a code to live by. 我们仍然有这种感觉;生活在一个不宣而战的侵略、战争、虚伪、诈骗、混乱以及迫在眉睫的杀戮充斥着我们日常生活的世界里,我们都想有一种能赖以生存的准则。
  • The Emperor had these clay figures made instead of burying slave-workers alive as immolation. 秦始皇用泥塑造了这批俑,没有活埋奴隶作为殉葬。
127 concurrence InAyF     
n.同意;并发
参考例句:
  • There is a concurrence of opinion between them.他们的想法一致。
  • The concurrence of their disappearances had to be more than coincidental.他们同时失踪肯定不仅仅是巧合。
128 teem Cqwy4     
vi.(with)充满,多产
参考例句:
  • Good ideas teem in her head.她的头脑里好主意极多。
  • Fish teem in the Chinese waters.中国近海鱼产丰富。
129 relics UkMzSr     
[pl.]n.遗物,遗迹,遗产;遗体,尸骸
参考例句:
  • The area is a treasure house of archaeological relics. 这个地区是古文物遗迹的宝库。
  • Xi'an is an ancient city full of treasures and saintly relics. 西安是一个有很多宝藏和神圣的遗物的古老城市。
130 folklore G6myz     
n.民间信仰,民间传说,民俗
参考例句:
  • Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
  • In Chinese folklore the bat is an emblem of good fortune.在中国的民间传说中蝙蝠是好运的象征。
131 scourge FD2zj     
n.灾难,祸害;v.蹂躏
参考例句:
  • Smallpox was once the scourge of the world.天花曾是世界的大患。
  • The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient.新老板来了以后,不称职的人就遭殃了。
132 buffalo 1Sby4     
n.(北美)野牛;(亚洲)水牛
参考例句:
  • Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
  • The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。
133 calf ecLye     
n.小牛,犊,幼仔,小牛皮
参考例句:
  • The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
  • The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。
134 civilisation civilisation     
n.文明,文化,开化,教化
参考例句:
  • Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
  • This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。
135 shrine 0yfw7     
n.圣地,神龛,庙;v.将...置于神龛内,把...奉为神圣
参考例句:
  • The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
  • They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。
136 vessels fc9307c2593b522954eadb3ee6c57480     
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人
参考例句:
  • The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
137 attenuated d547804f5ac8a605def5470fdb566b22     
v.(使)变细( attenuate的过去式和过去分词 );(使)变薄;(使)变小;减弱
参考例句:
  • an attenuated form of the virus 毒性已衰减的病毒
  • You're a seraphic suggestion of attenuated thought . 你的思想是轻灵得如同天使一般的。 来自辞典例句
138 cognate MqHz1     
adj.同类的,同源的,同族的;n.同家族的人,同源词
参考例句:
  • Mathematics and astronomy are cognate sciences.数学和天文学是互相关联的科学。
  • English,Dutch and German are cognate languages. 英语、荷兰语、德语是同语族的语言。
139 barbarians c52160827c97a5d2143268a1299b1903     
n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 );外国人;粗野的人;无教养的人
参考例句:
  • The ancient city of Rome fell under the iron hooves of the barbarians. 古罗马城在蛮族的铁蹄下沦陷了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • It conquered its conquerors, the barbarians. 它战胜了征服者——蛮族。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
140 furrow X6dyf     
n.沟;垄沟;轨迹;车辙;皱纹
参考例句:
  • The tractor has make deep furrow in the loose sand.拖拉机在松软的沙土上留下了深深的车辙。
  • Mei did not weep.She only bit her lips,and the furrow in her brow deepened.梅埋下头,她咬了咬嘴唇皮,额上的皱纹显得更深了。
141 benediction 6Q4y0     
n.祝福;恩赐
参考例句:
  • The priest pronounced a benediction over the couple at the end of the marriage ceremony.牧师在婚礼结束时为新婚夫妇祈求上帝赐福。
  • He went abroad with his parents' benediction.他带着父母的祝福出国去了。
142 aboriginal 1IeyD     
adj.(指动植物)土生的,原产地的,土著的
参考例句:
  • They managed to wipe out the entire aboriginal population.他们终于把那些土著人全部消灭了。
  • The lndians are the aboriginal Americans.印第安人是美国的土著人。
143 kinsman t2Xxq     
n.男亲属
参考例句:
  • Tracing back our genealogies,I found he was a kinsman of mine.转弯抹角算起来他算是我的一个亲戚。
  • A near friend is better than a far dwelling kinsman.近友胜过远亲。
144 intrusive Palzu     
adj.打搅的;侵扰的
参考例句:
  • The cameras were not an intrusive presence.那些摄像机的存在并不令人反感。
  • Staffs are courteous but never intrusive.员工谦恭有礼却从不让人感到唐突。
145 prostrating 482e821b17a343ce823104178045bf20     
v.使俯伏,使拜倒( prostrate的现在分词 );(指疾病、天气等)使某人无能为力
参考例句:
  • The pain associated with pancreatitis has been described as prostrating. 胰腺炎的疼痛曾被描述为衰竭性的。 来自辞典例句
146 perquisite KMgxG     
n.固定津贴,福利
参考例句:
  • Perquisites include the use of the company car.福利包括可以使用公司的汽车。
  • Politics in Britain used to be the perquisite of the property-owning classes.英国的政治以往是有产阶级的特权。
147 slaughter 8Tpz1     
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀
参考例句:
  • I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
  • Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。
148 slaughtered 59ed88f0d23c16f58790fb11c4a5055d     
v.屠杀,杀戮,屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》
149 oracles 57445499052d70517ac12f6dfd90be96     
神示所( oracle的名词复数 ); 神谕; 圣贤; 哲人
参考例句:
  • Do all oracles tell the truth? 是否所有的神谕都揭示真理? 来自哲学部分
  • The ancient oracles were often vague and equivocal. 古代的神谕常是意义模糊和模棱两可的。
150 affiliation MKnya     
n.联系,联合
参考例句:
  • There is no affiliation between our organization and theirs,even though our names are similar.尽管两个组织的名称相似,但我们之间并没有关系。
  • The kidnappers had no affiliation with any militant group.这些绑架者与任何军事组织都没有紧密联系。
151 situated JiYzBH     
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的
参考例句:
  • The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
  • She is awkwardly situated.她的处境困难。
152 moor T6yzd     
n.荒野,沼泽;vt.(使)停泊;vi.停泊
参考例句:
  • I decided to moor near some tourist boats.我决定在一些观光船附近停泊。
  • There were hundreds of the old huts on the moor.沼地上有成百上千的古老的石屋。
153 ploy FuQyE     
n.花招,手段
参考例句:
  • I think this is just a government ploy to deceive the public.我认为这只是政府欺骗公众的手段。
  • Christmas should be a time of excitement and wonder,not a cynical marketing ploy.圣诞节应该是兴奋和美妙的时刻,而不该是一种肆无忌惮的营销策略。
154 granite Kyqyu     
adj.花岗岩,花岗石
参考例句:
  • They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
  • The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。
155 devourer 4d5777d9e8a6bdeed306bd78c1ba5bc3     
吞噬者
参考例句:
  • All hail Abaddon, the Great Devourer. 魔王(亚巴顿)万岁!伟大的吞噬者。
  • You summon a goddamn Devourer on my turf, and I just let it go? 你在我的地盘召唤了一只吞噬者,而我只是视而不见?
156 copious koizs     
adj.丰富的,大量的
参考例句:
  • She supports her theory with copious evidences.她以大量的例证来充实自己的理论。
  • Every star is a copious source of neutrinos.每颗恒星都是丰富的中微子源。
157 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
158 renewal UtZyW     
adj.(契约)延期,续订,更新,复活,重来
参考例句:
  • Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
  • Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。
159 proceedings Wk2zvX     
n.进程,过程,议程;诉讼(程序);公报
参考例句:
  • He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
  • to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼
160 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
161 dearth dYOzS     
n.缺乏,粮食不足,饥谨
参考例句:
  • There is a dearth of good children's plays.目前缺少优秀的儿童剧。
  • Many people in that country died because of dearth of food.那个国家有许多人因为缺少粮食而死。
162 illustrates a03402300df9f3e3716d9eb11aae5782     
给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 ); 说明; 表明; (用示例、图画等)说明
参考例句:
  • This historical novel illustrates the breaking up of feudal society in microcosm. 这部历史小说是走向崩溃的封建社会的缩影。
  • Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had an experience which illustrates this. 阿尔弗莱德 - 阿德勒是一位著名的医生,他有过可以说明这点的经历。 来自中级百科部分
163 elusive d8vyH     
adj.难以表达(捉摸)的;令人困惑的;逃避的
参考例句:
  • Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
  • Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。
164 merge qCpxF     
v.(使)结合,(使)合并,(使)合为一体
参考例句:
  • I can merge my two small businesses into a large one.我可以将我的两家小商店合并为一家大商行。
  • The directors have decided to merge the two small firms together.董事们已决定把这两家小商号归并起来。
165 blessing UxDztJ     
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿
参考例句:
  • The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
  • A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。
166 concealed 0v3zxG     
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的
参考例句:
  • The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
  • I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。
167 analogue SLryQ     
n.类似物;同源语
参考例句:
  • The gill of a fish is the analogue of the lung of a cat.鱼的鳃和猫的肺是类似物。
  • But aside from that analogue standby,the phone, videoconferencing is their favorite means of communication.除了备用的相似物电话,可视对话是他们最喜欢的沟通手段。
168 merges a03f3f696e7db24b06d3a6b806144742     
(使)混合( merge的第三人称单数 ); 相融; 融入; 渐渐消失在某物中
参考例句:
  • The 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Mo Yan"who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary". 2012年诺贝尔文学奖得主为莫言,他“很好地将魔幻现实与民间故事、历史与当代结合在一起”。
  • A device that collates, merges, or matches sets of punched cards or other documents. 一种整理、合并或比较一组穿孔卡片或其它文档的设备。
169 envisaged 40d5ad82152f6e596b8f8c766f0778db     
想像,设想( envisage的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He envisaged an old age of loneliness and poverty. 他面对着一个孤独而贫困的晚年。
  • Henry Ford envisaged an important future for the motor car. 亨利·福特为汽车设想了一个远大前程。
170 mitigated 11f6ba011e9341e258d534efd94f05b2     
v.减轻,缓和( mitigate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The cost of getting there is mitigated by Sydney's offer of a subsidy. 由于悉尼提供补助金,所以到那里的花费就减少了。 来自辞典例句
  • The living conditions were slightly mitigated. 居住条件稍有缓解。 来自辞典例句
171 carnival 4rezq     
n.嘉年华会,狂欢,狂欢节,巡回表演
参考例句:
  • I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
  • Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。
172 effigy Vjezy     
n.肖像
参考例句:
  • There the effigy stands,and stares from age to age across the changing ocean.雕像依然耸立在那儿,千秋万载地凝视着那变幻无常的大海。
  • The deposed dictator was burned in effigy by the crowd.群众焚烧退位独裁者的模拟像。
173 piecemeal oNIxE     
adj.零碎的;n.片,块;adv.逐渐地;v.弄成碎块
参考例句:
  • A lack of narrative drive leaves the reader with piecemeal vignettes.叙述缺乏吸引力,读者读到的只是一些支离破碎的片段。
  • Let's settle the matter at one stroke,not piecemeal.把这事一气儿解决了吧,别零敲碎打了。
174 dirges cc05dce1b828dae30a63a98483ec1ec3     
n.挽歌( dirge的名词复数 );忧伤的歌,哀歌
参考例句:
  • The radio played dirges all day long. 广播电台整天都在播放哀乐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • It was as if the Night sang dirges with clenched teeth. 那仿佛是夜神正在那儿咬牙切齿地唱挽歌。 来自辞典例句
175 gushed de5babf66f69bac96b526188524783de     
v.喷,涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 );滔滔不绝地说话
参考例句:
  • Oil gushed from the well. 石油从井口喷了出来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Clear water gushed into the irrigational channel. 清澈的水涌进了灌溉渠道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
176 walnuts 465c6356861ea8aca24192b9eacd42e8     
胡桃(树)( walnut的名词复数 ); 胡桃木
参考例句:
  • Are there walnuts in this sauce? 这沙司里面有核桃吗?
  • We ate eggs and bacon, pickled walnuts and cheese. 我们吃鸡蛋,火腿,腌胡桃仁和干酪。
177 figs 14c6a7d3f55a72d6eeba2b7b66c6d0ab     
figures 数字,图形,外形
参考例句:
  • The effect of ring dyeing is shown in Figs 10 and 11. 环形染色的影响如图10和图11所示。
  • The results in Figs. 4 and 5 show the excellent agreement between simulation and experiment. 图4和图5的结果都表明模拟和实验是相当吻合的。
178 scrambled 2e4a1c533c25a82f8e80e696225a73f2     
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞
参考例句:
  • Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
179 scramble JDwzg     
v.爬行,攀爬,杂乱蔓延,碎片,片段,废料
参考例句:
  • He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
  • It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。
180 coffin XWRy7     
n.棺材,灵柩
参考例句:
  • When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
  • The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。
181 wailing 25fbaeeefc437dc6816eab4c6298b423     
v.哭叫,哀号( wail的现在分词 );沱
参考例句:
  • A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
  • The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。
182 wrestles bdef7c841834b3bf99a24907d02ed3eb     
v.(与某人)搏斗( wrestle的第三人称单数 );扭成一团;扭打;(与…)摔跤
参考例句:
  • The book also wrestles with the idea of individualism. 书中也与个人英雄主义的观念进行搏斗。 来自互联网
  • He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. 和我们搏斗的人锻炼了我们的勇气,磨练了我们的技能。 来自互联网
183 vanquishes 6de0fb0f96b00005572c7ca9227a8adb     
v.征服( vanquish的第三人称单数 );战胜;克服;抑制
参考例句:
184 epics a6d7b651e63ea6619a4e096bc4fb9453     
n.叙事诗( epic的名词复数 );壮举;惊人之举;史诗般的电影(或书籍)
参考例句:
  • one of the great Hindu epics 伟大的印度教史诗之一
  • Homer Iliad and Milton's Paradise Lost are epics. 荷马的《伊利亚特》和弥尔顿的《失乐园》是史诗。 来自互联网
185 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》
186 sergeants c7d22f6a91d2c5f9f5a4fd4d5721dfa0     
警官( sergeant的名词复数 ); (美国警察)警佐; (英国警察)巡佐; 陆军(或空军)中士
参考例句:
  • Platoon sergeants fell their men in on the barrack square. 排长们在营房广场上整顿队伍。
  • The recruits were soon licked into shape by the drill sergeants. 新兵不久便被教育班长训练得象样了。
187 mire 57ZzT     
n.泥沼,泥泞;v.使...陷于泥泞,使...陷入困境
参考例句:
  • I don't want my son's good name dragged through the mire.我不想使我儿子的名誉扫地。
  • He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。
188 degenerated 41e5137359bcc159984e1d58f1f76d16     
衰退,堕落,退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The march degenerated into a riot. 示威游行变成了暴动。
  • The wide paved road degenerated into a narrow bumpy track. 铺好的宽阔道路渐渐变窄,成了一条崎岖不平的小径。
189 persistent BSUzg     
adj.坚持不懈的,执意的;持续的
参考例句:
  • Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
  • She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤,使她很难为情。
190 tragic inaw2     
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的
参考例句:
  • The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
  • Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。
191 hideous 65KyC     
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的
参考例句:
  • The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
  • They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗,是丑陋的畜牲。
192 intoxicating sqHzLB     
a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的
参考例句:
  • Power can be intoxicating. 权力能让人得意忘形。
  • On summer evenings the flowers gave forth an almost intoxicating scent. 夏日的傍晚,鲜花散发出醉人的芳香。
193 scourging 5bf93af0c4874226c0372834975a75c0     
鞭打( scourge的现在分词 ); 惩罚,压迫
参考例句:
  • I should not deserve such a scourging to the bone as this. 我也不应该受这样痛澈骨髓的鞭打呀。
  • The shroud also contains traces of blood and marks consistent with scourging and crucifixion. 这张裹尸布上有着鲜血的痕迹以及带有苦难与拷问的标记。
194 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。
195 corpses 2e7a6f2b001045a825912208632941b2     
n.死尸,尸体( corpse的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云,同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
196 animate 3MDyv     
v.赋于生命,鼓励;adj.有生命的,有生气的
参考例句:
  • We are animate beings,living creatures.我们是有生命的存在,有生命的动物。
  • The girls watched,little teasing smiles animating their faces.女孩们注视着,脸上挂着调皮的微笑,显得愈加活泼。
197 fertilize hk5x8     
v.使受精,施肥于,使肥沃
参考例句:
  • Fertilizer is a substance put on land to fertilize it.肥料是施在地里使之肥沃的物质。
  • Reading will fertilize his vocabulary.阅读会丰富他的词汇。
198 savagery pCozS     
n.野性
参考例句:
  • The police were shocked by the savagery of the attacks.警察对这些惨无人道的袭击感到震惊。
  • They threw away their advantage by their savagery to the black population.他们因为野蛮对待黑人居民而丧失了自己的有利地位。
199 symbolical nrqwT     
a.象征性的
参考例句:
  • The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real. 今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的,无甚实际意义。
  • The Lord introduces the first symbolical language in Revelation. 主说明了启示录中第一个象徵的语言。
200 formerly ni3x9     
adv.从前,以前
参考例句:
  • We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
  • This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。
201 missionary ID8xX     
adj.教会的,传教(士)的;n.传教士
参考例句:
  • She taught in a missionary school for a couple of years.她在一所教会学校教了两年书。
  • I hope every member understands the value of missionary work. 我希望教友都了解传教工作的价值。
202 bestow 9t3zo     
v.把…赠与,把…授予;花费
参考例句:
  • He wished to bestow great honors upon the hero.他希望将那些伟大的荣誉授予这位英雄。
  • What great inspiration wiII you bestow on me?你有什么伟大的灵感能馈赠给我?
203 plantations ee6ea2c72cc24bed200cd75cf6fbf861     
n.种植园,大农场( plantation的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园,使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
  • Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后,那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句
204 mounds dd943890a7780b264a2a6c1fa8d084a3     
土堆,土丘( mound的名词复数 ); 一大堆
参考例句:
  • We had mounds of tasteless rice. 我们有成堆成堆的淡而无味的米饭。
  • Ah! and there's the cemetery' - cemetery, he must have meant. 'You see the mounds? 啊,这就是同墓,”——我想他要说的一定是公墓,“看到那些土墩了吗?
205 circumference HOszh     
n.圆周,周长,圆周线
参考例句:
  • It's a mile round the circumference of the field.运动场周长一英里。
  • The diameter and the circumference of a circle correlate.圆的直径与圆周有相互关系。
206 summarise summarise     
vt.概括,总结
参考例句:
  • I will summarise what I have done.我将概述我所做的事情。
  • Of course,no one article can summarise the complexities of china today.当然,没有哪一篇文章能概括出中国今日的复杂性。
207 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。
208 guardian 8ekxv     
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者
参考例句:
  • The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
  • The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。
209 ripens 51963c68379ce47fb3f18e4b6ed340d0     
v.成熟,使熟( ripen的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The sun ripens the crops. 太阳使庄稼成熟。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Then their seed ripens, and soon they turn brown and shrivel up. 随后,它们的种子熟了,不久就变枯萎。 来自辞典例句
210 ripen ph3yq     
vt.使成熟;vi.成熟
参考例句:
  • I'm waiting for the apples to ripen.我正在等待苹果成熟。
  • You can ripen the tomatoes on a sunny windowsill.把西红柿放在有阳光的窗台上可以让它们成熟。
211 predecessor qP9x0     
n.前辈,前任
参考例句:
  • It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
  • The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。
212 Mediterranean ezuzT     
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的
参考例句:
  • The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
  • Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。


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