He saw nothing even when they passed a house with a red light beforewhich little girls of twelve were selling flowers. Neither of the men,living for a single fixed idea, caught the accent of evil in the child'svoice as she stepped squarely in front of them and said:
"What's ye hurry?"When they turned aside she piped again:
"Won't ye come in?"They merely passed on. The infinite pathos3 of the scene had made noimpression. That this child's presence on the streets was enough todamn the whole system of society to the lowest hell never dawned on thephilanthropist or the man of Action.
The crowd in the hall was not large. The place was about half full andit seated barely five hundred. The masses of the North as yet took nostock in the Abolition4 Crusade.
They felt the terrific pressure of the problem of life at home tookeenly to go into hysterics over the evils of Negro Slavery in theSouth. William Lloyd Garrison5 had been preaching his denunciations fortwenty-one years and its fruits were small. The masses of the peoplewere indifferent.
But a man was pushing his way to the platform of the little hallto-night who was destined7 to do a deed that would accomplish what allthe books and all the magazines and all the newspapers of the Crusadershad tried in vain to do.
Small as the crowd was, there was something sinister8 in its composition.
Half of them were foreigners. It was the first wave of the flood ofdegradation for our racial stock in the North--the racial stock of JohnAdams and John Hancock.
A few workingmen were scattered9 among them. Fifty or sixty negroesoccupied the front rows. Sam had secured a seat on the aisle10. GerritSmith rose without ceremony and introduced Brown. There were no womenpresent. He used the formal address to the American voter:
"Fellow Citizens:
"I have the honor to present to you to-night a man chosen of God to leadour people out of the darkness of sin, my fellow worker in the Kingdom,the friend of the downtrodden and the oppressed, John Brown."Faint applause greeted the old man as he moved briskly to the littletable with his quick, springing step.
He fixed the people with his brilliant eyes and they were silent. He wasslow of speech, awkward in gesture, and without skill in the building ofideas to hold the imagination of the typical crowd.
It was not a typical crowd of American freemen. It was something newunder the sun in our history. It was the beginning of the coming mobmind destined to use Direct Action in defiance11 of the Laws on which theRepublic had been built.
There was no mistaking the message Brown bore. He proclaimed that thenegro is the blood brother of the white man. The color of his skin wasan accident. This white man with a black skin was now being beaten andground into the dust by the infamy12 of his masters. Their crimes criedto God for vengeance13. All the negro needed was freedom to transform himinto a white man--your equal and mine. At present, our brothers andsisters are groaning14 in chains on Southern plantations15. His vaultingmetallic tones throbbed16 with a strange, cold passion as he called forAction.
The vibrant17 call for bloodshed in this cry melted the crowd into a newpersonality. The mildest spirit among them was merged18 into the mobmind of the speaker. And every man within the sound of his voice was amurderer.
The final leap of the speaker's soul into an expression of supreme19 hatefor the Southern white man found its instant echo in the mob whichhe had created. They demanded no facts. They asked no reasons. Theyaccepted his statements as the oracle20 of God. They were opinions,beliefs, dogmas, the cries of propaganda only--precisely the food neededfor developing the mob mind to its full strength. Envy, jealousy21, hatredruled supreme. Liberty was a catchword. Blood lust22 was the motive23 powerdriving each heart beat.
Brown suddenly stopped. His speech had reached no climax24. It had rambledinto repetition. Its power consisted in the repetition of a fixedthought. He knew the power of this repeated hammering on the mind. Anidea can be repeated until it is believed, true or false. He had poundedhis message into his hearers until they were incapable25 of resistance. Itwas unnecessary for him to continue. He stopped so suddenly, they waitedin silence for him to go on after he had taken his seat.
A faint applause again swept the front of the house. There was somethinguncanny about the man that hushed applause. They knew that he wasindifferent to it. Hidden fires burned within him that lighted the wayof life. He needed no torches held on high. He asked no honors.
He expected no applause and he got little. What he did demand wassubmission to his will and obedience26 as followers27.
Gerrit Smith rose with this thought gripping his gentle spirit. Hiswords came automatically as if driven by another's mind.
"Our friend and leader has dedicated28 his life to the service ofsuffering humanity. It is our duty to follow. The first step is tosacrifice our money in his cause."The ushers30 passed the baskets and Sam's heart warmed as he heard thecoin rattle32. His eyes bulged33 when he saw that one of them had a pile ofbills in it that covered the coin. He heard the great and good man saythat it was for the poor brother in black. He saw visions of a warmroom, of clean food and plenty of it.
He was glad he'd come, although he didn't like the look in John Brown'seyes while he spoke34. Their fierce light seemed to bore through him andhurt. Now that he was seated and his eyes half closed, uplifted towardthe ceiling, he wasn't so formidable. He rather liked him sitting down.
The ushers poured the money on the table and counted it. Sam had notseen so much money together since he piled his five hundred dollars ingold in a stack and looked at it. He watched the count with fascination35.
There must be a thousand at least.
He was shocked when the head usher31 leaned over the edge of the platform,and whispered to Smith the total.
"Eighty-five dollars."Sam glanced sadly at the two rows of negroes in front. There wouldn'tbe much for each. He took courage in the thought, however, that some ofthem were well-to-do and wouldn't ask their share. He was sure of thisbecause he had seen three or four put something in the baskets.
Gerrit Smith announced the amount of the collection with someembarrassment and heartily36 added:
"My check for a hundred and fifteen dollars makes the sum an even twohundred."That was something worth while. Smith and Brown held a conference aboutthe announcement of another meeting as Sam whispered to the head usher:
"Could ye des gimme mine now an' lemme go?""Yours?""Yassah.""Your share of the collection?"The usher eyed him in scorn.
"To be sho," Sam answered confidently. "Yer tuk it up fer de po' blackman. I'se black, an' God knows I'se po'.""You're a poor fool!""What ye take hit up fer den6?""To support John Brown, not to feed lazy, good-for-nothing, freenegroes."Sam turned from the man in disgust. He was about to rise and shambleback to his miserable37 pallet when a sudden craning of necks and movingof feet drew his eye toward the door.
He saw a man stalking down the aisle. He carried on his left arm alittle bundle of filthy38 rags. He mounted the platform and spoke to theChairman:
"Mr. Smith, may I say just a word to this meeting?"The Philanthropist Congressman39 recognized him instantly as the mosteloquent orator40 in the labor41 movement in America. He had met him at aReform Convention. He rose at once.
"Certainly.""Fellow Citizens, Mr. George Evans, the leading advocate of OrganizedLabor in America, wishes to speak to you. Will you hear him?""Yes! Yes! Yes!" came from all parts of the house.
The man began in quivering tones that held Sam and gripped the unwillingmind of the crowd:
"My friends: Just a few words. I have in my arms the still breathingskeleton of a little girl. I found her in a street behind this buildingwithin the sound of the voice of your speaker."He paused and waved to John Brown.
"She was fighting with a stray cat for a crust of bread in a garbagepail. I hold her on high."With both hands he lifted the dazed thing above his head.
"Look at her. This bundle of rags God made in the form of a woman to bethe mother of the race. She has been thrown into your streets to starve.
Her father is a workingman whom I know. For six months, out of work,he fought with death and hell, and hell won. He is now in prison. Hermother, unable to support herself and child, sought oblivion in drink.
She's in the gutter42 to-night. Her brother has joined a gang on the EastSide. Her sister is a girl of the streets.
"You talk to me of Negro Slavery in the South? Behold43 the child of theWhite Wage Slave of the North! Why are you crying over the poor negro?
In the South the master owns the slave. Here the master owns the job.
Down there the master feeds, clothes and houses his man with care. Blackchildren laugh and play. Here the master who owns the job buys labor inthe open market. He can get it from a man for 75 cents a day. From awoman for 30 cents a day. When he has bought the last ounce of strengththey can give, the master of the wage slave kicks him out to freeze orstarve or sink into crime.
"You tell me of the white master's lust down South? I tell you of thewhite master's lust for the daughters of our own race.
"I see a foreman of a factory sitting in this crowd. I've known him forten years. I've talked with a score of his victims. He has the powerto employ or discharge girls of all ages ranging from twelve totwenty-five. Do you think a girl can pass his bead44 eyes and not pay forthe job the price he sees fit to demand?
"If you think so, you don't know the man. I do!"He paused and the stillness of death followed. Necks were craned to findthe figure of the foreman crouching45 in the crowd. The speaker was notafter the individual. His soul was aflame with the cause of millions.
"I see also a man in the crowd who owns a row of tenements46 so filthy,so dark, so reeking47 with disease that no Southern master would allow abeast to live in them. This hypocrite has given to John Brown to-nighta contribution of money for the downtrodden black man. He coined thismoney out of the blood of white men and women who pay the rent for thedirty holes in which they die."A moment of silence that was pain as he paused and a hundred eyes sweptthe room in search of the man. Again the speaker stood without a sign.
He merely paused to let his message sink in the hearts of his hearers.
"My eyes have found another man in this crowd who is an employer of wageslaves. He is here to denounce Chattel48 Slavery in the South as the sumof all villainies while he practices a system of wage slavery more cruelwithout a thought morally wrong.
"I say this in justice to the man because I know him. He hasn'tintelligence enough to realize what he is doing. If he had he wouldbegin by abolishing slavery in his own household. This reformer isn'ta bad man at heart. He is simply an honest fool. These same fools inEngland have given millions to abolish black slavery in the Coloniesand leave their own slaves in the Spittalfield slums to breed a race ofpaupers and criminals. Why don't a Buxton or a Wilberforce complainof the White Slavery at home? Because it is indispensable to theircivilization. They lose nothing in freeing negroes in distant Colonies.
They would lose their fortunes if they dared free their own whitebrethren.
"The master of the wage slave employs his victim only when he needs him.
The Southern master supports his man whether he needs him or not. Andcares for him when ill. The Abolitionist proposes to free the blackslave from the whip. Noble work. But to what end if he deprives him offood? He escapes the lash50 and lands in a felon's cell or climbs thesteps of a gallows51.
"Your inspired leader, the speaker of this evening, has found his mostenthusiastic support in New England.
"No doubt.
"In Lowell, Massachusetts, able-bodied men in the cotton mills arereceiving 80 cents a day for ten hours' work. Women are receiving 32cents a day for the same. At no period of the history of this republichas it been possible for a human being to live in a city and reproducehis kind on such wages. What is the result? The racial stock that madethe Commonwealth52 of Massachusetts a civilized53 state is perishing. It isbeing replaced from the slums of Europe. The standard of life is draggedlower with each generation.
"The negro, you tell me, must work for others or be flogged. The poorwhite man at your door must work for others or be starved. The negro issubject to a single master. He learns to know him, if not to like him.
There is something human in the touch of their lives. The poor white manhere is the slave of many masters. The negro may lead the life of a farmhorse. Your wage slave is a horse that hasn't even a stable. He roamsthe street in the snows of winter. He is ridden by anybody who wishes aride. He is cared for by nobody. Our rich will do anything for the poorexcept to get off their backs. The negro has a master in sickness andhealth. The wage slave is honored with the privilege of slavery only solong as he can work ten hours a day. He is a pauper49 when he can toil54 nomore.
"Your Abolitionist has fixed his eye on Chattel Slavery in the South. Itinvolves but three million five-hundred thousand negroes. The system ofwage slavery involves the lives of twenty-five million white men andwomen.
"Slavery was not abolished in the North on moral grounds, but because,as a system of labor it was old-fashioned, sentimental55, extravagant,inefficient. It was abolished by the masters of men, not by the men.
"The North abolished slavery for economy in production. There was nosentiment in it. Wage slavery has proven itself ten times more cruel,more merciless, more efficient. The Captain of Industry has seen thevision of an empire of wealth beyond the dreams of avarice56. He has seenthat the master who cares for the aged57, the infirm, the sick, the lame,the halt is a fool who must lag behind in the march of the Juggernaut.
Only a fool stops to build a shelter for his slave when he can kick himout in the cold and find hundreds of fresh men to take his place.
"Two years ago the Chief of Police of the City of New York took thecensus of the poor who were compelled to live in cellars. He found thateighteen thousand five hundred and eighty-six white wage slaves lived inthese pest holes under the earth. One-thirteenth of the population ofthe city lives thus underground to-day. Hundreds of these cellars arenear the river. They are not waterproof58. Their floors are mud. Whenthe tides rise the water floods these noisome59 holes. The bedding andfurniture float. Fierce wharf60 rats, rising from their dens61, dispute withmen, women and children the right to the shelves above the water line.
"There are cellars devoted62 entirely63 to lodging64 where working men andwomen can find a bed of straw for two cents a night--the bare dirt forone cent. Black and white men, women and children, are mixed in onedirty mass. These rooms are without light, without air, filled with thedamp vapors65 of mildewed66 wood and clothing. They swarm67 with every speciesof vermin that infest68 the animal and human body. The scenes of depravitythat nightly occur in these lairs69 of beasts are beyond words.
"These are the homes provided by the master who has established 'Free'
Labor as the economic weapon with which he has set out to conquer theworld.
"And he is conquering with it. The superior, merciless power of thissystem as an economic weapon is bound to do in America what it has donethroughout the world. The days of Chattel Slavery are numbered. TheAbolitionist is wasting his breath, or worse. He is raising a feud70 thatmay drench71 this nation in blood in a senseless war over an issue that issettled before it's raised.
"Long ago the economist72 discovered that there was no vice29 under thesystem of Chattel Slavery that could not be more freely gratified underthe new system of wage slavery.
"You weep because the negro slave must serve one master. He has no powerto choose a new one. Do not forget that the power to _choose_ a newmaster carries with it power to discharge the wage slave and hire a newone. This power to discharge is the most merciless and cruel tyrannyever developed in the struggle of man from savagery73 to civilization.
This awful right places in the hand of the master the power of life anddeath. He can deprive his wage slave of fuel, food, clothes, shelter.
Life is the only right worth having if its exercise is put intoquestion. A starving man has no liberty. The word can have no meaning.
He must live first or he cannot be a man.
"The wage slave is producing more than the chattel slaves ever produced,man for man, and is receiving less than the negro slave of the South isgetting for his labor to-day.
"Your system of wage slavery is the cunning trick by which the cruelmaster finds that he can deny to the worker all rights he ever had as aslave.
"If you doubt its power, look at this bundle of rags in my hands andremember that there are five thousand half-starved children homeless andabandoned in the streets of this city to-night.
"Find for me one ragged, freezing, starving, black baby in the South andI will buy a musket74 to equip an army for its invasion--"He paused a moment, turned and gazed at the men on the platform and thenfaced the crowd in a final burst of triumphant75 scorn.
"Fools, liars76, hypocrites, clean your own filthy house before you weepover the woes77 of negroes who are singing while they toil--"A man on an end seat of the middle aisle suddenly sprang to his feet andyelled:
"Put him out!"Before Gerrit Smith could reach Evans with a gift of five dollars forthe sick child which he still held in his arms the crowd had become amob.
They hustled78 the labor leader into the street and told him to go back tohell where he came from.
Through it all John Brown sat on the platform with his blue-gray eyesfixed in space. He had seen, heard or realized nothing that had passed.
His mind was brooding over the plains of Kansas.
点击收听单词发音
1 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
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2 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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3 pathos | |
n.哀婉,悲怆 | |
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4 abolition | |
n.废除,取消 | |
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5 garrison | |
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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6 den | |
n.兽穴;秘密地方;安静的小房间,私室 | |
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7 destined | |
adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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8 sinister | |
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
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9 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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10 aisle | |
n.(教堂、教室、戏院等里的)过道,通道 | |
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11 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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12 infamy | |
n.声名狼藉,出丑,恶行 | |
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13 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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14 groaning | |
adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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15 plantations | |
n.种植园,大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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16 throbbed | |
抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 ); (心脏、脉搏等)跳动 | |
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17 vibrant | |
adj.震颤的,响亮的,充满活力的,精力充沛的,(色彩)鲜明的 | |
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18 merged | |
(使)混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 ); 相融; 融入; 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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19 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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20 oracle | |
n.神谕,神谕处,预言 | |
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21 jealousy | |
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
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22 lust | |
n.性(淫)欲;渴(欲)望;vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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23 motive | |
n.动机,目的;adv.发动的,运动的 | |
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24 climax | |
n.顶点;高潮;v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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25 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
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26 obedience | |
n.服从,顺从 | |
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27 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
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28 dedicated | |
adj.一心一意的;献身的;热诚的 | |
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29 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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30 ushers | |
n.引座员( usher的名词复数 );招待员;门房;助理教员v.引,领,陪同( usher的第三人称单数 ) | |
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31 usher | |
n.带位员,招待员;vt.引导,护送;vi.做招待,担任引座员 | |
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32 rattle | |
v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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33 bulged | |
凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 ); 充满; 塞满(某物) | |
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34 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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35 fascination | |
n.令人着迷的事物,魅力,迷恋 | |
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36 heartily | |
adv.衷心地,诚恳地,十分,很 | |
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37 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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38 filthy | |
adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的 | |
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39 Congressman | |
n.(美)国会议员 | |
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40 orator | |
n.演说者,演讲者,雄辩家 | |
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41 labor | |
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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42 gutter | |
n.沟,街沟,水槽,檐槽,贫民窟 | |
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43 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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44 bead | |
n.念珠;(pl.)珠子项链;水珠 | |
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45 crouching | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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46 tenements | |
n.房屋,住户,租房子( tenement的名词复数 ) | |
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47 reeking | |
v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 );散发臭气;发出难闻的气味 (of sth);明显带有(令人不快或生疑的跡象) | |
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48 chattel | |
n.动产;奴隶 | |
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49 pauper | |
n.贫民,被救济者,穷人 | |
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50 lash | |
v.系牢;鞭打;猛烈抨击;n.鞭打;眼睫毛 | |
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51 gallows | |
n.绞刑架,绞台 | |
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52 commonwealth | |
n.共和国,联邦,共同体 | |
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53 civilized | |
a.有教养的,文雅的 | |
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54 toil | |
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
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55 sentimental | |
adj.多愁善感的,感伤的 | |
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56 avarice | |
n.贪婪;贪心 | |
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57 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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58 waterproof | |
n.防水材料;adj.防水的;v.使...能防水 | |
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59 noisome | |
adj.有害的,可厌的 | |
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60 wharf | |
n.码头,停泊处 | |
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61 dens | |
n.牙齿,齿状部分;兽窝( den的名词复数 );窝点;休息室;书斋 | |
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62 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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63 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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64 lodging | |
n.寄宿,住所;(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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65 vapors | |
n.水汽,水蒸气,无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 );自夸者;幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁(症)v.自夸,(使)蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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66 mildewed | |
adj.发了霉的,陈腐的,长了霉花的v.(使)发霉,(使)长霉( mildew的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67 swarm | |
n.(昆虫)等一大群;vi.成群飞舞;蜂拥而入 | |
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68 infest | |
v.大批出没于;侵扰;寄生于 | |
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69 lairs | |
n.(野兽的)巢穴,窝( lair的名词复数 );(人的)藏身处 | |
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70 feud | |
n.长期不和;世仇;v.长期争斗;世代结仇 | |
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71 drench | |
v.使淋透,使湿透 | |
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72 economist | |
n.经济学家,经济专家,节俭的人 | |
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73 savagery | |
n.野性 | |
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74 musket | |
n.滑膛枪 | |
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75 triumphant | |
adj.胜利的,成功的;狂欢的,喜悦的 | |
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76 liars | |
说谎者( liar的名词复数 ) | |
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77 woes | |
困境( woe的名词复数 ); 悲伤; 我好苦哇; 某人就要倒霉 | |
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78 hustled | |
催促(hustle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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