Our point of departure is that man is fallible, and that God has given him free will; and with the faculty3 of choosing, that of erring4, of mistaking what is false for what is true, of sacrificing the future to the present, of giving way to unreasonable5 desires, etc. . . . .
By means of Responsibility, as we have seen, these consequences fall back on the author of the act. A natural concatenation of rewards or punishments, then, attracts him towards good, or repels7 him from evil.
Had man been destined8 to a solitary9 life, and to solitary labour, Responsibility would have been his only law.
But he is differently placed; he is sociable10 by destination. It is not true, as Rousseau has said, that man is naturally a perfect and solitary whole, and that the will of the lawgiver has transformed him into a fraction of a greater whole. The family, the province, the nation, the human race, are aggregates12 with which man has necessary relations. Hence it follows that the actions and the habits of the individual produce, besides the consequences which fall back upon himself, other good or bad consequences which extend themselves to his fellow-men. This is what we term the law of Solidarity13, which is a sort of collective Responsibility.
This idea of Rousseau that the legislator has invented society—an idea false in itself—has been injurious in this respect, that it has led men to think that Solidarity is of legislative14 creation, and we [p489] shall immediately see that modern legislators have based upon this doctrine15 their efforts to subject society to an artificial solidarity, acting16 in an inverse17 sense to natural solidarity. In everything, the principle of these great manipulators of the human race is to set up their own work in room of the work of God, which they disown.
Our first task is to prove undeniably the natural existence of the law of Solidarity.
In the eighteenth century they did not believe in it. They adhered to the doctrine of the personality of faults. The philosophers of the last century, engaged above all in the reaction against Catholicism, would have feared, by admitting the principle of Solidarity, to open a door to the doctrine of original sin. Every time Voltaire found in the Scriptures18 a man bearing the punishment of another, he said ironically, “This is frightful19, but the justice of God is not that of man.”
We are not concerned here to discuss original sin. But what Voltaire laughed at is nevertheless a fact, which is not less incontestable than it is mysterious. The law of Solidarity makes its appearance so frequently and so strikingly, in the individual and in the masses, in details and in the aggregate11, in particular and in general facts, that to fail to recognise it implies either the blindness of sectarianism or the zeal20 of embittered21 controversy22.
The first rule of all human justice is to concentrate the punishment of an action on its author, in virtue23 of the principle that faults are personal. But this law, sacred as regards individuals, is not the law of God, or even the law of society.
Why is this man rich? Because his father was active, honest, industrious24, and economical. The father practised virtue; the son reaps the rewards.
Why is this other man always suffering, sick, feeble, timorous25, and wretched? Because his father, endowed with a powerful constitution, abused it by debauchery and excess. To the guilty fall the agreeable consequences of vice26, to the innocent fall its fatal consequences.
There exists not a man upon this earth whose condition has not been determined27 by thousands of millions of facts in which his own determinations have had no part. What I complain of to-day was perhaps caused by the caprice of my great-grandfather, etc.
Solidarity manifests itself on a greater scale still, and at distances which are still more inexplicable28, when we consider the [p490] relations of divers29 nations, or of different generations of the same people.
Is it not strange that the eighteenth century was so occupied with intellectual or material works of which we are now enjoying the benefit? Is it not marvellous that we ourselves should make such efforts to cover the country with railways, on which none of us perhaps will ever travel? Who can fail to recognise the profound influence of our old revolutions on the events of our own time? Who can foresee what an inheritance of peace or of discord30 our present discussions may bequeath to our children?
Look at the public loans. We make war,—we obey savage31 passions,—we throw away by these means valuable power; and we find means of laying the scourge32 of all this destruction on our children, who may haply hold war in abhorrence33, and be unable to understand our passions and hatreds34.
Cast your eyes upon Europe; contemplate36 the events which agitate37 France, Germany, Italy, and Poland, and say if the law of Solidarity is a chimerical38 law.
There is no need to carry this enumeration39 farther. In order to prove undeniably the existence of the law, it is enough that the action of one man, of one people, of one generation, exerts a certain influence upon another man, another people, or another generation. Society at large is only an aggregate of solidarities40 which cross and overlap41 one another. This results from the communicable nature of human intelligence. Conversation, literature, discoveries, sciences, morals, etc., are all examples of this. All these unperceived currents by which one mind corresponds with another, all these efforts without visible connexion, the resulting force of which nevertheless pushes on the human race towards an equilibrium42, towards an average level which is always rising—all that vast treasury43 of utilities and of acquired knowledge which each may draw upon without diminishing it, or augment44 without being aware of it,—all this interchange of thoughts, of productions, of services, and of labour, of good and evil, of virtue and vice, which makes the human family one grand whole, and imparts to thousands of millions of ephemeral existences a common, a universal, a continuous life,—all this is Solidarity.
Naturally, then, and to a certain extent, there is an incontestable Solidarity among men. In other words, Responsibility is not exclusively personal, but is shared and divided. Action emanates45 from individuality; consequences are spread over the community.
We must remark that it is in the nature of every man to desire [p491] to be happy. You may say that I am extolling47 egotism if you will; I extol46 nothing; I show, I prove undeniably, the existence of an innate48 universal sentiment, which can never cease to exist,—personal interest, the desire for happiness, and the repugnance49 to pain.
Hence it follows that the individual is led so to order his conduct that the good consequences of his actions accrue50 to himself, while the bad effects fall upon others. He endeavours to spread these bad consequences over the greatest possible number of men, in order that they may be less perceived, and call forth51 less reaction.
But opinion, that mistress of the world, the daughter of solidarity, brings together all those scattered52 grievances53, and collects all aggrieved55 interests into a formidable resisting mass. When a man’s habits become injurious to those who live around him, they call forth a feeling of repulsion. We judge such habits severely56. We denounce them, we brand them; and the man who gives himself up to them becomes an object of distrust, of contempt, and of abhorrence. If he reap some advantages, they are soon far more than compensated57 by the sufferings which public aversion accumulates on his head. To the troublesome consequences which a bad habit always entails58 in virtue of the law of Responsibility, there come to be added other consequences still more grievous in virtue of the law of Solidarity.
Our contempt for the man soon extends to the habit, to the vice; and as the want of consideration is one of our most powerful springs of action, it is clear that solidarity, by the reaction which it brings to bear against vicious acts, tends to restrain and to prevent them.
Solidarity, then, like Responsibility, is a progressive force; and we see that, in relation to the author of the act, it resolves itself, if I may so speak, into repercussive59 or reflected responsibility; that it is still a system of reciprocal rewards and punishments, admirably fitted to circumscribe60 evil, to extend good, and to urge on mankind on the road of progress.
But in order that it should operate in this way,—in order that those who benefit or suffer from an action which is not their own should react upon its author by approbation61 or disapprobation, by gratitude62 or resistance, by esteem63, affection, praise, or blame, hatred35 or vengeance64,—one condition is indispensable; and that condition is, that the connecting link between the act and all its effects should be known and appreciated.
When the public is mistaken in this respect, the law fails in its design. [p492]
An act is hurtful to the masses; but the masses are convinced that this act is advantageous65 to them. What is the consequence? The consequence is, that instead of reacting against it, in place of condemning66 it, and by that means restraining it, the public exalt67 it, honour it, extol it, and repeat it.
Nothing is more frequent, and here is the reason of it:
An act produces on the masses not only an effect, but a series of effects. Now it frequently happens that the primary effect is a local good, visible and tangible68, whilst the ulterior effects set a-filtering through the body politic69 evils which are difficult to discover or to connect with their cause.
War is an example of this. In the infancy70 of society, we do not perceive all the consequences of war. And, to say truth, in a state of civilisation71 in which there is a less amount of anterior72 labour (capital) exposed to destruction, less science and money devoted73 to the machinery74 of war, etc., these consequences are less prejudicial than they afterwards become. We see only the first campaign, the booty which follows victory, the intoxication75 of triumph. At that stage, war and warriors76 are very popular. Then we see the enemy, having become conqueror77 in his turn, burning down houses and harvests, levying78 contributions, and imposing79 laws. In these alternations of success and misfortune, we see generations of men annihilated80, agriculture crushed, and two nations impoverished81. We see the most important portion of the people contemning82 the arts of peace, turning their arms against the institutions of their country, serving as the tools of despotism, employing their restless energy in sedition83 and civil discord, and creating barbarism and solitude84 at home, as they had formerly85 done among their neighbours. Do we then pronounce war to be plunder86 upon a great scale? . . . No; we see its effects without desiring to understand its cause; and when this people, in a state of decadence87, shall be invaded in its turn by a swarm88 of conquerors89, centuries after the catastrophe90, grave historians will relate that the nation fell because the people had become enervated91 by peace, because they had forgotten the art of war and the austere92 virtues93 of their ancestors.
I could point out the same illusions in connexion with the system of slavery. . . . .
The same thing is true of religious errors. . . . .
In our own day, the régime of prohibition94 gives rise to the same fallacy. . . . .
To bring back public opinion, by the diffusion95 of knowledge and the profound appreciation96 of causes and effects, into that [p493] intelligent state in which bad tendencies come to be branded, and prejudicial measures opposed, is to render a great service to one’s country. When public opinion, deceived and misled, honours what is worthy97 of contempt, contemns98 what is honourable99, punishes virtue and rewards vice, encourages what is hurtful and discourages what is useful, applauds a lie and smothers100 truth under indifference101 or insult, a nation turns its back upon progress, and can only be reclaimed102 by terrible lessons and catastrophes103.
We have indicated elsewhere the gross misuse104 which certain Socialist105 schools have made of the word Solidarity. . . . .
Let us now see in what spirit human laws should be framed.
It seems to me that here there can be no room for doubt. Human law should coincide with the natural law. It should facilitate and ensure the just retribution of men’s acts; in other words, it should circumscribe solidarity, and organize reaction in order to enforce responsibility. The law can have no other object than to restrain vicious actions and to multiply virtuous106 ones, and for that purpose it should favour the just distribution of rewards and punishments, so that the bad effects of an act should be concentrated as much as possible on the person who commits it. . . . .
In acting thus, the law conforms itself to the nature of things; solidarity induces a reaction against a vicious act, and the law only regulates that reaction. . . . .
The law thus contributes to progress: The more rapidly it brings back the bad effect of the act upon the agent, the more surely it restrains the act itself.
To give an example: Violence is attended with pernicious consequences. Among savages107 the repression108 of violence is left to the natural course of things; and what happens? It provokes a terrible reaction. When a man has committed an act of violence against another man, an inextinguishable desire of vengeance is lighted up in the family of the injured party, and is transmitted from generation to generation. The law interferes109; and what ought it to do? Should it limit itself to stifle110 the desire for vengeance, to repress it, to punish it? It is clear that this would be to encourage violence, by sheltering it from reprisals111. This is not, then, what the law should do. It ought to substitute itself, so to speak, for the spirit of vengeance, by organizing in its place a reaction against the violence. It should say to the injured family, “I charge myself with the repression of the act you complain of.” When the whole tribe considers itself as injured and menaced, the [p494] law inquires into the grievance54, interrogates112 the guilty party, makes sure that there is no error as to the fact and as to the person, and thus represses with regularity113 and certainty an act which would have been punished irregularly.
点击收听单词发音
1 inquiries | |
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听 | |
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2 concord | |
n.和谐;协调 | |
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3 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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4 erring | |
做错事的,错误的 | |
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5 unreasonable | |
adj.不讲道理的,不合情理的,过度的 | |
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6 errs | |
犯错误,做错事( err的第三人称单数 ) | |
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7 repels | |
v.击退( repel的第三人称单数 );使厌恶;排斥;推开 | |
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8 destined | |
adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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9 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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10 sociable | |
adj.好交际的,友好的,合群的 | |
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11 aggregate | |
adj.总计的,集合的;n.总数;v.合计;集合 | |
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12 aggregates | |
数( aggregate的名词复数 ); 总计; 骨料; 集料(可成混凝土或修路等用的) | |
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13 solidarity | |
n.团结;休戚相关 | |
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14 legislative | |
n.立法机构,立法权;adj.立法的,有立法权的 | |
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15 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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16 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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17 inverse | |
adj.相反的,倒转的,反转的;n.相反之物;v.倒转 | |
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18 scriptures | |
经文,圣典( scripture的名词复数 ); 经典 | |
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19 frightful | |
adj.可怕的;讨厌的 | |
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20 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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21 embittered | |
v.使怨恨,激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22 controversy | |
n.争论,辩论,争吵 | |
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23 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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24 industrious | |
adj.勤劳的,刻苦的,奋发的 | |
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25 timorous | |
adj.胆怯的,胆小的 | |
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26 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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27 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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28 inexplicable | |
adj.无法解释的,难理解的 | |
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29 divers | |
adj.不同的;种种的 | |
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30 discord | |
n.不和,意见不合,争论,(音乐)不和谐 | |
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31 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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32 scourge | |
n.灾难,祸害;v.蹂躏 | |
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33 abhorrence | |
n.憎恶;可憎恶的事 | |
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34 hatreds | |
n.仇恨,憎恶( hatred的名词复数 );厌恶的事 | |
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35 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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36 contemplate | |
vt.盘算,计议;周密考虑;注视,凝视 | |
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37 agitate | |
vi.(for,against)煽动,鼓动;vt.搅动 | |
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38 chimerical | |
adj.荒诞不经的,梦幻的 | |
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39 enumeration | |
n.计数,列举;细目;详表;点查 | |
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40 solidarities | |
团结( solidarity的名词复数 ) | |
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41 overlap | |
v.重叠,与…交叠;n.重叠 | |
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42 equilibrium | |
n.平衡,均衡,相称,均势,平静 | |
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43 treasury | |
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库 | |
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44 augment | |
vt.(使)增大,增加,增长,扩张 | |
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45 emanates | |
v.从…处传出,传出( emanate的第三人称单数 );产生,表现,显示 | |
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46 extol | |
v.赞美,颂扬 | |
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47 extolling | |
v.赞美( extoll的现在分词 );赞颂,赞扬,赞美( extol的现在分词 ) | |
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48 innate | |
adj.天生的,固有的,天赋的 | |
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49 repugnance | |
n.嫌恶 | |
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50 accrue | |
v.(利息等)增大,增多 | |
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51 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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52 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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53 grievances | |
n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 );苦衷;不满;牢骚 | |
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54 grievance | |
n.怨愤,气恼,委屈 | |
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55 aggrieved | |
adj.愤愤不平的,受委屈的;悲痛的;(在合法权利方面)受侵害的v.令委屈,令苦恼,侵害( aggrieve的过去式);令委屈,令苦恼,侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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56 severely | |
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
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57 compensated | |
补偿,报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 ); 给(某人)赔偿(或赔款) | |
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58 entails | |
使…成为必要( entail的第三人称单数 ); 需要; 限定继承; 使必需 | |
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59 repercussive | |
adj.反响的,反射的 | |
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60 circumscribe | |
v.在...周围划线,限制,约束 | |
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61 approbation | |
n.称赞;认可 | |
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62 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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63 esteem | |
n.尊敬,尊重;vt.尊重,敬重;把…看作 | |
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64 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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65 advantageous | |
adj.有利的;有帮助的 | |
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66 condemning | |
v.(通常因道义上的原因而)谴责( condemn的现在分词 );宣判;宣布…不能使用;迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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67 exalt | |
v.赞扬,歌颂,晋升,提升 | |
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68 tangible | |
adj.有形的,可触摸的,确凿的,实际的 | |
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69 politic | |
adj.有智虑的;精明的;v.从政 | |
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70 infancy | |
n.婴儿期;幼年期;初期 | |
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71 civilisation | |
n.文明,文化,开化,教化 | |
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72 anterior | |
adj.较早的;在前的 | |
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73 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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74 machinery | |
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构 | |
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75 intoxication | |
n.wild excitement;drunkenness;poisoning | |
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76 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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77 conqueror | |
n.征服者,胜利者 | |
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78 levying | |
征(兵)( levy的现在分词 ); 索取; 发动(战争); 征税 | |
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79 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
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80 annihilated | |
v.(彻底)消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 );使无效;废止;彻底击溃 | |
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81 impoverished | |
adj.穷困的,无力的,用尽了的v.使(某人)贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 );使(某物)贫瘠或恶化 | |
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82 contemning | |
v.侮辱,蔑视( contemn的现在分词 ) | |
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83 sedition | |
n.煽动叛乱 | |
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84 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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85 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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86 plunder | |
vt.劫掠财物,掠夺;n.劫掠物,赃物;劫掠 | |
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87 decadence | |
n.衰落,颓废 | |
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88 swarm | |
n.(昆虫)等一大群;vi.成群飞舞;蜂拥而入 | |
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89 conquerors | |
征服者,占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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90 catastrophe | |
n.大灾难,大祸 | |
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91 enervated | |
adj.衰弱的,无力的v.使衰弱,使失去活力( enervate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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92 austere | |
adj.艰苦的;朴素的,朴实无华的;严峻的 | |
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93 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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94 prohibition | |
n.禁止;禁令,禁律 | |
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95 diffusion | |
n.流布;普及;散漫 | |
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96 appreciation | |
n.评价;欣赏;感谢;领会,理解;价格上涨 | |
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97 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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98 contemns | |
v.侮辱,蔑视( contemn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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99 honourable | |
adj.可敬的;荣誉的,光荣的 | |
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100 smothers | |
(使)窒息, (使)透不过气( smother的第三人称单数 ); 覆盖; 忍住; 抑制 | |
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101 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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102 reclaimed | |
adj.再生的;翻造的;收复的;回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 );要求收回;从废料中回收(有用的材料);挽救 | |
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103 catastrophes | |
n.灾祸( catastrophe的名词复数 );灾难;不幸事件;困难 | |
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104 misuse | |
n.误用,滥用;vt.误用,滥用 | |
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105 socialist | |
n.社会主义者;adj.社会主义的 | |
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106 virtuous | |
adj.有品德的,善良的,贞洁的,有效力的 | |
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107 savages | |
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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108 repression | |
n.镇压,抑制,抑压 | |
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109 interferes | |
vi. 妨碍,冲突,干涉 | |
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110 stifle | |
vt.使窒息;闷死;扼杀;抑止,阻止 | |
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111 reprisals | |
n.报复(行为)( reprisal的名词复数 ) | |
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112 interrogates | |
n.询问( interrogate的名词复数 );审问;(在计算机或其他机器上)查询v.询问( interrogate的第三人称单数 );审问;(在计算机或其他机器上)查询 | |
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113 regularity | |
n.规律性,规则性;匀称,整齐 | |
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