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首页 » 英文短篇小说 » Jimmie Higgins » CHAPTER XXII. JIMMIE HIGGINS WORKS FOR HIS UNCLE
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CHAPTER XXII. JIMMIE HIGGINS WORKS FOR HIS UNCLE
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 I.
 
They gave Jimmie Higgins a couple of days to lie about in the grounds of the hospital, and make the acquaintance and hear the experiences of men who had lost arms and legs in battle, or had been burned by flame-throwers, or ruined for life by poison-gases. Strange as it might seem, Jimmie found among these men not a few with whom he could talk, whose point of view was close to his own. These Britishers had been through the mill; they knew. None of the glory stuff for them! Leave that for the newspaper scribblers, the bloody2 rascals3 who stayed at home and beat on tomtoms, driving other men to march in and die. You went and got yourself battered4 up, ruined for life—and then what would they do for you? It was a hard world to a man who was crippled and helpless. Yes, said Jimmie; the same hard world that it was to a Socialist5, a dreamer of justice.
But there was the old dilemma6, from which he had never been able to find escape, whether in Leesville, U.S.A., or on the high seas, or here in old England. What were you going to do about the Huns? To hold out your hand to them was like putting it into a tiger's cage. No, by God, you had to fight them, you had to lick them, cost what it might! And the speaker would go on and tell of things he had seen: a Prussian officer who had shot a British surgeon in the back, after this surgeon had bound up his wounds; a commandant of a prison-camp who had withdrawn7 all medical aid in a typhus epidemic9, and allowed his charges to perish like rats.
So, hell though it was, you had to go through with it; if you were a man, you had to set your teeth and grip your hands and take your share of the horror, whatever it might be. And Jimmie, being something of a little man in his way, would set his teeth and grip his hands and take in imagination, the share of the particular human wreck10 who happened to be talking to him. So Jimmie Higgins was battered back and forth11, like a tennis-ball, between the two forces of Militarism and Revolution.
Just now was another crisis—the Huns had begun a furious drive in Flanders, the third battle of Ypres, and the British were falling back, not in rout12, but in retreat which might become rout at any hour. The bulletins came in several times a day, and people in the streets would stop and read them, their faces full of fear. When the wind was right you could hear the guns across the Channel; Jimmie would lie at night and listen to the dull, incessant13 thunder—a terrific, man-made storm, in which showers of steel were raining down upon the heads of soldiers hiding in shell-holes and hastily-dug trenches14. The war seemed very near indeed when the wind was right!
II.
 
Still, a fellow has to live. Jimmie was in a foreign land for the first time in his life, and when they turned him loose, he and a couple of other American chaps went wandering about the streets, staring at the sights of this town, which had been a small harbour before the war, but now was a vast centre of the world's commerce, one of the routes by which large sections of Britain were moved across the Channel every day.
You saw in the streets no men out of uniform, except a few old ones; you saw nobody at all idle, except the young children. The women were driving the trucks, and operating the street-cars, which were called “trams”, and the elevators, which were called “lifts”. Everybody's face was sober and drawn8, but they lightened up when they saw the Americans, who had come so far to help them in their trouble. In the cake-shops, and the queer little “pubs” where rosy-cheeked girls sold very thin beer, they could not be polite enough to the visitors from overseas; even the haughtiest-looking “bobby” would stop to tell you the way about the streets. “First to the roight, third to the left,” he would say, very fast; and when you looked bewildered, he would say it again, as fast as ever.
But they needed motor-cycles so badly in the new American armies that they didn't give Jimmie much time to be a hero; he got his orders and a new outfit15, and bade farewell to the Honourable16 Beatrice, promising17 to write to her now and then, and not to be too hard on the aristocracy. He crossed the Channel, alive with boats like the Hudson River with its ferries, and came to another and still bigger port, which the Americans had taken and made over new for the war. Long vistas18 of docks had been built since the fighting began; Jimmie saw huge cranes that dipped down into the hold of a ship, and pulled out whole locomotives, or maybe half a dozen automobile19 trucks in one swoop20.
Behind these docks was a tangle21 of railroad yards and tracks, and miles upon miles of sheds, piled to the top with stores of every sort you could imagine. A whole encampment-city covered the surrounding hills, crowned by an old, creaking, moss-grown windmill—the Middle Ages looking in dismay upon these modern times.
Nobody took the trouble to invite Jimmie to inspect these marvels22, but he got glimpses here and there, and men with whom he chatted told him more. One man had been directing the unloading of canned tomatoes; for six months he had seen nothing but crates23 upon crates and car-loads upon car-loads of canned tomatoes, coming into one end of a shed and going out at the other. Somewhere in the higher regions dwelt a marvellous tomato-brain, which knew exactly how many cans a division of dough-boys in a training-camp would consume each day, how many would be needed by patients in hospitals, by lumbermen in French forests, by revellers in Y.M.C.A. huts. Every now and then a ship brought another supply, and the man who told Jimmie about it bossed a gang of negroes who piled the crates on trucks.
And then Jimmie met a Frenchman, who had been a waiter in a Chicago hotel, and now was bossing a gang of wire-haired Korean labourers. Jimmie had thought he knew all the races of the earth in the shops and mills and mines of America; but here he heard of new kinds of men—Annamese and Siamese, Pathans and Sikhs, Madagascans and Abyssinians and Algerians. All the British empire was here, and all the French colonies. There were Portuguese24 and Brazilians and West Indians, bushmen from Australia and Zulus from South Africa; and these not having proven enough, America was now pouring out the partly melted contents of her pot—Hawaiians and Porto Ricans, Filipinos and “spiggoties”, Eskimos from Alaska, Chinamen from San Francisco, Sioux from Dakota, and plain black plantation25 niggers from Louisiana and Alabama! Jimmie saw a gang of these latter mending a track which had been blown out of place by a bomb from an aeroplane; their black skins shining with sweat, their white teeth shining with good-nature as they swung their heavy crow-bars, a long row of them moving like a machine chanting to keep in unison26, “Altogether—heave!” the officer would call, and the line would swing into motion—
    “Get a MULE27!
     An' a JACK28!
     No SLOW!
     No SLACK!
     Put the HUMP!
     In yo' BACK—”
 
III.
 
For nearly four years Jimmie had been reading about France, and now he was here, and could see the sights with his own eyes. People with wooden shoes, for example! It was worth coming across the seas to see women and kids going clatter29, clatter along the cobbled streets. And the funny little railroad-coaches, with rows of doors like rabbit-pens. It was a satisfaction to notice that the train had a real man-sized engine, with U.S.A. painted thereon. Jimmie owned a share in that engine, and experienced Socialistic thrills as he rode behind it.
He had got separated from his “unit”, thanks to the submarine and the sojourn30 in the hospital. They had given him a pass, with orders to proceed to a certain town, travelling on a certain train. Now Jimmie sat looking out of the window, as happy as a boy out of school. A beautiful country, the fresh green glory of spring everywhereupon it; broad, straight military highways lined with poplars, and stone houses with queer steep roofs, and old men and women and children toiling31 in the fields.
Jimmie chattered32 with the men in the compartment33, soldiers and workers, each a cog in the big machine, each bound upon some important errand. Each had news to tell—tales of the fighting, or of the progress of preparation. For more than a year now America had been getting ready, and here, in the most desperate crisis of the war, what was she going to do? Everybody was on tip-toe with excitement, with impatience34 to get into the scrap35, to make good in the work upon which his soul was set. Every man knew that the “dough-boys” would show themselves the masters of “Fritz”; they knew it as religious people know there is a God in Heaven—only, unlike most religious people, they were anxious to get to this heaven and meet this God at the earliest possible moment. Next to Jimmie sat a Wisconsin farmer-boy, German in features, in name, even in accent; yet he was ready to fight the soldiers of the Kaiser—and quite sure he could lick them! Had he not lived since childhood in a free country, and been to an American public-school?
Everybody had funny stories to tell about the adventures of soldiers in a foreign land. The French were all right, of course, especially the girls; but the shop-keepers were frugal36, and you had better count your change, and bite the coins they offered you. As for the language—holy smoke! Why did civilized37 people want to talk a lingo38 that made you grunt39 like a pig—or like a penful of pigs of all sizes? Across the way sat a Chicago street-car conductor with a little lesson book, and now and then he would read something out loud. AN, IN, ON, UN, and many different sizes of pigs! When you wanted bread, you asked for a pain, and when you wanted a dish of eggs, you asked for a cat-roof omelette. How was this for a tongue-twister—say five hundred and fifty-five francs in French!
Fortunately you didn't have to say that many—not on the pay of a dough-boy, put in a plumber40 from up-state in New York. For his part, he did not bother to grunt—he would make drinking motions or eating motions, and they would bring him things till they found what he wanted. One time he had met a girl that he thought was all right, and he wanted to treat her to a feed, so he drew a picture of a chicken, thinking he would get it roasted. She had chattered away to the waiter, and he had come back with two soft-boiled eggs. That was the French notion of taking a girl out to dinner!
IV.
 
They loaded Jimmie into a motor-lorry and whirled him away. You knew you were going to the war then, by heck; there were two almost solid processions of wagons41 and trucks, loaded with French soldiers and materials going, and damaged French soldiers returning. It was like Broadway at the most crowded hour; only here everything went by in a whirl of dust—you got quick glimpses of drivers with tense faces and blood-shot eyes. Now and then there would be a blockade, and men would swear and fume42 in mixed languages; staff-cars in an extra hurry would go off the road and bump along across country, while gangs of negro labourers, French colonials, seized the opportunity to fill up the ruts worn in the highway.
They put Jimmie off at a village where his motor-unit was located, in a long shed made of corrugated43 iron, the sort of shed which the army threw up overnight. Here were a score of men working at repairs, and Jimmie stopped for no formalities, but took off his coat and pitched in. There was plenty of work he could see; the machines came, sometimes whole truck-loads of them, damaged in every way he had ever seen before, and in new ways not dreamed of in Kumme's bicycle-shop—tyres torn to shreds44 by fragments of shrapnel, frames twisted out of shape by explosions, and nasty splotches of blood completing the story.
It was one of the many places where American units had been taken to plug the damaged French lines. There was a reserve battalion45 near by, and outside this village a group of men were at work, putting up tents for a hospital. Some thirty miles ahead was the front, and you heard the guns off and on, a low sullen46 roar, punctuated47 with hammer-strokes f big fellows. Millions of dollars every hour were being blown to nothingness in that fearful inferno48; a gigantic meat-mill that was grinding up the bodies of men and had never ceased day or night for nearly four years. You could be a violent pacifist in sound of those guns, or you could be a violent militarist, but you could not be indifferent to the war, you could not be of two minds about it.
And yet—Jimmie Higgins was of two minds! He wanted to beat back the Huns, who had made all this fearful mess; but also he wanted to beat the profiteers who were making messes at home. It happened that Jimmie had reached the army at a trying moment, when there were no American big guns, and when promises of machine-guns and aeroplanes had failed. There was wild excitement in the home papers, and not a little grumbling49 in the army. It was graft50 and politics, men said; and Jimmie caught eagerly at this idea. He pointed51 out how the profiteers at home were entrenching52 themselves, making ready to exploit the soldiers returning without jobs. That was a line of talk the men were ready for, and the little machinist rejoiced to see the grim look that came upon their faces. They would attend to it, never fear; and Jimmie would go on to tell them exactly how to attend to it!
V.
 
But that was only now and then, when the wind was the other way, and you did not hear the guns. For the most part Jimmie's thoughts were drawn irresistibly53 to the front; about him were thousands of other men, all their thoughts at the front, their hands clenched54, their teeth set, their beings centred upon the job of holding the Beast at bay. Jimmie saw the grey ambulances come in, and the wounded lifted out on stretchers, their heads bandaged, their bodies covered with sheets, their faces a ghastly waxen colour. He saw the poilus, fresh from the trenches, after God alone knew what siege of terror. They came staggering, bent55 double under a burden of equipment. The first time Jimmie saw them was a day of ceaseless rain, when the dust ground up by the big lorries was turned into ankle-deep mud; the Frenchmen were plastered with it from head to foot; you saw under their steel helmets only a mud-spattered beard, and the end of a nose, and a pair of deep-sunken eyes. They stopped to rest not far from the place where Jimmie worked; they sank down in the wet, they fell asleep in pools of water, where not even beasts could have slept. You did not have to know any French to understand what these men had been through. Good God! Was that what was going on up there?
Jimmie thanked his stars he was no nearer. But that coward's comfort did not last him long, for Jimmie was not a coward, he was not used to letting other men struggle and suffer for him. His conscience began to gnaw56 at him. If that was what it cost to beat down the Beast, to make the world safe for democracy, why should he be escaping? Why should he be warm and dry and well-fed, while working-men of France lay out in the trenches in the rain?
Jimmie went back and worked overtime57 without extra pay—something that old man Granitch had never got out of him, you bet, nor old man Kumme either. For three whole days he stayed a militarist, forgetting his life-long training in rebellion. But then he got into an argument with a red-headed Orangeman in his unit, who expressed the opinion that every Socialist was a traitor58 at heart, and that after the war the army should be used to make an end of them all. Jimmie in his rage went farther than he really meant, and again got a “calling down” from his superior officer; so for several days his proletarian feelings blazed, he wanted the revolution right away, Huns or no Huns.
VI.
 
But most of the time now the spirit of the herd59 mastered Jimmie; he wanted what all the men about him wanted—to hold back the Beast from these fair French fields and quaint1 old villages, and these American hospitals and rest-camps and Y.M.C.A. huts—to say nothing of motor-cycle repair-sheds with Jimmie Higgins in them! And the trouble was that the Beast was not being held back; he was coming nearer and nearer—one bull rush after another! Jimmie's village was near the valley of the Marne, and that was the road to Paris; the Beast wanted to get to Paris, he really expected to get to Paris!
The sound of guns grew louder and louder, and rumour60 flew wild-eyed and wild-tongued about the country. The traffic in the roads grew denser61, but moving more slowly now, for the Germans were shelling the road ahead, and blockades were frequent; one huge missile had fallen into a French artillery-train only a couple of miles away. “They'll be moving us back, if this keeps up,” said Jimmie's sergeant62; and Jimmie wondered: suppose they didn't move them! Suppose they forgot all about it? Was there any person whose particular duty it was to remember to see that motor-cycle units got moved in the precise nick of time? And what if the Germans were to break through and sweep over all calculations? This was a little more than Jimmie Higgins had bargained for when he entered the recruiting-office in Leesville, U.S.A.!
They gave out gas-masks to everyone in Jimmie's unit, and put an alarm bell in the shed, and made everybody practise putting on the masks in a hurry. Jimmie was so scared that he thought seriously of running away; but—such is the perversity63 of human nature—what he did was to run in the opposite direction! His officer in command came into the shed and demanded, “Can any of you men ride?” And imagine any fellow who worked at repairing motor-cycles admitting that he couldn't ride! “I can!” said Jimmie. “I can!” said every other workman in the place.
“What is it!” asked Jimmie—always of the forward and pushing sort.
“The French ask for half a dozen men in a rush. They've had several motor-cycle units wiped out or captured.”
“Gee!” said Jimmie. “I'll go!”
“And me!” said another. “And me!” “And me!”
“All right,” said the officer, and told them off: “You and you and you. And you, Cullen, take command. Report to French headquarters at Chatty Terry. You know where it is!”
“Sure, Mike!” said Cullen. “I been there.” Jimmie hadn't been to “Chatty Terry”, but he knew it was somewhere across the Marne. The officer gave him a map, showing the villages through which he would go. Jimmie and his companions named these villages, using sensible language, without concession64 to the fool notions of the natives. Wipers, Reems, Verdoon, Devil Wood, Arm-in-tears, Saint Meal—all these Jimmie had heard about; also a place where the Americans had won their first glorious victory a week ago, and which they called, sometimes Cantinny, sometimes Tincanny. And now Jimmie was going to “Chatty Terry”, in charge of a red-headed Orangeman who a few days ago had expressed the opinion that all Socialists65 were traitors66 and should be shot!
The officer gave them passes, one for each man, in case they got separated, and they started towards the place where the new machines were lined up. On the way Jimmie had a moment of utter panic. What was this he was getting himself in for, idiot that he was? Going up there where the shells were falling, wiping out motor-cycle units! And shells that were full of poison gases, most of them! Of all the fool things he had done in his life this was the crown and climax67! His knees began to shake, he turned sick inside. But then he glanced about, and caught Pat Cullen's menacing blue eye; Jimmie returned the glare, and the spirit of battle flamed up in him, he laid hold of the handles of a motor-cycle and strode towards the door. Was any Irish mick going to catch him in a funk, and “bawl him out” before this crowd, and put the Socialist movement to shame? Not much!

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 quaint 7tqy2     
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的
参考例句:
  • There were many small lanes in the quaint village.在这古香古色的村庄里,有很多小巷。
  • They still keep some quaint old customs.他们仍然保留着一些稀奇古怪的旧风俗。
2 bloody kWHza     
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染
参考例句:
  • He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
  • He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。
3 rascals 5ab37438604a153e085caf5811049ebb     
流氓( rascal的名词复数 ); 无赖; (开玩笑说法)淘气的人(尤指小孩); 恶作剧的人
参考例句:
  • "Oh, but I like rascals. "唔,不过我喜欢流氓。
  • "They're all second-raters, black sheep, rascals. "他们都是二流人物,是流氓,是恶棍。
4 battered NyezEM     
adj.磨损的;v.连续猛击;磨损
参考例句:
  • He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
  • The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。
5 socialist jwcws     
n.社会主义者;adj.社会主义的
参考例句:
  • China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家,也是一个发展中国家。
  • His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。
6 dilemma Vlzzf     
n.困境,进退两难的局面
参考例句:
  • I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
  • He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。
7 withdrawn eeczDJ     
vt.收回;使退出;vi.撤退,退出
参考例句:
  • Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
  • All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。
8 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。
9 epidemic 5iTzz     
n.流行病;盛行;adj.流行性的,流传极广的
参考例句:
  • That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
  • The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。
10 wreck QMjzE     
n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难
参考例句:
  • Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
  • No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。
11 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。
12 rout isUye     
n.溃退,溃败;v.击溃,打垮
参考例句:
  • The enemy was put to rout all along the line.敌人已全线崩溃。
  • The people's army put all to rout wherever they went.人民军队所向披靡。
13 incessant WcizU     
adj.不停的,连续的
参考例句:
  • We have had incessant snowfall since yesterday afternoon.从昨天下午开始就持续不断地下雪。
  • She is tired of his incessant demands for affection.她厌倦了他对感情的不断索取。
14 trenches ed0fcecda36d9eed25f5db569f03502d     
深沟,地沟( trench的名词复数 ); 战壕
参考例句:
  • life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活
  • The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕,并在田野上呈扇形散开。
15 outfit YJTxC     
n.(为特殊用途的)全套装备,全套服装
参考例句:
  • Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
  • His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。
16 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。
17 promising BkQzsk     
adj.有希望的,有前途的
参考例句:
  • The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
  • We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。
18 vistas cec5d496e70afb756a935bba3530d3e8     
长条形景色( vista的名词复数 ); 回顾; 展望; (未来可能发生的)一系列情景
参考例句:
  • This new job could open up whole new vistas for her. 这项新工作可能给她开辟全新的前景。
  • The picture is small but It'shows broad vistas. 画幅虽然不大,所表现的天地却十分广阔。
19 automobile rP1yv     
n.汽车,机动车
参考例句:
  • He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
  • The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。
20 swoop nHPzI     
n.俯冲,攫取;v.抓取,突然袭击
参考例句:
  • The plane made a swoop over the city.那架飞机突然向这座城市猛降下来。
  • We decided to swoop down upon the enemy there.我们决定突袭驻在那里的敌人。
21 tangle yIQzn     
n.纠缠;缠结;混乱;v.(使)缠绕;变乱
参考例句:
  • I shouldn't tangle with Peter.He is bigger than me.我不应该与彼特吵架。他的块头比我大。
  • If I were you, I wouldn't tangle with them.我要是你,我就不跟他们争吵。
22 marvels 029fcce896f8a250d9ae56bf8129422d     
n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 );令人惊奇的事物(或事例);不平凡的成果;成就v.惊奇,对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The doctor's treatment has worked marvels : the patient has recovered completely. 该医生妙手回春,病人已完全康复。 来自辞典例句
  • Nevertheless he revels in a catalogue of marvels. 可他还是兴致勃勃地罗列了一堆怪诞不经的事物。 来自辞典例句
23 crates crates     
n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱
参考例句:
  • We were using crates as seats. 我们用大木箱作为座位。
  • Thousands of crates compacted in a warehouse. 数以千计的板条箱堆放在仓库里。
24 Portuguese alRzLs     
n.葡萄牙人;葡萄牙语
参考例句:
  • They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
  • Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。
25 plantation oOWxz     
n.种植园,大农场
参考例句:
  • His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
  • The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。
26 unison gKCzB     
n.步调一致,行动一致
参考例句:
  • The governments acted in unison to combat terrorism.这些国家的政府一致行动对付恐怖主义。
  • My feelings are in unison with yours.我的感情与你的感情是一致的。
27 mule G6RzI     
n.骡子,杂种,执拗的人
参考例句:
  • A mule is a cross between a mare and a donkey.骡子是母马和公驴的杂交后代。
  • He is an old mule.他是个老顽固。
28 jack 53Hxp     
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克
参考例句:
  • I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
  • He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。
29 clatter 3bay7     
v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声
参考例句:
  • The dishes and bowls slid together with a clatter.碟子碗碰得丁丁当当的。
  • Don't clatter your knives and forks.别把刀叉碰得咔哒响。
30 sojourn orDyb     
v./n.旅居,寄居;逗留
参考例句:
  • It would be cruel to begrudge your sojourn among flowers and fields.如果嫉妒你逗留在鲜花与田野之间,那将是太不近人情的。
  • I am already feeling better for my sojourn here.我在此逗留期间,觉得体力日渐恢复。
31 toiling 9e6f5a89c05478ce0b1205d063d361e5     
长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 ); 艰难缓慢地移动,跋涉
参考例句:
  • The fiery orator contrasted the idle rich with the toiling working classes. 这位激昂的演说家把无所事事的富人同终日辛劳的工人阶级进行了对比。
  • She felt like a beetle toiling in the dust. She was filled with repulsion. 她觉得自己像只甲虫在地里挣扎,心中涌满愤恨。
32 chattered 0230d885b9f6d176177681b6eaf4b86f     
(人)喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 ); 唠叨; (牙齿)打战; (机器)震颤
参考例句:
  • They chattered away happily for a while. 他们高兴地闲扯了一会儿。
  • We chattered like two teenagers. 我们聊着天,像两个十多岁的孩子。
33 compartment dOFz6     
n.卧车包房,隔间;分隔的空间
参考例句:
  • We were glad to have the whole compartment to ourselves.真高兴,整个客车隔间由我们独享。
  • The batteries are safely enclosed in a watertight compartment.电池被安全地置于一个防水的隔间里。
34 impatience OaOxC     
n.不耐烦,急躁
参考例句:
  • He expressed impatience at the slow rate of progress.进展缓慢,他显得不耐烦。
  • He gave a stamp of impatience.他不耐烦地跺脚。
35 scrap JDFzf     
n.碎片;废料;v.废弃,报废
参考例句:
  • A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
  • Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。
36 frugal af0zf     
adj.节俭的,节约的,少量的,微量的
参考例句:
  • He was a VIP,but he had a frugal life.他是位要人,但生活俭朴。
  • The old woman is frugal to the extreme.那老妇人节约到了极点。
37 civilized UwRzDg     
a.有教养的,文雅的
参考例句:
  • Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
  • rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为
38 lingo S0exp     
n.语言不知所云,外国话,隐语
参考例句:
  • If you live abroad it helps to know the local lingo.住在国外,学一点当地的语言自有好处。
  • Don't use all that technical lingo try and explain in plain English.别尽用那种专门术语,用普通的词语解释吧。
39 grunt eeazI     
v.嘟哝;作呼噜声;n.呼噜声,嘟哝
参考例句:
  • He lifted the heavy suitcase with a grunt.他咕噜着把沉重的提箱拎了起来。
  • I ask him what he think,but he just grunt.我问他在想什麽,他只哼了一声。
40 plumber f2qzM     
n.(装修水管的)管子工
参考例句:
  • Have you asked the plumber to come and look at the leaking pipe?你叫管道工来检查漏水的管子了吗?
  • The plumber screwed up the tap by means of a spanner.管子工用板手把龙头旋紧。
41 wagons ff97c19d76ea81bb4f2a97f2ff0025e7     
n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 );铁路货车;小手推车
参考例句:
  • The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
  • They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。
42 fume 5Qqzp     
n.(usu pl.)(浓烈或难闻的)烟,气,汽
参考例句:
  • The pressure of fume in chimney increases slowly from top to bottom.烟道内压力自上而下逐渐增加,底层住户的排烟最为不利。
  • Your harsh words put her in a fume.你那些难听的话使她生气了。
43 corrugated 9720623d9668b6525e9b06a2e68734c3     
adj.波纹的;缩成皱纹的;波纹面的;波纹状的v.(使某物)起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词)
参考例句:
  • a corrugated iron roof 波纹铁屋顶
  • His brow corrugated with the effort of thinking. 他皱着眉头用心地思考。 来自《简明英汉词典》
44 shreds 0288daa27f5fcbe882c0eaedf23db832     
v.撕碎,切碎( shred的第三人称单数 );用撕毁机撕毁(文件)
参考例句:
  • Peel the carrots and cut them into shreds. 将胡罗卜削皮,切成丝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I want to take this diary and rip it into shreds. 我真想一赌气扯了这日记。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
45 battalion hu0zN     
n.营;部队;大队(的人)
参考例句:
  • The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
  • At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后,队伍解散了。
46 sullen kHGzl     
adj.愠怒的,闷闷不乐的,(天气等)阴沉的
参考例句:
  • He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
  • Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐,因为昨晚没睡好。
47 punctuated 7bd3039c345abccc3ac40a4e434df484     
v.(在文字中)加标点符号,加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 );不时打断某事物
参考例句:
  • Her speech was punctuated by bursts of applause. 她的讲演不时被阵阵掌声打断。
  • The audience punctuated his speech by outbursts of applause. 听众不时以阵阵掌声打断他的讲话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
48 inferno w7jxD     
n.火海;地狱般的场所
参考例句:
  • Rescue workers fought to get to victims inside the inferno.救援人员奋力营救大火中的受害者。
  • The burning building became an inferno.燃烧着的大楼成了地狱般的地方。
49 grumbling grumbling     
adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的
参考例句:
  • She's always grumbling to me about how badly she's treated at work. 她总是向我抱怨她在工作中如何受亏待。
  • We didn't hear any grumbling about the food. 我们没听到过对食物的抱怨。
50 graft XQBzg     
n.移植,嫁接,艰苦工作,贪污;v.移植,嫁接
参考例句:
  • I am having a skin graft on my arm soon.我马上就要接受手臂的皮肤移植手术。
  • The minister became rich through graft.这位部长透过贪污受贿致富。
51 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
52 entrenching 9194dbead20d80164dbf1b1eb736adbe     
v.用壕沟围绕或保护…( entrench的现在分词 );牢固地确立…
参考例句:
  • It has the same effect of entrenching the elite in corrupt economies. 它有着令精英陷入腐败经济的相同效应。 来自互联网
  • This in entrenching on other domains. 这是在侵占别人的领土。 来自互联网
53 irresistibly 5946377e9ac116229107e1f27d141137     
adv.无法抵抗地,不能自持地;极为诱惑人地
参考例句:
  • 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。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He was irresistibly attracted by her charm. 他不能自已地被她的魅力所吸引。 来自《简明英汉词典》
54 clenched clenched     
v.紧握,抓紧,咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。
  • She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上,以掩饰其颤抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
55 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
参考例句:
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
56 gnaw E6kyH     
v.不断地啃、咬;使苦恼,折磨
参考例句:
  • Dogs like to gnaw on a bone.狗爱啃骨头。
  • A rat can gnaw a hole through wood.老鼠能啃穿木头。
57 overtime aKqxn     
adj.超时的,加班的;adv.加班地
参考例句:
  • They are working overtime to finish the work.为了完成任务他们正在加班加点地工作。
  • He was paid for the overtime he worked.他领到了加班费。
58 traitor GqByW     
n.叛徒,卖国贼
参考例句:
  • The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
  • He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。
59 herd Pd8zb     
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起
参考例句:
  • She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
  • He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见,只是人云亦云。
60 rumour 1SYzZ     
n.谣言,谣传,传闻
参考例句:
  • I should like to know who put that rumour about.我想知道是谁散布了那谣言。
  • There has been a rumour mill on him for years.几年来,一直有谣言产生,对他进行中伤。
61 denser denser     
adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的
参考例句:
  • The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民,对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
  • As Tito entered the neighbourhood of San Martino, he found the throng rather denser. 蒂托走近圣马丁教堂附近一带时,发现人群相当密集。
62 sergeant REQzz     
n.警官,中士
参考例句:
  • His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
  • How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹?
63 perversity D3kzJ     
n.任性;刚愎自用
参考例句:
  • She's marrying him out of sheer perversity.她嫁给他纯粹是任性。
  • The best of us have a spice of perversity in us.在我们最出色的人身上都有任性的一面。
64 concession LXryY     
n.让步,妥协;特许(权)
参考例句:
  • We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
  • That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。
65 socialists df381365b9fb326ee141e1afbdbf6e6c     
社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The socialists saw themselves as true heirs of the Enlightenment. 社会主义者认为自己是启蒙运动的真正继承者。
  • The Socialists junked dogma when they came to office in 1982. 社会党人1982年上台执政后,就把其政治信条弃之不顾。
66 traitors 123f90461d74091a96637955d14a1401     
卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 ); 叛徒; 背叛者; 背信弃义的人
参考例句:
  • Traitors are held in infamy. 叛徒为人所不齿。
  • Traitors have always been treated with contempt. 叛徒永被人们唾弃。
67 climax yqyzc     
n.顶点;高潮;v.(使)达到顶点
参考例句:
  • The fifth scene was the climax of the play.第五场是全剧的高潮。
  • His quarrel with his father brought matters to a climax.他与他父亲的争吵使得事态发展到了顶点。


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