The agony of the exodus from Missouri cannot be described. Many of the brethren had been killed; many more were in prison; and all the rest were pursued with vindictive4 hate and threats of death. But for the spirit of mutual5 help which prevailed, the half of the stricken Saints must have perished by massacre6 or starvation in Missouri. A pitiful picture of some of the trials they endured was drawn7 by Sister Amanda Smith, a survivor8 of the Haun's Mill massacre. The mob had killed her husband and one son and had dangerously wounded another of her children.
She says:
They [the mob] told us we must leave the state forthwith or be killed. It was cold weather, and they had our teams and clothes, our men all dead or wounded. I told them they might kill me and my children and welcome. They sent word to us from time to time, saying that if we did not leave the state they would come and kill us. We had little prayer meetings; they said if we did not stop these, they would kill every man, woman and child. We had spelling schools for our little children; they said if we did not stop these they would kill every man, woman and child. We [the women] had to do our own milking, cut our own wood; no man to help us. I started on the 1st of February for Illinois without money; mobs on the way; drove our own team; slept out of doors. I had five small children; we suffered hunger, fatigue10 and cold.
This is one scene by which the whole Missouri tragedy of that day may be judged.
Some time after the Saints had completed their exodus Hyrum Smith epitomized the awful events in the following words:
Governor Boggs and Generals Clark, Lucas, Wilson and Gilliam, also Austin A. King, have committed treasonable acts against the citizens of Missouri, and did violate the constitution of the United States and also the constitution and laws of the state of Missouri, and did exile and expel, at the point of the bayonet, some twelve or fourteen thousand inhabitants of the state, and did murder some three or four hundred of men, women and children in cold blood, in the most horrid11 and cruel manner possible. And the whole of it was caused by religious bigotry12 and persecution13, and because the Mormons dared to worship Almighty14 God according to the dictates15 of their own conscience, and agreeably to His divine will, as revealed in the scriptures16 of eternal truth.
The Prophet himself bore testimony17 that the conduct of the Saints under their accumulated wrongs and sufferings was most praiseworthy. He had observed them from within his prison walls, and after the order of exile was fully18 enforced he wrote:
The courage of the Saints in defending their brethren from the ravages19 of the mobs, their attachment20 to the cause of truth, under circumstances most trying and distressing21 which humanity can possibly endure; their love to each other: * * * their sacrifice in leaving Missouri and assisting the poor widows and orphans22 and securing them homes in a more hospitable23 land; all combine to raise them in the estimation of all good and virtuous24 men, and has secured them the favor and approbation25 of Jehovah, and a name as imperishable as eternity26. And their virtuous deeds and heroic actions, while in defense27 of truth and their brethren, will be fresh and blooming when the names of their oppressors shall be either entirely28 forgotten, or only remembered for their barbarity and cruelty.
On the 5th day of April, 1839, Captain Bogart, who was now the county judge of Caldwell, with a number of apostates29 and mobocrats, visited Elder Theodore Turley, in Far West, and called his attention to the revelation given through Joseph Smith, July 8th, 1838, in which the following passage occurs:
Let them [the Twelve] take leave of my Saints in the city of Far West on the 26th day of April next, on the building spot of my house, saith the Lord.
Bogart and his companions said to Elder Turley:
As a rational man, you must give up the claim that Joseph Smith is a prophet and an inspired man; the Twelve are scattered30 all over creation; let them come here if they dare: if they do, they will be murdered. As that revelation cannot be fulfilled, you must now give up your faith. This is like all the rest of Joseph Smith's damned prophecies.
Elder Turley rebuked31 them with such manliness32 and power of the Spirit that John Whitmer, one of the apostates who was present, hung his head in shame.
But the Lord God Almighty would not permit one jot33 or tittle of His promise to fail; He had servants with the courage and fidelity34 to perform His command. At 1 o'clock in the morning of the 26th day of April, 1839, the day promised in the revelation, seven of the Twelve Apostles, a majority of the quorum35, held a conference on the temple site at Far West; and the master workman laid a corner stone of the foundation of the Lord's house. After the inspiring services were ended, the Twelve took leave of the congregation of the Saints, as had been promised.
It was at this conference that Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith were ordained36 to the Apostleship. Brigham Young presided over the meeting and John Taylor was its clerk.
President Brigham Young, in speaking of this matter in his history, details the following incident:
As the Saints were passing away from the meeting, Brother Turley said to Page and Woodruff, "Stop a bit, while I bid Isaac Russell good-bye;" and knocking at the door called Brother Russell.
His wife answered, "Come in, it is Brother Turley."
Russell replied, "It is not; he left here two weeks ago," and appeared quite alarmed; but on finding it was Turley, asked him to sit down; but he replied, "I cannot; I shall lose my company."
"Who is your company?" inquired Russell.
"The Twelve."
"The Twelve!"
"Yes. Don't you know that this is the twenty-sixth, and the day the Twelve were to take leave of their friends on the foundation of the Lord's House, to go to the islands of the sea? The revelation is now fulfilled, and I am going with them."
Russell was speechless, and Turley bid him farewell.
Thus was this revelation fulfilled, concerning which our enemies said, if all the other revelations of Joseph Smith were fulfilled, that one should not, as it had day and date to it.
After the fulfillment of this prophecy, none of the Saints had any desire to remain longer in the state of Missouri, and the last remnant, except such as were held in chains and dungeons37 hastened away to join their brethren in Illinois and to find a new place of gathering38. And a few months later, after undergoing thrice the tortures of death, Parley39 P. Pratt and the other captives had all been released.
The turbulent spirits in Missouri had conquered, overriding40 law and justice and trampling41 humanity into the dust. This is not the place for a review in detail of all the sufferings of the Church of Jesus Christ in that region; but when the chapter shall be written, it will be as tragic42 as anything in American history.
The edict of exile was made and enforced, and so far as the Saints were concerned, the deed ended there; but not so with the state of Missouri, for the wrong committed remained to plague and wreak43 its vengeance44 upon guilty and innocent alike. The demon45 conjured46 into power by the murderous and plundering47 element of that region, would not down. When there were no "Mormons" to persecute49, the turbulent spirits of the border at times fell upon each other and at other times fell unitedly upon law-abiding, prosperous citizens. Missouri became deeply involved in the Kansas troubles, in which the lawless, mobocratic element took bloody50 part; and when the Civil War opened, the government of Missouri, from the executive office down, became a chaos51. The man who occupied the place disgraced by Lilburn W. Boggs, was a secessionist, and fled from his capital to lead the state militia52 at Booneville against the union troops. The national power triumphed, and the governor and his forces, among which were many of the old mobocrats, were utterly53 routed. The offices which had once been disgraced by cowards were now declared vacant by an arbitrary decree of a state convention in sympathy with the Republic, one and indivisible. The state was declared out of the union by the secessionist governor, and then became the theatre for a fratricidal strife54 which deluged55 it with blood.
On the 31st day of August, 1861, General John C. Fremont, then in command of the western department, declared martial56 law in the state of Missouri, and proclaimed free the slaves of all persons who had taken up arms against the United States. It was a wonderful retribution that Missouri, in which the mob had declared as a pretext57 for their assaults upon the Saints that the latter were Abolitionists, should be the first state in which an edict of manumission went forth9. It is also a wonderful retribution that the state in which the civil power had once been helpless to protect law-abiding citizens, should, only five months after the breaking out of the war, have its civil power abrogated58 and all its people placed under martial rule. Some of the statements in Fremont's proclamation show with startling significance the character of that evil population which had been rewarded by the state for expatriating the Latter-day Saints.
The General says:
Circumstances in my judgment59 of sufficient urgency, render it necessary that the Commanding General of this Department should assume the administrative60 powers of the state. Its disorganized condition, the helplessness of its civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and the devastation61 of property by hands of murderers and marauders, who infest62 nearly every county in the state, and avail themselves of the public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify private and neighborhood vengeance, and who find an enemy wherever they find plunder48,—finally demand the severest measures to repress the daily increasing crimes and outrages63, which are driving off the inhabitants and ruining the state. In this condition, the public safety and the success of our arms require unity64 of purpose: without let or hindrance65, to the prompt administration of affairs.
In order, therefore, to suppress disorders66, to maintain as far as now practicable the public peace, and to give security and protection to the persons and property of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend, and declare established, martial law throughout the state of Missouri. The lines of the army of occupation in this state are for the present declared to extend from Leavenworth, by way of the posts of Jefferson City, Rolla and Ironton, to Cape67 Girardeau, on the Mississippi River.
All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines shall be tried by court martial, and if found guilty, will be shot.
Upon the subject of the slaves, in the same proclamation, the General says:
The property, real and personal, of all persons in the state of Missouri who shall take up arms against the United States, and who shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated68 to the public use; and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men.
And in enforcement of his proclamation to set the negroes free, he issued deeds of manumission, of one of which we are able to present a copy:
Deed of manumission.—Whereas, T. L. S., of the city and county of St. Louis, Missouri, has been taking active part with the enemies of the United States in the present insurrectionary movement against the government of the United States, Now, therefore, I, John Charles Fremont, Major-General, commanding the Western Department of the Army of the United States, by authority of law, and the power vested in me, as such Commanding-General, declare Frank Lewis, heretofore "held to service" or labor69, by said T. L. S. to be free, and forever discharged from the bonds of servitude; giving him full right and authority to have, use and control his own labor or service as to him may seem proper, without any accountability whatever to said T. L. S., or any one to claim by, through or under him. And this Deed of Manumission shall be respected and treated by all persons and in all courts of justice, as the full and complete evidence of the freedom of said Frank Lewis.
In testimony whereof this act is done at St. Louis, Missouri, this 1st day of September, 1861, as is evidenced by the departmental seal hereto affixed70 by my order.
(Signed), JOHN C. FREMONT.
Horace Greeley, in his American Conflict, speaks of "Missouri, betrayed by Jackson" (the governor). Referring to the spectacle of anarchy71 and treason exhibited by the seceding72 states, Greeley reaches the culmination73 with Missouri and uses the following words:
We are now to contemplate74 more directly the spectacle of a state plunged75 into secession and civil war, not in obedience76 to, but in defiance77 of, the action of her convention and the express will of her people—not, even, by any direct act of her legislature, but by the will of her executive alone. * * * The state school fund, the money provided to pay the July interest on the heavy state debt, and all other available means, amounting in the aggregate78 to over three millions of dollars, were appropriated to military uses, and placed at the disposal of [Governor] Jackson, under the pretense79 of arming the state against any emergency. By another act the governor was invested with despotic power—even verbal opposition80 to his assumptions of authority being constituted treason; while every citizen liable to military duty was declared subject to draft into active service at Jackson's will, and an oath of obedience to the state executive exacted.
To support him in his treasonable exercise of power, among the men chosen by Governor Jackson was John B. Clark, the man whom Boggs had selected as a willing tool and whom Jackson now found pliant81 to his purpose. Another of the mob officers, Sterling82 Price, was now made by Jackson, Major-General of the state forces.
Poor Missouri atoned83 with rivers of blood and tears for her sin against herself in permitting the executive to usurp84 unlawful authority. The precedent85 of Boggs' exercise of power was handed down. In the day of the persecution of the Saints, a court had decided86 that belief in the Bible was treason against the government. The idea had moved with terrible momentum87; for here we find in 1861 that, "even verbal opposition to the governor's assumption of authority was constituted treason."
It is true that with any kind of a population Missouri must have taken part either for or against the union; but it is also true that the existence within her boundaries of thousands of lawless wretches88 who loved plunder and rapine, largely increased her sufferings. The entire state was punished for permitting the massacre of the Saints to go unchecked and for encouraging the spirit of plunder by rewarding the mobocrats with money from the state treasury89. Men learned to live by murder and rapine. It cost Missouri dearly to get rid of the evil, but happily for her much of the bad element was eliminated. Many of the old mobocrats suffered all the tortures which they had inflicted90.
But Missouri largely purged91 herself of the vile92 element, and after the strife was ended better men and better sentiments came into the ascendancy93. Some of the men who had been averse94 to mobocratic violence against the Latter-day Saints believed that retribution would come. They lived to see the day of atonement and to participate in a local reconstruction95 and a restoration of better things.
The constituency of the mob is thus described by the Prophet, in a letter dated at Commerce, Illinois, May 17th, 1839:
We have not at any time thought there was any political party, as such, chargeable with the Missouri barbarities, neither any religious society as such. They were committed by a mob composed of all parties, regardless of all difference of opinion either political or religious.
And at a later day in repeating this view, he said:
We consider that in making these remarks, we express the sentiments of the Church in general as well as our own individually, and also when we say in conclusion, that we feel the fullest confidence, that when the subject of our wrongs has been fully investigated by the authorities of the United States, we shall receive the most perfect justice at their hands; whilst our unfeeling oppressors shall be brought to condign96 punishment, with the approbation of a free and enlightened people, without respect to sect97 or party.
点击收听单词发音
1 exodus | |
v.大批离去,成群外出 | |
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2 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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3 courageous | |
adj.勇敢的,有胆量的 | |
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4 vindictive | |
adj.有报仇心的,怀恨的,惩罚的 | |
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5 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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6 massacre | |
n.残杀,大屠杀;v.残杀,集体屠杀 | |
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7 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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8 survivor | |
n.生存者,残存者,幸存者 | |
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9 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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10 fatigue | |
n.疲劳,劳累 | |
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11 horrid | |
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的 | |
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12 bigotry | |
n.偏见,偏执,持偏见的行为[态度]等 | |
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13 persecution | |
n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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14 almighty | |
adj.全能的,万能的;很大的,很强的 | |
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15 dictates | |
n.命令,规定,要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
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16 scriptures | |
经文,圣典( scripture的名词复数 ); 经典 | |
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17 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
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18 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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19 ravages | |
劫掠后的残迹,破坏的结果,毁坏后的残迹 | |
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20 attachment | |
n.附属物,附件;依恋;依附 | |
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21 distressing | |
a.使人痛苦的 | |
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22 orphans | |
孤儿( orphan的名词复数 ) | |
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23 hospitable | |
adj.好客的;宽容的;有利的,适宜的 | |
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24 virtuous | |
adj.有品德的,善良的,贞洁的,有效力的 | |
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25 approbation | |
n.称赞;认可 | |
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26 eternity | |
n.不朽,来世;永恒,无穷 | |
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27 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
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28 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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29 apostates | |
n.放弃原来信仰的人( apostate的名词复数 );叛教者;脱党者;反叛者 | |
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30 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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31 rebuked | |
责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32 manliness | |
刚毅 | |
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33 jot | |
n.少量;vi.草草记下;vt.匆匆写下 | |
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34 fidelity | |
n.忠诚,忠实;精确 | |
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35 quorum | |
n.法定人数 | |
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36 ordained | |
v.任命(某人)为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 );授予(某人)圣职;(上帝、法律等)命令;判定 | |
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37 dungeons | |
n.地牢( dungeon的名词复数 ) | |
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38 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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39 parley | |
n.谈判 | |
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40 overriding | |
a.最主要的 | |
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41 trampling | |
踩( trample的现在分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
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42 tragic | |
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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43 wreak | |
v.发泄;报复 | |
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44 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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45 demon | |
n.魔鬼,恶魔 | |
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46 conjured | |
用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 ); 祈求,恳求; 变戏法; (变魔术般地) 使…出现 | |
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47 plundering | |
掠夺,抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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48 plunder | |
vt.劫掠财物,掠夺;n.劫掠物,赃物;劫掠 | |
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49 persecute | |
vt.迫害,虐待;纠缠,骚扰 | |
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50 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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51 chaos | |
n.混乱,无秩序 | |
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52 militia | |
n.民兵,民兵组织 | |
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53 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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54 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
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55 deluged | |
v.使淹没( deluge的过去式和过去分词 );淹没;被洪水般涌来的事物所淹没;穷于应付 | |
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56 martial | |
adj.战争的,军事的,尚武的,威武的 | |
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57 pretext | |
n.借口,托词 | |
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58 abrogated | |
废除(法律等)( abrogate的过去式和过去分词 ); 取消; 去掉; 抛开 | |
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59 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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60 administrative | |
adj.行政的,管理的 | |
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61 devastation | |
n.毁坏;荒废;极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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62 infest | |
v.大批出没于;侵扰;寄生于 | |
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63 outrages | |
引起…的义愤,激怒( outrage的第三人称单数 ) | |
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64 unity | |
n.团结,联合,统一;和睦,协调 | |
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65 hindrance | |
n.妨碍,障碍 | |
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66 disorders | |
n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 );凌乱;骚乱;(身心、机能)失调 | |
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67 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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68 confiscated | |
没收,充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69 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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70 affixed | |
adj.[医]附着的,附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 );粘贴;加以;盖(印章) | |
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71 anarchy | |
n.无政府状态;社会秩序混乱,无秩序 | |
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72 seceding | |
v.脱离,退出( secede的现在分词 ) | |
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73 culmination | |
n.顶点;最高潮 | |
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74 contemplate | |
vt.盘算,计议;周密考虑;注视,凝视 | |
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75 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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76 obedience | |
n.服从,顺从 | |
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77 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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78 aggregate | |
adj.总计的,集合的;n.总数;v.合计;集合 | |
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79 pretense | |
n.矫饰,做作,借口 | |
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80 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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81 pliant | |
adj.顺从的;可弯曲的 | |
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82 sterling | |
adj.英币的(纯粹的,货真价实的);n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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83 atoned | |
v.补偿,赎(罪)( atone的过去式和过去分词 );补偿,弥补,赎回 | |
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84 usurp | |
vt.篡夺,霸占;vi.篡位 | |
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85 precedent | |
n.先例,前例;惯例;adj.在前的,在先的 | |
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86 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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87 momentum | |
n.动力,冲力,势头;动量 | |
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88 wretches | |
n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 );可怜的人;恶棍;坏蛋 | |
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89 treasury | |
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库 | |
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90 inflicted | |
把…强加给,使承受,遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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91 purged | |
清除(政敌等)( purge的过去式和过去分词 ); 涤除(罪恶等); 净化(心灵、风气等); 消除(错事等)的不良影响 | |
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92 vile | |
adj.卑鄙的,可耻的,邪恶的;坏透的 | |
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93 ascendancy | |
n.统治权,支配力量 | |
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94 averse | |
adj.厌恶的;反对的,不乐意的 | |
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95 reconstruction | |
n.重建,再现,复原 | |
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96 condign | |
adj.应得的,相当的 | |
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97 sect | |
n.派别,宗教,学派,派系 | |
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