What could the New Army not have done if all the time of its training had been fully1 used! A few, at least, of its units had a physique above that of the Guards; many did more actual hours of work, before going abroad, than Guardsmen in peace-time do in two years; all were at first as keen as boys, collectors, or spaniels—whichever are keenest; when the official rations2 of warlike instruction fell short they would go about hungrily trying to scratch crumbs3 of that provender4 out of the earth like fowls5 in a run.
But there was an imp6 of frustration7 about. He pervaded8, like Ariel, all the labouring ship of our State. I had seen him in Lancashire once, on one of the early days of the war, when fifty young miners marched in from one pit, with their colliery band, to enlist9 at an advertised place and time of enlistment10. The futilitarian elf took care that the shutters11 were up and nobody there, so that the men should kick their heels all the day in the street and walk back at night with their tails between their legs, and the band not playing, to tell their mates that the whole thing was a mug's game, a ramp12, got up by the hot-air merchants and crooks14 in control. The imp must have grinned, not quite as all of us have grinned since, on the wrong side of our mouths, at the want of faith that miners have in the great and wise who rule over them. Another practical joke of his was to slip into the War Office or Admiralty and tear up any letters he found from people offering gifts of motor-cars, motor-boats, steam-yachts, training grounds, etc., lest they be answered and the writers and other friends of their country encouraged. Perhaps his brightest triumph of all was to dress himself up as England and send away with a flea15 in her ear the Ireland whom the wonder-working Redmond had induced to offer to fight at our side. Those were a few of his master-pieces. Between times he would keep his hand in by putting it into the Old Army's head to take the keenness out of the New.
Dearest of all the New Army's infant illusions was the Old Army—still at that time the demigod host of an unshattered legend of Mons. To the new recruits any old Regular sergeant16 was more—if the world can hold more—than a county cricketer is to a small boy at school. He had the talisman17; he was a vessel18 full of the grace by which everything was to be saved; like a king, he could "touch for" the malady19 of unsoldierliness. How could he err20, how could he shirk, now that the fate of a world hung upon him?
There was something in that. No doubt there always is in illusions. They are not delusions21. The pick of the old N.C.O.'s of the Regular Army were packed as tight as bits of radium with virtues22 and powers. A man of fifty-five who came back to the army from spending ten years in a farcical uniform whistling for taxis outside a flash music-hall would teach every rank in a battalion23 its duties for 4s. 8d. a day—coaching the dug-out colonel in the new infantry24 drill, the field officers in court-martial25 procedure, the chaplain in details of drum-head worship, the medical officer in the order of sick parades, the subalterns and N.C.O.'s in camp economy, field hygiene26, and what not, and always holding the attention of a man or a mess or a battalion fixed27 fast by the magic of his own oaken character, his simple, vivid mind, his passion for getting things right, and his humorous, patient knowledge of mankind. Even such minor28 masterpieces as average Guards ex-sergeant-majors were rather godlike on parade. In drill, at any rate, they had the circumstantial vision and communicable fire of the prophets. Early in 1915 a little famished29 London cab-tout, a recruit, still rectilinear as a starved cat even after a month of army rations, was to be heard praying softly at night in his cot that he might be made like unto one of these, whom he named.
II
Where, then, did the first shiver of disillusion30 begin? Perhaps with some trivial incident. Say a new-born company, quartered in a great town, was sent out for a long afternoon's marching. Only through long, steady grinds can the perfect rhythm of marching, like that of rowing, be generated at last. The men, youthfully eager to kiss all possible rods and endure any obtainable hardness, march forth31 in a high state of delight—they are going to learn how to march to Berlin! No officer being present—and scarcely any existing as yet—a sergeant-major is in command. He is a very old hand. For twenty minutes he leads his 250 adorers into the thick of a populous32 quarter. Then he orders them to fall out. A public-house resembling Buckingham Palace, but smaller, is near. Most of the men, in their ardour, stand about on the kerb, ready to leap back to their places as soon as the whistle shall sound. A few thirsty souls jostle hurriedly into the bars, where they find that arrangements for serving a multitude are surprisingly complete. Soon they are further reassured34 by descrying35 the sergeant-major's handsome form, like Tam o' Shanter's, "planted unco' right" in a chair in an inner holy of holies along with the landlord. This esoteric session has an air of permanence; the sergeant-major is evidently au mieux with the management. The thirsty souls settle down to their beer.
Five minutes, twenty, half an hour pass fairly fast for them, less fast for the keener warriors36 pawing the kerbstone without. At the end of an hour fifty per cent. of the kerbstone zealots have been successfully frozen into the bars. The rest stare at each other with a wild surmise38. Rumour39 shakes her wings and begins to fly round. The sergeant-major, she says, is holding a species of court in the depths of the pub; some privates with money upon them, children of this world, are pressing in, she says, even now, into that heart of the rose, and with a few manly40 words are standing41 the great man the extremely expensive combination of nectars that he prefers. "Were it not better done as others use?"—the Spartan42 residuum on the kerb is diminishing. Another hour goes; only an inconsiderable remnant of Spartans43 is left; these are exchanging profane44 remarks about patriotism45 and other virtues. One of them quotes a famous Conservative statesman whose footman he was before he enlisted46: "I believe we shall win, in spite of the Regular Army." When just enough time is left to march back to quarters the whistle is blown, the men slouch into their places and stump47 unrhythmically home, revolving48 many things according to their several natures. A child who has rashly taken its parent on trust, and yet more rashly taken the parent's all-round perfection as some sort of sample and proof of a creditable government of the world, must have a good deal of mental rearrangement to do the first time the parent comes home full of liquor and sells the furniture to get some more.
III
Perhaps, in another company or another battalion, some private of relative wealth has felt, in the strength of his youth and the heat of his zeal37, that he wants more to do. He longs to get on with the job. So he guilelessly goes to his own sergeant-major and asks him if there is a chance of getting some lessons in bayonet-fighting anywhere in the town. The sergeant-major sizes him up with a stare. "You're a fine likely man," he says, "for a stripe." He stares harder. "Or three," he subjoins.
The gilded49 youth is confounded. He an N.C.O.! He would as soon have thought of being a primate50. "I'll give you," the Old Army continues, "the lessons myself. It'll be twelve quid—for the lot." To reproduce the emphasis upon the last three words is beyond the resources of typography.
The gilded youth may feel a slight pricking51 in his thumbs. Still, there is no overt52 crook13 in the deal. The teaching is sure to be good. And he has the cash and an inexact sense of values. So he agrees. The senior man-at-arms expresses a preference for ready money. Agreed, too. After one lesson the tutor is frankly53 bored by his tutorial function. "Hang it," he says, "what's the sense of you and me sweating our 'oly guts54 out? You've paid, and you'll find I won't bilk you." Youth is mystified; feels it is getting somewhat short weight. But what are acolytes55 against high priests? Youth leaves it at that.
In two or three weeks the frustrated56 pupil is sent for by his frustrator. A man is wanted for Post Corporal, or even for Battalion Provost Sergeant. What would the gilded youth say to the job? On his saying nothing at first the sergeant-major, with swiftly rising contempt for such friarly hesitancy, recites the beauties of this piece of preferment. "Cushiest job in the 'ole outfit57! Long as you're sober enough to stand up at the staff parade of a night, that's all there is to it. Where'd the crime be among you 'oly Christians58?" (The almost fanatical abstention of the New Army from ordinary military crimes often gave some scandal to experts drawn59 from the Old. They regarded it with perplexity and suspicion. The phenomenon was really simple, the men being in panic-fear of getting left behind in England if their unit should suddenly be sent abroad.) While the gilded youth tries to explain, without a lapse60 from tact61, that the ranks are good enough for himself he feels a regal scorn beat down on him like a vertical62 sun. A fulmination follows. "Then what the 'ell did you ever come to me for? 'Op off! Out of it!"
The youth retires feeling that he has somehow strayed into a black list. He talks it over with a friend. The friend, he finds, has heard something like it from somebody else. Ribald jibes63 are soon flying about—"Four pound a stripe!" "Stripes are ris' to-day!" "Corporals, three for a tenner!" The story goes that a little "Scotch64 draper," the worst drill in a section, has felt that in this newly revealed world his professional credit for tactful effrontery65 is at stake; he has bet a fiver that he will offer the bare market price of a recommendation for "lance-Jack" and bring the thing off; the enterprise has prospered66 and the architect of his own fortunes is wearing the stripe, spending his pound balance on the transaction, commanding his brethren, and enjoying his new dispensation from fatigues67. The band of brothers begin to look at each other with some circumspection68. They wonder. How far does the dirty work go? Who may not try it on next? And did not somebody say he had seen the stud pass between the contractor69 who emptied the swill-tubs and the sergeant-cook who filled them with half-legs of mutton? What was that shorter creed70 to which the sergeants71' mess waiters said that the Regular sergeants always recurred72 in their cups—"Stick together, boys," and "Anything can be wangled in the army"?
IV
What about officers, too? The men wonder again. That new company commander who started in as a captain, but never could give the simplest command on parade without his sergeant-major to give him the words like a parson doing a marriage? What about little Y., who suddenly got a commission when he was doing a fortnight's C.B. for coming on parade with a dirty neck? And the major's lecture on musketry? And the colonel's on field operations?
Part of the scheme of training is that all the senior officers should lecture to the men on something or other—marching, map-reading, field hygiene, and what not. An excellent plan, but terribly hard on an old Regular Army not exactly officered by the brightest wits of public schools. The major's musketry lecture has made the men think. He has told them first that, just to let them know that he was not talking through his hat, he might say he had been, in his time, the champion shot of the Army in India. The men had known that already—had doted, in fact, on anything known to the glory of any of their commanders. Fair enough, too, they had felt, that a man should buck33 a bit about what he had done. Anyone would. And so they had not even smiled. But then the major had amplified73. He had recited his moderate, but not bad, earlier scores in competitions: he had given statistics of his rapid rise; he had painted the astonishment74 of all who saw him shoot in those days—above all, the delight of the men of his old regiment75; for, the major had said, "I may have faults, but this at least I can say, that wherever I went the men simply worshipped the ground that I trod on."
All this had filled the first half of the lecturer's hour. The men had begun to look at each other cautiously, marvelling76. When would the major begin? Could this be a Regular Army custom? But then the major had warmed to his subject. With rising zest77 he had described the dramatic tension pervading78 the butts80 as the crisis of each of his greater triumphs approached. And then the climax81 had come—"the one time that I failed." In sombre tones the major had told how five shots had to be fired at one out of several targets arranged in a row. "I fired my first four shots. A bull each time. I fired again, and the marker signalled a miss! Everyone present was thunderstruck. I knew what had happened. I said to the butt79 officer, 'Do you mind, sir, enquiring82 if there is any shot on the target to the right of mine?' He did so. 'Yes,' was signalled back. 'What is it?' I asked, though I knew. 'A bull.' 'That was my last shot,' said I. I had made the mistake of my life. I had fired at the wrong target. Fall out."
On this tragic83 climax the lecture had ended, the men had streamed out, some silent, bewildered, some dropping words of amazement84. "Lecture! W'y, it's the man's pers'nal 'istory!"
And then the C.O. has lectured on training in field operations—the old, cold colonel, upright, dutiful, unintelligent, waxen, drawn away by a genuine patriotism from his roses and croquet to help joylessly in the queer labour of trying to teach this uncouth85 New Army a few of the higher qualities of the old. Too honest a man to pretend that he was not taking all that he said in his lecture out of the Army's official manual, Infantry Training, 1914, he has held the little red book in his hand, read out frankly a sentence at a time from that terse86 and luminous87 masterpiece of instruction, and then has tried to "explain" it while the men gaped88 at the strange contrast between the thing clearly said in the book and the same thing plunged89 into obscurity by the poor colonel's woolly and faltering90 verbiage91. Half the men had bought the little book themselves and devoured92 it as hungrily as boys consume a manual of rude boat-building or of camping-out. And here was the colonel bringing his laboured jets of darkness to show the way through sunlight; elucidating93 plainness itself with the tangled94 clues of his own mind's confusion, like Bardolph: "'Accommodated'; that is, when a man is, as they say, accommodated; or when a man is, being, whereby a' may be thought to be accommodated."
V
A favourite trick with the disillusioning95 imp was to get hold of authority's wisely drafted time-table of work for a new division in training and mix up all the subjects and times. The effect must have often diverted the author of this piece of humour. Some day a company, say, would begin to learn bayonet-fighting. This would at once revive in the men the fading ecstasies96 of their first simple faith. Whenever instructors97 said—"Now then, men, I want to see a bit more murder in them eyes" pleasant little thrills of chartered pugnacity98 would inspirit them. This, they would feel, was the real thing; this was what they were there for. Then just as, perhaps, they approached the engaging and manifestly serviceable "short jab" Puck's little witticism99 would suddenly tell; bayonet-fighting would abruptly100 stop; an urgent order would come from on high to "get on with night operations" or "get on with outpost work," and one of these bodies of knowledge would, in its turn, be partly imbibed101 by the infant mind and then as suddenly withdrawn102 from its thirsty lips for something else to be started instead—perhaps a thing that had already been once started and dropped. In the working out of this fantastic pattern of smatterings a company might begin to learn bayonet-fighting three or four times and each time be switched off it before getting half way, and go to France in the end with the A.B.C. of each of several alphabets learnt to boredom103 and the X.Y.Z. of none of them touched, the men being left to improvise104 the short jab and other far-on letters by the light of nature, in intimate contact, perhaps, with less humorously instructed Germans.
All this was not universal. Still, it could and did happen. And then the men stared and marvelled105. Authority, it is true, had, at the worst, some gusts106 of passion for perfection. But even these might fortify107, in their way, the new occupant of the seat of the scorners. A sudden order might come for a brigade or other inspection108, and then authority might in a brief hour become like medi?val man when he fell suddenly ill and the pains of hell gat hold of his mind and he felt that God must be squared without conduct because it might take more time to conduct himself than he had got. In this pious109 frenzy110 all attention to measures for incommoding the Germans would yield to the primary duty of whiting the sepulchre; energies that would carry a Hohenzollern Redoubt would be put into the evolution of sections which, through somebody's slackness, did not exist, or the hiding of men who, through some one's mismanagement, were not fit to be seen on parade; old N.C.O.'s would present the men with the tip for making a seemingly full valise look nicely rectangular by the judicious111 insertion of timber, and other homely112 recipes for cleaning the outsides of cups and platters. "Eye-wash?" these children of light would say, as they taught. "Of course, it's all eye-wash. What ain't eye-wash in this old world?"
It was a question much asked at the time by those whose post-war inclinations113 to answer "Nothing, among the lot who run England now" are whitening the hair of statesmen. They were then only asking "How far does it go? How much of the timber is rotten"? Enough to bring down the whole house? Here, there, everywhere the men's new suspicion peered about in the dark and the half-light. Most of the men were the almost boundless114 reservoirs of patience, humility115, and good humour that common Englishmen are. They would take long to run dry. But the waters were steadily116 falling. Most of them had come from civil employments in which the curse of Adam still holds and a man must either work or get out, mind his P's and Q's, or go short of his victuals117. They knew that in civil life a foreman who thieved like some of the Regular N.C.O.'s would soon be in the street or in gaol118. They knew that in civil life a manager who could not get down to the point any better than the colonel or the major would soon have the business piled up on the rocks. Here was an eye-opening find—a world in which any old rule of that kind could be dodged119 if you got the right tip. It became the dominant120 topic for talk, more dominant even than food, the staple121 theme of the conversation of soldiers. How far did the rottenness go? Would they ever get to the other side of this bog122 through which poor old England was wading123? If you bored deeper and deeper still into this amazing old Regular Army would there ever come a point at which you would strike the good firm stone of English decency124 and sense again? And was it open to hope that in Germany, too, such failures abounded125—that these diseases of ours were rife126 in all armies and not in the British alone, so that there might be a chance for us still, as there is for one toothless dog fighting another?
Whatever else might lack in our training-camps throughout England during the spring and summer of 1915, good fresh food for suspicion always abounded. Runlets of news and rumour came trickling127 from France; wounded soldiers talked and could not be censored128; they talked of the failure of French; of the sneer129 on the face of France; of Staff work that hung up whole platoons of our men, like old washing or scarecrows, to rot on uncut German wire; of little, splendid bands of company officers and men who did take bits of enemy trench130, in spite of it all, and then were bombed to death by the Germans at leisure, no support coming, no bombs to throw back—and here, at home, old Regular colonels were saying to hollow squares of their men: "I hear that in France there's a certain amount of throwing of some sort of ginger-beer bottles about, but the old Lee-Metford's good enough for me."
No need, indeed, to look as far away as France. London, to any open eye, was grotesque131 with a kind of fancy-dress ball of non-combatant khaki: it seemed as if no well-to-do person could be an abstainer132 from warfare133 too total to go about disguised as a soldier. He might be anything—a lord lieutenant134, an honorary colonel, a dealer135 in horses, a valuer of cloth, an accountant, an actor in full work, a recruiter of other men for the battles that he avoided himself, a "soldier politician" of swiftly and strangely acquired field rank and the "swashing and martial outside" of a Rosalind, and a Rosalind's record of active service. No doubt this latter carnival136 was not to be at its height till most of the New Army of 1914 was well out of the way. Conscription had not yet been vouchsafed137 to the prayers of healthy young publicists who then begged themselves off before tribunals. The ultimate farce138 of the mobbing of the relatively139 straight "conscientious140 objector" by these, his less conscientious brother-objectors, had still to be staged. But already the comedy, like Mercutio's wound, was enough; it served. Colonel Repington's confessional diary had not been published, but the underworld which it reveals was pretty correctly guessed by the New Army's rising suspicion. And rumour said that all the chief tribes of posturers, shirkers, "have-a-good-timers," and jobbers141 were banding themselves together against the one man in high place whom the New Army believed, with the assurance of absolute faith, to be straight and "a tryer." It was said that Kitchener was to be set upon soon by a league of all the sloths142 whom he had put to work, the "stunt143" journalists whom he had kept at a distance, the social principalities and powers whose jobs he would not do. All the slugs of the commonwealth144 were to combine against the commonwealth unpleasantly dutiful gardener—down with his lantern and can of caustic145 solution!
VI
It was, of course, an incomplete view of the case. Shall we have Henries, Fluellens, and Erpinghams at the hand of God, and no Bardolphs, Pistols, and Nyms? Our stage was not really rotten by any means; only half-rotten, like others of man's institutions. Half the Old Army, at least, was exemplary. Even among politicians unselfishness may, with some trouble, be found. Still, this is no exposition of what the New Army ought to have said to itself as it lay on the ground after Lights Out compounding the new temper which comes out to-day, but only of what it did say. It was reacting. In the first weeks of the war most of the flock had too simply taken on trust all that its pastors146 and masters had said. Now, after believing rather too much, they were out to believe little or nothing—except that in the lump pastors and masters were frauds. From any English training-camp, about that time, you almost seemed to see a light steam rising, as it does from a damp horse. This was illusion beginning to evaporate.
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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provender
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| n.刍草；秣料 | |
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fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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imp
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frustration
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| n.挫折，失败，失效，落空 | |
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pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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enlist
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| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
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enlistment
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| n.应征入伍，获得，取得 | |
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shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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ramp
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| n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速 | |
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crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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crooks
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| n.骗子( crook的名词复数 )；罪犯；弯曲部分；（牧羊人或主教用的）弯拐杖v.弯成钩形( crook的第三人称单数 ) | |
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flea
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sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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talisman
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| n.避邪物，护身符 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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err
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| vi.犯错误，出差错 | |
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delusions
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| n.欺骗( delusion的名词复数 )；谬见；错觉；妄想 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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infantry
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martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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hygiene
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| n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic） | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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minor
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famished
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disillusion
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| vt.使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭 | |
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forth
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populous
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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reassured
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descrying
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warriors
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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surmise
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rumour
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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41
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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42
spartan
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| adj.简朴的，刻苦的；n.斯巴达；斯巴达式的人 | |
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43
spartans
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| n.斯巴达（spartan的复数形式） | |
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44
profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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45
patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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46
enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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47
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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48
revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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49
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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50
primate
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| n.灵长类（目）动物，首席主教；adj.首要的 | |
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51
pricking
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| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
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52
overt
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| adj.公开的，明显的，公然的 | |
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53
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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54
guts
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| v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠 | |
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55
acolytes
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| n.助手( acolyte的名词复数 )；随从；新手；（天主教）侍祭 | |
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56
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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57
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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58
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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59
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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60
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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61
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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62
vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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63
jibes
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| n.与…一致( jibe的名词复数 )；（与…）相符；相匹配v.与…一致( jibe的第三人称单数 )；（与…）相符；相匹配 | |
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64
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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65
effrontery
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| n.厚颜无耻 | |
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66
prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67
fatigues
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| n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 )；杂役；厌倦；（士兵穿的）工作服 | |
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68
circumspection
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| n.细心，慎重 | |
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69
contractor
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| n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌 | |
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70
creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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71
sergeants
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| 警官( sergeant的名词复数 )； （美国警察）警佐； （英国警察）巡佐； 陆军（或空军）中士 | |
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72
recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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73
amplified
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| 放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述 | |
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74
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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75
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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76
marvelling
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的现在分词 ) | |
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77
zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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78
pervading
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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79
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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80
butts
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| 笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂 | |
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81
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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82
enquiring
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| a.爱打听的，显得好奇的 | |
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83
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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84
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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85
uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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86
terse
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| adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的 | |
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87
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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88
gaped
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| v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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89
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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90
faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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91
verbiage
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| n.冗词；冗长 | |
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92
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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93
elucidating
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| v.阐明，解释( elucidate的现在分词 ) | |
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94
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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95
disillusioning
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| 使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭( disillusion的现在分词 ) | |
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96
ecstasies
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| 狂喜( ecstasy的名词复数 )； 出神； 入迷； 迷幻药 | |
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97
instructors
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| 指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 ) | |
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98
pugnacity
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| n.好斗，好战 | |
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99
witticism
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| n.谐语，妙语 | |
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100
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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101
imbibed
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| v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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102
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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103
boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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104
improvise
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| v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成 | |
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105
marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106
gusts
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| 一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作 | |
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107
fortify
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| v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化 | |
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108
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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109
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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110
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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111
judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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112
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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113
inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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114
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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115
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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116
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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117
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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118
gaol
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| n.(jail)监狱；(不加冠词)监禁；vt.使…坐牢 | |
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119
dodged
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| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
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120
dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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121
staple
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| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
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122
bog
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| n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖 | |
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123
wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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124
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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125
abounded
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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126
rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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127
trickling
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| n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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128
censored
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| 受审查的，被删剪的 | |
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129
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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130
trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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131
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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132
abstainer
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| 节制者，戒酒者，弃权者 | |
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133
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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134
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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135
dealer
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| n.商人，贩子 | |
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136
carnival
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| n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演 | |
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137
vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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138
farce
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| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
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139
relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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140
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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141
jobbers
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| n.做零活的人( jobber的名词复数 )；营私舞弊者；股票经纪人；证券交易商 | |
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142
sloths
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| 懒散( sloth的名词复数 )； 懒惰； 树獭； （经济）停滞。 | |
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143
stunt
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| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
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144
commonwealth
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| n.共和国，联邦，共同体 | |
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145
caustic
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| adj.刻薄的，腐蚀性的 | |
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146
pastors
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| n.（基督教的）牧师( pastor的名词复数 ) | |
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