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Chapter 3
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Only a few tables on the porch were still occupied when Jeremy reached Herbs. As he climbed the steps to the front door, conversations quieted and eyes drifted his way. Only the chewing continued, and Jeremy was reminded of the curious way cows looked at you when you approached the pasture fence. Jeremy nodded and waved, as he’d seen the old folks on the porches doing.
 
He removed his sunglasses and pushed through the door. The small, square tables were spread through two main rooms on either side of the building, separated by a set of stairs. The peach walls were offset1 by white trim, giving the place a homey, country feel; toward the rear of the building, he caught a glimpse of the kitchen.
 
Again, the same cowlike expressions from patrons as he passed. Conversations quieted. Eyes drifted. When he nodded and waved, eyes dropped and the murmur2 of conversation rose again. This waving thing, he thought, was kind of like having a magic wand.
 
Jeremy stood fiddling with his sunglasses, hoping Doris was here, when one of the waitresses ambled3 out from the kitchen. In her late twenties or so, she was tall and reed-thin, with a sunny, open face.
 
“Just take a seat anywhere, hon,” she chirped4. “Be with you in a minute.”
 
After making himself comfortable near a window, he watched the waitress approach. Her name tag said rachel. Jeremy thought about the name tag phenomenon in town. Did every worker have one? He wondered if it was some sort of rule. Like nodding and waving.
 
“Can I get you something to drink, darlin’?”
 
“Do you have cappuccino?” he ventured.
 
“No, sorry. We have coffee, though.”
 
Jeremy smiled. “Coffee will be fine.”
 
“You got it. Menu’s on the table if you want something to eat.”
 
“Actually, I was wondering if Doris McClellan was around.”
 
“Oh, she’s in the back,” Rachel said, brightening. “Want me to get her?”
 
“If you wouldn’t mind.”
 
She smiled. “No problem at all, darlin’.”
 
He watched her head toward the kitchen and push through the swinging doors. A moment later, a woman whom he assumed was Doris emerged. She was the opposite of Rachel: short and stout5, with thinning white hair that was once blond, she was wearing an apron6, but no name tag, over a flower-print blouse. She looked to be about sixty. Pausing at the table, she put her hands on her hips7 before breaking into a smile.
 
“Well,” she said, drawing out the word into two syllables8, “you must be Jeremy Marsh9.”
 
Jeremy blinked. “You know me?” he asked.
 
“Of course. I just saw you on Primetime Live last Friday. I take it you got my letter.”
 
“I did, thank you.”
 
“And you’re here to write a story about the ghosts?”
 
He raised his hands. “So it seems.”
 
“Well, I’ll be.” Her accent made it sound like she was pronouncing the letters L-I-B. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
 
“I like to surprise people. Sometimes it makes it a little easier to obtain accurate information.”
 
“L-I-B,” she said again. After the surprise had faded, she pulled out a chair. “Mind if I take a seat? I suppose you’re here to talk to me.”
 
“I don’t want you to get in trouble with your boss if you’re supposed to be working.”
 
She glanced over her shoulder and shouted, “Hey, Rachel, do you think the boss would mind if I took a seat? The man here wants to talk to me.”
 
Rachel poked10 her head out from behind the swinging doors. Jeremy could see her holding a pot of coffee.
 
“Nah, I don’t think the boss would mind at all,” Rachel responded. “She loves to talk. Especially when she’s with such a handsome fella.”
 
Doris turned around. “See,” she said, and nodded. “No problem.”
 
Jeremy smiled. “Seems like a nice place to work.”
 
“It is.”
 
“I take it that you’re the boss.”
 
“Guilty as charged,” Doris answered. Her eyes flickered with satisfaction.
 
“How long have you been in business?”
 
“Almost thirty years now, open for breakfast and lunch. We were doing the healthy food thing long before it was popular, and we have the best omelets this side of Raleigh.” She leaned forward. “You hungry? You should try one of our sandwiches for lunch. It’s all fresh—we even make the bread daily. You look like you could use a bite, and from the looks of you . . .” She hesitated, looking him over. “I’ll bet you’d love the chicken pesto sandwich. It’s got sprouts11, tomatoes, cucumbers, and I came up with the pesto recipe myself.”
 
“I’m not really that hungry.”
 
Rachel approached with two cups of coffee.
 
“Well, just to let you know . . . if I’m going to tell a story, I like to do it over a good meal. And I tend to take my time.”
 
Jeremy surrendered. “The chicken pesto sandwich sounds fine.”
 
Doris smiled. “Could you bring us a couple of the Albemarles, Rachel?”
 
“Sure,” Rachel answered. She looked him over with an appreciative12 eye. “By the way, who’s your friend? Haven’t seen him around here before.”
 
“This is Jeremy Marsh,” Doris answered. “He’s a famous journalist here to write a story about our fair town.”
 
“Really?” Rachel said, looking interested.
 
“Yes,” Jeremy answered.
 
“Oh, thank goodness,” Rachel said with a wink13. “For a second, I thought you’d just come from a funeral.”
 
Jeremy blinked as Rachel moved away.
 
Doris laughed at his expression. “Tully stopped in after you swung by for directions,” she explained. “I guess he figured I might have had something to do with you coming down, and he wanted to make sure. So anyway, he rehashed the entire conversation, and Rachel probably couldn’t resist. We all thought his comment was a hoot14.”
 
“Ah,” Jeremy said.
 
Doris leaned forward. “I’ll bet he talked your ear off.”
 
“A little.”
 
“He was always a talker. He’d talk to a shoe box if no one else was around, and I swear I don’t know how his wife, Bonnie, put up with it for so long. But twelve years ago, she went deaf, and so now he talks to customers. It’s all a person can do to get out of there in less time it takes ice cubes to melt in winter. I even had to shoo him out of here today after he came by. Can’t get a speck15 of work done if he’s around.”
 
Jeremy reached for his coffee. “His wife went deaf?”
 
“I think the Good Lord realized she’d sacrificed enough. Bless her heart.”
 
Jeremy laughed before taking a sip16. “So why would he think you were the one who contacted me?”
 
“Every time something unusual happens, I’m always to blame. Comes with the territory, I guess, being the town psychic17 and all.”
 
Jeremy simply looked at her and Doris smiled.
 
“I take it you don’t believe in psychics,” she remarked.
 
“No, not really,” Jeremy admitted.
 
Doris tugged18 at her apron. “Well, for the most part, I don’t, either. Most of them are kooks. But some people do have the gift.”
 
“Then . . . you can read my mind?”
 
“No, nothing like that,” Doris said, shaking her head. “At least most of the time, anyway. I have a pretty good intuition about people, but reading minds was more my mom’s thing. No one could hide a thing from her. She even knew what I planned on buying her for her birthdays, which took a lot of the fun out of it. But my gift is different. I’m a diviner. And I can also tell what sex a baby’s going to be before it’s born.”
 
“I see.”
 
Doris looked him over. “You don’t believe me.”
 
“Well, let’s just say you are a diviner. That means you can find water and tell me where I should dig a well.”
 
“Of course.”
 
“And if I asked you to do a test, with scientific controls, under strict supervision19 . . .”
 
“You could even be the one to supervise me, and if you had to rig me up like a Christmas tree to make sure I wasn’t cheating, I’d have no problem with that.”
 
“I see,” Jeremy said, thinking of Uri Geller. Geller had been so confident of his powers of telekinesis that he’d gone on British television in 1973, where he’d appeared before scientists and a studio audience. When he balanced a spoon on his finger, both sides began to curve downward before the stupefied observers. Only later did it come out that he’d bent20 the spoon over and over before the show, producing metal fatigue21.
 
Doris seemed to know just what he was thinking.
 
“Tell you what . . . you can test me anytime, in any way you’d like. But that’s not why you came. You want to hear about the ghosts, right?”
 
“Sure,” Jeremy said, relieved to get straight into it. “Do you mind if I record this?”
 
“Not at all.”
 
Jeremy reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved22 the small recorder. He set it between them and pressed the appropriate buttons. Doris took a sip of coffee before beginning.
 
“Okay, the story goes back to the 1890s or thereabouts. Back then, this town was still segregated23, and most of the Negroes lived out in a place called Watts24 Landing. There’s nothing left of the village these days because of Hazel, but back then—”
 
“Excuse me . . . Hazel?”
 
“The hurricane? Nineteen fifty-four. Hit the coast near the South Carolina border. It pretty much put most of Boone Creek25 underwater, and what was left of Watts Landing was washed away.”
 
“Oh, right. Sorry. Go ahead.”
 
“Anyway, like I was saying, you won’t find the village now, but back near the turn of the century, I guess about three hundred people lived there. Most of them were descended26 from the slaves that had come up from South Carolina during the War of Northern Aggression27, or what you Yankees call the Civil War.”
 
She winked28 and Jeremy smiled.
 
“So Union Pacific came through to set the railroad lines, which, of course, was supposed to turn this place into a big cosmopolitan29 area. Or so they promised. And the line they proposed ran right through the Negro cemetery30. Now, the leader of that town was a woman named Hettie Doubilet. She was from the Caribbean—I don’t know which island—but when she found out that they were supposed to dig up all the bodies and transfer them to another place, she got upset and tried to get the county to do something to have the route changed. But the folks that ran the county wouldn’t consider it. Wouldn’t even grant her the opportunity to make her case.”
 
At that moment, Rachel arrived with the sandwiches. She set both plates on the table.
 
“Try it,” Doris said. “You’re skin and bones, anyway.”
 
Jeremy reached for his sandwich and took a bite. He raised his eyebrows31 and Doris smiled.
 
“Better than anything you can find in New York, isn’t it?”
 
“Without a doubt. My compliments to the chef.”
 
She looked at him almost coquettishly. “You are a charmer, Mr. Marsh,” she said, and Jeremy was struck by the thought that in her youth, she must have broken a few hearts. She went on with her story, as if she’d never stopped.
 
“Back then, a lot of folks were racist32. Some of them still are, but they’re in the minority now. Being from the North, you probably think I’m lying about that, but I’m not.”
 
“I believe you.”
 
“No, you don’t. No one from the North believes it, but that’s beside the point. But going on with the story, Hettie Doubilet was enraged33 by the folks at the county, and legend has it that when they refused her entrance to the mayor’s office, she put a curse on us white folk. She said that if graves of her ancestors would be defiled, then ours would be defiled, too. The ancestors of her people would tread the earth in search of their original resting place and would trample34 through Cedar35 Creek on their journey, and that in the end, the whole cemetery would be swallowed whole. Of course, no one paid her any attention that day.”
 
Doris took a bite of her sandwich. “And, well, to make a long story short, the Negroes moved the bodies one by one to another cemetery, the railroad went in, and after that, just as Hettie said, Cedar Creek Cemetery started going bad. Little things at first. A few headstones broken, things like that, like vandals were responsible. The county folks, thinking Hettie’s people were responsible, posted guards. But it kept happening, no matter how many guards they put out there. And over the years, it kept getting worse. You went there, right?”
 
Jeremy nodded.
 
“So you can see what’s happening. Looks like the place is sinking, right, just like Hettie said it would? Anyway, a few years later, the lights started to appear. And ever since then, folks have believed it was the slave spirits marching through.”
 
“So they don’t use the cemetery anymore?”
 
“No, the place was abandoned for good in the late 1970s, but even before that, most people opted36 to be buried in the other cemeteries37 around town because of what was happening to that one. The county owns it now, but they don’t take care of it. They haven’t for the last twenty years.”
 
“Has anyone ever checked into why the cemetery seems to be sinking?”
 
“I’m not certain, but I’m almost positive that someone has. A lot of powerful folks had ancestors buried in the cemetery, and the last thing they wanted was their grandpa’s tomb being broken up. I’m sure they wanted an explanation, and I’ve heard stories that some folks from Raleigh came to find out what was happening.”
 
“You mean the students from Duke?”
 
“Oh, no, not them, honey. They were just kids, and they were here last year. No, I’m talking way back. Maybe around the time the damage first started.”
 
“But you don’t know what they learned.”
 
“No. Sorry.” She paused, and her eyes took on a mischievous38 gleam. “But I think I have a pretty good idea.”
 
Jeremy raised his eyebrows. “And that is?”
 
“Water,” she said simply.
 
“Water?”
 
“I’m a diviner, remember. I know where water is. And I’ll tell you straight up that that land is sinking because of the water underneath39 it. I know it for a fact.”
 
“I see,” Jeremy said.
 
Doris laughed. “You’re so cute, Mr. Marsh. Did you know that your face gets all serious-looking when someone tells you something you don’t want to believe?”
 
“No. No one’s ever told me that.”
 
“Well, it does. And I think it’s darling. My mom would have had a field day with you. You’re so easy to read.”
 
“So what am I thinking?”
 
Doris hesitated. “Well, like I said, my gifts are different than my mother’s. She could read you like a book. And besides, I don’t want to scare you.”
 
“Go ahead. Scare me.”
 
“All right,” she said. She took a long look at him. “Think of something I couldn’t possibly know. And remember, my gift isn’t reading minds. I just get . . . hints now and then, and only if they’re really strong feelings.”
 
“All right,” Jeremy said, playing along. “You do realize, however, that you’re hedging yourself here.”
 
“Oh, hush40, now.” Doris reached for his hands. “Let me hold these, okay?”
 
Jeremy nodded. “Sure.”
 
“Now think of something personal I couldn’t possibly know.”
 
“Okay.”
 
She squeezed his hand. “Seriously. Right now you’re just playing with me.”
 
“Fine,” he said, “I’ll think of something.”
 
Jeremy closed his eyes. He thought of the reason Maria had finally left him, and for a long moment, Doris said nothing at all. Instead, she simply looked at him, as if trying to get him to say something.
 
He’d been through this before. Countless41 times. He knew enough to say nothing, and when she remained silent, he knew he had her. She suddenly jerked—unsurprising, Jeremy thought, since it went with the show—and immediately afterward42, released his hands.
 
Jeremy opened his eyes and looked at her.
 
“And?”
 
Doris was looking at him strangely. “Nothing,” she said.
 
“Ah,” Jeremy added, “I guess it’s not in the cards today, huh?”
 
“Like I said, I’m a diviner.” She smiled, almost as if in apology. “But I can definitely say that you’re not pregnant.”
 
He chuckled43. “I’d have to say that you’re right about that.”
 
She smiled at him before glancing toward the table. She brought her eyes up again. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done what I did. It was inappropriate.”
 
“No big deal,” he said, meaning it.
 
“No,” she insisted. She met his eyes and reached for his hand again. She squeezed it softly. “I’m very sorry.”
 
Jeremy wasn’t quite sure how to react when she took his hand again, but he was struck by the compassion44 in her expression.
 
And Jeremy had the unnerving feeling that she had guessed more about his personal history than she could possibly know.
 
Psychic abilities, premonitions, and intuition are simply a product of the interplay among experience, common sense, and accumulated knowledge. Most people greatly underestimate the amount of information they learn in a lifetime, and the human brain is able to instantly correlate the information in a way that no other species—or machine—is capable of doing.
 
The brain, however, learns to discard the vast majority of information it receives, since, for obvious reasons, it’s not critical to remember everything. Of course, some people have better memories than others, a fact that often displays itself in testing scenarios45, and the ability to train memories is well documented. But even the worst of students remember 99.99 percent of everything they come across in life. Yet, it’s that 0.01 percent that most frequently distinguishes one person from the next. For some people, it manifests itself in the ability to memorize trivia, or excel as doctors, or accurately46 interpret financial data as a hedge-fund billionaire. For other people, it’s an ability to read others, and those people—with an innate47 ability to draw on memories, common sense, and experience and to codify48 it quickly and accurately—manifest an ability that strikes others as being supernatural.
 
But what Doris did was . . . beyond that somehow, Jeremy thought. She knew. Or at least, that was Jeremy’s first inclination49, until he retreated to the logical explanation of what had happened.
 
And, in fact, nothing had really happened, he reminded himself. Doris hadn’t said anything; it was simply the way she looked at him that made him think she understood those unknowable things. And that belief was coming from him, not from Doris.
 
Science held the real answers, but even so, she seemed like a nice person. And if she believed in her abilities, so what? To her, it probably did seem supernatural.
 
Again, she seemed to read him almost immediately.
 
“Well, I suppose I just confirmed that I’m nuts, huh?”
 
“No, not really,” Jeremy said.
 
She reached for her sandwich. “Well, anyway, since we’re supposed to be enjoying this fine meal, maybe it’s better if we just visited for a while. Is there anything I can tell you?”
 
“Tell me about the town of Boone Creek,” he said.
 
“Like what?”
 
“Oh, anything, really. I figure that since I’m going to be here for a few days, I might as well know a little about the place.”
 
They spent the next half hour discussing . . . well, not much of anything as far as Jeremy was concerned. Even more than Tully, Doris seemed to know everything that was going on in town. Not because of her supposed abilities—and she admitted as much— but because information passed through small towns like prune50 juice through an infant.
 
Doris talked almost nonstop. He learned who was seeing whom, who was hard to work with and why, and the fact that the minister at the local Pentecostal Church was having an affair with one of his parishioners. Most important, according to Doris, at least, was that if his car happened to break down, he should never call Trevor’s Towing, since Trevor would probably be drunk, no matter what time of day.
 
“The man is a menace on the roads,” Doris declared. “Everyone knows it, but because his father is the sheriff, no one ever does anything about it. But then, I suppose you shouldn’t be surprised. Sheriff Wanner51 has his own problems, what with his gambling52 debts.”
 
“Ah,” Jeremy said in response, as if he were up on all the goings-on in town. “Makes sense.”
 
For a moment, neither of them said anything. In the lull53, he glanced at his watch.
 
“I suppose you need to be going,” Doris said.
 
He reached for the recorder and shut it off before sliding it back into his jacket. “Probably. I wanted to swing by the library before it closes to see what it has to offer.”
 
“Well, lunch was on me. It’s not often that we have a famous visitor come by.”
 
“A brief appearance on Primetime doesn’t make a person famous.”
 
“I know that. But I was talking about your column.”
 
“You’ve read it?”
 
“Every month. My husband, bless his heart, used to tinker in the garage and he loved the magazine. And after he passed, I just didn’t have the heart to cancel the subscription54. I sort of picked up where he left off. You’re a pretty smart fellow.”
 
“Thanks,” he said.
 
She stood from the table and began leading him from the restaurant. The remaining patrons, only a few now, looked up to watch them. It went without saying that they’d heard every word, and as soon as Jeremy and Doris had stepped outside, they began to murmur among themselves. This, everyone immediately decided55, was exciting stuff.
 
“Did she say he’d been on television?” one asked.
 
“I think I’ve seen him on one of those talk shows.”
 
“He’s definitely not a doctor,” added another. “I heard him talking about a magazine article.”
 
“Wonder how Doris knows him. Did you happen to catch that?”
 
“Well, he seemed nice enough.”
 
“I just think he’s plain old dreamy,” offered Rachel.
 
Meanwhile, Jeremy and Doris paused on the porch, unaware56 of the stir they’d caused inside.
 
“I assume you’re staying at Greenleaf?” Doris inquired. When Jeremy nodded, she went on. “Do you know where they are? They’re kind of out in the backcountry.”
 
“I have a map,” Jeremy said, trying to sound as if he’d been prepared all along. “I’m sure I can find it. But how about directions to the library?”
 
“Sure,” Doris said, “that’s just around the corner.” She motioned up the road. “Do you see the brick building there? The one with the blue awnings57?”
 
Jeremy nodded.
 
“Take a left and go through the next stop sign. At the first street after the stop sign, turn right. The library’s on the corner just up the way. It’s a big white building. Used to be the Middleton House, which belonged to Horace Middleton, before the county bought it.”
 
“They didn’t build a new library?”
 
“It’s a small town, Mr. Marsh, and besides, it’s plenty big. You’ll see.”
 
Jeremy held out his hand. “Thank you. You’ve been great. And lunch was delicious.”
 
“I do my best.”
 
“Would you mind if I come back with more questions? You seem to have a pretty good handle on things.”
 
“Anytime you want to talk, you just come by. I’m always available. But I will ask that you don’t write anything that makes us look like a bunch of bumpkins. A lot of people—me included— love this place.”
 
“All I write is the truth.”
 
“I know,” she said. “That’s why I contacted you. You have a trustworthy face, and I’m sure you’ll put the legend to bed once and for all in the way it should be done.”
 
Jeremy raised his eyebrows. “You don’t think there are ghosts out at Cedar Creek?”
 
“Oh, heavens no. I know there’s no spirits there. I’ve been saying that for years, but no one listens to me.”
 
Jeremy looked at her curiously59. “Then why did you ask me to come down?”
 
“Because people don’t know what’s going on, and they’ll keep believing until they find an explanation. You see, ever since that article in the paper about the people from Duke, the mayor has been promoting the idea like crazy, and strangers have been coming from all over hoping to see the lights. To be honest, it’s causing a lot of problems—the place is already crumbling60 and the damage is getting worse.”
 
She trailed off for a moment before continuing. “Of course, the sheriff won’t do anything about the teenagers who hang out there or the strangers who traipse through without a thought in their heads. He and the mayor are hunting buddies61, and besides, nearly everyone around here except me thinks that promoting the ghosts is a good idea. Ever since the textile mill and the mine closed, the town’s been drying up, and I think they think of this idea as some sort of salvation62.”
 
Jeremy glanced toward his car, then back to Doris again, thinking about what she’d just said. It made perfect sense, but . . .
 
“You do realize that you’re changing your story from what you wrote in the letter.”
 
“No,” she said, “I’m not. All I said was that there were mysterious lights in the cemetery that were credited to an old legend, that most people think ghosts are involved, and that the kids from Duke couldn’t figure out what the lights really were. All that’s true. Read the letter again if you don’t believe me. I don’t lie, Mr. Marsh. I may not be perfect, but I don’t lie.”
 
“So why do you want me to discredit63 the story?”
 
“Because it’s not right,” she said easily, as if the answer was common sense. “People always traipsing through, tourists coming down to camp out—it’s just not very respectful for the departed, even if the cemetery is abandoned. The folks buried out there deserve to rest in peace. And combining it with something worthy58 like the Historic Homes Tour is just plain old wrong. But I’m a voice in the wilderness64 these days.”
 
Jeremy thought about what she’d said as he pushed his hands into his pockets. “Can I be frank?” he asked.
 
She nodded, and Jeremy shifted from one foot to the other. “If you believe your mom was a psychic, and that you can divine water and the sex of babies, it just seems . . .”
 
When he trailed off, she stared at him.
 
“Like I’d be the first to believe in ghosts?”
 
Jeremy nodded.
 
“Well, actually, I do. I just don’t believe they’re out there in the cemetery.”
 
“Why not?”
 
“Because I’ve been out there and I don’t feel the presence of spirits.”
 
“So you can do that, too?”
 
She shrugged65 without answering. “Can I be frank now?”
 
“Sure.”
 
“One day, you’re going to learn something that can’t be explained with science. And when that happens, your life’s going to change in ways you can’t imagine.”
 
He smiled. “Is that a promise?”
 
“Yes,” she said, “it is.” She paused, looking him in the eye. “And I have to say that I really enjoyed our lunch. It isn’t often that I have the company of such a charming young man. It almost makes me feel young again.”
 
“I had a wonderful time, too.”
 
He turned to leave. The clouds had drifted in while they’d been eating. The sky, while not ominous66, looked as if winter wanted to settle in, and Jeremy tugged at his collar as he made his way to the car.
 
“Mr. Marsh?” Doris called out from behind him.
 
Jeremy turned. “Yes?”
 
“Say hi to Lex for me.”
 
“Lex?”
 
“Yeah,” she said. “At the reference desk in the library. That’s who you should ask for.”
 
Jeremy smiled. “Will do.”

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 offset mIZx8     
n.分支,补偿;v.抵消,补偿
参考例句:
  • Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
  • He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。
2 murmur EjtyD     
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言
参考例句:
  • They paid the extra taxes without a murmur.他们毫无怨言地交了附加税。
  • There was a low murmur of conversation in the hall.大厅里有窃窃私语声。
3 ambled 7a3e35ee6318b68bdb71eeb2b10b8a94     
v.(马)缓行( amble的过去式和过去分词 );从容地走,漫步
参考例句:
  • We ambled down to the beach. 我们漫步向海滩走去。
  • The old man ambled home through the garden every evening. 那位老人每天晚上经过花园漫步回家。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 chirped 2d76a8bfe4602c9719744234606acfc8     
鸟叫,虫鸣( chirp的过去式 )
参考例句:
  • So chirped fiber gratings have broad reflection bandwidth. 所以chirped光纤光栅具有宽的反射带宽,在反射带宽内具有渐变的群时延等其它类型的光纤光栅所不具备的特点。
  • The crickets chirped faster and louder. 蟋蟀叫得更欢了。
6 apron Lvzzo     
n.围裙;工作裙
参考例句:
  • We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
  • She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。
7 hips f8c80f9a170ee6ab52ed1e87054f32d4     
abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯,耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 );[建筑学]屋脊;臀围(尺寸);臀部…的
参考例句:
  • She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
  • They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 syllables d36567f1b826504dbd698bd28ac3e747     
n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • a word with two syllables 双音节单词
  • 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓,它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
9 marsh Y7Rzo     
n.沼泽,湿地
参考例句:
  • There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
  • I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。
10 poked 87f534f05a838d18eb50660766da4122     
v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 );戳出;拨弄;与(某人)性交
参考例句:
  • She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
  • His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 sprouts 7250d0f3accee8359a172a38c37bd325     
n.新芽,嫩枝( sprout的名词复数 )v.发芽( sprout的第三人称单数 );抽芽;出现;(使)涌现出
参考例句:
  • The wheat sprouts grew perceptibly after the rain. 下了一场雨,麦苗立刻见长。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The sprouts have pushed up the earth. 嫩芽把土顶起来了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
12 appreciative 9vDzr     
adj.有鉴赏力的,有眼力的;感激的
参考例句:
  • She was deeply appreciative of your help.她对你的帮助深表感激。
  • We are very appreciative of their support in this respect.我们十分感谢他们在这方面的支持。
13 wink 4MGz3     
n.眨眼,使眼色,瞬间;v.眨眼,使眼色,闪烁
参考例句:
  • He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。
  • The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间,那颗卫星就消失了。
14 hoot HdzzK     
n.鸟叫声,汽车的喇叭声; v.使汽车鸣喇叭
参考例句:
  • The sudden hoot of a whistle broke into my thoughts.突然响起的汽笛声打断了我的思路。
  • In a string of shrill hoot of the horn sound,he quickly ran to her.在一串尖声鸣叫的喇叭声中,他快速地跑向她。
15 speck sFqzM     
n.微粒,小污点,小斑点
参考例句:
  • I have not a speck of interest in it.我对它没有任何兴趣。
  • The sky is clear and bright without a speck of cloud.天空晴朗,一星星云彩也没有。
16 sip Oxawv     
v.小口地喝,抿,呷;n.一小口的量
参考例句:
  • She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
  • Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。
17 psychic BRFxT     
n.对超自然力敏感的人;adj.有超自然力的
参考例句:
  • Some people are said to have psychic powers.据说有些人有通灵的能力。
  • She claims to be psychic and to be able to foretell the future.她自称有特异功能,能预知未来。
18 tugged 8a37eb349f3c6615c56706726966d38e     
v.用力拉,使劲拉,猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. 她拽了拽他的袖子引起他的注意。
  • A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 他的嘴角带一丝苦笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
19 supervision hr6wv     
n.监督,管理
参考例句:
  • The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
  • The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。
20 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。
21 fatigue PhVzV     
n.疲劳,劳累
参考例句:
  • The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
  • I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。
22 retrieved 1f81ff822b0877397035890c32e35843     
v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 );恢复;寻回;检索(储存的信息)
参考例句:
  • Yesterday I retrieved the bag I left in the train. 昨天我取回了遗留在火车上的包。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He reached over and retrieved his jacket from the back seat. 他伸手从后座上取回了自己的夹克。 来自辞典例句
23 segregated 457728413c6a2574f2f2e154d5b8d101     
分开的; 被隔离的
参考例句:
  • a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
  • The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。
24 watts c70bc928c4d08ffb18fc491f215d238a     
(电力计量单位)瓦,瓦特( watt的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • My lamp uses 60 watts; my toaster uses 600 watts. 我的灯用60瓦,我的烤面包器用600瓦。
  • My lamp uses 40 watts. 我的灯40瓦。
25 creek 3orzL     
n.小溪,小河,小湾
参考例句:
  • He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
  • People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。
26 descended guQzoy     
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的
参考例句:
  • A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
  • The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。
27 aggression WKjyF     
n.进攻,侵略,侵犯,侵害
参考例句:
  • So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结,就不必惧怕外来侵略。
  • Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。
28 winked af6ada503978fa80fce7e5d109333278     
v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 );递眼色(表示友好或高兴等);(指光)闪烁;闪亮
参考例句:
  • He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼,她便知道他的想法和她一样。
  • He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
29 cosmopolitan BzRxj     
adj.世界性的,全世界的,四海为家的,全球的
参考例句:
  • New York is a highly cosmopolitan city.纽约是一个高度世界性的城市。
  • She has a very cosmopolitan outlook on life.她有四海一家的人生观。
30 cemetery ur9z7     
n.坟墓,墓地,坟场
参考例句:
  • He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
  • His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。
31 eyebrows a0e6fb1330e9cfecfd1c7a4d00030ed5     
眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
  • His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。
32 racist GSRxZ     
n.种族主义者,种族主义分子
参考例句:
  • a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
  • His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。
33 enraged 7f01c0138fa015d429c01106e574231c     
使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 ); 歜; 激愤
参考例句:
  • I was enraged to find they had disobeyed my orders. 发现他们违抗了我的命令,我极为恼火。
  • The judge was enraged and stroke the table for several times. 大法官被气得连连拍案。
34 trample 9Jmz0     
vt.踩,践踏;无视,伤害,侵犯
参考例句:
  • Don't trample on the grass. 勿踏草地。
  • Don't trample on the flowers when you play in the garden. 在花园里玩耍时,不要踩坏花。
35 cedar 3rYz9     
n.雪松,香柏(木)
参考例句:
  • The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
  • She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。
36 opted 9ec34da056d6601471a0808ebc89b126     
v.选择,挑选( opt的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She was co-opted onto the board. 她获增选为董事会成员。
  • After graduating she opted for a career in music. 毕业后她选择了从事音乐工作。
37 cemeteries 4418ae69fd74a98b3e6957ca2df1f686     
n.(非教堂的)墓地,公墓( cemetery的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like. 不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • In other districts the proximity of cemeteries seemed to aggravate the disease. 在其它地区里,邻近墓地的地方,时疫大概都要严重些。 来自辞典例句
38 mischievous mischievous     
adj.调皮的,恶作剧的,有害的,伤人的
参考例句:
  • He is a mischievous but lovable boy.他是一个淘气但可爱的小孩。
  • A mischievous cur must be tied short.恶狗必须拴得短。
39 underneath VKRz2     
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面
参考例句:
  • Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
  • She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣,里面套着一条连衣裙。
40 hush ecMzv     
int.嘘,别出声;n.沉默,静寂;v.使安静
参考例句:
  • A hush fell over the onlookers.旁观者们突然静了下来。
  • Do hush up the scandal!不要把这丑事声张出去!
41 countless 7vqz9L     
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的
参考例句:
  • In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
  • I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。
42 afterward fK6y3     
adv.后来;以后
参考例句:
  • Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏,然后吃饭。
  • Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来,这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。
43 chuckled 8ce1383c838073977a08258a1f3e30f8     
轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
  • She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情,她就轻轻地暗自发笑。
44 compassion 3q2zZ     
n.同情,怜悯
参考例句:
  • He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
  • Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。
45 scenarios f7c7eeee199dc0ef47fe322cc223be88     
n.[意]情节;剧本;事态;脚本
参考例句:
  • Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者,根据一些事故解说,石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
  • Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样,我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
46 accurately oJHyf     
adv.准确地,精确地
参考例句:
  • It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
  • Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。
47 innate xbxzC     
adj.天生的,固有的,天赋的
参考例句:
  • You obviously have an innate talent for music.你显然有天生的音乐才能。
  • Correct ideas are not innate in the mind.人的正确思想不是自己头脑中固有的。
48 codify 8bxy2     
v.将法律、法规等编成法典
参考例句:
  • The noble,Dracon,was asked to codify the laws.贵族德拉古被选为立法者。
  • The new government promised to codify the laws.新政府应允要编纂法典。
49 inclination Gkwyj     
n.倾斜;点头;弯腰;斜坡;倾度;倾向;爱好
参考例句:
  • She greeted us with a slight inclination of the head.她微微点头向我们致意。
  • I did not feel the slightest inclination to hurry.我没有丝毫着急的意思。
50 prune k0Kzf     
n.酶干;vt.修剪,砍掉,削减;vi.删除
参考例句:
  • Will you prune away the unnecessary adjectives in the passage?把这段文字中不必要的形容词删去好吗?
  • It is our job to prune the side branches of these trees.我们的工作就是修剪这些树的侧枝。
51 wanner 3451dc508c8e66220b3f803a02068e2f     
adj.苍白的( wan的最高级 );无血色的;病态的;暗淡的
参考例句:
  • Mu ofof a fruit is help times Wanner AOL establish structure of a first-rate. 蒂姆将帮助时代华纳为AOL确立一个最佳的结构。 来自互联网
52 gambling ch4xH     
n.赌博;投机
参考例句:
  • They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
  • The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。
53 lull E8hz7     
v.使安静,使入睡,缓和,哄骗;n.暂停,间歇
参考例句:
  • The drug put Simpson in a lull for thirty minutes.药物使辛普森安静了30分钟。
  • Ground fighting flared up again after a two-week lull.经过两个星期的平静之后,地面战又突然爆发了。
54 subscription qH8zt     
n.预订,预订费,亲笔签名,调配法,下标(处方)
参考例句:
  • We paid a subscription of 5 pounds yearly.我们按年度缴纳5英镑的订阅费。
  • Subscription selling bloomed splendidly.订阅销售量激增。
55 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
56 unaware Pl6w0     
a.不知道的,未意识到的
参考例句:
  • They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
  • I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。
57 awnings awnings     
篷帐布
参考例句:
  • Striped awnings had been stretched across the courtyard. 一些条纹雨篷撑开架在院子上方。
  • The room, shadowed well with awnings, was dark and cool. 这间屋子外面有这篷挡着,又阴暗又凉快。
58 worthy vftwB     
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的
参考例句:
  • I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
  • There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。
59 curiously 3v0zIc     
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地
参考例句:
  • He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
  • He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。
60 crumbling Pyaxy     
adj.摇摇欲坠的
参考例句:
  • an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
  • The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。
61 buddies ea4cd9ed8ce2973de7d893f64efe0596     
n.密友( buddy的名词复数 );同伴;弟兄;(用于称呼男子,常带怒气)家伙v.(如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般)交往( buddy的第三人称单数 );做朋友;亲近(…);伴护艾滋病人
参考例句:
  • We became great buddies. 我们成了非常好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
  • The two of them have become great buddies. 他们俩成了要好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
62 salvation nC2zC     
n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困
参考例句:
  • Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
  • Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。
63 discredit fu3xX     
vt.使不可置信;n.丧失信义;不信,怀疑
参考例句:
  • Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
  • They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。
64 wilderness SgrwS     
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠
参考例句:
  • She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
  • Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。
65 shrugged 497904474a48f991a3d1961b0476ebce     
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
66 ominous Xv6y5     
adj.不祥的,不吉的,预兆的,预示的
参考例句:
  • Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
  • There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。


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