Anne was kneeling at the west gable window watching the sunset sky that was like a great flower with petals2 of crocus and a heart of fiery3 yellow. She turned her head at Davy’s question and answered dreamily,
“‘Over the mountains of the moon,
Down the valley of the shadow.’”
Paul Irving would have known the meaning of this, or made a meaning out of it for himself, if he didn’t; but practical Davy, who, as Anne often despairingly remarked, hadn’t a particle of imagination, was only puzzled and disgusted.
“Anne, I believe you’re just talking nonsense.”
“Of course, I was, dear boy. Don’t you know that it is only very foolish folk who talk sense all the time?”
“Well, I think you might give a sensible answer when I ask a sensible question,” said Davy in an injured tone.
“Oh, you are too little to understand,” said Anne. But she felt rather ashamed of saying it; for had she not, in keen remembrance of many similar snubs administered in her own early years, solemnly vowed4 that she would never tell any child it was too little to understand? Yet here she was doing it . . . so wide sometimes is the gulf5 between theory and practice.
“Well, I’m doing my best to grow,” said Davy, “but it’s a thing you can’t hurry much. If Marilla wasn’t so stingy with her jam I believe I’d grow a lot faster.”
“Marilla is not stingy, Davy,” said Anne severely6. “It is very ungrateful of you to say such a thing.”
“There’s another word that means the same thing and sounds a lot better, but I don’t just remember it,” said Davy, frowning intently. “I heard Marilla say she was it, herself, the other day.”
“If you mean ECONOMICAL, it’s a VERY different thing from being stingy. It is an excellent trait in a person if she is economical. If Marilla had been stingy she wouldn’t have taken you and Dora when your mother died. Would you have liked to live with Mrs. Wiggins?”
“You just bet I wouldn’t!” Davy was emphatic7 on that point. “Nor I don’t want to go out to Uncle Richard neither. I’d far rather live here, even if Marilla is that long-tailed word when it comes to jam, ‘cause YOU’RE here, Anne. Say, Anne, won’t you tell me a story ‘fore I go to sleep? I don’t want a fairy story. They’re all right for girls, I s’pose, but I want something exciting . . . lots of killing8 and shooting in it, and a house on fire, and in’trusting things like that.”
Fortunately for Anne, Marilla called out at this moment from her room.
“Anne, Diana’s signaling at a great rate. You’d better see what she wants.”
Anne ran to the east gable and saw flashes of light coming through the twilight9 from Diana’s window in groups of five, which meant, according to their old childish code, “Come over at once for I have something important to reveal.” Anne threw her white shawl over her head and hastened through the Haunted Wood and across Mr. Bell’s pasture corner to Orchard10 Slope.
“I’ve good news for you, Anne,” said Diana. “Mother and I have just got home from Carmody, and I saw Mary Sentner from Spencer vale in Mr. Blair’s store. She says the old Copp girls on the Tory Road have a willow-ware platter and she thinks it’s exactly like the one we had at the supper. She says they’ll likely sell it, for Martha Copp has never been known to keep anything she COULD sell; but if they won’t there’s a platter at Wesley Keyson’s at Spencervale and she knows they’d sell it, but she isn’t sure it’s just the same kind as Aunt Josephine’s.”
“I’ll go right over to Spencervale after it tomorrow,” said Anne resolutely11, “and you must come with me. It will be such a weight off my mind, for I have to go to town day after tomorrow and how can I face your Aunt Josephine without a willow-ware platter? It would be even worse than the time I had to confess about jumping on the spare room bed.”
Both girls laughed over the old memory . . . concerning which, if any of my readers are ignorant and curious, I must refer them to Anne’s earlier history.
The next afternoon the girls fared forth12 on their platter hunting expedition. It was ten miles to Spencervale and the day was not especially pleasant for traveling. It was very warm and windless, and the dust on the road was such as might have been expected after six weeks of dry weather.
“Oh, I do wish it would rain soon,” sighed Anne. “Everything is so parched13 up. The poor fields just seem pitiful to me and the trees seem to be stretching out their hands pleading for rain. As for my garden, it hurts me every time I go into it. I suppose I shouldn’t complain about a garden when the farmers’ crops are suffering so. Mr. Harrison says his pastures are so scorched14 up that his poor cows can hardly get a bite to eat and he feels guilty of cruelty to animals every time he meets their eyes.”
After a wearisome drive the girls reached Spencervale and turned down the “Tory” Road . . . a green, solitary15 highway where the strips of grass between the wheel tracks bore evidence to lack of travel. Along most of its extent it was lined with thick-set young spruces crowding down to the roadway, with here and there a break where the back field of a Spencervale farm came out to the fence or an expanse of stumps16 was aflame with fireweed and goldenrod.
“Why is it called the Tory Road?” asked Anne.
“Mr. Allan says it is on the principle of calling a place a grove17 because there are no trees in it,” said Diana, “for nobody lives along the road except the Copp girls and old Martin Bovyer at the further end, who is a Liberal. The Tory government ran the road through when they were in power just to show they were doing something.”
Diana’s father was a Liberal, for which reason she and Anne never discussed politics. Green Gables folk had always been Conservatives.
Finally the girls came to the old Copp homestead . . . a place of such exceeding external neatness that even Green Gables would have suffered by contrast. The house was a very old-fashioned one, situated18 on a slope, which fact had necessitated19 the building of a stone basement under one end. The house and out-buildings were all whitewashed21 to a condition of blinding perfection and not a weed was visible in the prim22 kitchen garden surrounded by its white paling.
“The shades are all down,” said Diana ruefully. “I believe that nobody is home.”
This proved to be the case. The girls looked at each other in perplexity.
“I don’t know what to do,” said Anne. “If I were sure the platter was the right kind I would not mind waiting until they came home. But if it isn’t it may be too late to go to Wesley Keyson’s afterward23.”
Diana looked at a certain little square window over the basement.
“That is the pantry window, I feel sure,” she said, “because this house is just like Uncle Charles’ at Newbridge, and that is their pantry window. The shade isn’t down, so if we climbed up on the roof of that little house we could look into the pantry and might be able to see the platter. Do you think it would be any harm?”
“No, I don’t think so,” decided24 Anne, after due reflection, “since our motive25 is not idle curiosity.”
This important point of ethics26 being settled, Anne prepared to mount the aforesaid “little house,” a construction of lathes27, with a peaked roof, which had in times past served as a habitation for ducks. The Copp girls had given up keeping ducks . . . “because they were such untidy birds”. . . and the house had not been in use for some years, save as an abode28 of correction for setting hens. Although scrupulously29 whitewashed it had become somewhat shaky, and Anne felt rather dubious30 as she scrambled31 up from the vantage point of a keg placed on a box.
“I’m afraid it won’t bear my weight,” she said as she gingerly stepped on the roof.
“Lean on the window sill,” advised Diana, and Anne accordingly leaned. Much to her delight, she saw, as she peered through the pane32, a willow-ware platter, exactly such as she was in quest of, on the shelf in front of the window. So much she saw before the catastrophe33 came. In her joy Anne forgot the precarious34 nature of her footing, incautiously ceased to lean on the window sill, gave an impulsive35 little hop36 of pleasure . . . and the next moment she had crashed through the roof up to her armpits, and there she hung, quite unable to extricate37 herself. Diana dashed into the duck house and, seizing her unfortunate friend by the waist, tried to draw her down.
“Ow . . . don’t,” shrieked38 poor Anne. “There are some long splinters sticking into me. See if you can put something under my feet . . . then perhaps I can draw myself up.”
Diana hastily dragged in the previously39 mentioned keg and Anne found that it was just sufficiently40 high to furnish a secure resting place for her feet. But she could not release herself.
“Could I pull you out if I crawled up?” suggested Diana.
Anne shook her head hopelessly.
“No . . . the splinters hurt too badly. If you can find an axe41 you might chop me out, though. Oh dear, I do really begin to believe that I was born under an ill-omened star.”
Diana searched faithfully but no axe was to be found.
“I’ll have to go for help,” she said, returning to the prisoner.
“No, indeed, you won’t,” said Anne vehemently42. “If you do the story of this will get out everywhere and I shall be ashamed to show my face. No, we must just wait until the Copp girls come home and bind43 them to secrecy44. They’ll know where the axe is and get me out. I’m not uncomfortable, as long as I keep perfectly45 still . . . not uncomfortable in BODY I mean. I wonder what the Copp girls value this house at. I shall have to pay for the damage I’ve done, but I wouldn’t mind that if I were only sure they would understand my motive in peeping in at their pantry window. My sole comfort is that the platter is just the kind I want and if Miss Copp will only sell it to me I shall be resigned to what has happened.”
“What if the Copp girls don’t come home until after night . . . or till tomorrow?” suggested Diana.
“If they’re not back by sunset you’ll have to go for other assistance, I suppose,” said Anne reluctantly, “but you mustn’t go until you really have to. Oh dear, this is a dreadful predicament. I wouldn’t mind my misfortunes so much if they were romantic, as Mrs. Morgan’s heroines’ always are, but they are always just simply ridiculous. Fancy what the Copp girls will think when they drive into their yard and see a girl’s head and shoulders sticking out of the roof of one of their outhouses. Listen . . . is that a wagon46? No, Diana, I believe it is thunder.”
Thunder it was undoubtedly47, and Diana, having made a hasty pilgrimage around the house, returned to announce that a very black cloud was rising rapidly in the northwest.
“I believe we’re going to have a heavy thunder-shower,” she exclaimed in dismay, “Oh, Anne, what will we do?”
“We must prepare for it,” said Anne tranquilly48. A thunderstorm seemed a trifle in comparison with what had already happened. “You’d better drive the horse and buggy into that open shed. Fortunately my parasol is in the buggy. Here . . . take my hat with you. Marilla told me I was a goose to put on my best hat to come to the Tory Road and she was right, as she always is.”
Diana untied49 the pony50 and drove into the shed, just as the first heavy drops of rain fell. There she sat and watched the resulting downpour, which was so thick and heavy that she could hardly see Anne through it, holding the parasol bravely over her bare head. There was not a great deal of thunder, but for the best part of an hour the rain came merrily down. Occasionally Anne slanted51 back her parasol and waved an encouraging hand to her friend; But conversation at that distance was quite out of the question. Finally the rain ceased, the sun came out, and Diana ventured across the puddles52 of the yard.
“Did you get very wet?” she asked anxiously.
“Oh, no,” returned Anne cheerfully. “My head and shoulders are quite dry and my skirt is only a little damp where the rain beat through the lathes. Don’t pity me, Diana, for I haven’t minded it at all. I kept thinking how much good the rain will do and how glad my garden must be for it, and imagining what the flowers and buds would think when the drops began to fall. I imagined out a most interesting dialogue between the asters and the sweet peas and the wild canaries in the lilac bush and the guardian53 spirit of the garden. When I go home I mean to write it down. I wish I had a pencil and paper to do it now, because I daresay I’ll forget the best parts before I reach home.”
Diana the faithful had a pencil and discovered a sheet of wrapping paper in the box of the buggy. Anne folded up her dripping parasol, put on her hat, spread the wrapping paper on a shingle54 Diana handed up, and wrote out her garden idyl under conditions that could hardly be considered as favorable to literature. Nevertheless, the result was quite pretty, and Diana was “enraptured” when Anne read it to her.
“Oh, Anne, it’s sweet . . . just sweet. DO send it to the ‘Canadian Woman.’”
Anne shook her head.
“Oh, no, it wouldn’t be suitable at all. There is no PLOT in it, you see. It’s just a string of fancies. I like writing such things, but of course nothing of the sort would ever do for publication, for editors insist on plots, so Priscilla says. Oh, there’s Miss Sarah Copp now. PLEASE, Diana, go and explain.”
Miss Sarah Copp was a small person, garbed55 in shabby black, with a hat chosen less for vain adornment56 than for qualities that would wear well. She looked as amazed as might be expected on seeing the curious tableau57 in her yard, but when she heard Diana’s explanation she was all sympathy. She hurriedly unlocked the back door, produced the axe, and with a few skillfull blows set Anne free. The latter, somewhat tired and stiff, ducked down into the interior of her prison and thankfully emerged into liberty once more.
“Miss Copp,” she said earnestly. “I assure you I looked into your pantry window only to discover if you had a willow-ware platter. I didn’t see anything else—I didn’t LOOK for anything else.”
“Bless you, that’s all right,” said Miss Sarah amiably58. “You needn’t worry—there’s no harm done. Thank goodness, we Copps keep our pantries presentable at all times and don’t care who sees into them. As for that old duckhouse, I’m glad it’s smashed, for maybe now Martha will agree to having it taken down. She never would before for fear it might come in handy sometime and I’ve had to whitewash20 it every spring. But you might as well argue with a post as with Martha. She went to town today—I drove her to the station. And you want to buy my platter. Well, what will you give for it?”
“Twenty dollars,” said Anne, who was never meant to match business wits with a Copp, or she would not have offered her price at the start.
“Well, I’ll see,” said Miss Sarah cautiously. “That platter is mine fortunately, or I’d never dare to sell it when Martha wasn’t here. As it is, I daresay she’ll raise a fuss. Martha’s the boss of this establishment I can tell you. I’m getting awful tired of living under another woman’s thumb. But come in, come in. You must be real tired and hungry. I’ll do the best I can for you in the way of tea but I warn you not to expect anything but bread and butter and some cowcumbers. Martha locked up all the cake and cheese and preserves afore she went. She always does, because she says I’m too extravagant59 with them if company comes.”
The girls were hungry enough to do justice to any fare, and they enjoyed Miss Sarah’s excellent bread and butter and “cowcumbers” thoroughly60. When the meal was over Miss Sarah said,
“I don’t know as I mind selling the platter. But it’s worth twenty-five dollars. It’s a very old platter.”
Diana gave Anne’s foot a gentle kick under the table, meaning, “Don’t agree—she’ll let it go for twenty if you hold out.” But Anne was not minded to take any chances in regard to that precious platter. She promptly61 agreed to give twenty-five and Miss Sarah looked as if she felt sorry she hadn’t asked for thirty.
“Well, I guess you may have it. I want all the money I can scare up just now. The fact is—” Miss Sarah threw up her head importantly, with a proud flush on her thin cheeks—“I’m going to be married—to Luther Wallace. He wanted me twenty years ago. I liked him real well but he was poor then and father packed him off. I s’pose I shouldn’t have let him go so meek62 but I was timid and frightened of father. Besides, I didn’t know men were so skurse.”
When the girls were safely away, Diana driving and Anne holding the coveted63 platter carefully on her lap, the green, rain-freshened solitudes64 of the Tory Road were enlivened by ripples65 of girlish laughter.
“I’ll amuse your Aunt Josephine with the ‘strange eventful history’ of this afternoon when I go to town tomorrow. We’ve had a rather trying time but it’s over now. I’ve got the platter, and that rain has laid the dust beautifully. So ‘all’s well that ends well.’”
“We’re not home yet,” said Diana rather pessimistically, “and there’s no telling what may happen before we are. You’re such a girl to have adventures, Anne.”
“Having adventures comes natural to some people,” said Anne serenely66. “You just have a gift for them or you haven’t.”
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1
propping
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| 支撑 | |
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petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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solitary
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stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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necessitated
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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whitewash
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| v.粉刷，掩饰；n.石灰水，粉刷，掩饰 | |
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whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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lathes
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| 车床( lathe的名词复数 ) | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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pane
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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precarious
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impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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extricate
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| v.拯救，救出；解脱 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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untied
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| 松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决 | |
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pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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slanted
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| 有偏见的； 倾斜的 | |
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puddles
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| n.水坑， （尤指道路上的）雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 ) | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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shingle
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| n.木瓦板；小招牌(尤指医生或律师挂的营业招牌)；v.用木瓦板盖（屋顶）；把（女子头发）剪短 | |
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garbed
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| v.（尤指某类人穿的特定）服装，衣服，制服( garb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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adornment
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| n.装饰；装饰品 | |
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tableau
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| n.画面，活人画（舞台上活人扮的静态画面） | |
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amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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60
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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61
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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62
meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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63
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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64
solitudes
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| n.独居( solitude的名词复数 )；孤独；荒僻的地方；人迹罕至的地方 | |
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65
ripples
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| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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66
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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