A man who might have been brother to the two falconers of the night before stood in the midst of a pack of hounds. A curved horn was strapped3 over his back, and in his hand he held a long-lashed whip. The dogs whined4 and yelped5, dancing around him in anticipation6; there was the stamp of horses, too, in the walled yard.
"Mount!" cried a voice in Breton, and with a clatter7 of hoofs8 the two falconers, with falcons9 upon their wrists, rode into the courtyard among the hounds. Then I heard another voice which sent the blood throbbing10 through my heart: "Piriou Louis, hunt the hounds well and spare neither spur nor whip. Thou Raoul and thou Gaston, see that the epervier does not prove himself niais, and if it be best in your judgment11, faites courtoisie à l'oiseau. Jardiner un oiseau, like the mué there on Hastur's wrist, is not difficult, but thou, Raoul, mayest not find it so simple to govern that hagard. Twice last week he foamed12 au vif and lost the beccade although he is used to the leurre. The bird acts like a stupid branchier. Pa?tre un hagard n'est pas si facile."
Was I dreaming? The old language of falconry which I had read in yellow manuscripts—the old forgotten French of the middle ages was sounding in my ears while the hounds bayed and the hawks13' bells tinkled15 accompaniment to the stamping horses. She spoke16 again in the sweet forgotten language:
"If you would rather attach the longe and leave thy hagard au bloc17, Raoul, I shall say nothing; for it were a pity to spoil so fair a day's sport with an ill-trained sors. Essimer abaisser,—it is possibly the best way. ?a lui donnera des reins18. I was perhaps hasty with the bird. It takes time to pass à la filière and the exercises d'escap."
Then the falconer Raoul bowed in his stirrups and replied: "If it be the pleasure of Mademoiselle, I shall keep the hawk14."
"It is my wish," she answered. "Falconry I know, but you have yet to give me many a lesson in Autourserie, my poor Raoul. Sieur Piriou Louis mount!"
The huntsman sprang into an archway and in an instant returned, mounted upon a strong black horse, followed by a piqueur also mounted.
The silvery music of the hunting-horn filled the courtyard, the hounds sprang through the gateway21 and galloping22 hoof-beats plunged23 out of the paved court; loud on the drawbridge, suddenly muffled24, then lost in the heather and bracken of the moors25. Distant and more distant sounded the horn, until it became so faint that the sudden carol of a soaring lark27 drowned it in my ears. I heard the voice below responding to some call from within the house.
"I do not regret the chase, I will go another time. Courtesy to the stranger, Pelagie, remember!"
And a feeble voice came quavering from within the house, "Courtoisie"
I stripped, and rubbed myself from head to foot in the huge earthen basin of icy water which stood upon the stone floor at the foot of my bed. Then I looked about for my clothes. They were gone, but on a settle near the door lay a heap of garments which I inspected with astonishment28. As my clothes had vanished, I was compelled to attire29 myself in the costume which had evidently been placed there for me to wear while my own clothes dried. Everything was there, cap, shoes, and hunting doublet of silvery grey homespun; but the close-fitting costume and seamless shoes belonged to another century, and I remembered the strange costumes of the three falconers in the courtyard. I was sure that it was not the modern dress of any portion of France or Brittany; but not until I was dressed and stood before a mirror between the windows did I realize that I was clothed much more like a young huntsman of the middle ages than like a Breton of that day. I hesitated and picked up the cap. Should I go down and present myself in that strange guise31? There seemed to be no help for it, my own clothes were gone and there was no bell in the ancient chamber32 to call a servant; so I contented33 myself with removing a short hawk's feather from the cap, and, opening the door, went downstairs.
By the fireplace in the large room at the foot of the stairs an old Breton woman sat spinning with a distaff. She looked up at me when I appeared, and, smiling frankly34, wished me health in the Breton language, to which I laughingly replied in French. At the same moment my hostess appeared and returned my salutation with a grace and dignity that sent a thrill to my heart. Her lovely head with its dark curly hair was crowned with a head-dress which set all doubts as to the epoch35 of my own costume at rest. Her slender figure was exquisitely36 set off in the homespun hunting-gown edged with silver, and on her gauntlet-covered wrist she bore one of her petted hawks. With perfect simplicity37 she took my hand and led me into the garden in the court, and seating herself before a table invited me very sweetly to sit beside her. Then she asked me in her soft quaint38 accent how I had passed the night, and whether I was very much inconvenienced by wearing the clothes which old Pelagie had put there for me while I slept. I looked at my own clothes and shoes, drying in the sun by the garden-wall, and hated them. What horrors they were compared with the graceful39 costume which I now wore! I told her this laughing, but she agreed with me very seriously.
"We will throw them away," she said in a quiet voice. In my astonishment I attempted to explain that I not only could not think of accepting clothes from anybody, although for all I knew it might be the custom of hospitality in that part of the country, but that I should cut an impossible figure if I returned to France clothed as I was then.
She laughed and tossed her pretty head, saying something in old French which I did not understand, and then Pelagie trotted40 out with a tray on which stood two bowls of milk, a loaf of white bread, fruit, a platter of honey-comb, and a flagon of deep red wine. "You see I have not yet broken my fast because I wished you to eat with me. But I am very hungry," she smiled.
"I would rather die than forget one word of what you have said!" I blurted41 out, while my cheeks burned. "She will think me mad," I added to myself, but she turned to me with sparkling eyes.
"Ah!" she murmured. "Then Monsieur knows all that there is of chivalry—"
She crossed herself and broke bread. I sat and watched her white hands, not daring to raise my eyes to hers.
"Will you not eat?" she asked. "Why do you look so troubled?"
Ah, why? I knew it now. I knew I would give my life to touch with my lips those rosy42 palms—I understood now that from the moment when I looked into her dark eyes there on the moor26 last night I had loved her. My great and sudden passion held me speechless.
"Are you ill at ease?" she asked again.
Then, like a man who pronounces his own doom43, I answered in a low voice: "Yes, I am ill at ease for love of you." And as she did not stir nor answer, the same power moved my lips in spite of me and I said, "I, who am unworthy of the lightest of your thoughts, I who abuse hospitality and repay your gentle courtesy with bold presumption44, I love you."
She leaned her head upon her hands, and answered softly, "I love you. Your words are very dear to me. I love you."
"Then I shall win you."
"Win me," she replied.
But all the time I had been sitting silent, my face turned toward her. She, also silent, her sweet face resting on her upturned palm, sat facing me, and as her eyes looked into mine I knew that neither she nor I had spoken human speech; but I knew that her soul had answered mine, and I drew myself up feeling youth and joyous20 love coursing through every vein45. She, with a bright colour in her lovely face, seemed as one awakened47 from a dream, and her eyes sought mine with a questioning glance which made me tremble with delight. We broke our fast, speaking of ourselves. I told her my name and she told me hers, the Demoiselle Jeanne d'Ys.
She spoke of her father and mother's death, and how the nineteen of her years had been passed in the little fortified48 farm alone with her nurse Pelagie, Glemarec René the piqueur, and the four falconers, Raoul, Gaston, Hastur, and the Sieur Piriou Louis, who had served her father. She had never been outside the moorland—never even had seen a human soul before, except the falconers and Pelagie. She did not know how she had heard of Kerselec; perhaps the falconers had spoken of it. She knew the legends of Loup Garou and Jeanne la Flamme from her nurse Pelagie. She embroidered49 and spun30 flax. Her hawks and hounds were her only distraction50. When she had met me there on the moor she had been so frightened that she almost dropped at the sound of my voice. She had, it was true, seen ships at sea from the cliffs, but as far as the eye could reach the moors over which she galloped51 were destitute52 of any sign of human life. There was a legend which old Pelagie told, how anybody once lost in the unexplored moorland might never return, because the moors were enchanted53. She did not know whether it was true, she never had thought about it until she met me. She did not know whether the falconers had even been outside, or whether they could go if they would. The books in the house which Pelagie, the nurse, had taught her to read were hundreds of years old.
All this she told me with a sweet seriousness seldom seen in any one but children. My own name she found easy to pronounce, and insisted, because my first name was Philip, I must have French blood in me. She did not seem curious to learn anything about the outside world, and I thought perhaps she considered it had forfeited54 her interest and respect from the stories of her nurse.
We were still sitting at the table, and she was throwing grapes to the small field birds which came fearlessly to our very feet.
I began to speak in a vague way of going, but she would not hear of it, and before I knew it I had promised to stay a week and hunt with hawk and hound in their company. I also obtained permission to come again from Kerselec and visit her after my return.
"Why," she said innocently, "I do not know what I should do if you never came back;" and I, knowing that I had no right to awaken46 her with the sudden shock which the avowal55 of my own love would bring to her, sat silent, hardly daring to breathe.
"You will come very often?" she asked.
"Very often," I said.
"Every day?"
"Every day."
"Oh," she sighed, "I am very happy. Come and see my hawks."
She rose and took my hand again with a childlike innocence56 of possession, and we walked through the garden and fruit trees to a grassy57 lawn which was bordered by a brook58. Over the lawn were scattered59 fifteen or twenty stumps60 of trees—partially imbedded in the grass—and upon all of these except two sat falcons. They were attached to the stumps by thongs62 which were in turn fastened with steel rivets63 to their legs just above the talons64. A little stream of pure spring water flowed in a winding65 course within easy distance of each perch66.
The birds set up a clamour when the girl appeared, but she went from one to another, caressing67 some, taking others for an instant upon her wrist, or stooping to adjust their jesses.
"Are they not pretty?" she said. "See, here is a falcon2-gentil. We call it 'ignoble,' because it takes the quarry68 in direct chase. This is a blue falcon. In falconry we call it 'noble' because it rises over the quarry, and wheeling, drops upon it from above. This white bird is a gerfalcon from the north. It is also 'noble!' Here is a merlin, and this tiercelet is a falcon-heroner."
I asked her how she had learned the old language of falconry. She did not remember, but thought her father must have taught it to her when she was very young.
Then she led me away and showed me the young falcons still in the nest. "They are termed niais in falconry," she explained. "A branchier is the young bird which is just able to leave the nest and hop69 from branch to branch. A young bird which has not yet moulted is called a sors, and a mué is a hawk which has moulted in captivity70. When we catch a wild falcon which has changed its plumage we term it a hagard. Raoul first taught me to dress a falcon. Shall I teach you how it is done?"
She seated herself on the bank of the stream among the falcons and I threw myself at her feet to listen.
Then the Demoiselle d'Ys held up one rosy-tipped finger and began very gravely.
"First one must catch the falcon."
"I am caught," I answered.
"I am already tamed," I replied; "jessed and belled."
She laughed, delighted. "Oh, my brave falcon; then you will return at my call?"
"I am yours," I answered gravely.
She sat silent for a moment. Then the colour heightened in her cheeks and she held up her finger again, saying, "Listen; I wish to speak of falconry—"
"I listen, Countess Jeanne d'Ys."
But again she fell into the reverie, and her eyes seemed fixed72 on something beyond the summer clouds.
"Philip," she said at last.
"Jeanne," I whispered.
"That is all,—that is what I wished," she sighed,—"Philip and Jeanne."
She held her hand toward me and I touched it with my lips.
After a while she began again: "Let us speak of falconry."
"Begin," I replied; "we have caught the falcon."
Then Jeanne d'Ys took my hand in both of hers and told me how with infinite patience the young falcon was taught to perch upon the wrist, how little by little it became used to the belled jesses and the chaperon à cornette.
"They must first have a good appetite," she said; "then little by little I reduce their nourishment74; which in falconry we call pat. When, after many nights passed au bloc as these birds are now, I prevail upon the hagard to stay quietly on the wrist, then the bird is ready to be taught to come for its food. I fix the pat to the end of a thong61, or leurre, and teach the bird to come to me as soon as I begin to whirl the cord in circles about my head. At first I drop the pat when the falcon comes, and he eats the food on the ground. After a little he will learn to seize the leurre in motion as I whirl it around my head or drag it over the ground. After this it is easy to teach the falcon to strike at game, always remembering to 'faire courtoisie á l'oiseau', that is, to allow the bird to taste the quarry."
A squeal75 from one of the falcons interrupted her, and she arose to adjust the longe which had become whipped about the bloc, but the bird still flapped its wings and screamed.
"What is the matter?" she said. "Philip, can you see?"
I looked around and at first saw nothing to cause the commotion76, which was now heightened by the screams and flapping of all the birds. Then my eye fell upon the flat rock beside the stream from which the girl had risen. A grey serpent was moving slowly across the surface of the boulder77, and the eyes in its flat triangular78 head sparkled like jet.
"A couleuvre," she said quietly.
"It is harmless, is it not?" I asked.
We watched the reptile81 moving slowly over the smooth rock to where the sunlight fell in a broad warm patch.
I started forward to examine it, but she clung to my arm crying, "Don't, Philip, I am afraid."
"For me?"
"For you, Philip,—I love you."
Then I took her in my arms and kissed her on the lips, but all I could say was: "Jeanne, Jeanne, Jeanne." And as she lay trembling on my breast, something struck my foot in the grass below, but I did not heed82 it. Then again something struck my ankle, and a sharp pain shot through me. I looked into the sweet face of Jeanne d'Ys and kissed her, and with all my strength lifted her in my arms and flung her from me. Then bending, I tore the viper from my ankle and set my heel upon its head. I remember feeling weak and numb,—I remember falling to the ground. Through my slowly glazing83 eyes I saw Jeanne's white face bending close to mine, and when the light in my eyes went out I still felt her arms about my neck, and her soft cheek against my drawn84 lips.
When I opened my eyes, I looked around in terror. Jeanne was gone. I saw the stream and the flat rock; I saw the crushed viper in the grass beside me, but the hawks and blocs85 had disappeared. I sprang to my feet. The garden, the fruit trees, the drawbridge and the walled court were gone. I stared stupidly at a heap of crumbling86 ruins, ivy-covered and grey, through which great trees had pushed their way. I crept forward, dragging my numbed87 foot, and as I moved, a falcon sailed from the tree-tops among the ruins, and soaring, mounting in narrowing circles, faded and vanished in the clouds above.
"Jeanne, Jeanne," I cried, but my voice died on my lips, and I fell on my knees among the weeds. And as God willed it, I, not knowing, had fallen kneeling before a crumbling shrine88 carved in stone for our Mother of Sorrows. I saw the sad face of the Virgin89 wrought90 in the cold stone. I saw the cross and thorns at her feet, and beneath it I read:
"PRAY FOR THE SOUL OF THE
DEMOISELLE JEANNE D'Ys,
WHO DIED
IN HER YOUTH FOR LOVE OF
PHILIP, A STRANGER.
A.D. 1573."
点击收听单词发音
1 panes | |
窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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2 falcon | |
n.隼,猎鹰 | |
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3 strapped | |
adj.用皮带捆住的,用皮带装饰的;身无分文的;缺钱;手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词);用皮带抽打;包扎;给…打绷带 | |
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4 whined | |
v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 );哀诉,诉怨 | |
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5 yelped | |
v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6 anticipation | |
n.预期,预料,期望 | |
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7 clatter | |
v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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8 hoofs | |
n.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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9 falcons | |
n.猎鹰( falcon的名词复数 ) | |
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10 throbbing | |
a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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11 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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12 foamed | |
泡沫的 | |
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13 hawks | |
鹰( hawk的名词复数 ); 鹰派人物,主战派人物 | |
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14 hawk | |
n.鹰,骗子;鹰派成员 | |
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15 tinkled | |
(使)发出丁当声,(使)发铃铃声( tinkle的过去式和过去分词 ); 叮当响着发出,铃铃响着报出 | |
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16 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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17 bloc | |
n.集团;联盟 | |
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18 reins | |
感情,激情; 缰( rein的名词复数 ); 控制手段; 掌管; (成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的)保护带 | |
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19 joyously | |
ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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20 joyous | |
adj.充满快乐的;令人高兴的 | |
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21 gateway | |
n.大门口,出入口,途径,方法 | |
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22 galloping | |
adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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23 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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24 muffled | |
adj.(声音)被隔的;听不太清的;(衣服)裹严的;蒙住的v.压抑,捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 );用厚厚的衣帽包着(自己) | |
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25 moors | |
v.停泊,系泊(船只)( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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26 moor | |
n.荒野,沼泽;vt.(使)停泊;vi.停泊 | |
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27 lark | |
n.云雀,百灵鸟;n.嬉戏,玩笑;vi.嬉戏 | |
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28 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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29 attire | |
v.穿衣,装扮[同]array;n.衣着;盛装 | |
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30 spun | |
v.纺,杜撰,急转身 | |
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31 guise | |
n.外表,伪装的姿态 | |
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32 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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33 contented | |
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的 | |
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34 frankly | |
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
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35 epoch | |
n.(新)时代;历元 | |
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36 exquisitely | |
adv.精致地;强烈地;剧烈地;异常地 | |
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37 simplicity | |
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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38 quaint | |
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的 | |
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39 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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40 trotted | |
小跑,急走( trot的过去分词 ); 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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41 blurted | |
v.突然说出,脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42 rosy | |
adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的 | |
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43 doom | |
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定 | |
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44 presumption | |
n.推测,可能性,冒昧,放肆,[法律]推定 | |
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45 vein | |
n.血管,静脉;叶脉,纹理;情绪;vt.使成脉络 | |
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46 awaken | |
vi.醒,觉醒;vt.唤醒,使觉醒,唤起,激起 | |
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47 awakened | |
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
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48 fortified | |
adj. 加强的 | |
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49 embroidered | |
adj.绣花的 | |
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50 distraction | |
n.精神涣散,精神不集中,消遣,娱乐 | |
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51 galloped | |
(使马)飞奔,奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 ); 快速做[说]某事 | |
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52 destitute | |
adj.缺乏的;穷困的 | |
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53 enchanted | |
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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54 forfeited | |
(因违反协议、犯规、受罚等)丧失,失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55 avowal | |
n.公开宣称,坦白承认 | |
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56 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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57 grassy | |
adj.盖满草的;长满草的 | |
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58 brook | |
n.小河,溪;v.忍受,容让 | |
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59 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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60 stumps | |
(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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61 thong | |
n.皮带;皮鞭;v.装皮带 | |
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62 thongs | |
的东西 | |
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63 rivets | |
铆钉( rivet的名词复数 ) | |
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64 talons | |
n.(尤指猛禽的)爪( talon的名词复数 );(如爪般的)手指;爪状物;锁簧尖状突出部 | |
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65 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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66 perch | |
n.栖木,高位,杆;v.栖息,就位,位于 | |
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67 caressing | |
爱抚的,表现爱情的,亲切的 | |
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68 quarry | |
n.采石场;v.采石;费力地找 | |
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69 hop | |
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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70 captivity | |
n.囚禁;被俘;束缚 | |
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71 prettily | |
adv.优美地;可爱地 | |
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72 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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73 unison | |
n.步调一致,行动一致 | |
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74 nourishment | |
n.食物,营养品;营养情况 | |
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75 squeal | |
v.发出长而尖的声音;n.长而尖的声音 | |
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76 commotion | |
n.骚动,动乱 | |
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77 boulder | |
n.巨砾;卵石,圆石 | |
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78 triangular | |
adj.三角(形)的,三者间的 | |
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79 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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80 viper | |
n.毒蛇;危险的人 | |
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81 reptile | |
n.爬行动物;两栖动物 | |
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82 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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83 glazing | |
n.玻璃装配业;玻璃窗;上釉;上光v.装玻璃( glaze的现在分词 );上釉于,上光;(目光)变得呆滞无神 | |
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84 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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85 blocs | |
n.集团,联盟( bloc的名词复数 ) | |
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86 crumbling | |
adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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87 numbed | |
v.使麻木,使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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88 shrine | |
n.圣地,神龛,庙;v.将...置于神龛内,把...奉为神圣 | |
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89 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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90 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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91 slab | |
n.平板,厚的切片;v.切成厚板,以平板盖上 | |
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92 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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