Visibly our new home was a desert, walled in by barren, snow-clad mountains. There was not a tree in sight. There was no vegetation but the endless sage-brush and greasewood. All nature was gray with it. We were plowing2 through great deeps of powdery alkali dust that rose in thick clouds and floated across the plain like smoke from a burning house.
We were coated with it like millers3; so were the coach, the mules4, the mail-bags, the driver—we and the sage-brush and the other scenery were all one monotonous5 color. Long trains of freight wagons6 in the distance envelope in ascending7 masses of dust suggested pictures of prairies on fire. These teams and their masters were the only life we saw. Otherwise we moved in the midst of solitude8, silence and desolation. Every twenty steps we passed the skeleton of some dead beast of burthen, with its dust-coated skin stretched tightly over its empty ribs9. Frequently a solemn raven10 sat upon the skull11 or the hips12 and contemplated13 the passing coach with meditative14 serenity15.
By and by Carson City was pointed16 out to us. It nestled in the edge of a great plain and was a sufficient number of miles away to look like an assemblage of mere17 white spots in the shadow of a grim range of mountains overlooking it, whose summits seemed lifted clear out of companionship and consciousness of earthly things.
We arrived, disembarked, and the stage went on. It was a “wooden” town; its population two thousand souls. The main street consisted of four or five blocks of little white frame stores which were too high to sit down on, but not too high for various other purposes; in fact, hardly high enough. They were packed close together, side by side, as if room were scarce in that mighty18 plain.
The sidewalk was of boards that were more or less loose and inclined to rattle19 when walked upon. In the middle of the town, opposite the stores, was the “plaza20” which is native to all towns beyond the Rocky Mountains—a large, unfenced, level vacancy21, with a liberty pole in it, and very useful as a place for public auctions22, horse trades, and mass meetings, and likewise for teamsters to camp in. Two other sides of the plaza were faced by stores, offices and stables.
The rest of Carson City was pretty scattering23.
We were introduced to several citizens, at the stage-office and on the way up to the Governor’s from the hotel—among others, to a Mr. Harris, who was on horseback; he began to say something, but interrupted himself with the remark:
“I’ll have to get you to excuse me a minute; yonder is the witness that swore I helped to rob the California coach—a piece of impertinent intermeddling, sir, for I am not even acquainted with the man.”
Then he rode over and began to rebuke24 the stranger with a six-shooter, and the stranger began to explain with another. When the pistols were emptied, the stranger resumed his work (mending a whip-lash), and Mr. Harris rode by with a polite nod, homeward bound, with a bullet through one of his lungs, and several in his hips; and from them issued little rivulets25 of blood that coursed down the horse’s sides and made the animal look quite picturesque26. I never saw Harris shoot a man after that but it recalled to mind that first day in Carson.
This was all we saw that day, for it was two o’clock, now, and according to custom the daily “Washoe Zephyr” set in; a soaring dust-drift about the size of the United States set up edgewise came with it, and the capital of Nevada Territory disappeared from view.
Still, there were sights to be seen which were not wholly uninteresting to new comers; for the vast dust cloud was thickly freckled27 with things strange to the upper air—things living and dead, that flitted hither and thither28, going and coming, appearing and disappearing among the rolling billows of dust—hats, chickens and parasols sailing in the remote heavens; blankets, tin signs, sage-brush and shingles29 a shade lower; door-mats and buffalo31 robes lower still; shovels32 and coal scuttles33 on the next grade; glass doors, cats and little children on the next; disrupted lumber34 yards, light buggies and wheelbarrows on the next; and down only thirty or forty feet above ground was a scurrying35 storm of emigrating roofs and vacant lots.
It was something to see that much. I could have seen more, if I could have kept the dust out of my eyes.
But seriously a Washoe wind is by no means a trifling36 matter. It blows flimsy houses down, lifts shingle30 roofs occasionally, rolls up tin ones like sheet music, now and then blows a stage coach over and spills the passengers; and tradition says the reason there are so many bald people there, is, that the wind blows the hair off their heads while they are looking skyward after their hats. Carson streets seldom look inactive on Summer afternoons, because there are so many citizens skipping around their escaping hats, like chambermaids trying to head off a spider.
The “Washoe Zephyr” (Washoe is a pet nickname for Nevada) is a peculiar37 Scriptural wind, in that no man knoweth “whence it cometh.” That is to say, where it originates. It comes right over the mountains from the West, but when one crosses the ridge38 he does not find any of it on the other side! It probably is manufactured on the mountain-top for the occasion, and starts from there. It is a pretty regular wind, in the summer time. Its office hours are from two in the afternoon till two the next morning; and anybody venturing abroad during those twelve hours needs to allow for the wind or he will bring up a mile or two to leeward39 of the point he is aiming at. And yet the first complaint a Washoe visitor to San Francisco makes, is that the sea winds blow so, there! There is a good deal of human nature in that.
We found the state palace of the Governor of Nevada Territory to consist of a white frame one-story house with two small rooms in it and a stanchion supported shed in front—for grandeur—it compelled the respect of the citizen and inspired the Indians with awe40. The newly arrived Chief and Associate Justices of the Territory, and other machinery41 of the government, were domiciled with less splendor42. They were boarding around privately43, and had their offices in their bedrooms.
The Secretary and I took quarters in the “ranch44” of a worthy45 French lady by the name of Bridget O’Flannigan, a camp follower46 of his Excellency the Governor. She had known him in his prosperity as commander-in-chief of the Metropolitan47 Police of New York, and she would not desert him in his adversity as Governor of Nevada.
Our room was on the lower floor, facing the plaza, and when we had got our bed, a small table, two chairs, the government fire-proof safe, and the Unabridged Dictionary into it, there was still room enough left for a visitor—may be two, but not without straining the walls. But the walls could stand it—at least the partitions could, for they consisted simply of one thickness of white “cotton domestic” stretched from corner to corner of the room. This was the rule in Carson—any other kind of partition was the rare exception. And if you stood in a dark room and your neighbors in the next had lights, the shadows on your canvas told queer secrets sometimes! Very often these partitions were made of old flour sacks basted48 together; and then the difference between the common herd49 and the aristocracy was, that the common herd had unornamented sacks, while the walls of the aristocrat50 were overpowering with rudimental fresco—i.e., red and blue mill brands on the flour sacks.
Occasionally, also, the better classes embellished51 their canvas by pasting pictures from Harper’s Weekly on them. In many cases, too, the wealthy and the cultured rose to spittoons and other evidences of a sumptuous52 and luxurious53 taste. [Washoe people take a joke so hard that I must explain that the above description was only the rule; there were many honorable exceptions in Carson—plastered ceilings and houses that had considerable furniture in them.—M. T.]
We had a carpet and a genuine queen’s-ware washbowl. Consequently we were hated without reserve by the other tenants54 of the O’Flannigan “ranch.” When we added a painted oilcloth window curtain, we simply took our lives into our own hands. To prevent bloodshed I removed up stairs and took up quarters with the untitled plebeians55 in one of the fourteen white pine cot-bedsteads that stood in two long ranks in the one sole room of which the second story consisted.
It was a jolly company, the fourteen. They were principally voluntary camp-followers of the Governor, who had joined his retinue56 by their own election at New York and San Francisco and came along, feeling that in the scuffle for little territorial57 crumbs58 and offices they could not make their condition more precarious59 than it was, and might reasonably expect to make it better. They were popularly known as the “Irish Brigade,” though there were only four or five Irishmen among all the Governor’s retainers.
His good-natured Excellency was much annoyed at the gossip his henchmen created—especially when there arose a rumor60 that they were paid assassins of his, brought along to quietly reduce the democratic vote when desirable!
Mrs. O’Flannigan was boarding and lodging61 them at ten dollars a week apiece, and they were cheerfully giving their notes for it. They were perfectly62 satisfied, but Bridget presently found that notes that could not be discounted were but a feeble constitution for a Carson boarding- house. So she began to harry63 the Governor to find employment for the “Brigade.” Her importunities and theirs together drove him to a gentle desperation at last, and he finally summoned the Brigade to the presence. Then, said he:
“Gentlemen, I have planned a lucrative64 and useful service for you—a service which will provide you with recreation amid noble landscapes, and afford you never ceasing opportunities for enriching your minds by observation and study. I want you to survey a railroad from Carson City westward65 to a certain point! When the legislature meets I will have the necessary bill passed and the remuneration arranged.”
“What, a railroad over the Sierra Nevada Mountains?”
He converted them into surveyors, chain-bearers and so on, and turned them loose in the desert. It was “recreation” with a vengeance67! Recreation on foot, lugging68 chains through sand and sage-brush, under a sultry sun and among cattle bones, cayotes and tarantulas.
“Romantic adventure” could go no further. They surveyed very slowly, very deliberately69, very carefully. They returned every night during the first week, dusty, footsore, tired, and hungry, but very jolly. They brought in great store of prodigious70 hairy spiders—tarantulas—and imprisoned71 them in covered tumblers up stairs in the “ranch.” After the first week, they had to camp on the field, for they were getting well eastward. They made a good many inquiries72 as to the location of that indefinite “certain point,” but got no information. At last, to a peculiarly urgent inquiry73 of “How far eastward?” Governor Nye telegraphed back:
“To the Atlantic Ocean, blast you!—and then bridge it and go on!”
This brought back the dusty toilers, who sent in a report and ceased from their labors74. The Governor was always comfortable about it; he said Mrs. O’Flannigan would hold him for the Brigade’s board anyhow, and he intended to get what entertainment he could out of the boys; he said, with his old-time pleasant twinkle, that he meant to survey them into Utah and then telegraph Brigham to hang them for trespass75!
The surveyors brought back more tarantulas with them, and so we had quite a menagerie arranged along the shelves of the room. Some of these spiders could straddle over a common saucer with their hairy, muscular legs, and when their feelings were hurt, or their dignity offended, they were the wickedest-looking desperadoes the animal world can furnish. If their glass prison-houses were touched ever so lightly they were up and spoiling for a fight in a minute. Starchy?—proud? Indeed, they would take up a straw and pick their teeth like a member of Congress. There was as usual a furious “zephyr” blowing the first night of the brigade’s return, and about midnight the roof of an adjoining stable blew off, and a corner of it came crashing through the side of our ranch. There was a simultaneous awakening76, and a tumultuous muster77 of the brigade in the dark, and a general tumbling and sprawling78 over each other in the narrow aisle79 between the bedrows. In the midst of the turmoil80, Bob H——sprung up out of a sound sleep, and knocked down a shelf with his head. Instantly he shouted:
“Turn out, boys—the tarantulas is loose!”
No warning ever sounded so dreadful. Nobody tried, any longer, to leave the room, lest he might step on a tarantula. Every man groped for a trunk or a bed, and jumped on it. Then followed the strangest silence—a silence of grisly suspense81 it was, too—waiting, expectancy82, fear. It was as dark as pitch, and one had to imagine the spectacle of those fourteen scant-clad men roosting gingerly on trunks and beds, for not a thing could be seen. Then came occasional little interruptions of the silence, and one could recognize a man and tell his locality by his voice, or locate any other sound a sufferer made by his gropings or changes of position. The occasional voices were not given to much speaking—you simply heard a gentle ejaculation of “Ow!” followed by a solid thump83, and you knew the gentleman had felt a hairy blanket or something touch his bare skin and had skipped from a bed to the floor. Another silence. Presently you would hear a gasping84 voice say:
“Su—su—something’s crawling up the back of my neck!”
Every now and then you could hear a little subdued85 scramble86 and a sorrowful “O Lord!” and then you knew that somebody was getting away from something he took for a tarantula, and not losing any time about it, either. Directly a voice in the corner rang out wild and clear:
“I’ve got him! I’ve got him!” [Pause, and probable change of circumstances.] “No, he’s got me! Oh, ain’t they never going to fetch a lantern!”
The lantern came at that moment, in the hands of Mrs. O’Flannigan, whose anxiety to know the amount of damage done by the assaulting roof had not prevented her waiting a judicious87 interval88, after getting out of bed and lighting89 up, to see if the wind was done, now, up stairs, or had a larger contract.
The landscape presented when the lantern flashed into the room was picturesque, and might have been funny to some people, but was not to us. Although we were perched so strangely upon boxes, trunks and beds, and so strangely attired90, too, we were too earnestly distressed91 and too genuinely miserable92 to see any fun about it, and there was not the semblance93 of a smile anywhere visible. I know I am not capable of suffering more than I did during those few minutes of suspense in the dark, surrounded by those creeping, bloody-minded tarantulas. I had skipped from bed to bed and from box to box in a cold agony, and every time I touched anything that was furzy I fancied I felt the fangs94. I had rather go to war than live that episode over again. Nobody was hurt. The man who thought a tarantula had “got him” was mistaken—only a crack in a box had caught his finger. Not one of those escaped tarantulas was ever seen again. There were ten or twelve of them. We took candles and hunted the place high and low for them, but with no success. Did we go back to bed then? We did nothing of the kind. Money could not have persuaded us to do it. We sat up the rest of the night playing cribbage and keeping a sharp lookout95 for the enemy.
点击收听单词发音
1 humdrum | |
adj.单调的,乏味的 | |
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2 plowing | |
v.耕( plow的现在分词 );犁耕;费力穿过 | |
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3 millers | |
n.(尤指面粉厂的)厂主( miller的名词复数 );磨房主;碾磨工;铣工 | |
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4 mules | |
骡( mule的名词复数 ); 拖鞋; 顽固的人; 越境运毒者 | |
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5 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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6 wagons | |
n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 );铁路货车;小手推车 | |
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7 ascending | |
adj.上升的,向上的 | |
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8 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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9 ribs | |
n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 );(船或屋顶等的)肋拱;肋骨状的东西;(织物的)凸条花纹 | |
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10 raven | |
n.渡鸟,乌鸦;adj.乌亮的 | |
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11 skull | |
n.头骨;颅骨 | |
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12 hips | |
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 | |
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13 contemplated | |
adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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14 meditative | |
adj.沉思的,冥想的 | |
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15 serenity | |
n.宁静,沉着,晴朗 | |
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16 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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17 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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18 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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19 rattle | |
v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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20 plaza | |
n.广场,市场 | |
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21 vacancy | |
n.(旅馆的)空位,空房,(职务的)空缺 | |
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22 auctions | |
n.拍卖,拍卖方式( auction的名词复数 ) | |
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23 scattering | |
n.[物]散射;散乱,分散;在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的;分散在不同范围的;广泛扩散的;(选票)数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式);散布;驱散 | |
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24 rebuke | |
v.指责,非难,斥责 [反]praise | |
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25 rivulets | |
n.小河,小溪( rivulet的名词复数 ) | |
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26 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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27 freckled | |
adj.雀斑;斑点;晒斑;(使)生雀斑v.雀斑,斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28 thither | |
adv.向那里;adj.在那边的,对岸的 | |
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29 shingles | |
n.带状疱疹;(布满海边的)小圆石( shingle的名词复数 );屋顶板;木瓦(板);墙面板 | |
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30 shingle | |
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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31 buffalo | |
n.(北美)野牛;(亚洲)水牛 | |
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32 shovels | |
n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 );锹;推土机、挖土机等的)铲;铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 );锹;推土机、挖土机等的)铲;铲形部份 | |
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33 scuttles | |
n.天窗( scuttle的名词复数 )v.使船沉没( scuttle的第三人称单数 );快跑,急走 | |
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34 lumber | |
n.木材,木料;v.以破旧东西堆满;伐木;笨重移动 | |
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35 scurrying | |
v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
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36 trifling | |
adj.微不足道的;没什么价值的 | |
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37 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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38 ridge | |
n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭 | |
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39 leeward | |
adj.背风的;下风的 | |
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40 awe | |
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧 | |
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41 machinery | |
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构 | |
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42 splendor | |
n.光彩;壮丽,华丽;显赫,辉煌 | |
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43 privately | |
adv.以私人的身份,悄悄地,私下地 | |
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44 ranch | |
n.大牧场,大农场 | |
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45 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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46 follower | |
n.跟随者;随员;门徒;信徒 | |
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47 metropolitan | |
adj.大城市的,大都会的 | |
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48 basted | |
v.打( baste的过去式和过去分词 );粗缝;痛斥;(烤肉等时)往上抹[浇]油 | |
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49 herd | |
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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50 aristocrat | |
n.贵族,有贵族气派的人,上层人物 | |
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51 embellished | |
v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 );装饰;修饰;润色 | |
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52 sumptuous | |
adj.豪华的,奢侈的,华丽的 | |
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53 luxurious | |
adj.精美而昂贵的;豪华的 | |
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54 tenants | |
n.房客( tenant的名词复数 );佃户;占用者;占有者 | |
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55 plebeians | |
n.平民( plebeian的名词复数 );庶民;平民百姓;平庸粗俗的人 | |
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56 retinue | |
n.侍从;随员 | |
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57 territorial | |
adj.领土的,领地的 | |
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58 crumbs | |
int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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59 precarious | |
adj.不安定的,靠不住的;根据不足的 | |
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60 rumor | |
n.谣言,谣传,传说 | |
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61 lodging | |
n.寄宿,住所;(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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62 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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63 harry | |
vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼 | |
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64 lucrative | |
adj.赚钱的,可获利的 | |
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65 westward | |
n.西方,西部;adj.西方的,向西的;adv.向西 | |
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66 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
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67 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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68 lugging | |
超载运转能力 | |
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69 deliberately | |
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
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70 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
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71 imprisoned | |
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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72 inquiries | |
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听 | |
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73 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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74 labors | |
v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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75 trespass | |
n./v.侵犯,闯入私人领地 | |
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76 awakening | |
n.觉醒,醒悟 adj.觉醒中的;唤醒的 | |
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77 muster | |
v.集合,收集,鼓起,激起;n.集合,检阅,集合人员,点名册 | |
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78 sprawling | |
adj.蔓生的,不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 );蔓延;杂乱无序地拓展;四肢伸展坐着(或躺着) | |
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79 aisle | |
n.(教堂、教室、戏院等里的)过道,通道 | |
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80 turmoil | |
n.骚乱,混乱,动乱 | |
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81 suspense | |
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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82 expectancy | |
n.期望,预期,(根据概率统计求得)预期数额 | |
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83 thump | |
v.重击,砰然地响;n.重击,重击声 | |
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84 gasping | |
adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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85 subdued | |
adj. 屈服的,柔和的,减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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86 scramble | |
v.爬行,攀爬,杂乱蔓延,碎片,片段,废料 | |
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87 judicious | |
adj.明智的,明断的,能作出明智决定的 | |
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88 interval | |
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
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89 lighting | |
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光 | |
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90 attired | |
adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服,使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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91 distressed | |
痛苦的 | |
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92 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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93 semblance | |
n.外貌,外表 | |
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94 fangs | |
n.(尤指狗和狼的)长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 );(蛇的)毒牙;罐座 | |
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95 lookout | |
n.注意,前途,瞭望台 | |
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