In one place in the island of Hawaii, we saw a laced and ruffled24 cataract25 of limpid26 water leaping from a sheer precipice27 fifteen hundred feet high; but that sort of scenery finds its stanchest ally in the arithmetic rather than in spectacular effect. If one desires to be so stirred by a poem of Nature wrought28 in the happily commingled29 graces of picturesque30 rocks, glimpsed distances, foliage31, color, shifting lights and shadows, and failing water, that the tears almost come into his eyes so potent32 is the charm exerted, he need not go away from America to enjoy such an experience. The Rainbow Fall, in Watkins Glen (N.Y.), on the Erie railway, is an example. It would recede33 into pitiable insignificance34 if the callous35 tourist drew on arithmetic on it; but left to compete for the honors simply on scenic36 grace and beauty—the grand, the august and the sublime37 being barred the contest—it could challenge the old world and the new to produce its peer.
In one locality, on our journey, we saw some horses that had been born and reared on top of the mountains, above the range of running water, and consequently they had never drank that fluid in their lives, but had been always accustomed to quenching38 their thirst by eating dew-laden or shower-wetted leaves. And now it was destructively funny to see them sniff39 suspiciously at a pail of water, and then put in their noses and try to take a bite out of the fluid, as if it were a solid. Finding it liquid, they would snatch away their heads and fall to trembling, snorting and showing other evidences of fright. When they became convinced at last that the water was friendly and harmless, they thrust in their noses up to their eyes, brought out a mouthful of water, and proceeded to chew it complacently. We saw a man coax40, kick and spur one of them five or ten minutes before he could make it cross a running stream. It spread its nostrils41, distended42 its eyes and trembled all over, just as horses customarily do in the presence of a serpent—and for aught I know it thought the crawling stream was a serpent.
In due course of time our journey came to an end at Kawaehae (usually pronounced To-a-hi—and before we find fault with this elaborate orthographical43 method of arriving at such an unostentatious result, let us lop off the ugh from our word “though”). I made this horseback trip on a mule44. I paid ten dollars for him at Kau (Kah-oo), added four to get him shod, rode him two hundred miles, and then sold him for fifteen dollars. I mark the circumstance with a white stone (in the absence of chalk—for I never saw a white stone that a body could mark anything with, though out of respect for the ancients I have tried it often enough); for up to that day and date it was the first strictly45 commercial transaction I had ever entered into, and come out winner. We returned to Honolulu, and from thence sailed to the island of Maui, and spent several weeks there very pleasantly. I still remember, with a sense of indolent luxury, a picnicing excursion up a romantic gorge46 there, called the Iao Valley. The trail lay along the edge of a brawling47 stream in the bottom of the gorge—a shady route, for it was well roofed with the verdant48 domes49 of forest trees. Through openings in the foliage we glimpsed picturesque scenery that revealed ceaseless changes and new charms with every step of our progress. Perpendicular50 walls from one to three thousand feet high guarded the way, and were sumptuously51 plumed52 with varied53 foliage, in places, and in places swathed in waving ferns. Passing shreds54 of cloud trailed their shadows across these shining fronts, mottling them with blots55; billowy masses of white vapor56 hid the turreted57 summits, and far above the vapor swelled58 a background of gleaming green crags and cones59 that came and went, through the veiling mists, like islands drifting in a fog; sometimes the cloudy curtain descended60 till half the canon wall was hidden, then shredded61 gradually away till only airy glimpses of the ferny front appeared through it—then swept aloft and left it glorified62 in the sun again. Now and then, as our position changed, rocky bastions swung out from the wall, a mimic63 ruin of castellated ramparts and crumbling64 towers clothed with mosses65 and hung with garlands of swaying vines, and as we moved on they swung back again and hid themselves once more in the foliage. Presently a verdure-clad needle of stone, a thousand feet high, stepped out from behind a corner, and mounted guard over the mysteries of the valley. It seemed to me that if Captain Cook needed a monument, here was one ready made—therefore, why not put up his sign here, and sell out the venerable cocoanut stump66?
But the chief pride of Maui is her dead volcano of Haleakala—which means, translated, “the house of the sun.” We climbed a thousand feet up the side of this isolated67 colossus one afternoon; then camped, and next day climbed the remaining nine thousand feet, and anchored on the summit, where we built a fire and froze and roasted by turns, all night. With the first pallor of dawn we got up and saw things that were new to us. Mounted on a commanding pinnacle68, we watched Nature work her silent wonders. The sea was spread abroad on every hand, its tumbled surface seeming only wrinkled and dimpled in the distance. A broad valley below appeared like an ample checker-board, its velvety69 green sugar plantations70 alternating with dun squares of barrenness and groves71 of trees diminished to mossy tufts. Beyond the valley were mountains picturesquely72 grouped together; but bear in mind, we fancied that we were looking up at these things—not down. We seemed to sit in the bottom of a symmetrical bowl ten thousand feet deep, with the valley and the skirting sea lifted away into the sky above us! It was curious; and not only curious, but aggravating73; for it was having our trouble all for nothing, to climb ten thousand feet toward heaven and then have to look up at our scenery. However, we had to be content with it and make the best of it; for, all we could do we could not coax our landscape down out of the clouds. Formerly74, when I had read an article in which Poe treated of this singular fraud perpetrated upon the eye by isolated great altitudes, I had looked upon the matter as an invention of his own fancy.
I have spoken of the outside view—but we had an inside one, too. That was the yawning dead crater75, into which we now and then tumbled rocks, half as large as a barrel, from our perch76, and saw them go careering down the almost perpendicular sides, bounding three hundred feet at a jump; kicking up cast-clouds wherever they struck; diminishing to our view as they sped farther into distance; growing invisible, finally, and only betraying their course by faint little puffs77 of dust; and coming to a halt at last in the bottom of the abyss, two thousand five hundred feet down from where they started! It was magnificent sport. We wore ourselves out at it.
The crater of Vesuvius, as I have before remarked, is a modest pit about a thousand feet deep and three thousand in circumference78; that of Kilauea is somewhat deeper, and ten miles in circumference. But what are either of them compared to the vacant stomach of Haleakala? I will not offer any figures of my own, but give official ones—those of Commander Wilkes, U.S.N., who surveyed it and testifies that it is twenty-seven miles in circumference! If it had a level bottom it would make a fine site for a city like London. It must have afforded a spectacle worth contemplating79 in the old days when its furnaces gave full rein80 to their anger.
Presently vagrant81 white clouds came drifting along, high over the sea and the valley; then they came in couples and groups; then in imposing82 squadrons; gradually joining their forces, they banked themselves solidly together, a thousand feet under us, and totally shut out land and ocean—not a vestige83 of anything was left in view but just a little of the rim84 of the crater, circling away from the pinnacle whereon we sat (for a ghostly procession of wanderers from the filmy hosts without had drifted through a chasm85 in the crater wall and filed round and round, and gathered and sunk and blended together till the abyss was stored to the brim with a fleecy fog). Thus banked, motion ceased, and silence reigned86. Clear to the horizon, league on league, the snowy floor stretched without a break—not level, but in rounded folds, with shallow creases87 between, and with here and there stately piles of vapory architecture lifting themselves aloft out of the common plain—some near at hand, some in the middle distances, and others relieving the monotony of the remote solitudes88. There was little conversation, for the impressive scene overawed speech. I felt like the Last Man, neglected of the judgment89, and left pinnacled90 in mid-heaven, a forgotten relic91 of a vanished world.
While the hush92 yet brooded, the messengers of the coming resurrection appeared in the East. A growing warmth suffused93 the horizon, and soon the sun emerged and looked out over the cloud-waste, flinging bars of ruddy light across it, staining its folds and billow-caps with blushes, purpling the shaded troughs between, and glorifying94 the massy vapor- palaces and cathedrals with a wasteful95 splendor96 of all blendings and combinations of rich coloring.
It was the sublimest97 spectacle I ever witnessed, and I think the memory of it will remain with me always.
点击收听单词发音
1 crooked | |
adj.弯曲的;不诚实的,狡猾的,不正当的 | |
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2 economized | |
v.节省,减少开支( economize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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4 swap | |
n.交换;vt.交换,用...作交易 | |
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5 salvation | |
n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困 | |
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6 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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7 wagon | |
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车 | |
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8 exasperation | |
n.愤慨 | |
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9 humiliated | |
感到羞愧的 | |
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10 grandeur | |
n.伟大,崇高,宏伟,庄严,豪华 | |
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11 vivacious | |
adj.活泼的,快活的 | |
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12 placidly | |
adv.平稳地,平静地 | |
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13 maliciously | |
adv.有敌意地 | |
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14 ambled | |
v.(马)缓行( amble的过去式和过去分词 );从容地走,漫步 | |
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15 complacently | |
adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
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16 belabored | |
v.毒打一顿( belabor的过去式和过去分词 );责骂;就…作过度的说明;向…唠叨 | |
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17 reviled | |
v.辱骂,痛斥( revile的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18 depot | |
n.仓库,储藏处;公共汽车站;火车站 | |
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19 budge | |
v.移动一点儿;改变立场 | |
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20 plebeian | |
adj.粗俗的;平民的;n.平民;庶民 | |
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21 eloquent | |
adj.雄辩的,口才流利的;明白显示出的 | |
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22 scorched | |
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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23 blister | |
n.水疱;(油漆等的)气泡;v.(使)起泡 | |
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24 ruffled | |
adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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25 cataract | |
n.大瀑布,奔流,洪水,白内障 | |
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26 limpid | |
adj.清澈的,透明的 | |
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27 precipice | |
n.悬崖,危急的处境 | |
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28 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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29 commingled | |
v.混合,掺和,合并( commingle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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31 foliage | |
n.叶子,树叶,簇叶 | |
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32 potent | |
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 | |
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33 recede | |
vi.退(去),渐渐远去;向后倾斜,缩进 | |
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34 insignificance | |
n.不重要;无价值;无意义 | |
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35 callous | |
adj.无情的,冷淡的,硬结的,起老茧的 | |
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36 scenic | |
adj.自然景色的,景色优美的 | |
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37 sublime | |
adj.崇高的,伟大的;极度的,不顾后果的 | |
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38 quenching | |
淬火,熄 | |
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39 sniff | |
vi.嗅…味道;抽鼻涕;对嗤之以鼻,蔑视 | |
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40 coax | |
v.哄诱,劝诱,用诱哄得到,诱取 | |
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41 nostrils | |
鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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42 distended | |
v.(使)膨胀,肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43 orthographical | |
adj.正字法的,拼字正确的 | |
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44 mule | |
n.骡子,杂种,执拗的人 | |
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45 strictly | |
adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
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46 gorge | |
n.咽喉,胃,暴食,山峡;v.塞饱,狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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47 brawling | |
n.争吵,喧嚷 | |
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48 verdant | |
adj.翠绿的,青翠的,生疏的,不老练的 | |
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49 domes | |
n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 );像圆屋顶一样的东西;圆顶体育场 | |
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50 perpendicular | |
adj.垂直的,直立的;n.垂直线,垂直的位置 | |
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51 sumptuously | |
奢侈地,豪华地 | |
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52 plumed | |
饰有羽毛的 | |
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53 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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54 shreds | |
v.撕碎,切碎( shred的第三人称单数 );用撕毁机撕毁(文件) | |
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55 blots | |
污渍( blot的名词复数 ); 墨水渍; 错事; 污点 | |
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56 vapor | |
n.蒸汽,雾气 | |
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57 turreted | |
a.(像炮塔般)旋转式的 | |
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58 swelled | |
增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 ); 肿胀; (使)凸出; 充满(激情) | |
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59 cones | |
n.(人眼)圆锥细胞;圆锥体( cone的名词复数 );球果;圆锥形东西;(盛冰淇淋的)锥形蛋卷筒 | |
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60 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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61 shredded | |
shred的过去式和过去分词 | |
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62 glorified | |
美其名的,变荣耀的 | |
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63 mimic | |
v.模仿,戏弄;n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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64 crumbling | |
adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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65 mosses | |
n. 藓类, 苔藓植物 名词moss的复数形式 | |
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66 stump | |
n.残株,烟蒂,讲演台;v.砍断,蹒跚而走 | |
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67 isolated | |
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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68 pinnacle | |
n.尖塔,尖顶,山峰;(喻)顶峰 | |
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69 velvety | |
adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
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70 plantations | |
n.种植园,大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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71 groves | |
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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72 picturesquely | |
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73 aggravating | |
adj.恼人的,讨厌的 | |
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74 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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75 crater | |
n.火山口,弹坑 | |
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76 perch | |
n.栖木,高位,杆;v.栖息,就位,位于 | |
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77 puffs | |
n.吸( puff的名词复数 );(烟斗或香烟的)一吸;一缕(烟、蒸汽等);(呼吸或风的)呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧 | |
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78 circumference | |
n.圆周,周长,圆周线 | |
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79 contemplating | |
深思,细想,仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 ); 注视,凝视; 考虑接受(发生某事的可能性); 深思熟虑,沉思,苦思冥想 | |
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80 rein | |
n.疆绳,统治,支配;vt.以僵绳控制,统治 | |
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81 vagrant | |
n.流浪者,游民;adj.流浪的,漂泊不定的 | |
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82 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
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83 vestige | |
n.痕迹,遗迹,残余 | |
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84 rim | |
n.(圆物的)边,轮缘;边界 | |
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85 chasm | |
n.深坑,断层,裂口,大分岐,利害冲突 | |
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86 reigned | |
vi.当政,统治(reign的过去式形式) | |
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87 creases | |
(使…)起折痕,弄皱( crease的第三人称单数 ); (皮肤)皱起,使起皱纹 | |
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88 solitudes | |
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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89 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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90 pinnacled | |
小尖塔般耸立的,顶处的 | |
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91 relic | |
n.神圣的遗物,遗迹,纪念物 | |
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92 hush | |
int.嘘,别出声;n.沉默,静寂;v.使安静 | |
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93 suffused | |
v.(指颜色、水气等)弥漫于,布满( suffuse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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94 glorifying | |
赞美( glorify的现在分词 ); 颂扬; 美化; 使光荣 | |
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95 wasteful | |
adj.(造成)浪费的,挥霍的 | |
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96 splendor | |
n.光彩;壮丽,华丽;显赫,辉煌 | |
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97 sublimest | |
伟大的( sublime的最高级 ); 令人赞叹的; 极端的; 不顾后果的 | |
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