I shall not tell what Dr. Coutras related to me in his words, but in my own, for I cannot hope to give at second hand any impression of his vivacious9 delivery. He had a deep, resonant10 voice, fitted to his massive frame, and a keen sense of the dramatic. To listen to him was, as the phrase goes, as good as a play; and much better than most.
It appears that Dr. Coutras had gone one day to Taravao in order to see an old chiefess who was ill, and he gave a vivid picture of the obese11 old lady, lying in a huge bed, smoking cigarettes, and surrounded by a crowd of dark-skinned retainers. When he had seen her he was taken into another room and given dinner—raw fish, fried bananas, and chicken—que sais-je, the typical dinner of the indigene—and while he was eating it he saw a young girl being driven away from the door in tears. He thought nothing of it, but when he went out to get into his trap and drive home, he saw her again, standing12 a little way off; she looked at him with a woebegone air, and tears streamed down her cheeks. He asked someone what was wrong with her, and was told that she had come down from the hills to ask him to visit a white man who was sick. They had told her that the doctor could not be disturbed. He called her, and himself asked what she wanted. She told him that Ata had sent her, she who used to be at the Hotel de la Fleur, and that the Red One was ill. She thrust into his hand a crumpled13 piece of newspaper, and when he opened it he found in it a hundred-franc note.
"Who is the Red One?" he asked of one of the bystanders.
He was told that that was what they called the Englishman, a painter, who lived with Ata up in the valley seven kilometres from where they were. He recognised Strickland by the description. But it was necessary to walk. It was impossible for him to go; that was why they had sent the girl away.
"I confess," said the doctor, turning to me, "that I hesitated. I did not relish14 fourteen kilometres over a bad pathway, and there was no chance that I could get back to Papeete that night. Besides, Strickland was not sympathetic to me. He was an idle, useless scoundrel, who preferred to live with a native woman rather than work for his living like the rest of us. Mon Dieu, how was I to know that one day the world would come to the conclusion that he had genius? I asked the girl if he was not well enough to have come down to see me. I asked her what she thought was the matter with him. She would not answer. I pressed her, angrily perhaps, but she looked down on the ground and began to cry. Then I shrugged15 my shoulders; after all, perhaps it was my duty to go, and in a very bad temper I bade her lead the way."
His temper was certainly no better when he arrived, perspiring16 freely and thirsty. Ata was on the look-out for him, and came a little way along the path to meet him.
"Before I see anyone give me something to drink or I shall die of thirst," he cried out. "Pour l'amour de Dieu, get me a cocoa-nut."
She called out, and a boy came running along. He swarmed17 up a tree, and presently threw down a ripe nut. Ata pierced a hole in it, and the doctor took a long, refreshing18 draught19. Then he rolled himself a cigarette and felt in a better humour.
"Now, where is the Red One?" he asked.
"He is in the house, painting. I have not told him you were coming. Go in and see him."
"But what does he complain of? If he is well enough to paint, he is well enough to have come down to Taravao and save me this confounded walk. I presume my time is no less valuable than his."
Ata did not speak, but with the boy followed him to the house. The girl who had brought him was by this time sitting on the verandah, and here was lying an old woman, with her back to the wall, making native cigarettes. Ata pointed20 to the door. The doctor, wondering irritably21 why they behaved so strangely, entered, and there found Strickland cleaning his palette. There was a picture on the easel. Strickland, clad only in a pareo, was standing with his back to the door, but he turned round when he heard the sound of boots. He gave the doctor a look of vexation. He was surprised to see him, and resented the intrusion. But the doctor gave a gasp22, he was rooted to the floor, and he stared with all his eyes. This was not what he expected. He was seized with horror.
"You enter without ceremony," said Strickland. "What can I do for you?"
The doctor recovered himself, but it required quite an effort for him to find his voice. All his irritation23 was gone, and he felt—eh bien, oui, je ne le nie pas—he felt an overwhelming pity.
"I am Dr. Coutras. I was down at Taravao to see the chiefess, and Ata sent for me to see you."
"She's a damned fool. I have had a few aches and pains lately and a little fever, but that's nothing; it will pass off. Next time anyone went to Papeete I was going to send for some quinine."
"Look at yourself in the glass."
Strickland gave him a glance, smiled, and went over to a cheap mirror in a little wooden frame, that hung on the wall.
"Well?"
"Do you not see a strange change in your face? Do you not see the thickening of your features and a look—how shall I describe it?—the books call it lion-faced. Mon pauvre ami, must I tell you that you have a terrible disease?"
"I?"
"When you look at yourself in the glass you see the typical appearance of the leper."
"You are jesting," said Strickland.
"I wish to God I were."
"Do you intend to tell me that I have leprosy?"
"Unfortunately, there can be no doubt of it."
Dr. Coutras had delivered sentence of death on many men, and he could never overcome the horror with which it filled him. He felt always the furious hatred24 that must seize a man condemned25 when he compared himself with the doctor, sane26 and healthy, who had the inestimable privilege of life. Strickland looked at him in silence. Nothing of emotion could be seen on his face, disfigured already by the loathsome27 disease.
"Do they know?" he asked at last, pointing to the persons on the verandah, now sitting in unusual, unaccountable silence.
"These natives know the signs so well," said the doctor. "They were afraid to tell you."
Strickland stepped to the door and looked out. There must have been something terrible in his face, for suddenly they all burst out into loud cries and lamentation28. They lifted up their voices and they wept. Strickland did not speak. After looking at them for a moment, he came back into the room.
"How long do you think I can last?"
"Who knows? Sometimes the disease continues for twenty years. It is a mercy when it runs its course quickly."
Strickland went to his easel and looked reflectively at the picture that stood on it.
"You have had a long journey. It is fitting that the bearer of important tidings should be rewarded. Take this picture. It means nothing to you now, but it may be that one day you will be glad to have it."
Dr. Coutras protested that he needed no payment for his journey; he had already given back to Ata the hundred-franc note, but Strickland insisted that he should take the picture. Then together they went out on the verandah. The natives were sobbing29 violently. "Be quiet, woman. Dry thy tears," said Strickland, addressing Ata. "There is no great harm. I shall leave thee very soon."
"They are not going to take thee away?" she cried.
At that time there was no rigid30 sequestration on the islands, and lepers, if they chose, were allowed to go free.
"I shall go up into the mountain," said Strickland.
Then Ata stood up and faced him.
"Let the others go if they choose, but I will not leave thee. Thou art my man and I am thy woman. If thou leavest me I shall hang myself on the tree that is behind the house. I swear it by God."
There was something immensely forcible in the way she spoke31. She was no longer the meek32, soft native girl, but a determined33 woman. She was extraordinarily34 transformed.
"Why shouldst thou stay with me? Thou canst go back to Papeete, and thou wilt35 soon find another white man. The old woman can take care of thy children, and Tiare will be glad to have thee back."
"Thou art my man and I am thy woman. Whither thou goest I will go, too."
For a moment Strickland's fortitude36 was shaken, and a tear filled each of his eyes and trickled37 slowly down his cheeks. Then he gave the sardonic38 smile which was usual with him.
"Women are strange little beasts," he said to Dr. Coutras. "You can treat them like dogs, you can beat them till your arm aches, and still they love you." He shrugged his shoulders. "Of course, it is one of the most absurd illusions of Christianity that they have souls."
"What is it that thou art saying to the doctor?" asked Ata suspiciously. "Thou wilt not go?"
"If it please thee I will stay, poor child."
Ata flung herself on her knees before him, and clasped his legs with her arms and kissed them. Strickland looked at Dr. Coutras with a faint smile.
"In the end they get you, and you are helpless in their hands. White or brown, they are all the same."
Dr. Coutras felt that it was absurd to offer expressions of regret in so terrible a disaster, and he took his leave. Strickland told Tane, the boy, to lead him to the village. Dr. Coutras paused for a moment, and then he addressed himself to me.
"I did not like him, I have told you he was not sympathetic to me, but as I walked slowly down to Taravao I could not prevent an unwilling39 admiration40 for the stoical courage which enabled him to bear perhaps the most dreadful of human afflictions. When Tane left me I told him I would send some medicine that might be of service; but my hope was small that Strickland would consent to take it, and even smaller that, if he did, it would do him good. I gave the boy a message for Ata that I would come whenever she sent for me. Life is hard, and Nature takes sometimes a terrible delight in torturing her children. It was with a heavy heart that I drove back to my comfortable home in Papeete."
For a long time none of us spoke.
"But Ata did not send for me," the doctor went on, at last, "and it chanced that I did not go to that part of the island for a long time. I had no news of Strickland. Once or twice I heard that Ata had been to Papeete to buy painting materials, but I did not happen to see her. More than two years passed before I went to Taravao again, and then it was once more to see the old chiefess. I asked them whether they had heard anything of Strickland. By now it was known everywhere that he had leprosy. First Tane, the boy, had left the house, and then, a little time afterwards, the old woman and her grandchild. Strickland and Ata were left alone with their babies. No one went near the plantation41, for, as you know, the natives have a very lively horror of the disease, and in the old days when it was discovered the sufferer was killed; but sometimes, when the village boys were scrambling42 about the hills, they would catch sight of the white man, with his great red beard, wandering about. They fled in terror. Sometimes Ata would come down to the village at night and arouse the trader, so that he might sell her various things of which she stood in need. She knew that the natives looked upon her with the same horrified43 aversion as they looked upon Strickland, and she kept out of their way. Once some women, venturing nearer than usual to the plantation, saw her washing clothes in the brook44, and they threw stones at her. After that the trader was told to give her the message that if she used the brook again men would come and burn down her house."
"Brutes," I said.
"Mais non, mon cher monsieur, men are always the same. Fear makes them cruel.... I decided45 to see Strickland, and when I had finished with the chiefess asked for a boy to show me the way. But none would accompany me, and I was forced to find it alone."
When Dr. Coutras arrived at the plantation he was seized with a feeling of uneasiness. Though he was hot from walking, he shivered. There was something hostile in the air which made him hesitate, and he felt that invisible forces barred his way. Unseen hands seemed to draw him back. No one would go near now to gather the cocoa-nuts, and they lay rotting on the ground. Everywhere was desolation. The bush was encroaching, and it looked as though very soon the primeval forest would regain46 possession of that strip of land which had been snatched from it at the cost of so much labour. He had the sensation that here was the abode47 of pain. As he approached the house he was struck by the unearthly silence, and at first he thought it was deserted48. Then he saw Ata. She was sitting on her haunches in the lean-to that served her as kitchen, watching some mess cooking in a pot. Near her a small boy was playing silently in the dirt. She did not smile when she saw him.
"I have come to see Strickland," he said.
"I will go and tell him."
She went to the house, ascended49 the few steps that led to the verandah, and entered. Dr. Coutras followed her, but waited outside in obedience50 to her gesture. As she opened the door he smelt51 the sickly sweet smell which makes the neighbourhood of the leper nauseous. He heard her speak, and then he heard Strickland's answer, but he did not recognise the voice. It had become hoarse52 and indistinct. Dr. Coutras raised his eyebrows53. He judged that the disease had already attacked the vocal54 chords. Then Ata came out again.
"He will not see you. You must go away."
Dr. Coutras insisted, but she would not let him pass. Dr. Coutras shrugged his shoulders, and after a moment's rejection55 turned away. She walked with him. He felt that she too wanted to be rid of him.
"Is there nothing I can do at all?" he asked.
"You can send him some paints," she said. "There is nothing else he wants."
"Can he paint still?"
"He is painting the walls of the house."
"This is a terrible life for you, my poor child."
Then at last she smiled, and there was in her eyes a look of superhuman love. Dr. Coutras was startled by it, and amazed. And he was awed56. He found nothing to say.
"He is my man," she said.
"Where is your other child?" he asked. "When I was here last you had two."
"Yes; it died. We buried it under the mango."
When Ata had gone with him a little way she said she must turn back. Dr. Coutras surmised57 she was afraid to go farther in case she met any of the people from the village. He told her again that if she wanted him she had only to send and he would come at once.
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1
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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3
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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5
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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6
enquired
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| 打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问 | |
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7
prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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8
vanilla
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| n.香子兰，香草 | |
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9
vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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10
resonant
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| adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的 | |
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11
obese
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| adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的 | |
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12
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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13
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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14
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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15
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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16
perspiring
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| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
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17
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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18
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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19
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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24
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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lamentation
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| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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30
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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31
spoke
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| 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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32
meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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35
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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36
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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37
trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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38
sardonic
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| adj.嘲笑的，冷笑的，讥讽的 | |
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39
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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40
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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41
plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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42
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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43
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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45
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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46
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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47
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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48
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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49
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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51
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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52
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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53
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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54
vocal
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| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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55
rejection
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| n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃 | |
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56
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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surmised
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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