And now, let us apply this doctrine2 of symbolism to an investigation3 of the nature of a speculative science, as derived4 from an operative art; for the fact is familiar to every one that Freemasonry is of two kinds. We work, it is true, in speculative Masonry5 only, but our ancient brethren wrought6 in both operative and speculative; and it is now well understood that the two branches are widely apart in design and in character—the one a mere7 useful art, intended for the protection and convenience of man and the gratification of his physical wants, the other a profound science, entering into abstruse8 investigations9 of the soul and a future existence, and originating in the craving10 need of humanity to know something that is above and beyond the mere outward life that surrounds us with its gross atmosphere here below.44 Indeed, the only bond or link that unites speculative and operative Masonry is the symbolism that belongs altogether to the former, but which, throughout its whole extent, is derived from the latter.
Our first inquiry11, then, will be into the nature of the symbolism which operative gives to speculative Masonry; and thoroughly12 to understand this—to know its origin, and its necessity, and its mode of application—we must begin with a reference to the condition of a long past period of time.
Thousands of years ago, this science of symbolism was adopted by the sagacious priesthood of Egypt to convey the lessons of worldly wisdom and religious knowledge, which they thus communicated to their disciples13.45 Their science, their history, and their philosophy were thus concealed14 beneath an impenetrable veil from all the profane15, and only the few who had passed through the severe ordeal16 of initiation17 were put in possession of the key which enabled them to decipher and read with ease those mystic lessons which we still see engraved18 upon the obelisks19, the tombs, and the sarcophagi, which lie scattered20, at this day, in endless profusion21 along the banks of the Nile.
From the Egyptians the same method of symbolic22 instruction was diffused23 among all the pagan nations of antiquity24, and was used in all the ancient Mysteries46 as the medium of communicating to the initiated25 the esoteric and secret doctrines26 for whose preservation27 and promulgation28 these singular associations were formed.
Moses, who, as Holy Writ29 informs us, was skilled in all the learning of Egypt, brought with him, from that cradle of the sciences, a perfect knowledge of the science of symbolism, as it was taught by the priests of Isis and Osiris, and applied30 it to the ceremonies with which he invested the purer religion of the people for whom he had been appointed to legislate31.47
Hence we learn, from the great Jewish historian, that, in the construction of the tabernacle, which gave the first model for the temple at Jerusalem, and afterwards for every masonic lodge32, this principle of symbolism was applied to every part of it. Thus it was divided into three parts, to represent the three great elementary divisions of the universe—the land, the sea, and the air. The first two, or exterior33 portions, which were accessible to the priests and the people, were symbolic of the land and the sea, which all men might inhabit; while the third, or interior division,—the holy of holies,—whose threshold no mortal dared to cross, and which was peculiarly consecrated35 to GOD, was emblematic36 of heaven, his dwelling-place. The veils, too, according to Josephus, were intended for symbolic instruction in their color and their materials. Collectively, they represented the four elements of the universe; and, in passing, it may be observed that this notion of symbolizing37 the universe characterized all the ancient systems, both the true and the false, and that the remains38 of the principle are to be found everywhere, even at this day, pervading39 Masonry, which is but a development of these systems. In the four veils of the tabernacle, the white or fine linen40 signified the earth, from which flax was produced; the scarlet41 signified fire, appropriately represented by its flaming color; the purple typified the sea, in allusion42 to the shell-fish murex, from which the tint43 was obtained; and the blue, the color of the firmament44, was emblematic of air.48
It is not necessary to enter into a detail of the whole system of religious symbolism, as developed in the Mosaic45 ritual. It was but an application of the same principles of instruction, that pervaded46 all the surrounding Gentile nations, to the inculcation of truth. The very idea of the ark itself49 was borrowed, as the discoveries of the modern Egyptologists have shown us, from the banks of the Nile; and the breastplate of the high priest, with its Urim and Thummim,50 was indebted for its origin to a similar ornament47 worn by the Egyptian judge. The system was the same; in its application, only, did it differ.
With the tabernacle of Moses the temple of King Solomon is closely connected: the one was the archetype of the other. Now, it is at the building of that temple that we must place the origin of Freemasonry in its present organization: not that the system did not exist before, but that the union of its operative and speculative character, and the mutual48 dependence49 of one upon the other, were there first established.
At the construction of this stupendous edifice—stupendous, not in magnitude, for many a parish church has since excelled it in size,51 but stupendous in the wealth and magnificence of its ornaments—the wise king of Israel, with all that sagacity for which he was so eminently50 distinguished51, and aided and counselled by the Gentile experience of the king of Tyre, and that immortal52 architect who superintended his workmen, saw at once the excellence53 and beauty of this method of inculcating moral and religious truth, and gave, therefore, the impulse to that symbolic reference of material things to a spiritual sense, which has ever since distinguished the institution of which he was the founder54.
If I deemed it necessary to substantiate55 the truth of the assertion that the mind of King Solomon was eminently symbolic in its propensities56, I might easily refer to his writings, filled as they are to profusion with tropes and figures. Passing over the Book of Canticles,—that great lyrical drama, whose abstruse symbolism has not yet been fully57 evolved or explained, notwithstanding the vast number of commentators58 who have labored60 at the task,—I might simply refer to that beautiful passage in the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, so familiar to every Mason as being appropriated, in the ritual, to the ceremonies of the third degree, and in which a dilapidated building is metaphorically61 made to represent the decays and infirmities of old age in the human body. This brief but eloquent62 description is itself an embodiment of much of our masonic symbolism, both as to the mode and the subject matter.
In attempting any investigation into the symbolism of Freemasonry, the first thing that should engage our attention is the general purport63 of the institution, and the mode in which its symbolism is developed. Let us first examine it as a whole, before we investigate its parts, just as we would first view, as critics, the general effect of a building, before we began to inquire into its architectural details.
Looking, then, in this way, at the institution—coming down to us, as it has, from a remote age—having passed unaltered and unscathed through a thousand revolutions of nations—and engaging, as disciples in its school of mental labor59, the intellectual of all times—the first thing that must naturally arrest the attention is the singular combination that it presents of an operative with a speculative organization—an art with a science—the technical terms and language of a mechanical profession with the abstruse teachings of a profound philosophy.
Here it is before us—a venerable school, discoursing64 of the deepest subjects of wisdom, in which sages65 might alone find themselves appropriately employed, and yet having its birth and deriving66 its first life from a society of artisans, whose only object was, apparently67, the construction of material edifices68 of stone and mortar69.
The nature, then, of this operative and speculative combination, is the first problem to be solved, and the symbolism which depends upon it is the first feature of the institution which is to be developed.
Freemasonry, in its character as an operative art, is familiar to every one. As such, it is engaged in the application of the rules and principles of architecture to the construction of edifices for private and public use—houses for the dwelling-place of man, and temples for the worship of Deity70. It abounds71, like every other art, in the use of technical terms, and employs, in practice, an abundance of implements72 and materials which are peculiar34 to itself.
Now, if the ends of operative Masonry had here ceased,—if this technical dialect and these technical implements had never been used for any other purpose, nor appropriated to any other object, than that of enabling its disciples to pursue their artistic73 labors74 with greater convenience to themselves,—Freemasonry would never have existed. The same principles might, and in all probability would, have been developed in some other way; but the organization, the name, the mode of instruction, would all have most materially differed.
But the operative Masons, who founded the order, were not content with the mere material and manual part of their profession: they adjoined to it, under the wise instructions of their leaders, a correlative branch of study.
And hence, to the Freemason, this operative art has been symbolized75 in that intellectual deduction76 from it, which has been correctly called Speculative Masonry. At one time, each was an integrant part of one undivided system. Not that the period ever existed when every operative mason was acquainted with, or initiated into, the speculative science. Even now, there are thousands of skilful77 artisans who know as little of that as they do of the Hebrew language which was spoken by its founder. But operative Masonry was, in the inception78 of our history, and is, in some measure, even now, the skeleton upon which was strung the living muscles, and tendons, and nerves of the speculative system. It was the block of marble—rude and unpolished it may have been—from which was sculptured the life-breathing statue.52
Speculative Masonry (which is but another name for Freemasonary in its modern acceptation) may be briefly79 defined as the scientific application and the religious consecration80 of the rules and principles, the language, the implements and materials of operative Masonry to the veneration81 of God, the purification of the heart, and the inculcation of the dogmas of a religious philosophy.

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1
speculative
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adj.思索性的,暝想性的,推理的 | |
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2
doctrine
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n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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investigation
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n.调查,调查研究 | |
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derived
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vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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masonry
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n.砖土建筑;砖石 | |
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wrought
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v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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mere
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adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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abstruse
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adj.深奥的,难解的 | |
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investigations
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(正式的)调查( investigation的名词复数 ); 侦查; 科学研究; 学术研究 | |
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craving
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n.渴望,热望 | |
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inquiry
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n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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thoroughly
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adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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disciples
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n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 );门徒;耶稣的信徒;(尤指)耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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concealed
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a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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profane
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adj.亵神的,亵渎的;vt.亵渎,玷污 | |
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ordeal
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n.苦难经历,(尤指对品格、耐力的)严峻考验 | |
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initiation
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n.开始 | |
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engraved
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v.在(硬物)上雕刻(字,画等)( engrave的过去式和过去分词 );将某事物深深印在(记忆或头脑中) | |
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obelisks
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n.方尖石塔,短剑号,疑问记号( obelisk的名词复数 ) | |
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scattered
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adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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profusion
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n.挥霍;丰富 | |
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symbolic
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adj.象征性的,符号的,象征主义的 | |
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diffused
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散布的,普及的,扩散的 | |
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antiquity
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n.古老;高龄;古物,古迹 | |
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initiated
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n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始,创始,启蒙,介绍加入 | |
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doctrines
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n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 );教义;学说;(政府政策的)正式声明 | |
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preservation
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n.保护,维护,保存,保留,保持 | |
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promulgation
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n.颁布 | |
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writ
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n.命令状,书面命令 | |
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applied
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adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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legislate
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vt.制定法律;n.法规,律例;立法 | |
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lodge
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v.临时住宿,寄宿,寄存,容纳;n.传达室,小旅馆 | |
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exterior
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adj.外部的,外在的;表面的 | |
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peculiar
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adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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consecrated
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adj.神圣的,被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣,给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 );奉献 | |
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emblematic
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adj.象征的,可当标志的;象征性 | |
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symbolizing
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v.象征,作为…的象征( symbolize的现在分词 ) | |
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remains
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n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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pervading
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v.遍及,弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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linen
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n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的 | |
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scarlet
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n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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allusion
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n.暗示,间接提示 | |
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tint
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n.淡色,浅色;染发剂;vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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firmament
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n.苍穹;最高层 | |
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mosaic
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n./adj.镶嵌细工的,镶嵌工艺品的,嵌花式的 | |
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pervaded
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v.遍及,弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ornament
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v.装饰,美化;n.装饰,装饰物 | |
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mutual
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adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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dependence
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n.依靠,依赖;信任,信赖;隶属 | |
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eminently
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adv.突出地;显著地;不寻常地 | |
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distinguished
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adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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52
immortal
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adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的 | |
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53
excellence
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n.优秀,杰出,(pl.)优点,美德 | |
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54
Founder
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n.创始者,缔造者 | |
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substantiate
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v.证实;证明...有根据 | |
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propensities
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n.倾向,习性( propensity的名词复数 ) | |
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fully
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adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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commentators
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n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 );时事评论员;注释者;实况广播员 | |
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labor
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n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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labored
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adj.吃力的,谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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61
metaphorically
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adv. 用比喻地 | |
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eloquent
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adj.雄辩的,口才流利的;明白显示出的 | |
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purport
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n.意义,要旨,大要;v.意味著,做为...要旨,要领是... | |
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discoursing
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演说(discourse的现在分词形式) | |
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sages
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n.圣人( sage的名词复数 );智者;哲人;鼠尾草(可用作调料) | |
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deriving
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v.得到( derive的现在分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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apparently
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adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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edifices
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n.大建筑物( edifice的名词复数 ) | |
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mortar
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n.灰浆,灰泥;迫击炮;v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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deity
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n.神,神性;被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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abounds
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v.大量存在,充满,富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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implements
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n.工具( implement的名词复数 );家具;手段;[法律]履行(契约等)v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 );执行;贯彻;使生效 | |
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artistic
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adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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labors
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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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symbolized
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v.象征,作为…的象征( symbolize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deduction
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n.减除,扣除,减除额;推论,推理,演绎 | |
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skilful
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(=skillful)adj.灵巧的,熟练的 | |
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inception
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n.开端,开始,取得学位 | |
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briefly
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adv.简单地,简短地 | |
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consecration
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n.供献,奉献,献祭仪式 | |
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veneration
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n.尊敬,崇拜 | |
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