"Things happen to people by accident," she used to say. "A lot of nice accidents have happened to me. It just HAPPENED that I always liked lessons and books, and could remember things when I learned them. It just happened that I was born with a father who was beautiful and nice and clever, and could give me everything I liked. Perhaps I have not really a good temper at all, but if you have everything you want and everyone is kind to you, how can you help but be good-tempered? I don't know"—looking quite serious—"how I shall ever find out whether I am really a nice child or a horrid9 one. Perhaps I'm a HIDEOUS10 child, and no one will ever know, just because I never have any trials."
Sara rubbed the end of her little nose reflectively, as she thought the matter over.
"Well," she said at last, "perhaps—perhaps that is because Lavinia is GROWING." This was the result of a charitable recollection of having heard Miss Amelia say that Lavinia was growing so fast that she believed it affected12 her health and temper.
Lavinia, in fact, was spiteful. She was inordinately13 jealous of Sara. Until the new pupil's arrival, she had felt herself the leader in the school. She had led because she was capable of making herself extremely disagreeable if the others did not follow her. She domineered over the little children, and assumed grand airs with those big enough to be her companions. She was rather pretty, and had been the best-dressed pupil in the procession when the select Seminary walked out two by two, until Sara's velvet14 coats and sable15 muffs appeared, combined with drooping16 ostrich17 feathers, and were led by Miss Minchin at the head of the line. This, at the beginning, had been bitter enough; but as time went on it became apparent that Sara was a leader, too, and not because she could make herself disagreeable, but because she never did.
"There's one thing about Sara Crewe," Jessie had enraged18 her "best friend" by saying honestly, "she's never 'grand' about herself the least bit, and you know she might be, Lavvie. I believe I couldn't help being—just a little—if I had so many fine things and was made such a fuss over. It's disgusting, the way Miss Minchin shows her off when parents come."
"'Dear Sara must come into the drawing room and talk to Mrs. Musgrave about India,'" mimicked20 Lavinia, in her most highly flavored imitation of Miss Minchin. "'Dear Sara must speak French to Lady Pitkin. Her accent is so perfect.' She didn't learn her French at the Seminary, at any rate. And there's nothing so clever in her knowing it. She says herself she didn't learn it at all. She just picked it up, because she always heard her papa speak it. And, as to her papa, there is nothing so grand in being an Indian officer."
"Well," said Jessie, slowly, "he's killed tigers. He killed the one in the skin Sara has in her room. That's why she likes it so. She lies on it and strokes its head, and talks to it as if it was a cat."
"She's always doing something silly," snapped Lavinia. "My mamma says that way of hers of pretending things is silly. She says she will grow up eccentric."
It was quite true that Sara was never "grand." She was a friendly little soul, and shared her privileges and belongings21 with a free hand. The little ones, who were accustomed to being disdained22 and ordered out of the way by mature ladies aged19 ten and twelve, were never made to cry by this most envied of them all. She was a motherly young person, and when people fell down and scraped their knees, she ran and helped them up and patted them, or found in her pocket a bonbon23 or some other article of a soothing24 nature. She never pushed them out of her way or alluded25 to their years as a humiliation26 and a blot27 upon their small characters.
"If you are four you are four," she said severely28 to Lavinia on an occasion of her having—it must be confessed—slapped Lottie and called her "a brat29;" "but you will be five next year, and six the year after that. And," opening large, convicting eyes, "it takes sixteen years to make you twenty."
"Dear me," said Lavinia, "how we can calculate!" In fact, it was not to be denied that sixteen and four made twenty—and twenty was an age the most daring were scarcely bold enough to dream of.
So the younger children adored Sara. More than once she had been known to have a tea party, made up of these despised ones, in her own room. And Emily had been played with, and Emily's own tea service used—the one with cups which held quite a lot of much-sweetened weak tea and had blue flowers on them. No one had seen such a very real doll's tea set before. From that afternoon Sara was regarded as a goddess and a queen by the entire alphabet class.
Lottie Legh worshipped her to such an extent that if Sara had not been a motherly person, she would have found her tiresome30. Lottie had been sent to school by a rather flighty young papa who could not imagine what else to do with her. Her young mother had died, and as the child had been treated like a favorite doll or a very spoiled pet monkey or lap dog ever since the first hour of her life, she was a very appalling31 little creature. When she wanted anything or did not want anything she wept and howled; and, as she always wanted the things she could not have, and did not want the things that were best for her, her shrill32 little voice was usually to be heard uplifted in wails33 in one part of the house or another.
Her strongest weapon was that in some mysterious way she had found out that a very small girl who had lost her mother was a person who ought to be pitied and made much of. She had probably heard some grown-up people talking her over in the early days, after her mother's death. So it became her habit to make great use of this knowledge.
The first time Sara took her in charge was one morning when, on passing a sitting room, she heard both Miss Minchin and Miss Amelia trying to suppress the angry wails of some child who, evidently, refused to be silenced. She refused so strenuously34 indeed that Miss Minchin was obliged to almost shout—in a stately and severe manner—to make herself heard.
"What IS she crying for?" she almost yelled.
"Oh—oh—oh!" Sara heard; "I haven't got any mam—ma-a!"
"Oh, Lottie!" screamed Miss Amelia. "Do stop, darling! Don't cry! Please don't!"
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!" Lottie howled tempestuously35. "Haven't—got—any—mam—ma-a!"
"She ought to be whipped," Miss Minchin proclaimed. "You SHALL be whipped, you naughty child!"
Lottie wailed36 more loudly than ever. Miss Amelia began to cry. Miss Minchin's voice rose until it almost thundered, then suddenly she sprang up from her chair in impotent indignation and flounced out of the room, leaving Miss Amelia to arrange the matter.
Sara had paused in the hall, wondering if she ought to go into the room, because she had recently begun a friendly acquaintance with Lottie and might be able to quiet her. When Miss Minchin came out and saw her, she looked rather annoyed. She realized that her voice, as heard from inside the room, could not have sounded either dignified37 or amiable38.
"Oh, Sara!" she exclaimed, endeavoring to produce a suitable smile.
"I stopped," explained Sara, "because I knew it was Lottie—and I thought, perhaps—just perhaps, I could make her be quiet. May I try, Miss Minchin?"
"If you can, you are a clever child," answered Miss Minchin, drawing in her mouth sharply. Then, seeing that Sara looked slightly chilled by her asperity39, she changed her manner. "But you are clever in everything," she said in her approving way. "I dare say you can manage her. Go in." And she left her.
When Sara entered the room, Lottie was lying upon the floor, screaming and kicking her small fat legs violently, and Miss Amelia was bending over her in consternation40 and despair, looking quite red and damp with heat. Lottie had always found, when in her own nursery at home, that kicking and screaming would always be quieted by any means she insisted on. Poor plump Miss Amelia was trying first one method, and then another.
"Poor darling," she said one moment, "I know you haven't any mamma, poor—" Then in quite another tone, "If you don't stop, Lottie, I will shake you. Poor little angel! There—! You wicked, bad, detestable child, I will smack41 you! I will!"
Sara went to them quietly. She did not know at all what she was going to do, but she had a vague inward conviction that it would be better not to say such different kinds of things quite so helplessly and excitedly.
"Miss Amelia," she said in a low voice, "Miss Minchin says I may try to make her stop—may I?"
"I don't know whether I CAN", answered Sara, still in her half-whisper; "but I will try."
Miss Amelia stumbled up from her knees with a heavy sigh, and Lottie's fat little legs kicked as hard as ever.
"If you will steal out of the room," said Sara, "I will stay with her."
"Oh, Sara!" almost whimpered Miss Amelia. "We never had such a dreadful child before. I don't believe we can keep her."
But she crept out of the room, and was very much relieved to find an excuse for doing it.
Sara stood by the howling furious child for a few moments, and looked down at her without saying anything. Then she sat down flat on the floor beside her and waited. Except for Lottie's angry screams, the room was quite quiet. This was a new state of affairs for little Miss Legh, who was accustomed, when she screamed, to hear other people protest and implore43 and command and coax44 by turns. To lie and kick and shriek45, and find the only person near you not seeming to mind in the least, attracted her attention. She opened her tight-shut streaming eyes to see who this person was. And it was only another little girl. But it was the one who owned Emily and all the nice things. And she was looking at her steadily46 and as if she was merely thinking. Having paused for a few seconds to find this out, Lottie thought she must begin again, but the quiet of the room and of Sara's odd, interested face made her first howl rather half-hearted.
"I—haven't—any—ma—ma—ma-a!" she announced; but her voice was not so strong.
Sara looked at her still more steadily, but with a sort of understanding in her eyes.
"Neither have I," she said.
This was so unexpected that it was astounding47. Lottie actually dropped her legs, gave a wriggle48, and lay and stared. A new idea will stop a crying child when nothing else will. Also it was true that while Lottie disliked Miss Minchin, who was cross, and Miss Amelia, who was foolishly indulgent, she rather liked Sara, little as she knew her. She did not want to give up her grievance49, but her thoughts were distracted from it, so she wriggled50 again, and, after a sulky sob51, said, "Where is she?"
Sara paused a moment. Because she had been told that her mamma was in heaven, she had thought a great deal about the matter, and her thoughts had not been quite like those of other people.
"She went to heaven," she said. "But I am sure she comes out sometimes to see me—though I don't see her. So does yours. Perhaps they can both see us now. Perhaps they are both in this room."
Lottie sat bolt upright, and looked about her. She was a pretty, little, curly-headed creature, and her round eyes were like wet forget-me-nots. If her mamma had seen her during the last half-hour, she might not have thought her the kind of child who ought to be related to an angel.
Sara went on talking. Perhaps some people might think that what she said was rather like a fairy story, but it was all so real to her own imagination that Lottie began to listen in spite of herself. She had been told that her mamma had wings and a crown, and she had been shown pictures of ladies in beautiful white nightgowns, who were said to be angels. But Sara seemed to be telling a real story about a lovely country where real people were.
"There are fields and fields of flowers," she said, forgetting herself, as usual, when she began, and talking rather as if she were in a dream, "fields and fields of lilies—and when the soft wind blows over them it wafts52 the scent53 of them into the air—and everybody always breathes it, because the soft wind is always blowing. And little children run about in the lily fields and gather armfuls of them, and laugh and make little wreaths. And the streets are shining. And people are never tired, however far they walk. They can float anywhere they like. And there are walls made of pearl and gold all round the city, but they are low enough for the people to go and lean on them, and look down onto the earth and smile, and send beautiful messages."
Whatsoever54 story she had begun to tell, Lottie would, no doubt, have stopped crying, and been fascinated into listening; but there was no denying that this story was prettier than most others. She dragged herself close to Sara, and drank in every word until the end came—far too soon. When it did come, she was so sorry that she put up her lip ominously55.
"I want to go there," she cried. "I—haven't any mamma in this school."
Sara saw the danger signal, and came out of her dream. She took hold of the chubby56 hand and pulled her close to her side with a coaxing57 little laugh.
"I will be your mamma," she said. "We will play that you are my little girl. And Emily shall be your sister."
Lottie's dimples all began to show themselves.
"Shall she?" she said.
"Yes," answered Sara, jumping to her feet. "Let us go and tell her. And then I will wash your face and brush your hair."
To which Lottie agreed quite cheerfully, and trotted58 out of the room and upstairs with her, without seeming even to remember that the whole of the last hour's tragedy had been caused by the fact that she had refused to be washed and brushed for lunch and Miss Minchin had been called in to use her majestic59 authority.
And from that time Sara was an adopted mother.
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1
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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amiability
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| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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10
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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inordinately
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| adv.无度地，非常地 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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sable
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| n.黑貂；adj.黑色的 | |
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16
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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ostrich
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| n.鸵鸟 | |
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18
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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19
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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mimicked
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| v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的过去式和过去分词 )；酷似 | |
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21
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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disdained
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| 鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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23
bonbon
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| n.棒棒糖；夹心糖 | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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blot
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| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
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28
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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brat
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| n.孩子；顽童 | |
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30
tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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31
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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33
wails
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| 痛哭，哭声( wail的名词复数 ) | |
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34
strenuously
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| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
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tempestuously
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| adv.剧烈地，暴风雨似地 | |
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36
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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39
asperity
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| n.粗鲁，艰苦 | |
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40
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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42
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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43
implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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44
coax
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| v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取 | |
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45
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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46
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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47
astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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48
wriggle
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| v./n.蠕动，扭动；蜿蜒 | |
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49
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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50
wriggled
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
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51
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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52
wafts
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| n.空中飘来的气味，一阵气味( waft的名词复数 )；摇转风扇v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的第三人称单数 ) | |
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53
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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54
whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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55
ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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56
chubby
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| adj.丰满的，圆胖的 | |
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57
coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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58
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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59
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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