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首页 » 英文短篇小说 » Mary Jane Married » CHAPTER VIII. MRS. CROKER’S “No. 2.”
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CHAPTER VIII. MRS. CROKER’S “No. 2.”
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 It was pretty late when we went to bed the night that Mr. Saxon got telling stories, because after everybody had gone he sat on with Harry1, and he and the Swedish gentleman didn’t seem to be inclined to go to bed at all, till at last I had to say it was long past twelve o’clock, and we should all lose our beauty sleep, and at last I got them to take their candles and go up to bed.
There weren’t any letters for Mr. Saxon next morning, so they both went out for a walk, asking me the nicest walk to go.
They were quite jolly, Mr. Saxon being full of jokes, and insisting upon going behind the bar before they started and pretending to serve the customers, and asking questions about everything he saw; and when I told him anything, the Swedish gentleman had to put it down in the little black book he carried in his pocket, and I noticed he was always making notes in it—whenever Mr. Saxon thought of anything the other having to put it down for him. If a customer came in with a curious manner, Mr. Saxon would say, “Put that down;” and out came the book. If Harry told about something that had happened to him on a voyage, it was, “Put that down;” and I noticed the Swedish gentleman always pulled out about a dozen papers before he found the book. It seems Mr. Saxon picked up handbills, and cut things out of the paper, and wrote things on bits of paper, and everything had to go into the Swedish gentleman’s pocket, till he looked quite bulged3 out.{100}
Mr. Saxon, when he came in, wrote till dinner-time, and the Swedish gentleman had to copy all he wrote, and when he couldn’t read the words Mr. Saxon went on at him and said his common sense ought to tell him what they were, but there wasn’t anything to attract attention till they had their dinner. They had a very good dinner, and the air had evidently given them an appetite; but Mr. Saxon kept chaffing all the time, and saying the Swedish gentleman would have to be lifted out of his chair by a steam-crane if he ate any more, and begging him not to make us bankrupt, because we were young beginners.
And he told me while they were travelling abroad they had gone to an hotel where the meals were fixed4 price, and after staying two days the landlord came and offered them a pound to go somewhere else because the Swedish gentleman was ruining him. But I noticed that Mr. Saxon ate quite as much as the other; perhaps not so much meat, but he ate nearly all the apple-pie and three-quarters of a cold jam tart2, and the Swedish gentleman didn’t touch the pastry5 at all.
And after Mr. Saxon had eaten all the pastry, if he didn’t tell me never to put such things on the table again for him, as they were poison; so the next day I only made a milky6 pudding, and then, if he didn’t say, “What, no pastry! Oh dear me! Here, Mrs. Beckett, go and make us half-a-dozen pancakes.”
What are you to do with a man like that?
The second day, in the morning, I saw that Mr. Saxon had got out of bed the wrong side.
He was groaning7 when I went to lay the breakfast, and he said his liver was bad, and his life was a burden to him; and certainly he did look green and yellow. And he was looking at himself in the glass, and going on because his hair wouldn’t lie down; and he kept banging it and saying he looked like a death’s-head, and he should be glad when he was in his grave.
I had put his letters—a dozen, I should say—on the table; but just as he was going to open them the Swedish gentleman came in and snatched them away.
“No, sir,” he said; “you have your breakfast first. I see how you are this morning; and there’s sure to be{101} something in the letters to annoy you, so have your breakfast first. I know you won’t eat any if you open them.”
He was right, for when I went to clear the things away Mr. Saxon was walking up and down the room in a dreadful rage, and the perspiration8 was streaming down his face.
“The wretches9, the fiends!” he said, “to dare to say this to me! The scoundrels! but I’ll teach them a lesson; I’ll tell them what I think of them.”
And directly the cloth was off he seized the pen and ink and began writing page after page on letter-paper, and then tearing it up and groaning, and then beginning again.
“There!” he said, “that’s the sort of thing to say to wretches like that. Take that to the post at once.”
The Swedish gentleman took it and put it in his pocket, and went outside the door.
I followed him with the crumb-brush, and I said, “Shall I send the boy to the post with it, sir?”
He said, “Oh no; it’s all right. I sha’n’t post it at all.”
“What!” I said; “not post it?”
“No, bless you; if I were to post all the letters he writes to people when he’s in a rage he wouldn’t have a friend left in the world. I burn them instead. Why, when he’s put out like he is now he writes the most awful things to people. They don’t understand him, and might think he meant it; but I do understand him, and I don’t post the letters.”
“But don’t you tell him?”
“Oh yes; when he’s cooled down a bit, and had time to think; and then he’s very glad. He’s made no end of enemies through writing in a rage when I haven’t been by to stop the letters going; but he sha’n’t make any more if I can help it.”
“What a pity it is he has such a hasty temper,” I said.
“It is, because it gives people a wrong impression of him. But he can’t help it; it’s nervous irritability11, and rages and furious letter-writing are only the symptoms.”
“Ah,” I said, “I know. He used to be like that when I was with him; but he’s all right when you know him.{102}”
“Yes,” he said, “he’s like the gentleman in the song—
‘He’s all right when you know him;
But you’ve got to know him fust.’”
When I told Harry about the bromide and about the letters that weren’t posted, he said—
“I say, missis, do you think he’s all right?”
“What do you mean, Harry, by ‘all right’?”
“Why, all right here,” and he touched his forehead.
“Why, of course he is. It’s only his curious way.”
“Well,” said Harry, “if you say so, I suppose it’s right. You know more about him than I do; but if I’d met him without being introduced I should have said that he was a lunatic, and the big foreigner was his keeper.”
That was a nice idea, wasn’t it? But, of course, a character like Mr. Saxon isn’t met with every day; and perhaps it’s a good job it isn’t. Too many of them would make things uncomfortable.
All that day Mr. Saxon was very excited, and I could see it was his liver by the look of him; and he kept groaning and saying his head ached, and he felt as if he’d been beaten black and blue.
He said he couldn’t write and he couldn’t read, and he couldn’t sit still, and so he came downstairs into our parlour and made Harry come and sit and talk with him. But he talked so much himself, Harry never had a chance. Harry did manage to say once what a fine thing it must be to be able to make money, and have your name stuck about the hoardings; and that was enough—that started him.
“A fine thing!” he said; “why, I’m the most miserable12 wretch10 that ever trod the earth! For twenty years I haven’t known what it is to be well for a single day. I’m always doubled up, I’m always in pain, I can’t go anywhere, I shun14 society, and I can’t eat anything without being ill for a week.”
“But you manage to write a good deal,” said Harry.
“Ah! I used to, but that faculty’s gone now. I’m too ill. I shall have to give up soon. Then I shall be ruined, and die in the workhouse. It’s an awful thing, Beckett, after working hard all your life, to die in the workhouse.{103}”
“Can’t say, sir,” said Harry jokingly; “I never tried it.”
But Mr. Saxon wouldn’t joke. He kept on talking in such a melancholy15 way that at last we all began to feel miserable. He said that life was all a mistake—that it was no good trying to be anything in the world, because death was sure to come, and that misery16 and trouble were our portions from the cradle to the grave. Then he began to tell the most dreadful stories about people he’d known, and the awful things that had happened to them; and Harry, who wasn’t used to that sort of thing, got up and said, “Excuse me, Mr. Saxon, I’ll go and get a little fresh air. If I listen to you much longer I shall begin to believe that I’d better take the missis and the baby and tie them round my neck and jump into the canal, before anything worse happens to us.”
“Oh, don’t mind me,” said Mr. Saxon; “I’m always like that when I’ve got dyspepsia—and I’ve got it awfully17 this afternoon.”
“Well,” said Harry, “the best thing for that is exercise. Come and have a good walk.”
They went out, Harry and Mr. Saxon and the Swedish gentleman, and when they came back they were all roaring with laughter. Mr. Saxon had forgotten all about his ailments18, and Harry told me Mr. Saxon and the Swedish gentleman had been pretending that they were two agents from London, who were down to look for the next heir to a John Smith, who had died in Australia worth a hundred thousand pounds, and they’d been into all the cottages making inquiries19 and questioning the people about their great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers, and Harry said that they’d set the whole village agog20, and that half the people in it had tried to make out that they once had a relative named Smith. Harry laughed when he told me, because it was so droll21, the way all the people began to tell Mr. Saxon their family histories, the Swedish gentleman taking it all down, as grave as a judge, in his note-book.
He said it was as good as a play. But it was an awful nuisance when people kept coming in and wanting to see the two gentlemen, and leaving bits of paper with the names of their ancestors written on, and old samplers, and{104} I don’t know what. And one old gentleman from the almshouses, who hadn’t been out of his room for three months, was brought down in a wheelbarrow, with his family Bible to show his mother’s maiden22 name was Smith; and he was so disappointed not to find the hundred thousand pounds waiting for him, that Harry had to give him a shilling and a bit of tobacco to comfort him.
It really was too bad of Mr. Saxon to have played a joke like that, because people in a country place always have an idea that they are “next of kin,” or whatever you call it, to rich people, and that there is unclaimed money waiting for them.
You have only to mention that somebody of their name is advertised for or inquired for, and they are certain that they are coming into a fortune. Almost every old lady in a country place believes that there is a fortune left to her somewhere, if she only knew where to look for it.
But Mr. Saxon got nicely paid out for his joke. There was an old lady who lived in the village, a regular character, called Mrs. Croker, though her real name was Mrs. Smith—Croker having been the name of her first husband and Smith of her second; but she went back to her first husband’s name when her second ran away. She was an awful tartar if all they say of her was true, and no wonder the first one died and the second ran away. She was married from the village, her family living there for centuries, and that’s how her history was so well known.
She married a very quiet, middle-aged23 man first, and went to live in London with him, where he worked at his trade; but she was the master, it seems, from the first. They had a little house over Lambeth way. She made him scrub the stairs and clean the steps, and do all the house-work that a woman generally does, before he went to his work and after he came home from it; and he had to give her all his money, and she allowed him so much a day, just enough for his fare and his dinner that he had to get out. And woe24 betide him if he didn’t come home to his tea to the minute he ought to be home!
He was due home at half-past five from his work, and{105} at five-and-twenty minutes to six the tea was all cleared away, and he had to go without for being late. Then she used to set him to do cleaning or whatever had to be done, and she always found him a job, because she said it wasn’t good for a man to be idle.
Once a friend called to see poor Mr. Croker, I was told, but she answered the door and gave the friend a bit of her mind. She said when a man came home he belonged to his wife, and she wasn’t going to have any dissolute companions coming there after him luring25 him into bad ways.
You can guess what a nice sort of woman she was; perhaps being over forty when she married had something to do with it.
Poor Mr. Croker was a very mild little man who daren’t say his soul was his own, and he obeyed like a lamb, and was very kind to her with it all, and I dare say loved her very much—for I’ve heard, and I dare say it’s true, that men do love women like that sometimes much better than women who let themselves be trodden on.
On Sunday Mr. Croker had to work harder than ever, because his wife went to church in the morning, and left him at home to do the cooking and get the dinner ready, and when she came home she sat down and let him dish it up, and a nice to-do there was if everything wasn’t quite right.
On Sunday afternoon she used to have a nap, and to keep Croker out of mischief26 she used to give him the Sunday-school books that she had had when a little girl to read, and, to make sure he didn’t go to sleep or get lazy, she used to make him learn the collect for the day and a hymn27 while she was asleep, and he had to say them when she woke up.
It seems hardly possible that a man would lead such a life, but poor Croker did, and I know that it is true, for I can judge by her goings-on now, when I see her very often; and all the people who knew about her married life tell the same story, and poor Croker’s “mates” in his workshop told what they had heard from him when he died, and there was an inquest on him.
But I must not anticipate.
To show how she treated her husband, it was a fact{106}—and she confessed it herself—that she didn’t even let him have what she had in the way of crockery. She had nicer things, china and that sort of thing, which she used for herself, but poor Croker had his tea in a big yellow mug, and had a common cracked old plate to have his dinner on, and had his beer in the same old yellow mug, while she had hers in a glass; and even the beer was different, he having to fetch her a pint28 of the best, while he was only allowed half a pint of the common.
It was one Sunday afternoon that Mr. Croker came to his end, and it was really through his being so afraid of his wife.
It seems she never allowed him to smoke, because she said it was a wasteful29 habit; but he used to keep a pipe at the shop, and smoke it secretly till he got near his home, and then call at a friend’s house and leave it for fear she should search his pockets and find it on him.
He had some way of not smelling of tobacco by having a chronic30 cough, which made him always take a coughdrop that hid the smell of tobacco; and that was enough, because I shouldn’t suppose that Mrs. Croker ever so far unbent her dignity as to kiss the poor man.
Sunday was his great trial, because he was never allowed out till evening, and then she always went with him for a short stroll. Not being able to get a smoke that day made him want it all the more—which is only human nature, and always has been.
At last, noticing that she used to sleep very soundly of an afternoon, he got artful, and would learn his collect beforehand in his dinner-hour at the shop, and, when she was asleep and snoring, creep out of the room with his hymn-book, and learn that over a pipe down in the shed that was at the bottom of the yard, where the coals were always kept, they having no underground coal-cellar in the little house they lived in. He was afraid to smoke in the garden, for fear the neighbours should see him and by chance let her know he had been smoking. So he used to crawl into the shed, and had made himself a comfortable corner there, and a seat on an old basket turned upside down, and he had a candle, which he stuck up to read by; and that was his most enjoyable half-hour on Sunday.{107}
He always managed to go in with some coals, so that, if she woke up and missed him, he could say, when he came in, he had been to the coal-shed. He had to work the kitchen fire in the summer very carefully, so as to make it always want coals just at that time.
His end was very awful. It seems that Mrs. Croker, who was always one to drive a bargain, and had bought no end of things cheap, which she hoarded31 away, being a miser13, as you may guess, had been offered a big can of oil, that is burned in lamps, cheap by a neighbour who had the brokers32 in, and been sold up or something of the sort, and she had bought it and had it taken into this shed.
One dark Sunday afternoon, poor Croker, knowing nothing about the oil, went into the coal-shed and lit his candle, and sat down to learn his hymn and have his pipe, when, in settling himself down, he knocked over the can that he didn’t know was there, and it made him jump, and in his fright down he came and the candle too, and he and the candle fell into a pool of the oil, and everything was in a blaze in a minute.
His screams brought assistance, and he was got out, but not before he was so burned that he never got over it, but died a little while after.
It was at the inquest that it came out why he was there smoking, one of his mates volunteering and giving off a bit of his mind before the coroner could stop him.
Mrs. Croker, after she got over the shock, said it was a judgment33, and it all happened through men deceiving their wives; but other people who knew all about her put it differently.
Two years after Mr. Croker’s quiet Sunday pipe had caused his end, Mrs. Croker, who must have had a tidy bit of money, because she had saved a good deal out of Croker’s wages, and was always thrifty34, and had his club and insurance money, married again. This time she married a younger man, a man in good work, named Dan Smith. I suppose Mr. Smith thought she had a bit of money, and didn’t know what a character she was.
At any rate, Mrs. Croker became Mrs. Smith, and she tried the same game on with Daniel as she had with the other.{108}
But Daniel didn’t take it quite in the same way. He humoured her at first, and cleaned the steps and cooked the dinner; but they say it was over the collect and the hymn on Sunday afternoon that they fell out.
He said if she went out Sunday mornings he should go out Sunday afternoons, and he should smoke his pipe out of doors and in the house, too. He wouldn’t give up his baccy for the best woman breathing.
They had awful quarrels about it, and neither would give way; and, what’s more, Mr. Smith wouldn’t hand over all his wages every week as Mr. Croker had done.
She must have led him a pretty life in consequence, for one Saturday morning Mr. Smith went out, and he didn’t come home to dinner, and he didn’t come home to tea. Mrs. Smith worked herself up into an awful rage, and was getting ready to make it warm for him when he did come in—but he didn’t come in to supper, and he didn’t come in all night.
Then she got awfully frightened, and the next morning, Sunday, she went down to the works and found out where the foreman lived, and went to see if he could tell her anything. The foreman told her that Dan had left his employment, having given a week’s notice the Saturday before, and had wished them all good-bye; and then she knew that her husband hadn’t meant to come home—in fact, that he had run away from her.
She went on anyhow about him then, and called him dreadful names, and said he was a villain35, and vowed36 she would find him, if she went to the end of the world after him, and have him up for deserting her.
She didn’t get much sympathy from anybody, because people knew how she’d treated her first husband, and they said she didn’t deserve to have another; but some of the mischievous37 people played jokes on her. One would come to her and say, “Oh, Mrs. Smith, your husband was seen last night with a young woman in a public-house at Bow.”
Off she would go to the place, and insist on seeing the landlord, and make a fine to-do, accusing him of harbouring her husband. Wherever people told her her husband had been seen she would go, till she had been half over{109} London, and she began to be known as “the old gal38 who was looking for her husband.”
But at last she gave up the search and sold up her home, and came back to live in her native village near where our house is; and then she pretended to be very poor, and used to ask herself out to tea to different people’s houses as often as she could, and would come in and talk about her wrongs, till people used to have to make all sorts of excuses to get rid of her.
She was said to wear all her clothes one set on top of the other, and she certainly looked very bulky always; and whenever she called and people were at tea, she’d have a cup, and manage to take a lump or two of sugar extra and put in her pocket, and was always asking to be obliged with a stamp, which she didn’t pay for, and all that sort of thing.
She managed to make friends with us somehow soon after we came, and when we weren’t at tea or dinner when she came in, she would have an awful attack of the spasms39, and, of course, at first I used to say, “Have a little brandy, or a little gin,” and she never said “No.”
I had managed to stop her calling so often when Mr. Saxon started that story about the Mr. Smith who had died in Australia. She heard of it, and she was certain it was her husband, and down she came to our place and insisted on seeing the agents.
We tried to get rid of her, saying they weren’t in, but she said she’d stay till they did come in, and at last Mr. Saxon had to see her to try and get rid of her.
But once she got in his room, there she stuck. It was no good his saying the man Smith had been in Australia fifty years—she knew better. For everything he said she had an argument ready, and she demanded the name of his employers, and I don’t know what; and as he had some writing to do he got out of temper, and then she slanged him, and said he was in the conspiracy40, and at last he put her out of his room and locked the door.
We got her away after she’d shouted at him outside his door for a quarter of an hour; but when he went out the next morning for a walk she was waiting for him, and she followed him and the Swedish gentleman through the{110} village, shouting at them, till everybody came out of their doors, and Mr. Saxon had to run fast to get away from her, because she couldn’t run far with three or four complete sets of clothes on.
When Mr. Saxon returned he came in the back way and sat down in a chair.
“Good heavens, Mary Jane,” he said, “that old woman will drive me mad! Can’t she be put in the pound?”
I said it was a pity he had put that story about, because it would never do to say there was no Mr. Smith—all the other people would be so indignant. He must think of something to persuade Mrs. Smith it wasn’t her husband.
“I know,” said the Swedish gentleman; “we must show her a photograph of the real Mr. Smith, and say that’s the man. Then she can’t say it’s her husband.”
“But I don’t carry photographs about with me,” said Mr. Saxon. Then he asked me if I had one.
“No,” I said, “not that she wouldn’t recognize, because she’s looked through my album over and over again, and I can’t borrow one of anybody in the village, because she’d recognize that too. She knows everybody’s business.”
“Oh, leave it to me, sir,” said the Swedish gentleman; “I’ll manage to get one.”
So he went out and got a photograph, and I heard afterwards how he got it. He certainly was very clever at scheming and planning, seeming to like it.
He went to the photographers in the nearest town to us and asked if they had any photographs of celebrities41, and they said, “No; there was no demand for them.” Then he asked if they had any photographs of anybody who didn’t live in the place or near the place. The photographer thought a minute, and then said, “Yes; he thought he had.” He went to a drawer, and brought out a photograph of a man.
“I’m sure that is a stranger,” he said; “you can have this.” The Swedish gentleman had said he wanted an old photograph to do a conjuring42 trick with, but didn’t want anybody who was an inhabitant.
He paid a shilling for the photo, and brought it back. When he got near our house he met Mr. Saxon, who had gone out for a stroll, and that blessed Mrs. Croker{111} was watching for him, and was on to him again demanding particulars of her husband’s death in Australia and of her fortune. She wasn’t going to let a lot of people that had no claim on him get it.
Mr. Saxon asked the Swedish gentleman in German if he’d got a photo. “Yes,” he said.
Then Mr. Saxon turned to Mrs. Croker and said, “Madam, I suppose you would know your husband’s photograph?”
“Yes, I should,” she said.
“Then, madam, my friend will show you the photograph of our Mr. Smith, and you will see it is not your husband.”
The Swedish gentleman took out his pocket-book and took the photograph he had bought from it.
“There, madam,” he said, “that is the Mr. Smith.”
“Ah!” shouted the woman; “I knew it. That is my husband!”
And it was. The photographer had given the Swedish gentleman a copy of the photograph of Daniel Smith. When Mrs. Croker came to the village she had had a dozen taken to send about, in case she ever heard of any clue in distant parts. The photographer had taken more than had been ordered—she wouldn’t pay for them, and he had to keep them. He had given one to the Swedish gentleman.
That evening Mr. Saxon packed up and fled. He went away in a close carriage, and drove to a station four miles off, to elude43 the vigilance of Mrs. Croker.
She used to go to London about once a week regularly to look for him, and she was quite convinced that some day she would receive the hundred thousand pounds that her husband left in Australia. She was convinced that she had been hoaxed44 at last by receiving news of the death of the real Daniel Smith. He had died at——
* * * * *
What’s that smell of burning? It’s from the kitchen. Why, cook, what are you thinking of? You know how particular No. 7 is, and these cutlets are burned to a cinder45. You—— Why, good heavens, the woman’s drunk!

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 harry heBxS     
vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼
参考例句:
  • Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天,人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
  • Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。
2 tart 0qIwH     
adj.酸的;尖酸的,刻薄的;n.果馅饼;淫妇
参考例句:
  • She was learning how to make a fruit tart in class.她正在课上学习如何制作水果馅饼。
  • She replied in her usual tart and offhand way.她开口回答了,用她平常那种尖酸刻薄的声调随口说道。
3 bulged e37e49e09d3bc9d896341f6270381181     
凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 ); 充满; 塞满(某物)
参考例句:
  • His pockets bulged with apples and candy. 他的口袋鼓鼓地装满了苹果和糖。
  • The oranges bulged his pocket. 桔子使得他的衣袋胀得鼓鼓的。
4 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
参考例句:
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
5 pastry Q3ozx     
n.油酥面团,酥皮糕点
参考例句:
  • The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry.厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
  • The pastry crust was always underdone.馅饼的壳皮常常烤得不透。
6 milky JD0xg     
adj.牛奶的,多奶的;乳白色的
参考例句:
  • Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
  • I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。
7 groaning groaning     
adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式
参考例句:
  • She's always groaning on about how much she has to do. 她总抱怨自己干很多活儿。
  • The wounded man lay there groaning, with no one to help him. 受伤者躺在那里呻吟着,无人救助。
8 perspiration c3UzD     
n.汗水;出汗
参考例句:
  • It is so hot that my clothes are wet with perspiration.天太热了,我的衣服被汗水湿透了。
  • The perspiration was running down my back.汗从我背上淌下来。
9 wretches 279ac1104342e09faf6a011b43f12d57     
n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 );可怜的人;恶棍;坏蛋
参考例句:
  • The little wretches were all bedraggledfrom some roguery. 小淘气们由于恶作剧而弄得脏乎乎的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • The best courage for us poor wretches is to fly from danger. 对我们这些可怜虫说来,最好的出路还是躲避危险。 来自辞典例句
10 wretch EIPyl     
n.可怜的人,不幸的人;卑鄙的人
参考例句:
  • You are really an ungrateful wretch to complain instead of thanking him.你不但不谢他,还埋怨他,真不知好歹。
  • The dead husband is not the dishonoured wretch they fancied him.死去的丈夫不是他们所想象的不光彩的坏蛋。
11 irritability oR0zn     
n.易怒
参考例句:
  • It was the almost furtive restlessness and irritability that had possessed him. 那是一种一直纠缠着他的隐秘的不安和烦恼。
  • All organisms have irritability while alive. 所有生物体活着时都有应激性。
12 miserable g18yk     
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的
参考例句:
  • It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他,这是可耻的。
  • Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。
13 miser p19yi     
n.守财奴,吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly)
参考例句:
  • The miser doesn't like to part with his money.守财奴舍不得花他的钱。
  • The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
14 shun 6EIzc     
vt.避开,回避,避免
参考例句:
  • Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理,唯心主义者则逃避真理。
  • This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。
15 melancholy t7rz8     
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的
参考例句:
  • All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
  • He felt melancholy after he failed the exam.这次考试没通过,他感到很郁闷。
16 misery G10yi     
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦
参考例句:
  • Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
  • He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。
17 awfully MPkym     
adv.可怕地,非常地,极端地
参考例句:
  • Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
  • I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。
18 ailments 6ba3bf93bc9d97e7fdc2b1b65b3e69d6     
疾病(尤指慢性病),不适( ailment的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • His ailments include a mild heart attack and arthritis. 他患有轻度心脏病和关节炎。
  • He hospitalizes patients for minor ailments. 他把只有小病的患者也送进医院。
19 inquiries 86a54c7f2b27c02acf9fcb16a31c4b57     
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听
参考例句:
  • He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释,等候进一步调查。
  • I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
20 agog efayI     
adj.兴奋的,有强烈兴趣的; adv.渴望地
参考例句:
  • The children were all agog to hear the story.孩子们都渴望着要听这个故事。
  • The city was agog with rumors last night that the two had been executed.那两人已被处决的传言昨晚搞得全城沸沸扬扬。
21 droll J8Tye     
adj.古怪的,好笑的
参考例句:
  • The band have a droll sense of humour.这个乐队有一种滑稽古怪的幽默感。
  • He looked at her with a droll sort of awakening.他用一种古怪的如梦方醒的神情看着她.
22 maiden yRpz7     
n.少女,处女;adj.未婚的,纯洁的,无经验的
参考例句:
  • The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
  • The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。
23 middle-aged UopzSS     
adj.中年的
参考例句:
  • I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
  • The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。
24 woe OfGyu     
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌
参考例句:
  • Our two peoples are brothers sharing weal and woe.我们两国人民是患难与共的兄弟。
  • A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so.自认祸是祸,自认福是福。
25 luring f0c862dc1e88c711a4434c2d1ab2867a     
吸引,引诱(lure的现在分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Cheese is very good for luring a mouse into a trap. 奶酪是引诱老鼠上钩的极好的东西。
  • Her training warned her of peril and of the wrong, subtle, mysterious, luring. 她的教养警告她:有危险,要出错儿,这是微妙、神秘而又诱人的。
26 mischief jDgxH     
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹
参考例句:
  • Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
  • He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。
27 hymn m4Wyw     
n.赞美诗,圣歌,颂歌
参考例句:
  • They sang a hymn of praise to God.他们唱着圣歌,赞美上帝。
  • The choir has sung only two verses of the last hymn.合唱团只唱了最后一首赞美诗的两个段落。
28 pint 1NNxL     
n.品脱
参考例句:
  • I'll have a pint of beer and a packet of crisps, please.我要一品脱啤酒和一袋炸马铃薯片。
  • In the old days you could get a pint of beer for a shilling.从前,花一先令就可以买到一品脱啤酒。
29 wasteful ogdwu     
adj.(造成)浪费的,挥霍的
参考例句:
  • It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
  • Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源,任务已经重新分派。
30 chronic BO9zl     
adj.(疾病)长期未愈的,慢性的;极坏的
参考例句:
  • Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
  • Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。
31 hoarded fe2d6b65d7be4a89a7f38b012b9a0b1b     
v.积蓄并储藏(某物)( hoard的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • It owned great properties and often hoarded huge treasures. 它拥有庞大的财产,同时往往窖藏巨额的财宝。 来自辞典例句
  • Sylvia among them, good-naturedly applaud so much long-hoarded treasure of useless knowing. 西尔维亚也在他们中间,为那些长期珍藏的无用知识,友好地、起劲地鼓掌。 来自互联网
32 brokers 75d889d756f7fbea24ad402e01a65b20     
n.(股票、外币等)经纪人( broker的名词复数 );中间人;代理商;(订合同的)中人v.做掮客(或中人等)( broker的第三人称单数 );作为权力经纪人进行谈判;以中间人等身份安排…
参考例句:
  • The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司,经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
  • From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分
33 judgment e3xxC     
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见
参考例句:
  • The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
  • He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。
34 thrifty NIgzT     
adj.节俭的;兴旺的;健壮的
参考例句:
  • Except for smoking and drinking,he is a thrifty man.除了抽烟、喝酒,他是个生活节俭的人。
  • She was a thrifty woman and managed to put aside some money every month.她是个很会持家的妇女,每月都设法存些钱。
35 villain ZL1zA     
n.反派演员,反面人物;恶棍;问题的起因
参考例句:
  • He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
  • The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。
36 vowed 6996270667378281d2f9ee561353c089     
起誓,发誓(vow的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
  • I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。
37 mischievous mischievous     
adj.调皮的,恶作剧的,有害的,伤人的
参考例句:
  • He is a mischievous but lovable boy.他是一个淘气但可爱的小孩。
  • A mischievous cur must be tied short.恶狗必须拴得短。
38 gal 56Zy9     
n.姑娘,少女
参考例句:
  • We decided to go with the gal from Merrill.我们决定和那个从梅里尔来的女孩合作。
  • What's the name of the gal? 这个妞叫什么?
39 spasms 5efd55f177f67cd5244e9e2b74500241     
n.痉挛( spasm的名词复数 );抽搐;(能量、行为等的)突发;发作
参考例句:
  • After the patient received acupuncture treatment,his spasms eased off somewhat. 病人接受针刺治疗后,痉挛稍微减轻了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The smile died, squeezed out by spasms of anticipation and anxiety. 一阵阵预测和焦虑把她脸上的微笑挤掉了。 来自辞典例句
40 conspiracy NpczE     
n.阴谋,密谋,共谋
参考例句:
  • The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
  • He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。
41 celebrities d38f03cca59ea1056c17b4467ee0b769     
n.(尤指娱乐界的)名人( celebrity的名词复数 );名流;名声;名誉
参考例句:
  • He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
  • a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目
42 conjuring IYdyC     
n.魔术
参考例句:
  • Paul's very good at conjuring. 保罗很会变戏法。
  • The entertainer didn't fool us with his conjuring. 那个艺人变的戏法没有骗到我们。
43 elude hjuzc     
v.躲避,困惑
参考例句:
  • If you chase it,it will elude you.如果你追逐着它, 它会躲避你。
  • I had dared and baffled his fury.I must elude his sorrow.我曾经面对过他的愤怒,并且把它挫败了;现在我必须躲避他的悲哀。
44 hoaxed c9160958abc12b7aef2548a13be66727     
v.开玩笑骗某人,戏弄某人( hoax的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • They hoaxed me into believing it. 他们哄骗得我相信它。 来自辞典例句
  • I was hoaxed into believing their story. 我上了当,还以为他们的玩笑是真的呢。 来自辞典例句
45 cinder xqhzt     
n.余烬,矿渣
参考例句:
  • The new technology for the preparation of superfine ferric oxide from pyrite cinder is studied.研究了用硫铁矿烧渣为原料,制取超细氧化铁红的新工艺。
  • The cinder contains useful iron,down from producing sulphuric acid by contact process.接触法制硫酸的矿渣中含有铁矿。


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