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Chapter 6
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In which Profane1 returns to street level

 

 Women had always happened to Profane the schlemihl like accidents: broken  shoelaces, dropped dishes, pins in new shirts. Fina was no exception.  Profane had figured at first that he was only the disembodied object of a  corporal work of mercy. That, in the company of innumerable small and  wounded animals, bums4 on the street, near-dying and lost to God, he was only  another means to grace or indulgence for Fina.

But as usual he was wrong. His first indication came with the cheerless  celebration Angel and Geronimo staged following his first eight hours of  alligator5 hunting. They had all been on a night shift, and got back to the  Mendozas around 5 A.M. "Put on a suit," said Angel.

"I don't have a suit," Profane said.

They gave him one of Angel's. It was too small and he felt ridiculous. "All  I want to do," he said, "really, is sleep."

"Sleep in the daytime," Geronimo said, "ho-ho. You crazy, man. We are going  out after some cono."

Fina came in all warm and sleepy-eyed; heard they were holding a party,  wanted to tag along. She worked 8 to 4:30 as a secretary but she had sick  leave coming. Angel got all embarrassed. This sort of put his sister in the  class of cono. Geronimo suggested calling up Dolores and Pilar, two girls  they knew. Girls are different from cono. Angel brightened.

The six of them started at an after-hours club up near 125th Street,  drinking Gallo wine with ice in it. A small group, vibes and rhythm, played  listlessly in one corner. These musicians had been to high school with  Angel, Fina and Geronimo. During the breaks they came over and sat at the  table. They were drunk and threw pieces of ice at each other. Everybody  talked in Spanish and Profane responded in what Italo-American he'd heard  around the house as a kid. There was about 10 per cent communication but  nobody cared: Profane was only guest of honor.

Soon Fina's eyes changed from sleepy to shiny from wine, and she talked less  and spent more of her time smiling at Profane. This made him uncomfortable.  It turned out Delgado the vibes player was going to be married the next day  and having second thoughts. A violent and pointless argument developed about  marriage, pro2 and con6. While everybody else was screaming, Fina leaned  toward Profane till their foreheads touched and whispered, "Benito," her  breath light and acid with wine.

"Josephine," he nodded, pleasant. He was getting a headache. She continued  to lean against his head until the next set when Geronimo grabbed her and  they went off to dance. Dolores, fat and amiable9, asked Profane to dance.  "Non posso ballare," he said. "No puedo bailar," she corrected him and  yanked him to his feet. The world became filled with the sounds of inanimate  calluses slapping inanimate goatskin, felt hitting metal, sticks knocking  together. Of course, he couldn't dance. His shoes kept getting in the way.  Dolores, halfway10 across the room, didn't notice. Commotion11 broke out at the  door and half a dozen teenagers wearing Playboy jackets invaded. The music  bonged and clattered12 on. Profane kicked off his shoes - old black loafers of  Geronimo's - and concentrated on dancing in his socks. After awhile Dolores  was there again and five seconds later a spike13 heel came down square in the  middle of his foot. He was too tired to yell. He limped off to a table in  the corner, crawled under it and went to sleep. The next thing he knew there  was sunlight in his eyes. They were carrying him down Amsterdam Avenue like  pallbearers, all chanting, "Mierda. Mierda. Mierda . . ."

He lost count of all the bars they visited. He became drunk. His worst  memory was of being alone with Fina somewhere in a telephone booth. They  were discussing love. He couldn't remember what he'd said. The only other  thing he remembered between then and the time he woke up - in Union Square  at sundown, blindfolded14 by a raging hangover and covered by a comforter of  chilly15 pigeons who looked like vultures - was same sort of unpleasantness  with the police after Angel and Geronimo had tried to smuggle16 parts of a  toilet under their coats out of the men's room in a bar on Second Avenue.

In the next few days Profane came to tally17 his time in reverse or  schlemihl's light: time on the job as escape, time exposed to any  possibility of getting involved with Fina as assbreaking, wageless labor18.

What had he said in that phone booth? The question met him at the end of  every shift, day, night or swing, like an evil fog that hovered19 over  whatever manhole he happened to climb out of. Nearly that whole day of  slewfooting drunk under February's sun was a blank. He was not about to ask  Fina what had happened. There grew a mutual20 embarrassment21 between them, as  if they'd been to bed after all.

"Benito," she said one night, "how come we never talk."

"Wha," said Profane, who was watching a Randolph Scott movie on television.  "Wha. I talk to you."

"Sure. Nice dress. How about more coffee. I got me another cocodrilo today. You know what I mean."

 

He knew what she meant. Now here was Randolph Scott: cool, imperturbable,  keeping his trap shut and only talking when he had to - and then saying the  right things and not running off haphazard22 and inefficient23 at the mouth -  and here on the other side of the phosphor screen was Profane, who knew that  one wrong word would put him closer than he cared to be to street level, and  whose vocabulary it seemed was made up of nothing but wrong words.

"Why don't we go to a movie or something," she said.

"This here," he answered, "is a good movie. Randolph Scott is this U.S.  marshal and that sheriff, there he goes now, is getting paid off by the gang  and all he does all day long is play fan-tan with a widow who lives up the  hill."

She withdrew after a while, sad and pouting24.

Why? Why did she have to behave like he was a human being. Why couldn't he  be just an object of mercy. What did Fina have to go pushing it for? What  did she want - which was a stupid question. She was a restless girl, this  Josephine: warm and viscous-moving, ready to come in a flying machine or  anyplace else.

But curious, he decided25 to ask Angel.

"How do I know," Angel said. "It's her business. She don't like anybody in  the office. They are all maricon, she says. Except for Mr. Winsome26 the boss,  but he's married so he's out."

"What does she want to be," Profane said, "a career girl? What does your  mother think?"

"My mother thinks everybody should get married: me, Fina, Geronimo. She'll  be after your ass7 soon. Fina doesn't want anybody. You, Geronimo, the  Playboys. She doesn't want. Nobody knows what she wants."

"Playboys," Profane said. "Wha."

It came out then that Fina was spiritual leader or Den3 Mother of this youth  gang. She had learned in school about a saint, called Joan of Arc, who went  around doing the same thing for armies who were more or less chicken and no  good in a rumble27. The Playboys, Angel felt, were pretty much the same way.

Profane knew better than to ask whether she was giving them sexual comfort  too. He didn't have to ask. He knew this was another work of mercy. The  mother to the troops bit, he guessed - not knowing anything about women -  was a harmless way to be what maybe every girl wants to be, a camp follower28.  With the advantage that here she was not a follower but a leader. How many  in the Playboys? Nobody knew, Angel said. Maybe hundreds. They all were  crazy for Fina, in a spiritual way. In return she had to put out nothing but  charity and comfort, which she was only too glad to do, punchy with grace  already.

The Playboys were a strangely exhausted29 group. Mercenaries, many of them  lived in Fina's neighborhood; but unlike other gangs they had no turf of  their own. They were spread out all over the city; having no common  geographical30 or cultural ground, they put their arsenal31 and streetfighting  prowess at the disposal of any interested party who might be considering a  rumble. The Youth Board had never taken a count on them: they were  everywhere, but as Angel had mentioned, chicken. The main advantage in  having them on your side was psychological. They cultivated a carefully  sinister32 image: coal-black velvet33 jackets with the clan34 name discreetly  lettered small and bloody35 on the back; faces pale and soulless as the other  side of the night (and you felt that was where they lived: for they would  appear suddenly across the street from you and keep pace for a while, and  then vanish again as if back behind some invisible curtain); all of them  affecting prowling walks, hungry eyes, feral mouths.

Profane didn't meet them in any social way until the Feast of San' Ercole  dei Rinoceronti, which comes on the Ides of March, and is celebrated  downtown in the neighborhood called Little Italy. High over all Mulberry  Street that night soared arches of light bulbs, arranged in receding36 sets of  whorls, each spanning the street, shining clear to the horizon because the  air was so windless. Under the lights were jury-rigged stalls for  penny-toss, bingo, pick up the plastic duck and win a prize. Every few steps  were stands for zeppole, beer, sausage-pepper sandwiches. Behind it all was  music from two bandstands, one at the downtown end of the street and one  halfway along. Popular songs, operas. Not too loud in the cold night: as if  confined only to the area below the lights. Chinese and Italian residents  sat out on the stoops as if it were summer, watching the crowds, the lights,  the smoke from the zeppole stands which rose lazy and unturbulent up toward  the lights but disappeared before it reached them.

Profane, Angel and Geronimo were out prowling for cono. It was Thursday  night, tomorrow - according to the nimble calculations of Geronimo they were  working not for Zeitsuss but for the U. S. Government, since Friday is  one-fifth of the week and the government takes one-fifth of your check for  withholding37 tax. The beauty of Geronimo's scheme was that it didn't have to  be Friday but could be any day - or days - in the week depressing enough to  make you feel it would be a breach38 of loyalty39 if the time were dedicated40 to  good old Zeitsuss. Profane had got into this way of thinking, and along with  parties in the daytime and a rotating shift system devised by Bung the  foreman whereby you didn't know till the day before which hours you would be  working the next, it put him on a weird41 calendar which was not ruled off  into neat squares at all but more into a mosaic42 of tilted43 street-surfaces  that changed position according to sunlight, streetlight, moonlight,  nightlight . . .

He wasn't comfortable in this street. The people mobbing the pavement  between the stalls seemed no more logical than the objects in his dream.  "They don't have faces," he said to Angel.

"A lot of nice asses44, though," Angel said.

"Look, look," said Geronimo. Three jailbait, all lipstick45 and shiny-machined  breast- and buttock-surfaces, stood in front of the wheel of Fortune,  twitching47 and hollow-eyed.

"Benito, you speak guinea. Go tell them how about a little."

Behind them the band was playing Madame Butterfly. Non-professional,  non-rehearsed.

"It isn't like it was a foreign country," Profane said.

"Geronimo is a tourist," Angel said. "He wants to go down to San Juan and  live in the Caribe Hilton and ride around the city looking at  puertorriquenos."

They'd been moseying slow, casing the jailbait at the wheel. Profane's foot  came down on an empty beer can. He started to roll. Angel and Geronimo,  flanking him, caught him by the arms about halfway down. The girls had  turned around and were giggling48, the eyes mirthless, ringed in shadow.

Angel waved. "He goes weak in the knees," Geronimo purred, "when he sees  beautiful girls."

The giggling got louder. Someplace else the American ensign and the geisha  would be singing in Italian to the music behind them; and how was that for a  tourist's confusion of tongues? The girls moved away and the three fell into  step beside them. They bought beer and took over an unoccupied stoop.

"Benny here talks guinea," said Angel. "Say something in guinea, hey."

"Sfacim," Profane said. The girls got all shocked.

"Your friend is a nasty mouth," one of them said.

"I don't want to sit with any nasty mouth," said the girl sitting next to  Profane. She got up, flipped49 her butt46 and moved down into the street, where  she stood hipshot and stared at Profane out of her dark eyeholes.

"That's his name," Geronimo said, "is all. And I am Peter O'Leary and this  here is Chain Ferguson." Peter O'Leary being an old school chum who was now  at a seminary upstate studying to be a priest. He'd been so clean-living in  high school that Geronimo and his friends always used him for an alias  whenever there might be any trouble. God knew how many had been deflowered,  hustled50 off of for beer or slugged in his name. Chain Ferguson was the hero  of a western they'd been watching on the Mendoza TV the night before.

"Benny Sfacim is really your name?" said the one in the street.

"Sfacimento." In Italian it meant destruction or decay. "You didn't let me  finish."

"That's all right then," she said. "That isn't bad at all." Bet your shiny,  twitching ass, he thought, all unhappy. The other could knock her up higher  than those arches of light. She couldn't be more than fourteen but she knew  already that men are drifters. Good for her. Bedmates and all the sfacim  they have yet to get rid of drift on, and if some stays with her and swells  into a little drifter who'll go someday too, why she wouldn't like that too  much, he reckoned. He wasn't angry with her. He looked that thought at her,  but who knew what went on in those eyes? They seemed to absorb all the light  in the street: from flames beneath sausage grills51, from the bridges of light  bulbs, windows of neighborhood apartments, glowing ends of De Nobili cigars,  flashing gold and silver of instruments on the bandstand, even light from  the eyes of what innocent there were among the tourists:

 The eyes of a New York woman [he started to sing]

   Are the twilit side of the moon,

   Nobody knows what goes on back there

   Where it's always late afternoon.

   Under the lights of Broadway,

   Far from the lights of home,

   With a smile as sweet as a candy cane52

   And a heart all plated with chrome.

   Do they ever see the wandering bums 

   And the boys with no place to go,

   And the drifter who cried for an ugly girl

   That he left in Buffalo53?

   Dead as the leaves in Union Square,

   Dead as the graveyard54 sea,

   The eyes of a New York woman

   Are never going to cry for me.

   Are never going to cry for me.

 

The girl on the sidewalk twitched55. "It doesn't have any beat." It was a song  of the Great Depression. They were singing it in 1932, the year Profane was  born. He didn't know where he'd heard it. If it had a beat it was the beat  of beans thumping56 into an old bucket someplace down in Jersey57. Some WPA pick  against the pavement, some bum-laden freight car on a downgrade hitting the  gaps between the rails every 39 feet. She'd have been born in 1942. Wars  don't have my beat. They're all noise.

Zeppole man across the street began to sing. Angel and Geronimo started to  sing. The band across the street acquired an Italian tenor58 from the  neighborhood:

   Non dimenticar, the t'i'ho voluto tanto bene,

   Ho saputo amar; non dimenticar . . .

And the cold street seemed all at once to've bloomed into singing. He wanted  to take the girl by the fingers, lead her to someplace out of the wind,  anyplace warm, pivot59 her back on those poor ballbearing heels and show her  his name was Sfacim after all. It was a desire he got, off and on, to be  cruel and feel at the same time sorrow so big it filled him, leaked out his  eyes and the holes in his shoes to make one big pool of human sorrow on the  street, which had everything spilled on it from beer to blood, but very  little compassion60. "I'm Lucille," the girl said to Profane. The other two  introduced themselves, Lucille came back up the stoop to sit next to  Profane, Geronimo went off for more beer. Angel continued to sing. "What do  you guys do," Lucille said.

I tell tall stories to girls I want to screw, Profane thought. He scratched  his armpit. "Kill alligators61," he said.

"Wha."

He told her about the alligators; Angel, who had a fertile imagination too,  added detail, color. Together on the stoop they hammered together a myth.  Because it wasn't born from fear of thunder, dreams, astonishment62 at how the  crops kept dying after harvest and coming up again every spring, or anything  else very permanent, only a temporary interest, a spur-of-the-moment  tumescence, it was a myth rickety and transient as the bandstands and the  sausage-pepper of Mulberry Street.

Geronimo came back with beer. They sat and drank beer and watched people and  told sewer63 stories: Every once in a while the girls would want to sing. Soon  enough they became kittenish. Lucille jumped up and pranced64 away. "Catch  me," she said.

"Oh God," said Profane.

"You have to chase her," said one of her friends. Angel and Geronimo were  laughing.

"I have to wha," said Profane. The other two girls, annoyed that Angel and  Geronimo were laughing, arose and went running off after Lucille.

"Chase them?" Geronimo said.

Angel belched65. "Sweat out some of this beer." They got off the stoop  unsteadily and fell, side by side, into a little jog-trot. "Where'd they  go," Profane said.

"Over there." It seemed after a while they were knocking people over.  Somebody swung a punch at Geronimo and missed. They dived under an empty  stand, single file, and found themselves out on the sidewalk. The girls were  loping along, up ahead. Geronimo was breathing hard. They followed the  girls, who cut off on a side street. By the time they got around the corner  there wasn't girl one to be seen. There followed a confused quarter-hour of  wandering along the streets bordering Mulberry, looking under parked cars,  behind telephone poles, in back of stoops.

"Nobody here," said Angel.

There was music on Mott Street. Coming out of a basement. They investigated.  A sign outside said SOCIAL CLUB. BEER. DANCING. They went down, opened a  door and there sure enough was a small beer bar set up in one corner, a  jukebox in another and fifteen or twenty curious-looking juvenile  delinquents66. The boys wore Ivy67 League suits, the girls wore cocktail  dresses. There was rock 'n' roll on the jukebox. The greasy68 heads and  cantilever69 brassieres were still there, but the atmosphere was refined, like  a country club dance.

The three of them just stood. Profane saw Lucille after a while bopping in  the middle of the floor with somebody who looked like a chairman of the  board of some delinquent's corporation. Over his shoulder she stuck out her  tongue at Profane, who looked away. "I don't like it," he heard somebody  say, "fuzzwise. Why don't we send it through Central Park and see if anybody  rapes71 it."

He happened to glance off to the left. There was a coat room. Hanging on a  row of hooks, neat and uniform, padded shoulders falling symmetrical either  side of the hooks, were two dozen black velvet jackets with red lettering on  the back. Ding dang, thought Profane: Playboy country.

Angel and Geronimo had been looking the same way. "Do you think we should  maybe," Angel wondered. Lucille was beckoning72 to Profane from a doorway  across the dance floor.

"Wait a minute," he said. He weaved between the couples on the floor. Nobody  noticed him.

"What took you so long?" She had him by the hand. It was dark in the room.  He walked into a pool table. "Here," she whispered. She was lying spread on  the green felt. Comer pockets, side pockets, and Lucille. "There are some  funny things I could say," he began.

"They've all been said," she whispered. In the dim light from the doorway,  her fringed eyes seemed part of the felt. It was as if he were looking  through her face to the surface of the table. Skirt raised, mouth open,  teeth all white, sharp, ready to sink into whatever soft part of him got  that close, oh she would surely haunt him. He unzipped his fly and started  to climb up on the pool table.

There was a sudden scream from the next room, somebody knocked over the  jukebox, the lights went out. "Wha," she said sitting up.

"Rumble?" Profane said. She came flying off the table, knocked him over. He  lay on the floor, his head against a cue rack. Her sudden movement dislodged  an avalanche73 of pool balls on his stomach. "Dear God," he said, covering his  head. Her high heels tapped away, fading with distance, over the empty dance  floor. He opened his eyes. A pool ball lay even with his eyes. All he could  see was a white circle, and this black 8 inside it. He started to laugh.  Outside somewhere he thought he heard Angel yelling for help. Profane  creaked to his feet, zipped his fly up again, blundered out through the  darkness. He got out to the street after tripping over two folding chairs  and the cord to the jukebox.

Crouched74 behind the brownstone balusters of the front stoop he saw a great  mob of Playboys milling around in the street. Girls were sitting on the  stoop and lining75 the sidewalk, cheering. In the middle of the street  Lucille's late partner the board chairman was going round and round with a  huge Negro in a jacket that read BOP KINGS. A few other Bop Kings were  mixing it up with the Playboys at the fringes of the crowd. Jurisdictional  dispute, Profane figured. He couldn't see either Angel or Geronimo.  "Somebody is going to get burned," said a girl who sat almost directly above  him on the steps.

Like tinsel suddenly tossed on a Christmas tree, the merry twinkling of  switchblades, tire irons and filed-down garrison76 belt buckles77 appeared among  the crowd in the street. The girls on the stoop drew breath in concert  through bared teeth. They watched eagerly; as if each had kicked in on a  pool for who'd draw first blood.

It never happened, whatever they were waiting for: not tonight. Out of  nowhere Fina, St. Fina of the Playboys, came walking her sexy walk, in among  fangs78, talons79, tusks80. The air turned summer-mild, a boys' choir81 on a  brilliant mauve cloud came floating over from the direction of Canal Street  singing O Salutaris Hostia; the board chairman and the Bop King clasped arms  in token of friendship as their followers82 stacked arms and embraced; and  Fina was borne up by a swarm83 of pneumatically fat, darling cherubs84, to hover  over the sudden peace she'd created, beaming, serene85.

Profane gaped86, snuffled, and slunk away. For the next week or so he pondered  on Fina and the Playboys and presently began to worry in earnest. There was  nothing so special about the gang, punks are punks. He was sure any love  between her and the Playboys was for the moment Christian87, unworldly and  proper. But how long was that going to go on? How long could Fina herself  hold out? The minute her horny boys caught a glimpse of the wanton behind  the saint, the black lace slip beneath the surplice, Fina could find herself  on the receiving end of a gang bang, having in a way asked for it. She was  overdue88 now.

One evening he came into the bathroom, mattress89 slung90 over his back. He'd  been watching an ancient Tom Mix movie on television. Fina was lying in the  bathtub, seductive. No water, no clothes - just Fina.

"Now look," he said.

"Benny, I'm cherry. I want it to be you." She said it defiantly91. For a  minute it seemed plausible92. After all, if it wasn't him it might be that  whole godforsaken wolf pack. He glanced at himself in the mirror. Fat.  Pig-pouches around the eyes. Why did she want it to be him?

"Why me," he said. "You save it for the guy you marry."

"Who wants to get married," she said.

"Look, what is Sister Maria Annunziata going to think. Here you been doing  all these nice things for me, for those unfortunate delinquents down the  street. You want to get that all scratched off the books?" Who'd have  thought Profane would ever be arguing like this? Her eyes burned, she  twisted slow and sexy, all those tawny93 surfaces quivering like quicksand.

"No," said Profane. "Now hop94 out of there, I want to go to sleep. And don't  go yelling rape70 to your brother. He believes in his sister shouldn't do any  jazzing around but he knows you better."

She climbed out of the bathtub and put a robe around her. "I'm sorry," she  said. He threw the mattress in the tub, threw himself on top of it and lit a  cigarette. She turned off the light and shut the door behind her.

 

II

 Profane's worries about Fina turned real and ugly, soon enough. Spring came:  quiet, unspectacular and after many false starts: hailstorms and high winds  dovetailed with days of unwintry peace. The alligators living in the sewers  had dwindled95 to a handful. Zeitsuss found himself with more hunters than he  needed, so Profane, Angel and Geronimo started working part-time.

More and more Profane was coming to feel a stranger to the world downstairs.  It had probably happened as imperceptibly as the fall-off in the alligator  population; but somehow it began to look like he was losing contact with a  circle of friends. What am I, he yelled at himself, a St. Francis for  alligators? I don't talk to them, I don't even like them. I shoot them.

Your ass, answered his devil's advocate. How many times have they come  waddling96 up to you out of the darkness, like friends, looking for you. Did  it ever occur to you they want to be shot?

He thought back to the one he'd chased solo almost to the East River,  through Fairing's Parish. It had lagged, let him catch up. Had been looking  for it. It occurred to him that somewhere - when he was drunk, too horny to  think straight, tired - he'd signed a contract above the paw-prints of what  were now alligator ghosts. Almost as if there had been this agreement, a  covenant97, Profane giving death, the alligators giving him employment: tit  for tat. He needed them and if they needed him at all it was because in some  prehistoric98 circuit of the alligator brain they knew that as babies they'd  been only another consumer-object, along with the wallets and pocketbooks of  what might have been parents or kin8, and all the junk of the world's Macy's.  And the soul's passage down the toilet and into the underworld was only a  temporary peace-in-tension, borrowed time till they would have to return to  being falsely animated99 kids' toys. Of course they wouldn't like it. Would  want to go back to what they'd been; and the most perfect shape of that was  dead - what else? - to be gnawed100 into exquisite101 rococo102 by rat-artisans,  eroded103 to an antique bone-finish by the holy water of the Parish, tinted104 to  phosphorescence by whatever had made that one alligator's sepulchre so  bright that night.

When he went down for his now four hours a day he talked to them sometimes.  It annoyed his partners. He had a close call one night when a gator turned  and attacked. The tail caught the flashlight man a glancing blow off his  left leg. Profane yelled at him to get out of the way and pumped all five  rounds in a cascade105 of re-echoing blasts, square in the alligator's teeth.  "It's all right," his partner said. "I can walk on it." Profane wasn't  listening. He was standing106 by the headless corpse107, watching a steady stream  of sewage wash its life blood out to one of the rivers - he'd lost sense of  direction. "Baby," he told the corpse, "you didn't play it right. You don't  fight back. That's not in the contract." Bung the foreman lectured him once  or twice about this talking to alligators, how it set a bad example for the  Patrol. Profane said sure, OK, and remembered after that to say what he was  coming to believe he had to say under his breath.

Finally, one night in mid-April, he admitted to himself what he'd been  trying for a week not to think about: that he and the Patrol as functioning  units of the Sewer Department had about had it.

Fina had been aware that there weren't many alligators left and the three of  them would soon be jobless. She came upon Profane one evening by the TV set.  He was watching a rerun of The Great Train Robbery.

"Benito," she said, "you ought to start looking around for another job."

Profane agreed. She told him her boss, Winsome of Outlandish Records, was  looking for a clerk and she could get him an interview.

"Me," Profane said, "I'm not a clerk. I'm not smart enough and I don't go  for that inside work too much." She told him people stupider than he worked  as clerks. She said he'd have a chance to move up, make something of  himself.

A schlemihl is a schlemihl. What can you "make" out of one? What can one  "make" out of himself? You reach a point, and Profane knew he'd reached it,  where you know how much you can and cannot do. But every now and again he  got attacks of acute optimism. "I will give it a try," he told her, "and  thanks." She was grace-happy - here he had kicked her out of the bathtub and  now she was turning the other cheek. He began to get lewd108 thoughts.

Next day she called up. Angel and Geronimo were on day shift, Profane was  off till Friday. He lay on the floor playing pinochle with Kook, who was on  the hook from school.

"Find a suit," she said. "One o'clock is your interview."

"Wha," said Profane. He'd grown fatter after these weeks of Mrs. Mendoza's  cooking. Angel's suit didn't fit him any more. "Borrow one of my father's,"  she said, and hung up.

Old Mendoza didn't mind. The biggest suit in the closet was a George Raft  model, circa mid-'30's, double-breasted, dark blue serge, padded shoulders.  He put it on and borrowed a pair of shoes from Angel. On the way downtown on  the subway he decided that we suffer from great temporal homesickness for  the decade we were born in. Because he felt now as if he were living in some  private depression days: the suit, the job with the city that would not  exist after two weeks more at the most. All around him were people in new  suits, millions of inanimate objects being produced brand-new every week,  new cars in the streets, houses going up by the thousands all over the  suburbs he had left months ago. Where was the depression? In the sphere of  Benny Profane's guts109 and in the sphere of his skull110, concealed  optimistically by a tight blue serge coat and a schlemihl's hopeful face.

The Outlandish office was in the Grand Central area, seventeen floors up. He  sat in an anteroom full of tropical hothouse growths while the wind streamed  bleak112 and heatsucking past the windows. The receptionist gave him an  application to fill out. He didn't see Fina.

As he handed the completed form to the girl at the desk, a messenger came  through: a Negro wearing an old suede113 jacket. He dropped a stack of  interoffice mail envelopes on the desk and for a second his eyes and  Profane's met.

Maybe Profane had seen him under the street or at one of the shapeups. But  there was a little half-smile and a kind of half-telepathy and it was as if  this messenger had brought a message to Profane too, sheathed114 to everybody  but the two of them in an envelope of eyebeams touching115, that said: Who are  you trying to kid? Listen to the wind.

He listened to the wind. The messenger left. "Mr. Winsome will see you in a  moment," said the receptionist. Profane wandered over to the window and  looked down at 42nd Street. It was as if he could see the wind, too. The  suit felt wrong on him. Maybe it was doing nothing after all to conceal111 this  curious depression which showed up in no stock market or year-end report.  "Hey, where are you going," said the receptionist. "Changed my mind,"  Profane told her. Out in the hall and going down in the elevator, in the  lobby and in the street he looked for the messenger, but couldn't find him.  He unbuttoned the jacket of old Mendoza's suit and shuffled116 along 42nd  Street, head down, straight into the wind.

Friday at the shapeup Zeitsuss, almost crying, gave them the word. From now  on, only two days a week operation, only five teams for some mopping up out  in Brooklyn. On the way home that evening Profane, Angel and Geronimo  stopped off at a neighborhood bar on Broadway.

They stayed till near 9:30 or 10, when a few of the girls wandered in. This  was on Broadway in the 80's, which is not the Broadway of Show Biz, or even  a broken heart for every light on it. Uptown was a bleak district with no  identity, where a heart never does anything so violent or final as break:  merely gets increased tensile, compressive, shear117 loads piled on it bit by  bit every day till eventually these and its own shudderings fatigue118 it.

The first wave of girls came in to get change for the evening's clients.  They weren't pretty and the bartender always had a word for them. Some would  be back in again near closing time to have a nightcap, whether there'd been  any business or not. If they did have a customer along - usually one of the  small gangsters119 around the neighborhood - the bartender would be as  attentive120 and cordial as if they were young lovers, which in a way they  were. And if a girl came in without having found any business all night the  bartender would give her coffee with a big shot of brandy and say something  about how it was raining or too cold, and not much good, he supposed, for  customers. She'd usually have a last try at whoever was in the place.

Profane, Angel and Geronimo left after talking with the girls and having a  few rounds at the bowling121 machine. Coming out they met Mrs. Mendoza.

"You seen your sister?" she asked Angel. "She was going to come help me shop  right after work. She never did anything like this before, Angelito, I'm  worried."

Kook came running up. "Dolores says she's out with the Playboys but she  doesn't know where. Fina just called up and Dolores says she sounded funny."  Mrs. Mendoza grabbed him by the head and asked where from this phone call,  and Kook said he'd told her already, nobody knew. Profane looked toward  Angel and caught Angel looking at him. When Mrs. Mendoza was gone, Angel  said, "I don't like to think about it, my own sister, but if one of those  little pingas tries anything, man . . ."

Profane didn't say he'd been thinking the same thing. Angel was upset enough  already. But he knew Profane was thinking about a gang bang too. They both  knew Fina. "We ought to find her," he said.

"They're all over the city," Geronimo said. "I know a couple of their  hangouts." They decided to start at the Mott Street clubhouse. Till midnight  they took subways all over the city, finding only empty clubhouses or locked  doors. But as they were wandering along Amsterdam in the 60's, they heard  noise around the corner.

"Jesus Christ," Geronimo said. A full-scale rumble was on. A few guns in  evidence but mostly knives, lengths of pipe, garrison belts. The three  skirted along the side of the street where cars were parked, and found  somebody in a tweed suit hiding behind a new Lincoln and fiddling122 with the  controls of a tape recorder. A sound man was up in a nearby tree, dangling  microphones. The night had become cold and windy.

"Howdy," said the tweed suit. "My name is Winsome."

"My sister's boss," Angel whispered. Profane heard a scream up the street  which might have been Fina. He started running. There was shooting and a lot  of yelling. Five Bop Kings came running out of an alley123 ten feet ahead, into  the street, Angel and Geronimo were right behind Profane. Somebody had  parked a car in the middle of the street with WLIB on the radio, turned up  to top volume. Close at hand they heard a belt whiz through the air and a  scream of pain: but a big tree's black shadow hid whatever was happening.

They cased the street for a clubhouse. Soon they found PB and an arrow  chalked on the sidewalk, the arrow pointing in toward a brownstone. They ran  up the steps and saw PB chalked on the door. The door wouldn't open. Angel  kicked at it a couple of times and the lock broke. Behind them the street  was chaos124. A few bodies lay prostrate125 near the sidewalk. Angel ran down the  hall, Profane and Geronimo behind him. Police sirens from uptown and  crosstown started to converge126 on the rumble.

Angel opened a door at the end of the hall and for half a second Profane saw  Fina through it lying on an old army cot, naked, hair in disarray127, smiling.  Her eyes had become hollowed as Lucille's, that night on the pool table.  Angel turned and showed all his teeth. "Don't come in," he said, "wait." The  door closed behind him and soon they heard him hitting her.

Angel might have been satisfied only with her life, Profane didn't know how  deep the code ran. He couldn't go in and stop it; didn't know if he wanted  to. The police sirens had grown to a crescendo128 and suddenly cut off. Rumble  was over. More than that, he suspected, was over. He said good night to  Geronimo and left the brownstone, didn't turn his head to see what was  happening behind him in the street.

He wouldn't go back to Mendozas', he figured. There was no more work under  the street. What peace there had been was over. He had to came back to the  surface, the dream-street. Soon he found a subway station, twenty minutes  later he was downtown looking for a cheap mattress.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 profane l1NzQ     
adj.亵神的,亵渎的;vt.亵渎,玷污
参考例句:
  • He doesn't dare to profane the name of God.他不敢亵渎上帝之名。
  • His profane language annoyed us.他亵渎的言语激怒了我们。
2 pro tk3zvX     
n.赞成,赞成的意见,赞成者
参考例句:
  • The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
  • Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军?
3 den 5w9xk     
n.兽穴;秘密地方;安静的小房间,私室
参考例句:
  • There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
  • The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。
4 bums bums     
n. 游荡者,流浪汉,懒鬼,闹饮,屁股 adj. 没有价值的,不灵光的,不合理的 vt. 令人失望,乞讨 vi. 混日子,以乞讨为生
参考例句:
  • The other guys are considered'sick" or "bums". 其他的人则被看成是“病态”或“废物”。
  • You'll never amount to anything, you good-for-nothing bums! 这班没出息的东西,一辈子也不会成器。
5 alligator XVgza     
n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼)
参考例句:
  • She wandered off to play with her toy alligator.她开始玩鳄鱼玩具。
  • Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather.鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。
6 con WXpyR     
n.反对的观点,反对者,反对票,肺病;vt.精读,学习,默记;adv.反对地,从反面;adj.欺诈的
参考例句:
  • We must be fair and consider the reason pro and con.我们必须公平考虑赞成和反对的理由。
  • The motion is adopted non con.因无人投反对票,协议被通过。
7 ass qvyzK     
n.驴;傻瓜,蠢笨的人
参考例句:
  • He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
  • An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。
8 kin 22Zxv     
n.家族,亲属,血缘关系;adj.亲属关系的,同类的
参考例句:
  • He comes of good kin.他出身好。
  • She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。
9 amiable hxAzZ     
adj.和蔼可亲的,友善的,亲切的
参考例句:
  • She was a very kind and amiable old woman.她是个善良和气的老太太。
  • We have a very amiable companionship.我们之间存在一种友好的关系。
10 halfway Xrvzdq     
adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途
参考例句:
  • We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路,天就黑了。
  • In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上,最忌讳的是有始无终。
11 commotion 3X3yo     
n.骚动,动乱
参考例句:
  • They made a commotion by yelling at each other in the theatre.他们在剧院里相互争吵,引起了一阵骚乱。
  • Suddenly the whole street was in commotion.突然间,整条街道变得一片混乱。
12 clattered 84556c54ff175194afe62f5473519d5a     
发出咔哒声(clatter的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • He dropped the knife and it clattered on the stone floor. 他一失手,刀子当啷一声掉到石头地面上。
  • His hand went limp and the knife clattered to the ground. 他的手一软,刀子当啷一声掉到地上。
13 spike lTNzO     
n.长钉,钉鞋;v.以大钉钉牢,使...失效
参考例句:
  • The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
  • They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。
14 blindfolded a9731484f33b972c5edad90f4d61a5b1     
v.(尤指用布)挡住(某人)的视线( blindfold的过去式 );蒙住(某人)的眼睛;使不理解;蒙骗
参考例句:
  • The hostages were tied up and blindfolded. 人质被捆绑起来并蒙上了眼睛。
  • They were each blindfolded with big red handkerchiefs. 他们每个人的眼睛都被一块红色大手巾蒙住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 chilly pOfzl     
adj.凉快的,寒冷的
参考例句:
  • I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
  • I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后,寒气逼人。
16 smuggle 5FNzy     
vt.私运;vi.走私
参考例句:
  • Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
  • She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境,没有被逮捕。
17 tally Gg1yq     
n.计数器,记分,一致,测量;vt.计算,记录,使一致;vi.计算,记分,一致
参考例句:
  • Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
  • The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。
18 labor P9Tzs     
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
参考例句:
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
19 hovered d194b7e43467f867f4b4380809ba6b19     
鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫
参考例句:
  • A hawk hovered over the hill. 一只鹰在小山的上空翱翔。
  • A hawk hovered in the blue sky. 一只老鹰在蓝色的天空中翱翔。
20 mutual eFOxC     
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的
参考例句:
  • We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
  • Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。
21 embarrassment fj9z8     
n.尴尬;使人为难的人(事物);障碍;窘迫
参考例句:
  • She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
  • Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。
22 haphazard n5oyi     
adj.无计划的,随意的,杂乱无章的
参考例句:
  • The town grew in a haphazard way.这城镇无计划地随意发展。
  • He regrerted his haphazard remarks.他悔不该随口说出那些评论话。
23 inefficient c76xm     
adj.效率低的,无效的
参考例句:
  • The inefficient operation cost the firm a lot of money.低效率的运作使该公司损失了许多钱。
  • Their communication systems are inefficient in the extreme.他们的通讯系统效率非常差。
24 pouting f5e25f4f5cb47eec0e279bd7732e444b     
v.撅(嘴)( pout的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The child sat there pouting. 那孩子坐在那儿,一副不高兴的样子。 来自辞典例句
  • She was almost pouting at his hesitation. 她几乎要为他这种犹犹豫豫的态度不高兴了。 来自辞典例句
25 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
26 winsome HfTwx     
n.迷人的,漂亮的
参考例句:
  • She gave him her best winsome smile.她给了他一个最为迷人的微笑。
  • She was a winsome creature.她十分可爱。
27 rumble PCXzd     
n.隆隆声;吵嚷;v.隆隆响;低沉地说
参考例句:
  • I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
  • We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定,天要下雨了。
28 follower gjXxP     
n.跟随者;随员;门徒;信徒
参考例句:
  • He is a faithful follower of his home football team.他是他家乡足球队的忠实拥护者。
  • Alexander is a pious follower of the faith.亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。
29 exhausted 7taz4r     
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的
参考例句:
  • It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长,到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
  • Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。
30 geographical Cgjxb     
adj.地理的;地区(性)的
参考例句:
  • The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
  • These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。
31 arsenal qNPyF     
n.兵工厂,军械库
参考例句:
  • Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
  • We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。
32 sinister 6ETz6     
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的
参考例句:
  • There is something sinister at the back of that series of crimes.在这一系列罪行背后有险恶的阴谋。
  • Their proposals are all worthless and designed out of sinister motives.他们的建议不仅一钱不值,而且包藏祸心。
33 velvet 5gqyO     
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的
参考例句:
  • This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
  • The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。
34 clan Dq5zi     
n.氏族,部落,宗族,家族,宗派
参考例句:
  • She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
  • The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以,中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。
35 bloody kWHza     
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染
参考例句:
  • He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
  • He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。
36 receding c22972dfbef8589fece6affb72f431d1     
v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 );向后倾斜;自原处后退或避开别人的注视;尤指问题
参考例句:
  • Desperately he struck out after the receding lights of the yacht. 游艇的灯光渐去渐远,他拼命划水追赶。 来自辞典例句
  • Sounds produced by vehicles receding from us seem lower-pitched than usual. 渐渐远离我们的运载工具发出的声似乎比平常的音调低。 来自辞典例句
37 withholding 7eXzD6     
扣缴税款
参考例句:
  • She was accused of withholding information from the police. 她被指控对警方知情不报。
  • The judge suspected the witness was withholding information. 法官怀疑见证人在隐瞒情况。
38 breach 2sgzw     
n.违反,不履行;破裂;vt.冲破,攻破
参考例句:
  • We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
  • He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。
39 loyalty gA9xu     
n.忠诚,忠心
参考例句:
  • She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
  • His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。
40 dedicated duHzy2     
adj.一心一意的;献身的;热诚的
参考例句:
  • He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
  • His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。
41 weird bghw8     
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的
参考例句:
  • From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来,他好像有点怪。
  • His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。
42 mosaic CEExS     
n./adj.镶嵌细工的,镶嵌工艺品的,嵌花式的
参考例句:
  • The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
  • The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。
43 tilted 3gtzE5     
v. 倾斜的
参考例句:
  • Suddenly the boat tilted to one side. 小船突然倾向一侧。
  • She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。
44 asses asses     
n. 驴,愚蠢的人,臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人
参考例句:
  • Sometimes I got to kick asses to make this place run right. 有时我为了把这个地方搞得像个样子,也不得不踢踢别人的屁股。 来自教父部分
  • Those were wild asses maybe, or zebras flying around in herds. 那些也许是野驴或斑马在成群地奔跑。
45 lipstick o0zxg     
n.口红,唇膏
参考例句:
  • Taking out her lipstick,she began to paint her lips.她拿出口红,开始往嘴唇上抹。
  • Lipstick and hair conditioner are cosmetics.口红和护发素都是化妆品。
46 butt uSjyM     
n.笑柄;烟蒂;枪托;臀部;v.用头撞或顶
参考例句:
  • The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
  • He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。
47 twitching 97f99ba519862a2bc691c280cee4d4cf     
n.颤搐
参考例句:
  • The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
48 giggling 2712674ae81ec7e853724ef7e8c53df1     
v.咯咯地笑( giggle的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • We just sat there giggling like naughty schoolchildren. 我们只是坐在那儿像调皮的小学生一样的咯咯地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I can't stand her giggling, she's so silly. 她吃吃地笑,叫我真受不了,那样子傻透了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
49 flipped 5bef9da31993fe26a832c7d4b9630147     
轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 ); 按(开关); 快速翻转; 急挥
参考例句:
  • The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转,撞毁了。
  • The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。
50 hustled 463e6eb3bbb1480ba4bfbe23c0484460     
催促(hustle的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • He grabbed her arm and hustled her out of the room. 他抓住她的胳膊把她推出房间。
  • The secret service agents hustled the speaker out of the amphitheater. 特务机关的代理人把演讲者驱逐出竞技场。
51 grills 9d5be5605118251ddee0c25cd1da00e8     
n.烤架( grill的名词复数 );(一盘)烤肉;格板;烧烤餐馆v.烧烤( grill的第三人称单数 );拷问,盘问
参考例句:
  • Backyard barbecue grills could be proscribed. 里弄烤肉店会被勒令停业的。 来自辞典例句
  • Both side inlets have horizontal grills and incorporate impressive fog lamps. 两侧进气口的水平烤架并纳入令人印象深刻的雾灯。 来自互联网
52 cane RsNzT     
n.手杖,细长的茎,藤条;v.以杖击,以藤编制的
参考例句:
  • This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
  • English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。
53 buffalo 1Sby4     
n.(北美)野牛;(亚洲)水牛
参考例句:
  • Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
  • The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。
54 graveyard 9rFztV     
n.坟场
参考例句:
  • All the town was drifting toward the graveyard.全镇的人都象流水似地向那坟场涌过去。
  • Living next to a graveyard would give me the creeps.居住在墓地旁边会使我毛骨悚然。
55 twitched bb3f705fc01629dc121d198d54fa0904     
vt.& vi.(使)抽动,(使)颤动(twitch的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Her lips twitched with amusement. 她忍俊不禁地颤动着嘴唇。
  • The child's mouth twitched as if she were about to cry. 这小孩的嘴抽动着,像是要哭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
56 thumping hgUzBs     
adj.重大的,巨大的;重击的;尺码大的;极好的adv.极端地;非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词);狠打;怦怦地跳;全力支持
参考例句:
  • Her heart was thumping with emotion. 她激动得心怦怦直跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • He was thumping the keys of the piano. 他用力弹钢琴。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
57 jersey Lp5zzo     
n.运动衫
参考例句:
  • He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
  • They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致,都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。
58 tenor LIxza     
n.男高音(歌手),次中音(乐器),要旨,大意
参考例句:
  • The tenor of his speech was that war would come.他讲话的大意是战争将要发生。
  • The four parts in singing are soprano,alto,tenor and bass.唱歌的四个声部是女高音、女低音、男高音和男低音。
59 pivot E2rz6     
v.在枢轴上转动;装枢轴,枢轴;adj.枢轴的
参考例句:
  • She is the central pivot of creation and represents the feminine aspect in all things.她是创造的中心枢轴,表现出万物的女性面貌。
  • If a spring is present,the hand wheel will pivot on the spring.如果有弹簧,手轮的枢轴会装在弹簧上。
60 compassion 3q2zZ     
n.同情,怜悯
参考例句:
  • He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
  • Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。
61 alligators 0e8c11e4696c96583339d73b3f2d8a10     
n.短吻鳄( alligator的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Two alligators rest their snouts on the water's surface. 两只鳄鱼的大嘴栖息在水面上。 来自辞典例句
  • In the movement of logs by water the lumber industry was greatly helped by alligators. 木材工业过去在水上运输木料时所十分倚重的就是鳄鱼。 来自辞典例句
62 astonishment VvjzR     
n.惊奇,惊异
参考例句:
  • They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
  • I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。
63 sewer 2Ehzu     
n.排水沟,下水道
参考例句:
  • They are tearing up the street to repair a sewer. 他们正挖开马路修下水道。
  • The boy kicked a stone into the sewer. 那个男孩把一石子踢进了下水道。
64 pranced 7eeb4cd505dcda99671e87a66041b41d     
v.(马)腾跃( prance的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Their horses pranced and whinnied. 他们的马奔腾着、嘶鸣着。 来自辞典例句
  • The little girl pranced about the room in her new clothes. 小女孩穿着新衣在屋里雀跃。 来自辞典例句
65 belched f3bb4f3f4ba9452da3d7ed670165d9fd     
v.打嗝( belch的过去式和过去分词 );喷出,吐出;打(嗝);嗳(气)
参考例句:
  • He wiped his hand across his mouth, then belched loudly. 他用手抹了抹嘴,然后打了个响亮的饱嗝。
  • Artillery growled and belched on the horizon. 大炮轰鸣在地平面上猛烈地爆炸。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
66 delinquents 03c7fc31eb1c2f3334b049f2f2139264     
n.(尤指青少年)有过失的人,违法的人( delinquent的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The robbery was committed by a group of delinquents. 那起抢劫案是一群青少年干的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • There is today general agreement that juvenile delinquents are less responsible than older offenders. 目前人们普遍认为青少年罪犯比成人罪犯的责任小些。 来自辞典例句
67 ivy x31ys     
n.常青藤,常春藤
参考例句:
  • Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
  • The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。
68 greasy a64yV     
adj. 多脂的,油脂的
参考例句:
  • He bought a heavy-duty cleanser to clean his greasy oven.昨天他买了强力清洁剂来清洗油污的炉子。
  • You loathe the smell of greasy food when you are seasick.当你晕船时,你会厌恶油腻的气味。
69 cantilever IWizY     
n.悬梁臂;adj.采用伸臂建成的
参考例句:
  • The idea of cantilever construction is ancient in the Orient.在古代东方就已实行过悬臂施工。
  • The structure consists basically of two cantilever beams.这种结构基本上由两根悬臂梁组成。
70 rape PAQzh     
n.抢夺,掠夺,强奸;vt.掠夺,抢夺,强奸
参考例句:
  • The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
  • He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。
71 rapes db4d8af84453b45d758b9eaf77e1eb82     
n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 );强奸罪;强奸案;肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取,强夺( rape的第三人称单数 );强奸
参考例句:
  • The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
  • The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网
72 beckoning fcbc3f0e8d09c5f29e4c5759847d03d6     
adj.引诱人的,令人心动的v.(用头或手的动作)示意,召唤( beckon的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • An even more beautiful future is beckoning us on. 一个更加美好的未来在召唤我们继续前进。 来自辞典例句
  • He saw a youth of great radiance beckoning to him. 他看见一个丰神飘逸的少年向他招手。 来自辞典例句
73 avalanche 8ujzl     
n.雪崩,大量涌来
参考例句:
  • They were killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.他们在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一次雪崩中罹难。
  • Higher still the snow was ready to avalanche.在更高处积雪随时都会崩塌。
74 crouched 62634c7e8c15b8a61068e36aaed563ab     
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
  • The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身,准备猛扑。
75 lining kpgzTO     
n.衬里,衬料
参考例句:
  • The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
  • Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。
76 garrison uhNxT     
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防
参考例句:
  • The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
  • The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。
77 buckles 9b6f57ea84ab184d0a14e4f889795f56     
搭扣,扣环( buckle的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • She gazed proudly at the shiny buckles on her shoes. 她骄傲地注视着鞋上闪亮的扣环。
  • When the plate becomes unstable, it buckles laterally. 当板失去稳定时,就发生横向屈曲。
78 fangs d8ad5a608d5413636d95dfb00a6e7ac4     
n.(尤指狗和狼的)长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 );(蛇的)毒牙;罐座
参考例句:
  • The dog fleshed his fangs in the deer's leg. 狗用尖牙咬住了鹿腿。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Dogs came lunging forward with their fangs bared. 狗龇牙咧嘴地扑过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
79 talons 322566a2ccb8410b21604b31bc6569ac     
n.(尤指猛禽的)爪( talon的名词复数 );(如爪般的)手指;爪状物;锁簧尖状突出部
参考例句:
  • The fingers were curved like talons, but they closed on empty air. 他的指头弯得像鹰爪一样,可是抓了个空。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命
  • The tiger has a pair of talons. 老虎有一对利爪。 来自辞典例句
80 tusks d5d7831c760a0f8d3440bcb966006e8c     
n.(象等动物的)长牙( tusk的名词复数 );獠牙;尖形物;尖头
参考例句:
  • The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
  • Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分(高一)
81 choir sX0z5     
n.唱诗班,唱诗班的席位,合唱团,舞蹈团;v.合唱
参考例句:
  • The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
  • The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。
82 followers 5c342ee9ce1bf07932a1f66af2be7652     
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件
参考例句:
  • the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
  • The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。
83 swarm dqlyj     
n.(昆虫)等一大群;vi.成群飞舞;蜂拥而入
参考例句:
  • There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
  • A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。
84 cherubs 0ae22b0b84ddc11c4efec6a397edaf24     
小天使,胖娃娃( cherub的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The high stern castle was a riot or carved gods, demons, knights, kings, warriors, mermaids, cherubs. 其尾部高耸的船楼上雕满了神仙、妖魔鬼怪、骑士、国王、勇士、美人鱼、天使。
  • Angels, Cherubs and Seraphs-Dignity, glory and honor. 天使、小天使、六翼天使-尊严、荣耀和名誉。
85 serene PD2zZ     
adj. 安详的,宁静的,平静的
参考例句:
  • He has entered the serene autumn of his life.他已进入了美好的中年时期。
  • He didn't speak much,he just smiled with that serene smile of his.他话不多,只是脸上露出他招牌式的淡定的微笑。
86 gaped 11328bb13d82388ec2c0b2bf7af6f272     
v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 );张开,张大
参考例句:
  • A huge chasm gaped before them. 他们面前有个巨大的裂痕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The front door was missing. A hole gaped in the roof. 前门不翼而飞,屋顶豁开了一个洞。 来自辞典例句
87 Christian KVByl     
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒
参考例句:
  • They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
  • His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
88 overdue MJYxY     
adj.过期的,到期未付的;早该有的,迟到的
参考例句:
  • The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了,被坏天气耽搁了。
  • The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了,因为房租过期未付。
89 mattress Z7wzi     
n.床垫,床褥
参考例句:
  • The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
  • The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。
90 slung slung     
抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往
参考例句:
  • He slung the bag over his shoulder. 他把包一甩,挎在肩上。
  • He stood up and slung his gun over his shoulder. 他站起来把枪往肩上一背。
91 defiantly defiantly     
adv.挑战地,大胆对抗地
参考例句:
  • Braving snow and frost, the plum trees blossomed defiantly. 红梅傲雪凌霜开。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。 来自《简明英汉词典》
92 plausible hBCyy     
adj.似真实的,似乎有理的,似乎可信的
参考例句:
  • His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
  • Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。
93 tawny tIBzi     
adj.茶色的,黄褐色的;n.黄褐色
参考例句:
  • Her black hair springs in fine strands across her tawny,ruddy cheek.她的一头乌发分披在健康红润的脸颊旁。
  • None of them noticed a large,tawny owl flutter past the window.他们谁也没注意到一只大的、褐色的猫头鹰飞过了窗户。
94 hop vdJzL     
n.单脚跳,跳跃;vi.单脚跳,跳跃;着手做某事;vt.跳跃,跃过
参考例句:
  • The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛,看谁单足跳跃最快。
  • How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远?
95 dwindled b4a0c814a8e67ec80c5f9a6cf7853aab     
v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. 支持这个党派的人渐渐化为乌有。
  • His wealth dwindled to nothingness. 他的钱财化为乌有。 来自《简明英汉词典》
96 waddling 56319712a61da49c78fdf94b47927106     
v.(像鸭子一样)摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Rhinoceros Give me a break, were been waddling every day. 犀牛甲:饶了我吧,我们晃了一整天了都。 来自互联网
  • A short plump woman came waddling along the pavement. 有个矮胖女子一摇一摆地沿人行道走来。 来自互联网
97 covenant CoWz1     
n.盟约,契约;v.订盟约
参考例句:
  • They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
  • The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。
98 prehistoric sPVxQ     
adj.(有记载的)历史以前的,史前的,古老的
参考例句:
  • They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
  • It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。
99 animated Cz7zMa     
adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的
参考例句:
  • His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
  • We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。
100 gnawed 85643b5b73cc74a08138f4534f41cef1     
咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 ); (长时间) 折磨某人; (使)苦恼; (长时间)危害某事物
参考例句:
  • His attitude towards her gnawed away at her confidence. 他对她的态度一直在削弱她的自尊心。
  • The root of this dead tree has been gnawed away by ants. 这棵死树根被蚂蚁唼了。
101 exquisite zhez1     
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的
参考例句:
  • I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
  • I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。
102 rococo 2XSx5     
n.洛可可;adj.过分修饰的
参考例句:
  • She had a passion for Italian rococo.他热衷与意大利的洛可可艺术风格。
  • Rococo art portrayed a world of artificiality,make-believe,and game-playing.洛可可艺术描绘出一个人工的、假装的和玩乐性的世界。
103 eroded f1d64e7cb6e68a5e1444e173c24e672e     
adj. 被侵蚀的,有蚀痕的 动词erode的过去式和过去分词形式
参考例句:
  • The cliff face has been steadily eroded by the sea. 峭壁表面逐渐被海水侵蚀。
  • The stream eroded a channel in the solid rock. 小溪在硬石中侵蚀成一条水道。
104 tinted tinted     
adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • a pair of glasses with tinted lenses 一副有色镜片眼镜
  • a rose-tinted vision of the world 对世界的理想化看法
105 cascade Erazm     
n.小瀑布,喷流;层叠;vi.成瀑布落下
参考例句:
  • She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
  • Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。
106 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
107 corpse JYiz4     
n.尸体,死尸
参考例句:
  • What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
  • The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。
108 lewd c9wzS     
adj.淫荡的
参考例句:
  • Drew spends all day eyeing up the women and making lewd comments.德鲁整天就盯着女人看,说些下流话。
  • I'm not that mean,despicable,cowardly,lewd creature that horrible little man sees. 我可不是那个令人恶心的小人所见到的下流、可耻、懦弱、淫秽的家伙。
109 guts Yraziv     
v.狼吞虎咽,贪婪地吃,飞碟游戏(比赛双方每组5人,相距15码,互相掷接飞碟);毁坏(建筑物等)的内部( gut的第三人称单数 );取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 );内脏;消化道的下段;肠
参考例句:
  • I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净,我只需烧一下即可。
  • Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》
110 skull CETyO     
n.头骨;颅骨
参考例句:
  • The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
  • He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去,跌裂了颅骨。
111 conceal DpYzt     
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽
参考例句:
  • He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方,他只好隐瞒身份。
  • He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。
112 bleak gtWz5     
adj.(天气)阴冷的;凄凉的;暗淡的
参考例句:
  • They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
  • The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。
113 suede 6sXw7     
n.表面粗糙的软皮革
参考例句:
  • I'm looking for a suede jacket.我想买一件皮制茄克。
  • Her newly bought suede shoes look very fashionable.她新买的翻毛皮鞋看上去非常时尚。
114 sheathed 9b718500db40d86c7b56e582edfeeda3     
adj.雕塑像下半身包在鞘中的;覆盖的;铠装的;装鞘了的v.将(刀、剑等)插入鞘( sheathe的过去式和过去分词 );包,覆盖
参考例句:
  • Bulletproof cars sheathed in armour. 防弹车护有装甲。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The effect of his mediation was so great that both parties sheathed the sword at once. 他的调停非常有效,双方立刻停战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
115 touching sg6zQ9     
adj.动人的,使人感伤的
参考例句:
  • It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
  • His letter was touching.他的信很感人。
116 shuffled cee46c30b0d1f2d0c136c830230fe75a     
v.洗(纸牌)( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 );拖着脚步走;粗心地做;摆脱尘世的烦恼
参考例句:
  • He shuffled across the room to the window. 他拖着脚走到房间那头的窗户跟前。
  • Simon shuffled awkwardly towards them. 西蒙笨拙地拖着脚朝他们走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
117 shear BzhwZ     
n.修剪,剪下的东西,羊的一岁;vt.剪掉,割,剥夺;vi.修剪,切割,剥夺,穿越
参考例句:
  • Every spring they shear off the sheep's wool and sell it.每年春天他们都要剪下羊毛去卖。
  • In the Hebrides they shear their sheep later than anywhere else.在赫伯里兹,剪羊毛的时间比其他任何地方都要晚。
118 fatigue PhVzV     
n.疲劳,劳累
参考例句:
  • The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
  • I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。
119 gangsters ba17561e907047df78d78510bfbc2b09     
匪徒,歹徒( gangster的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The gangsters offered him a sum equivalent to a whole year's earnings. 歹徒提出要给他一笔相当于他一年收入的钱。
  • One of the gangsters was caught by the police. 歹徒之一被警察逮捕。
120 attentive pOKyB     
adj.注意的,专心的;关心(别人)的,殷勤的
参考例句:
  • She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
  • The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。
121 bowling cxjzeN     
n.保龄球运动
参考例句:
  • Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
  • Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动,高尔夫还是保龄球?
122 fiddling XtWzRz     
微小的
参考例句:
  • He was fiddling with his keys while he talked to me. 和我谈话时他不停地摆弄钥匙。
  • All you're going to see is a lot of fiddling around. 你今天要看到的只是大量的胡摆乱弄。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦
123 alley Cx2zK     
n.小巷,胡同;小径,小路
参考例句:
  • We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
  • The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。
124 chaos 7bZyz     
n.混乱,无秩序
参考例句:
  • After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后,城市一片混乱。
  • The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。
125 prostrate 7iSyH     
v.拜倒,平卧,衰竭;adj.拜倒的,平卧的,衰竭的
参考例句:
  • She was prostrate on the floor.她俯卧在地板上。
  • The Yankees had the South prostrate and they intended to keep It'so.北方佬已经使南方屈服了,他们还打算继续下去。
126 converge 6oozx     
vi.会合;聚集,集中;(思想、观点等)趋近
参考例句:
  • The results converge towards this truth.其结果趋近于这个真理。
  • Parallel lines converge at infinity.平行线永不相交。
127 disarray 1ufx1     
n.混乱,紊乱,凌乱
参考例句:
  • His personal life fell into disarray when his wife left him.妻子离去后,他的个人生活一片混乱。
  • Our plans were thrown into disarray by the rail strike.铁路罢工打乱了我们的计划。
128 crescendo 1o8zM     
n.(音乐)渐强,高潮
参考例句:
  • The gale reached its crescendo in the evening.狂风在晚上达到高潮。
  • There was a crescendo of parliamentary and press criticism.来自议会和新闻界的批评越来越多。


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