Epilogue

1919

 I

 Winter. The green xebec whose figurehead was Astarte, goddess of sexual  love, tacked¹ slowly into the Grand Harbour. Yellow bastions, Moorish-looking  city, rainy sky. What more on first glance? In his youth no one of those  score or so other cities had ever shown old Stencil³ much in the way of  Romance. But now as if making up for lost time his mind seemed to've gone  rainy as the sky.

He kept near the stern, rained on, bird-frame wrapped in oilskin, sheltering  his pipe's match from the wind. Overhead for a while hung Fort St. Angelo,  dirty yellow and wrapped in a quiet not of this earth. Abeam⁴ gradually came  H.M.S. Egmont, a few seamen⁵ on her decks like blue-and-white dolls shivering  for the Harbour wind, holy stoning to work off this morning's chill. His  cheeks hollowed and flattened⁶ as the xebec seemed to describe a complete  circle and Grandmaster La Vallette's dream whirled away for Fort St. Elmo  and the Mediterranean⁷, which in their turn spun⁸ past into Ricasoli,  Vittoriosa, the Dockyard. Mehemet the master swore at his helmsman, Astarte  now leaned from the xebec's bowsprit toward the city as if it were male and  asleep and she, inanimate figurehead, a succubus preparing to ravish.  Mehemet approached him. "Mara lives in a strange house," said Stencil. Wind  flapped one whitening forelock, rooted halfway⁹ back on his scalp. He said it  for the city, not for Mehemet; but the master understood.

"Whenever we came to Malta," he said in some Levantine tongue, "I got the  feeling. As if a great hush¹⁰ were on this sea and the island its heart. As if  I'd come back to something my own heart needs as deeply as a heart can." He  lit a cigarette from Stencil's pipe. "But it is a deception¹¹. She's an  inconstant city. Be wary¹² of her."

One hulking boy stood on the quay¹³ to receive their lines. He and Mehemet  exchanged salaam¹⁴ aleikums. A pillar of cloud stood to the north behind  Marsamuscetto, looking solid and about to topple; to crush the city. Mehemet  wandered about kicking the crew. One by one they drifted below decks and  began hauling the cargo¹⁶ topside: a few live goats, some sacks of sugar,  dried tarragon from Sicily, salted pilchards in barrels, from Greece.

Stencil had his gear collected. The rain descended¹⁷ more quickly. He opened a  great umbrella and stood under it watching the Dockyard country. Well, what  am I waiting for, he wondered. The crew had retired¹⁸ below decks all sullen¹⁹.  Mehemet came squishing across the deck. "Fortune," he said.

"An inconstant goddess." The pier²¹ hand who'd taken their lines now sat on a  piling, facing the water, hunched²² up like a bedraggled sea bird. "Island of  sunshine?" Stencil laughed. His pipe was still lit. Among white fumes²⁴ then  he and Mehemet made farewell. He teetered across a single plank²⁵ to shore,  balancing a ditty bag on one shoulder, the umbrella looking like a  tightrope-walker's parasol. Indeed, he thought. What safety, after all, on  this shore. Ashore²⁶ anywhere?

From the window of a cab, proceeding²⁷ in the rain along Strada Reale, Stencil  could detect none of the holiday one saw in other capitals of Europe.  Perhaps it was only the rain. But welcome relief surely. Stencil was fed to  surfeit²⁸ on songs, bunting, parades, promiscuous²⁹ loves, uncouth³⁰ noisemakings;  all the normal responses of noncombatants-in-the-mass to Armistice³¹ or peace.  Even in the normally sober offices in Whitehall, it had been impossible.  Armistice, ha!

"I cannot understand your attitude," from Carruthers-Pillow, then Stencil's  superior. "Armistice, ha, indeed."

Stencil muttered something about things not being stabilized³². How could he  tell Carruthers-Pillow of all people, who felt in the presence of the most  inconsequential chit initialed by the Foreign Secretary much as Moses must  have toward the Decalogue God blasted out for him on stone. Wasn't the  Armistice signed by legally-constituted heads of government? How could there  not be peace? It would never be worth the trouble arguing. So they'd stood  that November morning, watching the lamplighter extinguish the lights in St.  James's Park, as if having long ago passed through some quicksilver surface  from when Viscount Grey had stood perhaps at the same window and made his  famous remark about the lamps going out all over Europe. Stencil of course  didn't see the difference between event and image, but saw no advantage in  disturbing his chief's euphoria. Let the poor innocent sleep. Stencil had  merely been dour³⁴, which in him passed for high celebration.

Lieutenant³⁵ Mungo Sheaves, aide to the Officer Administrating Government on  Malta, had set before Whitehall an architecture of discontent: among the  police force, the University students, the civil service, the Dockyard  workers. Behind it all lurked³⁶ "the Doctor"; organizer, civil engineer: E.  Mizzi. A bogeyman to Major General Hunter-Blair, the OAG, Stencil guessed;  but found it took him an effort to see Mizzi as anything but a busy  man-of-policy, agile³⁷, Machiavellian³⁸, a trifle old-fashioned, who'd managed  to last as far as 1919. For a survival like that Stencil could only feel a  wistful pride. His good friend Porpentine - twenty years ago in Egypt -  hadn't he been the same sort? Belonged to a time where which side a man was  on didn't matter: only the state of opposition³⁹ itself, the tests of virtue,  the cricket game? Stencil may have come in on the tail end.

 

It must be shock, fine: even Stencil could feel shock. Ten million dead and  twice that wounded if nothing else. "But we reach a point," he'd thought of  telling Carruthers-Pillow, "we old campaigners, when the habits of the past  become too strong. Where we can say, and believe, that this abattoir⁴⁰, but  lately bankrupt, was fundamentally no different from the Franco-Prussian  conflict, the Sudanese wars, even the Crimea. It is perhaps a delusion⁴³ - say  a convenience - necessary to our line of work. But more honorable surely  than this loathsome⁴⁴ weakness of retreat into dreams: pastel visions of  disarmament, a League, a universal law. Ten million dead. Gas.  Passchendaele. Let that be now a large figure, now a chemical formula, now  an historical account. But dear lord, not the Nameless Horror, the sudden  prodigy⁴⁵ sprung on a world unaware⁴⁶. We all saw it. There was no innovation,  no special breach⁴⁷ of nature, or suspension of familiar principles. If it  came as any surprise to the public then their own blindness is the Great  Tragedy, hardly the war itself."

On route to Valletta - the steamer to Syracuse, the week of lying doggo in a  waterfront tavern⁴⁸ till Mehemet's xebec arrived; all the way across a  Mediterranean whose teeming⁴⁹ history and full depth he could not feel, nor  try, nor afford to try to feel, old Stencil had had it out with himself.  Mehemet had helped.

"You're old," the skipper mused⁵⁰ over his nightly hashish. "I am old, the  world is old; but the world changes always; we, only so far. It's no secret,  what sort of change this is. Both the world and we, M. Stencil, began to die  from the moment of birth. Your game is politics which I don't pretend to  understand. But it seems that these -" he shrugged⁵¹ - "noisy attempts to  devise political happiness: new forms of government, new ways to arrange the  fields and workshops; aren't they like the sailor I saw off Bizerte in  1324." Stencil chuckled⁵². Mehemet's recurring⁵³ lament⁵⁴ was for a world taken  from him. He belonged to the trade routes of the Middle, Ages. According to  the yarn⁵⁵ he had in fact sailed the xebec through a rift¹⁵ in time's fabric,  pursued then among the Aegean Islands by a Tuscan corsair which mysteriously  dropped from sight. But it was the same sea and not until docking at Rhodes  did Mehemet learn of his displacement⁵⁶. And since had forsaken⁵⁷ land for a  Mediterranean which thank Allah would never change. Whatever his true  nostalgia⁵⁸ he reckoned by the Moslem⁵⁹ calendar not only in conversation but  also in logs and account books; though the religion and perhaps the  birthright he'd let pass years ago.

"Slung⁶⁰ on a stage over the gunwale of an old felucca, the Peri. A storm had  just passed, rushing away toward the land in a great slope of clouds;  already turning yellowish from the desert. The sea there is the color of  Damascus plums; and how quiet. Sun was going down; not a beautiful sunset,  more a gradual darkening of the air and that storm's mountainside. The Peri  had been damaged, we hove to alongside and hailed her master. No reply. Only  the sailor - I never saw his face - one of your fellahin who abandon the  land like a restless husband and then grumble⁶¹ for the rest of their term  afloat. It's the strongest marriage in the world. This one wore a kind of  loincloth and a rag round his head for the sun which was almost gone. After  we'd shouted in every dialect we had among us, he replied in Tuareg: 'The  master is gone, the crew is gone, I am here and I am painting the ship.' It  was true: he was painting the ship. She'd been damaged, not a load line in  sight, and a bad list. 'Come aboard,' we told him, 'night is nearly on us  and you cannot swim to land.' He never answered, merely continued dipping  the brush in his earthen jar and slapping it smoothly⁶² on the Peri's creaking  sides. What color? It looked gray but the air was dark. This felucca would  never again see the sun. Finally I told the helmsman to swing our ship round  and continue on course. I watched the fellah until it was too dark: becoming  smaller, inching closer to the sea with every swell⁶³ but never slackening his  pace. A peasant with all his uptorn roots showing, alone on the sea at  nightfall, painting the side of a sinking ship."

"Am I only getting old?" Stencil wondered. "Perhaps past the time I can  change with the world."

"The only change is toward death," repeated Mehemet cheerfully. "Early and  late we are in decay." The helmsman began to sing a monotonous⁶⁴, Levantine  lanterloo. There were no stars and the sea was hushed. Stencil refused  hashish and filled his pipe with a respectable English blend; lit up,  puffed⁶⁵, began:

"Which way does it go? As a youth I believed in social progress because I  saw chances for personal progress of my own. Today, at age sixty, having  gone as far as I'm about to go, I see nothing but a dead end for myself, and  if you're right, for my society as well. But then: suppose Sidney Stencil  has remained constant after all - suppose instead sometime between 1859 and  1919, the world contracted a disease which no one ever took the trouble to  diagnose because the symptoms were too subtle - blending in with the events  of history, no different one by one but altogether fatal. This is how the  public, you know, see the late war. As a new and rare disease which has now  been cured and conquered for ever."

"Is old age a disease?" Mehemet asked. "The body slows down, machines wear  out, planets falter⁶⁶ and loop, sun and stars gutter⁶⁷ and smoke. Why say a  disease? Only to bring it down to a size you can look at and feel  comfortable?"

"Because we do paint the side of some Peri or other, don't we. We call it  society. A new coat of paint; don't you see? She can't change her own  color."

"No more than the pustules of smallpox⁶⁸ have anything to do with death. A new  complexion⁶⁹, a new coat of paint."

"Of course," said Stencil, thinking of something else, "of course we would  all prefer to die of old age . . ."

The Armageddon had swept past, the professionals who'd survived had received  no blessing⁷⁰, no gift of tongues. Despite all attempts to cut its career  short the tough old earth would take its own time in dying and would die of  old age.

Then Mehemet told him of Mara.

"Another of your women."

"Ha, ha. Indeed. Maltese for woman."

"Of course."

"She is - if you care for the word - a spirit, constrained⁷¹ to live in  Xaghriet Mewwija. The inhabited plain; the peninsula whose tip is Valletta  her domain⁷². She nursed the shipwrecked St. Paul - as Nausicaa and  Odysseus - taught love to every invader⁷³ from Phoenician to French. Perhaps  even to the English, though the legend loses respectability after Napoleon.  She was from all evidence a perfectly⁷⁴ historical personage, like St. Agatha,  another of the island's minor⁷⁵ saints.

"Now the Great Siege was after my time, but legend - one of them - says that  she once had access to the entire island and the waters as far as the  fishing banks off Lampedusa. The fishing fleets would always lie to there in  the shape of a carob pod, her proper symbol. Early in your 1585, at any  rate, two privateers, Giou and Romegas, captured a Turkish galleon⁷⁶ belonging  to the chief eunuch of the Imperial Seraglio. In retaliation⁷⁷ Mara was taken  prisoner on one of her jaunts⁷⁸ to Lampedusa by the corsair Dragut, and  brought back to Constantinople. Soon as the ship had passed the invisible  circle centered at Xaghriet Mewwija with Lampedusa on the rim⁴², she fell into  a strange trance, from which neither caresses⁷⁹ nor tortures could rouse her.  At length, having lost their own figurehead in a collision with a Sicilian  ragusy the week before, the Turks lashed⁸⁰ Mara to the bowsprit and that was  how she entered Constantinople: a living figurehead. On drawing near to that  city, blinding yellow and dun under a clear sky, she was heard to awake and  cry: "Lejl, hekk ikun." Night, so be it. The Turks thought she was raving⁸².  Or blind.

"They brought her to the serail into the presence of the Sultan. Now she  never was pictured as a raving beauty. She shows up as a number of  goddesses, minor deities⁸⁴. Disguise is one of her attributes. But one curious  thing about those images: jar ornaments⁸⁵, friezes⁸⁶, sculptures, no matter:  she's always tall, slim, small-breasted and bellied⁸⁷. No matter what the  prevalent fashion in females, she remains⁸⁸ constant. In her face is always a  slight bow to the nose, a wide spacing of the eyes, which are small. No one  you'd turn to watch on the street. But she was a teacher of love after all.  Only pupils of love need be beautiful.

"She pleased the Sultan. Perhaps she made the effort. But was installed  somehow as a concubine about the time La Vallette back on her island was  blocking the creek⁸⁹ between Senglea and St. Angelo with an iron chain and  poisoning the springs in the Marsa plain with hemp⁹⁰ and arsenic⁹¹. Once in the  seraglio she proceeded to raise hell. She'd always been attributed magical  talents. Perhaps the carob pod - she's often depicted⁹² holding one - had  something to do with it. Wand, scepter. Perhaps too, some kind of fertility  goddess - do I embarrass your Anglo-Saxon nerves? - though it is a quaint,  hermaphrodite sort of deity⁹³.

"Soon - a matter of weeks - the Sultan noticed a certain coldness infecting  each of his nightly companions; a reluctance⁹⁴, a lack of talent. Also a  change in attitude among the eunuchs. Almost - how to say it - smug and  keeping a bad secret of it. Nothing he could establish definitely; and so  like most unreasonable⁹⁵ men with suspicions he had certain girls and eunuchs  tortured horribly. All protested innocence⁹⁶, showed honest fear to the last  twist of the neck, the last upward thrust of the iron spike⁹⁷. And yet it  progressed. Spies reported that shy concubines who had once paced with  ladylike steps - limited by a slim chain between the ankles - and downcast  eyes now smiled and flirted⁹⁸ promiscuously⁹⁹ with the eunuchs, and the eunuchs  - horror! - flirted back. Girls left to themselves would suddenly leap on  one another with fierce caresses; on occasion make loud abandoned love  before the scandalized eyes of the Sultan's agents.

"At length it occurred to His Ghostly Magnificence, nearly out of his mind  with jealousy¹⁰⁰, to call in the sorceress Mara. Standing¹⁰¹ before him in a shift  fashioned of tigermoth wings she faced the Imperial dais with a wicked  smile. The Imperial retainers were charmed.

"'Woman,' began the Sultan.

"She raised a hand, 'I have done it all,' she recited sweetly: 'taught your  wives to love their own bodies, showed them the luxury of a woman's love;  restored potency¹⁰² to your eunuchs so that they may enjoy one another as well  as the three hundred perfumed, female beasts of your harem.'

"Bewildered at such ready confession¹⁰³, his tender Moslem sensibilities  outraged¹⁰⁴ by the epidemic¹⁰⁵ of perversion¹⁰⁶ she'd unleashed¹⁰⁷ upon his domestic  repose¹⁰⁸, the Sultan made what is a fatal mistake with any woman: he decided  to argue. Jolted¹⁰⁹ into a rare sarcasm¹¹⁰ he explained to her, as to an idiot,  why eunuchs cannot have sexual intercourse¹¹¹.

"Her smile never fading, her voice placid¹¹³ as before, Mara replied: 'I have  provided them with the means."

"So confidently did she speak that the Sultan began to feel the first  groundswell of an atavistic terror. Oh, at last he knew: he was in the  presence of a witch.

"Back home the Turks, led by Dragut and the pashas Piali and Mustafa, had  laid siege to Malta. You know generally how it went. They occupied Xaghriet  Mewwija, took Fort St. Elmo, and began their assault on Notabile, Borgo -  today that's Vittoriosa - and Senglea, where La Vallette and the Knights¹¹⁴  were making their final stand.

"Now after St. Elmo had fallen, Mustafa (possibly in sorrow for Dragut,  killed in that encounter by a stone cannonball) had also launched a grisly  offensive on the morale¹¹⁶ of the Knights. He beheaded their slaughtered  brethren, tied the corpses¹¹⁷ to planks¹¹⁸ and floated them into the Grand  Harbour. Imagine being on sunrise watch and seeing the dawn touch those  ex-comrades-in-arms, belly¹¹⁹ up and crowding the water: death's flotilla.

"One of the great mysteries about the Siege is why, when the Turks  outnumbered the invested Knights, when the days of the besieged¹²⁰ were  numbered on a single hand, when Borgo and thus Malta were almost in the same  hand - Mustafa's - why should they suddenly pull up and retreat, hoist  anchor and leave the island?

"History says because of a rumor¹²¹. Don Garcia de Toledo, viceroy of Sicily,  was on route with forty-eight galleys¹²². Pompeo Colonna and twelve hundred  men, sent by the Pope to relieve La Vallette, eventually reached Gozo. But  somehow the Turks got hold of intelligence that twenty thousand troops had  landed at Melleha Bay and were on route to Notabile. General retreat was  ordered; church bells all over Xaghriet Mewwija began to ring; the people  thronged¹²⁴ the streets, cheering. The Turks fled, embarked¹²⁵ and sailed away to  the southeast forever. History attributes it all to bad reconnaissance.

"But the truth is this: the words were spoken directly to Mustafa by the  head of the Sultan himself. The witch Mara had sent him into a kind of  mesmeric trance; detached his head and put it into the Dardanelles, where  some miraculous¹²⁷ set and drift - who knows all the currents, all the things  which happen in this sea? - sent it on a collision course with Malta. There  is a song written by a latter-day jongleur named Falconiere. No Renaissance  had ever touched him; he resided at the Auberge of Aragon, Catalonia and  Navarre at the time of the Siege. You know the sort of poet who can fall  into belief in any fashionable cult¹²⁸, current philosophy, new-found foreign  superstition¹²⁹. This one fell into belief and possibly love for Mara. Even  distinguished¹³⁰ himself on the ramparts of Borgo, braining four Janissaries  with his lute¹³¹ before someone handed him a sword. She was, you see, his  Lady."

Mehemet recited:

   Fleeing the mistral, fleeing the sun's hot lash⁸¹,

   Serene¹³² in scalloped waves, and sculptured sky

   The head feels no rain, fears no pitchy night,

   As o'er this ancient sea it races stars,

   Empty but for a dozen fatal words,

   Charmed by Mara, Mara my only love . . .

There follows an apostrophe to Mara."

Stencil nodded sagely¹³³, trying to fill in with Spanish cognates.

"Apparently," Mehemet concluded, "the head returned to Constantinople and  its owner, the sly Mara meanwhile having slipped aboard a friendly galiot,  disguised as a cabin boy. Back in Valletta at last she appeared in a vision  to La Vallette, greeting him with the words "Shalom aleikum."

The joke being that shalom is Hebrew for peace and also the root for the  Greek Salome, who beheaded St. John.

"Beware of Mara," the old sailor said then. "Guardian¹³⁵ spirit of Xaghriet  Mewwija. Whoever or whatever sees to such things condemned¹³⁶ her to haunt the  inhabited plain, as punishment for her show at Constantinople. About as  useful as clapping any faithless wife in a chastity belt.

"She's restless. She will find ways to reach out from Valletta, a city named  after a man, but of feminine gender¹³⁷, a peninsula shaped like the mons  Veneris - you see? It is a chastity belt. But there are more ways than one  to consummation, as she proved to the Sultan."

Now sprinting¹³⁸ from the taxi through the rain to his hotel, Stencil did  indeed feel a tug¹³⁹. Not so much at his loins - there had been company enough  in Syracuse to anaesthetize that for a while - as at the wizened¹⁴⁰ adolescent  he was always apt to turn into: A little later, scrunched¹⁴¹. up in an  undersize tub, Stencil sang. It was a tune²⁰, in fact, from his "music-hall"  days before the war, and primarily a way to relax:

   Every night to the Dog and Bell

   Young Stencil loved to go

   To dance on the tables and shout and sing

   And give 'is pals¹⁴² a show.

   His little wife would stay to home

   'Er 'eart all filled wiv pain

   But the next night sharp at a quarter to six

   'E'd be down to the pub again. Until

   That one fine evening in the monf of May

   He announced to all as came wivin 'is sight

   You must get along wivout me boys

   I'm through wiv rowdiness and noise.

   Cause Stencil's going 'ome tonight;

[In palmier days a chorus of junior F.O. operatives would enter here  singing]:

 'Ere, wot's this? Wot's the matter wiv Stencil?

   Wot's the reason for such a change of 'eart?

[To which Stencil would answer]:

   Gather round me closely lads

   And I the most forlorn of cads

   Will tell you all ere I depart:

[Refrain]

   I've just become the father to a bouncing baby boy

   And Herbert blithering Stencil is 'is name.

   'E's a card  And treats me wiv regard

   Though I 'awe¹⁴³ to change 'is nappies all the same.

   I don't know where we got the time to make 'im,

   Cause I've been coming 'ome drunk most every night,

   But 'e's cute and fat as a kidney pie

   And looks like 'is ma and that is why

   Stencil's going 'ome tonight

   (Just ask the milkman)

   Stencil's going 'ome tonight.

Out of the tub, dry, back in tweeds, Stencil stood at the window, looking  out idly at the night.

At length came a knock at the door. It would be Maijstral. A quick twitch¹⁴⁴ of  eyeballs about the room to check for loose papers, anything compromising.  Then to the door to admit the shipfitter who'd been described to him as  looking like a stunted¹⁴⁵ oak. Maijstral stood there neither aggressive nor  humble¹⁴⁶, merely existing: whitening hair, unkempt mustaches. A nervous tic in  the man's upper lip made the food particles trapped there vibrate  disturbingly.

"He comes of noble family," Mehemet had revealed sadly. Stencil fell into  the trap, asking which family. "Della Torre," Mehemet replied. Delatore,  informer.

"What of the Dockyard people," Stencil asked.

"They will attack the Chronicle." (A grievance¹⁴⁷ stemming from the strike of  1917; the newspaper had published a letter condemning¹⁴⁸ the strike, but had  given no equal time for a reply.) "There was a meeting a few minutes ago."  Maijstral gave him a brief digest. Stencil knew all the objections. Workers  from England got a colonial allowance: local yardbirds received only normal  wages. Most would like to emigrate, after hearing glowing reports from the  Maltese Labour Carps and other crews from abroad of higher pay outside  Malta. But the rumor had started, somehow, that the government was refusing  passports to keep workers on the island, against any future requirement.  "What else can they do but emigrate?" Maijstral digressed: "With the war the  number of Dockyard workers swelled¹⁵⁰ to three times what it was before. Now,  with Armistice, they're already laying off. There are only so many jobs here  outside the Dockyard. Not enough to keep everyone eating."

Stencil wanted to ask: if you sympathize, why inform? He had used informers  as a journeyman his tools and had never tried to understand their motives¹⁵¹.  Usually he supposed it was no more than a personal grudge¹⁵², a desire for  revenge. But he'd seen them before, torn: committed to some program or  other, and still helping¹⁵³ along its defeat. Would Maijstral be there in the  van of the mob storming the Daily Malta Chronicle? Stencil did want to ask  why, but could hardly. It being none of his affair.

Maijstral told him all he knew and left, expressionless as before. Stencil  lit a pipe, consulted a map of Valletta, and five minutes later was  strolling sprightly¹⁵⁴ down Strada Reale, trailing Maijstral.

This was normal precaution. Of course, a certain double standard was at  work; the feeling being "If he will inform for me he will also inform  against me."

Ahead Maijstral now turned left, away from the lights of the main  thoroughfare; down the hill toward Strada Stretta. Here were the borders of  this city's Disreputable Quarter; Stencil looked around without much  curiosity. It was all the same. What a warped¹⁵⁵ idea of cities one got in this  occupation! If no record of this century should survive except the personal  logs of F.O. operatives, the historians of the future must reconstruct a  curious landscape indeed.

Massive public buildings with characterless facades¹⁵⁶; networks of streets  from which the civilian¹⁵⁷ populace seems mysteriously absent. An aseptic  administrative¹⁵⁸ world, surrounded by an outlying vandal-country of twisting  lanes, houses of prostitution, taverns¹⁵⁹; ill-lit except for rendezvous¹⁶⁰  points, which stand out like sequins on an old and misused¹⁶¹ ball-gown.

"If there is any political moral to be found in this world," Stencil once  wrote in his journal, "it is that we carry on the business of this century  with an intolerable double vision. Right and Left; the hothouse and the  street. The Right can only live and work hermetically, in the hothouse of  the past, while outside the Left prosecute¹⁶² their affairs in the streets by  manipulated mob violence. And cannot live but in the dreamscape of the  future.

"What of the real present the men-of-no-politics, the once-respectable  Golden Mean? Obsolete¹⁶³; in any case, lost sight of. In a West of such  extremes we can expect, at the very least, a highly 'alienated¹⁶⁴' populace  within not many more years."

Strada Stretta; Strait Street. A passage meant, one felt, to be choked with  mobs. Such was nearly the case: early evening had brought to it sailors  ashore from H.M.S. Egmont and smaller men-o-war; seamen from Greek, Italian  and North African merchantmen; and a supporting cast of shoeshine boys,  pimps, hawkers of trinkets, confections, dirty pictures. Such were the  topological deformities of this street that one seemed to walk through a  succession of musichall stages, each demarcated by a curve or slope, each  with a different set and acting¹⁶⁶ company but all for the same low  entertainment. Stencil, old soft-shoe artist, felt quite at home.

But he increased his pace through the thickening crowds; noticing with some  anxiety that Maijstral had begun to disappear more and more frequently is  the surgings of white and blue ahead.

To his right he became aware of a persistent¹⁶⁷ image, flickering¹⁶⁸ in and out of  his field of vision. Tall, black, somehow conical. He risked a sidewise  glance. What seemed to be a Greek pope or parish priest had been keeping  abreast¹⁶⁹ of him for some time. What was a man of God doing in this territory?  Seeking perhaps to reclaim¹⁷⁰ souls; but their glances touched and Stencil saw  no merciful intention there.

"Chaire," muttered the priest.

"Chaire, Papa," said Stencil out of the side of his mouth, and tried to push  ahead. He was restrained by the pope's ringed hand.

"One moment, Sidney," said the voice. "Come over here, out of this mob."

That voice was damned familiar. "Maijstral is going to the John Bull," said  the pope. "We can catch up with him later." They proceeded down an alley¹²³ to  a small courtyard. In the center was a cistern¹⁷¹, its rim adorned¹⁷² with a dark  sunburst of sewage.

"Presto¹⁷³ change-ho," and off came the holy man's black beard and calotte.

"Demivolt, you've grown crude in your old age. What sort of low comedy is  this? What's the matter with Whitehall?"

"They're all right," sang Demivolt, hopping¹⁷⁴ clumsily about the courtyard.  "You're as much a surprise to me, you know."

"What about Moffit," Stencil said. "As long as they're staging a reunion of  the Florence crew."

"Moffit caught it in Belgrade. I thought you'd heard." Demivolt removed the  soutane and rolled his paraphernalia¹⁷⁵ in it. Underneath¹⁷⁶ he wore a suit of  English tweed. After quickly recombing his hair and twirling his mustache,  he looked no different from the Demivolt Stencil had last seen in '99.  Except for more gray in the hair, a few more lines in the face.

"God knows who all they've sent to Valletta," said Demivolt cheerfully, as  they returned to the street. "I suspect it's only another fad¹¹² - F.O. gets  these fits, you know. Like a spa or watering place. The Fashionable Place To  Go seems to be different every season."

"Don't look at me. I have only a hint what's up. The natives here are as we  say, restless. This chap Fairing - R.C. priest, Jesuit I suspect - thinks  there will be a blood bath before very long."

"Yes, I've seen Fairing. If his paycheck is coming out of the same pocket as  ours, he shows it not."

"Oh I doubt, I doubt," Stencil said vaguely¹⁷⁷, wanting to talk about old times.

"Maijstral always sits out in front; we'll go across the street." They took  seats at the Cafe Phoenicia, Stencil with his back to the street. Briefly,  over Barcelona beer each filled the other in on the two decades between the  Vheissu affair and here, voices monotone against the measured frenzy¹⁷⁸ of the  street.

"Odd how paths cross."

Stencil nodded.

"Are we meant to keep tabs on one another? Or were we meant to meet."

"Meant?" too quickly. "By Whitehall, of course."

"Of course."

As we get older we skew more toward the past. Stencil had thus become  partially¹⁷⁹ lost to the street and the yardbird across it. The ill-starred  year in Florence - Demivolt having popped up again - now came back to him,  each unpleasant detail quivering brightly in the dark room of his spy's  memory. He hoped devoutly¹⁸⁰ that Demivolt's appearance was merely chance; and  not a signal for the reactivation of the same chaotic¹⁸¹ and Situational forces  at work in Florence twenty years ago.

For Fairing's prediction of massacre¹⁸², and its attendant politics, had all  the earmarks of a Situation-in-the-process-of-becoming. He had changed none  of his ideas on The Situation. Had even written an article, pseudonymous,  and sent it to Punch: "The Situation as an N-Dimensional Mishmash." It was  rejected.

"Short of examining the entire history of each individual participating;"  Stencil wrote, "short of anatomizing each soul, what hope has anyone of  understanding a Situation? It may be that the civil servants of the future  will not be accredited¹⁸³ unless they first receive a degree in brain surgery."

He indeed was visited by dreams in which he had shrunk to submicroscopic  size and entered a brain, strolling in through some forehead's pore and into  the cul-de-sac of a sweat gland¹⁴⁹. Struggling out of a jungle of capillaries  there he would finally reach bone; down then through the skull¹⁸⁴, dura mater,  arachnoid, pia mater to the fissure-floored sea of cerebrospinal fluid. And  there he would float before final assault on the gray hemispheres: the soul.

Nodes of Ranvier, sheath of Schwann, vein¹⁸⁵ of Galen; tiny Stencil wandered  all night long among the silent, immense lightning bursts of nerve-impulses  crossing a synapse¹⁸⁷; the waving dendrites, the nerve-autobahns chaining away  to God knew where in receding¹⁸⁸ clusters of end-bulbs. A stranger in this  landscape, it never occurred to him to ask whose brain he was in. Perhaps  his own. They were fever dreams: the kind where one is given an impossibly  complex problem to solve, and keeps chasing dead ends, following random¹⁸⁹  promises, frustrated¹⁹⁰ at every turn, until the fever breaks.

Assume, then, a prospect¹⁹¹ of chaos¹⁹² in the streets, joined by every group on  the island with a grudge. This would include nearly everyone but the OAG and  his staff. Doubtless each would think only of his own immediate¹⁹³ desires. But  mob violence, like tourism, is a kind of communion. By its special magic a  large number of lonely souls, however heterogeneous¹⁹⁴, can share the common  property of opposition to what is. And like an epidemic or earthquake the  politics of the street can overtake even the most stable-appearing of  governments; like death it cuts through and gathers in all ranks of society.

-> The poor would seek revenge against the millers¹⁹⁵, who allegedly profiteered  in bread during the war.

-> The civil servants would be out looking for a fairer shake: advance  notice of open competition, higher salaries, no more racial discrimination.

-> The tradesmen would want repeal¹⁹⁶ of the Succession and Donation Duties  Ordinance¹⁹⁷. This tax was meant to bring in 5000 pounds yearly; but the actual  assessments¹⁹⁸ amounted to 30,000 pounds.

-> Bolshevists among the yardbirds could only be satisfied with the  abolition¹⁹⁹ of all private property, sacred or profane²⁰⁰.

-> The anti-colonial extremists would seek of course to sweep England from  the Palace forever. Damn the consequences. Though probably Italy would enter  on the next crest²⁰¹ and be even harder to dislodge. There would be blood ties,  then.

-> The Abstentionists wanted a new constitution.

-> The Mizzists - comprising three clubs: Giovine Malta, Dante Alighieri, Il  Comitato Patriottico - sought (a) Italian hegemony in Malta, (b)  aggrandizement²⁰² for the leader, Dr. Enrico Mizzi.

-> The Church - here perhaps Stencil's C. of E. stuffiness²⁰³ colored an  otherwise objective view - wanted only what the Church always desires during  times of political crisis. She awaited a Third Kingdom. Violent overthrow²⁰⁴ is  a Christian²⁰⁵ phenomenon.

The matter of a Paraclete's coming, the comforter, the dove; the tongues of  flame, the gift of tongues: Pentecost. Third Person of the Trinity. None of  it was implausible to Stencil. The Father had come and gone. In political  terms, the Father was the Prince; the single leader, the dynamic figure  whose virtu used to be a determinant of history. This had degenerated²⁰⁶ to the  Son, genius of the liberal love-feast which had produced 1848 and lately the  overthrow of the Czars. What next? What Apocalypse?

Especially on Malta, a matriarchal island. Would the Paraclete be also a  mother? Comforter, true. But what gift of communication could ever come from  a woman . . .

Enough, lad, he told himself. You're in dangerous waters. Come out, come  out.

"Don't turn around now," Demivolt broke in conversationally²⁰⁸, "but it's she.  At Maijstral's table."

When Stencil did turn around he saw only a vague figure in an evening cape,  her face shadowed by an elaborate, probably Parisian bonnet²⁰⁹.

"That is Veronica Manganese."

"Gustavus V is ruler of Sweden. You are brimful of intelligence, aren't you."

Demivolt gave Stencil a thumbnail dossier on Veronica Manganese. Origins  uncertain. She'd popped up in Malta at the beginning of the war, in the  company of one Sgherraccio, a Mizzist. She was now intimate with various  renegade Italians, among them D'Annunzio the poet-militant, and one  Mussolini, an active and troublesome anti-socialist. Her political  sympathies weren't known; whatever they might be, Whitehall was less than  amused. The woman was clearly a troublemaker²¹⁰. She was reputed to be wealthy;  lived alone in a villa²¹¹ long abandoned by the baronage of Sant' Ugo di  Tagliapiombo di Sammut, a nearly defunct²¹² branch of the Maltese nobility. The  source of her income was not apparent.

"He's a double agent, then."

"It would seem so."

"Why don't I go back to London. You seem to be doing quite well -"

"Negative, negative, Sidney. You do remember Florence."

A waiter materialized with more Barcelona beer. Stencil fumbled²¹³ for his  pipe. "This must be the worst brew¹³⁴ in the Mediterranean. You deserve  another, for that. Can't Vheissu ever be a dead file?"

"Call Vheissu a symptom. Symptoms like that are always alive, somewhere in  the world."

"Sweet Christ, we've only now concluded one. Are they quite ready, do you  think, to begin this foolishness again?"

"I don't think," Demivolt smiled grimly. "I try not to. Seriously, I believe  all elaborate games of this sort arise from someone in the Office - high up,  of course - getting a hunch²³. Saying to himself, 'Look here: something is  wrong, you know.' He's usually right. In Florence he was right, again only  as far as we're talking about symptoms and not about any acute case of  whatever the disease is.

"Now you and I are only private-soldiers. For myself, I wouldn't presume.  That manner of guesswork draws from a really first-rate intuitiveness. Oh we  have our own minor hunches²¹⁴, of course: your following Maijstral tonight. But  it's a matter of level. Level of pay-grade, level of elevation²¹⁵ above the  jumble²¹⁶, where one can see the long-term movements. We're in it, in the  thick, after all."

"And so they want us together," Stencil murmured.

"As of now. Who knows what they'll want tomorrow?"

"And I wonder who else is here."

"Look sharp. There they go." They let the two across the street move off  before they arose. "Like to see the island? They're probably on their way  out to the Villa. Not that the rendezvous is apt to prove very exciting."

So they made their way down Strada Streeta, Demivolt looking like a jaunty  anarchist²¹⁷ with the black bundle under one arm.

"The roads are terrible," Demivolt admitted, "but we have an automobile²¹⁸."

"I'm frightened to death of automobiles²¹⁹."

Indeed he was. On route to the villa Stencil clutched the Peugeot's seat,  refusing to look at anything but the floorboards. Autos, balloons,  aeroplanes; he'd have nothing to do with them.

"Isn't this rather crude," he gritted²²⁰, huddled²²¹ behind the windscreen as if  expecting it to vanish at any moment. "There's no one else on the road."

"At the speed she's going she'll lose us soon enough," Demivolt chirruped,  all breezy. "Relax, Sidney."

They moved southwest into Floriana. Ahead Veronica Manganese's Benz had  vanished in a gale¹⁸⁶ of cinders²²² and exhaust. "Ambush," Stencil suggested.

"They're not that sort." After awhile Demivolt turned right. They worked  their way thus round Marsamuscetto in near-darkness. Reeds whistled in the  fens¹¹⁵. Behind them the illuminated²²³ city seemed tilted²²⁴ toward them, like some  display case in a poor souvenir shop. And how quiet was Malta's night.  Approaching or leaving other capitals one always caught the sense of a great  pulse or plexus whose energy reached one by induction²²⁶; broadcasting its  presence over whatever arete or sea's curve might be hiding it. But Valletta  seemed serene in her own past, in the Mediterranean womb, in something so  insulating that Zeus himself might once have quarantined her and her island  for an old sin or an older pestilence²²⁷. So at peace was Valletta that with  the least distance she would deteriorate²²⁸ to' mere³³ spectacle. She ceased to  exist as anything quick or pulsed, and was assumed again into the textual  stillness of her own history.

The Villa di Sammut lay past Sliema near the sea, elevated on a small  prominence²²⁹, facing out toward an invisible Continent. What Stencil could see  of the building was conventional enough, as villas²³⁰ go: white walls,  balconies, few windows on the landward side, stone satyrs chasing stone  nymphs about dilapidated grounds; one great ceramic²³¹ dolphin vomiting²³² clear  water into a pool. But the low wall surrounding the place drew his  attention. Normally insensitive to the artistic²³³ or Baedeker aspect of any  city he visited, Stencil was now ready to succumb²³⁴ to the feathery tentacles  of a nostalgia which urged him gently back toward childhood; a childhood of  gingerbread witches, enchanted²³⁵ parks, fantasy country. It was a dream-wall,  swirling²³⁶ and curlicuing now in the light of a quarter moon, seeming no more  solid than the decorative²³⁷ voids - some almost like leaves or petals²³⁸, some  almost like bodily organs not quite human - which pierced its streaked²³⁹ and  cobbled substance.

"Where have we seen this before," he whispered.

One light in an upper story went out. "Come," said Demivolt. They vaulted  the wall and crept round the villa peering in windows, listening at doors.

"Are we looking for anything particular," Stencil asked.

A lantern came on behind them and a voice said, "Turn round slowly. Hands  away from your sides."

Stencil had a strong stomach and all the cynicism of a non-political career  and an approaching second childhood. But the face above the lantern did give  him a mild shock. It is too grotesque²⁴⁰, too deliberately²⁴¹, preciously Gothic  to be real, he protested to himself. The upper part of the nose seemed to  have slid down, giving an exaggerated saddle-and-hump; the chin cut off at  midpoint to slope concave back up the other side, pulling part of the lip up  in a scarred half-smile. Just under the eye socket²⁴² on the same side winked²⁴³ a  roughly circular expanse of silver. The shadows thrown by the lantern made  it worse. The other hand held a revolver.

"You are spies?" the voice inquired, an English voice twisted somehow by a  mouth cavity one could only infer. "Let me see your faces." He moved the  lantern closer and Stencil saw a change begin to grow in the eyes, all that  had been human in the face to begin with.

"Both of you," the mouth said. "Both of you then." And tears began to  squeeze from the eyes. "Then you know it is she, and why I am here." He  repocketed the revolver, turned, slumped²⁴⁴ off toward the villa. Stencil  started after him, but Demivolt put out an arm. At a door the man turned.  "Can't you let us alone? Let her make her own peace? Let me be a simple  caretaker? I want nothing more from England." The last words were spoken so  weakly the sea wind nearly carried them off. The lantern and its holder  vanished behind the door.

"Old running mate," Demivolt said, "there is a tremendous nostalgia about  this show. Do you feel it? The pain of a return home."

"Was that in Florence?"

"The rest of us were. Why not?"

"I don't like duplication of effort."

"This occupation sees nothing else." The tone was grim.

"Another one?"

"Oh hardly so soon. But give it twenty years."

Although Stencil had been face to face with her caretaker, this was the fast  meeting: he must have reckoned it even then as a "first meeting." Suspecting  anyway that Veronica Manganese and he had met before, why surely they would  meet again.

 

II

 But the second meeting had to wait on the coming of a kind of false spring,  where smells of the Harbour drifted to the highest reaches of Valletta and  flocks of sea birds consulted dispiritedly down in the Dockyard country,  aping the actions of their human co-tenants.

There had been no attack on the Chronicle. On 3 February political  censorship of the Maltese press was abolished. La Voce del Popolo, the  Mizzist paper, promptly²⁴⁵ began agitating²⁴⁶. Articles praising Italy and  attacking Britain; excerpts²⁴⁷ copied from the foreign press, comparing Malta  to certain Italian provinces under a tyrannical Austrian rule. The  vernacular²⁴⁸ press followed suit. None of it worried Stencil particularly.  When the freedom to criticize a government had been suspended four years by  the same government, a great deal of pent-up resentment²⁴⁹ would obviously be  released in a voluminous - though not necessarily effective - torrent²⁵⁰.

But three weeks later, a "National Assembly" met in Valletta to draft a  request for a liberal constitution. All shades of political  opinion - Abstentionists, Moderates, the Comitato Patriottico - were  represented. The gathering²⁵¹ met at the club Giovine Malta, which was  Mizzist-controlled.

"Trouble," Demivolt said darkly.

"Not necessarily." Though Stencil knew the difference between "political  gathering" and "mob" is fine indeed. Anything might touch it off.

The night before the meeting a play at the Manoel Theatre, dealing²⁵² with  Austrian oppression in Italy, worked the crowd into a gloriously foul²⁵³ humor.  The actors tossed in several topical ad libs which did little to improve the  general mood. Rollickers in the street sang La Bella Gigogin. Maijstral  reported that a few Mizzists and Bolshevists were doing their best to drum  up enthusiasm for a riot among the Dockyard workers. The extent of their  success was doubtful. Maijstral shrugged. It might only be the weather. An  unofficial notice had also gone out, advising merchants to close up their  establishments.

"Considerate of them," Demivolt remarked next day as they strolled down  Strada Reale. A few shops and cafes had been closed. A quick check revealed  that the owners had Mizzist sympathies.

As the day progressed small bands of agitators²⁵⁴, most of them with a holiday  air (as if rioting were a healthy avocation²⁵⁵ like handicrafts or outdoor  sports), roamed the streets, breaking windows, wrecking²⁵⁶ furniture, yelling  at the merchants still open to close up their shops. But for some reason a  spark was missing. Rain swept by in squalls at intervals²⁵⁷ throughout the day.

"Grasp this moment," Demivolt said, "hold it close, examine it, treasure it.  It is one of those rare occasions on which advance intelligence has proved  to be correct."

True: no one had been particularly excited. But Stencil wondered about that  missing catalyst²⁵⁸. Any minor accident: a break in the clouds, a catastrophic  shivering at the first tentative blow to a shop window, the topology of an  object of destruction (up a hill or down - it makes a difference) - anything  might swell a merely mischievous²⁵⁹ humor to suddenly apocalyptic²⁶⁰ rage.

But all that came from the meeting was adoption²⁶¹ of Mizzi's resolution  calling for complete independence from Great Britain. La Voce del Popolo  gibbered triumphantly²⁶². A new meeting of the Assembly was called for 7 June.

"Three and a half months," Stencil said. "It will be warmer then," Demivolt  shrugged. Whereas Mizzi, an Extremist, had been secretary of the February  meeting, one Dr. Mifsud, a Moderate, would be secretary next time. The  Moderates wanted to sit down and discuss the constitutional question with  Hunter-Blair and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, rather than make  any total break with England. And the Moderates, come June, would be in the  majority.

"It seems rather a good lookout," Demivolt protested. "If anything was going  to happen, it would have happened while Mizzi was ascendant."

"It rained," said Stencil. "It was cold."

La Voce del Popolo and the Maltese-language papers continued their attacks  on the government. Maijstral reported twice a week, giving a general picture  of deepening discontent among the yardbirds, but they were afflicted²⁶³ by a  soggy lethargy which must wait for the heat of summer to dry it, the spark  of a leader, a Mizzi or equivalent, to touch it into anything more  explosive. As the weeks passed Stencil came to know more about his double  agent. It came out that Maijstral lived near the Dockyard with his young  wife Carla. Carla was pregnant, the child was due in June.

"How does she feel," Stencil asked once with unaccustomed indiscretion,  "about your being in this occupation."

"She will be a mother soon," Maijstral answered, gloomy. "That's all she  thinks about or feels. You know what it is to be a mother on this island."

Stencil's boy-romanticism seized on this: perhaps there was more than a  professional element to the nighttime meetings out at the Sammut villa. He  was almost tempted²⁶⁴ to ask Maijstral to spy on Veronica Manganese; but  Demivolt, the voice of reason, was reluctant.

"Tip our hand that way. We have an ear already in the villa. Dupiro, the  ragman, who is quite genuinely in love with a kitchen maid there."

If the Dockyard were the only trouble spot to watch Stencil might have  fallen into the same torpor²⁶⁵ that afflicted the yardbirds. But his other  contact - Father Linus Fairing, S.J., the voice whose call for help had been  heard among the mass mirth of November and set a-clattering the emotional  and intuitive levers, pawls or ratchets to propel Stencil across a continent  and sea for solid reasons as yet unclear to him - this Jesuit saw and heard  (possibly did) enough to keep Stencil moderately hagridden.

"Being a Jesuit," said the priest, "of course there are certain attitudes .  . . we do not control the world in secret, Stencil. We have no spy net, no  political nerve-center at the Vatican." Oh, Stencil was unbiased enough.  Though with his upbringing he could hardly have sidestepped exposure to a  certain C. of E. leeriness toward the Society of Jesus. But he objected to  Fairing's digressions; the fog of political opinion that crept in to warp  what should have been cleareyed reporting. At their initial meeting -  shortly after the first trip out to Veronica Manganese's villa - Fairing had  made a poor first impression. He'd tried to be chummy, even - good God - to  talk shop. Stencil was reminded of certain otherwise competent Anglo-Indians  in the civil service. "We are discriminated²⁶⁶ against," seemed to be the  complaint: "we are despised by white and Asian alike. Very well, we shall  play to the hilt this false role popular prejudice believes us to play." How  many deliberate heightenings of dialect, breaches²⁶⁷ of conversational²⁰⁷ taste,  gaucheries at table had Stencil seen dedicated²⁶⁸ to that intention?

So with Fairing. "We are all spies in this together," that was the tack² he  took. Stencil had been interested only in information. He wasn't about to  let personality enter the Situation; this would be courting chaos. Fairing  realizing soon enough that Stencil was not, after all, a No Popery man, did  give up this arrogant²⁶⁹ form of honesty far more exasperating²⁷⁰ behavior. Here,  seemed to be his assumption, here is a spy who has risen above the political  turmoil²⁷¹ of his time. Here is Machiavelli on the rack, less concerned with  immediacy than idea. Accordingly the subjective²⁷² fog crept in to obscure his  weekly reports.

"Any tug in the direction of anarchy²⁷³ is anti-Christian," he protested once,  having sucked Stencil into confessing his theory of Paracletian politics.  "The Church has matured, after all. Like a young person she has passed from  promiscuity²⁷⁴ to authority. You are nearly two millennia²⁷⁵ out-of-date."

An old dame⁴¹ trying to cover up a flaming youth? Ha!

Actually Fairing, as a source, was ideal. Malta being, after all, a Roman  Catholic island, the Father was in a position to come by enough information  outside the confessional to clarify (at least) their picture of every  disaffected²⁷⁶ group on the island. Though Stencil was less than happy over the  quality of these reports, quantity was no problem. But what had provoked his  complaint to Mungo Sheaves in the first place? What was the man afraid of?

For it was not mere love of politicking²⁷⁸ and intrigue²⁷⁹. If he did believe in  the authority of the Church, of institutions, then perhaps four years of  sitting sequestered²⁸⁰, outside the suspension of peace, which had lately  convulsed the rest of the Old World, this quarantine might have brought him  to some belief in Malta as a charmed circle, some stable domain of peace.

And then with Armistice to be exposed abruptly²⁸¹ at every level to a daftness  for overthrow among his parishioners . . . of course.

It was the Paraclete he feared. He was quite content with a Son grown to  manhood.

Fairing, Maijstral, puzzlement over the identity of the hideous²⁸² face above  the lantern; these occupied Stencil well into March. Until one afternoon,  arriving at the church early for a meeting, he saw Veronica Manganese emerge  from the confessional, head bowed, face shadowed as he had seen her in  Strada Stretta. She knelt at the altar rail and began to pray penance²⁸³.  Stencil half-knelt in the rear of the church, elbows hung over the back of  the pew in front of him. Appearing to be a good Catholic, appearing to be  carrying on an affair with Maijstral; nothing suspicious in either. But both  at once and with (he imagined) scores of father-confessors in Valletta alone  for her to choose from; it was as close to superstition as Stencil ever got.  Now and again events would fall into ominous²⁸⁴ patterns.

Was Fairing too a double agent? If so then it was actually the woman who'd  brought F.O. into this. What twisted Italian casuistry advised revealing any  plot-in-mounting to one's enemies?

She arose and left the church, passing Stencil on route. Their eyes met.  Demivolt's remark came back to him: "A tremendous nostalgia about this show."

Nostalgia and melancholy²⁸⁵ . . . Hadn't he bridged two worlds? The changes  couldn't have been all in him. It must be an alien passion in Malta where  all history seemed simultaneously²⁸⁶ present, where all streets were strait  with ghosts, where in a sea whose uneasy floor made and unmade islands every  year this stone fish and Ghaudex and the rocks called Cumin-seed and  Peppercorn had remained fixed²⁸⁷ realities since time out of mind. In London  were too many distractions²⁸⁸. History there was the record of an evolution.  One-way and ongoing²⁸⁹. Monuments, buildings, plaques²⁹⁰ were remembrances only;  but in Valletta remembrances seemed almost to live.

Stencil, at home everywhere in Europe, had thus come out of his element.  Recognizing it was his first step down. A spy has no element to be out of,  and not feeling "at home" is a sign of weakness.

F.O. continued to be uncommunicative and unhelpful. Stencil raised the  question to Demivolt: had they been turned out to pasture here?

"I've been afraid of that. We are old."

"It was different once," Stencil asked, "wasn't it?"

They went out that night and got maudlin-drunk. But nostalgic melancholy is  a fine emotion, becoming blunted on alcohol. Stencil regretted the binge. He  remembered rollicking down the hill to Strait Street, well past midnight,  singing old vaudeville²⁹¹ songs. What was happening?

There came, in time's fullness, One of Those Days. After a spring morning  made horrible by another night of heavy drinking Stencil arrived at  Fairing's church to learn the priest was being transferred.

"To America. There is nothing I can do." Again the old. fellow-professional  smile.

Could Stencil have sneered²⁹² "God's will"; not likely. His case wasn't yet  that far advanced. The Church's will, certainly, and Fairing was the type to  bow to Authority. Here was after all another Englishman. So they were, in a  sense, brothers in exile.

"Hardly," the priest smiled. "In the matter of Caesar and God, a Jesuit need  not be as flexible as you might think. There's no conflict of interests."

"As there is between Caesar and Fairing? Or Caesar and Stencil?"

"Something like that."

"Sahha, then. I suppose your relief . . ."

"Father Avalanche²⁹³ is younger. Don't lead him into bad habits."

"I see."

Demivolt was out at Hamrun, conferring with agents among the millers. They  were frightened. Had Fairing been too frightened to stay? Stencil had supper  in his room. He'd drawn²⁹⁴ no more than a few times on his pipe when there was  a timid knock.

"Oh, come. Come."

A girl, obviously pregnant, who stood, only watching him.

"Do you speak English, then."

"I do. I am Carla Maijstral." She remained erect²⁹⁵, shoulderblades and  buttocks touching²⁹⁶ the door.

"He will be killed, or hurt," she said. "In wartime a woman must expect to  lose her husband. But now there is peace."

She wanted him sacked. Sack him? Why not. Double agents were dangerous. But  now, having lost the priest . . . She couldn't know about La Manganese.

"Could you help, signor. Speak to him."

"How did you know? He didn't tell you."

"The workers know there is a spy among them. It has become a favorite topic  among all the wives. Which one of us? Of course, it is one of the bachelors,  they say. A man with a wife, with children, could not take the chance." She  was dry-eyed, her voice was steady.

"For God's sake," Stencil said irritably²⁹⁷, "sit down."

Seated: "A wife knows things, especially one who will be a mother soon." She  paused to smile down at her belly, which upset Stencil. Dislike for her grew  as the moments passed. "I know only that something is wrong with Maijstral.  In England I have heard that ladies are 'confined' months before the child  is born. Here a woman works, and goes out in the street, as long as she can  move about."

"And you came out looking for me."

"The priest told me."

Fairing. Who was working for whom? Caesar wasn't getting a fair shake. He  tried sympathy. "Was it worrying you that much? That you had to bring it all  into the confessional?"

"He used to stay home at night. It will be our first child, and a first  child is the most important. It is his child, too. But we hardly speak any  more. He comes in late and I pretend to be asleep."

"But a child also must be fed, sheltered, protected more than a man or  woman. And this requires money."

She grew angry. "Maratt the welder²⁹⁸ has seven children. He earns less than  Fausto. None of them has ever gone without food, or clothing, or a home. We  do not need your money."

God, she could blow the works. Could he tell her that even if he sacked her  husband, there'd still be Veronica Manganese to keep him away nights? Only  one answer: talk to the priest. "I promise you," he said, "I will do all I  can. But the Situation is more complicated than you may realize."

"My father -" curious he'd not caught that flickering edge of hysteria in  her voice till now - "when I was only five also began to stay away from  home. I never found out why. But it killed my mother. I will not wait for it  to kill me."

Threatening suicide? "Have you talked to your husband at all?"

"It isn't a wife's place."

Smiling: "Only to talk to his employer. Very well, Signora, I shall try. But  I can guarantee nothing. My employer is England: the King." Which quieted  her.

When she left, he began a bitter dialogue with himself. What had happened to  diplomatic initiative? They - whoever "they" were - seemed to be calling the  tune.

The Situation is always bigger than you, Sidney. It has like God its own  logic¹⁶⁵ and its own justification²⁹⁹ for being, and the best you can do is cope.

I'm not a marriage counselor³⁰⁰, or a priest.

Don't act as if it were a conscious plot against you. Who knows how many  thousand accidents - a variation in the weather, the availability of a ship,  the failure of a crop - brought all these people, with their separate dreams  and worries, here to this island and arranged them into this alignment³⁰¹? Any  Situation takes shape from events much lower than the merely human.

Oh, of course: look at Florence. A random pattern of cold-air currents, some  shifting of the pack ice, the deaths of a few ponies³⁰², these helped produce  one Hugh Godolphin, as we saw him. Only by the merest happenstance did he  escape the private logic of that ice-world.

The inert³⁰³ universe may have a quality we can call logic. But logic is a  human attribute after all; so even at that it's a misnomer³⁰⁴. What are real  are the cross-purposes. We've dignified³⁰⁵ them with the words "profession" and  "occupation." There is a certain cold comfort in remembering that Manganese,  Mizzi, Maijstral, Dupiro the ragman, that blasted face who caught us at the  villa - also work at cross-purposes.

But what then does one do? Is there a way out?

There is always the way out that Carla Maijstral threatens to take.

His musings were interrupted by Demivolt, who came stumbling in the door.  "There's trouble."

"Oh indeed. That's unusual."

"Dupiro the ragman."

Good things come in threes. "How."

"Drowned, in Marsamuscetto. Washed ashore downhill from Manderaggio. He had  been mutilated." Stencil thought of the Great Siege and the Turkish  atrocities³⁰⁶: death's flotilla.

"It must have been I Banditti," Demivolt continued: "a gang of terrorists or  professional assassins. They vie with one another in finding new and  ingenious ways to murder. Poor Dupiro's genitals were found sewn in his  mouth. Silk suturing worthy³⁰⁷ of a fine surgeon."

Stencil felt ill.

"We think they are connected somehow with the fasci di combattimento who've  organized last month in Italy, around Milan. The Manganese has been in  intermittent³⁰⁸ contact with their leader Mussolini. "

"The tide could have carried him across."

 

"They wouldn't want it out to sea, you know. Craftsmanship³⁰⁹ of that order  must have an audience or it's worthless."

What's happened, he asked his other half. The Situation used to be a  civilized³¹⁰ affair.

No time in Valletta. No history, all history at once . . .

"Sit down, Sidney. Here." A glass of brandy, a few slaps to the face.

"All right, all right. Ease off. It's been the weather." Demivolt waggled  his eyebrows³¹¹ and retreated to the dead fireplace. "Now we have lost Fairing,  as you know, and we may lose Maijstral." He summarized Carla's visit.

"The priest."

"What I thought. But we've had an ear lopped off out at the villa."

"Short of starting an affair, one of us, with La Manganese, I can't see any  way to replace it."

"Perhaps she's not attracted to the mature sort."

"I didn't mean it seriously."

"She did give me a curious look. That day at the church."

"You old dog. You didn't say you'd been slipping out to secret trysts³¹² in a  church." Attempting the light touch. But failing.

"It has deteriorated³¹³ to the point where any move on our part would have to  be bold."

"Perhaps foolish. But confronting her directly . . . I'm an optimist³¹⁴, as you  know."

"I'm a pessimist³¹⁵. It keeps a certain balance. Perhaps I'm only tired. But I  do think it is that desperate. Employing I Banditti indicates a larger  move - by them - soon."

"Wait, in any event. Till we see what Fairing does."

Spring had descended with its own tongue of flame. Valletta seemed  soul-kissed into drowsy³¹⁶ complaisance³¹⁷ as Stencil mounted the hill southeast  of Strada Reale toward Fairing's church. The place was empty and its silence  broken only by snores from the confessional. Stencil slipped into the other  side on his knees and woke the priest rudely.

"She may violate the secrecy³¹⁸ of this little box," Fairing replied, "but I  cannot."

"You know what Maijstral is," Stencil said, angry, "and how many Caesars he  serves. Can't you calm her? Don't they teach mesmerism at the Jesuit  seminary?" He regretted the words immediately.

"Remember I am leaving," coldly: "speak to my successor, Father Avalanche.  Perhaps you can teach him to betray God and the Church and this flock.  You've failed with me. I must follow my conscience."

"What a damned enigma³¹⁹ you are," Stencil burst out. "Your conscience is made  of India rubber."

After a pause: "I can, of course, tell her that any drastic step she  takes - threatening the welfare of the child, perhaps - is a mortal sin."

Anger had drained away. Remembering his "damned": "Forgive me, Father."

The priest chuckled. "I can't. You're an Anglican."

The woman had approached so quietly that both Stencil and Fairing jumped  when she spoke¹²⁶.

"My opposite number."

The voice, the voice - of course he knew it. As the priest - flexible enough  to betray no surprise-performed introductions, Stencil watched her face  closely, as if waiting for it to reveal itself. But she wore an elaborate  hat and veil; and the face was as generalized as that of any graceful³²⁰ woman  seen in the street. One arm, sleeveless to the elbow, was gloved and nearly  solid with bracelets³²¹.

So she had come to them. Stencil had kept his promise to Demivolt - had  waited to see what Fairing would do.

"We have met, Signorina Manganese."

"In Florence," came the voice behind the veil. "Do you remember?" turning  her head. In the hair visible below the hat was a carved ivory comb, and  five crucified faces, long-suffering beneath their helmets.

"So."

"I wore the comb today. Knowing you would be here."

Whether or not he must now betray Demivolt, Stencil suspected he'd be little  use henceforth in either preventing or manipulating for Whitehall's  inscrutable purposes whatever would happen in June. What he had thought was  an end had proved to be only a twenty-year stay. No use, he realized, asking  if she'd followed him or if some third force had manipulated them toward  meeting.

Riding out to the villa in her Benz, he showed none of the usual  automobile-anxieties. What use? They'd come in, hadn't they, from their  thousand separate streets. To enter, hand in hand, the hothouse of a  Florentine spring once again; to be fayed and filleted hermetically into a  square (interior? exterior³²²?) where all art objects hover³²³ between inertia³²⁴ and  waking, all shadows lengthen³²⁵ imperceptibly though night never falls, a total  nostalgic hush rests on the heart's landscape. And all faces are blank  masks; and spring is any drawn-out sense of exhaustion³²⁶ or a summer which  like evening never comes.

"We are on the same side, aren't we." She smiled. They'd been sitting idly  in one darkened drawing room, watching nothing - night on the sea - from a  seaward window. "Our ends are the same: to keep Italy out of Malta. It is a  second front, which certain elements in Italy cannot afford to have opened,  now."

This woman caused Dupiro the ragman, her servant's love, to be murdered  terribly.

I am aware of that.

You are aware of nothing. Poor old man.

"But our means are different."

"Let the patient reach a crisis," she said: "push him through the fever. End  the malady³²⁷ as quickly as possible."

A hollow laugh: "One way or another."

"Your way would leave them strength to prolong it. My employers must move in  a straight line. No sidetrackings. Annexationists are a minority in Italy,  but bothersome."

"Absolute upheaval," a nostalgic smile: "that is your way, Victoria, of  course." For in Florence, during the bloody³²⁸ demonstration³²⁹ before the  Venezuelan Consulate³³⁰, he had dragged her away from an unarmed policeman,  whose face she was flaying³³¹ with pointed³³² fingernails. Hysterical³³³ girl,  tattered³³⁴ velvet³³⁵. Riot was her element, as surely as this dark room, almost  creeping with amassed³³⁶ objects. The street and the hothouse; in V. were  resolved, by some magic, the two extremes. She frightened him.

"Shall I tell you where I have been since our last closed room?"

"No. What need to tell me? No doubt I have passed and repassed you, or your  work, in every city Whitehall has called me to." He chuckled fondly.

"How pleasant to watch Nothing." Her face (so rarely had he seen it that  way!) was at peace, the live eye dead as the other, with the clock-iris.  He'd not been surprised at the eye; no more than at the star sapphire³³⁷ sewn  into her navel. There is surgery; and surgery. Even in Florence - the comb,  which she would never let him touch or remove - he had noted³³⁸ an obsession  with bodily incorporating little bits of inert matter.

"See my lovely shoes," as half an hour before he'd knelt to remove them. "I  would so like to have an entire foot that way, a foot of amber³³⁹ and gold,  with the veins³⁴⁰, perhaps, in intaglio³⁴¹ instead of bas-relief. How tiresome³⁴² to  have the same feet: one can only change one's shoes. But if a girl could  have, oh, a lovely rainbow or wardrobe of different-hued, different-sized  and -shaped feet . . ."

Girl? She was nearly forty. But then - aside from a body less alive, how  much in fact had she changed? Wasn't she the same balloon-girl who'd seduced  him on a leather couch in the Florence consulate twenty years ago?

"I must go," he told her.

"My caretaker will drive you back." As if conjured³⁴³, the mutilated face  appeared at the door. Whatever it felt at seeing them together didn't show  in any change of expression. Perhaps it was too painful to change  expression. The lantern that night had given an illusion of change: but  Stencil saw now the face was fixed as any death-mask.

In the automobile, racketing back toward Valletta, neither spoke till they'd  reached the city's verge³⁴⁴.

"You must not hurt her, you know."

Stencil turned, struck by a thought. "You are young Gadrulfi - Godolphin -  aren't you?"

"We both have an interest in her," Godolphin said. "I am her servant."

"I too, in a way. She will not be hurt. She cannot be."

 

III

 Events began to shape themselves for June and the coming Assembly. If  Demivolt detected any change in Stencil he gave no sign. Maijstral continued  to report, and his wife kept silent; the child presumably growing inside  her, also shaping itself for June.

Stencil and Veronica Manganese met often. It was hardly a matter of any  mysterious "control"; she held no unspeakable secrets over his balding head,  nor did she exert any particular sexual fascination³⁴⁵. It could only be age's  worst side-effect: nostalgia. A tilt²²⁵ toward the past so violent he found it  increasingly more difficult to live in the real present he believed to be so  politically crucial. The villa in Sliema became more and more a retreat into  late-afternoon melancholy. His yarning³⁴⁶ with Mehemet, his sentimental³⁴⁷ drunks  with Demivolt; these plus Fairing's protean³⁴⁸ finaglings and Carla Maijstral's  inference to a humanitarian³⁴⁹ instinct he'd abandoned before entering the  service, combined to undermine what virtu he'd brought through sixty years  on the go, making him really no further use in Malta. Treacherous³⁵⁰ pasture,  this island.

Veronica was kind. Her time with Stencil was entirely³⁵¹ for him. No  appointments, whispered conferences, hurried paper work: only resumption of  their hothouse-time - as if it were marked by any old and overprecious clock  which could be wound and set at will. For it came to that, finally: an  alienation³⁵² from time, much as Malta itself was alienated from any history in  which cause precedes effect.

Carla did come to him again with unfaked tears this time; and pleading, not  defiant³⁵³.

"The priest is gone," she wept. "Whom else do I have? My husband and I are  strangers. Is it another woman?"

He was tempted to tell her. But was restrained by the fine irony³⁵⁴. He found  himself hoping that there was indeed adultery between his old "love" and the  shipfitter; if only to complete a circle begun in England eighteen years  ago, a beginning kept forcibly from his thoughts for the same period of  time.

Herbert would be eighteen. And probably helling it all about the dear old  isles³⁵⁵. What would he think of his father . . .

His father, ha.

"Signora," hastily, "I have been selfish. Everything I can do. My promise."

"We - my child and I: why should we continue to live?"

Why should any of us. He would send her husband back. With or without him  the June Assembly would become what it would: blood bath or calm  negotiation³⁵⁶, who could tell or shape events that closely? There were no more  princes. Henceforth politics would become progressively more democratized,  more thrown into the hands of amateurs. The disease would progress. Stencil  was nearly past caring.

Demivolt and he had it out the next evening.

"You're not helping, you know. I can't keep this thing, off by myself."

"We've lost our contacts. We've lost more than that . . ."

"What the hell is wrong, Sidney."

"Health, I suppose," Stencil lied.

"O God."

"The students are upset, I've heard. Rumor that the University will be  abolished. Conferment of Degrees law, 1915 - so that the graduating class  this year is first to be affected²⁷⁷."

Demivolt took it as Stencil had hoped: a sick man's attempt to be helpful.  "Have a look into that," he muttered. They'd both known of the University  unrest.

On 4 June the acting Police Commissioner³⁵⁷ requested a 25-man detachment from  the Malta Composite Battalion³⁵⁸ to be quartered in the city. University  students went on strike the same day, parading Strada Reale, throwing eggs  at anti-Mizzists, breaking furniture, turning the street festive³⁵⁹ with a  progress of decorated automobiles.

"We are for it," Demivolt announced that evening. "I'm off for the Palace."  Soon after Godolphin called for Stencil in the Benz.

Out at the villa, the drawing room was lit with an unaccustomed brilliance,  though occupied only by two people. Her companion was Maijstral. Others had  obviously been there: cigarette stubs and teacups were scattered³⁶⁰ among the  statues and old furniture.

Stencil smiled at Maijstral's confusion. "We are old friends," he said  gently. From somewhere - bottom of the tank - came a last burst of duplicity  and virtu. He forced himself into the real present, perhaps aware it would  be his last time there. Placing a hand on the yardbird's shoulder: "Come. I  have private instructions." He winked at the woman. "We're still nominally  opponents, you see. There are the Rules."

Outside his smile faded. "Now quickly, Maijstral, don't interrupt. You are  released. We have no further use for you. Your wife's time is close: go back  to her."

"The signora -" jerking his head back toward the foyer - "still needs me. My  wife has her child."

"It is an order: from both of us. I can add this: if you do not return to  your wife she will destroy herself and the child."

"It is a sin."

"Which she will risk." But Maijstral still shuffled³⁶¹.

"Very well: if I see you again, here or in my woman's company -" that had  hit: a sly smile touched Maijstral's lips - "I turn your name over to your  fellow workers. Do you know what they'll do to you, Maijstral? Of course you  do. I can even call in the Banditti, if you prefer to die more picturesquely  . . ." Maijstral stood for a moment, eyes going numb⁸³. Stencil let the  magic spell "Banditti" work for an instant more, then flashed his best - and  last - diplomatic smile: "Go. You and your woman and the young Maijstral.  Stay out of the blood bath. Stay inside." Maijstral shrugged, turned and  left. He did not look back; his trundling step was less sure.

Stencil made a short prayer: let him be less and less sure as he gathers  years . . .

She smiled as he returned to the drawing room. "All done?"

He collapsed³⁶² into a Louis Quinze chair whose two seraphim³⁶³ keened above a  dark lawn of green velvet. "All done."

Tension grew through 6 June. Units of the civil police and military were  alerted. Another unofficial notice went out, advising merchants to close up  their shops.

At 3:30 P.M. on 7 June mobs began to collect in Strada Reale. For the next  day and a half they owned Valletta's exterior spaces. They attacked not only  the Chronicle (as promised) but also the union Club, the Lyceum, the Palace,  the houses of anti-Mizzist Members, the cafes and shops which had stayed  open. Landing parties from H.M.S. Egmont, and detachments of Army and police  joined the effort to keep order. Several times they formed ranks; once or  twice they fired. Three civilians³⁶⁴ were killed by gunfire; seven wounded.  Scores more were injured in the general rioting. Several buildings were set  on fire. Two RAF lorries with machine guns dispersed³⁶⁵ an attack on the  millers at Hamrun.

A minor eddy³⁶⁶ in the peaceful course of Maltese government, preserved today  only in one Board of Inquiry³⁶⁷ report. Suddenly as they had begun, the June  Disturbances³⁶⁸ (as they came to be called) ended. Nothing was settled. The  primary question, that of self-rule, was as of 1956 still unresolved. Malta  by then had only advanced as far as dyarchy, and if anything moved even  closer to England in February, when the electorate³⁶⁹ voted three to one to put  Maltese members in the British House of Commons.

 

Early on the morning of 10 June 1919, Mehemet's xebec set sail from Lascaris  Wharf³⁷⁰. Seated on its counter, like some obsolete nautical³⁷¹ fixture³⁷², was  Sidney Stencil. No one had come to see him off. Veronica Manganese had kept  him only as long as she had to. His eyes kept dead astern.

But as the xebec was passing Fort St. Elmo or thereabouts, a shining Benz  was observed to pull, up near the wharf and a black-liveried driver with a  mutilated face to come to the harbor's edge and gaze out at the ship. After  a moment he raised his hand; waved with a curiously³⁷³ sentimental, feminine  motion of the wrist. He called something in English, which none of the  observers understood. He was crying.

Draw a line from Malta to Lampedusa. Call it a radius³⁷⁴. Somewhere in that  circle, on the evening of the tenth, a waterspout appeared and lasted for  fifteen minutes. Long enough to lift the xebec fifty feet, whirling, and  creaking, Astarte's throat naked to the cloudless weather, and slam it down  again into a piece of the Mediterranean whose subsequent surface  phenomena³⁷⁵ - whitecaps, kelp islands, any of a million flatnesses which  should catch thereafter part of the brute³⁷⁶ sun's spectrum-showed nothing at all of what came to lie beneath, that quiet June day.

The End

1 tacked   

用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝

参考例句：

• He tacked the sheets of paper on as carefully as possible. 他尽量小心地把纸张钉上去。
• The seamstress tacked the two pieces of cloth. 女裁缝把那两块布粗缝了起来。

2 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

3 stencil   

v.用模版印刷；n.模版；复写纸，蜡纸

参考例句：

• He then stencilled the ceiling with a moon and stars motif.他随后用模版在天花板上印上了月亮和繁星图案。
• Serveral of commonly used methods are photoprinting,photoengraving,mechnical engraving,and stencil.通常所采用的几种储存方法是：影印法、照相蚀刻、机械雕刻和模板。

4 abeam   

adj.正横着(的)

参考例句：

• The ship yawed as the heavy wave struck abeam.当巨浪向船舷撞击时，船暂时地偏离了航道。
• The lighthouse was abeam of the ship.灯塔在船的正横方向。

5 seamen   

n.海员

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather. 有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• In the storm, many seamen wished they were on shore. 在暴风雨中，许多海员想，要是他们在陆地上就好了。

6 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

7 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

8 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

9 halfway   

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。

10 hush   

int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静

参考例句：

• A hush fell over the onlookers.旁观者们突然静了下来。
• Do hush up the scandal!不要把这丑事声张出去！

11 deception   

n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计

参考例句：

• He admitted conspiring to obtain property by deception.他承认曾与人合谋骗取财产。
• He was jailed for two years for fraud and deception.他因为诈骗和欺诈入狱服刑两年。

12 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

13 quay   

n.码头，靠岸处

参考例句：

• There are all kinds of ships in a quay.码头停泊各式各样的船。
• The side of the boat hit the quay with a grinding jar.船舷撞到码头发出刺耳的声音。

14 salaam   

n.额手之礼，问安，敬礼；v.行额手礼

参考例句：

• And the people were so very friendly:full of huge beaming smiles,calling out "hello" and "salaam".这里的人民都很友好，灿然微笑着和我打招呼，说“哈罗”和“萨拉姆”。
• Salaam is a Muslim form of salutation.额手礼是穆斯林的问候方式。

15 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

16 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

17 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

18 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

19 sullen   

adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的

参考例句：

• He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
• Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐，因为昨晚没睡好。

20 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

21 pier   

n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱

参考例句：

• The pier of the bridge has been so badly damaged that experts worry it is unable to bear weight.这座桥的桥桩破损厉害，专家担心它已不能负重。
• The ship was making towards the pier.船正驶向码头。

22 hunched   

（常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的

参考例句：

• He sat with his shoulders hunched up. 他耸起双肩坐着。
• Stephen hunched down to light a cigarette. 斯蒂芬弓着身子点燃一支烟。

23 hunch   

n.预感，直觉

参考例句：

• I have a hunch that he didn't really want to go.我有这么一种感觉，他并不真正想去。
• I had a hunch that Susan and I would work well together.我有预感和苏珊共事会很融洽。

24 fumes   

n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体

参考例句：

• The health of our children is being endangered by exhaust fumes. 我们孩子们的健康正受到排放出的废气的损害。
• Exhaust fumes are bad for your health. 废气对健康有害。

25 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

26 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

27 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

28 surfeit   

v.使饮食过度；n.(食物)过量，过度

参考例句：

• The voters are pretty sick of such a surfeit of primary sloganeering.选民们对于初选时没完没了地空喊口号的现象感到发腻了。
• A surfeit of food makes one sick.饮食过量使人生病。

29 promiscuous   

adj.杂乱的，随便的

参考例句：

• They were taking a promiscuous stroll when it began to rain.他们正在那漫无目的地散步，突然下起雨来。
• Alec know that she was promiscuous and superficial.亚历克知道她是乱七八糟和浅薄的。

30 uncouth   

adj.无教养的，粗鲁的

参考例句：

• She may embarrass you with her uncouth behavior.她的粗野行为可能会让你尴尬。
• His nephew is an uncouth young man.他的侄子是一个粗野的年轻人。

31 armistice   

n.休战，停战协定

参考例句：

• The two nations signed an armistice.两国签署了停火协议。
• The Italian armistice is nothing but a clumsy trap.意大利的停战不过是一个笨拙的陷阱。

32 stabilized   

v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The patient's condition stabilized. 患者的病情稳定下来。
• His blood pressure has stabilized. 他的血压已经稳定下来了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

33 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

34 dour   

adj.冷酷的，严厉的；（岩石）嶙峋的；顽强不屈

参考例句：

• They were exposed to dour resistance.他们遭受到顽强的抵抗。
• She always pretends to be dour,in fact,she's not.她总表现的不爱讲话，事实却相反。

35 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

36 lurked   

vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The murderers lurked behind the trees. 谋杀者埋伏在树后。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Treachery lurked behind his smooth manners. 他圆滑姿态的后面潜伏着奸计。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

37 agile   

adj.敏捷的，灵活的

参考例句：

• She is such an agile dancer!她跳起舞来是那么灵巧！
• An acrobat has to be agile.杂技演员必须身手敏捷。

38 machiavellian   

adj.权谋的，狡诈的

参考例句：

• A Machiavellian plot was suspected.人们怀疑背后有不可告人的阴谋。
• In this layer,Obama implied American policies that are cautious and Machiavellian.在这个层面，奥巴马含蓄地表达了美国的谨慎、权谋的（新）政策。

39 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

40 abattoir   

n.屠宰场，角斗场

参考例句：

• The sheep were driven to the local abattoir.羊被赶到当地的屠宰场。
• It was surreal meeting her at the abattoir.竟然会在屠宰场里遇见她，真离奇。

41 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

42 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

43 delusion   

n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑

参考例句：

• He is under the delusion that he is Napoleon.他患了妄想症，认为自己是拿破仑。
• I was under the delusion that he intended to marry me.我误认为他要娶我。

44 loathsome   

adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的

参考例句：

• The witch hid her loathsome face with her hands.巫婆用手掩住她那张令人恶心的脸。
• Some people think that snakes are loathsome creatures.有些人觉得蛇是令人憎恶的动物。

45 prodigy   

n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆

参考例句：

• She was a child prodigy on the violin.她是神童小提琴手。
• He was always a Negro prodigy who played barbarously and wonderfully.他始终是一个黑人的奇才，这种奇才弹奏起来粗野而惊人。

46 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

47 breach   

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。

48 tavern   

n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店

参考例句：

• There is a tavern at the corner of the street.街道的拐角处有一家酒馆。
• Philip always went to the tavern,with a sense of pleasure.菲利浦总是心情愉快地来到这家酒菜馆。

49 teeming   

adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注

参考例句：

• The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
• the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道

50 mused   

v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事）

参考例句：

• \"I wonder if I shall ever see them again, \"he mused. “我不知道是否还可以再见到他们，”他沉思自问。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"Where are we going from here?\" mused one of Rutherford's guests. 卢瑟福的一位客人忍不住说道：‘我们这是在干什么？” 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

51 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

52 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

53 recurring   

adj.往复的，再次发生的

参考例句：

• This kind of problem is recurring often. 这类问题经常发生。
• For our own country, it has been a time for recurring trial. 就我们国家而言，它经过了一个反复考验的时期。

54 lament   

n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹

参考例句：

• Her face showed lament.她的脸上露出悲伤的样子。
• We lament the dead.我们哀悼死者。

55 yarn   

n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事

参考例句：

• I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。
• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。

56 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

57 Forsaken   

adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词

参考例句：

• He was forsaken by his friends. 他被朋友们背弃了。
• He has forsaken his wife and children. 他遗弃了他的妻子和孩子。

58 nostalgia   

n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧

参考例句：

• He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
• I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌，心中充满了怀旧之情。

59 Moslem   

n.回教徒，穆罕默德信徒；adj.回教徒的，回教的

参考例句：

• Moslem women used to veil their faces before going into public.信回教的妇女出门之前往往用面纱把脸遮起来。
• If possible every Moslem must make the pilgrimage to Mecca once in his life.如有可能，每个回教徒一生中必须去麦加朝觐一次。

60 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。

61 grumble   

vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another grumble from you.我不愿再听到你的抱怨。
• He could do nothing but grumble over the situation.他除了埋怨局势之外别无他法。

62 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

63 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。

64 monotonous   

adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的

参考例句：

• She thought life in the small town was monotonous.她觉得小镇上的生活单调而乏味。
• His articles are fixed in form and monotonous in content.他的文章千篇一律，一个调调儿。

65 puffed   

adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• He lit a cigarette and puffed at it furiously. 他点燃了一支香烟，狂吸了几口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He felt grown-up, puffed up with self-importance. 他觉得长大了，便自以为了不起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

66 falter   

vi.(嗓音)颤抖，结巴地说；犹豫；蹒跚

参考例句：

• His voice began to falter.他的声音开始发颤。
• As he neared the house his steps faltered.当他走近房子时，脚步迟疑了起来。

67 gutter   

n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟

参考例句：

• There's a cigarette packet thrown into the gutter.阴沟里有个香烟盒。
• He picked her out of the gutter and made her a great lady.他使她脱离贫苦生活，并成为贵妇。

68 smallpox   

n.天花

参考例句：

• In 1742 he suffered a fatal attack of smallpox.1742年，他染上了致命的天花。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child?你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

69 complexion   

n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格

参考例句：

• Red does not suit with her complexion.红色与她的肤色不协调。
• Her resignation puts a different complexion on things.她一辞职局面就全变了。

70 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

71 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

72 domain   

n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围

参考例句：

• This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
• This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。

73 invader   

n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者

参考例句：

• They suffered a lot under the invader's heel.在侵略者的铁蹄下，他们受尽了奴役。
• A country must have the will to repel any invader.一个国家得有决心击退任何入侵者。

74 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

75 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

76 galleon   

n.大帆船

参考例句：

• The story of a galleon that sank at the start of her maiden voyage in 1628 must be one of the strangest tales of the sea.在1628年，有一艘大帆船在处女航开始时就沉没了，这个沉船故事一定是最神奇的海上轶事之一。
• In 1620 the English galleon Mayfolwer set out from the port of Southampton with 102 pilgrims on board.1620年，英国的“五月花”号西班牙式大帆船载着102名

77 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

78 jaunts   

n.游览( jaunt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• How carefree were those jaunts to the A＆ P.No worries. 去A＆P的路途是那样的轻松，无忧无虑。 来自互联网
• How carefree were those jaunts to A & P. No worries. 去a&p的路途是那样的轻松，无忧无虑。 来自互联网

79 caresses   

爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A breeze caresses the cheeks. 微风拂面。
• Hetty was not sufficiently familiar with caresses or outward demonstrations of fondness. 海蒂不习惯于拥抱之类过于外露地表现自己的感情。

80 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

81 lash   

v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛

参考例句：

• He received a lash of her hand on his cheek.他突然被她打了一记耳光。
• With a lash of its tail the tiger leaped at her.老虎把尾巴一甩朝她扑过来。

82 raving   

adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地

参考例句：

• The man's a raving lunatic. 那个男子是个语无伦次的疯子。
• When I told her I'd crashed her car, she went stark raving bonkers. 我告诉她我把她的车撞坏了时，她暴跳如雷。

83 numb   

adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木

参考例句：

• His fingers were numb with cold.他的手冻得发麻。
• Numb with cold,we urged the weary horses forward.我们冻得发僵，催着疲惫的马继续往前走。

84 deities   

n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明

参考例句：

• Zeus and Aphrodite were ancient Greek deities. 宙斯和阿佛洛狄是古希腊的神。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Taoist Wang hesitated occasionally about these transactions for fearof offending the deities. 道士也有过犹豫，怕这样会得罪了神。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文

85 ornaments   

n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》

86 friezes   

n.（柱顶过梁和挑檐间的）雕带，（墙顶的）饰带( frieze的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The friezes round the top of the wall are delicate. 墙顶的横条很精致。 来自互联网

87 bellied   

adj.有腹的，大肚子的

参考例句：

• That big-bellied fellow was very cruel and greedy. 那个大腹便便的家伙既贪婪又残恶。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The ship's sails bellied in the wind. 船帆在风中鼓得大大的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

88 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

89 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

90 hemp   

n.大麻；纤维

参考例句：

• The early Chinese built suspension bridges of hemp rope.古代的中国人建造过麻绳悬索桥。
• The blanket was woven from hemp and embroidered with wool.毯子是由亚麻编织，羊毛镶边的。

91 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。

92 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

93 deity   

n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物)

参考例句：

• Many animals were seen as the manifestation of a deity.许多动物被看作神的化身。
• The deity was hidden in the deepest recesses of the temple.神藏在庙宇壁龛的最深处。

94 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

95 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。

96 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

97 spike   

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。

98 flirted   

v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She flirted her fan. 她急速挥动着扇子。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• During his four months in Egypt he flirted with religious emotions. 在埃及逗留的这四个月期间，他又玩弄起宗教情绪来了。 来自辞典例句

99 promiscuously   

adv.杂乱地，混杂地

参考例句：

• It promiscuously plunders other languages and delights in neologisms. 它杂乱地掠夺其它语言，并以增加新词为乐。 来自互联网
• It's like biology: an ecosystem where microbes are promiscuously swapping genes and traits, evolution speeds up. 就像生物学：一个一群微生物混杂地交换基因和特性的生态系统，进化加速了。 来自互联网

100 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

101 standing   

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。

102 potency   

n. 效力，潜能

参考例句：

• Alcohol increases the drug's potency.酒精能增加这种毒品的效力。
• Sunscreen can lose its potency if left over winter in the bathroom cabinet.如果把防晒霜在盥洗室的壁橱里放一个冬天，就有可能失效。

103 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

104 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

105 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

106 perversion   

n.曲解；堕落；反常

参考例句：

• In its most general sense,corruption means the perversion or abandonment.就其最一般的意义上说，舞弊就是堕落，就是背离准则。
• Her account was a perversion of the truth.她所讲的歪曲了事实。

107 unleashed   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The government's proposals unleashed a storm of protest in the press. 政府的提案引发了新闻界的抗议浪潮。
• The full force of his rage was unleashed against me. 他把所有的怒气都发泄在我身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

108 repose   

v.(使)休息；n.安息

参考例句：

• Don't disturb her repose.不要打扰她休息。
• Her mouth seemed always to be smiling,even in repose.她的嘴角似乎总是挂着微笑，即使在睡眠时也是这样。

109 jolted   

（使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• She was jolted out of her reverie as the door opened. 门一开就把她从幻想中惊醒。

110 sarcasm   

n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic）

参考例句：

• His sarcasm hurt her feelings.他的讽刺伤害了她的感情。
• She was given to using bitter sarcasm.她惯于用尖酸刻薄语言挖苦人。

111 intercourse   

n.性交；交流，交往，交际

参考例句：

• The magazine becomes a cultural medium of intercourse between the two peoples.该杂志成为两民族间文化交流的媒介。
• There was close intercourse between them.他们过往很密。

112 fad   

n.时尚；一时流行的狂热；一时的爱好

参考例句：

• His interest in photography is only a passing fad.他对摄影的兴趣只是一时的爱好罢了。
• A hot business opportunity is based on a long-term trend not a short-lived fad.一个热门的商机指的是长期的趋势而非一时的流行。

113 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。

114 knights   

骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马

参考例句：

• stories of knights and fair maidens 关于骑士和美女的故事
• He wove a fascinating tale of knights in shining armour. 他编了一个穿着明亮盔甲的骑士的迷人故事。

115 fens   

n.（尤指英格兰东部的）沼泽地带( fen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Most of the landscape in the Fens is as flat as a pancake. 菲恩斯的大部分地形都是极平坦的。 来自互联网
• He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens. 它伏在莲叶之下，卧在芦苇隐密处和水洼子里。 来自互联网

116 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

117 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

118 planks   

（厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点

参考例句：

• The house was built solidly of rough wooden planks. 这房子是用粗木板牢固地建造的。
• We sawed the log into planks. 我们把木头锯成了木板。

119 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

120 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

121 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

122 galleys   

n.平底大船，战舰( galley的名词复数 )；（船上或航空器上的）厨房

参考例句：

• Other people had drowned at sea since galleys swarmed with painted sails. 自从布满彩帆的大船下海以来，别的人曾淹死在海里。 来自辞典例句
• He sighed for the galleys, with their infamous costume. 他羡慕那些穿着囚衣的苦工。 来自辞典例句

123 alley   

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 thronged   

v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mourners thronged to the funeral. 吊唁者蜂拥着前来参加葬礼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The department store was thronged with people. 百货商店挤满了人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

125 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

126 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

127 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

128 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

129 superstition   

n.迷信，迷信行为

参考例句：

• It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
• Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。

130 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

131 lute   

n.琵琶，鲁特琴

参考例句：

• He idly plucked the strings of the lute.他漫不经心地拨弄着鲁特琴的琴弦。
• He knows how to play the Chinese lute.他会弹琵琶。

132 serene   

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。

133 sagely   

adv. 贤能地，贤明地

参考例句：

• Even the ones who understand may nod sagely. 即使对方知道这一点，也会一本正经地点头同意。
• Well, that's about all of the sagely advice this old grey head can come up with. 好了，以上就是我这个满头银发的老头儿给你们的充满睿智的忠告。

134 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

135 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

136 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

137 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

138 sprinting   

v.短距离疾跑( sprint的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Stride length and frequency are the most important elements of sprinting. 步长和步频是短跑最重要的因素。 来自互联网
• Xiaoming won the gold medal for sprinting in the school sports meeting. 小明在学校运动会上夺得了短跑金牌。 来自互联网

139 tug   

v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船

参考例句：

• We need to tug the car round to the front.我们需要把那辆车拉到前面。
• The tug is towing three barges.那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。

140 wizened   

adj.凋谢的；枯槁的

参考例句：

• That wizened and grotesque little old man is a notorious miser.那个干瘪难看的小老头是个臭名远扬的吝啬鬼。
• Mr solomon was a wizened little man with frizzy gray hair.所罗门先生是一个干瘪矮小的人，头发鬈曲灰白。

141 scrunched   

v.发出喀嚓声( scrunch的过去式和过去分词 )；蜷缩；压；挤压

参考例句：

• The snow scrunched underfoot. 雪在脚下发出嘎吱嘎吱的声音。
• He scrunched up the piece of paper and threw it at me. 他把那张纸揉成一个小团，朝我扔过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

142 pals   

n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙

参考例句：

• We've been pals for years. 我们是多年的哥们儿了。
• CD 8 positive cells remarkably increased in PALS and RP(P CD8+细胞在再生脾PALS和RP内均明显增加(P 来自互联网

143 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

144 twitch   

v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛

参考例句：

• The smell made my dog's nose twitch.那股气味使我的狗的鼻子抽动着。
• I felt a twitch at my sleeve.我觉得有人扯了一下我的袖子。

145 stunted   

adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的

参考例句：

• the stunted lives of children deprived of education 未受教育的孩子所过的局限生活
• But the landed oligarchy had stunted the country's democratic development for generations. 但是好几代以来土地寡头的统治阻碍了这个国家民主的发展。

146 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

147 grievance   

n.怨愤，气恼，委屈

参考例句：

• He will not easily forget his grievance.他不会轻易忘掉他的委屈。
• He had been nursing a grievance against his boss for months.几个月来他对老板一直心怀不满。

148 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

149 gland   

n.腺体，(机)密封压盖，填料盖

参考例句：

• This is a snake's poison gland.这就是蛇的毒腺。
• Her mother has an underactive adrenal gland.她的母亲肾上腺机能不全。

150 swelled   

增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The infection swelled his hand. 由于感染，他的手肿了起来。
• After the heavy rain the river swelled. 大雨过后，河水猛涨。

151 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

152 grudge   

n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做

参考例句：

• I grudge paying so much for such inferior goods.我不愿花这么多钱买次品。
• I do not grudge him his success.我不嫉妒他的成功。

153 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

154 sprightly   

adj.愉快的，活泼的

参考例句：

• She is as sprightly as a woman half her age.她跟比她年轻一半的妇女一样活泼。
• He's surprisingly sprightly for an old man.他这把年纪了，还这么精神，真了不起。

155 warped   

adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾，

参考例句：

• a warped sense of humour 畸形的幽默感
• The board has warped. 木板翘了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

156 facades   

n.（房屋的）正面( facade的名词复数 )；假象，外观

参考例句：

• Terraces of asphalt are placed by the building's south and west facades. 沥青露台位于建筑的南面和西面。 来自互联网
• Preserving historic buildings or keeping only their facades (or fronts) grew common. 保存历史建筑或是保持它们普通的正面增长。 来自互联网

157 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

158 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

159 taverns   

n.小旅馆，客栈，酒馆( tavern的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They ain't only two taverns. We can find out quick." 这儿只有两家客栈，会弄明白的。” 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Maybe ALL the Temperance Taverns have got a ha'nted room, hey, Huck?" 也许所有的禁酒客栈都有个闹鬼的房间，喂，哈克，你说是不是？” 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

160 rendezvous   

n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇

参考例句：

• She made the rendezvous with only minutes to spare.她还差几分钟时才来赴约。
• I have a rendezvous with Peter at a restaurant on the harbour.我和彼得在海港的一个餐馆有个约会。

161 misused   

v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had grossly misused his power. 他严重滥用职权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

162 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

163 obsolete   

adj.已废弃的，过时的

参考例句：

• These goods are obsolete and will not fetch much on the market.这些货品过时了，在市场上卖不了高价。
• They tried to hammer obsolete ideas into the young people's heads.他们竭力把陈旧思想灌输给青年。

164 alienated   

adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等）

参考例句：

• His comments have alienated a lot of young voters. 他的言论使许多年轻选民离他而去。
• The Prime Minister's policy alienated many of her followers. 首相的政策使很多拥护她的人疏远了她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

165 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

166 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

167 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

168 flickering   

adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的

参考例句：

• The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
• The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。

169 abreast   

adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地

参考例句：

• She kept abreast with the flood of communications that had poured in.她及时回复如雪片般飞来的大批信件。
• We can't keep abreast of the developing situation unless we study harder.我们如果不加强学习，就会跟不上形势。

170 reclaim   

v.要求归还，收回；开垦

参考例句：

• I have tried to reclaim my money without success.我没能把钱取回来。
• You must present this ticket when you reclaim your luggage.当你要取回行李时，必须出示这张票子。

171 cistern   

n.贮水池

参考例句：

• The cistern is empty but soon fills again.蓄水池里现在没水，但不久就会储满水的。
• The lavatory cistern overflowed.厕所水箱的水溢出来了

172 adorned   

[计]被修饰的

参考例句：

• The walls were adorned with paintings. 墙上装饰了绘画。
• And his coat was adorned with a flamboyant bunch of flowers. 他的外套上面装饰着一束艳丽刺目的鲜花。

173 presto   

adv.急速地；n.急板乐段；adj.急板的

参考例句：

• With something so important,you can't just wave a wand and presto!在这么重大的问题上，你想挥动一下指挥棒，转眼就变过来,办不到！
• I just turned the piece of wire in the lock and hey presto,the door opened.我把金属丝伸到锁孔里一拧，嘿，那门就开了。

174 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

175 paraphernalia   

n.装备；随身用品

参考例句：

• Can you move all your paraphernalia out of the way?你可以把所有的随身物品移开吗？
• All my fishing paraphernalia is in the car.我的鱼具都在汽车里。

176 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

177 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

178 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

179 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

180 devoutly   

adv.虔诚地，虔敬地，衷心地

参考例句：

• She was a devoutly Catholic. 她是一个虔诚地天主教徒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This was not a boast, but a hope, at once bold and devoutly humble. 这不是夸夸其谈，而是一个即大胆而又诚心、谦虚的希望。 来自辞典例句

181 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

182 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

183 accredited   

adj.可接受的；可信任的；公认的；质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 )；委托；委任；把…归结于

参考例句：

• The discovery of distillation is usually accredited to the Arabs of the 11th century. 通常认为，蒸馏法是阿拉伯人在11世纪发明的。
• Only accredited journalists were allowed entry. 只有正式认可的记者才获准入内。

184 skull   

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。

185 vein   

n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络

参考例句：

• The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
• The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。

186 gale   

n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等）

参考例句：

• We got our roof blown off in the gale last night.昨夜的大风把我们的房顶给掀掉了。
• According to the weather forecast,there will be a gale tomorrow.据气象台预报，明天有大风。

187 synapse   

n.突触

参考例句：

• The chemical floods the synapse, overwhelming the serotonin receptors.这种化学物质湮没了突触，覆盖了5--羟色胺的受体。
• Ecstasy also keeps serotonin from being reabsorbed,further increasing the concentration in the synapse.毒品引起的狂迷还能阻止5--羟色胺的再吸收，进一步增加了突触内5--羟色胺的浓度。

188 receding   

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

189 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

190 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

191 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

192 chaos   

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。

193 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

194 heterogeneous   

adj.庞杂的；异类的

参考例句：

• There is a heterogeneous mass of papers in the teacher's office.老师的办公室里堆满了大批不同的论文。
• America has a very heterogeneous population.美国人口是由不同种族组成的。

195 millers   

n.（尤指面粉厂的）厂主( miller的名词复数 )；磨房主；碾磨工；铣工

参考例句：

• Millers and bakers sought low grain prices. 磨粉厂主和面包师寻求低廉的谷物价格。 来自辞典例句
• He told me he already been acquainted with the Millers. 他跟我说他同米勒一家已经很熟。 来自互联网

196 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

197 ordinance   

n.法令；条令；条例

参考例句：

• The Ordinance of 1785 provided the first land grants for educational purposes.1785年法案为教育目的提供了第一批土地。
• The city passed an ordinance compelling all outdoor lighting to be switched off at 9.00 PM.该市通过一条法令强令晚上九点关闭一切室外照明。

198 assessments   

n.评估( assessment的名词复数 )；评价；（应偿付金额的）估定；（为征税对财产所作的）估价

参考例句：

• He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明，约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评；而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句

199 abolition   

n.废除，取消

参考例句：

• They declared for the abolition of slavery.他们声明赞成废除奴隶制度。
• The abolition of the monarchy was part of their price.废除君主制是他们的其中一部分条件。

200 profane   

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。

201 crest   

n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖

参考例句：

• The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
• He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。

202 aggrandizement   

n.增大，强化，扩大

参考例句：

• Her sole aim is personal aggrandizement. 她唯一的目的就是扩大个人权势。
• His sole aim is personal aggrandizement. 他唯一的目标就是要扩充个人的权势。 来自辞典例句

203 stuffiness   

n.不通风，闷热；不通气

参考例句：

• Open the windows. We cannot stand the stuffiness of the room. 把窗子打开。我们不能忍受这间屋子里的窒闷。 来自互联网
• Chest pain and stuffiness, palpitation, ischemia of coronary artery, asthma, hiccup, etc. 胸痛、胸闷、心悸、冠状动脉供血不足，哮喘、呃逆等。 来自互联网

204 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

205 Christian   

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。

206 degenerated   

衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The march degenerated into a riot. 示威游行变成了暴动。
• The wide paved road degenerated into a narrow bumpy track. 铺好的宽阔道路渐渐变窄，成了一条崎岖不平的小径。

207 conversational   

adj.对话的，会话的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a conversational style.该文是以对话的形式写成的。
• She values herself on her conversational powers.她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。

208 conversationally   

adv.会话地

参考例句：

• I am at an unfavourable position in being conversationally unacquainted with English. 我由于不熟悉英语会话而处于不利地位。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The findings suggest that happy lives are social and conversationally deep, rather than solitary and superficial. 结论显示，快乐的生活具有社会层面的意义并与日常交谈有关，而并不仅仅是个体差异和表面现象。 来自互联网

209 bonnet   

n.无边女帽；童帽

参考例句：

• The baby's bonnet keeps the sun out of her eyes.婴孩的帽子遮住阳光，使之不刺眼。
• She wore a faded black bonnet garnished with faded artificial flowers.她戴着一顶褪了色的黑色无边帽，帽上缀着褪了色的假花。

210 troublemaker   

n.惹是生非者，闹事者，捣乱者

参考例句：

• I would hate you to think me a troublemaker.我不愿你认为我是个搬弄是非的人。
• Li Yang has always been a troublemaker.李阳总是制造麻烦。

211 villa   

n.别墅，城郊小屋

参考例句：

• We rented a villa in France for the summer holidays.我们在法国租了一幢别墅消夏。
• We are quartered in a beautiful villa.我们住在一栋漂亮的别墅里。

212 defunct   

adj.死亡的；已倒闭的

参考例句：

• The scheme for building an airport seems to be completely defunct now.建造新机场的计划看来整个完蛋了。
• This schema object is defunct.No modifications are allowed until it is made active again.此架构对象不起作用。在重新激活之前，不能进行任何改动。

213 fumbled   

（笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下

参考例句：

• She fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief. 她在她口袋里胡乱摸找手帕。
• He fumbled about in his pockets for the ticket. 他（瞎）摸着衣兜找票。

214 hunches   

预感，直觉( hunch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A technical sergeant hunches in a cubicle. 一位技术军士在一间小屋里弯腰坐着。
• We often test our hunches on each other. 我们经常互相检验我们的第六感觉。

215 elevation   

n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高

参考例句：

• The house is at an elevation of 2,000 metres.那幢房子位于海拔两千米的高处。
• His elevation to the position of General Manager was announced yesterday.昨天宣布他晋升总经理职位。

216 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

217 anarchist   

n.无政府主义者

参考例句：

• You must be an anarchist at heart.你在心底肯定是个无政府主义者。
• I did my best to comfort them and assure them I was not an anarchist.我尽量安抚他们并让它们明白我并不是一个无政府主义者。

218 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

219 automobiles   

n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后，就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上，汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

220 gritted   

v.以沙砾覆盖（某物），撒沙砾于( grit的过去式和过去分词 )；咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• He gritted his teeth and plunged into the cold weather. 他咬咬牙，冲向寒冷的天气。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The young policeman gritted his teeth and walked slowly towards the armed criminal. 年轻警官强忍住怒火，朝武装歹徒慢慢走过去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

221 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

222 cinders   

n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道

参考例句：

• This material is variously termed ash, clinker, cinders or slag. 这种材料有不同的名称，如灰、炉渣、煤渣或矿渣。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rake out the cinders before you start a new fire. 在重新点火前先把煤渣耙出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

223 illuminated   

adj.被照明的；受启迪的

参考例句：

• Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
• the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市

224 tilted   

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。

225 tilt   

v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜

参考例句：

• She wore her hat at a tilt over her left eye.她歪戴着帽子遮住左眼。
• The table is at a slight tilt.这张桌子没放平，有点儿歪.

226 induction   

n.感应，感应现象

参考例句：

• His induction as a teacher was a turning point in his life.他就任教师工作是他一生的转折点。
• The magnetic signals are sensed by induction coils.磁信号由感应线圈所检测。

227 pestilence   

n.瘟疫

参考例句：

• They were crazed by the famine and pestilence of that bitter winter.他们因那年严冬的饥饿与瘟疫而折磨得发狂。
• A pestilence was raging in that area. 瘟疫正在那一地区流行。

228 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

229 prominence   

n.突出；显著；杰出；重要

参考例句：

• He came to prominence during the World Cup in Italy.他在意大利的世界杯赛中声名鹊起。
• This young fashion designer is rising to prominence.这位年轻的时装设计师的声望越来越高。

230 villas   

别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅

参考例句：

• Magnificent villas are found throughout Italy. 在意大利到处可看到豪华的别墅。
• Rich men came down from wealthy Rome to build sea-side villas. 有钱人从富有的罗马来到这儿建造海滨别墅。

231 ceramic   

n.制陶业，陶器，陶瓷工艺

参考例句：

• The order for ceramic tiles has been booked in.瓷砖的订单已登记下来了。
• Some ceramic works of art are shown in this exhibition.这次展览会上展出了一些陶瓷艺术品。

232 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

233 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

234 succumb   

v.屈服，屈从；死

参考例句：

• They will never succumb to the enemies.他们决不向敌人屈服。
• Will business leaders succumb to these ideas?商业领袖们会被这些观点折服吗？

235 enchanted   

adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She was enchanted by the flowers you sent her. 她非常喜欢你送给她的花。
• He was enchanted by the idea. 他为这个主意而欣喜若狂。

236 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句

237 decorative   

adj.装饰的，可作装饰的

参考例句：

• This ware is suitable for decorative purpose but unsuitable for utility.这种器皿中看不中用。
• The style is ornate and highly decorative.这种风格很华丽，而且装饰效果很好。

238 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

239 streaked   

adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹

参考例句：

• The children streaked off as fast as they could. 孩子们拔脚飞跑 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• His face was pale and streaked with dirt. 他脸色苍白，脸上有一道道的污痕。 来自辞典例句

240 grotesque   

adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物）

参考例句：

• His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
• Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。

241 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

242 socket   

n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口

参考例句：

• He put the electric plug into the socket.他把电插头插入插座。
• The battery charger plugs into any mains socket.这个电池充电器可以插入任何类型的电源插座。

243 winked   

v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼，她便知道他的想法和她一样。
• He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

244 slumped   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Sales have slumped this year. 今年销售量锐减。
• The driver was slumped exhausted over the wheel. 司机伏在方向盘上，疲惫得睡着了。

245 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

246 agitating   

搅动( agitate的现在分词 )； 激怒； 使焦虑不安； （尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而）激烈争论

参考例句：

• political groups agitating for social change 鼓吹社会变革的政治团体
• They are agitating to assert autonomy. 他们正在鼓吹实行自治。

247 excerpts   

n.摘录，摘要( excerpt的名词复数 )；节选（音乐，电影）片段

参考例句：

• Some excerpts from a Renaissance mass are spatchcocked into Gluck's pallid Don Juan music. 一些文艺复光时期的弥撒的选节被不适当地加入到了格鲁克平淡无味的唐璜音乐中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is editing together excerpts of some of his films. 他正在将自己制作的一些电影的片断进行剪辑合成。 来自辞典例句

248 vernacular   

adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名

参考例句：

• The house is built in a vernacular style.这房子按当地的风格建筑。
• The traditional Chinese vernacular architecture is an epitome of Chinese traditional culture.中国传统民居建筑可谓中国传统文化的缩影。

249 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

250 torrent   

n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发

参考例句：

• The torrent scoured a channel down the hillside. 急流沿着山坡冲出了一条沟。
• Her pent-up anger was released in a torrent of words.她压抑的愤怒以滔滔不绝的话爆发了出来。

251 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

252 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

253 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

254 agitators   

n.（尤指政治变革的）鼓动者( agitator的名词复数 )；煽动者；搅拌器；搅拌机

参考例句：

• The mud is too viscous, you must have all the agitators run. 泥浆太稠，你们得让所有的搅拌机都开着。 来自辞典例句
• Agitators urged the peasants to revolt/revolution. 煽动者怂恿农民叛变（革命）。 来自辞典例句

255 avocation   

n.副业，业余爱好

参考例句：

• He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业，同时是个博物学爱好者。
• Learning foreign languages is just an avocation with me.学习外语只不过是我的一项业余爱好。

256 wrecking   

破坏

参考例句：

• He teed off on his son for wrecking the car. 他严厉训斥他儿子毁坏了汽车。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Instead of wrecking the valley, the waters are put to use making electricity. 现在河水不但不在流域内肆疟，反而被人们用来生产电力。 来自辞典例句

257 intervals   

n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息

参考例句：

• The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴，有阵雨。
• Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。

258 catalyst   

n.催化剂，造成变化的人或事

参考例句：

• A catalyst is a substance which speeds up a chemical reaction.催化剂是一种能加速化学反应的物质。
• The workers'demand for better conditions was a catalyst for social change.工人们要求改善工作条件促进了社会变革。

259 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。

260 apocalyptic   

adj.预示灾祸的，启示的

参考例句：

• The air is chill and stagnant,the language apocalyptic.空气寒冷而污浊，语言则是《启示录》式的。
• Parts of the ocean there look just absolutely apocalyptic.海洋的很多区域看上去完全像是世界末日。

261 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

262 triumphantly   

ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地

参考例句：

• The lion was roaring triumphantly. 狮子正在发出胜利的吼叫。
• Robert was looking at me triumphantly. 罗伯特正得意扬扬地看着我。

263 afflicted   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。

264 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。

265 torpor   

n.迟钝；麻木；（动物的）冬眠

参考例句：

• The sick person gradually falls into a torpor.病人逐渐变得迟钝。
• He fell into a deep torpor.他一下子进入了深度麻痹状态。

266 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

267 breaches   

破坏( breach的名词复数 )； 破裂； 缺口； 违背

参考例句：

• He imposed heavy penalties for breaches of oath or pledges. 他对违反誓言和保证的行为给予严厉的惩罚。
• This renders all breaches of morality before marriage very uncommon. 这样一来，婚前败坏道德的事就少见了。

268 dedicated   

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。

269 arrogant   

adj.傲慢的，自大的

参考例句：

• You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
• People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。

270 exasperating   

adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Our team's failure is very exasperating. 我们队失败了，真是气死人。
• It is really exasperating that he has not turned up when the train is about to leave. 火车快开了， 他还不来，实在急人。

271 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

272 subjective   

a.主观(上)的，个人的

参考例句：

• The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。
• A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。

273 anarchy   

n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• There would be anarchy if we had no police.要是没有警察，社会就会无法无天。
• The country was thrown into a state of anarchy.这国家那时一下子陷入无政府状态。

274 promiscuity   

n.混杂，混乱；（男女的）乱交

参考例句：

• Promiscuity went unpunished, divorce was permitted. 乱交挨不着惩罚，离婚办得成手续。 来自英汉文学
• There is also no doubt that she falls into promiscuity at last. 同时无疑她最后也堕入性乱。 来自互联网

275 millennia   

n.一千年，千禧年

参考例句：

• For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. 两千年来，异族通婚一直是犹太人的一大禁忌。
• In the course of millennia, the dinosaurs died out. 在几千年的时间里，恐龙逐渐死绝了。

276 disaffected   

adj.（政治上）不满的，叛离的

参考例句：

• He attracts disaffected voters.他吸引了心怀不满的选民们。
• Environmental issues provided a rallying point for people disaffected with the government.环境问题把对政府不满的人们凝聚了起来。

277 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

278 politicking   

n.政治活动，竞选活动v.从政( politic的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A lot of politicking preceded the choice of the new director. 在选新领导人之前进行了大量的拉拢活动。 来自辞典例句
• This colleague is always politicking. 这位同僚总是忙于政治活动。 来自互联网

279 intrigue   

vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋

参考例句：

• Court officials will intrigue against the royal family.法院官员将密谋反对皇室。
• The royal palace was filled with intrigue.皇宫中充满了勾心斗角。

280 sequestered   

adj.扣押的；隐退的；幽静的；偏僻的v.使隔绝，使隔离( sequester的过去式和过去分词 )；扣押

参考例句：

• The jury is expected to be sequestered for at least two months. 陪审团渴望被隔离至少两个月。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Everything he owned was sequestered. 他的一切都被扣押了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

281 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

282 hideous   

adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的

参考例句：

• The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
• They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗，是丑陋的畜牲。

283 penance   

n.（赎罪的）惩罪

参考例句：

• They had confessed their sins and done their penance.他们已经告罪并做了补赎。
• She knelt at her mother's feet in penance.她忏悔地跪在母亲脚下。

284 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

285 melancholy   

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。

286 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

287 fixed   

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。

288 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

289 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

290 plaques   

（纪念性的）匾牌( plaque的名词复数 )； 纪念匾； 牙斑； 空斑

参考例句：

• Primary plaques were detectable in 16 to 20 hours. 在16到20小时内可查出原发溶斑。
• The gondoliers wore green and white livery and silver plaques on their chests. 船夫们穿着白绿两色的制服，胸前别着银质徽章。

291 vaudeville   

n.歌舞杂耍表演

参考例句：

• The standard length of a vaudeville act was 12 minutes.一个杂耍节目的标准长度是12分钟。
• The mayor talk like a vaudeville comedian in his public address.在公共演讲中，这位市长讲起话来像个歌舞杂耍演员。

292 sneered   

讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sneered at people who liked pop music. 他嘲笑喜欢流行音乐的人。
• It's very discouraging to be sneered at all the time. 成天受嘲讽是很令人泄气的。

293 avalanche   

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。

294 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

295 erect   

n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的

参考例句：

• She held her head erect and her back straight.她昂着头，把背挺得笔直。
• Soldiers are trained to stand erect.士兵们训练站得笔直。

296 touching   

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。

297 irritably   

ad.易生气地

参考例句：

• He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了，暴躁地斥责孩子们。
• On this account the silence was irritably broken by a reproof. 为了这件事，他妻子大声斥责，令人恼火地打破了宁静。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

298 welder   

n电焊工

参考例句：

• He left school at 15 to become an apprentice to a welder.他15岁离开了中学成为一个焊接工人的学徒。
• Welder done at least once a month when the dust handling.焊机时每月至少做一次除尘处理。

299 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

300 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

301 alignment   

n.队列；结盟，联合

参考例句：

• The church should have no political alignment.教会不应与政治结盟。
• Britain formed a close alignment with Egypt in the last century.英国在上个世纪与埃及结成了紧密的联盟。

302 ponies   

矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑

参考例句：

• They drove the ponies into a corral. 他们把矮种马赶进了畜栏。
• She has a mania for ponies. 她特别喜欢小马。

303 inert   

adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的

参考例句：

• Inert gas studies are providing valuable information about other planets,too.对惰性气体的研究，也提供了有关其它行星的有价值的资料。
• Elemental nitrogen is a very unreactive and inert material.元素氮是一个十分不活跃的惰性物质。

304 misnomer   

n.误称

参考例句：

• Herbal"tea"is something of a misnomer because these drinks contain no tea at all.花草“茶”是一个误称，因为这类饮料里面根本不含茶。
• Actually," Underground "is a misnomer,because more than half the shops are above ground.实际上，“ 地下 ” 这个名称用之不当，因为半数以上的店铺是在地面上的。

305 dignified   

a.可敬的，高贵的

参考例句：

• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

306 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

307 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

308 intermittent   

adj.间歇的，断断续续的

参考例句：

• Did you hear the intermittent sound outside?你听见外面时断时续的声音了吗？
• In the daytime intermittent rains freshened all the earth.白天里，时断时续地下着雨，使整个大地都生气勃勃了。

309 craftsmanship   

n.手艺

参考例句：

• The whole house is a monument to her craftsmanship. 那整座房子是她技艺的一座丰碑。
• We admired the superb craftsmanship of the furniture. 我们很欣赏这个家具的一流工艺。

310 civilized   

a.有教养的，文雅的

参考例句：

• Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
• rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为

311 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

312 trysts   

n.约会，幽会( tryst的名词复数 )；幽会地点

参考例句：

• He's accused of having drug-fueled trysts with a Denver man. 人们指责他与一名丹佛男子幽会，期间还服用毒品助兴。 来自互联网
• Fools set far trysts. 蠢人定约早。 来自互联网

313 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

314 optimist   

n.乐观的人，乐观主义者

参考例句：

• We are optimist and realist.我们是乐观主义者，又是现实主义者。
• Peter,ever the optimist,said things were bound to improve.一向乐观的皮特说，事情必定是会好转的。

315 pessimist   

n.悲观者；悲观主义者；厌世

参考例句：

• An optimist laughs to forget.A pessimist forgets to laugh.乐观者笑着忘却，悲观者忘记怎样笑。
• The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity.The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.悲观者在每个机会中都看到困难，乐观者在每个困难中都看到机会。

316 drowsy   

adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的

参考例句：

• Exhaust fumes made him drowsy and brought on a headache.废气把他熏得昏昏沉沉，还引起了头疼。
• I feel drowsy after lunch every day.每天午饭后我就想睡觉。

317 complaisance   

n.彬彬有礼，殷勤，柔顺

参考例句：

• She speaks with complaisance.她说话彬彬有礼。
• His complaisance leaves a good impression on her.他的彬彬有礼给她留下了深刻的印象。

318 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

319 enigma   

n.谜，谜一样的人或事

参考例句：

• I've known him for many years,but he remains something of an enigma to me.我与他相识多年，他仍然难以捉摸。
• Even after all the testimonies,the murder remained a enigma.即使听完了所有的证词，这件谋杀案仍然是一个谜。

320 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

321 bracelets   

n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The lamplight struck a gleam from her bracelets. 她的手镯在灯光的照射下闪闪发亮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• On display are earrings, necklaces and bracelets made from jade, amber and amethyst. 展出的有用玉石、琥珀和紫水晶做的耳环、项链和手镯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

322 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。

323 hover   

vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫

参考例句：

• You don't hover round the table.你不要围着桌子走来走去。
• A plane is hover on our house.有一架飞机在我们的房子上盘旋。

324 inertia   

adj.惰性，惯性，懒惰，迟钝

参考例句：

• We had a feeling of inertia in the afternoon.下午我们感觉很懒。
• Inertia carried the plane onto the ground.飞机靠惯性着陆。

325 lengthen   

vt.使伸长，延长

参考例句：

• He asked the tailor to lengthen his coat.他请裁缝把他的外衣放长些。
• The teacher told her to lengthen her paper out.老师让她把论文加长。

326 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

327 malady   

n.病，疾病(通常做比喻)

参考例句：

• There is no specific remedy for the malady.没有医治这种病的特效药。
• They are managing to control the malady into a small range.他们设法将疾病控制在小范围之内。

328 bloody   

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。

329 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

330 consulate   

n.领事馆

参考例句：

• The Spanish consulate is the large white building opposite the bank.西班牙领事馆是银行对面的那栋高大的白色建筑物。
• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。

331 flaying   

v.痛打( flay的现在分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评

参考例句：

• Every tree doomed to the flaying process was first attacked by Upjohn. 每一棵决定要剥皮的树，首先由厄普约翰开始动手干。 来自辞典例句
• Cannon rolled past, the drivers flaying the thin mules with lengths of rawhide. 后面是辚辚滚动的炮车，赶车的用长长的皮鞭狠狠抽打着羸弱的骡子。 来自飘（部分）

332 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

333 hysterical   

adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的

参考例句：

• He is hysterical at the sight of the photo.他一看到那张照片就异常激动。
• His hysterical laughter made everybody stunned.他那歇斯底里的笑声使所有的人不知所措。

334 tattered   

adj.破旧的，衣衫破的

参考例句：

• Her tattered clothes in no way detracted from her beauty.她的破衣烂衫丝毫没有影响她的美貌。
• Their tattered clothing and broken furniture indicated their poverty.他们褴褛的衣服和破烂的家具显出他们的贫穷。

335 velvet   

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。

336 amassed   

v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He amassed a fortune from silver mining. 他靠开采银矿积累了一笔财富。
• They have amassed a fortune in just a few years. 他们在几年的时间里就聚集了一笔财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》

337 sapphire   

n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的

参考例句：

• Now let us consider crystals such as diamond or sapphire.现在让我们考虑象钻石和蓝宝石这样的晶体。
• He left a sapphire ring to her.他留给她一枚蓝宝石戒指。

338 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

339 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

340 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

341 intaglio   

n.凹版雕刻；v.凹雕

参考例句：

• The picture shows the intaglio printing workshop of this company.图为该企业凹印制版车间。
• Other anti-counterfeiting features include the use of latent images,pearl ink,and intaglio printing.其他防伪特征，包括隐形图案、珍珠油墨和凹印。

342 tiresome   

adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的

参考例句：

• His doubts and hesitations were tiresome.他的疑惑和犹豫令人厌烦。
• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors.他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。

343 conjured   

用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现

参考例句：

• He conjured them with his dying breath to look after his children. 他临终时恳求他们照顾他的孩子。
• His very funny joke soon conjured my anger away. 他讲了个十分有趣的笑话，使得我的怒气顿消。

344 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

345 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

346 yarning   

vi.讲故事（yarn的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• We stayed up yarning until midnight. 我们讲故事一直讲到半夜才睡。 来自互联网

347 sentimental   

adj.多愁善感的，感伤的

参考例句：

• She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人，她相信姻缘命中注定。
• We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。

348 protean   

adj.反复无常的；变化自如的

参考例句：

• Sri Lanka is a protean and wonderful paradise.斯里兰卡是一个千变万化和精彩万分的人间天堂。
• He is a protean stylist who can move from blues to ballads and grand symphony.他风格多变，从布鲁斯、乡村音乐到雄壮的交响乐都能驾驭。

349 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

350 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

351 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

352 alienation   

n.疏远；离间；异化

参考例句：

• The new policy resulted in the alienation of many voters.新政策导致许多选民疏远了。
• As almost every conceivable contact between human beings gets automated,the alienation index goes up.随着人与人之间几乎一切能想到的接触方式的自动化，感情疏远指数在不断上升。

353 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

354 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

355 isles   

岛( isle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the geology of the British Isles 不列颠群岛的地质
• The boat left for the isles. 小船驶向那些小岛。

356 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

357 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

358 battalion   

n.营；部队；大队(的人)

参考例句：

• The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
• At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后，队伍解散了。

359 festive   

adj.欢宴的，节日的

参考例句：

• It was Christmas and everyone was in festive mood.当时是圣诞节，每个人都沉浸在节日的欢乐中。
• We all wore festive costumes to the ball.我们都穿着节日的盛装前去参加舞会。

360 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

361 shuffled   

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》

362 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

363 seraphim   

n.六翼天使(seraph的复数)；六翼天使( seraph的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Seraphim were first discovered during a deep space exploration mission. 最初的天使时发现一深空探测任务。 来自互联网
• The home seraphim: preservation and advancement of the home. 家园炽天使：保存家园，为家园兴旺与进步努力。 来自互联网

364 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

365 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

366 eddy   

n.漩涡，涡流

参考例句：

• The motor car disappeared in eddy of dust.汽车在一片扬尘的涡流中不见了。
• In Taylor's picture,the eddy is the basic element of turbulence.在泰勒的描述里，旋涡是湍流的基本要素。

367 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

368 disturbances   

n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍

参考例句：

• The government has set up a commission of inquiry into the disturbances at the prison. 政府成立了一个委员会来调查监狱骚乱事件。
• Extra police were called in to quell the disturbances. 已调集了增援警力来平定骚乱。

369 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

370 wharf   

n.码头，停泊处

参考例句：

• We fetch up at the wharf exactly on time.我们准时到达码头。
• We reached the wharf gasping for breath.我们气喘吁吁地抵达了码头。

371 nautical   

adj.海上的，航海的，船员的

参考例句：

• A nautical mile is 1,852 meters.一海里等于1852米。
• It is 206 nautical miles from our present location.距离我们现在的位置有206海里。

372 fixture   

n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款

参考例句：

• Lighting fixture must be installed at once.必须立即安装照明设备。
• The cordless kettle may now be a fixture in most kitchens.无绳电热水壶现在可能是多数厨房的固定设备。

373 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

374 radius   

n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限

参考例句：

• He has visited every shop within a radius of two miles.周围两英里以内的店铺他都去过。
• We are measuring the radius of the circle.我们正在测量圆的半径。

375 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

376 brute   

n.野兽，兽性

参考例句：

• The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
• That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲，它咬人。