Chapter 3

Trixie knew the story behind her real name, but that didn’t mean she hated it any less. Beatrice Portinari had been Dante’s one true love, the woman who’d inspired him to write a whole batch¹ of epic² poems. Her mother the classics professor had singlehandedly filled out the birth certificate when her father (who’d wanted to name his newborn daughter Sarah) was in the bathroom.

Dante and Beatrice, though, were no Romeo and Juliet. Dante met her when he was only nine and then didn’t see her again until he was eighteen. They both married other people and Beatrice died young. If that was everlasting⁴ love, Trixie didn’t want any part of it.

When Trixie had complained to her father, he said Nicolas Cage had named his son Kal-el, Superman’s Kryptonian name, and that she should be grateful. But Bethel High was brimming with Mallorys, Dakotas, Crispins, and Willows⁵. Trixie had spent most of her life pulling the teacher aside on the first day of school, to make sure she said Trixie when she read the attendance sheet, instead of Beatrice, which made the other kids crack up. There was a time in fourth grade when she started calling herself Justine, but it didn’t catch on.

Summer Friedman was in the main office with Trixie, signing into school late. She was tall and blonde, with a perpetual tan, although Trixie knew for a fact she’d been born in December. She turned around, clutching her blue hall pass. “Slut,” she hissed⁷ at Trixie as she walked past.

“Beatrice?” the secretary said. “The principal’s ready for you.” Trixie had been in the principal’s office only once, when she made honor roll during the first quarter of freshman⁸ year. She’d been sent during homeroom, and the whole time she’d been shaking, trying to figure out what she’d done wrong. Principal Aaronsen had been waiting with a Cookie Monster grin on his face and his hand extended. “Congratulations, Beatrice,” he had said, and he’d handed her a little gold honor roll card with her own disgusting name printed across it.

“Beatrice,” he said again this time, when she went into his office. She realized that the guidance counselor⁹, Mrs. Gray, was waiting there for her too. Did they think that if she saw a man alone she might freak out? “It’s good to have you back,” Mr.

Aaronsen said.

It’s good to be back. The lie sat too sour on Trixie’s tongue, so she swallowed it down again.

The principal was staring at her hair, or lack of it, but he was too polite to say anything. “Mrs. Gray and I just want you to know that our doors are open any time for you,” the principal said.

Trixie’s father had two names. She had discovered this by accident when she was ten and snooping in his desk drawers. Wedged into the back of one, behind all the smudged erasers and tubes of mechanical pencil leads, was a photograph of two boys squatting¹⁰ in front of a cache of fish. One of the boys was white, one was native. On the back was written: Cane¹¹ & Wass, fish camp. Akiak, Alaska 1976.

Trixie had taken the photo to her father, who’d been out mowing¹² the lawn. Who are these people? she had asked.

Her father had turned off the lawn mower¹³. They’re dead.

“If you feel the slightest bit uncomfortable,” Principal Aaronsen was saying. “If you just want a place to catch your breath ...” Three hours later, Trixie’s father had come looking for her.

The one on the right is me, he’d said, showing her the photo again. And that’s Cane, a friend of mine.

Your name’s not Wass, Trixie had pointed¹⁴ out.

Her father had explained that the day after he’d been born and named, a village elder came to visit and started calling him Wass short for Wassilieafter her husband, who’d fallen through the ice and died a week before. It was perfectly¹⁵ normal for a Yup’ik Eskimo who had recently died to take up residence in a newborn. Villagers would laugh when they met Daniel as a baby, saying things like, Oh, look. Wass has come back with blue eyes! or Maybe that’s why Wass took that English as a Second Language class! For eighteen years, he’d been known as Daniel to his white mother and as Wass to everyone else. In the Yup’ik world, he told Trixie, souls get recycled. In the Yup’ik world, no one ever really gets to leave.

“... a policy of zero tolerance,” the principal said, and Trixie nodded, although she hadn’t really been listening.

The night after her father told Trixie about his second name, she had a question ready when he came to tuck her in. How come when I first asked, you said those boys were dead? Because, her father answered, they are.

Principal Aaronsen stood up, and so did Mrs. Gray, and that was how Trixie realized that they intended to accompany her to class.

Immediately she panicked. This was way worse than being walked in by her father; this was like having fighter jets escort a plane into a safe landing: Was there any person at the airport who wouldn’t be watching out the windows and trying to guess what had happened on board? “Um,” Trixie said, “I think I’d kind of like to go by myself.” It was almost third period, which meant she’d have time to go to her locker¹⁸ before heading to English class. She watched the principal look at the guidance counselor. “Well,” Mr. Aaronsen said, “if that’s what you want.” Trixie fled the principal’s office, blindly navigating¹⁹ the maze²⁰ of halls that made up the high school. Class was still in session, so it was quiet - the faint jingle²¹ of a kid with a bathroom pass, the muted click of high heels, the wheezy strains of the wind instruments upstairs in the band room. She twisted the combination on her own locker, 40-22-38. Hey, Jason had said, a lifetime ago. Aren’t those Barbie’s measurements? Trixie rested her forehead against the cool metal. All she had to do was sit in class for another four hours. She could fill her mind with Lord of the Flies and A = nr2 and the assassination²³ of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. She didn’t have to talk to anyone if she didn’t want to. All of her teachers had been briefed. She would be an army of one.

When she pulled open the door of her locker, a sea of snakes poured out of the narrow cubby, spilling over her feet. She reached down to pick one up. Eight small foil squares, accordion-pleated at the perforations.

Trojan, Trixie read. Twisted Pleasure Lubricated Latex Condoms.

“They’re all having sex,” Marita Soorenstad said, tilting²⁴ her head and pouring the last of the lime-colored powder into her mouth. In the fifteen minutes that Mike Bartholemew had been sitting with the assistant district attorney, she’d consumed three Pixy Stix. “Teenage girls want guys to be attracted to them, but no one’s taught them how to deal with the emotions that come with that stuff. I see this all the time, Mike. Teenage girls wake up to find someone having sex with them, and they don’t say a word.” She crushed the paper straw in her fist and grimaced²⁶. “Some judge told me these were a godsend when he was trying to quit smoking. But I swear all I’m getting is a sugar high and a green tongue.” “Trixie Stone said no,” the detective pointed out. “It’s in her statement.” “And Trixie Stone was drinking. Which the defense²⁷ attorney will use to call her judgment²⁸ into question. Oosterhaus is going to say that she was intoxicated²⁹, and playing strip poker³⁰, and saying yes yes yes all the way up till afterward³¹, which is about when she decided³² to say no. He’s going to ask her what time it was when she said it and how many pictures were on the walls of the room and what song was playing on the stereo and whether the moon was in Scorpio . . . details she won’t be able to remember. Then he’ll say that if she can’t remember particulars like this, how on earth could she be sure of whether she told Jason to stop?” Marita hesitated. “I’m not saying that Trixie Stone wasn’t raped³³, Mike.

I’m just telling you that not everyone is going to see it as clearly.” “I think the family knows that,” Bartholemew said.

“The family never knows that, no matter what they say.” Marita opened the file on Trixie Stone. “What the hell else did they think their kid was out doing at two in the morning?” Bartholemew pictured a car overturned on the side of the road, the rescue crews clustered around the body that had been thrown through the windshield. He imagined the EMT who pulled up the sleeve of his daughter’s shirt and saw the bruises³⁵ and needle marks along the map of her veins³⁷. He wondered if that tech had looked at Holly³⁸’s long-sleeved shirt, worn on the hottest night of July, and asked himself what this girl’s parents had been thinking when they saw her leave the house in it.

The answer to this question, and to Marita’s: We weren’t thinking. We didn’t let ourselves think, because we didn’t want to know.

Bartholemew cleared his throat. “The Stones thought their daughter was having a parent-supervised sleepover at a friend’s house.” Marita ripped open a yellow Pixy Stix. “Great,” she said, upending the contents into her mouth. “So Trixie’s already lied once.” Even though parents don’t want to admit it, school isn’t about what a kid absorbs while she’s sitting at a cramped³⁹ desk, but what happens around and in spite of that. It’s the five minutes between bells when you find out whose house is hosting the party that evening; it’s borrowing the right shade of lip gloss⁴⁰ from your friend before you have French with the cute guy who moved here from Ohio; it’s being noticed by everyone else and pretending you are above that sort of celebrity⁴¹.

Once all this social interaction was surgically⁴² excised⁴³ from Trixie’s school day, she noticed how little she cared about the academic part. In English, she focused on the printed text in her book until the letters jumped like popcorn⁴⁴ in a skillet. From time to time she would hear a snide comment: What did she do to her hair? Only once did someone have the guts⁴⁶ to actually speak to her in class. It was in phys ed, during an indoor soccer game. A girl on her own team had come up to her after the teacher called a time-out. “Someone who got raped for real,” she’d whispered, “wouldn’t be out here playing soccer.” The part of the day that Trixie was most dreading⁴⁷ was lunch. In the cafeteria, the mass of students split like amoebas into socially polarized groups. There were the drama kids and the skateboarders and the brains. There were the Sexy Sevena group of girls who set the school’s unwritten fashion rules, like what months you should wear shorts to school and how flip-flops were totally passe. There were the caffies, who hung out all morning drinking Java with their friends until the voc-tech bus came to ferry them to classes on hairstyling and child care. And then there was the table where Trixie used to belong - the one with the popular kids, the one where Zephyr⁴⁸ and Moss⁴⁹ and a carefree knot of hockey players hung out pretending they didn’t know that everyone else was looking at them and saying they were so fake, when in reality those same kids went home and wished that their own group of friends could be as cool.

Trixie bought herself french fries and chocolate milk - her comfort lunch, for when she screwed up on a test or had period cramps⁵⁰ - and stood in the middle of the cafeteria, trying to find a place for herself. Since Jason had broken up with Trixie, she’d been sitting somewhere else, but Zephyr had always joined her in solidarity⁵¹. Today, though, she could see Zephyr sitting at their old table. One sentence rose from the collective din¹⁷: “She wouldn’t dare.” Trixie held her plastic tray like a shield. She finally moved toward the Heater Hos, congregating⁵² near the radiator⁵³. They were girls who wore white pants with spandex in them and had boyfriends who drove raised I-Rocs; girls who got pregnant at fifteen and then brought the ultrasounds to school to show off.

One of them - a ninth-grader in what looked like her ninth month - smiled at Trixie, and the action was so unexpected, she nearly stumbled. “There’s room,” the girl said, and she slid her backpack off the table so that Trixie could sit down.

A lot of kids at Bethel High made fun of the Heater Hos, but Trixie never had. She found them too depressing to be the butt⁵⁴ of jokes. They seemed to be so nonchalant about throwing their lives away - not that their lives were the kind that anyone would have wanted in the first place, but still. Trixie had wondered if those bellybaring T-shirts they wore and the pride they took in their situation were just for show, a way to cover up how sad they really were about what had happened to them. After all, if you acted like you really wanted something even when you didn’t, you just might convince yourself along with everyone else.

Trixie ought to know.

“I asked Donna to be Elvis’s godmother,” one of the girls said.

“Elvis?” another answered. “I thought you were going to name him Pilot.” “I was, but then I thought, what if he’s born afraid of heights? That would suck for him.” Trixie dipped a french fry into a pool of ketchup⁵⁶. It looked weak and watery⁵⁷, like blood. She wondered how many hours it had been since she’d talked out loud. If you didn’t use your voice, ever, would it eventually shrivel up and dry away? Was there a natural selection involved in not speaking up? “Trixie.

She looked up to see Zephyr sliding into the seat across from her. Trixie couldn’t contain her relief - if Zephyr had come over here, she couldn’t be mad anymore, could she? “God, I’m glad to see you,” Trixie said. She wanted to make a joke, to let Zephyr know it was okay to treat her like she wasn’t a freak, but she couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

“I would have called,” Zephyr said, “but I’ve sort of been grounded until I’m forty.” Trixie nodded. It was enough, really, that Zephyr was sitting here now.

“So . . . you’re okay, right?” “Yeah,” Trixie said. She tried to remember what her father had said that morning: If you think you’re fine, you’ll start to believe it. “Your hair...” She ran her palm over her head and smiled nervously⁵⁸. “Crazy, isn’t it?” Zephyr leaned forward, shifting uncomfortably. “Look, what you did ... well, it worked. No questionyou got Jason back.” “What are you talking about?” “You wanted payback for getting dumped, and you got it. But Trixie ... it’s one thing to teach someone a lesson ... and a whole different thing to get him arrested. Don’t you think you can stop now?” “You think...” Trixie’s scalp tightened⁵⁹. “You think I made this up?” “Trix, everyone knows you wanted to hook up with him again.

It’s kind of hard to rape³⁴ someone who’s willing.” “You’re the one who came up with the plan! You said I should make him jealous! But I never expected ... I didn’t. . .” Trixie’s voice was as thin as a wire, vibrating. “He raped me.” A shadow fell across the table as Moss approached. Zephyr looked up at him and shrugged⁶⁰. “I tried,” she said.

He pulled Zephyr out of her chair. “Come on.” Trixie stood up, too. “We’ve been friends since kindergarten.

How could you believe him over me?” Something in Zephyr’s eyes changed, but before she could speak, Moss slid an arm around her shoulders, anchoring her to his side.

So, Trixie thought. It’s like that.

“Nice hair, G.I. Ho,” Moss said as they walked off.

It had gotten so quiet in the cafeteria that even the lunch ladies seemed to be watching. Trixie sank down into her seat again, trying not to notice the way that everyone was staring at her. There was a one-year-old she used to babysit for who liked to play a game: He’d cover his face with his hands and you’d say, “Where’s Josh?” She wished it was that simple: Close your eyes, and you’d disappear.

Next to her, one of the Heater Hos cracked her bubble gum. “I wish Jason Underhill would rape me,” she said.

Daniel had made coffee for Laura.

Even after what she had done, even after all the words that fell between them like a rain of arrows, he had still done this for her. It might not have been anything more than habit, but it brought her to the verge⁶¹ of tears.

She stared at the carafe⁶², its swollen⁶³ belly⁵⁵ steaming with French roast. It occurred to Laura that in all the years they had been married, she could literally⁶⁴ not remember it being the other way around: Daniel had been a student of her likes and dislikes; in return, Laura had never even signed up for the proverbial course. Was it complacency that had made her restless enough to have an affair? Or was it because she hadn’t wanted to admit that even had she applied⁶⁵ herself, she would not be as good a wife as Daniel was a husband? She had come into the kitchen to sit down at the table, spread out her notes, prepare for her afternoon class. Today, thank God, was a lecture, an impersonal⁶⁷ group where she got to do all the talking, not a smaller class where she might have to face the questions of students again. In her hands was a book, open to the famous Dore illustration for Canto⁶⁸ 29, where VirgilDante’s guide through hellberated his curiosity. But now that Laura could smell the grounds, inhale⁶⁹ that aromatic⁷⁰ steam, she couldn’t for the life of her remember what she was going to say about this drawing to her students.

Explaining hell took on a whole new meaning when you’d been recently living smack⁷¹ in the middle of it, and Laura envisioned her own face on the sketch⁷², instead of Dante’s. She took a sip⁷³ of her coffee and imagined drinking from the River Lethe, which ran back to its source, taking all your sins with it.

There was a fine line between love and hate, you heard that cliche⁷⁴ all the time. But no one told you that the moment you crossed it would be the one you least expected. You’d fall in love and crack open a secret door to let your soul mate in. You just never expected such closeness, one day, to feel like an intrusion.

Laura stared down at the picture. With the exception of Dante, nobody chose to go willingly to hell. And even Dante would have lost his way if he hadn’t found a guide who’d already been through hell and come out the other side.

Reaching up to the cabinet, Laura took out a second mug and poured another cup of coffee. In all honesty, she had no idea if Daniel took it with milk or sugar or both. She added a little of each, the way she liked to drink it.

She hoped that was a start.

In the latest issue of Wizard magazine, on the list of top ten comic book artists, Daniel was ranked number nine. His picture was there, eight notches⁷⁶ below Jim Lee’s number one smiling face. Last month, Daniel had been number ten; it was the growing anticipation⁷⁷ for The Tenth Circle that was fueling his fame.

It was actually Laura who had told Daniel when he was becoming famous. They’d gone to a Christmas party at Marvel⁷⁸ in New York, and when they entered the room, they were separated in the crush.

Later, she told him that as he walked through the crowd, she could hear everyone talking in his wake. Daniel, she had said, people definitely know you.

When he’d first been given a test story to draw, years ago - a godawful piece that took place inside a cramped airplane - he’d worried about things that he never would have given a second thought to now: having F lead in his pencil instead of something too soft, testing the geometry of arches, mapping the feel of a ruler in his hand. If anything, he had drawn⁷⁹ more from the gut⁴⁵ when he was starting out - emotional art, instead of cerebral⁸⁰. The first time he’d penciled Batman for DC Comics, for example, he’d had to reimagine the hero. Daniel’s rendition had a certain length ear and a certain width belt that had little to do with the historical progression of art on that character and far more to do with poring over the comic as a kid, and remembering how Batman had looked at his coolest.

Today, though, drawing wasn’t bringing him any joy or relief.

He kept thinking about Trixie and where she would be at this hour of the day and if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she hadn’t called him yet to say how it was going. Ordinarily, if Daniel was restless, he’d get up and walk around the house, or even take a run to jog his brain and recover his lost muse⁸¹. But Laura was home - she had no classes until this afternoon - and that was enough to keep him holed up in his office. It was easier to face down a blank page than to pull from thin air the right words to rebuild a marriage.

His task today was to draw a series of panels in hell with adultery demons⁸² - sinners who had lusted⁸⁴ for each other in life, and in death couldn’t be separated from each other. The irony⁸⁵ of having to draw this, given his own situation, had not been lost on Daniel. He imagined a male and a female torso, each growing out of the same root of a body. He pictured one wing on each of their backs. He saw claws that would reach in to steal a hero’s heart, because that was exactly how it felt.

He was cheating today, drawing the action sequences, because they were the most engaging. He always jumped around the story, to keep himself from overdoing⁸⁶ it on the first panel he drew. But just in case he started running out of time on a deadline, it was easier to draw straight lines and buildings and roads than to dynamically draw a figure.

Daniel began sketching⁸⁷ the outline of an ungainly, birdlike creature, half man and half woman. He roughed in a wing . . . no, too batlike. He was just blowing the eraser rubbings off the Miraweb paper when Laura walked into his office, holding a cup of coffee.

He set down his pencil and leaned back in his chair. Laura rarely visited him in his office. Most of the time, she wasn’t home. And when she was, it was always Daniel seeking her out, instead of the other way around.

“What are you drawing?” she asked, peering down at the panels.

“Nothing good.” “Worried about Trixie?” Daniel rubbed a hand down his face. “How couldn’t I be?” She sank down at his feet, cross-legged. “I know. I keep thinking I hear the phone ring.” She glanced down at her coffee cup, as if she was surprised to find herself clutching it. “Oh,” she said. “I brought this for you.” She never brought him coffee before. He didn’t even really like coffee. But there was Laura with her hand outstretched, offering the steaming mug . . . and in that instant, Daniel could imagine her fingers reaching like a dagger⁸⁸ between his ribs⁸⁹. He could see how a wing that grew from between her shoulder blades might sweep over the muscles of her trapezius, wrapping over her arm like a shawl.

“Do me a favor?” he asked, taking the mug from her. He grabbed a quilt that he kept on the couch in his office and leaned down to pull it around Laura.

“God,” she said. “I haven’t modeled for you in years.” When he was just starting out, he’d pose her a hundred different ways: in her bra and panties holding a water gun; tossed halfway⁹⁰ off the bed; hanging upside down from a tree in the yard. He would wait for the moment when that familiar skin and structure stopped being Laura and became, instead, a twist of sinew and a placement of bone, one he could translate anatomically into a character sprawled⁹¹ just the same way on the page.

“What’s the quilt for?” Laura asked, as he picked up his pencil and started to draw. “You have wings.” “Am I an angel?” Daniel glanced up. “Something like that,” he said. The moment Daniel stopped obsessing⁹² about drawing the wing, it took flight.

He drew fast, the lines pouring out of him. This quick, art was like breath. He couldn’t have told you why he placed the fingers at that angle instead of the more conventional one, but it made the figure seem to move across the panel. “Lift the blanket up a little, so it covers your head,” he instructed.

Laura obliged. “This reminds me of your first story. Only drier.” Daniel’s first paid gig had been a Marvel fill-in for the Ultimate X-Men series. In the event that a regular artist didn’t make deadline, his stand-alone piece would be used without breaking the continuity of the ongoing⁹³ saga⁹⁴.

He’d been given a story about Storm as a young child, harnessing the weather. In the name of research, he and Laura had driven to the shore during a thunderstorm, with Trixie still in her infant seat. They left the sleeping baby in the car and then sat on the beach in the pouring rain with a blanket wrapped around their shoulders, watching the lightning write notes on the sand.

Later that night, on his way back to the car, Daniel had tripped over the strangest tube of glass. It was a fulgurite, Laura told him, sand fused the moment it was struck by lightning. The tube was eight inches long, rough on the outside and smooth through its long throat. Daniel had tucked it into the side of Trixie’s car seat, and even today it was still delicately displayed on her bookshelf.

It had amazed him: that utter transformation⁹⁵, the understanding that radical⁹⁷ change could come in a heartbeat.

Finally, Daniel finished drawing. He put down his pencil, flexed⁹⁸ his hand, and glanced down at the page: This was good; this was better than good. “Thanks,” he said, standing⁹⁶ up to take the blanket off Laura’s shoulders.

She stood, too, and grabbed two corners of the quilt. They folded it in silence, like soldiers with a casket’s flag. When they met in the middle, Daniel went to take the blanket from her, but Laura didn’t let go. She slid her hands along its folded seam until they rested on top of Daniel’s, and then she lifted her face shyly and kissed him.

He didn’t want to touch her. Her body pressed against his through the buffer⁹⁹ of the quilt. But instinct broke over him, a massive wave, and he wrapped his arms so tightly around Laura he could feel her struggling to breathe. His kiss was hungry, violent, a feast for what he’d been missing. It took a moment, and then she came to life beneath him, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt, pulling him closer, consuming him in a way he could not ever remember her doing before.

Before.

With a groan¹⁰⁰, Daniel dragged his mouth from hers, buried his face in the curve of her neck. “Are you thinking about him?” he whispered.

Laura went utterly¹⁰¹ still, and her arms fell away. “No,” she said, her cheeks bright and hot.

Between them on the floor, the quilt was now a heap. Daniel saw a stain on it that he hadn’t noticed before. He bent¹⁰² down and gathered it into his arms. “Well, I am.”

Laura’s eyes filled with tears, and a moment later she walked out of his office. When he heard the door close, Daniel sank down into his chair again. He kept brushing up against the fact that his wife had cheated on him. It was a little like a scar on a polished wooden table - you’d try to see the rest of the gleaming surface, but your eyes and your fingers would be drawn to the pitted part, the one thing that kept it from being perfect.

It was two-fifteen; only another half hour until he picked up Trixie at school. Only a half hour until she could serve as the cushion that kept him and Laura from rubbing each other raw.

But in a half hour, lightning could strike. Wives could fall in love with men who weren’t their husbands. Girls could be raped.

Daniel buried his face in his hands. Between his splayed fingers, he could see the figure he’d sketched¹⁰³. Half of a demon⁸³, she was wrapped in her own single wing. She was the spitting image of Laura. And she was reaching for a heart Daniel couldn’t draw, because he’d forgotten its dimensions years ago.

Jason was missing practice. He sat in the swanky law offices of Yargrove, Bratt & Oosterhaus, wondering what drills Coach was putting the team through. They had a game tomorrow against Gray-New Gloucester, and he was on the starting line.

Trixie had come back to school today. Jason hadn’t seen her - someone had made damn sure of that - but Moss and Zephyr and a dozen other friends had run into her. Apparently¹⁰⁴, she’d practically shaved her head. He’d wondered, on the drive down to Portland, what it would have been like if he had crossed paths with Trixie. The judge at the arraignment¹⁰⁵ had said that was enough cause to have Jason sent to a juvy prison, but he must have meant Jason would be in trouble if he sought Trixie out. . . not if Fate tossed her in his path.

Which is sort of what had happened in the first place.

He still couldn’t believe that this was real, that he was sitting in a lawyers office, that he had been charged with rape. He kept expecting his alarm clock to go off any minute now. He’d drive to school and catch Moss in the hallway and say, Man, you wouldn’t believe the nightmare I had.

Dutch Oosterhaus was talking to his parents, who were wearing their church clothes and were looking at Dutch as if he were Jesus incarnate¹⁰⁶. Jason knew his parents were paying the lawyer with money they’d scrimped together to send him for a PG year at a prep school, so that he’d have a better chance of making a Division I college hockey team. Gould Academy scouts¹⁰⁷ had already come to watch him play; they’d said he was as good as in.

“She was crying,” Dutch said, rolling a fancy pen between his fingers. “She was begging you to get back together with her.”

“Yeah,” Jason replied. “She didn’t. . . she didn’t take the breakup very well. There were times I thought she was losing it.

You know.”

“Do you know if Trixie was seeing a psychiatrist¹⁰⁸?” Dutch made a note to himself. “She might even have talked to a rape crisis counselor. We can subpoena¹⁰⁹ those records for evidence of mental instability.”

Jason didn’t know what Trixie was up to, but he’d never thought she was crazy. Until Friday night’s party, Trixie had been so easy to read that it set her apart from the dozens of girls he’d hooked up with who were in it for the status or the sex or the head games. It was nuts - and this wasn’t something he’d ever admit to his friends - but the best part about being with Trixie had not been the fact that she was, well, hot. It had been knowing that even if he’d never been an athlete or an upperclassman or popular, she still would have wanted to be with him.

He’d liked her, but he hadn’t really loved her. At least he didn’t think he had. There were no lightning bolts across his vision when he saw her across a room, and his general feeling when he was with her was one of comfort, not of blood boiling and fire and brimstone. The reason he’d broken up with her was, ironically, for her own good. He knew that if he’d asked Trixie to drop everything and follow him across the earth, she’d do it; if the roles were reversed, though, he wouldn’t. They were at different places in that same relationship, and like anything that’s out of alignment¹¹¹, they were destined¹¹² to crash sooner or later. By taking care of it early - gently, Jason liked to think - he was only trying to keep Trixie from getting her heart broken even harder.

He certainly felt bad about doing it, though. Just because he didn’t love Trixie didn’t mean he didn’t like her.

And as for the other, well. He was a seventeen-year-old guy, and you didn’t throw away something that was handed to you on a silver platter.

“Walk me through what happened after you found her in Zephyr’s bathroom?” Jason scrubbed his hands over his head, making his hair stand on end. “I offered her a ride home, and she said yes. But then she started crying. I felt bad for her, so I kind of hugged her.”

“Hugged her? How?” Jason lifted up his arms and folded them awkwardly around himself. “Like that.”

“What happened next?” “She came on to me. She kissed me.”

“What did you do?” Dutch asked.

Jason stole a glance at his mother, whose cheeks were candyapple red with embarrassment¹¹³. He couldn’t believe that he had to say these things in front of her. She’d be saying Rosaries for a week straight on his behalf. “I kissed her back. I mean, it was like falling into an old habit, you know? And she clearly was interested . . .”

“Define that,” Dutch interrupted.

“She took off her own shirt,” Jason said, and his mother winced¹¹⁴. “She unbuckled my belt and went down on me.”

Dutch wrote another note on his pad. “She initiated¹¹⁵ oral sex?” “Yeah.”

“Did you reciprocate¹¹⁶?” “No.”

“Did she say anything to you?” Jason felt himself getting hot beneath the collar of his shirt.

“She said my name a lot. And she kept talking about doing this in someone’s living room. But it wasn’t like she was freaked out about it . . . it was more like it was exciting for her, hooking up in someone else’s house.”

“Did she tell you she was interested in having intercourse¹¹⁷?” Jason thought for a second. “She didn’t tell me she wasn’t,” he replied.

“Did she ask you to stop?” “No,” Jason said.

“Did you know she was a virgin¹¹⁸?” Jason felt all the thoughts in his head solidify¹¹⁹ into one hard, black mass, as he understood that he’d been played the fool.

“Yeah,” he said, angry. “Back in October. The first time we had sex.”

Trixie looked like she’d been fighting a war. The minute she threw herself into the truck beside Daniel, he was seized with the urge to storm into the school and demand retribution from the student body that had done this to her. He imagined himself raging through the halls, and then, quickly, shook the vision out of his mind. The last thing Trixie needed, after being raped, was to see that violence could beget¹²⁰ more violence.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he said after they had driven for a few moments.

Trixie shook her head. She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, as if she was trying to make herself as small as possible.

Daniel pulled off the road. He reached over the console to awkwardly draw Trixie into his arms. “You don’t have to go back,” he promised. “Ever.” Her tears soaked through his flannel¹²¹ shirt.

He would teach Trixie at home, if he had to. He would find her a tutor. He would pick up the whole family and move.

Janice, the sexual assault advocate, had warned him against just that. She said that fathers and brothers always wanted to protect the victim after the fact, because they felt guilty about not doing it right the first time. But if Daniel fought Trixie’s battles, she might never figure out for herself how to be strong again.

Well, fuck Janice. She didn’t have a daughter who’d been raped.

And even if she did, it wasn’t Trixie.

Suddenly there was the sound of glass breaking, as a car drove by and the boys inside threw a six-pack of empty beer bottles at the truck. “Whore!” The word was yelled through open windows.

Daniel saw the retreating taillights of a Subaru. The backseat passenger reached through his window to high-five the driver.

Daniel let go of Trixie and stepped out of the car onto the shoulder of the road. Beneath his shoes, glass crunched¹²². The bottles had scratched the paint on the door of the truck, had shattered under his tires. The word they’d called his daughter still hung in the air.

He had an artist’s visionof Duncan, his hero, turning into Wildclaw . . . this time in the shape of a jaguar¹²³. He imagined what it would be like to run faster than the wind, to race around the tight corner and leap through the narrow opening of the driver’s side window. He pictured the car, careening wildly. He smelled their fear. He went for blood.

Instead, Daniel leaned down and picked up the biggest pieces of glass. He carefully cleared a path, so that he could get Trixie back home.

The night that Trixie met Jason, she’d had the flu. Her parents had been at some fancy shindig at Marvel headquarters in New York City, and she was spending the night at Zephyr’s house. Zephyr had wangled her way into an upperclass party that evening, and it had been all the two of them could talk about. But no sooner had school let out than Trixie started throwing up.

“I think I’m going to die,” Trixie had told Zephyr.

“Not before you hang out with seniors,” Zephyr said.

They told Zephyr’s mother that they were going to study for an algebra¹²⁴ test with Bettina Majuradee, the smartest girl in ninth grade, who in reality wouldn’t have given them the time of day.

They walked two miles to the house party, which was being held by a guy named Orson. Twice, Trixie had to double up at the side of the road and barf into some bushes. “Actually, this is cool,” Zephyr had told her. “They’re going to think you’re already trashed.”

The party was a writhing¹²⁵, pulsing mass of noise and bodies and motion. Trixie moved from a quartet of gyrating girls to a table of faceless guys playing the drinking game Beirut, to a posse of kids trying to make a pyramid out of empty cans of Bud. Within fifteen minutes, she felt feverish¹²⁶ and dizzy and headed to the bathroom to be sick.

Five minutes later, she opened up the door and started down the hallway, intent on finding Zephyr and leaving. “Do you believe in love at first sight,” a voice asked, “or should I ask you to walk by me again?” Trixie glanced down to find a guy sitting on the floor, his back to the wall. He was wearing a T-shirt so faded she couldn’t read the writing on it. His hair was jet-black, and his eyes were the color of ice, but it was his smile - lopsided, as if it had been built on a slope - that made her heart hitch¹²⁷.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” he said.

Trixie suddenly lost the power of conversation.

“I’m Jason.”

“I’m sick,” Trixie blurted¹²⁸ out, cursing herself the minute she heard the words. Could she sound any stupider if she tried? But Jason had just grinned, off-kilter, again. “Well, then,” he’d said, and started it all. “I guess I need to make you feel better.”

Zephyr Santorelli-Weinstein worked at a toy store. She was affixing¹²⁹ UPC codes for prices onto the feet of stuffed animals when Mike Bartholemew arrived to talk to her. “So,” he said, after introducing himself. “Is now a good time?” He looked around the store. There were science kits¹³⁰ and dress-up clothes and Legos, marble chutes and paint-your-own beanbag chair kits and baby dolls that cried on command.

“I guess,” Zephyr said.

“You want to sit down?” But the only place to sit was a little kidsized tea table, set with Madeline china and plastic cupcakes.

Bartholemew could imagine his knees hitting his chin or, worse, getting down and never getting back up again.

“I’m good,” Zephyr said. She put down the gun that affixed¹³¹ the UPC labels and folded her arms around a fluffy¹³² polar bear.

Bartholemew looked at her stretch button-down shirt and stacked heels, her eye makeup¹³³, her scarlet¹³⁴ nail polish, the toy in her arms. He thought, This is exactly the problem. “I appreciate you talking to me.”

“My mothers making me do it.”

“Guess she wasn’t thrilled to find out about your little party.” “She’s less thrilled that you turned the living room into some kind of crime scene.”

“Well,” Bartholemew said, “it is one.”

Zephyr snorted. She picked up the sticker gun and started tagging the animals again.

“I understand that you and Trixie Stone have been friends for a while.”

“Since we were five.”

“She mentioned that just before the incident occurred, you two were having an argument.” He paused. “What were you fighting about?” She looked down at the counter. “I don’t remember.”

“Zephyr,” the detective said, “if you’ve got details for me, it might help corroborate¹³⁵ your friend’s story.”

“We had a plan,” Zephyr sighed. “She wanted to make Jason jealous. She was trying to get him back, to hook up with him. That was the whole point. Or at least that’s what she told me.”

“What do you mean?” “Well, I guess she meant to screw Jason in more ways than one.”

“Did she say she intended to have intercourse that night?” “She told me she was willing to do whatever it took,” Zephyr said, Bartholemew looked at her. “Did you see Trixie and Jason having sex?” “I’m not into peep shows. I was upstairs.”

“Alone?” “With a guy. Moss Minton.”

“What were you doing?” Zephyr glanced up at the detective. “Nothing.”

“Were you and Moss having sex?” “Did my mother ask you to ask me that?” she said, narrowing her eyes.

“Just answer the question.”

“No, all right?” Zephyr said. “We were going to. I mean, I figured we were going to. But Moss passed out first.”

“And you?” She shrugged. “I guess I fell asleep eventually, too.”

“When?” “I don’t know. Two-thirty? Three?” Bartholemew looked at his notes. “Could you hear the music in your bedroom?” Zephyr stared at him dully. “What music?” “The CDs you were playing during your party. Could you hear that upstairs?” “No. By the time we got upstairs, someone had turned them off.”

Zephyr gathered the stack of stuffed animals, holding them in her arms like a bounty¹³⁶, and walked toward an empty shelf. “That’s why I figured Jason and Trixie had gone home.”

“Did you hear Trixie scream for help?” For the first time since he’d started speaking to her, Bartholemew saw Zephyr at a loss for words. “If I’d heard that,” Zephyr said, her voice wavering the tiniest bit, “I would have gone downstairs.” She set the bears down side by side, so that they were nearly touching¹³⁷. “But the whole night, it was dead quiet.”

Until Laura met Daniel, she had never done anything wrong.

She’d gotten straight As in school. She’d been known to pick up other people’s litter. She’d never had a cavity.

She was a graduate student at ASU, dating an MBA named Walter who had already taken her to three jewelry¹³⁸ stores to get her feedback on engagement rings. Walter was attractive, secure, and predictable. On Friday nights, they always went out to dinner, switched their entrees¹³⁹ halfway through the meal, and then went to see a movie. They alternated picking the films. Afterward, over coffee, they talked about the quality of the acting¹⁴⁰. Then Walter would drive her back to her apartment in Tempe and after a bout¹⁶ of predictable sex he’d go home because he didn’t like to sleep in other people’s beds.

One Friday, when they went to the movie theater, it was closed because of a burst water main. She and Walter decided to walk down Mill Avenue instead, where on warm nights buskers littered the streets with their violin cases and their impromptu¹⁴¹ juggling¹⁴².

There were several artists too, sketching in pencil, sketching in charcoal¹⁴³, making caricatures with Magic Markers that smelled like licorice. Walter gravitated toward one man, bent over his pad. The artist had black hair that reached down to the middle of his back and ink all over his hands. Behind him was a makeshift cardboard stand, onto which he’d pinned dynamic drawings of Batman and Superman and Wolverine. “These are amazing,” Walter said, and Laura had thought at the time that she’d never seen him get so excited about something. “I used to collect comics as a kid.” When the artist looked up, he had the palest blue eyes, and they were focused on Laura. “Ten bucks¹⁴⁴ for a sketch,” he said. Walter put his arm around Laura. “Can you do one of her?” Before she knew it, she’d been seated on an overturned milk crate¹⁴⁵. A crowd gathered to watch as the sketch took shape. Laura glanced over at Walter, wishing that he hadn’t suggested this. She startled when she felt the artist’s fingers curl around her chin, turning her face forward again. “Don’t move,” he warned, and she could smell nicotine¹⁴⁶ and whiskey.

He gave the drawing to Laura when he was finished. She had the body of a superhero - muscular and able - but her hair and face and neck were all her own. A galaxy¹⁴⁷ swirled¹⁴⁸ around her feet. There were people sketched into the background - the crowd that had gathered. Walter’s face was nearly off the edge of the page.

Beside the figure of Laura, however, was a man who looked just like the artist. “So that you’ll be able to find me one day,” he said, and she felt as if a storm had blown up inside her.

Laura looked at Walter, holding out his ten-dollar bill. She lifted her chin. “What makes you think I’ll be looking?” The artist grinned. “Wishful thinking.”

When they left Mill Avenue, Laura told Walter it was the worst sketch she’d ever seen - her calves¹⁴⁹ weren’t that big, and she’d never be caught dead wearing thigh-high boots. She planned to go home and throw it in the trash. But instead, that night, Laura found herself staring at the bold strokes of the artist’s signature: Daniel Stone. She examined the picture more closely and noticed what she hadn’t the first time around: In the folds of the cape¹⁵⁰ the man had drawn were a few lines darker than the rest, which clearly spelled out the word MEET.

In the toe of the left boot was ME.

She scrutinized¹⁵¹ the sketch, scanning the crowd for more of the message. She found the letters AT on the rings of the planet in the upper left corner. And in the collar of the shirt worn by the man who looked like Walter was the word HELL.

It felt like a slap in the face, as if he knew she’d be reading into the drawing he’d made. Angry, Laura buried the sketch in her kitchen trash can. But she tossed and turned all night, deconstructing the language in the art. You wouldn’t say meet me at hell; you’d say meet me in hell. In suggested submersion, at was an approach to a place. Had this not been a rejection¹⁵², then, but an invitation? The next day, she pulled the sketch out from the trash, and sat down with the Phoenix¹⁵³ area phone book.

Hell was at 358 Wylie Street.

She borrowed a magnifying glass from an ASU biology lab but couldn’t find any more clues in the drawing regarding a time or date. That afternoon, once she finished her classes, Laura made her way to Wylie Street. Hell turned out to be a narrow space between two larger buildings - one a head shop with bongs in the window, the other a XXX video store. The jammed little frontage had no windows, just a graffiti-riddled door. In lieu of a formal sign, there was a plank¹⁵⁴ with the name of the establishment hand-lettered in blue paint.

Inside, the room was thin and long, able to accommodate a bar and not much else. The walls were painted black. In spite of the fact that it was three in the afternoon, there were six people sitting at the bar, some of whom Laura could not assign to one gender¹⁵⁵ or the other. As the sunlight cracked through the open doorway¹⁵⁶, they turned to her, squinting¹⁵⁷, moles¹⁵⁸ coming up from the belly of the earth.

Daniel Stone sat closest to the door. He raised one eyebrow¹⁵⁹ and stubbed out his cigarette on the wood of the bar. “Have a seat.”

She held out her hand. “I’m Laura Piper.”

He looked at her hand, amused, but didn’t shake it. She crawled onto the stool and folded her purse into her lap. “Have you been waiting long?” she asked, as if this were a business meeting.

He laughed. The sound made her think of summer dust, kicked up by tires on a dirt road. “My whole life.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that. “You didn’t give me a specific time . . .”

His eyes lit up. “But you found the rest. And I pretty much live here, anyway.”

“Are you from Phoenix?” “Alaska.”

To a girl who’d grown up on the outskirts¹⁶¹ of the desert, there was nothing more remarkable¹⁶² or idealistically romantic. She pictured snow and polar bears. Eskimos. “What made you come here?” He shrugged. “Up there, you learn the blues¹⁶³. I needed to see reds.” It took Laura a moment to realize that he was talking about colors and his drawing. He lit another cigarette. It bothered her she wasn’t used to people smoking around her - but she didn’t know how to ask him not to. “So,” he said. “Laura.”

Nervous, she began to fill in the silence between them. “There was a poet who had a Laura as his muse. Petrarch. His sonnets¹⁶⁴ are really beautiful.” Daniel’s mouth curved. “Are they, now.”

She didn’t know if he was making fun of her, and now she was conscious of other people in the bar listening to their conversation, and frankly¹⁶⁵, she couldn’t remember why she’d ever come here in the first place. She was just about to get up when the bartender set a shot of something clear in front of her.

“Oh,” she said. “I don’t drink.”

Without missing a beat, Daniel reached over and drained the shot glass.

She was fascinated by him, in the same way that an entomologist would be fascinated by an insect from the far side of the earth, a specimen¹⁶⁶ she had read about but never imagined she’d hold in the palm of her hand. There was an unexpected thrill to being this close “Don’t we?” Daniel approached her, pinning the door shut with one arm. “Did you tell your boyfriend you were coming to see me?” When Laura remained stone-silent, he laughed.

Laura stilled underneath¹⁶⁷ the weight of the truth: She had lied not only to Walter but also to herself. She had come here of her own free will; she had come here because she couldn’t stand the thought of not coming. But what if the reason Daniel Stone fascinated her had nothing to do with difference . . . but similarity? What if she recognized in him parts of herself that had been there all along, underneath the surface? What if Daniel Stone was right? She stared up at him, her heart hammering. “What would you have done if I hadn’t come here today?” His blue eyes darkened.

“Waited.”

She was awkward, and she was self-conscious, but Laura took a step toward him. She thought of Madame Bovary and of Juliet, of poison running through your bloodstream, of passion doing the same.

Mike Bartholemew was pacing around near the emergency room’s Coke machine when he heard his name being called. He glanced up to find a tiny woman with a cap of dark hair facing him, her hands buried in the pockets of her white physician’s coat. C. Roth, M.D.

“I was hoping to talk to you about Trixie Stone,” he said. , She nodded, glancing at the crowd around them. “Why don’t we go into one of the empty exam rooms?” There was nowhere Mike wanted to be less. The last time he’d been in one, it was to ID his daughter’s body. He had no sooner walked across the threshold than he started to weave and feel the room spin. “Are you all right?” the doctor asked, as he steadied himself against the examination table. “It’s nothing.” “Let me get you something to drink.”

She was gone for only a few seconds and came back bearing a paper cone¹⁶⁸ from a water cooler. When Mike finished drinking, he crushed the cup in his hand. “Must be a flu going around,” he said, trying to dismiss his own weakness. “I’ve got a few follow-up questions based on your medical report.”

“Fire away.”

Mike took a pad and pen out of his coat pocket. “You said that Trixie Stone’s demeanor¹⁶⁹ was calm when she was here?” “Yes, until the pelvic exam . . . she got a bit upset at that.

But during the rest of the exam she was very quiet.”

“Not hysterical¹⁷⁰?” “Not all rape victims come in that way,” the doctor said. “Some are in shock.”

“Was she bleeding?” “Minimally.”

“Shouldn’t there have been more, if she was a virgin?” The doctor shrugged. “A hymen can break when a girl is eight years old, riding a bike. There doesn’t have to be blood the first time there’s intercourse.”

“But you also said there was no significant internal trauma¹⁷¹,” Mike said.

The doctor frowned at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be on her side?” “I don’t take sides,” Mike said. “But I do try to make sense of the facts, and before we have a rape case, I need to make sure that I’ve ruled out inconsistencies.”

“Well, you’re talking about an organ that’s made for accommodation. Just because there wasn’t visible internal trauma doesn’t mean there wasn’t intercourse without consent.”

Mike looked down at the examination table, uncomfortable, and suddenly could see the still, swathed form of his daughters battered¹⁷² body. One arm, which had slipped off to hang toward the floor, with its black user’s bruise³⁶ in the crook¹⁷³ of the elbow.

“Her arm,” Mike murmured.

“The cuts? I photographed them for you. The lacs were still oozing¹⁷⁴ when she came in,” the doctor said, “but she couldn’t remember seeing a weapon during the attack.”

Mike took the Polaroid out of his pocket, the one that showed Trixie’s left wrist. There was the deep cut that Dr. Roth was describing, still angry and red as a mouth, but if you looked carefully you could also see the silver herringbone pattern of older scars. “Is there any chance Trixie Stone did this to herself?” “It’s a possibility. We see a lot of cutting in teenage girls these days. But it still doesn’t preclude¹⁷⁵ the fact that Trixie was sexually assaulted.”

“You’d be willing to testify to that?” Mike asked. The doctor folded her arms. “Have you ever sat in on a female rape kit⁶⁶ collection, Detective?” She knew, of course, that Mike hadn’t. He couldn’t, as a man.

“It takes over an hour and involves not just a thorough external examination but a painfully thorough internal one as well. It involves having your body scrutinized under UV light and swabbed for evidence. It involves photography. It involves being asked intimate details about your sexual habits. It involves having your clothes confescated. I’ve been an ER OB/GYN for fifteen years, Detective, and I have yet to see the woman who’d be willing to suffer through a sexaual assault exam just for the hell of it.”

She glanced up at Mike. “Yes,” Dr. Roth said. “I’ll testify.”

Janice didn’t just have tea in her office. She had Toolong, Sleepytime, and orange pekoe. Darjeeling, rooibos, and sencha.

Dragon Well, macha, gunpowder¹⁷⁶, jasmine, Keemun. Lapsang souchong: Yunnan and Nilgiri. “What would you like?” she asked, Trixie hugged a throw pillow to her chest. “Coffee.”

“Like I haven’t heard that before.”

Trixie had come to this appointment reluctantly. Her father had dropped her off and would be back to get her at five. “What if I have nothing to say?” Trixie had asked him the minute before she got out of the car. But as it turned out, since she’d sat down, she hadn’t shut up. She’d told Janice about her conversation with Zephyr and the way Moss had looked through her like she was a ghost. She’d talked about the condoms in her locker and why she hadn’t reported them to the principal. She talked about how, even when people weren’t whispering behind her back, she could still hear them doing it.

Janice settled down onto a heap of pillows on the floor - her office was shared by four different sexual assault advocates and was full of soft edges and things you could hug if you needed to.

“It sounds to me like Zephyr’s a little confused right now,” Janice said. “She thinks she has to pick between you and Moss, so she isn’t going to be a viable¹⁷⁷ form of support.”

“Well,” Trixie said, “that leaves my mom and dad, and I can’t quite go dragging them to school with me.”

“What about your other friends?” Trixie worried the fringe of the pillow on her lap. “I sort of stopped spending time with them when I started hanging out with Jason.”

“You must have missed them.”

She shook her head. “I was so wrapped up in Jason, there wasn’t room for anything else.” Trixie looked up at Janice. “That’s love, isn’t it?” “Did Jason ever tell you he loved you?” “I told him once.” She sat up and reached for the tea that Janice had given her, even though she’d said she didn’t want any.

The mug was smooth in her palms, radiant with heat. Trixie wondered if this was what it felt like to hold a heart. “He said he loved me too.”

“When was that?” October fourteenth, at nine thirty-nine P.M. They had been in the back row of a movie theater holding hands, watching a teen slasher flick¹⁷⁹. She had been wearing Zephyr’s blue mohair sweater, the one that made her boobs look bigger than they actually were. Jason had bought Sour Patch Kids and she was drinking Sprite. But Trixie thought that telling Janice the details that had been burned into her mind might make her sound too pathetic, so instead she just said, “About a month after we got together.”

“Did he tell you he loved you after that?” Trixie had waited for him to say it first, without prompting, but Jason hadn’t. And she hadn’t said it again, because she was too afraid he wouldn’t say it back.

She had thought she heard him whisper it afterward, the other night, but she was so numb⁷⁵ by then she still was not entirely¹⁸⁰ sure she hadn’t just made it up to soften¹⁸¹ the blow of what had happened.

“How did you two break up?” Janice asked.

They had been standing in Jason’s kitchen, eating M&M’s out of a bowl on the table. I think it might be a good thing if we saw other people, he had said, when five seconds earlier they had been talking about a teacher who was taking the rest of the year off to be with the baby she’d adopted from Romania. Trixie hadn’t been able to breathe, and her mind spun¹⁸² frantically¹⁸³ to figure out what she had done wrong. It isn’t you, Jason had said. But he was perfect, so how could that be true? He said he wanted them to stay friends, and she nodded, even though she knew it was impossible. How was she supposed to smile as she passed by him at school, when she wanted to collapse¹⁸⁵? How could she unhear his promises? The night Jason broke up with her, they had gone to his house to hook up - his folks were out. Afraid that her parents might do something stupid, like call, Trixie had told them that a whole bunch of kids were going to a movie. And so, after Jason dropped the bomb, Trixie was forced to spend another two hours in his company, until the time the movie would have been over, when all she really wanted to do was hide underneath her covers and cry herself dry.

“When Jason broke up with you,” Janice asked, “what did you do to make yourself feel better?” Cut. The word popped into Trixie’s mind so fast that only at the very last moment did she press her lips together to keep it inside. But at the same time, she subconsciously¹⁸⁶ slid her right hand over her left wrist.

Janice had been watching too closely. She reached for Trixies arm and inched up the cuff¹⁸⁷ of her shirt. “So that didn’t happen during the rape.”

“No.”

“Why did you tell the doctor in the emergency room that it did?” Trixies eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t want her to think I was crazy.”

After Jason broke up with her, Trixie lost any semblance¹⁸⁸ of emotional control. She’d find herself sobbing¹⁸⁹ when a certain song came on the car radio and have to make up excuses to her father.

She would walk by Jason’s locker in the hope that she might accidentally cross paths with him. She’d find the one computer in the library whose screen in the sunlight mirrored the table behind her, and she’d watch Jason in its reflection while she pretended to type. She was swimming in tar⁶, when the rest of the world, including Jason had so seamlessly moved on.

“I was in the bathroom one day,” Trixie confessed, “and I opened up the medicine cabinet and saw my father’s razor blades. I just did it without thinking. But it felt so good to take my mind off everything else. It was a kind of pain that made sense.”

“There are constructive¹⁹⁰ ways to deal with depression . . .”

“It’s crazy, right?” Trixie interrupted. “To love someone who’s hurt you?” “It’s crazier to think that someone who hurts you loves you,” Janice replied.

Trixie lifted her mug. The tea was cold now. She held it in a way that blocked her face, so that Janice wouldn’t be able to look her in the eye. If she did, surely she’d see the one last secret Trixie had managed to keep: that after That Night, she hated Jason . . . but she hated herself more. Because even after what had happened, there was a part of Trixie that still wanted him back.

From the Letters to the Editor page of the Portland Press Herald¹⁹¹: To the Editors: We would like to express our shock and anger at the allegations leveled against Jason Underhill. Anyone who knows Jason understands that he doesn’t have a violent bone in his body. If rape is a crime of violence and dominance over another person, shouldn’t there then be signs of violence? While Jason’s life has been brought to a screeching¹⁹² halt, the so-called victim in this case continues to walk around undeterred.

While Jason is being redrawn as a monster, this victim is seemingly absent of the symptoms associated with a sexual assault.

Might this not be a rape after all... but a case of a young girl’s remorse¹⁹³ after making a decision she wished she hadn’t? If the town of Bethel was to pass judgment on this case, Jason Underhill would surely be found innocent.

Sincerely, Thirteen anonymous¹⁹⁴ educators from Bethel H.S and fifty-six additional signatories Superheroes were born in the minds of people desperate to be resurrected. The first, and arguably the most legendary¹⁹⁵, arrived in the 1930s, care of Shuster and Siegel, two unemployed¹⁹⁶, apprehensive¹⁹⁷ Jewish immigrants who couldn’t get work at a newspaper. They imagined a loser who only had to whip off his glasses and step into a phone booth to morph into a paragon¹⁹⁸ of manliness¹⁹⁹, a world where the geek got the girl at the end. The public, reeling from the Depression, embraced Superman, who took them away from a bleak²⁰⁰ reality.

Daniel’s first comic book had been about leaving, too. It had grown from a Yup’ik story about a hunter who stupidly set out alone and speared a walrus²⁰¹. The hunter knew he couldn’t haul it in by himself, yet if he didn’t let go of the rope it would drag him down and kill him. The hunter decided to release the line, but his hands had frozen into position and he was pulled underwater. Instead of drowning, though, he sank to the bottom of the sea and became a walrus himself.

Daniel started to draw the comic book at recess²⁰² one day, after he was kept inside because he’d punched a kid who teased him for his blue eyes. He’d absently picked up a pencil and drew a figure that started in the sea - all flippers and tusks²⁰³ - and evolved toward shore to standing position, gradually developing the arms and legs and face of a man. He drew and he drew, watching his hero break away from his village in a way that Daniel couldn’t himself.

He couldn’t seem to escape these days, either. In the wake of Trixie’s rape, Daniel had gotten precious little drawing done. At this point, the only way he would make his deadline was if he stayed awake 24/7 and managed to magically add a few hours to each day. He hadn’t called Marvel, though, to break the bad news.

Explaining why he had been otherwise occupied would somehow make what had happened to Trixie more concrete.

When the phone rang at seven-thirty A.M., Daniel grabbed for it. Trixie was not going to school today, and Daniel wanted her to stay blessedly unconscious for as long as humanly possible. “You got something to tell me?” the voice on the other end demanded.

Daniel broke out in a cold sweat. “Paulie,” he said. “What’s up?” Paulie Goldman was Daniel’s longtime editor, and a legend.

Known for his ever-present cigar and red bow tie, he’d been a crony of all the great men in the business: Stan Lee, Jack²⁰⁴ Kirby, Steve Ditko. These days, he’d be just as likely to be found grabbing a Reuben at his favorite corner deli with Alan Moore, Todd McFarlane, or Neil Caiman.

It had been Paulie who’d jumped all over Daniel’s idea to bring a graphic²⁰⁵ novel back to former comic book fans who were now adults, and to let Daniel not only pencil the art but also write a story line that might appeal to them. He’d gotten Marvel on board, although they were leery at first. Like all publishers, trying something that hadn’t been done before was considered anathema²⁰⁶ - unless you succeeded, in which case you were called revolutionary.

But given the marketing²⁰⁷ that Marvel had put behind the Wildclaw series, to miss a deadline would be catastrophic.

“Have you happened to read the latest Lying in the Gutters²⁰⁸?” Paulie asked.

He was referring to an online trade gossip column by Rich Johnston. The title was a double entendre - gutters were the spaces between panels, the structure that made a comic illustration a comic illustration. Johnston encouraged “gutterati” to send him scoop²⁰⁹ to post in his articles, and “guttersnipes” to spread the word across the Internet. With the phone crooked²¹⁰ against his shoulder, Daniel pulled up the Web page on his computer and scanned the headlines. A Story That’s Not About Marvel Editorial, he read.

The DC Purchase of Flying Pig Comics That Isn’t Going to Happen.

You Saw It Here Second: In The Weeds, the new title from Crawl ^^ace, will be drawn by Evan Hohman . . . but the pages are already popping up on eBay.

And on the very bottom: Wildclaw Sheathed²¹¹? Daniel leaned toward the screen. I understand that Daniel Stone, Kid of the Moment, has drawn . . . count ‘em, folks . . .

ZERO pages toward his next Tenth Circle deadline. Was the hype really just a hoax²¹²? What good’s a great series when there’s nothing new to read? “This is bullshit,” Daniel said. “I’ve been drawing.”

“How much?” “It’ll get done, Paulie.”

“How much?” “Eight pages.”

“Eight pages? You’ve got to get me twenty-two by the end of the week if it’s going to get inked on time.”

“I’ll ink it myself if I have to.”

“Yeah? Will you run it off on Xerox²¹³ machines and take it to the distributor too? For God’s sake, Danny. This isn’t high school.

The dog isn’t allowed to eat your homework.” He paused, then said, “I know you’re a last-minute guy, but this isn’t like you. What’s going on?” How do you explain to a man who’d made a life out of fantasy that sometimes reality came crashing down? In comics, heroes escaped and villains²¹⁴ lost and not even death was permanent. “The series,” Daniel said quietly. “It’s taking a little bit of a turn.”

“What do you mean?” “The storyline. It’s becoming more . . . family oriented.”

Paulie was silent for a moment, thinking this over. “Family’s good,” he mused¹⁶⁰. “You mean a plot that would bring parents and their kids together?” Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger²¹⁵. “I hope so,” he said.

Trixie was systematically²¹⁶ removing all traces of Jason from her bedroom. She tossed into the trash the first note he’d passed her in class. The goofy reel of pictures they’d taken at a booth at Old Orchard²¹⁷ Beach. The green felt blotter on her desk, where she could feel the impression of his name, after writing it dozens of times on paper.

It was when she went to throw the blotter out in the recycle bin²² that she saw the newspaper, the page open to the letter her parents had not wanted her to see.

“If the town of Bethel was to pass judgment on this case,” Trixie read, “Jason Underhill would surely be found innocent.”

What they hadn’t said, in that awful editorial letter, was that this town had already tried and judged the wrong person. She ran upstairs again, to her computer, and connected to the Internet.

She looked up the Web page for the Portland Press Herald and started to type a rebuttal letter.

To Whom It May Concern, Trixie wrote.

I know it is the policy of your paper to keep victims who are minors²¹⁸ anonymous. But I’m one of those minors, and instead of having people guess, I want them to know my name.

She thought of a dozen other girls who might read this, girls who had been too scared to tell anyone what had happened to them.

Or the dozen girls who had told someone and who could read this and find the courage they needed to get through one more day of the hell that was high school. She thought of the boys who would think twice before taking something that wasn’t theirs.

My name is Trixie Stone, she typed.

She watched the letters quiver on the page; she read the spaces between the words - all of which reminded her that she was a coward. Then she hit the delete button.

The phone rang just as Laura walked into the kitchen. By the time she’d picked up, so had Daniel on an upstairs connection.

“I’m looking for Laura Stone,” the caller said, and she dropped the glass she was holding into the sink.

“I’ve got it,” Laura said. She waited for Daniel to hang up.

“I miss you,” Seth replied.

She didn’t answer right away; she couldn’t. What if she hadn’t picked up the phone? Would Seth have started chatting up Daniel? Would he have introduced himself? “Do not ever call here again,” Laura whispered.

“I need to talk to you.”

Her heart was beating so hard she could barely hear her own voice. “I can’t.”

“Please. Laura. It’s important.”

Daniel walked into the kitchen and poured himself some water.

“Please take me off your call list,” Laura said, and she hung up.

In retrospect²¹⁹ Laura realized that she’d dated Daniel through osmosis, taking a little of his recklessness and making it part of herself. She broke up with Walter and began sleeping through classes. She started smoking. She peppered Daniel with questions about the past he wouldn’t discuss. She learned how her own body could be an instrument, how Daniel could play a symphony over her skin.

Then she found out she was pregnant.

At first, she thought that the reason she didn’t tell Daniel was because she feared he’d run. Gradually, though, she realized that she hadn’t told Daniel because she was the one considering flight. Reality kicked at Laura with a vengeance²²⁰, now that responsibility had caught up to her. At twenty-four years old, what was she doing staying up all night to bet on cockfights in the basement of a tenement²²¹? What good would it be in the long run if she could lay claim to finding the best tequila over the border but her doctoral thesis was dead in the water? It had been one thing to flirt²²² with the dark side; it was another thing entirely to set down roots there.

Parents didn’t take their baby trolling the streets after midnight. They didn’t live out of the back of a car. They couldn’t buy formula and cereal and clothes with the happenstance cash that dribbled²²³ in from sketches²²⁴ done here and there. Although Daniel could currently pull Laura like a tide to the moon, she couldn’t imagine them together ten years from now. She was forced to consider the startling fact that the love of her life might not actually be someone with whom she could spend a lifetime.

When Laura broke up with Daniel, she convinced herself she was doing both of them a favor. She did not mention the baby, although she had known all along she would keep it. Sometimes she’d find herself losing hours at a time, wondering if her child would have the same pale wolf-eyes as its father. She threw out her cigarettes and started wearing sweater sets again and driving with her seat belt fastened. She folded Daniel neatly²²⁵ away in her mind and pretended not to think about him.

A few months later, Laura came home to find Daniel waiting at her condo. He took one look at her maternity²²⁶ top and then, furious, grabbed her by her upper arms. “How could you not tell me about this?” Laura panicked, wondering if she’d misinterpreted the jagged edge of his personality all along. What if he wasn’t just wild, but truly dangerous? “I figured it was best if . . .”

“What were you going to tell the baby?” Daniel said. “About me?” “I... hadn’t gotten that far.”

Laura watched him carefully. Daniel had turned into someone she couldn’t quite recognize. This wasn’t just some Bad Boy out to kick the system - this was someone so deeply upset that he’d forgotten to cover the scars.

He sank down onto the front steps. “My mother told me that my dad died before I was born. But when I was eleven, the mail plane brought a letter addressed to me.” Daniel glanced up. “You don’t get money from ghosts.”

Laura crouched²²⁷ down beside him.

“The postmarks were always different, but after that first letter he’d send cash every month. He never talked about why he wasn’t here, with us. He’d talk about what the salt mountains looked like in Utah, or how cold the Mississippi River was when you stepped into it barefoot. He said that one day he’d take me to all those places, so I could see for myself,” Daniel said. “I waited for years, you know, and he never came to get me.”

He turned to Laura. “My mother said she’d lied because she thought it would be easier to hear that my father was dead than to hear he hadn’t wanted a family. I don’t want our baby to have a father like that.”

“Daniel,” she confessed, “I’m not sure if I want our baby to have a father like you.”

He reared back, as if he’d been slapped. Slowly, he got to his feet and walked away.

Laura spent the next week crying. Then one morning, when she went out to get the newspaper, she found Daniel asleep on the front steps of her condo. He stood up, and she could not stop staring: His shoulder-length hair had been cut military-short; he was wearing khaki pants and a blue oxford²²⁸ cloth shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He held out a stub of paper. “It’s the check I just deposited,” Daniel explained. “I got a job working at Atomic Comics. They gave me a week’s salary in advance.”

Laura listened, her resolve cracking wide open. What if she was not the only one who had been fascinated by a personality different from her own? What if all the time that she’d been absorbing Daniel’s wildness, he’d been looking to her for redemption? What if love wasn’t the act of finding what you were missing but the give-and-take that made you both match? “I don’t have enough cash yet,” Daniel continued, “but when I do, I’m going to take art courses at the community college.” He reached for Laura, so that their child was balanced between them.

“Please,” he whispered. “What if that baby’s the best part of me?” “You don’t want to do this,” Laura said, even as she moved closer to him. “You’ll hate me one day, for ruining your life.”

“My life was ruined a long time ago,” Daniel said. “And I’ll never hate you.”

They got married at the city hall, and Daniel was completely true to his word. He quit smoking and drinking, cold turkey. He came to every OB appointment. Four months later, when Trixie was born, he doted over her as if she were made of sunlight. While Laura taught undergrads during the day, Daniel played with Trixie in the park an at the zoo. At night, he took classes and began doing freelance graphic art, before working for Marvel. He followed Laura from a teaching position in San Diego to one at Marquette to the current one in Maine. He had dinner waiting when she came home from lecturing; he stuffed caricatures of Trixie as SuperBaby in the pockets of her briefcase²²⁹; he never forgot her birthday. He was, in fact, so perfect that she wondered if the wild in Daniel had only been an act to attract her. But then she would remember the strangest things out of the blue: a night when Daniel had bitten her so hard during sex he’d drawn blood; the sound of him fighting off imaginary enemies in the thick of a nightmare; the time he had tattooed²³⁰ Laura’s body with Magic Markers - snakes and hydras down her arms, a demon in flight at the small of her back. A few years ago, wistful, she had gone so far as to bring one of his inking pens to bed. “You know how hard it is to get that stuff off your skin?” Daniel had said, and that was the end of that.

 Laura knew she had no right to complain. There were women in this world whose husbands beat them, who cried themselves to sleep because their spouses²³¹ were alcoholics²³² or gamblers. There were men in this world whose partners had said “I love you” fewer times in a lifetime than Daniel would in a week. Laura could shift the blame any old way she liked, but the stiff wind of truth would send it back to her: She hadn’t ruined Daniel’s life by asking him to change. She had ruined her own.

Mike Bartholemew glanced at the tape recorder to make sure it was still running.

“She was all over me,” Moss Minton said. “Putting her hands in my hair, lap dancing, that kind of stuff.”

The kid had come down willingly, at Mike’s request, to talk.

But less than five minutes into the conversation, it was clear that anything that came out of Moss’s mouth was going to be unduly²³³ colored allegiance to Jason Underhill.

“I don’t know how to say this without sounding like a total jerk,” Moss said, “but Trixie was asking for it.”

Bartholemew leaned back in his chair. “You know this for a fact.”

“Well... yeah.”

“Did you have intercourse with Trixie that night?” “No.”

“Then you must have been in the room when your friend was having sex with her,” Bartholemew said. “Or how else would you have heard her consent?” “I wasn’t in the room, dude,” Moss said. “But neither were you.

Maybe I didn’t hear her say yes, but you didn’t hear her say no, either.”

Bartholemew turned off the tape recorder. “Thanks for coming in.”

“We’re done?” Moss said, surprised. “That’s it?” “That’s it.” The detective took a card out of his pocket and handed it to Moss. “If you happen to think of anything else you need to tell me, just call.”

“Bartholemew,” Moss read aloud. “I used to have a babysitter named Holly Bartholemew. I think I was around nine or ten.”

“My daughter.”

“No kidding? Does she still live around here?” Mike hesitated. “Not anymore.”

Moss stuffed the business card in his pocket. “Tell her I said hi the next time you see her.” He gave the detective a half wave and then walked out.

“I will,” Mike said, as his voice unraveled like lace. ^| Daniel opened the door to find Janice, the sexual assault advocate, on the other side. “Oh, I didn’t know Trixie made plans to see you.”

“She didn’t,” Janice replied. “Can I speak to you and Laura for a second?” “Lauras at the college,” he said, just as Trixie poked²³⁴ her head over the railing from upstairs. Before, Trixie would not have hung back like that; she would have bounded down like lightning, certain that the visitor was for her.

“Trixie,” Janice said, spotting her. “I need to tell you something you’re not going to like.”

Trixie came downstairs, sidling up beside Daniel, the way she used to do when she was tiny and saw something frightening.

“The defense attorney representing Jason Underhill has subpoenaed²³⁵ the records of my conversations with Trixie.”

Daniel shook his head. “I don’t understand. Isn’t that a violation²³⁶ of privacy?” “Only when you’re talking about the defendant²³⁷. Unfortunately, if you’re the victim of a crime, it’s a different story. You can wind up with your diary as evidence, or the transcripts²³⁸ of your psychiatric sessions.” She looked at Trixie. “Or your discussions with a rape crisis counselor.”

Daniel had no idea what went on during the times Janice had met with Trixie, but beside him, his daughter was shaking. “You can’t turn over the records,” she said.

“If we don’t, our director will be sent to jail,” Janice explained.

“I’ll do it,” Daniel said. “I’ll go to jail in her place.”

“The court won’t accept that. Believe me, you’re not the first father to volunteer.”

You’re not the first. Daniel slowly put the words together.

“This happened before?” “Unfortunately, yes,” Janice admitted.

“You said what I told you didn’t leave that room!” Trixie cried. “You said you’d help me. How is this supposed to help me?” As Trixie flew up the stairs, Janice started after her. “Let me go talk to her.”

Daniel stepped forward, blocking her way. “Thanks,” he said.

But I think you’ve done enough.”

The law says that Jason Underhill has the right to mount a defense, Detective Bartholemew explained on the phone. The law says that a victim’s credibility can be questioned. And with all due respect, he added, your daughter already has some credibility issues.

She was involved with this boy beforehand.

She was drinking.

She’s made some inconsistent statements.

Daniel’s response: Like what? Now that he’d finished talking to the detective, Daniel felt numb. He walked upstairs and opened Trixie’s bedroom door. She lay on her bed, facing away from him.

“Trixie,” he said as evenly as he could. “Were you really a virgin?” She went still. “What, now you don’t believe me either?” “You lied to the police.”

Trixie rolled over, stricken. “You’re going to listen to some stupid detective instead of . . .”

“What were you thinking?” Daniel exploded.

Trixie sat up, taken aback. “What were you thinking?” she cried. “You knew. You had to know what was going on.”

Daniel thought of the times he had watched Trixie pull up in Jason’s car after a date, when he had moved away from the window He’d told himself it was for her privacy, but was that true? Had he really turned a blind eye because he couldn’t bear to see that boy’s face close to his daughter’s, to see his hand graze the bottom of Trixie’s breast? He’d seen towels in the wash smeared²³⁹ with heavy eye makeup he couldn’t remember Trixie wearing out of the house. He’d kept silent when he heard Laura complain because her favorite pair of heels or shirt or lipstick²⁴⁰ had gone missing, only to find them underneath Trixie’s bed. He’d pretended not to notice how Trixie’s clothes fit tighter these days, how her stride shimmered²⁴¹ with confidence.

Trixie was right. Just because a person didn’t admit that something had changed didn’t mean it hadn’t happened. Maybe Trixie had screwed up ... but so had he.

“I knew,” he said, stunned²⁴² to speak the words aloud. “I just didn’t want to.”

Daniel looked at his daughter. There were still traces of Trixie as a stubborn little girl - in the curve of her chin when her jaw²⁴³ clenched²⁴⁴, in the dusky length of her lashes²⁴⁵, in her much-maligned freckles²⁴⁶. She wasn’t all gone, not yet.

As he pulled Trixie into his arms and felt her unspool, Daniel understood: The law was not going to protect his daughter, which meant that he had to.

“I couldn’t tell them,” Trixie sobbed²⁴⁷. “You were standing right there.”

That was when Daniel remembered: When the doctor asked Trixie if she’d ever had intercourse before, he’d still been in the examination room.

Her voice was small, the truth curled tight as a snail²⁴⁸. “I didn’t want you to be mad at me. And I thought if I told the doctor that Jason and I had already done it, she wouldn’t believe I got raped. But it could still happen, couldn’t it, Daddy? Just because I said yes before doesn’t mean I couldn’t say no this time . . . ? “ She convulsed against him, crying hard.

You signed no contract to become a parent, but the responsibilities were written in invisible ink. There was a point when you had to support your child, even if no one else would. It was your job to rebuild the bridge, even if your child was the one who burned it in the first place. So maybe Trixie had danced around the truth. Maybe she had been drinking. Maybe she had been flirting²⁴⁹ at the party. But if Trixie said she had been raped, then Daniel would swear by it. “Baby,” he said, “I believe you.”

A few mornings later, when Daniel was out at the dump, Laura heard the doorbell ring. But by the time she reached the hallway to answer it, Trixie was already there. She stood in her flannel pajama bottoms and T-shirt, staring at a man standing on the porch.

Seth was wearing work boots and a fleece vest and looked as if he hadn’t slept in several days. He was looking at Trixie with confusion, as if he couldn’t quite place her. When he saw Laura approach, he immediately started to speak. “I’ve got to talk to you,” he began, but she cut him off.

She touched Trixie’s shoulder. “Go upstairs,” she said firmly, and Trixie bolted like a rabbit. Then Laura turned to Seth again.

“I cannot believe you had the nerve to come to my house.”

“There’s something you need to know . . .”

“I know that I can’t see you anymore,” Laura said. She was shaking, partly with fear, partly because of Seth’s proximity²⁵⁰. It had been easier to convince herself that this was over when he wasn’t standing in front of her. “Don’t do this to me,” she whispered, and she closed the door.

Laura rested against it for a second, eyes closed. What if Daniel had not been at the dump, if he’d opened the door, instead of Trixie? Would he have recognized Seth on sight, simply by the way his face changed when he looked at Laura? Would he have gone for Seth’s throat? If they’d fought, she’d have sided with the victim. But which man was that? Gathering²⁵¹ her composure, Laura walked up the stairs toward Trixie’s room. She wasn’t sure what Trixie knew, or even what she suspected. Surely she had noticed that her parents barely spoke²⁵² these days, that her father had taken to sleeping on the couch.

She had to wonder why, the night of the rape, Laura had been staying overnight in her office. But if Trixie had questions, she’d kept them to herself. It was as if she instinctively²⁵³ understood what Laura was only just figuring out: Once you admitted to a mistake, it grew exponentially, until there was no way to get it back under wraps.

Laura was tempted²⁵⁴ to pretend that Seth was a Fuller Brush salesman or any other stranger but decided she would take her cues from Trixie herself. Laura opened the door to find Trixie pulling a shirt over her head. “That guy,” she said, her face hidden. “What was he doing here?” Well . . .

Laura sat down on the bed. “He wasn’t here because of you. I mean, he’s not a reporter or anything like that. And he’s not coming back. Ever.” She sighed. “I wish I didn’t have to have this conversation.”

Trixie’s head popped through the neck of the shirt. “What?” “It’s finished, completely, one hundred percent. Your father knows, and we’re trying . . . well, we’re trying to figure this out. I screwed up, Trixie,” Laura said, choking over the words. “I wish I could take it back, but I can’t.”

She realized that Trixie was staring at her, the same way she used to gaze hard at a math problem she simply couldn’t puzzle into an answer. “You mean . . . you and him . ..”

Laura nodded. “Yeah.”

Trixie ducked her head. “Did you guys ever talk about me?” “He knew you existed. He knew I was married.”

“I can’t believe you’d do this to Daddy,” Trixie said, her voice rising. “He’s, like, my age. That’s disgusting.”

Laura’s jaw clenched. Trixie deserved to have this moment of rage; it was owed to her as part of Laura’s reparation. But that didn’t make it any easier.

“I wasn’t thinking, Trixie . . .”

“Yeah, because you were too busy being a slut.”

Laura raised her palm, coming just short of slapping Trixie across the face. Her hand shook inches away from Trixie’s cheek, rendering²⁵⁵ both of them speechless for a moment. “No,” Laura breathed. “Neither of us should do something we won’t be able to take back.”

She stared Trixie down, until the fury dissolved and the tears came. Laura drew Trixie into her arms, rocked her. “Are you and Daddy going to get a divorce?” Her voice was small, childlike. “I hope not,” Laura said. “Did you ... love him?” She closed her eyes and imagined Seth’s poetry, placed word by word onto her own tongue, a gourmet²⁵⁶ meal mixed with rhythm and description. She felt the immediacy of a single moment, when unlocking a door took too long, when buttons were popped instead of slipped open.

But here was Trixie, who had nursed with her hand fisted in Laura’s hair. Trixie, who sucked her thumb until she was ten but only when no one could see. Trixie, who believed that the wind could sing and that you could learn the songs if you just listened carefully enough. Trixie, who was the proof that at one time, she and Daniel had achieved perfection together.

Laura pressed her lips against her daughter’s temple. “I loved you more,” she said.

She had nearly turned her back once on this family. Had she really been stupid enough to come close to doing it again? She was crying just as hard as Trixie was now, to the point where it was impossible to tell which one of them was clinging to the other.

Laura felt, in that moment, like the survivor²⁵⁷ of the train wreck²⁵⁸, the woman who steps outside the smoking wreckage²⁵⁹ to realize that her arms and legs still work, that she has somehow come through a catastrophe²⁶⁰ unscathed.

Laura buried her face in the curve of her daughter’s neck. It was possible she’d been wrong on several counts. It was possible that a miracle was not something that happened to you, but rather something that didn’t.

The first place it appeared was on the screen at the school library computer terminal where you could look books up by their Dewey decimal number. From there, it spread to the twenty iBooks and ten iMacs in the computer lab, while the ninth-graders were in the middle of taking their typing skills test. Within five more minutes, it was on the monitor of the desk of the school nurse.

Trixie was in an elective, School Newspaper, when it happened.

Although her parents had tried to talk her out of going to school, it turned out to be the lesser²⁶¹ of two evils. Home was supposed to be a safe place, but had become a minefield full of explosions waiting to happen. School, she already knew, wouldn’t be comfortable at all. And right now, she really needed to function in a world where nothing took her by surprise.

In class, Trixie was sitting beside a girl named Felice with acne and beaver²⁶² breath, the only one who would volunteer these days to be her partner. They were using desktop-publishing software to create columns of text about the losing basketball team, when the computer blue-screened. “Mr. Watford,” Felice called out. “I think we crashed...”

The teacher came over, reaching between the girls to hit ControlAltdelete a few times, but the machine wouldn’t reboot.

“Hmm,” he said. “Why don’t you two edit the advice column by hand then?” “No, wait, it’s coming back,” Felice said, as the screen blossomed into Technicolor. Smack in the middle was Trixie, standing half naked in Zephyr’s living room - the photo Moss had taken the night she was raped.

“Oh,” Mr. Watford said faintly. “Well, then.”

Trixie felt as if a pole had been driven through her lungs. She tore herself away from the computer screen, grabbed her backpack, and ran to the main office. There, she threw herself on the mercy of the secretary. “I need to talk to the principal” Her voice snapped like an icicle, as she glanced down at the conputer on the secretary’s desk and saw her own face staring back She didn’t stop running until she was standing on the bridge over the river, the same bridge where she and Zephyr had stood the day before she became someone different. She dug in her backpack through loose pencils and crumpled²⁶³ papers and makeup compacts until she found the cell phone her father had given her - his own, for emergencies. “Daddy,” she sobbed, when he answered, “please come get me.”

It wasn’t until her father assured her he would be there in two minutes flat that she hung up and noticed what she hadn’t when she first placed the call: Her father’s phone screen saver - once a graphic of Rogue²⁶⁴, from the X-Men - was now the topless picture of Trixie that had spread to three-quarters of the cell phone users in Bethel, Maine.

The knock on Bartholemew’s door caught him off guard. It was his day off - although he’d already been to Bethel High and back.

He had just finished changing into pajama pants and an old police academy sweatshirt with a sleeve that Ernestine had chewed a hole through. “Coming,” he called out, and when he opened the door he found Daniel Stone standing on the other side of it.

It wasn’t surprising to him that Stone was there, given what had happened at the school. It also wasn’t surprising that Stone knew where Bartholemew lived. Like most cops, he didn’t have a listed address and phone number, but Bethel was small enough for most people to know other people’s business. You could drive down the street and recognize folks by the cars they drove; you could pass a house and know who resided inside.

He was aware, for example, even before Trixie Stone’s case came to his attention that a comic book artist of some national renown²⁶⁵ lived in the area. He hadn’t read the comics, but some of the other guys at the station had. Supposedly, unlike his violence-prone hero Wildclaw, Daniel Stone was a mild-mannered guy who didn’t mind signing an autograph if you stood behind him in the grocery store checkout²⁶⁶ line. In his few dealings with Stone so far, the guy had seemed protective of his daughter and frustrated²⁶⁷ beyond belief. Unlike some of the men Bartholemew had run across in his career, who put their fists through glass walls or drowned their wrath²⁶⁸ in alcohol, Daniel Stone seemed to have a handle on his emotions . . . until now.

The man was standing at the threshold of Bartholemew’s door, literally shaking with rage.

Stone thrust a printout of the now-infamous picture of Trixie into Bartholemew’s hand. “Have you seen this?” Bartholemew had. For about three straight hours this morning, at the high school, on the computers at the town offices, everywhere he looked.

“Hasn’t my daughter been victimized enough?” Bartholemew instinctively went into calming mode, softening²⁶⁹ his voice. “I know you’re upset, but we’re doing everything we can.”

Stone scraped his gaze over Bartholemew’s off-duty attire²⁷⁰.

Yeah. You look like you’re working your ass³ off.” He looked up at the detective. “You told us that Underhill’s not supposed to have anything to do with Trixie.”

“Our computer tech guys traced the photo to Moss Minton’s cell phone, not Jason Underhill’s.”

“It doesn’t matter. My daughter’s not the one who’s supposed to be on trial.” Stone set his jaw. “I want the judge to know this happened.”

“Then he’s also going to know that your daughter was the one who took off her clothes. He’s going to know that every eyewitness²⁷¹ at that party I’ve interviewed says Trixie was coming on to a whole bunch of different guys that night,” Bartholemew said.

“Look. I know you’re angry. But you don’t want to press this right now, when it might wind up backfiring.”

Daniel Stone ripped the printed photo from the detective’s grasp. “Would you be saying that if this was your daughter?” “If it was my daughter,” Bartholemew said, “I’d be thrilled.

I’d be fucking delirious²⁷². Because it would mean she was still alive.”

The truth rolled like mercury, and like any poison, it was the last thing either of them wanted to touch. You’d think, in this age of technology, there’d be some kind of network between fathers, one that let a guy who was in danger of losing his daughter instinctively recognize someone who’d already walked that barren road. As it turned out, hell wasn’t watching the people you love get hurt; it was coming in during the second act, when it was already too late to stop it from happening.

He expected Daniel Stone to offer his condolences, to tell Bartholemew he was sorry for mouthing off. But instead, the man threw the printed photo onto the ground between them like a gauntlet. “Then of all people,” he said, “you should understand.”

She didn’t have a lot of time.

Trixie’s mother’s voice swam up the stairs. Her mom was on babysitting detail and hadn’t let Trixie out of her sight until she had headed for the bathroom. Her father, right now, was chewing out Detective Bartholemew or the superintendent²⁷³ of schools or maybe even both of them. And what difference would it make? They could burn every last copy of that awful picture of her, and a few months from now, someone else would have a chance to strip her naked in court.

Sitting on the closed lid of the toilet, she accidentally banged her funny bone against the wall. “Fuck!” she cried, tears springing to her eyes.

Once, Trixie had had her mouth washed out with soap for roadtesting four-letter words. She was four years old, at the supermarket with her father, and she repeated what he’d whispered under his breath when the cashier couldn’t do the math to make change: Use the damn register.

She knew all sorts of four-letter words now; they just weren’t the ones that most people considered foul²⁷⁴ language.

Love.

Help.

Rape.

Stop.

Then.

As a child, she’d been afraid of the dark. The closet door had to be shut tight, with her desk chair wedged under the knob, to keep the monsters from getting out. Her blanket had to be pulled up to her neck, or the devil might get her. She had to sleep on her belly, or a vampire²⁷⁵ could come and put a stake through her heart.

She was still afraid, years later - not of the dark but of the days. One after another, and no end in sight.

“Trixie?” Trixie heard her mother again and swiftly reached into the medicine cabinet. The hilarious²⁷⁶ thing - the thing that no one bothered to tell you - was that being raped wasn’t the worst part of everything she’d been through. In fact, that first frantic¹⁸⁴ fall didn’t hurt nearly as much as getting back on your feet afterward.

It was the kind of doorknob that needed only a straightened wire hanger²⁷⁷ to pop the bolt. The minute Laura stepped inside the bathroom, she saw it - blood smearing²⁷⁸ the white wall of the sink, blood pooling beneath Trixie on the floor, blood covering Trixie’s shirt as she hugged her slashed²⁷⁹ wrists to her chest.

“Oh, my God,” Laura cried, grabbing Trixie’s arms to try to stop the flow. “Oh, Trixie, no ...”

Trixie’s eyelids²⁸⁰ fluttered. She looked at Laura for a half second and then sank into unconsciousness. Laura held her daughter’s limp Body up against her own, knowing that she had to get to a phone equally sure that if she left Trixie alone, she’d never see her again.

The paramedics who came minutes later asked Laura a barrage²⁸¹ of questions: How long had Trixie been unconscious? Had Trixie been suicidal before? Did Laura know where the razor blade had come from? Laura answered each of these, but they didn’t ask the question she was expecting, the one she didn’t have a response for: What if Jason Underhill wasn’t the biggest threat to Trixie? What if that was Trixie herself? Trixie had been doing this for a while. Not in-your-face suicide attempts but recreational cutting. Ironically, the doctors said, that might have been what saved her. Most girls who cut did so horizontally across the wrist, in light little lines. Today, Trixie had cut a deeper slash¹⁷⁸, but in the same direction. People who meant business or who knew better, killed themselves by cutting vertically²⁸², which meant they’d bleed out faster.

Either way, if Laura hadn’t gone in when she did, they probably would have been standing over their daughter’s grave instead of her hospital bed.

The lights were turned off in the room, and there was a glowing red clamp on one of Trixie’s fingers, keeping tabs on her oxygen levels. Someone - a nurse? - had put Trixie in a hospital gown. Daniel had no idea what had happened to her clothes. Did they get saved as evidence, like the ones she had been wearing the night she was raped? As proof of a girl who desperately²⁸³ wanted to trade in her title of survivor? “Did you know?” Laura asked softly, her voice reaching through the dark.

Daniel looked up at her. All he could see was the shine of her eyes. “No.”

“Do you think we should have?” She wasn’t blaming him; that note wasn’t in her voice. She was asking if there had been clues missed, trails ignored. She was trying to pinpoint²⁸⁴ the moment that it all started to disintegrate²⁸⁵.

Daniel knew there was no answer to that. It was like a trapeze act: How could you really tell at what second the acrobat²⁸⁶ pushed away, at what moment the anchor let go? You couldn’t, and that was that. You made your deductions²⁸⁷ from the outcome: a successful landing or a spiraling fall. “I think Trixie was doing her best to make sure we didn’t know.”

He had a sudden memory of Trixie dressed as a bunch of grapes for Halloween one year. She was five and had been so excited about the costume - they’d spent a month making papier-mache globes in the basement and painting them purple - but when the time came to trick-or-treat, she refused to get dressed.

It was dark outside, there were trolling monsters and witches - plenty of reasons, in short, that a kid might get cold feet. Trix, he had asked, what are you scared of? How are you going to know who I am, she finally said, if I don’t look like me? Laura’s head was bent over her folded hands, and her lips were moving. She didn’t go to church anymore, but she’d been raised Catholic. Daniel had never been particularly religious. Growing up, he and his mother hadn’t gone to church, although most of their neighbors had. The Yupiit got Christianity from the Moravian church, and it had stuck fast. For an Eskimo, it wasn’t inconsistent to believe both that Jesus was his Savior, and that a seal’s soul lived in its bladder until a hunter returned it to the sea.

Laura brushed Trixie’s hair off her face. “Dante believed God punished suicides by trapping the person’s spirit in a tree trunk. On Judgment Day, they were the only sinners who didn’t get their souls back, because they tried to get rid of them once before.”

Daniel knew this, actually. It was one of the few points of Laura’s research that intrigued²⁸⁸ him. It had always struck him as ironic¹¹⁰ that in the Yup’ik villages, where there was such an epidemic²⁸⁹ of teen suicide, there weren’t any trees.

Just then, Trixie stirred. Daniel watched her as the unfamiliar²⁹⁰ room came into focus. Her eyes widened, hopeful, and then dimmed with disappointment as she realized that in spite of her best intentions, she was still here.

Laura crawled onto the bed, holding Trixie tight. She was whispering to Trixie, words that Daniel wished came as easily to him. But he didn’t have Lauras facility with language; he could not keep Trixie safe with promises. All he’d ever been able to do was repaint the world for her, until it became a place she wanted to be.

Daniel stayed long enough to watch Trixie reach for Laura, grab on with a sure, strong hold. Then he slipped out of the hospital room, moving past nurses and orderlies and patients who were too blind to witness the metamorphosis happening before their eyes.

This is what Daniel bought: Work gloves and a roll of duct tape.

A pack of rags.

Matches.

A fisherman’s fillet knife.

He drove thirty miles away, to a different town, and he paid in cash.

He was determined²⁹¹ that there would be no evidence left behind.

It would be his word against Daniel’s, and as Daniel was learning, that meant a victim would not win.

Jason found that the only time of day his mind was truly occupied was during hockey practice. He simply gave himself over to the game, cutting hard and skating fast and stick-handling with surety and grace. It was this simple: If you were giving a hundred percent at hockey, you didn’t have room left for anything else - such as obsessing over the rumor²⁹² going around school that Trixie Stone had tried to kill herself.

He’d been getting ready for practice in the locker room when he heard, and he started to shake so violently that he’d gone into a bathroom stall to sit down. A girl he’d cared for - a girl he’d slept with - had nearly died. It freaked him out to imagine Trixie laughing as her long hair fell over her face, and then the next minute to picture that face six feet underground and crawling with worms.

By the time he’d regained²⁹³ his composure, Moss was in the locker room, lacing up his skates. It had been Moss who, as a joke, had hacked²⁹⁴ into the computer system at the school and sent out the photo he’d taken of Trixie during the poker game. Jason had been totally furious, but he couldn’t say that out loud to the kids who highfived him and told him that they were on his side. His own attorney had even said Jason couldn’t have asked for a better stroke of evi- dentiary luck. But what if that prank²⁹⁵ had been the one to put Trixie over the edge? He was already being blamed for something he didn’t do. Would he have been blamed for her death? “You are surely the most unlucky bastard²⁹⁶ on this planet,” Moss had said, giving voice to the other thought in Jason’s head. Had Trixie succeeded, then he’d have been off the hook.

Now practice was over, and with it came the casual conversation that would - inevitably²⁹⁷ - turn to Trixie. Jason hurried off the ice and pulled off the gladiator layers of his equipment. He was the first player out of the rink, the first player to his car. He slid into the driver’s seat and turned the ignition, then rested his head on the wheel for a second. Trixie. “Jesus,” he murmured.

Jason felt the blade of the knife on his Adam’s apple before he heard the voice at his ear. “Close enough,” Daniel Stone said.

“Start praying.”

Daniel made Jason drive to a bog²⁹⁸ near the river. He’d driven past once or twice and knew that local hunters liked it for deer and moose, and that their cars stayed well hidden while they were out in their stands. Daniel liked it especially because the evergreens²⁹⁹ marched thick to the edge of the water and had created enough cover to keep snow from blanketing the ground, which meant that their footsteps would be lost in the marsh³⁰⁰ instead of preserved.

He held the boy at knifepoint, backing Jason up against a pine tree until he was kneeling, securing his arms and ankles behind him with duct tape so that he was effectively trussed. The whole time, Daniel kept thinking of what Laura had said about Dante - of Trixie’s soul trapped in that tree, with Jason’s body wrapped around it. That image was all he needed to give him the strength to subdue³⁰¹ a seventeen-year-old athlete when Jason started fighting back.

Jason struggled, pulling on the tape until his wrists and ankles were raw, while Daniel built a campfire. Finally, the boy sagged³⁰² against the trunk and let his head fall forward. “What are you going to do to me?” Daniel took his knife and slipped it under the hem²⁵ of Jason’s T-shirt. He dragged it up to the boy’s throat in one long line, cutting the fabric³⁰³ in half. “This,” he said.

Daniel systematically shredded³⁰⁴ Jason’s clothing, until the kid was naked and shivering. He tossed the strips of fabric and denim³⁰⁵ into the flames.

By then, Jasons teeth were chattering³⁰⁶. “How am I supposed to get home?” “What makes you think I’m going to let you?” Jason swallowed hard, his eyes on the knife Daniel still held in his hand. “How is she?” he whispered.

Daniel felt the granite³⁰⁷ gate of restraint burst inside him. How could this bastard think he had the right to ask after Trixie? Leaning down, Daniel pressed the blade against Jason’s testicles, “Do you want to know what it’s like to bleed out? Do you really want to know how she felt?” .

“Please,” Jason begged, going pale. “Oh, Jesus, don’t.”

Daniel pushed the slightest bit, until a line of blood welled up at the crease³⁰⁸ of Jason’s groin.

“I didn’t do anything to her, I swear it,” Jason cried, trying to twist away from Daniel’s hand. “I didn’t. Stop. God. Please stop.”

Daniel set his face an inch away from Jason’s. “Why should I? You didn’t.”

In that moment between reason and rage, Trixie slipped into both of their minds. It was all Jason needed to break down, sobbing; it was all Daniel needed to remember himself. He looked down at his hand, holding the knife. He blinked at Jason. Then he shook his head to clear it.

Daniel was not in the bush anymore, and this was no village corporation store he was robbing for booze or cash. He was a husband, he was a father. Instead of having something to prove, he had everything to lose.

Lifting the blade, Daniel staggered to his feet. He hurled³⁰⁹ the knife the hundred feet it would take to land in the middle of the river and then walked back to Jason, who was fighting for breath. He took the boy’s car keys from his own pocket and wrapped them tight in the only morsel³¹⁰ of mercy he had left. These, he wedged into Jason’s hand, still bound by duct tape.

It was not compassion³¹¹ that led to Daniel’s change of heart, and it was not kindness. It was realizing that, against all odds³¹², he had something in common with Jason Underhill. Like Daniel, Jason had learned the hard way that we are never the people we think we are. We are the ones we pretend, with all our hearts, we can’t become.

1 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

2 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

3 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

4 everlasting   

adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的

参考例句：

• These tyres are advertised as being everlasting.广告上说轮胎持久耐用。
• He believes in everlasting life after death.他相信死后有不朽的生命。

5 willows   

n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木

参考例句：

• The willows along the river bank look very beautiful. 河岸边的柳树很美。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Willows are planted on both sides of the streets. 街道两侧种着柳树。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 tar   

n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于

参考例句：

• The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
• We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。

7 hissed   

发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对

参考例句：

• Have you ever been hissed at in the middle of a speech? 你在演讲中有没有被嘘过？
• The iron hissed as it pressed the wet cloth. 熨斗压在湿布上时发出了嘶嘶声。

8 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

9 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。

10 squatting   

v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。

参考例句：

• They ended up squatting in the empty houses on Oxford Road. 他们落得在牛津路偷住空房的境地。
• They've been squatting in an apartment for the past two years. 他们过去两年来一直擅自占用一套公寓。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

12 mowing   

n.割草，一次收割量，牧草地v.刈，割( mow的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The lawn needs mowing. 这草坪的草该割了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• "Do you use it for mowing?" “你是用它割草么？” 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

13 mower   

n.割草机

参考例句：

• We need a lawn mower to cut the grass.我们需要一台草坪修剪机来割草。
• Your big lawn mower is just the job for the high grass.割高草时正需要你的大割草机。

14 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。

15 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。

16 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

17 din   

n.喧闹声，嘈杂声

参考例句：

• The bustle and din gradually faded to silence as night advanced.随着夜越来越深，喧闹声逐渐沉寂。
• They tried to make themselves heard over the din of the crowd.他们力图让自己的声音盖过人群的喧闹声。

18 locker   

n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人

参考例句：

• At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
• He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。

19 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

20 maze   

n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑

参考例句：

• He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
• She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时，她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。

21 jingle   

n.叮当声，韵律简单的诗句；v.使叮当作响，叮当响，押韵

参考例句：

• The key fell on the ground with a jingle.钥匙叮当落地。
• The knives and forks set up their regular jingle.刀叉发出常有的叮当声。

22 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

23 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

24 tilting   

倾斜，倾卸

参考例句：

• For some reason he thinks everyone is out to get him, but he's really just tilting at windmills. 不知为什么他觉得每个人都想害他，但其实他不过是在庸人自扰。
• So let us stop bickering within our ranks.Stop tilting at windmills. 所以，让我们结束内部间的争吵吧！再也不要去做同风车作战的蠢事了。

25 hem   

n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制

参考例句：

• The hem on her skirt needs sewing.她裙子上的褶边需要缝一缝。
• The hem of your dress needs to be let down an inch.你衣服的折边有必要放长1英寸。

26 grimaced   

v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He grimaced at the bitter taste. 他一尝那苦味，做了个怪相。
• She grimaced at the sight of all the work. 她一看到这么多的工作就皱起了眉头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

28 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

29 intoxicated   

喝醉的，极其兴奋的

参考例句：

• She was intoxicated with success. 她为成功所陶醉。
• They became deeply intoxicated and totally disoriented. 他们酩酊大醉，东南西北全然不辨。

30 poker   

n.扑克；vt.烙制

参考例句：

• He was cleared out in the poker game.他打扑克牌，把钱都输光了。
• I'm old enough to play poker and do something with it.我打扑克是老手了，可以玩些花样。

31 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

32 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

33 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

34 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

35 bruises   

n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was covered with bruises after falling off his bicycle. 他从自行车上摔了下来，摔得浑身伤痕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pear had bruises of dark spots. 这个梨子有碰伤的黑斑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

36 bruise   

n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤

参考例句：

• The bruise was caused by a kick.这伤痕是脚踢的。
• Jack fell down yesterday and got a big bruise on his face.杰克昨天摔了一跤，脸上摔出老大一块淤斑。

37 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》

38 holly   

n.[植]冬青属灌木

参考例句：

• I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
• People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。

39 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

40 gloss   

n.光泽，光滑；虚饰；注释；vt.加光泽于；掩饰

参考例句：

• John tried in vain to gloss over his faults.约翰极力想掩饰自己的缺点，但是没有用。
• She rubbed up the silver plates to a high gloss.她把银盘擦得很亮。

41 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

42 surgically   

adv. 外科手术上, 外科手术一般地

参考例句：

• Unsightly moles can be removed surgically. 不雅观的痣可以手术去除。
• To bypass this impediment an almost mature egg cell is removed surgically. 为了克服这一障碍，通过手术，取出一个差不多成熟的卵细胞。

43 excised   

v.切除，删去( excise的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Certain passages were excised from the book. 书中某些段落已删去。
• Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样，凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。 来自辞典例句

44 popcorn   

n.爆米花

参考例句：

• I like to eat popcorn when I am watching TV play at home.当我在家观看电视剧时，喜欢吃爆米花。
• He still stood behind his cash register stuffing his mouth with popcorn.他仍站在收银机后，嘴里塞满了爆米花。

45 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

46 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

47 dreading   

v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was dreading having to broach the subject of money to her father. 她正在为不得不向父亲提出钱的事犯愁。
• This was the moment he had been dreading. 这是他一直最担心的时刻。

48 zephyr   

n.和风，微风

参考例句：

• I feel very comfortable in the zephyr from the sea.从海上吹来的和风令我非常惬意。
• Zephyr,the West Wind,blew away the clouds so that Apollo,the sun god,could shine and made this flower bloom.西风之神吹散了云朵，太阳神阿波罗得以照耀它并使它开花。

49 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

50 cramps   

n. 抽筋, 腹部绞痛, 铁箍 adj. 狭窄的, 难解的 v. 使...抽筋, 以铁箍扣紧, 束缚

参考例句：

• If he cramps again let the line cut him off. 要是它再抽筋，就让这钓索把它勒断吧。
• "I have no cramps." he said. “我没抽筋，"他说。

51 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

52 congregating   

（使）集合，聚集( congregate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The spatial distribution patterns of larvae and pupae are congregating distribution. 幼虫和蛹的空间分布均为聚集分布。
• He says victims of violence are congregating there because they feel safer. 他说暴力的受害者聚集在这里因为他们觉得更安全。

53 radiator   

n.暖气片，散热器

参考例句：

• The two ends of the pipeline are connected with the radiator.管道的两端与暖气片相连接。
• Top up the radiator before making a long journey.在长途旅行前加满散热器。

54 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

55 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。

56 ketchup   

n.蕃茄酱，蕃茄沙司

参考例句：

• There's a spot of ketchup on the tablecloth.桌布上有一点番茄酱的渍斑。
• Could I have some ketchup and napkins,please?请给我一些番茄酱和纸手巾？

57 watery   

adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的

参考例句：

• In his watery eyes there is an expression of distrust.他那含泪的眼睛流露出惊惶失措的神情。
• Her eyes became watery because of the smoke.因为烟熏，她的双眼变得泪汪汪的。

58 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

59 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。

60 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》

61 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。

62 carafe   

n.玻璃水瓶

参考例句：

• She lifted the stopper from the carafe.她拔出玻璃酒瓶上的瓶塞。
• He ordered a carafe of wine.他要了一瓶葡萄酒。

63 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

64 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

65 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

66 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

67 impersonal   

adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的

参考例句：

• Even his children found him strangely distant and impersonal.他的孩子们也认为他跟其他人很疏远，没有人情味。
• His manner seemed rather stiff and impersonal.他的态度似乎很生硬冷淡。

68 canto   

n.长篇诗的章

参考例句：

• It's the fourth canto of Byron's "Childe Harold".这是拜伦长诗《恰尔德·哈罗尔德游记》的第四章。
• The Fifth Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam tells of innumerable universes.《圣典博伽瓦谭》第五篇讲述了有无数宇宙存在。

69 inhale   

v.吸入(气体等)，吸(烟)

参考例句：

• Don't inhale dust into your lung.别把灰尘吸进肺里。
• They are pleased to not inhale second hand smoke.他们很高兴他们再也不会吸到二手烟了。

70 aromatic   

adj.芳香的，有香味的

参考例句：

• It has an agreeable aromatic smell.它有一种好闻的香味。
• It is light,fruity aromatic and a perfect choice for ending a meal.它是口感轻淡，圆润，芳香的，用于结束一顿饭完美的选择。

71 smack   

vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍

参考例句：

• She gave him a smack on the face.她打了他一个嘴巴。
• I gave the fly a smack with the magazine.我用杂志拍了一下苍蝇。

72 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。

73 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。

74 cliche   

n./a.陈词滥调(的)；老生常谈(的)；陈腐的

参考例句：

• You should always try to avoid the use of cliche. 你应该尽量避免使用陈词滥调。
• The old cliche is certainly true:the bigger car do mean bigger profits.有句老话倒的确说得不假:车大利大。

75 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。

76 notches   

n.（边缘或表面上的）V型痕迹( notch的名词复数 )；刻痕；水平；等级

参考例句：

• The Indians cut notches on a stick to keep count of numbers. 印第安人在棒上刻V形凹痕用来计数。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They cut notches in the handle of their pistol for each man they shot. 他们每杀一个人就在枪托上刻下一个V形记号。 来自辞典例句

77 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

78 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

79 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。

80 cerebral   

adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的

参考例句：

• Your left cerebral hemisphere controls the right-hand side of your body.你的左半脑控制身体的右半身。
• He is a precise,methodical,cerebral man who carefully chooses his words.他是一个一丝不苟、有条理和理智的人，措辞谨慎。

81 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。

82 demons   

n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念

参考例句：

• demons torturing the sinners in Hell 地狱里折磨罪人的魔鬼
• He is plagued by demons which go back to his traumatic childhood. 他为心魔所困扰，那可追溯至他饱受创伤的童年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

83 demon   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
• He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。

84 lusted   

贪求（lust的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He had even lusted for Halina, already woven a net in readiness to ensnare her. 他甚至贪恋海莉娜，已经编织了一个罗网，在引诱她落进去。
• Men feared him and women lusted after the handsome warrior. 男人们害怕他，女人们纷纷追求这个英俊的勇士。

85 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。

86 overdoing   

v.做得过分( overdo的现在分词 )；太夸张；把…煮得太久；（工作等）过度

参考例句：

• He's been overdoing things recently. 近来他做事过分努力。 来自辞典例句
• You think I've been overdoing it with the work thing? 你认为我对工作的关注太过分了吗？ 来自电影对白

87 sketching   

n.草图

参考例句：

• They are sketching out proposals for a new road. 他们正在草拟修建新路的计划。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "Imagination is busy sketching rose-tinted pictures of joy. “飞舞驰骋的想象描绘出一幅幅玫瑰色欢乐的场景。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

88 dagger   

n.匕首，短剑，剑号

参考例句：

• The bad news is a dagger to his heart.这条坏消息刺痛了他的心。
• The murderer thrust a dagger into her heart.凶手将匕首刺进她的心脏。

89 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

90 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。

91 sprawled   

v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawled full-length across the bed. 他手脚摊开横躺在床上。
• He was lying sprawled in an armchair, watching TV. 他四肢伸开正懒散地靠在扶手椅上看电视。

92 obsessing   

v.时刻困扰( obsess的现在分词 )；缠住；使痴迷；使迷恋

参考例句：

• Why is everyone obsessing over system specs right now? 为啥现在人人都对系统配置情有独钟？ 来自互联网
• A nitpicker, obsessing over dimes, is too stiff to place orders. 一个连一毛钱都舍不得亏的人，因太过拘谨而不能下单。 来自互联网

93 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。

94 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

95 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

96 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。

97 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

98 flexed   

adj.[医]曲折的，屈曲v.屈曲( flex的过去式和过去分词 )；弯曲；（为准备大干而）显示实力；摩拳擦掌

参考例句：

• He stretched and flexed his knees to relax himself. 他伸屈膝关节使自己放松一下。 来自辞典例句
• He flexed his long stringy muscles manfully. 他孔武有力地弯起膀子，显露出细长条的肌肉。 来自辞典例句

99 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。

100 groan   

vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音

参考例句：

• The wounded man uttered a groan.那个受伤的人发出呻吟。
• The people groan under the burden of taxes.人民在重税下痛苦呻吟。

101 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

102 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

103 sketched   

v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The historical article sketched the major events of the decade. 这篇有关历史的文章概述了这十年中的重大事件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He sketched the situation in a few vivid words. 他用几句生动的语言简述了局势。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

104 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

105 arraignment   

n.提问，传讯，责难

参考例句：

• She was remanded to juvenile detention at her arraignment yesterday. 她昨天被送回了对少年拘留在她的传讯。 来自互联网
• Wyatt asks the desk clerk which courthouse he is being transferred to for arraignment. 他向接待警员询问了马宏将在哪个法庭接受传讯。 来自互联网

106 incarnate   

adj.化身的，人体化的，肉色的

参考例句：

• She was happiness incarnate.她是幸福的化身。
• That enemy officer is a devil incarnate.那个敌军军官简直是魔鬼的化身。

107 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

108 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

109 subpoena   

n.（法律）传票；v.传讯

参考例句：

• He was brought up to court with a subpoena.他接到传讯，来到法庭上。
• Select committees have the power to subpoena witnesses.特别委员会有权传唤证人。

110 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

111 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。

112 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

113 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

114 winced   

赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He winced as the dog nipped his ankle. 狗咬了他的脚腕子，疼得他龇牙咧嘴。
• He winced as a sharp pain shot through his left leg. 他左腿一阵剧痛疼得他直龇牙咧嘴。

115 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

116 reciprocate   

v.往复运动；互换；回报，酬答

参考例句：

• Although she did not reciprocate his feelings, she did not discourage him.尽管她没有回应他的感情，她也没有使他丧失信心。
• Some day I will reciprocate your kindness to me.总有一天我会报答你对我的恩德。

117 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。

118 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

119 solidify   

v.(使)凝固，(使)固化，(使)团结

参考例句：

• Opinion on this question began to solidify.对这个问题的意见开始具体化了。
• Water will solidify into ice if you freeze it.水冷冻会结冰。

120 beget   

v.引起；产生

参考例句：

• Dragons beget dragons,phoenixes beget phoenixes.龙生龙，凤生凤。
• Economic tensions beget political ones.经济紧张导致政治紧张。

121 flannel   

n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服

参考例句：

• She always wears a grey flannel trousers.她总是穿一条灰色法兰绒长裤。
• She was looking luscious in a flannel shirt.她穿着法兰绒裙子，看上去楚楚动人。

122 crunched   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• Our feet crunched on the frozen snow. 我们的脚嘎吱嘎吱地踩在冻雪上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He closed his jaws on the bones and crunched. 他咬紧骨头，使劲地嚼。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命

123 jaguar   

n.美洲虎

参考例句：

• He was green with envy when he saw my new Jaguar car.看见我那辆美洲虎牌新车，他非常妒忌。
• Should you meet a jaguar in the jungle,just turn slowly,walk away.But slowly,never look back.你在丛林中若碰上美洲虎，就慢慢转身走开，可一定要慢，切莫回头看。

124 algebra   

n.代数学

参考例句：

• He was not good at algebra in middle school.他中学时不擅长代数。
• The boy can't figure out the algebra problems.这个男孩做不出这道代数题。

125 writhing   

（因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was writhing around on the floor in agony. 她痛得在地板上直打滚。
• He was writhing on the ground in agony. 他痛苦地在地上打滚。

126 feverish   

adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的

参考例句：

• He is too feverish to rest.他兴奋得安静不下来。
• They worked with feverish haste to finish the job.为了完成此事他们以狂热的速度工作着。

127 hitch   

v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉

参考例句：

• They had an eighty-mile journey and decided to hitch hike.他们要走80英里的路程，最后决定搭便车。
• All the candidates are able to answer the questions without any hitch.所有报考者都能对答如流。

128 blurted   

v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She blurted it out before I could stop her. 我还没来得及制止，她已脱口而出。
• He blurted out the truth, that he committed the crime. 他不慎说出了真相，说是他犯了那个罪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

129 affixing   

v.附加( affix的现在分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章）

参考例句：

• Formally approves a document by affixing a signature. 以签名的形式正式批准文件。 来自互联网
• Forfixing, insulating, shock affixing parts or screws of many items such as appliances, stereos, and eyeglasses. 电器、音响响、光学学、电脑等的零件、螺丝固定绝缘、防震与接著。 来自互联网

130 kits   

衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件

参考例句：

• Keep your kits closed and locked when not in use. 不用的话把你的装备都锁好放好。
• Gifts Articles, Toy and Games, Wooden Toys, Puzzles, Craft Kits. 采购产品礼品，玩具和游戏，木制的玩具，智力玩具，手艺装备。

131 affixed   

adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章）

参考例句：

• The label should be firmly affixed to the package. 这张标签应该牢牢地贴在包裹上。
• He affixed the sign to the wall. 他将标记贴到墙上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

132 fluffy   

adj.有绒毛的，空洞的

参考例句：

• Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。
• The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

133 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

134 scarlet   

n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的

参考例句：

• The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
• The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。

135 corroborate   

v.支持，证实，确定

参考例句：

• He looked at me anxiously,as if he hoped I'd corroborate this.他神色不安地看着我，仿佛他希望我证实地的话。
• It appeared that what he said went to corroborate my account.看来他所说的和我叙述的相符。

136 bounty   

n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与

参考例句：

• He is famous for his bounty to the poor.他因对穷人慷慨相助而出名。
• We received a bounty from the government.我们收到政府给予的一笔补助金。

137 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。

138 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

139 entrees   

n.入场权( entree的名词复数 )；主菜

参考例句：

• Can I also take you order for your entrees now? 现在要不要也点主菜？ 来自互联网
• Before the entrees are served, the waiter first serves four cold dishes. 在正菜上桌之前，服务员先上了四个凉碟。 来自互联网

140 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。

141 impromptu   

adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地)

参考例句：

• The announcement was made in an impromptu press conference at the airport.这一宣布是在机场举行的临时新闻发布会上作出的。
• The children put on an impromptu concert for the visitors.孩子们为来访者即兴献上了一场音乐会。

142 juggling   

n. 欺骗, 杂耍(=jugglery) adj. 欺骗的, 欺诈的 动词juggle的现在分词

参考例句：

• He was charged with some dishonest juggling with the accounts. 他被指控用欺骗手段窜改账目。
• The accountant went to prison for juggling his firm's accounts. 会计因涂改公司的帐目而入狱。

143 charcoal   

n.炭，木炭，生物炭

参考例句：

• We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
• Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。

144 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

145 crate   

vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱

参考例句：

• We broke open the crate with a blow from the chopper.我们用斧头一敲就打开了板条箱。
• The workers tightly packed the goods in the crate.工人们把货物严紧地包装在箱子里。

146 nicotine   

n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。

147 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

148 swirled   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The waves swirled and eddied around the rocks. 波浪翻滚着在岩石周围打旋。
• The water swirled down the drain. 水打着旋流进了下水道。

149 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

150 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

151 scrutinized   

v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The jeweler scrutinized the diamond for flaws. 宝石商人仔细察看钻石有无瑕庇 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Together we scrutinized the twelve lemon cakes from the delicatessen shop. 我们一起把甜食店里买来的十二块柠檬蛋糕细细打量了一番。 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比

152 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

153 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

154 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。

155 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。

156 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

157 squinting   

斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• "More company," he said, squinting in the sun. "那边来人了，"他在阳光中眨巴着眼睛说。
• Squinting against the morning sun, Faulcon examined the boy carefully. 对着早晨的太阳斜起眼睛，富尔康仔细地打量着那个年轻人。

158 moles   

防波堤( mole的名词复数 )； 鼹鼠； 痣； 间谍

参考例句：

• Unsightly moles can be removed surgically. 不雅观的痣可以手术去除。
• Two moles of epoxy react with one mole of A-1100. 两个克分子环氧与一个克分子A－1100反应。

159 eyebrow   

n.眉毛，眉

参考例句：

• Her eyebrow is well penciled.她的眉毛画得很好。
• With an eyebrow raised,he seemed divided between surprise and amusement.他一只眉毛扬了扬，似乎既感到吃惊，又觉有趣。

160 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

161 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

162 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

163 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

164 sonnets   

n.十四行诗( sonnet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Keats' reputation as a great poet rests largely upon the odes and the later sonnets. 作为一个伟大的诗人，济慈的声誉大部分建立在他写的长诗和后期的十四行诗上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He referred to the manuscript circulation of the sonnets. 他谈到了十四行诗手稿的流行情况。 来自辞典例句

165 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

166 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

167 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。

168 cone   

n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果

参考例句：

• Saw-dust piled up in a great cone.锯屑堆积如山。
• The police have sectioned off part of the road with traffic cone.警察用锥形路标把部分路面分隔开来。

169 demeanor   

n.行为；风度

参考例句：

• She is quiet in her demeanor.她举止文静。
• The old soldier never lost his military demeanor.那个老军人从来没有失去军人风度。

170 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。

171 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

172 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

173 crook   

v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处)

参考例句：

• He demanded an apology from me for calling him a crook.我骂他骗子，他要我向他认错。
• She was cradling a small parcel in the crook of her elbow.她用手臂挎着一个小包裹。

174 oozing   

v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的现在分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出

参考例句：

• Blood was oozing out of the wound on his leg. 血正从他腿上的伤口渗出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wound had not healed properly and was oozing pus. 伤口未真正痊瘉，还在流脓。 来自《简明英汉词典》

175 preclude   

vt.阻止，排除，防止；妨碍

参考例句：

• We try to preclude any possibility of misunderstanding.我们努力排除任何误解的可能性。
• My present finances preclude the possibility of buying a car.按我目前的财务状况我是不可能买车的。

176 gunpowder   

n.火药

参考例句：

• Gunpowder was introduced into Europe during the first half of the 14th century.在14世纪上半叶，火药传入欧洲。
• This statement has a strong smell of gunpowder.这是一篇充满火药味的声明。

177 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

178 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。

179 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

180 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。

181 soften   

v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和

参考例句：

• Plastics will soften when exposed to heat.塑料适当加热就可以软化。
• This special cream will help to soften up our skin.这种特殊的护肤霜有助于使皮肤变得柔软。

182 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。

183 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

184 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

185 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

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。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

186 subconsciously   

ad.下意识地，潜意识地

参考例句：

• In choosing a partner we are subconsciously assessing their evolutionary fitness to be a mother of children or father provider and protector. 在选择伴侣的时候，我们会在潜意识里衡量对方将来是否会是称职的母亲或者父亲，是否会是合格的一家之主。
• Lao Yang thought as he subconsciously tightened his grasp on the rifle. 他下意识地攥紧枪把想。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

187 cuff   

n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口

参考例句：

• She hoped they wouldn't cuff her hands behind her back.她希望他们不要把她反铐起来。
• Would you please draw together the snag in my cuff?请你把我袖口上的裂口缝上好吗？

188 semblance   

n.外貌，外表

参考例句：

• Her semblance of anger frightened the children.她生气的样子使孩子们感到害怕。
• Those clouds have the semblance of a large head.那些云的形状像一个巨大的人头。

189 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。

190 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

191 herald   

vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎

参考例句：

• In England, the cuckoo is the herald of spring.在英国杜鹃鸟是报春的使者。
• Dawn is the herald of day.曙光是白昼的先驱。

192 screeching   

v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• Monkeys were screeching in the trees. 猴子在树上吱吱地叫着。
• the unedifying sight of the two party leaders screeching at each other 两党党魁狺狺对吠的讨厌情景

193 remorse   

n.痛恨，悔恨，自责

参考例句：

• She had no remorse about what she had said.她对所说的话不后悔。
• He has shown no remorse for his actions.他对自己的行为没有任何悔恨之意。

194 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

195 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

196 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

197 apprehensive   

adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的

参考例句：

• She was deeply apprehensive about her future.她对未来感到非常担心。
• He was rather apprehensive of failure.他相当害怕失败。

198 paragon   

n.模范，典型

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• Man is the paragon of animals.人是万物之灵。

199 manliness   

刚毅

参考例句：

• She was really fond of his strength, his wholesome looks, his manliness. 她真喜欢他的坚强，他那健康的容貌，他的男子气概。
• His confidence, his manliness and bravery, turn his wit into wisdom. 他的自信、男子气概和勇敢将他的风趣变为智慧。

200 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

201 walrus   

n.海象

参考例句：

• He is the queer old duck with the knee-length gaiters and walrus mustache.他穿着高及膝盖的皮护腿，留着海象般的八字胡，真是个古怪的老家伙。
• He seemed hardly to notice the big walrus.他几乎没有注意到那只大海象。

202 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

203 tusks   

n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头

参考例句：

• The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
• Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

204 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

205 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

206 anathema   

n.诅咒；被诅咒的人(物)，十分讨厌的人(物)

参考例句：

• Independence for the Kurds is anathema to Turkey and Iran.库尔德人的独立对土耳其和伊朗来说将是一场梦魇。
• Her views are ( an ) anathema to me.她的观点真叫我讨厌。

207 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

208 gutters   

（路边）排水沟( gutter的名词复数 )； 阴沟； （屋顶的）天沟； 贫贱的境地

参考例句：

• Gutters lead the water into the ditch. 排水沟把水排到这条水沟里。
• They were born, they grew up in the gutters. 他们生了下来，以后就在街头长大。

209 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

210 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

211 sheathed   

adj.雕塑像下半身包在鞘中的；覆盖的；铠装的；装鞘了的v.将（刀、剑等）插入鞘( sheathe的过去式和过去分词 )；包，覆盖

参考例句：

• Bulletproof cars sheathed in armour. 防弹车护有装甲。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The effect of his mediation was so great that both parties sheathed the sword at once. 他的调停非常有效，双方立刻停战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

212 hoax   

v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧

参考例句：

• They were the victims of a cruel hoax.他们是一个残忍恶作剧的受害者。
• They hoax him out of his money.他们骗去他的钱。

213 xerox   

n./v.施乐复印机，静电复印

参考例句：

• Xerox and Lucent are two more high-tech companies run by women.施乐和朗讯是另外两家由女性经营的大科技公司。
• You cannot take it home,but you can xerox it.你不能把它带回家，但可以复印。

214 villains   

n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼

参考例句：

• The impression of villains was inescapable. 留下恶棍的印象是不可避免的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some villains robbed the widow of the savings. 有几个歹徒将寡妇的积蓄劫走了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

215 forefinger   

n.食指

参考例句：

• He pinched the leaf between his thumb and forefinger.他将叶子捏在拇指和食指之间。
• He held it between the tips of his thumb and forefinger.他用他大拇指和食指尖拿着它。

216 systematically   

adv.有系统地

参考例句：

• This government has systematically run down public services since it took office.这一屆政府自上台以来系统地削减了公共服务。
• The rainforest is being systematically destroyed.雨林正被系统地毀灭。

217 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

218 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

219 retrospect   

n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯

参考例句：

• One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
• In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。

220 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

221 tenement   

n.公寓；房屋

参考例句：

• They live in a tenement.他们住在廉价公寓里。
• She felt very smug in a tenement yard like this.就是在个这样的杂院里，她觉得很得意。

222 flirt   

v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者

参考例句：

• He used to flirt with every girl he met.过去他总是看到一个姑娘便跟她调情。
• He watched the stranger flirt with his girlfriend and got fighting mad.看着那个陌生人和他女朋友调情，他都要抓狂了。

223 dribbled   

v.流口水( dribble的过去式和过去分词 )；（使液体）滴下或作细流；运球，带球

参考例句：

• Melted wax dribbled down the side of the candle. 熔化了的蜡一滴滴从蜡烛边上流下。
• He dribbled past the fullback and scored a goal. 他越过对方后卫，趁势把球踢入球门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

224 sketches   

n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概

参考例句：

• The artist is making sketches for his next painting. 画家正为他的下一幅作品画素描。
• You have to admit that these sketches are true to life. 你得承认这些素描很逼真。 来自《简明英汉词典》

225 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

226 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

227 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。

228 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

229 briefcase   

n.手提箱，公事皮包

参考例句：

• He packed a briefcase with what might be required.他把所有可能需要的东西都装进公文包。
• He requested the old man to look after the briefcase.他请求那位老人照看这个公事包。

230 tattooed   

v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• He had tattooed his wife's name on his upper arm. 他把妻子的名字刺在上臂上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sailor had a heart tattooed on his arm. 那水兵在手臂上刺上一颗心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

231 spouses   

n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jobs are available for spouses on campus and in the community. 校园里和社区里有配偶可做的工作。 来自辞典例句
• An astonishing number of spouses-most particularly in the upper-income brackets-have no close notion of their husbands'paychecks. 相当大一部分妇女——特别在高收入阶层——并不很了解他们丈夫的薪金。 来自辞典例句

232 Alcoholics   

n.嗜酒者，酒鬼( alcoholic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many alcoholics go on drinking sprees that continue for days at a time. 许多酒鬼一次要狂饮好几天。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Do you have a copy of the Alcoholics Anonymous book? 你手上有戒酒匿名会的书吗？ 来自互联网

233 unduly   

adv.过度地，不适当地

参考例句：

• He did not sound unduly worried at the prospect.他的口气听上去对前景并不十分担忧。
• He argued that the law was unduly restrictive.他辩称法律的约束性有些过分了。

234 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

235 subpoenaed   

v.（用传票）传唤（某人）( subpoena的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The court subpoenaed her to appear as a witness. 法庭传唤她出庭作证。
• The finance director is subpoenaed by prosecution. 财务经理被检查机关传讯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

236 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

237 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

238 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

239 smeared   

弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上

参考例句：

• The children had smeared mud on the walls. 那几个孩子往墙上抹了泥巴。
• A few words were smeared. 有写字被涂模糊了。

240 lipstick   

n.口红，唇膏

参考例句：

• Taking out her lipstick,she began to paint her lips.她拿出口红，开始往嘴唇上抹。
• Lipstick and hair conditioner are cosmetics.口红和护发素都是化妆品。

241 shimmered   

v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The sea shimmered in the sunlight. 阳光下海水闪烁着微光。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A heat haze shimmered above the fields. 田野上方微微闪烁着一层热气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

242 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

243 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

244 clenched   

v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。
• She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上，以掩饰其颤抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

245 lashes   

n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• Mother always lashes out food for the children's party. 孩子们聚会时，母亲总是给他们许多吃的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Never walk behind a horse in case it lashes out. 绝对不要跟在马后面，以防它突然猛踢。 来自《简明英汉词典》

246 freckles   

n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She had a wonderful clear skin with an attractive sprinkling of freckles. 她光滑的皮肤上有几处可爱的小雀斑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• When she lies in the sun, her face gets covered in freckles. 她躺在阳光下时，脸上布满了斑点。 来自《简明英汉词典》

247 sobbed   

哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说

参考例句：

• She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
• She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。

248 snail   

n.蜗牛

参考例句：

• Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
• Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。

249 flirting   

v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Don't take her too seriously; she's only flirting with you. 别把她太当真，她只不过是在和你调情罢了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• 'she's always flirting with that new fellow Tseng!" “她还同新来厂里那个姓曾的吊膀子！ 来自子夜部分

250 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

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 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。

253 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

254 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。

255 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

256 gourmet   

n.食物品尝家；adj.出于美食家之手的

参考例句：

• What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么？
• A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。

257 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

258 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

259 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

260 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

261 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

262 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

263 crumpled   

adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
• She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

264 rogue   

n.流氓；v.游手好闲

参考例句：

• The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on.这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。
• They defined him as a rogue.他们确定他为骗子。

265 renown   

n.声誉，名望

参考例句：

• His renown has spread throughout the country.他的名声已传遍全国。
• She used to be a singer of some renown.她曾是位小有名气的歌手。

266 checkout   

n.（超市等）收银台，付款处

参考例句：

• Could you pay at the checkout.你能在结帐处付款吗。
• A man was wheeling his shopping trolley to the checkout.一个男人正推着购物车向付款台走去。

267 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》

268 wrath   

n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒

参考例句：

• His silence marked his wrath. 他的沉默表明了他的愤怒。
• The wrath of the people is now aroused. 人们被激怒了。

269 softening   

变软，软化

参考例句：

• Her eyes, softening, caressed his face. 她的眼光变得很温柔了。它们不住地爱抚他的脸。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• He might think my brain was softening or something of the kind. 他也许会觉得我婆婆妈妈的，已经成了个软心肠的人了。

270 attire   

v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装

参考例句：

• He had no intention of changing his mode of attire.他无意改变着装方式。
• Her attention was attracted by his peculiar attire.他那奇特的服装引起了她的注意。

271 eyewitness   

n.目击者，见证人

参考例句：

• The police questioned several eyewitness to the murder.警察询问了谋杀案的几位目击者。
• He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。

272 delirious   

adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的

参考例句：

• He was delirious,murmuring about that matter.他精神恍惚，低声叨念着那件事。
• She knew that he had become delirious,and tried to pacify him.她知道他已经神志昏迷起来了，极力想使他镇静下来。

273 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

274 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！

275 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

276 hilarious   

adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed

参考例句：

• The party got quite hilarious after they brought more wine.在他们又拿来更多的酒之后，派对变得更加热闹起来。
• We stop laughing because the show was so hilarious.我们笑个不停，因为那个节目太搞笑了。

277 hanger   

n.吊架，吊轴承；挂钩

参考例句：

• I hung my coat up on a hanger.我把外衣挂在挂钩上。
• The ship is fitted with a large helicopter hanger and flight deck.这艘船配备有一个较大的直升飞机悬挂装置和飞行甲板。

278 smearing   

污点，拖尾效应

参考例句：

• The small boy spoilt the picture by smearing it with ink. 那孩子往画上抹墨水把画给毁了。
• Remove the screen carefully so as to avoid smearing the paste print. 小心的移开丝网，以避免它弄脏膏印。

279 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

280 eyelids   

n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色

参考例句：

• She was so tired, her eyelids were beginning to droop. 她太疲倦了，眼睑开始往下垂。
• Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

281 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

282 vertically   

adv.垂直地

参考例句：

• Line the pages for the graph both horizontally and vertically.在这几页上同时画上横线和竖线，以便制作图表。
• The human brain is divided vertically down the middle into two hemispheres.人脑从中央垂直地分为两半球。

283 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

284 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

285 disintegrate   

v.瓦解，解体，（使）碎裂，（使）粉碎

参考例句：

• The older strata gradually disintegrate.较老的岩层渐渐风化。
• The plane would probably disintegrate at that high speed.飞机以那么高速飞行也许会四分五裂。

286 acrobat   

n.特技演员，杂技演员

参考例句：

• The acrobat balanced a long pole on his left shoulder.杂技演员让一根长杆在他的左肩上保持平衡。
• The acrobat could bend himself into a hoop.这个杂技演员可以把身体蜷曲成圆形。

287 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

288 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

289 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。

290 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

291 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

292 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。

293 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

294 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

295 prank   

n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己

参考例句：

• It was thought that the fire alarm had been set off as a prank.人们认为火警报警器响是个恶作剧。
• The dean was ranking the boys for pulling the prank.系主任正在惩罚那些恶作剧的男学生。

296 bastard   

n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子

参考例句：

• He was never concerned about being born a bastard.他从不介意自己是私生子。
• There was supposed to be no way to get at the bastard.据说没有办法买通那个混蛋。

297 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

298 bog   

n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖

参考例句：

• We were able to pass him a rope before the bog sucked him under.我们终于得以在沼泽把他吞没前把绳子扔给他。
• The path goes across an area of bog.这条小路穿过一片沼泽。

299 evergreens   

n.常青树，常绿植物，万年青( evergreen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The leaves of evergreens are often shaped like needles. 常绿植物的叶常是针形的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pine, cedar and spruce are evergreens. 松树、雪松、云杉都是常绿的树。 来自辞典例句

300 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

301 subdue   

vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制

参考例句：

• She tried to subdue her anger.她尽力压制自己的怒火。
• He forced himself to subdue and overcome his fears.他强迫自己克制并战胜恐惧心理。

302 sagged   

下垂的

参考例句：

• The black reticule sagged under the weight of shapeless objects. 黑色的拎包由于装了各种形状的东西而中间下陷。
• He sagged wearily back in his chair. 他疲倦地瘫坐到椅子上。

303 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

304 shredded   

shred的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Serve the fish on a bed of shredded lettuce. 先铺一层碎生菜叶，再把鱼放上，就可以上桌了。
• I think Mapo beancurd and shredded meat in chilli sauce are quite special. 我觉得麻婆豆腐和鱼香肉丝味道不错。 来自《简明英汉词典》

305 denim   

n.斜纹棉布；斜纹棉布裤，牛仔裤

参考例句：

• She wore pale blue denim shorts and a white denim work shirt.她穿着一条淡蓝色的斜纹粗棉布短裤，一件白粗布工作服上衣。
• Dennis was dressed in denim jeans.丹尼斯穿了一条牛仔裤。

306 chattering   

n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The teacher told the children to stop chattering in class. 老师叫孩子们在课堂上不要叽叽喳喳讲话。
• I was so cold that my teeth were chattering. 我冷得牙齿直打战。

307 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

308 crease   

n.折缝，褶痕，皱褶；v.(使)起皱

参考例句：

• Does artificial silk crease more easily than natural silk?人造丝比天然丝更易起皱吗？
• Please don't crease the blouse when you pack it.包装时请不要将衬衫弄皱了。

309 hurled   

v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• He hurled a brick through the window. 他往窗户里扔了块砖。
• The strong wind hurled down bits of the roof. 大风把屋顶的瓦片刮了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

310 morsel   

n.一口，一点点

参考例句：

• He refused to touch a morsel of the food they had brought.他们拿来的东西他一口也不吃。
• The patient has not had a morsel of food since the morning.从早上起病人一直没有进食。

311 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

312 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？