A few months later, when Mary Pereira finally confessed her crime, and revealed the secrets of her eleven-year-long haunting by the ghost of Joseph D'Costa, we learned that, after her return from exile, she was badly shocked by the condition into which the ghost had fallen in her absence. It had begun to decay, so that now bits of it were missing: an ear, several toes on each foot, most of its teeth; and there was a hole in its stomach-larger than an egg. Distressed1 by this crumbling2 spectre, she asked it (when she was sure nobody else was within earshot): 'O God, Joe, what you been doing to yourself?' He replied that the responsibility of her crime had been placed squarely on his shoulders until she confessed, and it was playing hell with his system. From that moment it became inevitable3 that she would confess; but each time she looked at me she found herself prevented from doing so. Still, it was only a matter of time.
In the meanwhile, and utterly4 ignorant of how close I was to being exposed as a fraud, I was attempting to come to terms with a Methwold's Estate in which, too, a number of transformations5 had occurred. In the first place, my father seemed to want nothing more to do with me, an attitude of mind which I found hurtful but (considering my mutilated body) entirely6 understandable. In the second place, there was the remarkable7 change in the fortunes of the Brass9 Monkey. 'My position in this household,' I was obliged to admit to myself, 'has been usurped10.' Because now it was the Monkey whom my father admitted into the abstract sanctum of his office, the Monkey whom he smothered11 in his squashy belly12, and who was obliged to bear the burdens of his dreams about the future. I even heard Mary Pereira singing to the Monkey the little ditty which had been my theme-song all my days: 'Anything you want to be,' Mary sang, 'you can be; You can be just what-all you want!' Even my mother seemed to have caught the mood; and now it was my sister who always got the biggest helping13 of chips at the dinner-table, and the extra nargisi kofta, and the choicest pasanda. While I - whenever anyone in the house chanced to look at me - was conscious of a deepening furrow14 between their eyebrows15, and an atmosphere of confusion and distrust. But how could I complain? The Monkey had tolerated my special position for years. With the possible exception of the time I fell out of a tree in our garden after she nudged me (which could have been an accident, after all), she had accepted my primacy with excellent grace and even loyalty16. Now it was my turn; long-trousered, I was required to be adult about my demotion. 'This growing up,' I told myself, 'is harder than I expected.'
The Monkey, it must be said, was no less astonished than I at her elevation17 to the role of favoured child. She did her best to fall from grace, but it seemed she could do no wrong. These were the days of her flirtation18 with Christianity, which was partly due to the influence of her European school-friends and partly to the rosary-fingering presence of Mary Pereira (who, unable to go to church because of her fear of the confessional, would regale20 us instead with Bible stories); mostly, however, I believe it was an attempt by the Monkey to regain21 her old, comfortable position in the family doghouse (and, speaking of dogs, the Baroness22 Simki had been put to sleep during my absence, lulled23 by promiscuity).
My sister spoke24 highly of gentle Jesus meek25 and mild; my mother smiled vaguely26 and patted her on the head. She went around the house humming hymns27; my mother took up the tunes8 and sang along. She requested a nun's outfit28 to replace her favourite nurse's dress; it was given to her. She threaded chick-peas on a string and used them as a rosary, muttering Hail-Mary-full-of-grace, and my parents praised her skill with her hands. Tormented29 by her failure to be punished, she mounted to extremes of religious fervour, reciting the Our Father morning and night, fasting in the weeks of Lent instead of during Ramzan, revealing an unsuspected streak31 of fanaticism32 which would, later, begin to dominate her personality; and still, it appeared, she was tolerated. Finally she discussed the matter with me. 'Well, brother,' she said, 'looks like from now on I'll just have to be the good guy, and you can have all the fun.'
She was probably right; my parents' apparent loss of interest in me should have given me a greater measure of freedom; but I was mesmerized33 by the transformations which were taking place in every aspect of my life, and fun, in such circumstances, seemed hard to have.
I was altering physically34; too early, soft fuzz was appearing on my chin, and my voice swooped35, out of control, up and down the vocal36 register. I had a strong sense of absurdity37: my lengthening38 limbs were making me clumsy, and I must have cut a clownish figure, as I outgrew39 shirts and trousers and stuck gawkily and too far out of the ends of my clothes. I felt somehow conspired40 against, by these garments which flapped comically around my ankles and wrists; and even when I turned inwards to my secret Children, I found change, and didn't like it.
The gradual disintegration41 of the Midnight Children's Conference -which finally fell apart on the day the Chinese armies came down over the Himalayas to humiliate42 the Indian fauj - was already well under way. When novelty wears off, boredom43, and then dissension, must inevitably44 ensue. Or (to put it another way)
when a finger is mutilated, and fountains of blood flow out, all manner of vilenesses become possible ... whether or not the cracks in the Conference were the (active-metaphorical) result of my finger-loss, they were certainly widening. Up in Kashmir, Narada-Markandaya was falling into the solipsistic dreams of the true narcissist45, concerned only with the erotic pleasures of constant sexual alterations46; while Soumitra the time-traveller, wounded by our refusal to listen to his descriptions of a future in which (he said) the country would be governed by a urine-drinking dotard who refused to die, and people would forget everything they had ever learned, and Pakistan would split like an amoeba, and the prime ministers of each half would be assassinated47 by their successors, both of whom - he swore despite our disbelief -would be called by the same name ... wounded Soumitra became a regular absentee from our nightly meetings, disappearing for long periods into the spidery labyrinths48 of Time. And the sisters from Baud were content with their ability to bewitch fools young and old. 'What can this Conference help?' they inquired. 'We already have too many lovers.' And our alchemist member was busying himself in a laboratory built for him by his father (to whom he had revealed his secret); pre-occupied with the Philosopher's Stone, he had very little time for us. We had lost him to the lure30 of gold.
And there were other factors at work as well. Children, however magical, are not immune to their parents; and as the prejudices and world-views of adults began to take over their minds, I found children from Maharashtra loathing49 Gujaratis, and fair-skinned northerners reviling50 Dravidian 'blackies'; there were religious rivalries51; and class entered our councils. The rich children turned up their noses at being in such lowly company; Brahmins began to feel uneasy at permitting even their thoughts to touch the thoughts of untouchables; while, among the low-born, the pressures of poverty and Communism were becoming evident ... and, on top of all this, there were clashes of personality, and the hundred squalling rows which are unavoidable in a parliament composed entirely of half-grown brats52.
In this way the Midnight Children's Conference fulfilled the prophecy of the Prime Minister and became, in truth, a mirror of the nation; the passive-literal mode was at work, although I railed against it, with increasing desperation, and finally with growing resignation ... 'Brothers, sisters!' I broadcast, with a mental voice as uncontrollable as its physical counterpart, 'Do not let this happen! Do not permit the endless duality of masses-and-classes, capital-and-labour, them-and-us to come between us! We,' I cried passionately53, 'must be a third principle, we must be the force which drives between the horns of the dilemma54; for only by being other, by being new, can we fulfil the promise of our birth!' I had supporters, and none greater than Parvati-the-witch; but I felt them slipping away from me, each distracted by his or her own life ... just as, in truth, I was being distracted by mine. It was as though our glorious congress was turning out to be more than another of the toys of childhood, as though long trousers were destroying what midnight had created ... 'We must decide on a programme,' I pleaded, 'our own Five Year Plan, why not?' But I could hear, behind my anxious broadcast, the amused laughter of my greatest rival; and there was SMva in all our heads, saying scornfully, 'No, little rich boy; there is no third principle; there is only money-and-poverty, and have-and-lack, and right-and-left; there is only me-against-the-world! The world is not ideas, rich boy; the world is no place for dreamers or their dreams; the world, little Snotnose, is things. Things and their makers55 rule the world; look at Birla, and Tata, and all the powerful: they make things. For things, the country is run. Not for people. For things, America and Russia send aid; but five hundred million stay hungry. When you have things, then there is time to dream; when you don't, you fight.' The Children, listening fascinatedly as we fought... or perhaps not, perhaps even our dialogue failed to hold their interest. And now I: 'But people are not tilings; if we come together, if we love each other, if we show that this, just this, this people-together, this Conference, this children-sticking-together-through-thick-and-thin, can be that third way...' But Shiva, snorting: 'Little rich boy, that's all just wind. All that importance-of-the-individual. All that possibility-of-human-ity. Today, what people are is just another kind of thing.' And I, Saleem, crumbling: 'But ... free will ... hope ... the great soul, otherwise known as mahatma, of mankind ... and what of poetry, and art, and ...' Whereupon SMva seized his victory: 'You see? I knew you'd turn out to be like that. Mushy, like overcooked rice. Sentimental56 as a grandmother. Go, who wants your rubbish? We all have lives to live. Hell's bells, cucumber-nose, I'm fed up with your Conference.
It's got nothing to do with one single thing.'
You ask: there are ten-year-olds? I reply: Yes, but. You say: did ten-year-olds, or even almost-elevens, discuss the role of the individual in society? And the rivalry57 of capital and labour? Were the internal stresses of agrarian58 and industrialized zones made explicit59? And conflicts in socio-cultural heritages?
Did children of less than four thousand days discuss identity, and the inherent conflicts of capitalism60? Having got through fewer than one hundred thousand hours, did they contrast Gandhi and Marxlenin, power and impotence? Was collectivity opposed to singularity? Was God killed by children? Even allowing for the truth of the supposed miracles, can we now believe that urchins61 spoke like old men with beards?
I say: maybe not in these words; maybe not in words at all, but in the purer language of thought; but yes, certainly, this is what was at the bottom of it all; because children are the vessels62 into which adults pour their poison, and it was the poison of grown-ups which did for us. Poison, and after a gap of many years, a Widow with a knife.
In short: after my return to Buckingham Villa63, even the salt of the midnight children lost its savour; there were nights, now, when I did not even bother to set up my nationwide network; and the demon64 lurking65 inside me (it had two heads)
was free to get on with its devilment. (I never knew about Shiva's guilt66 or innocence67 of whore-murders; but such was the influence of Kali-Yuga that I, the good guy and natural victim, was certainly responsible for two deaths. First came Jimmy Kapadia; and second was Homi Catrack.)
If there is a third principle, its name is childhood. But it dies; or rather, it is murdered.
We all had our troubles in those, days. Homi Catrack had his idiot Toxy, and the Ibrahims had other worries: Sonny's father Ismail, after years of bribing68 judges and juries, was in danger of being investigated by the Bar Commission; and Sonny's uncle Ishaq, who ran the second-rate Embassy Hotel near Flora69 Fountain, was reputedly deep in debt to local gangsters70, and worried constantly about being 'bumped off' (in those days, assassinations71 were becoming as quotidian73 as the heat) ... so perhaps it isn't surprising that we had all forgotten about the existence of Professor Schaapsteker. (Indians grow larger and more powerful as they age; but Schaapsteker was a European, and his kind unfortunately fade away with the years, and,often completely disappear.)
But now, driven, perhaps, by my demon, my feet led me upstairs to the top floor of Buckingham Villa, where I found a mad old man, incredibly tiny and shrunken, whose narrow tongue darted74 constantly in and out between his lips - flicking75, licking: the former searcher after antivenenes, assassin of horses, Sharpsticker sahib, now ninety-two and no longer of his eponymous Institute, but retired76 into a dark top-floor apartment filled with tropical vegetation and serpents pickled in brine. Age, failing to draw his teeth and poison-sacs, had turned him instead into the incarnation of snakehood; like other Europeans who stay too long, the ancient insanities77 of India had pickled his brains, so that he had come to believe the superstitions78 of the Institute orderlies, according to whom he was the last of a line which began when a king cobra mated with a woman who gave birth to a human (but serpentine) child ... it seems that all my life I've only had to turn a corner to tumble into yet another new and fabulously79 transmogrified world. Climb a ladder (or even a staircase) and you find a snake awaiting you.
The curtains were always drawn80; in Schaapsteker's rooms, the sun neither rose nor set, and no clocks ticked. Was it the demon, or our mutual81 sense of isolation82 which drew us together?... Because, in those days of the Monkey's ascendancy84 and the Conference's decline, I began to ascend83 the stairs whenever possible, and listen to the ravings of the crazy, sibilant old man.
His first greeting to me, when I stumbled into his unlocked lair85, was: 'So, child - you have recovered from the typhoid.' The sentence stirred time like a sluggish86 dust-cloud and rejoined me to my one-year-old self; I remembered the story of how Schaapsteker had saved my life with snake-poison. And afterwards, for several weeks, I sat at his feet, and he revealed to me the cobra which lay coiled within myself.
Who listed, for my benefit, the occult powers of snakes? (Their shadows kill cows; if they enter a man's dreams, his wife conceives; if they are killed, the murderer's family is denied male issue for twenty generations.) And who described to me - with the aid of books and stuffed corpses88 - the cobra's constant foes89? 'Study your enemies, child,' he hissed90, 'or they will surely kill you.' ... At Schaapsteker's feet, I studied the mongoose and the boar, the dagger-billed adjutant bird and the barasinha deer, which crushes snakes' heads under its feet; and the Egyptian ichneumon, and ibis; the four-feet-high secretary bird, fearless and hook-beaked, whose appearance and name made me think suspicious thoughts about my father's Alice Pereira; and the jackal buzzard, the stink91 cat, the honey ratel from the hills; the road runner, the peccary, and the formidable cangamba bird. Schaapsteker, from the depths of his senility, instructed me in life. 'Be wise, child. Imitate the action of the snake. Be secret; strike from the cover of a bush.'
Once he said: 'You must think of me as another father. Did I not give you your life when it was lost?' With this statement he proved that he was as much under my spell as I under his; he had accepted that he, too, was one of that endless series of parents to whom I alone had the power of giving birth. And although, after a time, I found the air in his chambers92 too oppressive, and left him once more to the isolation from which he would never again be disturbed, he had shown me how to proceed. Consumed by the two-headed demon of revenge, I used my telepathic powers (for the first time) as a weapon; and in this way I discovered the details of the relationship between Homi Catrack and Lila Sabarmati. Lila and Pia were always rivals in beauty; it was the wife of the heir-apparent to the title of Admiral of the Fleet who had become the film magnate's new fancy-woman. While Commander Sabarmati was at sea on manoeuvres, Lila and Homi were performing certain manoeuvres of their own; while the lion of the seas awaited' the death of the then-Admiral, Homi and Lila, too, were making an appointment with the Reaper93. (With my help.)
'Be secret,' said Sharpsticker sahib; secretly, I spied on my enemy Homi, and on the promiscuous94 mother of Eyeslice and Hairoil (who were very full of themselves of late, ever since, in fact, the papers announced that Commander Sabarmati's promotion95 was a mere96 formality. Only a matter of time ...). 'Loose woman,' the demon within me whispered silently, 'Perpetrator of the worst of maternal97 perfidies98! We shall turn you into an awful example; through you we shall demonstrate the fate which awaits the lascivious99. ?unobservant adulteress! Did you not see what sleeping around did to the illustrious Baroness Simki von der Heiden? - who was, not to put too fine a point upon it, a bitch, just like yourself.'
My view of Lila Sabarmati has mellowed100 with age; after all, she and I had one thing in common - her nose, like mine, possessed101 tremendous powers. Hers, however, was a purely102 worldly magic: a wrinkle of nasal skin could charm the steeliest of Admirals; a tiny flare103 of the nostrils104 ignited strange fires in the hearts of film magnates. I am a little regretful about betraying that nose; it was a little like stabbing a cousin in the back.
What I discovered: every Sunday morning at ten a.m., Lila Sabarmati drove Eyeslice and Hairoil to the Metro105 cinema for the weekly meetings of the Metro Cub106 Club. (She volunteered to take the rest of us, too; Sonny and Cyrus, the Monkey and I piled into her Indian-made Hindustan car.) And while we drove towards Lana Turner or Robert Taylor or Sandra Dee, Mr Homi Catrack was also preparing himself for a weekly rendezvous107. While Lila's Hindustan puttered along beside railway-lines, Homi was knotting a cream silk scarf around his throat; while she halted at red lights, he donned a Technicolored bush-coat; when she was ushering108 us into the darkness of the auditorium109, he was putting on gold-rimmed sunglasses; and when she left us to watch our film, he, too, was abandoning a child. Toxy Catrack never failed to react to his departures by wailing110 kicking thrashing-of-legs; she knew what was going on, and not even Bi-Appah could restrain her.
Once upon a time there were Radha and Krishna, and Rama and Sita, and Laila and Majnu; also (because we are not unaffected by the West) Romeo and Juliet, and Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The world is full of love stories, and all lovers are in a sense the avatars of their predecessors112. When Lila drove her Hindustan to an address off Colaba Causeway, she was Juliet coming out on to her balcony; when cream-scarfed, gold-shaded Homi sped off to meet her (in the same Studebaker in which my mother had once been rushed to Dr Narlikar's Nursing Home), he was Leander swimming the Hellespont towards Hero's burning candle. As for my part in the business - I will not give it a name.
I confess: what I did was no act of heroism113. I did not battle Homi on horseback, with fiery114 eyes and flaming sword; instead, imitating the action of the snake, I began to cut pieces out of newspapers. From GOAN LIBERATION COMMITTEE LAUNCHES SATYAGRAHA CAMPAIGN I extracted the letters 'COM'; SPEAKER OF E-PAK ASSEMBLY DECLARED MANIAC115 gave me my second syllable116, 'MAN'. I found 'DER' concealed117 in NEHRU CONSIDERS RESIGNATION AT CONGRESS ASSEMBLY; into my second word now, I excised118 'SAB' from RIOTS, MASS ARRESTS IN RED-RUN KERALA: SABOTEURS RUN AMOK: GHOSH ACCUSES CONGRESS GOONDAS, and got 'ARM' from CHINESE ARMED FORCES' BORDER ACTIVITIES SPURN119 BANDUNG PRINCIPLES. To complete the name, I snipped120 the letters 'ATI' from DULLES FOREIGN POLICY is INCONSISTENT, ERRATIC121, P.M. AVERS122. Cutting up history to suit my nefarious123 purposes, I seized on WHY INDIRA GANDHI is CONGRESS PRESIDENT NOW and kept the 'WHY'; but I refused to be tied exclusively to politics, and turned to advertising124 for the 'DOES YOUR' in DOES YOUR CHEWING GUM LOSE ITS FLAVOUR? BUT P.K. KEEPS ITS SAVOUR! A sporting human-interest story, MOHUN BAGAN CENTRE-FORWARD TAKES WIFE, gave me its last word, and 'GO 蝾'
I took from the tragic125 MASSES GO 蝾 ABUL KALAM AZAD'S FUNERAL. Now I was obliged to find my words in little pieces once again: DEATH ON SOUTH COL: SHERPA PLUNGES126 provided me with a much-needed 'COL', but 'ABA' was hard to find, turning up at last in a cinema advertisement: ALI-BABA, SEVENTEENTH SUPERCOLOSSAL WEEK - PLANS FILLING UP FAST! ... Those were the days when Sheikh Abdullah, the Lion of Kashmir, was campaigning for a plebiscite in his state to determine its future; his courage gave me the syllable 'CAUSE', because it led to this headline: ABDULLAH 'INCITEMENT127' CAUSE OF HIS RE-ARREST - GOVT SPOKESMAN. Then, too, Acharya Vinobha Bhave, who had spent ten years persuading landowners to donate plots to the poor in his bhoodan campaign, announced that donations had passed the million-acre mark, and launched two new campaigns, asking for the donations of whole villages ('gramdan') and of individual lives ('jivandan'). When J. P.
Narayan announced the dedication128 of his life to Bhave's work, the headline NARAYAN WALKS IN BHAVE'S WAY gave me my much-sought 'WAY'. I had nearly finished now; plucking an 'ON' from PAKISTAN ON COURSE FOR POLITICAL CHAOS129: FACTION130 STRIFE131 BEDEVILS PUBLIC AFFAIRS, and a 'SUNDAY' from the masthead of the Sunday Blitz, I found myself just one word short. Events in East Pakistan provided me with my finale. FURNITURE HURLING132 SLAYS133 DEPUTY E-PAK SPEAKER: MOURNING PERIOD DECLARED gave me 'MOURNING', from which, deftly134 and deliberately135, I excised the letter 'u'. I needed a terminal question-mark, and found it at the end of the perennial136 query137 of those strange days: AFTER NEHRU, WHO?
In the secrecy138 of a bathroom, I glued my completed note - my first attempt at rearranging history - on to a sheet of paper; snake-like, I inserted the document in my pocket, like poison in a sac. Subtly, I arranged to spend an evening with Eyeslice and Hairoil. We played a game: 'Murder in the Dark' ...
During a game of murder, I slipped inside Commander Sabarmati's almirah and inserted my lethal139 missive into the inside pocket of his spare uniform. At that moment (no point hiding it) I felt the delight of the snake who hits its target, and feels its fangs140 pierce its victim's heel ...
COMMANDER SABARMATI (my note read)
WHY DOES YOUR WIFE GO TO COLABA CAUSEWAY ON SUNDAY MORNING?
No, I am no longer proud of what I did; but remember that my demon of revenge had two heads. By unmasking the perfidy142 of Lila Sabarmati, I hoped also to administer a salutary shock to my own mother. Two birds with one stone; there were to be two punished women, one impaled143 on each fang141 of my forked snake's tongue. It is not untrue to say that what came to be known as the Sabarmati affair had its real beginnings at a dingy144 cafe in the north of the city, when a stowaway145 watched a ballet of circling hands.
I was secret; I struck from the cover of a bush. What drove me? Hands at the Pioneer Cafe; wrong-number telephone calls; notes slipped to me on balconies, and passed under cover of bedsheets; my mother's hypocrisy146 and Pia's inconsolable grief: 'Hai! Ai-hai! Ai-hai-hai!' ... Mine was a slow poison; but three weeks later, it had its effect.
It emerged, afterwards, that after receiving my anonymous147 note Commander Sabarmati had engaged the services of the illustrious Dom Minto, Bombay's best-known private detective. (Minto, old and almost lame148, had lowered his rates by then.) He waited until he received Minto's report. And then: That Sunday morning, six children sat in a row at the Metro Cub Club, watching Francis The Talking Mule149 And The Haunted House. You see, I had my alibi150; I was nowhere near the scene of the crime. Like Sin, the crescent moon, I acted from a distance upon the tides of the world ... while a mule talked on a screen, Commander Sabarmati visited the naval151 arsenal152. He signed out a good, long-nosed revolver; also ammunition153. He held, in his left hand, a piece of paper on which an address had been written in a private detective's tidy hand; in his right hand, he grasped the un-holstered gun. By taxi, the Commander arrived at Colaba Causeway. He paid off the cab, walked gun-in-hand down a narrow gully past shirt-stalls and toyshops, and ascended154 the staircase of an apartment block set back from the gully at the rear of a concrete courtyard. He rang the doorbell of apartment 18c; it was heard in 18b by an Anglo-Indian teacher giving private Latin tuition. When Commander Sabarmati's wife Lila answered the door, he shot her twice in the stomach at point-blank range. She fell backwards156; he marched past her, and found Mr Homi Catrack rising from the toilet, his bottom unwiped, pulling frantically157 at his trousers. Commander Vinoo Sabarmati shot him once in the genitals, once in the heart and once through the right eye. The gun was not silenced; but when it had finished speaking, there was an enormous silence in the apartment. Mr Catrack sat down on the toilet after he was shot and seemed to be smiling.
Commander Sabarmati walked out of the apartment block with the smoking gun in his hand (he was seen, through the crack of a door, by a terrified Latin tutor); he strolled along Colaba Causeway until he saw a traffic policeman on his little podium. Commander Sabarmati told the policeman, 'I have only now killed my wife and her lover with this gun; I surrender myself into your...' But he had been waving the gun under the policeman's nose; the officer was so scared that he dropped his traffic-conducting baton158 and fled. Commander Sabar-mati, left alone on the policeman's pedestal amid the sudden confusion of the traffic, began to direct the cars, using the smoking gun as a baton. This is how he was found by the posse of twelve policemen who arrived ten minutes later, who sprang courageously159 upon him and seized him hand and foot, and who removed from him the unusual baton with which, for ten minutes, he had expertly conducted the traffic.
A newspaper said of the Sabarmati affair: 'It is a theatre in which India will discover who she was, what she is, and what she might become.'... But Commander Sabarmati was only a puppet; I was the puppet-master, and the nation performed my play - only I hadn't meant it! I didn't think he'd ... I only wanted to ... a scandal, yes, a scare, a lesson to all unfaithful wives and mothers, but not that, never, no.
Aghast at the result of my actions, I rode the turbulent thought-waves of the city ... at the Parsee General Hospital, a doctor said, 'Begum Sabarmati will live; but she will have to watch what she eats.'... But Homi Catrack was dead ... And who was engaged as the lawyer for the defence? - Who said, 'I will defend him free gratis160 and for nothing'? - Who, once the victor of the Freeze Case, was now the Commander's champion? Sonny Ibrahim said, 'My father will get him off if anyone can.'
Commander Sabarmati was the most popular murderer in the history of Indian jurisprudence. Husbands acclaimed161 his punishment of an errant wife; faithful women felt justified162 in their fidelity163. Inside Lila's own sons, I found these thoughts: 'We knew she was like that. We knew a Navy man wouldn't stand for it.'
A columnist164 in the Illustrated165 Weekly of India, writing a pen-portrait to go alongside the 'Personality of the Week' full-colour caricature of the Commander, said: 'In the Sabarmati Case, the noble sentiments of the Ramayana combine with the cheap melodrama166 of the Bombay talkie; but as for the chief protagonist167, all agree on his upstandingness; and he is undeniably an attractive chap.'
My revenge on my mother and Homi Catrack had precipitated168 a national crisis...
because Naval regulations decreed that no man who had been in a civil jail could aspire169 to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet. So Admirals, and city politicians, and of course Ismail Ibrahim, demanded: 'Commander Sabarmati must stay in a Navy jail. He is innocent until proven guilty. His career must not be ruined if it can possibly be avoided.' And the authorities: 'Yes.' And Commander Sabarmati, safe in the Navy's own lock-up, discovered the penalties of fame - deluged170 with telegrams of support, he awaited trial; flowers filled his cell, and although he asked to be placed on an ascetic's diet of rice and water, well-wishers inundated171 him with tiffin-carriers filled with birianis and pista-ki-lauz and other rich foods. And, jumping the queue in the Criminal Court, the case began in double-quick time ... The prosecution172 said, 'The charge is murder in the first degree.'
Stern-jawed, strong-eyed, Commander Sabarmati replied: 'Not guilty.'
My mother said, 'O my God, the poor man, so sad, isn't it?' I said, 'But an unfaithful wife is a terrible thing, Amma...' and she turned away her head.
The prosecution said, 'Here is an open and shut case. Here is motive173, opportunity, confession19, corpse87 and premeditation: the gun signed out, the children sent to the cinema, the detective's report. What else to say? The state rests.'
And public opinion: 'Such a good man, Allah!'
Ismail Ibrahim said: 'This is a case of attempted suicide.'
To which, public opinion: '?????????'
Ismail Ibrahim expounded174: 'When the Commander received Dom Minto's report, he wanted to see for himself if it was true; and if so, to kill himself. He signed out the gun; it was for himself. He went to the Colaba address in a spirit of despair only; not as killer175, but as dead man! But there - seeing his wife there, jury members! - seeing her half-clothed with her shameless lover! - jury members, this good man, this great man saw red. Red, absolutely, and while seeing red he did his deeds. Thus there is no premeditation, and so no murder in the first degree. Killing176 yes, but not cold-blooded. Jury members, you must find him not guilty as charged.'
And buzzing around the city was, 'No, too much ... Ismail Ibrahim has gone too far this time ... but, but ... he has got a jury composed mostly of women ...
and not rich ones ... therefore doubly susceptible177, to the Commander's charm and the lawyer's wallet ... who knows? Who can tell?' The jury said, 'Not guilty.'
My mother cried, 'Oh wonderful! ... But, but: is it justice?' And thejudge, answering her: 'Using the powers vested in me, I reverse this absurd verdict.
Guilty as charged.'
O, the wild furor178 of those days! When Naval dignitaries and bishops179 and other politicians demanded, 'Sabarmati must stay in the Navy jail pending180 High Court appeal. The bigotry181 of one judge must not ruin this great man!' And police authorities, capitulating, 'Very well.' The Sabarmati Case goes rushing upwards182, hurtling towards High Court hearing at unprecedented183 speed ... and the Commander tells his lawyer, 'I feel as though destiny is no longer in my control; as though something has taken over ... let us call it Fate.'
I say: 'Call it Saleem, or Snotnose, or Sniffer, or Stainface; call it little-piece-of-the-moon.'
The High Court verdict: 'Guilty as charged.' The press headlines: SABARMATI FOR CIVIL JAIL AT LAST? Ismail Ibrahim's statement: 'We are going all the way! To the Supreme184 Court!' And now, the bombshell. A pronouncement from the State Chief Minister himself: 'It is a heavy thing to make an exception to the law; but in view of Commander Sabarmati's service to his country, I am permitting him to remain in Naval confinement185 pending the Supreme Court decision.'
And more press headlines, stinging as mosquitoes: STATE GOVERNMENT FLOUTS186 LAW! SABARMATI SCANDAL NOW A PUBLIC DISGRACE ! ... When I realized that the press had turned against the Commander, I knew he was done for.
The Supreme Court verdict: 'Guilty.'
Ismail Ibrahim said: 'Pardon! We appeal for pardon to the President of India!'
And now great matters are to be weighed in Rashtrapati Bhavan - behind the gates of President House, a man must decide if any man can be set above the law; whether the assassination72 of a wife's fancy-man should be set aside for the sake of a Naval career; and still higher things - is India to give her approval to the rule of law, or to the ancient principle of the overriding187 primacy of heroes? If Rama himself were alive, would we send him to prison for slaying188 the abductor of Sita? Great matters; my vengeful irruption into the history of my age was certainly no trivial affair.
The President of India said, 'I shall not pardon this man.'
Nussie Ibrahim (whose husband had lost his biggest case) wailed189, 'Hai! Ai-hai!'
And repeated an earlier observation: 'Amina sister, that good man going to prison - I tell you, it is the end of the world!'
A confession, trembling just beyond my lips: 'It was all my doing, Amma; I wanted to teach you a lesson. Amma, do not go to see other men, with Lucknow-work on their shirt; enough, my mother, of teacup-kissery! I am in long trousers now, and may speak to you as a man.' But it never spilled out of me; there was no need, because I heard my mother answering a wrong-number telephone call - and with a strange, subdued190 voice, speak into the mouthpiece as follows: 'No; nobody by that name here; please believe what I am telling you, and never call me again.'
Yes, I had taught my mother a lesson; and after the Sabarmati affair she never saw her Nadir-Qasim in the flesh, never again, not as long as she lived; but, deprived of him, she fell victim to the fate of all women in our family, namely the curse of growing old before her time; she began to shrink, and her hobble became more pronounced, and there was the emptiness of age in her eyes.
My revenge brought in its wake a number of unlooked-for developments; perhaps the most dramatic of these was the appearance in the gardens of Methwold's Estate of curious flowers, made out of wood and tin, and hand-painted with bright red lettering ... the fatal signboards erected191 in all the gardens except our own, evidence that my powers exceeded even my own understanding, and that, having once been exiled from my two-storey hillock, I had now managed to send everyone else away instead.
Signboards in the gardens of Versailles Villa, Escorial Villa and Sans Souci; signboards nodding to each other in the sea-breeze of the cocktail192 hour. On each signboard could be discerned the same seven letters, all bright red, all twelve inches high: FOR SALE. That was the signboards' message.
FOR SALE- Versailles Villa, its owner dead on a toilet seat; the sale was handled by the ferocious193 nurse Bi-Appah on behalf of poor idiot Toxy; once the sale was complete, nurse and nursed vanished forever, and Bi-Appah held, on her lap, a bulging194 suitcase filled with banknotes ... I don't know what happened to Toxy, but considering the avarice195 of her nurse, I'm sure it was nothing good ...
FOR SALE, the Sabarmati apartment in Escorial Villa; Lila Sabarmati was denied custody196 of her children and faded out of our lives, while Eyeslice and Hairoil packed their bags and departed into the care of the Indian Navy, which had placed itself in loco parentis until their father completed his thirty years in jail ... FOR SALE, too, the Ibrahims' Sans Souci, because Ishaq Ibrahim's Embassy Hotel had been burned down by gangsters on the day of Commander Sabarmati's final defeat, as though the criminal classes of the city were punishing the lawyer's family for his failure; and then Ismail Ibrahim was suspended from practice, owing to certain proofs of professional misconduct (to quote the Bombay Bar Commission's report); financially 'embarrassed', the Ibrahims also passed out of our lives; and, finally FORSALE, the apartment of Cyrus Dubash and his mother, because during the hue197 and cry of the Sabarmati affair, and almost entirely unnoticed, the nuclear physicist198 had died his orange-pip-choking death, thus unleashing199 upon Cyrus the religious fanaticism of his mother and setting in motion the wheels of the period of revelations which will be the subject of my next little piece.
The signboards nodded in the gardens, which were losing their memories of goldfish and cocktail-hours and invading cats; and who took them down? Who were the heirs of the heirs of William Methwold? ... They came swarming200 out of what had once been the residence of Dr Narlikar: fat-bellied and grossly competent women, grown fatter and more competent than ever on their tetrapod-given wealth (because those were the years of the great land reclamations) . The Narlikar women - from the Navy they bought Commander Sabarmati's flat, and from the departing Mrs Dubash her Cyrus's home; they paid Bi-Appah in used banknotes, and the Ibrahims' creditors201 were appeased202 by Narlikar cash.
My father, alone of all the residents, refused to sell; they offered him vast sums, but he shook his head. They explained their dream - a dream of razing203 the buildings to the ground and erecting204 on the two-storey hillock a mansion205 which would soar thirty stories into the skies, a triumphant206 pink obelisk207, a signpost of their future; Ahmed Sinai, lost in abstractions, would have none of it. They told him, 'When you're surrounded by rubble208 you'll have to sell for a song'; he (remembering their tetrapodal perfidy) was unmoved.
Nussie-the-duck said, as she left, 'I told you so, Amina sister - the end! The end of the world!' This time she was right and wrong; after August 1958, the world continued to spin; but the world of my childhood had, indeed, come to an end.
Padma - did you have, when you were little, a world of your own? A tin orb155, on which were imprinted209 the continents and oceans and polar ice? Two cheap metal hemispheres, clamped together by a plastic stand? No, of course not; but I did.
It was a world full of labels: Atlantic Ocean and Amazon and Tropic of Capricorn. And, at the North Pole, it bore the legend: MADE AS ENGLAND. By the August of the nodding signboards and the rapaciousness210 of the Narlikar women, this tin world had lost its stand; I found Scotch211 Tape and stuck the earth together at the Equator, and then, my urge for play overcoming my respect, began to use it as a football. In the aftermath of the Sabarmati affair, when the air was filled with the repentance212 of my mother and the private tragedies of Methwold's heirs, I clanked my tin sphere around the Estate, secure in the knowledge that the world was still in one piece (although held together by adhesive213 tape) and also at my feet ... until, on the day of Nussie-the-duck's last eschatological lament214 - on the day Sonny Ibrahim ceased to be Sonny-next-door - my sister the Brass Monkey descended215 on me in an inexplicable216 rage, yelling, 'O God, stop your kicking, brother; you don't feel even a little bad today?' And jumping high in the air, she landed with both feet on the North Pole, and crushed the world into the dust of our driveway under her furious heels.
It seems the departure of Sonny Ibrahim, her reviled217 adorer, whom she had stripped naked in the middle of the road, had affected111 the Brass Monkey, after all, despite her lifelong denial of the possibility of love.
收听单词发音 |
1
distressed
|
|
| 痛苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
crumbling
|
|
| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
transformations
|
|
| n.变化( transformation的名词复数 )；转换；转换；变换 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
tunes
|
|
| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
usurped
|
|
| 篡夺，霸占( usurp的过去式和过去分词 )； 盗用； 篡夺，篡权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
smothered
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
belly
|
|
| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
helping
|
|
| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
furrow
|
|
| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
loyalty
|
|
| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
elevation
|
|
| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
flirtation
|
|
| n.调情，调戏，挑逗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
confession
|
|
| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
regale
|
|
| v.取悦，款待 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
regain
|
|
| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
baroness
|
|
| n.男爵夫人，女男爵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
lulled
|
|
| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
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： |
|
|
|
|
25
meek
|
|
| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
hymns
|
|
| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
outfit
|
|
| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
tormented
|
|
| 饱受折磨的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
lure
|
|
| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
streak
|
|
| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
fanaticism
|
|
| n.狂热，盲信 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
mesmerized
|
|
| v.使入迷( mesmerize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
physically
|
|
| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
swooped
|
|
| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
vocal
|
|
| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
absurdity
|
|
| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
lengthening
|
|
| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
outgrew
|
|
| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去式 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
conspired
|
|
| 密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
disintegration
|
|
| n.分散，解体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
humiliate
|
|
| v.使羞辱，使丢脸[同]disgrace | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
boredom
|
|
| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
inevitably
|
|
| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
narcissist
|
|
| n.自我陶醉者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
alterations
|
|
| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
assassinated
|
|
| v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
labyrinths
|
|
| 迷宫( labyrinth的名词复数 )； （文字，建筑）错综复杂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
loathing
|
|
| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
reviling
|
|
| v.辱骂，痛斥( revile的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
rivalries
|
|
| n.敌对，竞争，对抗( rivalry的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
brats
|
|
| n.调皮捣蛋的孩子( brat的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
passionately
|
|
| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
dilemma
|
|
| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
makers
|
|
| n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
sentimental
|
|
| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
rivalry
|
|
| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
agrarian
|
|
| adj.土地的，农村的，农业的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
explicit
|
|
| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
capitalism
|
|
| n.资本主义 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
urchins
|
|
| n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 )；淘气鬼；猬；海胆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
vessels
|
|
| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
villa
|
|
| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
demon
|
|
| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
lurking
|
|
| 潜在 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
guilt
|
|
| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
innocence
|
|
| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
bribing
|
|
| 贿赂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
flora
|
|
| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
gangsters
|
|
| 匪徒，歹徒( gangster的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
assassinations
|
|
| n.暗杀( assassination的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
assassination
|
|
| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
quotidian
|
|
| adj.每日的，平凡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
darted
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
flicking
|
|
| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的现在分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
insanities
|
|
| 精神错乱( insanity的名词复数 )； 精神失常； 精神病； 疯狂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
78
superstitions
|
|
| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
fabulously
|
|
| 难以置信地，惊人地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
mutual
|
|
| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
isolation
|
|
| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
ascend
|
|
| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
ascendancy
|
|
| n.统治权，支配力量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
lair
|
|
| n.野兽的巢穴；躲藏处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
sluggish
|
|
| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
corpse
|
|
| n.尸体，死尸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
corpses
|
|
| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
foes
|
|
| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
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： |
|
|
|
|
91
stink
|
|
| vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
chambers
|
|
| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
reaper
|
|
| n.收割者，收割机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
promiscuous
|
|
| adj.杂乱的，随便的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
promotion
|
|
| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
maternal
|
|
| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
perfidies
|
|
| n.背信弃义，背叛，出卖( perfidy的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
99
lascivious
|
|
| adj.淫荡的，好色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
mellowed
|
|
| （使）成熟( mellow的过去式和过去分词 )； 使色彩更加柔和，使酒更加醇香 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
flare
|
|
| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
nostrils
|
|
| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
metro
|
|
| n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
cub
|
|
| n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
rendezvous
|
|
| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
ushering
|
|
| v.引，领，陪同( usher的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
auditorium
|
|
| n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
wailing
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
affected
|
|
| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
predecessors
|
|
| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
heroism
|
|
| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
fiery
|
|
| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
maniac
|
|
| n.精神癫狂的人；疯子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
syllable
|
|
| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
excised
|
|
| v.切除，删去( excise的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
spurn
|
|
| v.拒绝，摈弃；n.轻视的拒绝；踢开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
snipped
|
|
| v.剪( snip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
erratic
|
|
| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
avers
|
|
| v.断言( aver的第三人称单数 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
nefarious
|
|
| adj.恶毒的，极坏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
advertising
|
|
| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
tragic
|
|
| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
plunges
|
|
| n.跳进，投入vt.使投入，使插入，使陷入vi.投入，跳进，陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
incitement
|
|
| 激励； 刺激； 煽动； 激励物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
dedication
|
|
| n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
chaos
|
|
| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
faction
|
|
| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
strife
|
|
| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
hurling
|
|
| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
slays
|
|
| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
deftly
|
|
| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
deliberately
|
|
| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
perennial
|
|
| adj.终年的；长久的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
query
|
|
| n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
secrecy
|
|
| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
lethal
|
|
| adj.致死的；毁灭性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
fangs
|
|
| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
fang
|
|
| n.尖牙，犬牙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
perfidy
|
|
| n.背信弃义，不忠贞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
impaled
|
|
| 钉在尖桩上( impale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
dingy
|
|
| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
stowaway
|
|
| n.（藏于轮船，飞机中的）偷乘者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
hypocrisy
|
|
| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
anonymous
|
|
| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
lame
|
|
| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
mule
|
|
| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
alibi
|
|
| n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
naval
|
|
| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
arsenal
|
|
| n.兵工厂，军械库 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
ammunition
|
|
| n.军火，弹药 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
ascended
|
|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
orb
|
|
| n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
backwards
|
|
| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
frantically
|
|
| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
baton
|
|
| n.乐队用指挥杖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
courageously
|
|
| ad.勇敢地，无畏地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
gratis
|
|
| adj.免费的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
acclaimed
|
|
| adj.受人欢迎的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
justified
|
|
| a.正当的，有理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
fidelity
|
|
| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
columnist
|
|
| n.专栏作家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
illustrated
|
|
| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
melodrama
|
|
| n.音乐剧；情节剧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
protagonist
|
|
| n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
precipitated
|
|
| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
aspire
|
|
| vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
deluged
|
|
| v.使淹没( deluge的过去式和过去分词 )；淹没；被洪水般涌来的事物所淹没；穷于应付 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
inundated
|
|
| v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
prosecution
|
|
| n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
motive
|
|
| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
expounded
|
|
| 论述，详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
killer
|
|
| n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
susceptible
|
|
| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
furor
|
|
| n.狂热；大骚动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
179
bishops
|
|
| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
180
pending
|
|
| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
181
bigotry
|
|
| n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
182
upwards
|
|
| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
183
unprecedented
|
|
| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
184
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
185
confinement
|
|
| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
186
flouts
|
|
| v.藐视，轻视( flout的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
187
overriding
|
|
| a.最主要的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
188
slaying
|
|
| 杀戮。 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
189
wailed
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
190
subdued
|
|
| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
191
ERECTED
|
|
| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
192
cocktail
|
|
| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
193
ferocious
|
|
| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
194
bulging
|
|
| 膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
195
avarice
|
|
| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
196
custody
|
|
| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
197
hue
|
|
| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
198
physicist
|
|
| n.物理学家，研究物理学的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
199
unleashing
|
|
| v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
200
swarming
|
|
| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
201
creditors
|
|
| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
202
appeased
|
|
| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
203
razing
|
|
| v.彻底摧毁，将…夷为平地( raze的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
204
erecting
|
|
| v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
205
mansion
|
|
| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
206
triumphant
|
|
| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
207
obelisk
|
|
| n.方尖塔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
208
rubble
|
|
| n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
209
imprinted
|
|
| v.盖印（imprint的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
210
rapaciousness
|
|
| n.贪婪；强取，贪婪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
211
scotch
|
|
| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
212
repentance
|
|
| n.懊悔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
213
adhesive
|
|
| n.粘合剂；adj.可粘着的，粘性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
214
lament
|
|
| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
215
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
216
inexplicable
|
|
| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
217
reviled
|
|
| v.辱骂，痛斥( revile的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |