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pitched, grating voice, in which guttural notes alternated with a serpent-like hissing2, was raised in anger.
"Dr. Fu-Manchu!" whispered Smith, grasping my arm.
Indeed it was the unmistakable voice of the Chinaman, raised hysterically3 in one of those outbursts which in the past I had diagnosed as symptomatic of dangerous mania4.
The voice rose to a scream, the scream of some angry animal rather than anything human. Then, chokingly, it ceased. Another short sharp cry followed—but not in the voice of Fu-Manchu—a dull groan5, and the sound of a fall.
With Smith still grasping my wrist, I shrank back into the doorway6, as something that looked in the darkness like a great ball of fluff came rapidly along the passage toward me. Just at my feet the thing stopped, and I made it out for a small animal. The tiny, gleaming eyes looked up at me, and, chattering7 wickedly, the creature bounded past and was lost from view.
It was Dr. Fu-Manchu's marmoset.
Smith dragged me back into the room which we had just left. As he partly reclosed the door, I heard the clapping of hands. In a condition of most dreadful suspense8, we waited; until a new, ominous9 sound proclaimed itself. Some heavy body was being dragged into the passage. I heard the opening of a trap. Exclamations10 in guttural voices told of a heavy task in progress; there was a great straining and creaking—whereupon the trap was softly reclosed.
"Fu-Manchu has chastised12 one of his servants," he whispered. "There will be food for the grappling-irons to-night!"
I shuddered13 violently, for, without Smith's words, I knew that a bloody14 deed had been done in that house within a few yards of where we stood.
In the new silence, I could hear the drip, drip,
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drip of the rain outside the window; then a steam siren hooted15 dismally16 upon the river, and I thought how the screw of that very vessel17, even as we listened, might be tearing the body of Fu-Manchu's servant!
"Have you some one waiting?" whispered Smith eagerly.
"How long was I insensible?"
"About half an hour."
"Then the cabman will be waiting."
"Have you a whistle with you?"
I felt in my coat pocket.
"Yes," I reported.
"Good! Then we will take a chance."
Again we slipped out into the passage and began a stealthy progress to the west. Ten paces amid absolute darkness, and we found ourselves abreast18 of a branch corridor. At the farther end, through a kind of little window, a dim light shone.
"See if you can find the trap," whispered Smith; "light your lamp."
I directed the ray of the pocket lamp upon the floor, and there at my feet was a square wooden trap. As I stooped to examine it, I glanced back painfully, over my shoulder—and saw Nayland Smith tiptoeing away from me along the passage toward the light!
Inwardly I cursed his folly20, but the temptation to peep in at that little window proved too strong for me, as it had proved too strong for him.
Fearful that some board would creak beneath my tread, I followed; and side by side we two crouched21, looking into a small rectangular room. It was a bare and cheerless apartment, with unpapered walls and carpetless floor. A table and a chair constituted the sole furniture.
Seated in the chair, with his back towards us, was a portly Chinaman who wore a yellow, silken robe. His face it was impossible to see; but he was beating his fists upon the table, and pouring out a torrent22
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of words in a thin, piping voice. So much I perceived at a glance, then, into view at the distant end of the room, paced a tall, high-shouldered figure—a figure, unforgettable, at once imposing23 and dreadful, stately and sinister24.
With the long, bony hands behind him, fingers twining and intertwining serpentinely about the handle of a little fan, and with the pointed25 chin resting on the breast of the yellow robe, so that the light from the lamp swinging in the centre of the ceiling gleamed upon the great, dome-like brow, this tall man paced sombrely from left to right.
He cast a sidelong, venomous glance at the voluble speaker out of half-shut eyes; in the act they seemed to light up as with an internal luminance; momentarily, they sparkled like emeralds; then their brilliance26 was filmed over as one sees in the eyes of a bird when the membrane27 is lowered.
My blood seemed to chill, and my heart to double its pulsations; beside me Smith was breathing more rapidly than usual. I knew now the explanation of the feeling which had claimed me when first I had descended28 the stone stairs. I knew what it was that hung like a miasma29 over that house. It was the aura, the glamour30, which radiated from this wonderful and evil man as light radiates from radium. It was the vril, the force, of Dr. Fu-Manchu.
I began to move away from the window. But Smith held my wrist as in a vice31. He was listening raptly to the torrential speech of the Chinaman who sat in the chair; and I perceived in his eyes the light of a sudden comprehension.
As the tall figure of the Chinese doctor came pacing into view again, Smith, his head below the level of the window, pushed me gently along the passage.
"We owe our lives, Petrie, to the national child
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ishness of the Chinese! A race of ancestor worshippers is capable of anything, and Dr. Fu-Manchu, the dreadful being who has rained terror upon Europe, stands in imminent33 peril34 of disgrace for having lost a decoration."
"What do you mean, Smith?"
"I mean that this is no time for delay, Petrie! Here, unless I am greatly mistaken, lies the rope by means of which you made your entrance. It shall be the means of your exit. Open the trap!"
Handing the lamp to Smith, I stooped and carefully raised the trap-door. At which moment, a singular and a dramatic thing happened.
"Not that way! Oh, God, not that way!"
In my surprise and confusion I all but let the trap fall, but I retained sufficient presence of mind to replace it gently. Standing36 upright, I turned ... and there, with her little jewelled hand resting upon Smith's arm, stood Kâramanèh!
In all my experience of him, I had never seen Nayland Smith so utterly37 perplexed38. Between anger, distrust and dismay, he wavered; and each passing emotion was written legibly upon the lean bronzed features. Rigid39 with surprise, he stared at the beautiful face of the girl. She, although her hand still rested upon Smith's arm, had her dark eyes turned upon me with that same enigmatical expression. Her lips were slightly parted, and her breast heaved tumultuously.
This ten seconds of silence in which we three stood looking at one another encompassed40 the whole gamut41 of human emotion. The silence was broken by Kâramanèh.
"They will be coming back that way!" she whispered, bending eagerly toward me. (How, in the most desperate moments, I loved to listen to that odd, musical accent!) "Please, if you would
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save your life, and spare mine, trust me!" She suddenly clasped her hands together and looked up into my face, passionately42. "Trust me—just for once—and I will show you the way!"
Nayland Smith never removed his gaze from her for a moment, nor did he stir.
"Oh!" she whispered tremulously, and stamped one little red slipper43 upon the floor. "Won't you heed44 me? Come, or it will be too late!"
I glanced anxiously at my friend; the voice of Dr. Fu-Manchu, now raised again in anger, was audible above the piping tones of the other Chinaman. And as I caught Smith's eye, in silent query—the trap at my feet began slowly to lift!
Kâramanèh stifled45 a little sobbing46 cry; but the warning came too late. A hideous47 yellow face, with oblique48 squinting49 eyes, appeared in the aperture50.
I found myself inert51, useless; I could neither think nor act. Nayland Smith, however, as if instinctively52, delivered a pitiless kick at the head protruding53 above the trap.
A sickening crushing sound, with a sort of muffled54 snap, spoke of a broken jaw-bone; and with no word or cry, the Chinaman fell. As the trap descended with a bang, I heard the thud of his body on the stone stairs beneath.
But we were lost. Kâramanèh fled along one of the passages lightly as a bird, and disappeared—as Dr. Fu-Manchu, his top lip drawn55 up above his teeth in the manner of an angry jackal, appeared from the other.
"This way!" cried Smith, in a voice that rose almost to a shriek—"this way!"—and he led toward the room overhanging the steps.
Off we dashed with panic swiftness, only to find that this retreat also was cut off. Dimly visible in the darkness was a group of yellow men, and despite the gloom, the curved blades of the knives which
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they carried glittered menacingly. The passage was full of dacoits!
Smith and I turned, together. The trap was raised again, and the Burman, who had helped to tie me, was just scrambling56 up beside Dr. Fu-Manchu, who stood there watching us, a shadowy, sinister figure.
"The game's up, Petrie!" muttered Smith. "It has been a long fight, but Fu-Manchu wins!"
I whipped the police whistle from my pocket, and raised it to my lips; but brief as the interval58 had been, the dacoits were upon me.
A sinewy59 brown arm shot over my shoulder, and the whistle was dashed from my grasp. Then came a riot of maëlstrom fighting, with Smith and myself ever sinking lower amid a whirlpool, as it seemed, of blood-lustful eyes, yellow fangs60, and gleaming blades.
I had some vague idea that the rasping voice of Fu-Manchu broke once through the turmoil61, and when, with my wrists tied behind me, I emerged from the strife62 to find myself lying beside Smith in the passage, I could only assume that the Chinaman had ordered his bloody servants to take us alive; for saving numerous bruises63 and a few superficial cuts, I was unwounded.
The place was utterly deserted64 again, and we two panting captives found ourselves alone with Dr. Fu-Manchu. The scene was unforgettable: that dimly-lighted passage, its extremities65 masked in shadows, and the tall, yellow-robed figure of the Satanic Chinaman towering over us where we lay.
He had recovered his habitual66 calm, and as I peered at him through the gloom, I was impressed anew with the tremendous intellectual force of the man. He had the brow of a genius, the features of a born ruler; and even in that moment I could find time to search my memory, and to discover that
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the face, saving the indescribable evil of its expression, was identical with that of Seti I, the mighty67 Pharaoh who lives in the Cairo Museum.
Down the passage came leaping and gambolling68 the Doctor's marmoset. Uttering its shrill69, whistling cry, it leapt on to his shoulder, clutched with its tiny fingers at the scanty70, neutral-coloured hair upon his crown, and bent forward, peering grotesquely71 into that still, dreadful face.
Dr. Fu-Manchu stroked the little creature and crooned to it, as a mother to her infant. Only this crooning, and the laboured breathing of Smith and myself, broke that impressive stillness.
Suddenly the guttural voice began:
"You come at an opportune72 time, Mr. Commissioner73 Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie; at a time when the greatest man in China flatters me with a visit. In my absence from home, a tremendous honour has been conferred upon me, and, in the hour of this supreme74 honour, dishonour75 and calamity76 have befallen! For my services to China—the New China, the China of the future—I have been admitted by the Sublime77 Prince to the Sacred Order of the White Peacock."
Warming to his discourse78, he threw wide his arms, hurling79 the chattering marmoset fully19 five yards along the corridor.
"Oh, god of Cathay!" he cried sibilantly, "in what have I sinned that this catastrophe80 has been visited upon my head! Learn, my two dear friends, that the sacred white peacock, brought to these misty81 shores for my undying glory has been lost to me! Death is the penalty of such a sacrilege; death shall be my lot, since death I deserve."
Covertly82 Smith nudged me with his elbow. I knew what the nudge was designed to convey; he would remind me of his words—anent the childish trifles which sway the life of intellectual China.
Personally, I was amazed. That Fu-Manchu's anger, grief, sorrow and resignation were real, no
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one watching him, and hearing his voice, could doubt. He continued:
"By one deed, and one deed alone, may I win a lighter83 punishment. By one deed, and the resignation of all my titles, all my lands, and all my honours, may I merit to be spared to my work—which has only begun."
I knew now that we were lost, indeed; these were confidences which our graves should hold inviolate84! He suddenly opened fully those blazing green eyes and directed their baneful85 glare upon Nayland Smith.
"The Director of the universe," he continued softly, "has relented toward me. To-night, you die! To-night, the arch-enemy of our caste shall be no more. This is my offering—the price of redemption...."
My mind was working again, and actively86. I managed to grasp the stupendous truth—and the stupendous possibility.
Dr. Fu-Manchu was in the act of clapping his hands, when I spoke.
"Stop!" I cried.
He paused, and the weird87 film, which sometimes became visible in his eyes, now obscured their greenness, and lent him the appearance of a blind man.
"Dr. Petrie," he said softly, "I shall always listen to you with respect."
"I have an offer to make," I continued, seeking to steady my voice. "Give us our freedom, and I will restore your shattered honour—I will restore the sacred peacock!"
Dr. Fu-Manchu bent forward until his face was so close to mine that I could see the innumerable lines which, an intricate network, covered his yellow skin.
"I can restore your white peacock," I said; "I, and I alone, know where it is!"—and I strove not to shrink from the face so close to mine.
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Upright shot the tall figure; high above his head Fu-Manchu threw his arms—and a light of exaltation gleamed in the now widely-opened, catlike eyes.
"Oh, god!" he screamed frenziedly. "Oh, god of the Golden Age! like a phœnix I arise from the ashes of myself!" He turned to me. "Quick! Quick! make your bargain! End my suspense!"
Smith stared at me like a man dazed; but, ignoring him, I went on:
"You will release me, now, immediately. In another ten minutes it will be too late; my friend will remain. One of your—servants—can accompany me, and give the signal when I return with the peacock. Mr. Nayland Smith and yourself, or another, will join me at the corner of the street where the raid took place last night. We will then give you ten minutes' grace, after which we shall take whatever steps we choose."
"Agreed!" cried Fu-Manchu. "I ask but one thing from an Englishman; your word of honour?"
"I give it."
Ten minutes later, Nayland Smith and I, standing beside the cab, whose lights gleamed yellowly through the mist, exchanged a struggling, frightened bird for our lives—capitulated with the enemy of the white race.
With characteristic audacity—and characteristic trust in the British sense of honour—Dr. Fu-Manchu came in person with Nayland Smith, in response to the wailing90 signal of the dacoit who had accompanied me. No word was spoken, save that the cabman suppressed a curse of amazement91; and the Chinaman, his sinister servant at his elbow, bowed low—and left us, surely to the mocking laughter of the gods!
点击收听单词发音
1 westward | |
n.西方,西部;adj.西方的,向西的;adv.向西 | |
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2 hissing | |
n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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3 hysterically | |
ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
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4 mania | |
n.疯狂;躁狂症,狂热,癖好 | |
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5 groan | |
vi./n.呻吟,抱怨;(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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6 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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7 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 | |
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8 suspense | |
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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9 ominous | |
adj.不祥的,不吉的,预兆的,预示的 | |
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10 exclamations | |
n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 );感叹;感叹语;感叹词 | |
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11 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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12 chastised | |
v.严惩(某人)(尤指责打)( chastise的过去式 ) | |
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13 shuddered | |
v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
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14 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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15 hooted | |
(使)作汽笛声响,作汽车喇叭声( hoot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16 dismally | |
adv.阴暗地,沉闷地 | |
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17 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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18 abreast | |
adv.并排地;跟上(时代)的步伐,与…并进地 | |
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19 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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20 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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21 crouched | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22 torrent | |
n.激流,洪流;爆发,(话语等的)连发 | |
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23 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
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24 sinister | |
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
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25 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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26 brilliance | |
n.光辉,辉煌,壮丽,(卓越的)才华,才智 | |
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27 membrane | |
n.薄膜,膜皮,羊皮纸 | |
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28 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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29 miasma | |
n.毒气;不良气氛 | |
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30 glamour | |
n.魔力,魅力;vt.迷住 | |
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31 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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32 regaining | |
复得( regain的现在分词 ); 赢回; 重回; 复至某地 | |
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33 imminent | |
adj.即将发生的,临近的,逼近的 | |
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34 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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35 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 | |
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36 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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37 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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38 perplexed | |
adj.不知所措的 | |
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39 rigid | |
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的 | |
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40 encompassed | |
v.围绕( encompass的过去式和过去分词 );包围;包含;包括 | |
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41 gamut | |
n.全音阶,(一领域的)全部知识 | |
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42 passionately | |
ad.热烈地,激烈地 | |
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43 slipper | |
n.拖鞋 | |
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44 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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45 stifled | |
(使)窒息, (使)窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 ); 镇压,遏制; 堵 | |
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46 sobbing | |
<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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47 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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48 oblique | |
adj.斜的,倾斜的,无诚意的,不坦率的 | |
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49 squinting | |
斜视( squint的现在分词 ); 眯着眼睛; 瞟; 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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50 aperture | |
n.孔,隙,窄的缺口 | |
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51 inert | |
adj.无活动能力的,惰性的;迟钝的 | |
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52 instinctively | |
adv.本能地 | |
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53 protruding | |
v.(使某物)伸出,(使某物)突出( protrude的现在分词 );凸 | |
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54 muffled | |
adj.(声音)被隔的;听不太清的;(衣服)裹严的;蒙住的v.压抑,捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 );用厚厚的衣帽包着(自己) | |
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55 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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56 scrambling | |
v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
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57 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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58 interval | |
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
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59 sinewy | |
adj.多腱的,强壮有力的 | |
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60 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 | |
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61 turmoil | |
n.骚乱,混乱,动乱 | |
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62 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
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63 bruises | |
n.瘀伤,伤痕,擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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64 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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65 extremities | |
n.端点( extremity的名词复数 );尽头;手和足;极窘迫的境地 | |
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66 habitual | |
adj.习惯性的;通常的,惯常的 | |
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67 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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68 gambolling | |
v.蹦跳,跳跃,嬉戏( gambol的现在分词 ) | |
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69 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
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70 scanty | |
adj.缺乏的,仅有的,节省的,狭小的,不够的 | |
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71 grotesquely | |
adv. 奇异地,荒诞地 | |
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72 opportune | |
adj.合适的,适当的 | |
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73 commissioner | |
n.(政府厅、局、处等部门)专员,长官,委员 | |
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74 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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75 dishonour | |
n./vt.拒付(支票、汇票、票据等);vt.凌辱,使丢脸;n.不名誉,耻辱,不光彩 | |
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76 calamity | |
n.灾害,祸患,不幸事件 | |
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77 sublime | |
adj.崇高的,伟大的;极度的,不顾后果的 | |
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78 discourse | |
n.论文,演说;谈话;话语;vi.讲述,著述 | |
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79 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 | |
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80 catastrophe | |
n.大灾难,大祸 | |
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81 misty | |
adj.雾蒙蒙的,有雾的 | |
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82 covertly | |
adv.偷偷摸摸地 | |
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83 lighter | |
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级 | |
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84 inviolate | |
adj.未亵渎的,未受侵犯的 | |
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85 baneful | |
adj.有害的 | |
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86 actively | |
adv.积极地,勤奋地 | |
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87 weird | |
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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88 hissed | |
发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 ); 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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89 hoarsely | |
adv.嘶哑地 | |
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90 wailing | |
v.哭叫,哀号( wail的现在分词 );沱 | |
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91 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
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