For a while, as Graham went through the passages of the Wind-Vane offices with Lincoln, he was preoccupied1. But, by an effort, he attended to the things which Lincoln was saying. Soon his preoccupation vanished. Lincoln was talking of flying. Graham had a strong desire to know more of this new human attainment2. He began to ply3 Lincoln with questions. He had followed the crude beginnings of aerial navigation very keenly in his previous life; he was delighted to find the familiar names of Maxim4 and Pilcher, Langley and Chanute, and, above all, of the aerial proto-martyr Lillienthal, still honoured by men.
Even during his previous life two lines of investigation5 had pointed6 clearly to two distinct types of contrivance as possible, and both of these had been realised. On the one hand was the great engine-driven aeroplane, a double row of horizontal floats with a big aerial screw behind, and on the other the nimbler aeropile. The aeroplanes flew safely only in a calm or moderate wind, and sudden storms, occurrences that were now accurately7 predictable, rendered them for all practical purposes useless. They were built of enormous size--the usual stretch of wing being six hundred feet or more, and the length of the fabric8 a thousand feet. They were for passenger traffic alone. The lightly swung car they carried was from a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet in length. It Was hung in a peculiar9 manner in order to minimise the complex vibration10 that even a moderate wind produced, and for the same reason the little seats within the car--each passenger remained seated during the voyage--were slung11 with great freedom of movement. The starting of the mechanism12 was only possible from a gigantic car on the rail of a specially13 constructed stage. Graham had seen these vast stages, the flying stages, from the crow's nest very well. Six huge blank areas they were, with a giant "carrier" stage on each.
The choice of descent was equally circumscribed14, an accurately plane surface being needed for safe grounding. Apart from the destruction that would have been caused by the descent of this great expanse of sail and metal, and the impossibility of its rising again, the concussion15 of an irregular surface, a tree-set hillside, for instance, or an embankment, would be sufficient to pierce or damage the framework, to smash the ribs16 of the body, and perhaps kill those aboard.
At first Graham felt disappointed with these cumbersome17 contrivances, but he speedily grasped the fact that smaller machines would have been unremunerative, for the simple reason that their carrying power would be disproportionately diminished with diminished size. Moreover, the huge size of these things enabled them--and it was a consideration of primary importance--to traverse the air at enormous speeds, and so run no risks of unanticipated weather. The briefest journey performed, that from London to Paris, took about three-quarters of an hour, but the velocity19 attained20 was not high; the leap to New York occupied about two hours, and by timing21 oneself carefully at the intermediate stations it was possible in quiet weather to go around the world in a day.
The little aeropiles (as for no particular reason they were distinctively22 called) were of an altogether different type. Several of these were going to and fro in the air. They were designed to carry only one or two persons, and their manufacture and maintenance was so costly24 as to render them the monopoly of the richer sort of people. Their sails, which were brilliantly coloured, consisted only of two pairs of lateral25 air floats in the same plane, and of a screw behind. Their small size rendered a descent in any open space neither difficult nor disagreeable, and it was possible to attach pneumatic wheels or even the ordinary motors for terrestrial tragic26 to them, and so carry them to a convenient starting place. They required a special sort of swift car to throw them into the air, but such a car was efficient in any open place clear of high buildings or trees. Human aeronautics27, Graham perceived, were evidently still a long way behind the instinctive28 gift of the albatross or the fly-catcher. One great influence that might have brought the aeropile to a more rapid perfection had been withheld29; these inventions had never been used in warfare30. The last great international struggle had occurred before the usurpation31 of the Council.
The Flying Stages of London were collected together in an irregular crescent on the southern side of the river. They formed three groups of two each and retained the names of ancient suburban32 hills or villages. They were named in order, Roehampton, Wimbledon Park, Streatham, Norwood, Blackheath, and Shooter's Hill. They were uniform structures rising high above the general roof surfaces. Each was about four thousand yards long and a thousand broad, and constructed of the compound of aluminium33 and iron that had replaced iron in architecture. Their higher tiers formed an openwork of girders through which lifts and staircases ascended34. The upper surface was a uniform expanse, with portions--the starting carriers--that could be raised and were then able to run on very slightly inclined rails to the end of the fabric. Save for any aeropiles or aeroplanes that were in port these open surfaces were kept clear for arrivals.
During the adjustment of the aeroplanes it was the custom for passengers to wait in the system of theatres, restaurants, news-rooms, and places of pleasure and indulgence of various sorts that interwove with the prosperous shops below. This portion of London was in consequence commonly the gayest of all its districts, with something of the meretricious35 gaiety of a seaport36 or city of hotels. And for those who took a more serious view of aeronautics, the religious quarters had flung out an attractive colony of devotional chapels37, while a host of brilliant medical establishments competed to supply physical preparatives for the journey. At various levels through the mass of chambers38 and passages beneath these, ran, in addition to the main moving ways of the city which laced and gathered here, a complex system of special passages and lifts and slides, for the convenient interchange of people and luggage between stage and stage. And a distinctive23 feature of the architecture of this section was the ostentatious massiveness of the metal piers39 and girders that everywhere broke the vistas40 and spanned the halls and passages, crowding and twining up to meet the weight of the stages and the weighty impact of the aeroplanes overhead.
Graham went to the flying stages by the public ways. He was accompanied by Asano, his Japanese attendant. Lincoln was called away by Ostrog, who was busy with his administrative41 concerns. A strong guard of the Wind-Vane police awaited the Master outside the Wind-Vane offices, and they cleared a space for him on the upper moving platform. His passage to the flying stages was unexpected, nevertheless a considerable crowd gathered and followed him to his destination. As he went along, he could hear the people shouting his name, and saw numberless men and women and children in blue come swarming42 up the staircases in the central path, gesticulating and shouting. He could not hear what they shouted. He was struck again by the evident existence of a vulgar dialect among the poor of the city. When at last he descended43, his guards were immediately surrounded by a dense44 excited crowd. Afterwards it occurred to him that some had attempted to reach him with petitions. His guards cleared a passage for him with difficulty.
He found an aeropile in charge of an aeronaut awaiting him on the westward45 stage. Seen close this mechanism was no longer small. As it lay on its launching carrier upon the wide expanse of the flying stage, its aluminium body skeleton was as big as the hull46 of a twenty-ton yacht. Its lateral supporting sails braced47 and stayed with metal nerves almost like the nerves of a bee's wing, and made of some sort of glassy artificial membrane48, cast their shadow over many hundreds of square yards. The chairs for the engineer and his passenger hung free to swing by a complex tackle, within the protecting ribs of the frame and well abaft49 the middle. The passenger's chair was protected by a wind-guard and guarded about with metallic50 rods carrying air cushions. It could, if desired, be completely closed in, but Graham was anxious for novel experiences, and desired that it should be left open. The aeronaut sat behind a glass that sheltered his face. The passenger could secure himself firmly in his seat, and this was almost unavoidable on landing, or he could move along by means of a little rail and rod to a locker51 at the stem of the machine, where his personal luggage, his wraps and restoratives were placed, and which also with the seats, served as a makeweight to the parts of the central engine that projected to the propeller52 at the stern.
The engine was very simple in appearance. Asano, pointing out the parts of this apparatus53 to him, told him that, like the gas-engine of Victorian days, it was of the explosive type, burning a small drop of a substance called "fomile" at each stroke. It consisted simply of reservoir and piston54 about the long fluted55 crank of the propeller shaft56. So much Graham saw of the machine.
The flying stage about him was empty save for Asano and their suite57 of attendants. Directed by the aeronaut he placed himself in his seat. He then drank a mixture containing ergot--a dose, he learnt, invariably administered to those about to fly, and designed to counteract58 the possible effect of diminished air pressure upon the system. Having done so, he declared himself ready for the journey. Asano took the empty glass from him, stepped through the bars of the hull, and stood below on the stage waving his hand. Suddenly he seemed to slide along the stage to the right and vanish.
The engine was beating, the propeller spinning, and for a second the stage and the buildings beyond were gliding59 swiftly and horizontally past Graham's eye; then these things seemed to tilt60 up abruptly61. He gripped the little rods on either side of him instinctively62. He felt himself moving upward, heard the air whistle over the top of the wind screen. The propeller screw moved round with powerful rhythmic63 impulses--one, two, three, pause; one, two, three--which the engineer controlled very delicately. The machine began a quivering vibration that continued throughout the flight, and the roof areas seemed running away to starboard very quickly and growing rapidly smaller. He looked from the face of the engineer through the ribs of the machine. Looking sideways, there was nothing very startling in what he saw--a rapid funicular railway might have given the same sensations. He recognised the Council House and the Highgate Ridge64. And then he looked straight down between his feet.
For a moment physical terror possessed65 him, a passionate66 sense of insecurity. He held tight. For a second or so he could not lift his eyes. Some hundred feet or more sheer below him was one of the big windvanes of south-west London, and beyond it the southernmost flying stage crowded with little black dots. These things seemed to be falling away from him. For a second he had an impulse to pursue the earth. He set his teeth, he lifted his eyes by a muscular effort, and the moment of panic passed.
He remained for a space with his teeth set hard, his eyes staring into the sky. Throb67, throb, throb--beat, went the engine; throb, throb, throb,--beat. He gripped his bars tightly, glanced at the aeronaut, and saw a smile upon his sun-tanned face. He smiled in return--perhaps a little artificially. "A little strange at first," he shouted before he recalled his dignity. But he dared not look down again for some time. He stared over the aeronaut's head to where a rim18 of vague blue horizon crept up the sky. For a little while he could' not banish68 the thought of possible accidents from his mind. Throb, throb, throb--beat; suppose some trivial screw went wrong in that supporting engine! Suppose--! He made a grim effort to dismiss all such suppositions. After a while they did at least abandon the foreground of his thoughts. And up he went steadily69, higher and higher into the clear air.
Once the mental shock of moving unsupported through the air was over, his sensations ceased to be unpleasant, became very speedily pleasurable. He had been warned of air sickness. But he found the pulsating70 movement of the aeropile as it drove up the faint south-west breeze was very little in excess of the pitching of a boat head on to broad rollers in a moderate gale71, and he was constitutionally a good sailor. And the keenness of the more rarefied air into which they ascended produced a sense of lightness and exhilaration. He looked up and saw the blue sky above fretted72 with cirrus clouds. His eye came cautiously down through the ribs and bars to a shining flight of white birds that hung in the lower sky. For a space he watched these. Then going lower and less apprehensively73, he saw the slender figure of the Wind-Vane keeper's crow's nest shining golden in the sunlight and growing smaller every moment. As his eye fell with more confidence now, there came a blue line of hills, and then London, already to leeward74, an intricate space of roofing. Its near edge came sharp and clear, and banished75 his last apprehensions76 in a shock of surprise. For the boundary of London was like a wall, like a cliff, a steep fall of three or four hundred feet, a frontage broken only by terraces here and there, a complex decorative77 facade78.
That gradual passage of town into country through an extensive sponge of suburbs, which was so characteristic a feature of the great cities of the nineteenth century, existed no longer. Nothing remained of it but a waste of ruins here, variegated79 and dense with thickets80 of the heterogeneous81 growths that had once adorned82 the gardens of the belt, interspersed83 among levelled brown patches of sown ground, and verdant84 stretches of winter greens. The latter even spread among the vestiges85 of houses. But for the most part the reefs and skerries of ruins, the wreckage86 of suburban villas87, stood among their streets and roads, queer islands amidst the levelled expanses of green and brown, abandoned indeed by the inhabitants years since, but too substantial, it seemed', to be cleared out of the way of the wholesale88 horticultural mechanisms89 of the time.
The vegetation of this waste undulated and frothed amidst the countless90 cells of crumbling91 house walls, and broke along the foot of the city wall in a surf of bramble and holly92 and ivy93 and teazle and tall grasses. Here and there gaudy94 pleasure palaces towered amidst the puny95 remains96 of Victorian times, and cable ways slanted97 to them from the city. That winter day they seemed deserted98. Deserted, too, were the artificial gardens among the ruins. The city limits were indeed as sharply defined as in the ancient days when the gates were shut at nightfall and the robber foreman prowled to the very walls. A huge semi-circular throat poured out a vigorous traffic upon the Eadhamite Bath Road. So the first prospect99 of the world beyond the city flashed on Graham, and dwindled101. And when at last he could look vertically102 downward again, he saw below him the vegetable fields of the Thames valley--innumerable minute oblongs of ruddy brown, intersected by shining threads, the sewage ditches.
His exhilaration increased rapidly, became a sort of intoxication103. He found himself drawing deep breaths of air, laughing aloud, desiring to shout. After a time that desire became too strong for him, and he shouted.
The machine had now risen as high as was customary with aeropiles, and they began to curve about towards the south. Steering104, Graham perceived, was effected by the opening or closing of one or two thin strips of membrane in one or other of the otherwise rigid105 wings, and by the movement of the whole engine backward or forward along its supports. The aeronaut set the engine gliding slowly forward along its rail and opened the valve of the leeward wing until the stem of the aeropile was horizontal and pointing southward. And in that direction they drove with a slight list to leeward, and with a slow alternation of movement, first a short, sharp ascent106 and' then a long downward glide107 that was very swift and pleasing. During these downward glides108 the propellor was inactive altogether. These ascents109 gave Graham a glorious sense of successful effort; the descents through the rarefied air were beyond all experience. He wanted never to leave the upper air again.
For a time he was intent upon the minute details of the landscape that ran swiftly northward110 beneath him. Its minute, clear detail pleased him exceedingly. He was impressed by the ruin of the houses that had once dotted the country, by the vast treeless expanse of country from which all farms and villages had gone, save for crumbling ruins. He had known the thing was so, but seeing it so was an altogether different matter. He tried to make out places he had known within the hollow basin of the world below, but at first he could distinguish no data now that the Thames valley was left behind. Soon, however, they were driving over a sharp chalk hill that he recognised as the Guildford Hog's Back, because of the familiar outline of the gorge111 at its eastward112 end, and because of the ruins of the town that rose steeply on either lip of this gorge. And from that he made out other points, Leith Hill, the sandy wastes of Aldershot, and so forth113. The Downs escarpment was set with gigantic slow-moving wind-wheels. Save where the broad Eadhamite Portsmouth Road, thickly dotted with rushing shapes, followed the course of the old railway, the gorge of the Wey was choked with thickets.
The whole expanse of the Downs escarpment, so far as the grey haze114 permitted him to see, was set with wind-wheels to which the largest of the city was but a younger brother. They stirred with a stately motion before the south-west wind. And here and there were patches dotted with the sheep of the British Food Trust, and here and there a mounted shepherd made a spot of black. Then rushing under the stern of the aeropile came the Wealden Heights, the line of Hindhead, Pitch Hill, and Leith Hill, with a second row of wind-wheels that seemed striving to rob the downland whirlers of their share of breeze. The purple heather was speckled with yellow gorse, and on the further side a drove of black oxen stampeded before a couple of mounted men. Swiftly these swept behind, and dwindled and lost colour, and became scarce moving specks116 that were swallowed up in haze.
And when these had vanished in the distance Graham heard a peewit wailing117 close at hand. He perceived he was now above the South Downs, and staring over his shoulder saw the battlements of Portsmouth Landing Stage towering over the ridge of Portsdown Hill. In another moment there came into sight a spread of shipping118 like floating cities, the little white cliffs of the Needles dwarfed119 and sunlit, and the grey and glittering waters of the narrow sea. They seemed to leap the Solent in a moment, and in a few seconds the Isle120 of Wight was running past, and then beneath him spread a wider and wide extent of sea, here purple with the shadow of a cloud, here grey, here a burnished121 mirror, and here a spread of cloudy greenish blue. The Isle of Wight grew smaller and smaller. In a few more minutes a strip of grey haze detached itself from other strips that were clouds, descended out of the sky and became a coastline--sunlit and pleasant--the coast of northern France. It rose, it took colour, became definite and detailed122, and the counterpart of the Downland of England was speeding by below.
In a little time, as it seemed, Paris came above the horizon, and hung there for a space, and sank out of sight again as the aeropile circled about to the north again. But he perceived the Eiffel Tower still standing123, and beside it a huge dome124 surmounted125 by a pinpoint126 Colossus. And he perceived, too, though he did not understand it at the time, a slanting127 drift of smoke. The aeronaut said something about "trouble in the underways," that Graham did not heed128 at the time. But he marked the minarets129 and towers and slender masses that streamed skyward above the city windvanes, and knew that in the matter of grace at least Paris still kept in front of her larger rival. And even as he looked a pale blue shape ascended very swiftly from the city like a dead leaf driving up before a gale. It curved round and soared towards them growing rapidly larger and larger. The aeronaut was saying something. "What?" said Graham, loath130 to take his eyes from this. "Aeroplane, Sire," bawled131 the aeronaut pointing.
They rose and curved about northward as it drew nearer. Nearer it came and nearer, larger and larger. The throb, throb, throb--beat, of the aeropile's flight, that had seemed so potent132 and so swift, suddenly appeared slow by comparison with this tremendous rush. How great the monster seemed, how swift and steady! It passed quite closely beneath them, driving along silently, a vast spread of wirenetted translucent133 wings, a thing alive. Graham had a momentary134 glimpse of the rows and rows of wrapped-up passengers, slung in their little cradles behind wind-screens, of a white-clothed engineer crawling against the gale along a ladder way, of spouting135 engines beating together, of the whirling wind screw, and of a wide waste of wing. He exulted136 in the sight. And in an instant the thing had passed.
It rose slightly and their own little wings swayed in the rush of its flight. It fell and grew smaller. Scarcely had they moved, as it seemed, before it was again only a flat blue thing that dwindled in the sky. This was the aeroplane that went to and fro between London and Paris. In fair weather and in peaceful times it came and went four times a day.
They beat across the Channel, slowly as it seemed now, to Graham's enlarged ideas, and Beachy Head rose greyly to the left of them.
"Land," called the aeronaut, his voice small against the whistling of the air over the wind-screen.
"Not yet," bawled Graham, laughing. "Not land yet. I want to learn more of this machine."
"I meant--" said the aeronaut.
"I want to learn more of this machine," repeated Graham.
"I'm coming to you," he said, and had flung himself free of his chair and taken a step along the guarded rail between them. He stopped for a moment, and his colour changed and his hands tightened137. Another step and he was clinging close to the aeronaut. He felt a weight on his shoulder, the pressure of the air. His hat was a whirling speck115 behind. The wind came in gusts138 over his wind-screen and blew his hair in streamers past his cheek. The aeronaut made some hasty adjustments for the shifting of the centres of gravity and pressure.
"I want to have these things explained," said Graham. "What do you do when you move that engine forward?"
The aeronaut hesitated. Then he answered, "They are complex, Sire."
"I don't mind," shouted Graham. "I don't mind."
There was a moment's pause. "Aeronautics is the secret--the privilege--"
"I know. But I'm the Master, and I mean to know." He laughed, full of this novel realisation of power that was his gift from the upper air.
The aeropile curved about, and the keen fresh wind cut across Graham's face and his garment lugged139 at his body as the stem pointed round to the west. The two men looked into each other's eyes.
"Sire, there are rules--"
"Not where I am concerned," said Graham. "You seem to forget."
The aeronaut scrutinised his face. "No," he said. "I do not forget, Sire. But in all the earth--no man who is not a sworn aeronaut--has ever a chance. They come as passengers--"
"I have heard something of the sort. But I'm not going to argue these points. Do you know why I have slept two hundred years? To fly!"
"Sire," said the aeronaut, "the rules--if I break the rules--"
Graham waved the penalties aside.
"Then if you will watch me--"
"No," said Graham, swaying and gripping tight as the machine lifted its nose again for an ascent. "That's not my game. I want to do it myself. Do it myself if I smash for it! No! I will. See. I am going to clamber by this to come and share your seat. Steady! I mean to fly of my own accord if I smash at the end of it. I will have something to pay for my sleep. Of all other things--. In my past it was my dream to fly. Now--keep your balance."
"A dozen spies are watching me, Sire!"
Graham's temper was at end. Perhaps he chose it should be. He swore. He swung himself round the intervening mass of levers and the aeropile swayed.
"Am I Master of the earth?" he said. "Or is your Society? Now. Take your hands off those levers, and hold my wrists. Yes--so. And now, how do we turn her nose down to the glide?"
"Sire," said the aeronaut.
"What is it?"
"You will protect me?"
"Lord! Yes! If I have to burn London. Now!"
And with that promise Graham bought his first lesson in aerial navigation. "It's clearly to your advantage, this journey," he said with a loud laugh--for the air was like strong wine--"to teach me quickly and well. Do I pull this? Ah! So! Hullo!"
"Back, Sire! Back!"
"Back--right. One--two--three--good God! Ah! Up she goes! But this is living!"
And now the machine began to dance the strangest figures in the air. Now it would sweep round a spiral of scarcely a hundred yards diameter, now it would rush up into the air and swoop140 down again, steeply, swiftly, falling like a hawk141, to recover in a rushing loop that swept it high again. In one of these descents it seemed driving straight at the drifting park of balloons in the southeast, and only curved about and cleared them by a sudden recovery of dexterity142. The extraordinary swiftness and smoothness of the motion, the extraordinary effect of the rarefied air upon his constitution, threw Graham into a careless fury.
But at last a queer incident came to sober him, to send him flying down once more to the crowded life below with all its dark insoluble riddles143. As he swooped144, came a tap and something flying past, and a drop like a drop of rain. Then as he went on down he saw something like a white rag whirling down in his wake. "What was that?" he asked. "I did not see."
The aeronaut glanced, and then clutched at the lever to recover, for they were sweeping145 down. When the aeropile was rising again he drew a deep breath and replied. "That," and he indicated the white thing still fluttering down, "was a swan."
"I never saw it," said Graham.
The aeronaut made no answer, and Graham saw little drops upon his forehead.
They drove horizontally while Graham clambered back to the passenger's place out of the lash100 of the wind. And then came a swift rush down, with the wind-screw whirling to check their fall, and the flying stage growing broad and dark before them. The sun, sinking over the chalk hills in the west, fell with them, and left the sky a blaze of gold.
Soon men could be seen as little specks. He heard a noise coming up to meet him, a noise like the sound of waves upon a pebbly146 beach, and saw that the roofs about the flying stage were dark with his people rejoicing over his safe return. A dark mass was crushed together under the stage, a darkness stippled147 with innumerable faces, and quivering with the minute oscillation of waved white handkerchiefs and waving hands.
收听单词发音 |
1
preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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2
attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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ply
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| v.(搬运工等)等候顾客，弯曲 | |
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maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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7
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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13
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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14
circumscribed
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| adj.[医]局限的：受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；划定…范围；限制；限定 | |
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concussion
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| n.脑震荡；震动 | |
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ribs
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| 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 | |
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cumbersome
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| adj.笨重的，不便携带的 | |
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rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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timing
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| n.时间安排，时间选择 | |
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distinctively
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| adv.特殊地，区别地 | |
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distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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lateral
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| adj.侧面的，旁边的 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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aeronautics
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| n.航空术，航空学 | |
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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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31
usurpation
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| n.篡位；霸占 | |
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32
suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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33
aluminium
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| n.铝 (=aluminum) | |
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34
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
meretricious
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| adj.华而不实的，俗艳的 | |
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36
seaport
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| n.海港，港口，港市 | |
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37
chapels
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| n.小教堂， （医院、监狱等的）附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 )；（在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的）礼拜仪式 | |
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38
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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39
piers
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| n.水上平台( pier的名词复数 )；（常设有娱乐场所的）突堤；柱子；墙墩 | |
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40
vistas
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| 长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景 | |
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41
administrative
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| adj.行政的，管理的 | |
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42
swarming
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| 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 | |
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43
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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44
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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45
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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46
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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47
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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48
membrane
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| n.薄膜，膜皮，羊皮纸 | |
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49
abaft
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| prep.在…之后；adv.在船尾，向船尾 | |
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50
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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51
locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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52
propeller
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器 | |
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53
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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54
piston
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| n.活塞 | |
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55
fluted
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| a.有凹槽的 | |
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56
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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57
suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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58
counteract
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| vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消 | |
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59
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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60
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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61
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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62
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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63
rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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64
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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65
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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66
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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67
throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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68
banish
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| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
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69
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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70
pulsating
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| adj.搏动的，脉冲的v.有节奏地舒张及收缩( pulsate的现在分词 )；跳动；脉动；受（激情）震动 | |
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71
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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72
fretted
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| 焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的 | |
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73
apprehensively
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| adv.担心地 | |
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74
leeward
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| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
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75
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76
apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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77
decorative
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| adj.装饰的，可作装饰的 | |
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78
facade
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| n.(建筑物的)正面，临街正面；外表 | |
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79
variegated
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| adj.斑驳的，杂色的 | |
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80
thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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81
heterogeneous
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| adj.庞杂的；异类的 | |
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82
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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83
interspersed
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| adj.[医]散开的；点缀的v.intersperse的过去式和过去分词 | |
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84
verdant
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| adj.翠绿的，青翠的，生疏的，不老练的 | |
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85
vestiges
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| 残余部分( vestige的名词复数 )； 遗迹； 痕迹； 毫不 | |
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86
wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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87
villas
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| 别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅 | |
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88
wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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89
mechanisms
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| n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用 | |
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90
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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91
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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92
holly
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| n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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93
ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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94
gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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95
puny
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| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
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96
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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97
slanted
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| 有偏见的； 倾斜的 | |
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98
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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99
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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100
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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101
dwindled
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| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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102
vertically
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| adv.垂直地 | |
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103
intoxication
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| n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning | |
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104
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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105
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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106
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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107
glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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108
glides
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| n.滑行( glide的名词复数 )；滑音；音渡；过渡音v.滑动( glide的第三人称单数 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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109
ascents
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| n.上升( ascent的名词复数 )；（身份、地位等的）提高；上坡路；攀登 | |
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110
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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111
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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112
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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113
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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114
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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115
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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116
specks
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| n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 ) | |
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117
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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118
shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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119
dwarfed
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| vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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120
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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121
burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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122
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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123
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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124
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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125
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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126
pinpoint
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| vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置 | |
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127
slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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128
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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129
minarets
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| n.（清真寺旁由报告祈祷时刻的人使用的）光塔( minaret的名词复数 ) | |
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130
loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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131
bawled
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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132
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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133
translucent
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| adj.半透明的；透明的 | |
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134
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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135
spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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136
exulted
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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137
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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138
gusts
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| 一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作 | |
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139
lugged
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| vt.用力拖拉（lug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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140
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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141
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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142
dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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143
riddles
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| n.谜（语）( riddle的名词复数 )；猜不透的难题，难解之谜 | |
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144
swooped
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| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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145
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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146
pebbly
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| 多卵石的，有卵石花纹的 | |
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147
stippled
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| v.加点、绘斑，加粒( stipple的过去式和过去分词 )；（把油漆、水泥等的表面）弄粗糙 | |
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