On the Fourth of July, at five o'clock in the morning, the porters called the sleepers1 out of their berths3 at Wickford Junction4. Modern civilization offers no such test to the temper and to personal appearance as this early preparation to meet the inspection5 of society after a night in the stuffy6 and luxuriously7 upholstered tombs of a sleeping-car. To get into them at night one must sacrifice dignity; to get out of them in the morning, clad for the day, gives the proprietors8 a hard rub. It is wonderful, however, considering the twisting and scrambling9 in the berth2 and the miscellaneous and ludicrous presentation of humanity in the washroom at the end of the car, how presentable people make themselves in a short space of time. One realizes the debt of the ordinary man to clothes, and how fortunate it is for society that commonly people do not see each other in the morning until art has done its best for them. To meet the public eye, cross and tousled and disarranged, requires either indifference10 or courage. It is disenchanting to some of our cherished ideals. Even the trig, irreproachable12 commercial drummer actually looks banged-up, and nothing of a man; but after a few moments, boot-blacked and paper-collared, he comes out as fresh as a daisy, and all ready to drum.
Our travelers came out quite as well as could be expected, the artist sleepy and a trifle disorganized, Mr. King in a sort of facetious13 humor that is more dangerous than grumbling14, Mr. De Long yawning and stretching and declaring that he had not slept a wink15, while Marion alighted upon the platform unruffled in plumage, greeting the morning like a bird. There were the usual early loafers at the station, hands deep in pockets, ruminant, listlessly observant. No matter at what hour of day or night a train may arrive or depart at a country station in America, the loafers are so invariably there in waiting that they seem to be a part of our railway system. There is something in the life and movement that seems to satisfy all the desire for activity they have.
Even the most sleepy tourist could not fail to be impressed with the exquisite16 beauty of the scene at Wickford Harbor, where the boat was taken for Newport. The slow awaking of morning life scarcely disturbed its tranquillity17. Sky and sea and land blended in a tone of refined gray. The shores were silvery, a silvery light came out of the east, streamed through the entrance of the harbor, and lay molten and glowing on the water. The steamer's deck and chairs and benches were wet with dew, the noises in transferring the baggage and getting the boat under way were all muffled18 and echoed in the surrounding silence. The sail-boats that lay at anchor on the still silver surface sent down long shadows, and the slim masts seemed driven down into the water to hold the boats in place. The little village was still asleep. It was such a contrast; the artist was saying to Marion, as they leaned over the taffrail, to the new raw villages in the Catskills. The houses were large, and looked solid and respectable, many of them were shingled20 on the sides, a spire21 peeped out over the green trees, and the hamlet was at once homelike and picturesque22. Refinement23 is the note of the landscape. Even the old warehouses24 dropping into the water, and the decaying piles of the wharves25, have a certain grace. How graciously the water makes into the land, following the indentations, and flowing in little streams, going in and withdrawing gently and regretfully, and how the shore puts itself out in low points, wooing the embrace of the sea--a lovely union. There is no haze26, but all outlines are softened27 in the silver light. It is like a dream, and there is no disturbance28 of the repose29 when a family party, a woman, a child, and a man come down to the shore, slip into a boat, and scull away out by the lighthouse and the rocky entrance of the harbor, off, perhaps, for a day's pleasure. The artist has whipped out his sketch30-book to take some outlines of the view, and his comrade, looking that way, thinks this group a pleasing part of the scene, and notes how the salt, dewy morning air has brought the color into the sensitive face of the girl. There are not many such hours in a lifetime, he is also thinking, when nature can be seen in such a charming mood, and for the moment it compensates31 for the night ride.
The party indulged this feeling when they landed, still early, at the Newport wharf32, and decided33 to walk through the old town up to the hotel, perfectly34 well aware that after this no money would hire them to leave their beds and enjoy this novel sensation at such an hour. They had the street to themselves, and the promenade35 was one of discovery, and had much the interest of a landing in a foreign city.
"It is so English," said the artist.
"It is so colonial," said Mr. King, "though I've no doubt that any one of the sleeping occupants of these houses would be wide-awake instantly, and come out and ask you to breakfast, if they heard you say it is so English."
"If they were not restrained," Marion suggested, "by the feeling that that would not be English. How fine the shade trees, and what brilliant banks of flowers!"
"And such lawns! We cannot make this turf in Virginia," was the reflection of Mr. De Long.
"Well, colonial if you like," the artist replied to Mr. King. "What is best is in the colonial style; but you notice that all the new houses are built to look old, and that they have had Queen Anne pretty bad, though the colors are good."
"That's the way with some towns. Queen Anne seems to strike them all of a sudden, and become epidemic36. The only way to prevent it is to vaccinate37, so to speak, with two or three houses, and wait; then it is not so likely to spread."
Laughing and criticising and admiring, the party strolled along the shaded avenue to the Ocean House. There were as yet no signs of life at the Club, or the Library, or the Casino; but the shops were getting open, and the richness and elegance38 of the goods displayed in the windows were the best evidence of the wealth and refinement of the expected customers--culture and taste always show themselves in the shops of a town. The long gray-brown front of the Casino, with its shingled sides and hooded39 balconies and galleries, added to the already strong foreign impression of the place. But the artist was dissatisfied. It was not at all his idea of Independence Day; it was like Sunday, and Sunday without any foreign gayety. He had expected firing of cannon40 and ringing of bells--there was not even a flag out anywhere; the celebration of the Fourth seemed to have shrunk into a dull and decorous avoidance of all excitement. "Perhaps," suggested Miss Lamont, "if the New-Englanders keep the Fourth of July like Sunday, they will by and by keep Sunday like the Fourth of July. I hear it is the day for excursions on this coast."
Mr. King was perfectly well aware that in going to a hotel in Newport he was putting himself out of the pale of the best society; but he had a fancy for viewing this society from the outside, having often enough seen it from the inside. And perhaps he had other reasons for this eccentric conduct. He had, at any rate, declined the invitation of his cousin, Mrs. Bartlett Glow, to her cottage on the Point of Rocks. It was not without regret that he did this, for his cousin was a very charming woman, and devoted41 exclusively to the most exclusive social life. Her husband had been something in the oil line in New York, and King had watched with interest his evolution from the business man into the full-blown existence of a man of fashion. The process is perfectly charted. Success in business, membership in a good club, tandem42 in the Park, introduction to a good house, marriage to a pretty girl of family and not much money, a yacht, a four-in-hand, a Newport villa19. His name had undergone a like evolution. It used to be written on his business card, Jacob B. Glow. It was entered at the club as J. Bartlett Glow. On the wedding invitations it was Mr. Bartlett Glow, and the dashing pair were always spoken of at Newport as the Bartlett-Glows.
When Mr. King descended44 from his room at the Ocean House, although it was not yet eight o'clock, he was not surprised to see Mr. Benson tilted45 back in one of the chairs on the long piazza46, out of the way of the scrubbers, with his air of patient waiting and observation. Irene used to say that her father ought to write a book--"Life as Seen from Hotel Piazzas47." His only idea of recreation when away from business seemed to be sitting about on them.
"The women-folks," he explained to Mr. King, who took a chair beside him, "won't be down for an hour yet. I like, myself, to see the show open."
"Are there many people here?"
"I guess the house is full enough. But I can't find out that anybody is actually stopping here, except ourselves and a lot of schoolmarms come to attend a convention. They seem to enjoy it. The rest, those I've talked with, just happen to be here for a day or so, never have been to a hotel in Newport before, always stayed in a cottage, merely put up here now to visit friends in cottages. You'll see that none of them act like they belonged to the hotel. Folks are queer."
At a place we were last summer all the summer boarders, in boarding-houses round, tried to act like they were staying at the big hotel, and the hotel people swelled48 about on the fact of being at a hotel. Here you're nobody. I hired a carriage by the week, driver in buttons, and all that. It don't make any difference. I'll bet a gold dollar every cottager knows it's hired, and probably they think by the drive."
"It's rather stupid, then, for you and the ladies."
"Not a bit of it. It's the nicest place in America: such grass, such horses, such women, and the drive round the island--there's nothing like it in the country. We take it every day. Yes, it would be a little lonesome but for the ocean. It's a good deal like a funeral procession, nobody ever recognizes you, not even the hotel people who are in hired hacks49. If I were to come again, Mr. King, I'd come in a yacht, drive up from it in a box on two wheels, with a man clinging on behind with his back to me, and have a cottage with an English gardener. That would fetch 'em. Money won't do it, not at a hotel. But I'm not sure but I like this way best. It's an occupation for a man to keep up a cottage."
"And so you do not find it dull?"
"No. When we aren't out riding, she and Irene go on to the cliffs, and I sit here and talk real estate. It's about all there is to talk of."
There was an awkward moment or two when the two parties met in the lobby and were introduced before going in to breakfast. There was a little putting up of guards on the part of the ladies. Between Irene and Marion passed that rapid glance of inspection, that one glance which includes a study and the passing of judgment50 upon family, manners, and dress, down to the least detail. It seemed to be satisfactory, for after a few words of civility the two girls walked in together, Irene a little dignified51, to be sure, and Marion with her wistful, half-inquisitive expression. Mr. King could not be mistaken in thinking Irene's manner a little constrained52 and distant to him, and less cordial than it was to Mr. Forbes, but the mother righted the family balance.
"I'm right glad you've come, Mr. King. It's like seeing somebody from home. I told Irene that when you came I guess we should know somebody. It's an awful fashionable place."
"And you have no acquaintances here?"
"No, not really. There's Mrs. Peabody has a cottage here, what they call a cottage, but there no such house in Cyrusville. We drove past it. Her daughter was to school with Irene. We've met 'em out riding several times, and Sally (Miss Peabody) bowed to Irene, and pa and I bowed to everybody, but they haven't called. Pa says it's because we are at a hotel, but I guess it's been company or something. They were real good friends at school."
Mr. King laughed. "Oh, Mrs. Benson, the Peabodys were nobodys only a few years ago. I remember when they used to stay at one of the smaller hotels."
"Well, they seem nice, stylish54 people, and I'm sorry on Irene's account."
At breakfast the party had topics enough in common to make conversation lively. The artist was sure he should be delighted with the beauty and finish of Newport. Miss Lamont doubted if she should enjoy it as much as the freedom and freshness of the Catskills. Mr. King amused himself with drawing out Miss Benson on the contrast with Atlantic City. The dining-room was full of members of the Institute, in attendance upon the annual meeting, graybearded, long-faced educators, devotees of theories and systems, known at a glance by a certain earnestness of manner and intensity55 of expression, aged57" target="_blank">middle-aged56 women of a resolute58, intellectual countenance59, and a great crowd of youthful schoolmistresses, just on the dividing line between domestic life and self-sacrifice, still full of sentiment, and still leaning perhaps more to Tennyson and Lowell than to mathematics and Old English.
"They have a curious, mingled60 air of primness61 and gayety, as if gayety were not quite proper," the artist began. "Some of them look downright interesting, and I've no doubt they are all excellent women."
"I've no doubt they are all good as gold," put in Mr. King. "These women are the salt of New England." (Irene looked up quickly and appreciatively at the speaker.) "No fashionable nonsense about them. What's in you, Forbes, to shy so at a good woman?"
"I don't shy at a good woman--but three hundred of them! I don't want all my salt in one place. And see here--I appeal to you, Miss Lamont--why didn't these girls dress simply, as they do at home, and not attempt a sort of ill-fitting finery that is in greater contrast to Newport than simplicity62 would be?"
"If you were a woman," said Marion, looking demurely63, not at Mr. Forbes, but at Irene, "I could explain it to you. You don't allow anything for sentiment and the natural desire to please, and it ought to be just pathetic to you that these girls, obeying a natural instinct, missed the expression of it a little."
"Men are such critics," and Irene addressed the remark to Marion, "they pretend to like intellectual women, but they can pardon anything better than an ill-fitting gown. Better be frivolous64 than badly dressed."
"Well," stoutly65 insisted Forbes, "I'll take my chance with the well-dressed ones always; I don't believe the frumpy are the most sensible."
"No; but you make out a prima facie case against a woman for want of taste in dress, just as you jump at the conclusion that because a woman dresses in such a way as to show she gives her mind to it she is of the right sort. I think it's a relief to see a convention of women devoted to other things who are not thinking of their clothes."
"Pardon me; the point I made was that they are thinking of their clothes, and thinking erroneously."
"Why don't you ask leave to read a paper, Forbes, on the relation of dress to education?" asked Mr. King.
They rose from the table just as Mrs. Benson was saying that for her part she liked these girls, they were so homelike; she loved to hear them sing college songs and hymns66 in the parlor67. To sing the songs of the students is a wild, reckless dissipation for girls in the country.
When Mr. King and Irene walked up and down the corridor after breakfast the girl's constraint68 seemed to have vanished, and she let it be seen that she had sincere pleasure in renewing the acquaintance. King himself began to realize how large a place the girl's image had occupied in his mind. He was not in love--that would be absurd on such short acquaintance--but a thought dropped into the mind ripens69 without consciousness, and he found that he had anticipated seeing Irene again with decided interest. He remembered exactly how she looked at Fortress70 Monroe, especially one day when she entered the parlor, bowing right and left to persons she knew, stopping to chat with one and another, tall, slender waist swelling71 upwards72 in symmetrical lines, brown hair, dark-gray eyes--he recalled every detail, the high-bred air (which was certainly not inherited), the unconscious perfect carriage, and his thinking in a vague way that such ease and grace meant good living and leisure and a sound body. This, at any rate, was the image in his mind--a sufficiently73 distracting thing for a young man to carry about with him; and now as he walked beside her he was conscious that there was something much finer in her than the image he had carried with him, that there was a charm of speech and voice and expression that made her different from any other woman he had ever seen. Who can define this charm, this difference? Some women have it for the universal man--they are desired of every man who sees them; their way to marriage (which is commonly unfortunate) is over a causeway of prostrate74 forms, if not of cracked hearts; a few such women light up and make the romance of history. The majority of women fortunately have it for one man only, and sometimes he never appears on the scene at all! Yet every man thinks his choice belongs to the first class; even King began to wonder that all Newport was not raving75 over Irene's beauty. The present writer saw her one day as she alighted from a carriage at the Ocean House, her face flushed with the sea air, and he remembers that he thought her a fine girl. "By George, that's a fine woman!" exclaimed a New York bachelor, who prided himself on knowing horses and women and all that; but the country is full of fine women--this to him was only one of a thousand.
What were this couple talking about as they promenaded76, basking77 in each other's presence? It does not matter. They were getting to know each other, quite as much by what they did not say as by what they did say, by the thousand little exchanges of feeling and sentiment which are all-important, and never appear even in a stenographer's report of a conversation. Only one thing is certain about it, that the girl could recall every word that Mr. King said, even his accent and look, long after he had forgotten even the theme of the talk. One thing, however, he did carry away with him, which set him thinking. The girl had been reading the "Life of Carlyle," and she took up the cudgels for the old curmudgeon78, as King called him, and declared that, when all was said, Mrs. Carlyle was happier with him than she would have been with any other man in England. "What woman of spirit wouldn't rather mate with an eagle, and quarrel half the time, than with a humdrum79 barn-yard fowl80?" And Mr. Stanhope King, when he went away, reflected that he who had fitted himself for the bar, and traveled extensively, and had a moderate competence81, hadn't settled down to any sort of career. He had always an intention of doing something in a vague way; but now the thought that he was idle made him for the first time decidedly uneasy, for he had an indistinct notion that Irene couldn't approve of such a life.
This feeling haunted him as he was making a round of calls that day. He did not return to lunch or dinner--if he had done so he would have found that lunch was dinner and that dinner was supper--another vital distinction between the hotel and the cottage. The rest of the party had gone to the cliffs with the artist, the girls on a pretense82 of learning to sketch from nature. Mr. King dined with his cousin.
"You are a bad boy, Stanhope," was the greeting of Mrs. Bartlett Glow, "not to come to me. Why did you go to the hotel?"
"Oh, I thought I'd see life; I had an unaccountable feeling of independence. Besides, I've a friend with me, a very clever artist, who is re-seeing his country after an absence of some years. And there are some other people."
"Oh, yes. What is her name?"
"Why, there is quite a party. We met them at different places. There's a very bright New York girl, Miss Lamont, and her uncle from Richmond." ("Never heard of her," interpolated Mrs. Glow.) "And a Mr. and Mrs. Benson and their daughter, from Ohio. Mr. Benson has made money; Mrs. Benson, good-hearted old lady, rather plain and--"
"Yes, I know the sort; had a falling-out with Lindley Murray in her youth and never made it up. But what I want to know is about the girl. What makes you beat about the bush so? What's her name?"
"Irene. She is an uncommonly83 clever girl; educated; been abroad a good deal, studying in Germany; had all advantages; and she has cultivated tastes; and the fact is that out in Cyrusville--that is where they live--You know how it is here in America when the girl is educated and the old people are not--"
"The long and short of it is, you want me to invite them here. I suppose the girl is plain, too--takes after her mother?"
"Not exactly. Mr. Forbes--that's my friend--says she's a beauty. But if you don't mind, Penelope, I was going to ask you to be a little civil to them."
"Well, I'll admit she is handsome--a very striking-looking girl. I've seen them driving on the Avenue day after day. Now, Stanhope, I don't mind asking them here to a five o'clock; I suppose the mother will have to come. If she was staying with somebody here it would be easier. Yes, I'll do it to oblige you, if you will make yourself useful while you are here. There are some girls I want you to know, and mind, my young friend, that you don't go and fall in love with a country girl whom nobody knows, out of the set. It won't be comfortable."
"You are always giving me good advice, Penelope, and I should be a different man if I had profited by it."
"Don't be satirical, because you've coaxed84 me to do you a favor."
Late in the evening the gentlemen of the hotel party looked in at the skating-rink, a great American institution that has for a large class taken the place of the ball, the social circle, the evening meeting. It seemed a little incongruous to find a great rink at Newport, but an epidemic is stronger than fashion, and even the most exclusive summer resort must have its rink. Roller-skating is said to be fine exercise, but the benefit of it as exercise would cease to be apparent if there were a separate rink for each sex. There is a certain exhilaration in the lights and music and the lively crowd, and always an attraction in the freedom of intercourse85 offered. The rink has its world as the opera has, its romances and its heroes. The frequenters of the rink know the young women and the young men who have a national reputation as adepts86, and their exhibitions are advertised and talked about as are the appearances of celebrated87 'prime donne' and 'tenori' at the opera. The visitors had an opportunity to see one of these exhibitions. After a weary watching of the monotonous88 and clattering89 round and round of the swinging couples or the stumbling single skaters, the floor was cleared, and the darling of the rink glided90 upon the scene. He was a slender, handsome fellow, graceful91 and expert to the nicest perfection in his profession. He seemed not so much to skate as to float about the floor, with no effort except volition92. His rhythmic93 movements were followed with pleasure, but it was his feats94 of dexterity95, which were more wonderful than graceful, that brought down the house. It was evident that he was a hero to the female part of the spectators, and no doubt his charming image continued to float round and round in the brain of many a girl when she put her, head on the pillow that night. It is said that a good many matches which are not projected or registered in heaven are made at the rink.
At the breakfast-table it appeared that the sketching-party had been a great success--for everybody except the artist, who had only some rough memoranda96, like notes for a speech, to show. The amateurs had made finished pictures.
Miss Benson had done some rocks, and had got their hardness very well. Miss Lamont's effort was more ambitious; her picture took in no less than miles of coast, as much sea as there was room for on the paper, a navy of sail-boats, and all the rocks and figures that were in the foreground, and it was done with a great deal of naivete and conscientiousness97. When it was passed round the table, the comments were very flattering.
"It looks just like it," said Mr. Benson.
"It's very comprehensive," remarked Mr. Forbes.
"What I like, Marion," said Mr. De Long, holding it out at arm's-length, "is the perspective; it isn't an easy thing to put ships up in the sky."
"Of course," explained Irene, "it was a kind of hazy98 day."
"But I think Miss Lamont deserves credit for keeping the haze out of it." King was critically examining it, turning his head from side to side. "I like it; but I tell you what I think it lacks: it lacks atmosphere. Why don't you cut a hole in it, Miss Lamont, and let the air in?"
"Mr. King," replied Miss Lamont, quite seriously, "you are a real friend, I can only repay you by taking you to church this morning."
"You didn't make much that time, King," said Forbes, as he lounged out of the room.
After church King accepted a seat in the Benson carriage for a drive on the Ocean Road. He who takes this drive for the first time is enchanted99 with the scene, and it has so much variety, deliciousness in curve and winding100, such graciousness in the union of sea and shore, such charm of color, that increased acquaintance only makes one more in love with it. A good part of its attraction lies in the fickleness101 of its aspect. Its serene102 and soft appearance might pall103 if it were not now and then, and often suddenly, and with little warning, transformed into a wild coast, swept by a tearing wind, enveloped104 in a thick fog, roaring with the noise of the angry sea slapping the rocks and breaking in foam105 on the fragments its rage has cast down. This elementary mystery and terror is always present, with one familiar with the coast, to qualify the gentleness of its lovelier aspects. It has all moods. Perhaps the most exhilarating is that on a brilliant day, when shore and sea sparkle in the sun, and the waves leap high above the cliffs, and fall in diamond showers.
This Sunday the shore was in its most gracious mood, the landscape as if newly created. There was a light, luminous106 fog, which revealed just enough to excite the imagination, and refined every outline and softened every color. Mr. King and Irene left the carriage to follow the road, and wandered along the sea path. What softness and tenderness of color in the gray rocks, with the browns and reds of the vines and lichens108! They went out on the iron fishing-stands, and looked down at the shallow water. The rocks under water took on the most exquisite shades--purple and malachite and brown; the barnacles clung to them; the long sea-weeds, in half a dozen varieties, some in vivid colors, swept over them, flowing with the restless tide, like the long locks of a drowned woman's hair. King, who had dabbled109 a little in natural history, took great delight in pointing out to Irene this varied110 and beautiful life of the sea; and the girl felt a new interest in science, for it was all pure science, and she opened her heart to it, not knowing that love can go in by the door of science as well as by any other opening. Was Irene really enraptured111 by the dear little barnacles and the exquisite sea-weeds? I have seen a girl all of a flutter with pleasure in a laboratory when a young chemist was showing her the retorts and the crooked112 tubes and the glass wool and the freaks of color which the alkalies played with the acids. God has made them so, these women, and let us be thankful for it.
What a charm there was about everything! Occasionally the mist became so thin that a long line of coast and a great breadth of sea were visible, with the white sails drifting.
"There's nothing like it," said King--"there's nothing like this island. It seems as if the Creator had determined113 to show man, once for all, a landscape perfectly refined, you might almost say with the beauty of high-breeding, refined in outline, color, everything softened into loveliness, and yet touched with the wild quality of picturesqueness114."
"It's just a dream at this moment," murmured Irene. They were standing115 on a promontory116 of rock. "See those figures of people there through the mist--silhouettes only. And look at that vessel--there--no--it has gone."
As she was speaking, a sail-vessel began to loom117 up large in the mysterious haze. But was it not the ghost of a ship? For an instant it was coming, coming; it was distinct; and when it was plainly in sight it faded away, like a dissolving view, and was gone. The appearance was unreal. What made it more spectral118 was the bell on the reefs, swinging in its triangle, always sounding, and the momentary119 scream of the fog-whistle. It was like an enchanted coast. Regaining120 the carriage, they drove out to the end, Agassiz's Point, where, when the mist lifted, they saw the sea all round dotted with sails, the irregular coasts and islands with headlands and lighthouses, all the picture still, land and water in a summer swoon.
Late that afternoon all the party were out upon the cliff path in front of the cottages. There is no more lovely sea stroll in the world, the way winding over the cliff edge by the turquoise121 sea, where the turf, close cut and green as Erin, set with flower beds and dotted with noble trees, slopes down, a broad pleasure park, from the stately and picturesque villas122. But it was a social mistake to go there on Sunday. Perhaps it is not the height of good form to walk there any day, but Mr. King did not know that the fashion had changed, and that on Sunday this lovely promenade belongs to the butlers and the upper maids, especially to the butlers, who make it resplendent on Sunday afternoons when the weather is good. As the weather had thickened in the late afternoon, our party walked in a dumb-show, listening to the soft swish of the waves on the rocks below, and watching the figures of other promenaders, who were good enough ladies and gentlemen in this friendly mist.
The next day Mr. King made a worse mistake. He remembered that at high noon everybody went down to the first beach, a charming sheltered place at the bottom of the bay, where the rollers tumble in finely from the south, to bathe or see others bathe. The beach used to be lined with carriages at that hour, and the surf, for a quarter of a mile, presented the appearance of a line of picturesquely123 clad skirmishers going out to battle with the surf. Today there were not half a dozen carriages and omnibuses altogether, and the bathers were few-nursery maids, fragments of a day-excursion, and some of the fair conventionists. Newport was not there. Mr. King had led his party into another social blunder. It has ceased to be fashionable to bathe at Newport.
Strangers and servants may do so, but the cottagers have withdrawn124 their support from the ocean. Saltwater may be carried to the house and used without loss of caste, but bathing in the surf is vulgar. A gentleman may go down and take a dip alone--it had better be at an early hour--and the ladies of the house may be heard to apologize for his eccentricity125, as if his fondness for the water were abnormal and quite out of experience. And the observer is obliged to admit that promiscuous126 bathing is vulgar, as it is plain enough to be seen when it becomes unfashionable. It is charitable to think also that the cottagers have made it unfashionable because it is vulgar, and not because it is a cheap and refreshing127 pleasure accessible to everybody.
Nevertheless, Mr. King's ideas of Newport were upset. "It's a little off color to walk much on the cliffs; you lose caste if you bathe in the surf. What can you do?"
"Oh," explained Miss Lamont, "you can make calls; go to teas and receptions and dinners; belong to the Casino, but not appear there much; and you must drive on the Ocean Road, and look as English as you can. Didn't you notice that Redfern has an establishment on the Avenue? Well, the London girls wear what Redfern tells them to wear-much to the improvement of their appearance--and so it has become possible for a New-Yorker to become partially128 English without sacrificing her native taste."
Before lunch Mrs. Bartlett Glow called on the Bensons, and invited them to a five-o'clock tea, and Miss Lamont, who happened to be in the parlor, was included in the invitation. Mrs. Glow was as gracious as possible, and especially attentive129 to the old lady, who purred with pleasure, and beamed and expanded into familiarity under the encouragement of the woman of the world. In less than ten minutes Mrs. Glow had learned the chief points in the family history, the state of health and habits of pa (Mr. Benson), and all about Cyrusville and its wonderful growth. In all this Mrs. Glow manifested a deep interest, and learned, by observing out of the corner of her eye, that Irene was in an agony of apprehension130, which she tried to conceal131 under an increasing coolness of civility. "A nice lady," was Mrs. Benson's comment when Mrs. Glow had taken herself away with her charmingly-scented air of frank cordiality--"a real nice lady. She seemed just like our folks."
Irene heaved a deep sigh. "I suppose we shall have to go."
"Have to go, child? I should think you'd like to go. I never saw such a girl--never. Pa and me are just studying all the time to please you, and it seems as if--" And the old lady's voice broke down.
"Why, mother dear"--and the girl, with tears in her eyes, leaned over her and kissed her fondly, and stroked her hair--"you are just as good and sweet as you can be; and don't mind me; you know I get in moods sometimes."
The old lady pulled her down and kissed her, and looked in her face with beseeching132 eyes.
"What an old frump the mother is!" was Mrs. Glow's comment to Stanhope, when she next met him; "but she is immensely amusing."
"She is a kind-hearted, motherly woman," replied King, a little sharply.
"Oh, motherly! Has it come to that? I do believe you are more than half gone. The girl is pretty; she has a beautiful figure; but my gracious! her parents are impossible--just impossible. And don't you think she's a little too intellectual for society? I don't mean too intellectual, of course, but too mental, don't you know--shows that first. You know what I mean."
"But, Penelope, I thought it was the fashion now to be intellectual--go in for reading, and literary clubs, Dante and Shakespeare, and political economy, and all that."
"Yes, I belong to three clubs. I'm going to one tomorrow morning. We are going to take up the 'Disestablishment of the English Church.' That's different; we make it fit into social life somehow, and it doesn't interfere133. I'll tell you what, Stanhope, I'll take Miss Benson to the Town and County Club next Saturday."
"That will be too intellectual for Miss Benson. I suppose the topic will be Transcendentalism?"
"No; we have had that. Professor Spor, of Cambridge, is going to lecture on Bacteria--if that's the way you pronounce it--those mites134 that get into everything."
"I should think it would be very improving. I'll tell Miss Benson that if she stays in Newport she must improve her mind."
"You can make yourself as disagreeable as you like to me, but mind you are on your good behavior at dinner tonight, for the Misses Pelham will be here."
The five-o'clock at Mrs. Bartlett Glow's was probably an event to nobody in Newport except Mrs. Benson. To most it was only an incident in the afternoon round and drive, but everybody liked to go there, for it is one of the most charming of the moderate-sized villas. The lawn is planted in exquisite taste, and the gardener has set in the open spaces of green the most ingenious devices of flowers and foliage135 plants, and nothing could be more enchanting11 than the view from the wide veranda136 on the sea side. In theory, the occupants lounge there, read, embroider137, and swing in hammocks; in point of fact, the breeze is usually so strong that these occupations are carried on indoors.
The rooms were well filled with a moving, chattering138 crowd when the Bensons arrived, but it could not be said that their entrance was unnoticed, for Mr. Benson was conspicuous139, as Irene had in vain hinted to her father that he would be, in his evening suit, and Mrs. Benson's beaming, extra-gracious manner sent a little shiver of amusement through the polite civility of the room.
"I was afraid we should be too late," was Mrs. Benson's response to the smiling greeting of the hostess, with a most friendly look towards the rest of the company. "Mr. Benson is always behindhand in getting dressed for a party, and he said he guessed the party could wait, and--"
Before the sentence was finished Mrs. Benson found herself passed on and in charge of a certain general, who was charged by the hostess to get her a cup of tea. Her talk went right on, however, and Irene, who was still standing by the host, noticed that wherever her mother went there was a lull140 in the general conversation, a slight pause as if to catch what this motherly old person might be saying, and such phrases as, "It doesn't agree with me, general; I can't eat it," "Yes, I got the rheumatiz in New Orleans, and he did too," floated over the hum of talk.
In the introduction and movement that followed Irene became one of a group of young ladies and gentlemen who, after the first exchange of civilities, went on talking about matters of which she knew nothing, leaving her wholly out of the conversation. The matters seemed to be very important, and the conversation was animated141: it was about so-and-so who was expected, or was or was not engaged, or the last evening at the Casino, or the new trap on the Avenue--the delightful142 little chit-chat by means of which those who are in society exchange good understandings, but which excludes one not in the circle. The young gentleman next to Irene threw in an explanation now and then, but she was becoming thoroughly143 uncomfortable. She could not be unconscious, either, that she was the object of polite transient scrutiny144 by the ladies, and of glances of interest from gentlemen who did not approach her. She began to be annoyed by the staring (the sort of stare that a woman recognizes as impudent145 admiration) of a young fellow who leaned against the mantel--a youth in English clothes who had caught very successfully the air of an English groom146. Two girls near her, to whom she had been talking, began speaking in lowered voices in French, but she could not help overhearing them, and her face flushed hotly when she found that her mother and her appearance were the subject of their foreign remarks.
Luckily at the moment Mr. King approached, and Irene extended her hand and said, with a laugh, "Ah, monsieur," speaking in a very pretty Paris accent, and perhaps with unnecessary distinctness, "you were quite right: the society here is very different from Cyrusville; there they all talk about each other."
Mr. King, who saw that something had occurred, was quick-witted enough to reply jestingly in French, as they moved away, but he asked, as soon as they were out of ear-shot, "What is it?"
"Nothing," said the girl, recovering her usual serenity147. "I only said something for the sake of saying something; I didn't mean to speak so disrespectfully of my own town. But isn't it singular how local and provincial148 society talk is everywhere? I must look up mother, and then I want you to take me on the veranda for some air. What a delightful house this is of your cousin's!"
The two young ladies who had dropped into French looked at each other for a moment after Irene moved away, and one of them spoke43 for both when she exclaimed: "Did you ever see such rudeness in a drawing-room! Who could have dreamed that she understood?" Mrs. Benson had been established very comfortably in a corner with Professor Slem, who was listening with great apparent interest to her accounts of the early life in Ohio. Irene seemed relieved to get away into the open air, but she was in a mood that Mr. King could not account for. Upon the veranda they encountered Miss Lamont and the artist, whose natural enjoyment149 of the scene somewhat restored her equanimity150. Could there be anything more refined and charming in the world than this landscape, this hospitable151, smiling house, with the throng152 of easy-mannered, pleasant-speaking guests, leisurely153 flowing along in the conventional stream of social comity154. One must be a churl155 not to enjoy it. But Irene was not sorry when, presently, it was time to go, though she tried to extract some comfort from her mother's enjoyment of the occasion. It was beautiful. Mr. Benson was in a calculating mood. He thought it needed a great deal of money to make things run so smoothly156.
Why should one inquire in such a paradise if things do run smoothly? Cannot one enjoy a rose without pulling it up by the roots? I have no patience with those people who are always looking on the seamy side. I agree with the commercial traveler who says that it will only be in the millennium157 that all goods will be alike on both sides. Mr. King made the acquaintance in Newport of the great but somewhat philosophical158 Mr. Snodgrass, who is writing a work on "The Discomforts159 of the Rich," taking a view of life which he says has been wholly overlooked. He declares that their annoyances160, sufferings, mortifications, envies, jealousies161, disappointments, dissatisfactions (and so on through the dictionary of disagreeable emotions), are a great deal more than those of the poor, and that they are more worthy162 of sympathy. Their troubles are real and unbearable163, because they are largely of the mind. All these are set forth164 with so much powerful language and variety of illustration that King said no one could read the book without tears for the rich of Newport, and he asked Mr. Snodgrass why he did not organize a society for their relief. But the latter declared that it was not a matter for levity165. The misery166 is real. An imaginary case would illustrate167 his meaning. Suppose two persons quarrel about a purchase of land, and one builds a stable on his lot so as to shut out his neighbor's view of the sea. Would not the one suffer because he could not see the ocean, and the other by reason of the revengeful state of his mind? He went on to argue that the owner of a splendid villa might have, for reasons he gave, less content in it than another person in a tiny cottage so small that it had no spare room for his mother-in-law even, and that in fact his satisfaction in his own place might be spoiled by the more showy place of his neighbor. Mr. Snodgrass attempts in his book a philosophical explanation of this. He says that if every man designed his own cottage, or had it designed as an expression of his own ideas, and developed his grounds and landscape according to his own tastes, working it out himself, with the help of specialists, he would be satisfied. But when owners have no ideas about architecture or about gardening, and their places are the creation of some experimenting architect and a foreign gardener, and the whole effort is not to express a person's individual taste and character, but to make a show, then discontent as to his own will arise whenever some new and more showy villa is built. Mr. Benson, who was poking168 about a good deal, strolling along the lanes and getting into the rears of the houses, said, when this book was discussed, that his impression was that the real object of these fine places was to support a lot of English gardeners, grooms169, and stable-boys. They are a kind of aristocracy. They have really made Newport (that is the summer, transient Newport, for it is largely a transient Newport). "I've been inquiring," continued Mr. Benson, "and you'd be surprised to know the number of people who come here, buy or build expensive villas, splurge out for a year or two, then fail or get tired of it, and disappear."
Mr. Snodgrass devotes a chapter to the parvenues at Newport. By the parvenu--his definition may not be scientific--he seems to mean a person who is vulgar, but has money, and tries to get into society on the strength of his money alone. He is more to be pitied than any other sort of rich man. For he not only works hard and suffers humiliation170 in getting his place in society, but after he is in he works just as hard, and with bitterness in his heart, to keep out other parvenues like himself. And this is misery.
But our visitors did not care for the philosophizing of Mr. Snodgrass--you can spoil almost anything by turning it wrong side out. They thought Newport the most beautiful and finished watering-place in America. Nature was in the loveliest mood when it was created, and art has generally followed her suggestions of beauty and refinement. They did not agree with the cynic who said that Newport ought to be walled in, and have a gate with an inscription171, "None but Millionaires allowed here." It is very easy to get out of the artificial Newport and to come into scenery that Nature has made after artistic172 designs which artists are satisfied with. A favorite drive of our friends was to the Second Beach and the Purgatory173 Rocks overlooking it. The photographers and the water-color artists have exaggerated the Purgatory chasm174 into a Colorado canon, but anybody can find it by help of a guide. The rock of this locality is a curious study. It is an agglomerate175 made of pebbles176 and cement, the pebbles being elongated177 as if by pressure. The rock is sometimes found in detached fragments having the form of tree trunks. Whenever it is fractured, the fracture is a clean cut, as if made by a saw, and through both pebbles and cement, and the ends present the appearance of a composite cake filled with almonds and cut with a knife. The landscape is beautiful.
"All the lines are so simple," the artist explained. "The shore, the sea, the gray rocks, with here and there the roof of a quaint53 cottage to enliven the effect, and few trees, only just enough for contrast with the long, sweeping178 lines."
"You don't like trees?" asked Miss Lamont.
"Yes, in themselves. But trees are apt to be in the way. There are too many trees in America. It is not often you can get a broad, simple effect like this."
It happened to be a day when the blue of the sea was that of the Mediterranean179, and the sky and sea melted into each other, so that a distant sail-boat seemed to be climbing into the heavens. The waves rolled in blue on the white sand beach, and broke in silver. Three young girls on horseback galloping180 in a race along the hard beach at the moment gave the needed animation181 to a very pretty picture.
North of this the land comes down to the sea in knolls182 of rock breaking off suddenly-rocks gray with lichen107, and shaded with a touch of other vegetation. Between these knifeback ledges183 are plots of sea-green grass and sedge, with little ponds, black, and mirroring the sky. Leaving this wild bit of nature, which has got the name of Paradise (perhaps because few people go there), the road back to town sweeps through sweet farm land; the smell of hay is in the air, loads of hay encumber184 the roads, flowers in profusion185 half smother186 the farm cottages, and the trees of the apple-orchards are gnarled and picturesque as olives.
The younger members of the party climbed up into this paradise one day, leaving the elders in their carriages. They came into a new world, as unlike Newport as if they had been a thousand miles away. The spot was wilder than it looked from a distance. The high ridges187 of rock lay parallel, with bosky valleys and ponds between, and the sea shining in the south--all in miniature. On the way to the ridges they passed clean pasture fields, bowlders, gray rocks, aged cedars188 with flat tops like the stone-pines of Italy. It was all wild but exquisite, a refined wildness recalling the pictures of Rousseau.
Irene and Mr. King strolled along one of the ridges, and sat down on a rock looking off upon the peaceful expanse, the silver lines of the curving shores, and the blue sea dotted with white sails.
"Ah," said the girl, with an inspiration, "this is the sort of five-o'clock I like."
"And I'm sure I'd rather be here with you than at the Blims' reception, from which we ran away."
"I thought," said Irene, not looking at him, and jabbing the point of her parasol into the ground, "I thought you liked Newport."
"So I do, or did. I thought you would like it. But, pardon me, you seem somehow different from what you were at Fortress Monroe, or even at lovely Atlantic City," this with a rather forced laugh.
"Do I? Well, I suppose I am; that is, different from what you thought me. I should hate this place in a week more, beautiful as it is."
"Your mother is pleased here?"
The girl looked up quickly. "I forgot to tell you how much she thanked you for the invitation to your cousin's. She was delighted there."
"And you were not?"
"I didn't say so; you were very kind."
"Oh, kind; I didn't mean to be kind. I was purely189 selfish in wanting you to go. Cannot you believe, Miss Benson, that I had some pride in having my friends see you and know you?"
"Well, I will be as frank as you are, Mr. King. I don't like being shown off. There, don't look displeased190. I didn't mean anything disagreeable."
"But I hoped you understood my motives191 better by this time."
"I did not think about motives, but the fact is" (another jab of the parasol), "I was made desperately192 uncomfortable, and always shall be under such circumstances, and, my friend--I should like to believe you are my friend--you may as well expect I always will be."
"I cannot do that. You under--"
"I just see things as they are," Irene went on, hastily. "You think I am different here. Well, I don't mind saying that when I made your acquaintance I thought you different from any man I had met." But now it was out, she did mind saying it; and stopped, confused, as if she had confessed something. But she continued, almost immediately: "I mean I liked your manner to women; you didn't appear to flatter, and you didn't talk complimentary193 nonsense."
"And now I do?"
"No. Not that. But everything is somehow changed here. Don't let's talk of it. There's the carriage."
Irene arose, a little flushed, and walked towards the point. Mr. King, picking his way along behind her over the rocks, said, with an attempt at lightening the situation, "Well, Miss Benson, I'm going to be just as different as ever a man was."
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sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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berths
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| n.（船、列车等的）卧铺( berth的名词复数 )；（船舶的）停泊位或锚位；差事；船台vt.v.停泊( berth的第三人称单数 )；占铺位 | |
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junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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stuffy
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| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
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luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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scrambling
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| 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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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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irreproachable
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| adj.不可指责的，无过失的 | |
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facetious
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| adj.轻浮的，好开玩笑的 | |
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grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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muffled
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| 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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villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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shingled
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| adj.盖木瓦的；贴有墙面板的v.用木瓦盖(shingle的过去式和过去分词形式) | |
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spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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wharves
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| n.码头，停泊处( wharf的名词复数 ) | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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compensates
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| 补偿，报酬( compensate的第三人称单数 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款） | |
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wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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epidemic
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| n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的 | |
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vaccinate
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| vt.给…接种疫苗；种牛痘 | |
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elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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hooded
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| adj.戴头巾的；有罩盖的；颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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tandem
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| n.同时发生；配合；adv.一个跟着一个地；纵排地；adj.（两匹马）前后纵列的 | |
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spoke
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| 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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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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piazza
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| n.广场；走廊 | |
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piazzas
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| n.广场，市场( piazza的名词复数 ) | |
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swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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hacks
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| 黑客 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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stylish
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| adj.流行的，时髦的；漂亮的，气派的 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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primness
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| n.循规蹈矩，整洁 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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demurely
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| adv.装成端庄地，认真地 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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66
hymns
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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67
parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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68
constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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69
ripens
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的第三人称单数 ) | |
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70
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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71
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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72
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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73
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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74
prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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75
raving
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| adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地 | |
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76
promenaded
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| v.兜风( promenade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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77
basking
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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78
curmudgeon
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| n. 脾气暴躁之人，守财奴，吝啬鬼 | |
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79
humdrum
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| adj.单调的，乏味的 | |
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80
fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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81
competence
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| n.能力，胜任，称职 | |
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82
pretense
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| n.矫饰，做作，借口 | |
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83
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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84
coaxed
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
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85
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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86
adepts
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| n.专家，能手( adept的名词复数 ) | |
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87
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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88
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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89
clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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90
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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91
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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92
volition
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| n.意志；决意 | |
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93
rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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94
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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95
dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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96
memoranda
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| n. 备忘录, 便条 名词memorandum的复数形式 | |
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97
conscientiousness
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| 责任心 | |
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98
hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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99
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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100
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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101
fickleness
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| n.易变；无常；浮躁；变化无常 | |
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102
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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103
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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104
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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105
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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106
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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107
lichen
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| n.地衣, 青苔 | |
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108
lichens
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| n.地衣( lichen的名词复数 ) | |
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109
dabbled
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| v.涉猎( dabble的过去式和过去分词 )；涉足；浅尝；少量投资 | |
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110
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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111
enraptured
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| v.使狂喜( enrapture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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112
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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113
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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114
picturesqueness
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115
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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116
promontory
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| n.海角；岬 | |
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117
loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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118
spectral
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| adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的 | |
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119
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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120
regaining
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| 复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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121
turquoise
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| n.绿宝石；adj.蓝绿色的 | |
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122
villas
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| 别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅 | |
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123
picturesquely
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124
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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125
eccentricity
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| n.古怪，反常，怪癖 | |
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126
promiscuous
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| adj.杂乱的，随便的 | |
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127
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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128
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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129
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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130
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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131
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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132
beseeching
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| adj.恳求似的v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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133
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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134
mites
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| n.（尤指令人怜悯的）小孩( mite的名词复数 )；一点点；一文钱；螨 | |
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135
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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136
veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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137
embroider
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| v.刺绣于(布)上；给…添枝加叶，润饰 | |
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138
chattering
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| 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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139
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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140
lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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141
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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142
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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143
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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144
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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145
impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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146
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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147
serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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148
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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149
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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150
equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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151
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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152
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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153
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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154
comity
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| n.礼让，礼仪；团结，联合 | |
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155
churl
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| n.吝啬之人；粗鄙之人 | |
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156
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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157
millennium
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| n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世 | |
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158
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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159
discomforts
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| n.不舒适( discomfort的名词复数 )；不愉快，苦恼 | |
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160
annoyances
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| n.恼怒( annoyance的名词复数 )；烦恼；打扰；使人烦恼的事 | |
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161
jealousies
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| n.妒忌( jealousy的名词复数 )；妒羡 | |
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162
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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163
unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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164
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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165
levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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166
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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167
illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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168
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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169
grooms
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| n.新郎( groom的名词复数 )；马夫v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的第三人称单数 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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170
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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171
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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172
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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173
purgatory
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| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
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174
chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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175
agglomerate
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| v.凝聚，结块；n.团块；集块岩；（杂乱的）堆积； | |
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176
pebbles
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| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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177
elongated
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| v.延长，加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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178
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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179
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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180
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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181
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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182
knolls
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| n.小圆丘，小土墩( knoll的名词复数 ) | |
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183
ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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184
encumber
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| v.阻碍行动，妨碍，堆满 | |
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185
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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186
smother
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| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
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187
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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188
cedars
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| 雪松，西洋杉( cedar的名词复数 ) | |
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189
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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190
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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191
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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192
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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193
complimentary
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| adj.赠送的，免费的，赞美的，恭维的 | |
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