11
It was only as White burrowed1 through his legacy2 of documents that the full values came to very many things that Benham said during these last conversations. The papers fitted in with his memories of their long talks like text with commentary; so much of Benham's talk had repeated the private writings in which he had first digested his ideas that it was presently almost impossible to disentangle what had been said and understood at Johannesburg from the fuller statement of those patched and corrected manuscripts. The two things merged3 in White's mind as he read. The written text took upon itself a resonance4 of Benham's voice; it eked5 out the hints and broken sentences of his remembered conversation.
But some things that Benham did not talk about at all, left by their mere7 marked absence an impression on White's mind. And occasionally after Benham had been talking for a long time there would be an occasional aphasia8, such as is often apparent in the speech of men who restrain themselves from betraying a preoccupation. He would say nothing about Amanda or about women in general, he was reluctant to speak of Prothero, and another peculiarity9 was that he referred perhaps half a dozen times or more to the idea that he was a "prig." He seemed to be defending himself against some inner accusation10, some unconquerable doubt of the entire adventure of his life. These half hints and hints by omission11 exercised the quick intuitions of White's mind very keenly, and he drew far closer to an understanding of Benham's reserves than Benham ever suspected....
At first after his parting from Amanda in London Benham had felt completely justified12 in his treatment of her. She had betrayed him and he had behaved, he felt, with dignity and self-control. He had no doubt that he had punished her very effectively, and it was only after he had been travelling in China with Prothero for some time and in the light of one or two chance phrases in her letters that he began to have doubts whether he ought to have punished her at all. And one night at Shanghai he had a dream in which she stood before him, dishevelled and tearful, his Amanda, very intensely his Amanda, and said that she was dirty and shameful14 and spoilt for ever, because he had gone away from her. Afterwards the dream became absurd: she showed him the black leopard15's fur as though it was a rug, and it was now moth-eaten and mangey, the leopard skin that had been so bright and wonderful such a little time ago, and he awoke before he could answer her, and for a long time he was full of unspoken answers explaining that in view of her deliberate unfaithfulness the position she took up was absurd. She had spoilt her own fur. But what was more penetrating17 and distressing18 in this dream was not so much the case Amanda stated as the atmosphere of unconquerable intimacy20 between them, as though they still belonged to each other, soul to soul, as though nothing that had happened afterwards could have destroyed their common responsibility and the common interest of their first unstinted union. She was hurt, and of course he was hurt. He began to see that his marriage to Amanda was still infinitely21 more than a technical bond.
And having perceived that much he presently began to doubt whether she realized anything of the sort. Her letters fluctuated very much in tone, but at times they were as detached and guarded as a schoolgirl writing to a cousin. Then it seemed to Benham an extraordinary fraud on her part that she should presume to come into his dream with an entirely22 deceptive23 closeness and confidence. She began to sound him in these latter letters upon the possibility of divorce. This, which he had been quite disposed to concede in London, now struck him as an outrageous24 suggestion. He wrote to ask her why, and she responded exasperatingly25 that she thought it was "better." But, again, why better? It is remarkable27 that although his mind had habituated itself to the idea that Easton was her lover in London, her thought of being divorced, no doubt to marry again, filled him with jealous rage. She asked him to take the blame in the divorce proceedings28. There, again, he found himself ungenerous. He did not want to do that. Why should he do that? As a matter of fact he was by no means reconciled to the price he had paid for his Research Magnificent; he regretted his Amanda acutely. He was regretting her with a regret that grew when by all the rules of life it ought to be diminishing.
It was in consequence of that regret and his controversies29 with Prothero while they travelled together in China that his concern about what he called priggishness arose. It is a concern that one may suppose has a little afflicted30 every reasonably self-conscious man who has turned from the natural passionate31 personal life to religion or to public service or any abstract devotion. These things that are at least more extensive than the interests of flesh and blood have a trick of becoming unsubstantial, they shine gloriously and inspiringly upon the imagination, they capture one and isolate32 one and then they vanish out of sight. It is far easier to be entirely faithful to friend or lover than it is to be faithful to a cause or to one's country or to a religion. In the glow of one's first service that larger idea may be as closely spontaneous as a handclasp, but in the darkness that comes as the glow dies away there is a fearful sense of unreality. It was in such dark moments that Benham was most persecuted33 by his memories of Amanda and most distressed34 by this suspicion that the Research Magnificent was a priggishness, a pretentious35 logomachy. Prothero could indeed hint as much so skilfully36 that at times the dream of nobility seemed an insult to the sunshine, to the careless laughter of children, to the good light in wine and all the warm happiness of existence. And then Amanda would peep out of the dusk and whisper, "Of course if you could leave me--! Was I not LIFE? Even now if you cared to come back to me-- For I loved you best and loved you still, old Cheetah37, long after you had left me to follow your dreams.... Even now I am drifting further into lies and the last shreds38 of dignity drop from me; a dirty, lost, and shameful leopard I am now, who was once clean and bright.... You could come back, Cheetah, and you could save me yet. If you would love me...."
In certain moods she could wring39 his heart by such imagined speeches, the very quality of her voice was in them, a softness that his ear had loved, and not only could she distress19 him, but when Benham was in this heartache mood, when once she had set him going, then his little mother also would rise against him, touchingly40 indignant, with her blue eyes bright with tears; and his frowsty father would back towards him and sit down complaining that he was neglected, and even little Mrs. Skelmersdale would reappear, bravely tearful on her chair looking after him as he slunk away from her through Kensington Gardens; indeed every personal link he had ever had to life could in certain moods pull him back through the door of self-reproach Amanda opened and set him aching and accusing himself of harshness and self-concentration. The very kittens of his childhood revived forgotten moments of long-repented41 hardness. For a year before Prothero was killed there were these heartaches. That tragedy gave them their crowning justification42. All these people said in this form or that, "You owed a debt to us, you evaded43 it, you betrayed us, you owed us life out of yourself, love and services, and you have gone off from us all with this life that was ours, to live by yourself in dreams about the rule of the world, and with empty phantoms45 of power and destiny. All this was intellectualization. You sacrificed us to the thin things of the mind. There is no rule of the world at all, or none that a man like you may lay hold upon. The rule of the world is a fortuitous result of incalculably multitudinous forces. But all of us you could have made happier. You could have spared us distresses46. Prothero died because of you. Presently it will be the turn of your father, your mother--Amanda perhaps...."
He made no written note of his heartaches, but he made several memoranda47 about priggishness that White read and came near to understanding. In spite of the tugging48 at his heart-strings, Benham was making up his mind to be a prig. He weighed the cold uningratiating virtues50 of priggishness against his smouldering passion for Amanda, and against his obstinate51 sympathy for Prothero's grossness and his mother's personal pride, and he made his choice. But it was a reluctant choice.
One fragment began in the air. "Of course I had made myself responsible for her life. But it was, you see, such a confoundedly energetic life, as vigorous and as slippery as an eel52.... Only by giving all my strength to her could I have held Amanda.... So what was the good of trying to hold Amanda?...
"All one's people have this sort of claim upon one. Claims made by their pride and their self-respect, and their weaknesses and dependences. You've no right to hurt them, to kick about and demand freedom when it means snapping and tearing the silly suffering tendrils they have wrapped about you. The true aristocrat53 I think will have enough grasp, enough steadiness, to be kind and right to every human being and still do the work that ought to be his essential life. I see that now. It's one of the things this last year or so of loneliness has made me realize; that in so far as I have set out to live the aristocratic life I have failed. Instead I've discovered it--and found myself out. I'm an overstrung man. I go harshly and continuously for one idea. I live as I ride. I blunder through my fences, I take off too soon. I've no natural ease of mind or conduct or body. I am straining to keep hold of a thing too big for me and do a thing beyond my ability. Only after Prothero's death was it possible for me to realize the prig I have always been, first as regards him and then as regards Amanda and my mother and every one. A necessary unavoidable priggishness...." I do not see how certain things can be done without prigs, people, that is to say, so concentrated and specialized54 in interest as to be a trifle inhuman55, so resolved as to be rather rhetorical and forced.... All things must begin with clumsiness, there is no assurance about pioneers....
"Some one has to talk about aristocracy, some one has to explain aristocracy.... But the very essence of aristocracy, as I conceive it, is that it does not explain nor talk about itself....
"After all it doesn't matter what I am.... It's just a private vexation that I haven't got where I meant to get. That does not affect the truth I have to tell....
"If one has to speak the truth with the voice of a prig, still one must speak the truth. I have worked out some very considerable things in my research, and the time has come when I must set them out clearly and plainly. That is my job anyhow. My journey to London to release Amanda will be just the end of my adolescence56 and the beginning of my real life. It will release me from my last entanglement57 with the fellow creatures I have always failed to make happy.... It's a detail in the work.... And I shall go on.
"But I shall feel very like a man who goes back for a surgical58 operation.
"It's very like that. A surgical operation, and when it is over perhaps I shall think no more about it.
"And beyond these things there are great masses of work to be done. So far I have but cleared up for myself a project and outline of living. I must begin upon these masses now, I must do what I can upon the details, and, presently, I shall see more clearly where other men are working to the same ends...."
12
Benham's expedition to China with Prothero was essentially59 a wrestle60 between his high resolve to work out his conception of the noble life to the utmost limit and his curiously61 invincible62 affection and sympathy for the earthliness of that inglorious little don. Although Benham insisted upon the dominance of life by noble imaginations and relentless63 reasonableness, he would never altogether abandon the materialism64 of life. Prothero had once said to him, "You are the advocate of the brain and I of the belly65. Only, only we respect each other." And at another time, "You fear emotions and distrust sensations. I invite them. You do not drink gin because you think it would make you weep. But if I could not weep in any other way I would drink gin." And it was under the influence of Prothero that Benham turned from the haughty66 intellectualism, the systematized superiorities and refinements67, the caste marks and defensive68 dignities of India to China, that great teeming69 stinking70 tank of humorous yellow humanity.
Benham had gone to Prothero again after a bout6 of elevated idealism. It was only very slowly that he reconciled his mind to the idea of an entirely solitary71 pursuit of his aristocratic dream. For some time as he went about the world he was trying to bring himself into relationship with the advanced thinkers, the liberal-minded people who seemed to promise at least a mental and moral co-operation. Yet it is difficult to see what co-operation was possible unless it was some sort of agreement that presently they should all shout together. And it was after a certain pursuit of Rabindranath Tagore, whom he met in Hampstead, that a horror of perfect manners and perfect finish came upon him, and he fled from that starry72 calm to the rich uncleanness of the most undignified fellow of Trinity. And as an advocate and exponent73 of the richness of the lower levels of life, as the declared antagonist74 of caste and of the uttermost refinements of pride, Prothero went with Benham by way of Siberia to the Chinese scene.
Their controversy75 was perceptible at every dinner-table in their choice of food and drink. Benham was always wary76 and Prothero always appreciative77. It peeped out in the distribution of their time, in the direction of their glances. Whenever women walked about, Prothero gave way to a sort of ethnological excitement. "That girl--a wonderful racial type." But in Moscow he was sentimental78. He insisted on going again to the Cosmopolis Bazaar79, and when he had ascertained80 that Anna Alexievna had vanished and left no trace he prowled the streets until the small hours.
In the eastward81 train he talked intermittently82 of her. "I should have defied Cambridge," he said.
But at every stopping station he got out upon the platform ethnologically alert....
Theoretically Benham was disgusted with Prothero. Really he was not disgusted at all. There was something about Prothero like a sparrow, like a starling, like a Scotch83 terrier.... These, too, are morally objectionable creatures that do not disgust....
Prothero discoursed84 much upon the essential goodness of Russians. He said they were a people of genius, that they showed it in their faults and failures just as much as in their virtues and achievements. He extolled85 the "germinating86 disorder87" of Moscow far above the "implacable discipline" of Berlin. Only a people of inferior imagination, a base materialist88 people, could so maintain its attention upon precision and cleanliness. Benham was roused to defence against this paradox89. "But all exaltation neglects," said Prothero. "No religion has ever boasted that its saints were spick and span." This controversy raged between them in the streets of Irkutsk. It was still burning while they picked their way through the indescribable filth90 of Pekin.
"You say that all this is a fine disdain91 for material things," said Benham. "But look out there!"
Apt to their argument a couple of sturdy young women came shuffling92 along, cleaving93 the crowd in the narrow street by virtue49 of a single word and two brace94 of pails of human ordure.
"That is not a fine disdain for material things," said Benham. "That is merely individualism and unsystematic living."
"A mere phase of frankness. Only frankness is left to them now. The Manchus crippled them, spoilt their roads and broke their waterways. European intervention95 paralyses every attempt they make to establish order on their own lines. In the Ming days China did not reek96.... And, anyhow, Benham, it's better than the silly waste of London...."
And in a little while Prothero discovered that China had tried Benham and found him wanting, centuries and dynasties ago.
What was this new-fangled aristocratic man, he asked, but the ideal of Confucius, the superior person, "the son of the King"? There you had the very essence of Benham, the idea of self-examination, self-preparation under a vague Theocracy97. ("Vaguer," said Benham, "for the Confucian Heaven could punish and reward.") Even the elaborate sham13 modesty98 of the two dreams was the same. Benham interrupted and protested with heat. And this Confucian idea of the son of the King, Prothero insisted, had been the cause of China's paralysis99. "My idea of nobility is not traditional but expectant," said Benham. "After all, Confucianism has held together a great pacific state far longer than any other polity has ever lasted. I'll accept your Confucianism. I've not the slightest objection to finding China nearer salvation100 than any other land. Do but turn it round so that it looks to the future and not to the past, and it will be the best social and political culture in the world. That, indeed, is what is happening. Mix Chinese culture with American enterprise and you will have made a new lead for mankind."
From that Benham drove on to discoveries. "When a man thinks of the past he concentrates on self; when he thinks of the future he radiates from self. Call me a neo-Confucian; with the cone101 opening forward away from me, instead of focussing on me...."
"You make me think of an extinguisher," said Prothero.
"You know I am thinking of a focus," said Benham. "But all your thought now has become caricature.... You have stopped thinking. You are fighting after making up your mind...."
Prothero was a little disconcerted by Benham's prompt endorsement102 of his Chinese identification. He had hoped it would be exasperating26. He tried to barb103 his offence. He amplified104 the indictment105. All cultures must be judged by their reaction and fatigue106 products, and Confucianism had produced formalism, priggishness, humbug107.... No doubt its ideals had had their successes; they had unified108 China, stamped the idea of universal peace and good manners upon the greatest mass of population in the world, paved the way for much beautiful art and literature and living. "But in the end, all your stern orderliness, Benham," said Prothero, "only leads to me. The human spirit rebels against this everlasting109 armour110 on the soul. After Han came T'ang. Have you never read Ling Po? There's scraps111 of him in English in that little book you have--what is it?--the LUTE112 OF JADE113? He was the inevitable114 Epicurean; the Omar Khayyam after the Prophet. Life must relax at last...."
"No!" cried Benham. "If it is traditional, I admit, yes; but if it is creative, no...."
Under the stimulation115 of their undying controversy Benham was driven to closer enquiries into Chinese thought. He tried particularly to get to mental grips with English-speaking Chinese. "We still know nothing of China," said Prothero. "Most of the stuff we have been told about this country is mere middle-class tourists' twaddle. We send merchants from Brixton and missionaries116 from Glasgow, and what doesn't remind them of these delectable117 standards seems either funny to them or wicked. I admit the thing is slightly pot-bound, so to speak, in the ancient characters and the ancient traditions, but for all that, they KNOW, they HAVE, what all the rest of the world has still to find and get. When they begin to speak and write in a modern way and handle modern things and break into the soil they have scarcely touched, the rest of the world will find just how much it is behind.... Oh! not soldiering; the Chinese are not such fools as that, but LIFE...."
Benham was won to a half belief in these assertions.
He came to realize more and more clearly that while India dreams or wrestles118 weakly in its sleep, while Europe is still hopelessly and foolishly given over to militant119 monarchies120, racial vanities, delirious121 religious feuds122 and an altogether imbecile fumbling123 with loaded guns, China, even more than America, develops steadily124 into a massive possibility of ordered and aristocratic liberalism....
The two men followed their associated and disconnected paths. Through Benham's chance speeches and notes, White caught glimpses, as one might catch glimpses through a moving trellis, of that bilateral125 adventure. He saw Benham in conversation with liberal-minded mandarins, grave-faced, bald-browed persons with disciplined movements, who sat with their hands thrust into their sleeves talking excellent English; while Prothero pursued enquiries of an intenser, more recondite127 sort with gentlemen of a more confidential128 type. And, presently, Prothero began to discover and discuss the merits of opium129.
For if one is to disavow all pride and priggishness, if one is to find the solution of life's problem in the rational enjoyment130 of one's sensations, why should one not use opium? It is art materialized. It gives tremendous experiences with a minimum of exertion131, and if presently its gifts diminish one need but increase the quantity. Moreover, it quickens the garrulous132 mind, and steadies the happiness of love. Across the varied133 adventures of Benham's journey in China fell the shadow first of a suspicion and then of a certainty....
The perfected and ancient vices44 of China wrapped about Prothero like some tainted134 but scented135 robe, and all too late Benham sought to drag him away. And then in a passion of disgust turned from him.
"To this," cried Benham, "one comes! Save for pride and fierceness!"
"Better this than cruelty," said Prothero talking quickly and clearly because of the evil thing in his veins136. "You think that you are the only explorer of life, Benham, but while you toil137 up the mountains I board the house-boat and float down the stream. For you the stars, for me the music and the lanterns. You are the son of a mountaineering don, and I am a Chinese philosopher of the riper school. You force yourself beyond fear of pain, and I force myself beyond fear of consequences. What are we either of us but children groping under the black cloak of our Maker138?--who will not blind us with his light. Did he not give us also these lusts140, the keen knife and the sweetness, these sensations that are like pineapple smeared141 with saltpetre, like salted olives from heaven, like being flayed142 with delight.... And did he not give us dreams fantastic beyond any lust139 whatever? What is the good of talking? Speak to your own kind. I have gone, Benham. I am lost already. There is no resisting any more, since I have drugged away resistance. Why then should I come back? I know now the symphonies of the exalted143 nerves; I can judge; and I say better lie and hear them to the end than come back again to my old life, to my little tin-whistle solo, my--effort! My EFFORT!... I ruin my body. I know. But what of that?... I shall soon be thin and filthy144. What of the grape-skin when one has had the pulp145?"
"But," said Benham, "the cleanness of life!"
"While I perish," said Prothero still more wickedly, "I say good things...."
13
White had a vision of a great city with narrow crowded streets, hung with lank146 banners and gay with vertical147 vermilion labels, and of a pleasant large low house that stood in a garden on a hillside, a garden set with artificial stones and with beasts and men and lanterns of white porcelain148, a garden which overlooked this city. Here it was that Benham stayed and talked with his host, a man robed in marvellous silks and subtle of speech even in the European languages he used, and meanwhile Prothero, it seemed, had gone down into the wickedness of the town below. It was a very great town indeed, spreading for miles along the banks of a huge river, a river that divided itself indolently into three shining branches so as to make islands of the central portion of the place. And on this river swarmed151 for ever a vast flotilla of ships and boats, boats in which people lived, boats in which they sought pleasure, moored152 places of assembly, high-pooped junks, steamboats, passenger sampans, cargo153 craft, such a water town in streets and lanes, endless miles of it, as no other part of the world save China can display. In the daylight it was gay with countless154 sunlit colours embroidered155 upon a fabric156 of yellow and brown, at night it glittered with a hundred thousand lights that swayed and quivered and were reflected quiveringly upon the black flowing waters.
And while Benham sat and talked in the garden above came a messenger who was for some reason very vividly157 realized by White's imagination. He was a tall man with lack-lustre eyes and sunken cheeks that made his cheek bones very prominent, and gave his thin-lipped mouth something of the geniality158 of a skull159, and the arm he thrust out of his yellow robe to hand Prothero's message to Benham was lean as a pole. So he stood out in White's imagination, against the warm afternoon sky and the brown roofs and blue haze160 of the great town below, and was with one exception the distinctest thing in the story. The message he bore was scribbled161 by Prothero himself in a nerveless scrawl162: "Send a hundred dollars by this man. I am in a frightful163 fix."
Now Benham's host had been twitting him with the European patronage164 of opium, and something in this message stirred his facile indignation. Twice before he had had similar demands. And on the whole they had seemed to him to be unreasonable165 demands. He was astonished that while he was sitting and talking of the great world-republic of the future and the secret self-directed aristocracy that would make it possible, his own friend, his chosen companion, should thus, by this inglorious request and this ungainly messenger, disavow him. He felt a wave of intense irritation166.
"No," he said, "I will not."
And he was too angry to express himself in any language understandable by his messenger.
His host intervened and explained after a few questions that the occasion was serious. Prothero, it seemed, had been gambling167.
"No," said Benham. "He is shameless. Let him do what he can."
The messenger was still reluctant to go.
And scarcely had he gone before misgivings168 seized Benham.
"Where IS your friend?" asked the mandarin126.
"I don't know," said Benham.
"But they will keep him! They may do all sorts of things when they find he is lying to them."
"Lying to them?"
"About your help."
"Stop that man," cried Benham suddenly realizing his mistake. But when the servants went to stop the messenger their intentions were misunderstood, and the man dashed through the open gate of the garden and made off down the winding169 road.
"Stop him!" cried Benham, and started in pursuit, suddenly afraid for Prothero.
The Chinese are a people of great curiosity, and a small pebble170 sometimes starts an avalanche171....
White pieced together his conception of the circles of disturbance172 that spread out from Benham's pursuit of Prothero's flying messenger.
For weeks and months the great town had been uneasy in all its ways because of the insurgent173 spirits from the south and the disorder from the north, because of endless rumours174 and incessant175 intrigue176. The stupid manoeuvres of one European "power" against another, the tactlessness of missionaries, the growing Chinese disposition177 to meet violence and force with violence and force, had fermented178 and brewed179 the possibility of an outbreak. The sudden resolve of Benham to get at once to Prothero was like the firing of a mine. This tall, pale-faced, incomprehensible stranger charging through the narrow streets that led to the pleasure-boats in the south river seemed to many a blue-clad citizen like the White Peril180 embodied181. Behind him came the attendants of the rich man up the hill; but they surely were traitors182 to help this stranger.
Before Benham could at all realize what was happening he found his way to the river-boat on which he supposed Prothero to be detained, barred by a vigorous street fight. Explanations were impossible; he joined in the fight.
For three days that fight developed round the mystery of Prothero's disappearance183.
It was a complicated struggle into which the local foreign traders on the river-front and a detachment of modern drilled troops from the up-river barracks were presently drawn184. It was a struggle that was never clearly explained, and at the end of it they found Prothero's body flung out upon a waste place near a little temple on the river bank, stabbed while he was asleep....
And from the broken fragments of description that Benham let fall, White had an impression of him hunting for all those three days through the strange places of a Chinese city, along narrow passages, over queer Venetian-like bridges, through the vast spaces of empty warehouses185, in the incense-scented darkness of temple yards, along planks186 that passed to the dark hulls187 of secret barges188, in quick-flying boats that slipped noiselessly among the larger craft, and sometimes he hunted alone, sometimes in company, sometimes black figures struggled in the darkness against dim-lit backgrounds and sometimes a swarm150 of shining yellow faces screamed and shouted through the torn paper windows.... And then at the end of this confused effect of struggle, this Chinese kinematograph film, one last picture jerked into place and stopped and stood still, a white wall in the sunshine come upon suddenly round a corner, a dirty flagged passage and a stiff crumpled189 body that had for the first time an inexpressive face....
14
Benham sat at a table in the smoking-room of the Sherborough Hotel at Johannesburg and told of these things. White watched him from an armchair. And as he listened he noted191 again the intensification192 of Benham's face, the darkness under his brows, the pallor of his skin, the touch of red in his eyes. For there was still that red gleam in Benham's eyes; it shone when he looked out of a darkness into a light. And he sat forward with his arms folded under him, or moved his long lean hand about over the things on the table.
"You see," he said, "this is a sort of horror in my mind. Things like this stick in my mind. I am always seeing Prothero now, and it will take years to get this scar off my memory again. Once before--about a horse, I had the same kind of distress. And it makes me tender, sore-minded about everything. It will go, of course, in the long run, and it's just like any other ache that lays hold of one. One can't cure it. One has to get along with it....
"I know, White, I ought to have sent that money, but how was I to know then that it was so imperative193 to send that money?...
"At the time it seemed just pandering194 to his vices....
"I was angry. I shall never subdue195 that kind of hastiness altogether. It takes me by surprise. Before the messenger was out of sight I had repented....
"I failed him. I have gone about in the world dreaming of tremendous things and failing most people. My wife too...."
He stopped talking for a little time and folded his arms tight and stared hard in front of himself, his lips compressed.
"You see, White," he said, with a kind of setting of the teeth, "this is the sort of thing one has to stand. Life is imperfect. Nothing can be done perfectly196. And on the whole--" He spoke16 still more slowly, "I would go through again with the very same things that have hurt my people. If I had to live over again. I would try to do the things without hurting the people, but I would do the things anyhow. Because I'm raw with remorse197, it does not follow that on the whole I am not doing right. Right doing isn't balm. If I could have contrived198 not to hurt these people as I have done, it would have been better, just as it would be better to win a battle without any killed or wounded. I was clumsy with them and they suffered, I suffer for their suffering, but still I have to stick to the way I have taken. One's blunders are accidents. If one thing is clearer than another it is that the world isn't accident-proof....
"But I wish I had sent those dollars to Prothero.... God! White, but I lie awake at night thinking of that messenger as he turned away.... Trying to stop him....
"I didn't send those dollars. So fifty or sixty people were killed and many wounded.... There for all practical purposes the thing ends. Perhaps it will serve to give me a little charity for some other fool's haste and blundering....
"I couldn't help it, White. I couldn't help it....
"The main thing, the impersonal199 thing, goes on. One thinks, one learns, one adds one's contribution of experience and understanding. The spirit of the race goes on to light and comprehension. In spite of accidents. In spite of individual blundering.
"It would be absurd anyhow to suppose that nobility is so easy as to come slick and true on every occasion....
"If one gives oneself to any long aim one must reckon with minor200 disasters. This Research I undertook grows and grows. I believe in it more and more. The more it asks from me the more I give to it. When I was a youngster I thought the thing I wanted was just round the corner. I fancied I would find out the noble life in a year or two, just what it was, just where it took one, and for the rest of my life I would live it. Finely. But I am just one of a multitude of men, each one going a little wrong, each one achieving a little right. And the noble life is a long, long way ahead.... We are working out a new way of living for mankind, a new rule, a new conscience. It's no small job for all of us. There must be lifetimes of building up and lifetimes of pulling down and trying again. Hope and disappointments and much need for philosophy.... I see myself now for the little workman I am upon this tremendous undertaking201. And all my life hereafter goes to serve it...."
He turned his sombre eyes upon his friend. He spoke with a grim enthusiasm. "I'm a prig. I'm a fanatic202, White. But I have something clear, something better worth going on with than any adventure of personal relationship could possibly be...."
And suddenly he began to tell White as plainly as he could of the faith that had grown up in his mind. He spoke with a touch of defiance203, with the tense force of a man who shrinks but overcomes his shame. "I will tell you what I believe."
He told of his early dread204 of fear and baseness, and of the slow development, expansion and complication of his idea of self-respect until he saw that there is no honour nor pride for a man until he refers his life to ends and purposes beyond himself. An aristocrat must be loyal. So it has ever been, but a modern aristocrat must also be lucid205; there it is that one has at once the demand for kingship and the repudiation206 of all existing states and kings. In this manner he had come to his idea of a great world republic that must replace the little warring kingdoms of the present, to the conception of an unseen kingship ruling the whole globe, to his King Invisible, who is the Lord of Truth and all sane207 loyalty208. "There," he said, "is the link of our order, the new knighthood, the new aristocracy, that must at last rule the earth. There is our Prince. He is in me, he is in you; he is latent in all mankind. I have worked this out and tried it and lived it, and I know that outwardly and inwardly this is the way a man must live, or else be a poor thing and a base one. On great occasions and small occasions I have failed myself a thousand times, but no failure lasts if your faith lasts. What I have learnt, what I have thought out and made sure, I want now to tell the world. Somehow I will tell it, as a book I suppose, though I do not know if I shall ever be able to make a book. But I have away there in London or with me here all the masses of notes I have made in my search for the life that is worth while living.... We who are self-appointed aristocrats209, who are not ashamed of kingship, must speak to one another....
"We can have no organization because organizations corrupt210....
"No recognition....
"But we can speak plainly...."
(As he talked his voice was for a space drowned by the jingle211 and voices of mounted police riding past the hotel.)
"But on one side your aristocracy means revolution," said White. "It becomes a political conspiracy212."
"Manifestly. An open conspiracy. It denies the king upon the stamps and the flag upon the wall. It is the continual proclamation of the Republic of Mankind."
15
The earlier phases of violence in the Rand outbreak in 1913 were manifest rather in the outskirts213 of Johannesburg than at the centre. "Pulling out" was going on first at this mine and then that, there were riots in Benoni, attacks on strike breakers and the smashing up of a number of houses. It was not until July the 4th that, with the suppression of a public meeting in the market-place, Johannesburg itself became the storm centre.
Benham and White were present at this marketplace affair, a confused crowded occasion, in which a little leaven214 of active men stirred through a large uncertain multitude of decently dressed onlookers215. The whole big square was astir, a swaying crowd of men. A ramshackle platform improvised216 upon a trolley217 struggled through the swarming218 straw hats to a street corner, and there was some speaking. At first it seemed as though military men were using this platform, and then it was manifestly in possession of an excited knot of labour leaders with red rosettes. The military men had said their say and got down. They came close by Benham, pushing their way across the square. "We've warned them," said one. A red flag, like some misunderstood remark at a tea-party, was fitfully visible and incomprehensible behind the platform. Somebody was either pitched or fell off the platform. One could hear nothing from the speakers except a minute bleating219....
Then there were shouts that the police were charging. A number of mounted men trotted220 into the square. The crowd began a series of short rushes that opened lanes for the passage of the mounted police as they rode to and fro. These men trotted through the crowd, scattering221 knots of people. They carried pick-handles, but they did not seem to be hitting with them. It became clear that they aimed at the capture of the trolley. There was only a feeble struggle for the trolley; it was captured and hauled through the scattered222 spectators in the square to the protection of a small impassive body of regular cavalry223 at the opposite corner. Then quite a number of people seemed to be getting excited and fighting. They appeared to be vaguely224 fighting the foot-police, and the police seemed to be vaguely pushing through them and dispersing225 them. The roof of a little one-story shop became prominent as a centre of vigorous stone-throwing.
It was no sort of battle. Merely the normal inconsecutiveness of human affairs had become exaggerated and pugnacious226. A meeting was being prevented, and the police engaged in the operation were being pelted227 or obstructed228. Mostly people were just looking on.
"It amounts to nothing," said Benham. "Even if they held a meeting, what could happen? Why does the Government try to stop it?"
The drifting and charging and a little booing went on for some time. Every now and then some one clambered to a point of vantage, began a speech and was pulled down by policemen. And at last across the confusion came an idea, like a wind across a pond.
The strikers were to go to the Power Station.
That had the effect of a distinct move in the game. The Power Station was the centre of Johannesburg's light and energy. There if anywhere it would be possible to express one's disapproval229 of the administration, one's desire to embarrass and confute it. One could stop all sorts of things from the Power Station. At any rate it was a repartee230 to the suppression of the meeting. Everybody seemed gladdened by a definite project.
Benham and White went with the crowd.
At the intersection231 of two streets they were held up for a time; the scattered drift of people became congested. Gliding232 slowly across the mass came an electric tram, an entirely unbattered tram with even its glass undamaged, and then another and another. Strikers, with the happy expression of men who have found something expressive190 to do, were escorting the trams off the street. They were being meticulously233 careful with them. Never was there less mob violence in a riot. They walked by the captured cars almost deferentially234, like rough men honoured by a real lady's company. And when White and Benham reached the Power House the marvel149 grew. The rioters were already in possession and going freely over the whole place, and they had injured nothing. They had stopped the engines, but they had not even disabled them. Here too manifestly a majority of the people were, like White and Benham, merely lookers-on.
"But this is the most civilized235 rioting," said Benham. "It isn't rioting; it's drifting. Just as things drifted in Moscow. Because nobody has the rudder....
"What maddens me," he said, "is the democracy of the whole thing. White! I HATE this modern democracy. Democracy and inequality! Was there ever an absurder combination? What is the good of a social order in which the men at the top are commoner, meaner stuff than the men underneath236, the same stuff, just spoilt, spoilt by prosperity and opportunity and the conceit237 that comes with advantage? This trouble wants so little, just a touch of aristocracy, just a little cultivated magnanimity, just an inkling of responsibility, and the place might rise instantly out of all this squalor and evil temper.... What does all this struggle here amount to? On one side unintelligent greed, unintelligent resentment238 on the other; suspicion everywhere....
"And you know, White, at bottom THEY ALL WANT TO BE DECENT!
"If only they had light enough in their brains to show them how. It's such a plain job they have here too, a new city, the simplest industries, freedom from war, everything to make a good life for men, prosperity, glorious sunshine, a kind of happiness in the air. And mismanagement, fear, indulgence, jealousy239, prejudice, stupidity, poison it all. A squabble about working on a Saturday afternoon, a squabble embittered240 by this universal shadow of miner's phthisis that the masters were too incapable241 and too mean to prevent.
"Oh, God!" cried Benham, "when will men be princes and take hold of life? When will the kingship in us wake up and come to its own?... Look at this place! Look at this place!... The easy, accessible happiness! The manifest prosperity. The newness and the sunshine. And the silly bitterness, the rage, the mischief242 and miseries243!..."
And then: "It's not our quarrel...."
"It's amazing how every human quarrel draws one in to take sides. Life is one long struggle against the incidental. I can feel my anger gathering244 against the Government here in spite of my reason. I want to go and expostulate. I have a ridiculous idea that I ought to go off to Lord Gladstone or Botha and expostulate.... What good would it do? They move in the magic circles of their own limitations, an official, a politician--how would they put it?--'with many things to consider....'
"It's my weakness to be drawn into quarrels. It's a thing I have to guard against....
"What does it all amount to? It is like a fight between navvies in a tunnel to settle the position of the Pole star. It doesn't concern us.... Oh! it doesn't indeed concern us. It's a scuffle in the darkness, and our business, the business of all brains, the only permanent good work is to light up the world.... There will be mischief and hatred245 here and suppression and then forgetfulness, and then things will go on again, a little better or a little worse...."
"I'm tired of this place, White, and of all such places. I'm tired of the shouting and running, the beating and shooting. I'm sick of all the confusions of life's experience, which tells only of one need amidst an endless multitude of distresses. I've seen my fill of wars and disputes and struggles. I see now how a man may grow weary at last of life and its disorders246, its unreal exacting247 disorders, its blunders and its remorse. No! I want to begin upon the realities I have made for myself. For they are the realities. I want to go now to some quiet corner where I can polish what I have learnt, sort out my accumulations, be undisturbed by these transitory symptomatic things....
"What was that boy saying? They are burning the STAR office.... Well, let them...."
And as if to emphasize his detachment, his aversion, from the things that hurried through the night about them, from the red flare248 in the sky and the distant shouts and revolver shots and scuffling flights down side streets, he began to talk again of aristocracy and the making of greatness and a new great spirit in men. All the rest of his life, he said, must be given to that. He would say his thing plainly and honestly and afterwards other men would say it clearly and beautifully; here it would touch a man and there it would touch a man; the Invisible King in us all would find himself and know himself a little in this and a little in that, and at last a day would come, when fair things and fine things would rule the world and such squalor as this about them would be as impossible any more for men as a Stone Age Corroboree....
Late or soon?
Benham sought for some loose large measure of time.
"Before those constellations249 above us have changed their shapes....
"Does it matter if we work at something that will take a hundred years or ten thousand years? It will never come in our lives, White. Not soon enough for that. But after that everything will be soon--when one comes to death then everything is at one's fingertips--I can feel that greater world I shall never see as one feels the dawn coming through the last darkness...."
16
The attack on the Rand Club began while Benham and White were at lunch in the dining-room at the Sherborough on the day following the burning of the STAR office. The Sherborough dining-room was on the first floor, and the Venetian window beside their table opened on to a verandah above a piazza250. As they talked they became aware of an excitement in the street below, shouting and running and then a sound of wheels and the tramp of a body of soldiers marching quickly. White stood up and looked. "They're seizing the stuff in the gunshops," he said, sitting down again. "It's amazing they haven't done it before."
They went on eating and discussing the work of a medical mission at Mukden that had won Benham's admiration251....
A revolver cracked in the street and there was a sound of glass smashing. Then more revolver shots. "That's at the big club at the corner, I think," said Benham and went out upon the verandah.
Up and down the street mischief was afoot. Outside the Rand Club in the cross street a considerable mass of people had accumulated, and was being hustled252 by a handful of khaki-clad soldiers. Down the street people were looking in the direction of the market-place and then suddenly a rush of figures flooded round the corner, first a froth of scattered individuals and then a mass, a column, marching with an appearance of order and waving a flag. It was a poorly disciplined body, it fringed out into a swarm of sympathizers and spectators upon the side walk, and at the head of it two men disputed. They seemed to be differing about the direction of the whole crowd. Suddenly one smote253 the other with his fist, a blow that hurled254 him sideways, and then turned with a triumphant255 gesture to the following ranks, waving his arms in the air. He was a tall lean man, hatless and collarless, greyhaired and wild-eyed. On he came, gesticulating gauntly, past the hotel.
And then up the street something happened. Benham's attention was turned round to it by a checking, by a kind of catch in the breath, on the part of the advancing procession under the verandah.
The roadway beyond the club had suddenly become clear. Across it a dozen soldiers had appeared and dismounted methodically and lined out, with their carbines in readiness. The mounted men at the club corner had vanished, and the people there had swayed about towards this new threat. Quite abruptly256 the miscellaneous noises of the crowd ceased. Understanding seized upon every one.
These soldiers were going to fire....
The brown uniformed figures moved like automata; the rifle shots rang out almost in one report....
There was a rush in the crowd towards doorways257 and side streets, an enquiring258 pause, the darting259 back of a number of individuals into the roadway and then a derisive260 shouting. Nobody had been hit. The soldiers had fired in the air.
"But this is a stupid game," said Benham. "Why did they fire at all?"
The tall man who had led the mob had run out into the middle of the road. His commando was a little disposed to assume a marginal position, and it had to be reassured261. He was near enough for Benham to see his face. For a time it looked anxious and thoughtful. Then he seemed to jump to his decision. He unbuttoned and opened his coat wide as if defying the soldiers. "Shoot," he bawled262, "Shoot, if you dare!"
A little uniform movement of the soldiers answered him. The small figure of the officer away there was inaudible. The coat of the man below flapped like the wings of a crowing cock before a breast of dirty shirt, the hoarse263 voice cracked with excitement, "Shoot, if you dare. Shoot, if you dare! See!"
Came the metallic264 bang of the carbines again, and in the instant the leader collapsed265 in the road, a sprawl266 of clothes, hit by half a dozen bullets. It was an extraordinary effect. As though the figure had been deflated267. It was incredible that a moment before this thing had been a man, an individual, a hesitating complicated purpose.
"Good God!" cried Benham, "but--this is horrible!"
The heap of garments lay still. The red hand that stretched out towards the soldiers never twitched268.
The spectacular silence broke into a confusion of sounds, women shrieked269, men cursed, some fled, some sought a corner from which they might still see, others pressed forward. "Go for the swine!" bawled a voice, a third volley rattled270 over the heads of the people, and in the road below a man with a rifle halted, took aim, and answered the soldiers' fire. "Look out!" cried White who was watching the soldiers, and ducked. "This isn't in the air!"
Came a straggling volley again, like a man running a metal hammer very rapidly along iron corrugations, and this time people were dropping all over the road. One white-faced man not a score of yards away fell with a curse and a sob271, struggled up, staggered for some yards with blood running abundantly from his neck, and fell and never stirred again. Another went down upon his back clumsily in the roadway and lay wringing272 his hands faster and faster until suddenly with a movement like a sigh they dropped inert273 by his side. A straw-hatted youth in a flannel274 suit ran and stopped and ran again. He seemed to be holding something red and strange to his face with both hands; above them his eyes were round and anxious. Blood came out between his fingers. He went right past the hotel and stumbled and suddenly sprawled275 headlong at the opposite corner. The majority of the crowd had already vanished into doorways and side streets. But there was still shouting and there was still a remnant of amazed and angry men in the roadway--and one or two angry women. They were not fighting. Indeed they were unarmed, but if they had had weapons now they would certainly have used them.
"But this is preposterous276!" cried Benham. "Preposterous. Those soldiers are never going to shoot again! This must stop."
He stood hesitating for a moment and then turned about and dashed for the staircase. "Good Heaven!" cried White. "What are you going to do?"
Benham was going to stop that conflict very much as a man might go to stop a clock that is striking unwarrantably and amazingly. He was going to stop it because it annoyed his sense of human dignity.
White hesitated for a moment and then followed, crying "Benham!"
But there was no arresting this last outbreak of Benham's all too impatient kingship. He pushed aside a ducking German waiter who was peeping through the glass doors, and rushed out of the hotel. With a gesture of authority he ran forward into the middle of the street, holding up his hand, in which he still held his dinner napkin clenched277 like a bomb. White believes firmly that Benham thought he would be able to dominate everything. He shouted out something about "Foolery!"
Haroun al Raschid was flinging aside all this sublime278 indifference279 to current things....
But the carbines spoke again.
Benham seemed to run unexpectedly against something invisible. He spun280 right round and fell down into a sitting position. He sat looking surprised.
After one moment of blank funk White drew out his pocket handkerchief, held it arm high by way of a white flag, and ran out from the piazza of the hotel.
17
"Are you hit?" cried White dropping to his knees and making himself as compact as possible. "Benham!"
Benham, after a moment of perplexed281 thought answered in a strange voice, a whisper into which a whistling note had been mixed.
"It was stupid of me to come out here. Not my quarrel. Faults on both sides. And now I can't get up. I will sit here a moment and pull myself together. Perhaps I'm--I must be shot. But it seemed to come--inside me.... If I should be hurt. Am I hurt?... Will you see to that book of mine, White? It's odd. A kind of faintness.... What?"
"I will see after your book," said White and glanced at his hand because it felt wet, and was astonished to discover it bright red. He forgot about himself then, and the fresh flight of bullets down the street.
The immediate282 effect of this blood was that he said something more about the book, a promise, a definite promise. He could never recall his exact words, but their intention was binding283. He conveyed his absolute acquiescence284 with Benham's wishes whatever they were. His life for that moment was unreservedly at his friend's disposal....
White never knew if his promise was heard. Benham had stopped speaking quite abruptly with that "What?"
He stared in front of him with a doubtful expression, like a man who is going to be sick, and then, in an instant, every muscle seemed to give way, he shuddered285, his head flopped286, and White held a dead man in his arms.
The End
收听单词发音 |
1
burrowed
|
|
| v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的过去式和过去分词 )；翻寻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
legacy
|
|
| n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
merged
|
|
| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
resonance
|
|
| n.洪亮；共鸣；共振 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
eked
|
|
| v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的过去式和过去分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
bout
|
|
| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
aphasia
|
|
| n.失语症 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
peculiarity
|
|
| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
accusation
|
|
| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
omission
|
|
| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
justified
|
|
| a.正当的，有理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
sham
|
|
| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
shameful
|
|
| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
leopard
|
|
| n.豹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
penetrating
|
|
| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
distressing
|
|
| a.使人痛苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
distress
|
|
| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
intimacy
|
|
| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
infinitely
|
|
| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
deceptive
|
|
| adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
outrageous
|
|
| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
exasperatingly
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
exasperating
|
|
| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
proceedings
|
|
| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
controversies
|
|
| 争论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
afflicted
|
|
| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
passionate
|
|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
isolate
|
|
| vt.使孤立，隔离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
persecuted
|
|
| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
distressed
|
|
| 痛苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
pretentious
|
|
| adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
skilfully
|
|
| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
cheetah
|
|
| n.(动物)猎豹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
shreds
|
|
| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
wring
|
|
| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
touchingly
|
|
| adv.令人同情地，感人地，动人地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
repented
|
|
| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
justification
|
|
| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
evaded
|
|
| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
vices
|
|
| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
phantoms
|
|
| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
distresses
|
|
| n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 )；痛苦；贫困；危险 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
memoranda
|
|
| n. 备忘录, 便条 名词memorandum的复数形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
tugging
|
|
| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
virtues
|
|
| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
obstinate
|
|
| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
eel
|
|
| n.鳗鲡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
aristocrat
|
|
| n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
specialized
|
|
| adj.专门的，专业化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
inhuman
|
|
| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
adolescence
|
|
| n.青春期，青少年 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
entanglement
|
|
| n.纠缠，牵累 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
surgical
|
|
| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
essentially
|
|
| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
wrestle
|
|
| vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
invincible
|
|
| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
relentless
|
|
| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
materialism
|
|
| n.［哲］唯物主义，唯物论；物质至上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
belly
|
|
| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
haughty
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
refinements
|
|
| n.（生活）风雅；精炼( refinement的名词复数 )；改良品；细微的改良；优雅或高贵的动作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
defensive
|
|
| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
teeming
|
|
| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
stinking
|
|
| adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
starry
|
|
| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
exponent
|
|
| n.倡导者，拥护者；代表人物；指数，幂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
antagonist
|
|
| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
controversy
|
|
| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
wary
|
|
| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
appreciative
|
|
| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
sentimental
|
|
| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
bazaar
|
|
| n.集市，商店集中区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
ascertained
|
|
| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
eastward
|
|
| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
intermittently
|
|
| adv.间歇地；断断续续 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
scotch
|
|
| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
discoursed
|
|
| 演说（discourse的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
extolled
|
|
| v.赞颂，赞扬，赞美( extol的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
germinating
|
|
| n.& adj.发芽（的）v.（使）发芽( germinate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
disorder
|
|
| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
materialist
|
|
| n. 唯物主义者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
paradox
|
|
| n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
filth
|
|
| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
disdain
|
|
| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
shuffling
|
|
| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
cleaving
|
|
| v.劈开，剁开，割开( cleave的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
brace
|
|
| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
intervention
|
|
| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
reek
|
|
| v.发出臭气；n.恶臭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
theocracy
|
|
| n.神权政治；僧侣政治 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
modesty
|
|
| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
paralysis
|
|
| n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
salvation
|
|
| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
cone
|
|
| n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
endorsement
|
|
| n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
barb
|
|
| n.（鱼钩等的）倒钩，倒刺 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
amplified
|
|
| 放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
indictment
|
|
| n.起诉；诉状 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
fatigue
|
|
| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
humbug
|
|
| n.花招，谎话，欺骗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
unified
|
|
| (unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
everlasting
|
|
| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
armour
|
|
| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
scraps
|
|
| 油渣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
lute
|
|
| n.琵琶，鲁特琴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
jade
|
|
| n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
stimulation
|
|
| n.刺激，激励，鼓舞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
missionaries
|
|
| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
delectable
|
|
| adj.使人愉快的；美味的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
wrestles
|
|
| v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的第三人称单数 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
militant
|
|
| adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
monarchies
|
|
| n. 君主政体, 君主国, 君主政治 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
delirious
|
|
| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
feuds
|
|
| n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
fumbling
|
|
| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
bilateral
|
|
| adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
Mandarin
|
|
| n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
recondite
|
|
| adj.深奥的，难解的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
confidential
|
|
| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
opium
|
|
| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
exertion
|
|
| n.尽力，努力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
garrulous
|
|
| adj.唠叨的，多话的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
varied
|
|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
tainted
|
|
| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
scented
|
|
| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
veins
|
|
| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
toil
|
|
| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
maker
|
|
| n.制造者，制造商 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
lust
|
|
| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
lusts
|
|
| 贪求（lust的第三人称单数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
smeared
|
|
| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
flayed
|
|
| v.痛打( flay的过去式和过去分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
exalted
|
|
| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
filthy
|
|
| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
pulp
|
|
| n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
lank
|
|
| adj.瘦削的；稀疏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
vertical
|
|
| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
porcelain
|
|
| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
marvel
|
|
| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
swarm
|
|
| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
swarmed
|
|
| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
moored
|
|
| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
cargo
|
|
| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
countless
|
|
| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
embroidered
|
|
| adj．绣花的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
fabric
|
|
| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
vividly
|
|
| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
geniality
|
|
| n.和蔼，诚恳；愉快 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
skull
|
|
| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
haze
|
|
| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
scribbled
|
|
| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
scrawl
|
|
| vt.潦草地书写；n.潦草的笔记，涂写 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
frightful
|
|
| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
patronage
|
|
| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
unreasonable
|
|
| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
irritation
|
|
| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
gambling
|
|
| n.赌博；投机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
misgivings
|
|
| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
winding
|
|
| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
pebble
|
|
| n.卵石，小圆石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
avalanche
|
|
| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
disturbance
|
|
| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
insurgent
|
|
| adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
rumours
|
|
| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
incessant
|
|
| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
intrigue
|
|
| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
fermented
|
|
| v.（使）发酵( ferment的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）激动；骚动；骚扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
179
brewed
|
|
| 调制( brew的过去式和过去分词 )； 酝酿； 沏（茶）； 煮（咖啡） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
180
peril
|
|
| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
181
embodied
|
|
| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
182
traitors
|
|
| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
183
disappearance
|
|
| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
184
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
185
warehouses
|
|
| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
186
planks
|
|
| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
187
hulls
|
|
| 船体( hull的名词复数 )； 船身； 外壳； 豆荚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
188
barges
|
|
| 驳船( barge的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
189
crumpled
|
|
| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
190
expressive
|
|
| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
191
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
192
intensification
|
|
| n.激烈化，增强明暗度；加厚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
193
imperative
|
|
| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
194
pandering
|
|
| v.迎合（他人的低级趣味或淫欲）( pander的现在分词 )；纵容某人；迁就某事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
195
subdue
|
|
| vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
196
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
197
remorse
|
|
| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
198
contrived
|
|
| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
199
impersonal
|
|
| adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
200
minor
|
|
| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
201
undertaking
|
|
| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
202
fanatic
|
|
| n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
203
defiance
|
|
| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
204
dread
|
|
| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
205
lucid
|
|
| adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
206
repudiation
|
|
| n.拒绝；否认；断绝关系；抛弃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
207
sane
|
|
| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
208
loyalty
|
|
| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
209
aristocrats
|
|
| n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
210
corrupt
|
|
| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
211
jingle
|
|
| n.叮当声，韵律简单的诗句；v.使叮当作响，叮当响，押韵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
212
conspiracy
|
|
| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
213
outskirts
|
|
| n.郊外，郊区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
214
leaven
|
|
| v.使发酵；n.酵母；影响 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
215
onlookers
|
|
| n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
216
improvised
|
|
| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
217
trolley
|
|
| n.手推车，台车；无轨电车；有轨电车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
218
swarming
|
|
| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
219
bleating
|
|
| v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的现在分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
220
trotted
|
|
| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
221
scattering
|
|
| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
222
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
223
cavalry
|
|
| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
224
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
225
dispersing
|
|
| adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
226
pugnacious
|
|
| adj.好斗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
227
pelted
|
|
| （连续地）投掷( pelt的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续抨击； 攻击； 剥去…的皮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
228
obstructed
|
|
| 阻塞( obstruct的过去式和过去分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
229
disapproval
|
|
| n.反对，不赞成 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
230
repartee
|
|
| n.机敏的应答 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
231
intersection
|
|
| n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
232
gliding
|
|
| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
233
meticulously
|
|
| adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
234
deferentially
|
|
| adv.表示敬意地，谦恭地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
235
civilized
|
|
| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
236
underneath
|
|
| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
237
conceit
|
|
| n.自负，自高自大 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
238
resentment
|
|
| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
239
jealousy
|
|
| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
240
embittered
|
|
| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
241
incapable
|
|
| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
242
mischief
|
|
| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
243
miseries
|
|
| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
244
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
245
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
246
disorders
|
|
| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
247
exacting
|
|
| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
248
flare
|
|
| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
249
constellations
|
|
| n.星座( constellation的名词复数 )；一群杰出人物；一系列（相关的想法、事物）；一群（相关的人） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
250
piazza
|
|
| n.广场；走廊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
251
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
252
hustled
|
|
| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
253
smote
|
|
| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
254
hurled
|
|
| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
255
triumphant
|
|
| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
256
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
257
doorways
|
|
| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
258
enquiring
|
|
| a.爱打听的，显得好奇的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
259
darting
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
260
derisive
|
|
| adj.嘲弄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
261
reassured
|
|
| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
262
bawled
|
|
| 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） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
263
hoarse
|
|
| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
264
metallic
|
|
| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
265
collapsed
|
|
| adj.倒塌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
266
sprawl
|
|
| vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
267
deflated
|
|
| adj. 灰心丧气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
268
twitched
|
|
| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
269
shrieked
|
|
| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
270
rattled
|
|
| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
271
sob
|
|
| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
272
wringing
|
|
| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
273
inert
|
|
| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
274
flannel
|
|
| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
275
sprawled
|
|
| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
276
preposterous
|
|
| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
277
clenched
|
|
| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
278
sublime
|
|
| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
279
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
280
spun
|
|
| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
281
perplexed
|
|
| adj.不知所措的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
282
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
283
binding
|
|
| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
284
acquiescence
|
|
| n.默许；顺从 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
285
shuddered
|
|
| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
286
flopped
|
|
| v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |