Nothing surprised Sanders except the ignorance of the average stay-at-home Briton on all matters pertaining1 to the savage2 peoples of Africa. Queer things happened in the "black patch"--so the coast officials called Sanders' territory--miraculous, mysterious things, but Sanders was never surprised. He had dealings with folks who believed in ghosts and personal devils, and he sympathised with them, realising that it is very difficult to ascribe all the evils of life to human agencies.
Sanders was an unquiet man, or so his constituents3 thought him, and a little mad; this also was the native view. Worst of all, there was no method in his madness.
Other commissioners4 might be depended upon to arrive after the rains, sending word ahead of their coming. This was a good way--the Isisi, the Ochori, and the N'Gombi people, everlastingly6 at issue, were agreed upon this--because, with timely warning of the Commissioner5's approach, it was possible to thrust out of sight the ugly evidence of fault, to clean up and make tidy the muddle7 of folly8.
It was bad to step sheepishly forth9 from your hut into the clear light of the rising sun, with all the dbris of an overnight feast mutely testifying to your discredit10, and face the cold, unwavering eyes of a little brown-faced man in immaculate white. The switch he carried in his hand would be smacking11 his leg suggestively, and there were always four Houssa soldiers in blue and scarlet12 in the background, immobile, but alert, quick to obey.
Once Sanders came to a N'Gombi village at dawn, when by every known convention he should have been resting in his comfortable bungalow13 some three hundred miles down river.
Sanders came strolling through the village street just as the sun topped the trees and long shadows ran along the ground before the flood of lemon-coloured light.
The village was silent and deserted14, which was a bad sign, and spoke15 of overnight orgies. Sanders walked on until he came to the big square near the palaver16 house, and there the black ruin of a dead fire smoked sullenly17.
Sanders saw something that made him go raking amongst the embers.
"Pah!" said Sanders, with a wry18 face.
He sent back to the steamer for the full force of his Houssa guard, then he walked into the chief's hut and kicked him till he woke.
He came out blinking and shivering, though the morning was warm.
"Telemi, son of O'ari," said Sanders, "tell me why I should not hang you--man-eater and beast."
"Lord," said the chief, "we chopped this man because he was an enemy, stealing into the village at night, and carrying away our goats and our dogs. Besides which, we did not know that you were near by."
"I can believe that," said Sanders.
A lo-koli beat the villages to wakefulness, and before a silent assembly the headman of the N'Gombi village was scientifically flogged.
Then Sanders called the elders together and said a few words of cheer and comfort.
"Only hyenas19 and crocodiles eat their kind," he said, "also certain fishes." (There was a general shudder20, for amongst the N'Gombi to be likened to a fish is a deadly insult.) "Cannibals I do not like, and they are hated by the King's Government. Therefore when it comes to my ears--and I have many spies--that you chop man, whether he be enemy or friend, I will come quickly and I will flog sorely; and if it should again happen I will bring with me a rope, and I will find me a tree, and there will be broken huts in this land."
Again they shuddered21 at the threat of the broken hut, for it is the custom of the N'Gombi to break down the walls of a dead man's house to give his spirit free egress22.
Sanders carried away with him the chief of the village, with leg-irons at his ankles, and in course of time the prisoner arrived at a little labour colony on the coast, where he worked for five years in company with other indiscreet headmen who were suffering servitude for divers23 offences.
They called Sanders in the Upper River districts by a long and sonorous24 name, which may be euphemistically translated as "The man who has a faithless wife," the little joke of Bosambo, chief of the Ochori, and mightily25 subtle because Sanders was wedded26 to his people.
North and south, east and west, he prowled. He travelled by night and by day. Sometimes his steamer would go threshing away up river, and be watched out of sight by the evil-doing little fishing-villages.
"Go you," said Sarala, who was a little headman of the Akasava, "go you three hours' journey in your canoe and watch the river for Sandi's return. And at first sign of his steamer--which you may see if you climb the hill at the river's bend--come back and warn me, for I desire to follow certain customs of my father in which Sandi has no pleasure."
He spoke to two of his young men and they departed. That night by the light of a fire, to the accompaniment of dancing and drum-beating, the son of the headman brought his firstborn, ten hours old, squealing27 noisily, as if with knowledge of the doom28 ahead, and laid it at his father's feet.
"People," said the little chief, "it is a wise saying of all, and has been a wise saying since time began, that the firstborn has a special virtue29; so that if we sacrifice him to sundry30 gods and devils, good luck will follow us in all our doings."
He said a word to the son, who took a broad-bladed spear and began turning the earth until he had dug a little grave. Into this, alive, the child was laid, his little feet kicking feebly against the loose mould.
"Oh, gods and devils," invoked31 the old man, "we shed no blood, that this child may come to you unblemished."
The son stirred a heap of loose earth with his foot, so that it fell over the baby's legs; then into the light of the fire stepped Sanders, and the chief's son fell back.
Sanders was smoking a thin cigar, and he smoked for fully32 a minute without saying a word, and a minute was a very long time. Then he stepped to the grave, stooped, and lifted the baby up awkwardly, for he was more used to handling men than babes, gave it a little shake to clear it of earth, and handed it to a woman.
"Take the child to its mother," he said, "and tell her to send it to me alive in the morning, otherwise she had best find a new husband."
Then he turned to the old chief and his son.
"Old man," he said, "how many years have you to live?"
"Master," said the old man, "that is for you to say."
Sanders scratched his chin reflectively, and the old man watched him with fear in his eyes.
"You will go to Bosambo, chief of the Ochori, telling him I have sent you, and you shall till his garden, and carry his water until you die," said Sanders.
"I am so old that that will be soon," said the old man.
"If you were younger it would be sooner," said Sanders. "As for your son, we will wait until the morning."
The Houssas in the background marched the younger man to the camp Sanders had formed down river--the boat that had passed had been intended to deceive a chief under suspicion--and in the morning, when the news came that the child was dead--whether from shock, or injury, or exposure, Sanders did not trouble to inquire--the son of the chief was hanged.
I tell these stories of Sanders of the River, that you may grasp the type of man he was and learn something of the work he had to do. If he was quick to punish, he acted in accordance with the spirit of the people he governed, for they had no memory; and yesterday, with its faults, its errors and its teachings, was a very long time ago, and a man resents an unjust punishment for a crime he has forgotten.
It is possible to make a bad mistake, but Sanders never made one, though he was near to doing so once.
Sanders was explaining his point of view in regard to natives to Professor Sir George Carsley, when that eminent33 scientist arrived unexpectedly at headquarters, having been sent out by the British Government to study tropical disease at first hand.
Sir George was a man of some age, with a face of exceptional pallor and a beard that was snowy white.
"There was a newspaper man who said I treated my people like dogs," said Sanders slowly, for he was speaking in English, a language that was seldom called for. "I believe I do. That is to say, I treat them as if they were real good dogs, not to be petted one minute and kicked the next; not to be encouraged to lie on the drawing-room mat one day, and the next cuffed34 away from the dining-room hearthrug."
Sir George made no answer. He was a silent man, who had had some experience on the coast, and had lived for years in the solitude35 of a Central African province, studying the habits of the malarial36 mosquito.
Sanders was never a great conversationalist, and the three days the professor spent at headquarters were deadly dull ones for the Commissioner.
On one subject alone did the professor grow talkative.
"I want to study the witch-doctor," he said. "I think there is no appointment in the world that would give me a greater sense of power than my appointment by a native people to that post."
Sanders thought the scientist was joking, but the other returned to the subject again and again, gravely, earnestly, and persistently37, and for his entertainment Sanders recited all the stories he had ever heard of witch-doctors and their tribe.
"But you don't expect to learn anything from these people?" said Sanders, half in joke.
"On the contrary," said the professor, seriously; "I anticipate making valuable scientific discoveries through my intercourse38 with them."
"Then you're a silly old ass," said Sanders; but he said it to himself.
The pale professor left him at the end of the fourth day, and beyond an official notification that he had established himself on the border, no further news came of the scientist for six months, until one evening came the news that the pale-faced old man had been drowned by the upsetting of a canoe. He had gone out on a solitary39 excursion, taking with him some scientific apparatus40, and nothing more was heard of him until his birch-bark canoe was discovered, bottom up, floating on the river.
No trace of Sir George was found, and in the course of time Sanders collected the dead man's belongings41 and forwarded them to England.
There were two remarkable42 facts about this tragedy, the first being that Sanders found no evidence either in papers or diaries, of the results of any scientific research work performed by the professor other than a small note-book. The second was, that in his little book the scientist had carefully recorded the stories Sanders had told him of witch doctors.
(Sanders recognised at least one story which he had himself invented on the spur of the moment for the professor's entertainment.)
Six more or less peaceful months passed, and then began the series of events which make up the story of the Devil Man.
It began on the Little River.
There was a woman of the Isisi people who hated her husband, though he was very good to her, building her a hut and placing an older wife to wait upon her. He gave her many presents, including a great neck-ring of brass43, weighing pounds, that made her the most envied woman on the Isisi River. But her hatred44 for her husband was unquenched; and one morning she came out from her hut, looking dazed and frightened, and began in a quavering voice to sing the Song of the Dead, mechanically pouring little handfuls of dust on her head, and the villagers went in, to find the man stark45 and staring, with a twisted grin on his dead face and the pains of hell in his eyes.
In the course of two days they burned the husband in the Middle River; and as the canoe bearing the body swept out of sight round a bend of the river, the woman stepped into the water and laved the dust from her grimy body and stripped the green leaves of mourning from her waist.
Then she walked back to the village with a light step, for the man she hated best was dead and there was an end to it.
Four days later came Sanders, a grim little man, with a thin, brown face and hair inclined to redness.
"M'Fasa," he said, standing46 at the door of her hut and looking down at her, as with a dogged simulation of indifference47 she pounded her grain, "they tell me your man has died."
"Lord, that is true," she said. "He died of a sudden sickness."
"Too sudden for my liking," said Sanders, and disappeared into the dark interior of the hut. By and by Sanders came back into the light and looked down on her. In his hand was a tiny glass phial, such as Europeans know very well, but which was a remarkable find in a heathen village.
"I have a fetish," he said, "and my fetish has told me that you poisoned your husband, M'Fasa."
"Your fetish lies," she said, not looking up.
"I will not argue that matter," said Sanders wisely, for he had no proofs beyond his suspicions; and straightway he summoned to him the chief man of the village.
There was a little wait, the woman pounding her corn slowly, with downcast eyes, pausing now and then to wipe the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, and Sanders, his helmet on the back of his head, a half-smoked cheroot in his mouth, hands thrust deep into his duck-pockets and an annoyed frown on his face, looking at her.
By and by came the chief tardily48, having been delayed by the search for a soldier's scarlet coat, such as he wore on great occasions.
"Master, you sent for me," he said.
Sanders shifted his gaze.
"On second thoughts," he said, "I do not need you."
The chief went away with a whole thanksgiving service in his heart, for there had been certain secret doings on the river for which he expected reprimand.
"M'Fasa, you will go to my boat," said Sanders, and the woman, putting down her mortar49, rose and went obediently to the steamer. Sanders followed slowly, having a great many matters to consider. If he denounced this woman to the elders of the village, she would be stoned to death; if he carried her to headquarters and tried her, there was no evidence on which a conviction might be secured. There was no place to which he could deport50 her, yet to leave her would be to open the way for further mischief51.
She awaited him on the deck of the Zaire, a straight, shapely girl of eighteen, fearless, defiant52.
"M'Fasa," said Sanders, "why did you kill your husband?"
"Lord, I did not kill him; he died of the sickness," she said, as doggedly53 as before.
Sanders paced the narrow deck, his head on his breast, for this was a profound problem. Then he looked up.
"You may go," he said; and the woman, a little puzzled, walked along the plank54 that connected the boat with the shore, and disappeared into the bush.
Three weeks later his spies brought word that men were dying unaccountably on the Upper River. None knew why they died, for a man would sit down strong and full of cheer to his evening meal, and lo! in the morning, when his people went to wake him, he would be beyond waking, being most unpleasantly dead.
This happened in many villages on the Little River.
"It's getting monotonous," said Sanders to the captain of the Houssas. "There is some wholesale55 poisoning going on, and I am going up to find the gentleman who dispenses56 the dope."
It so happened that the first case claiming investigation57 was at Isisi City. It was a woman who had died, and this time Sanders suspected the husband, a notorious evil-doer.
"Okali," he said, coming to the point, "why did you poison your wife?"
"Lord," said the man, "she died of the sickness. In the evening she was well, but at the dark hour before sun came she turned in her sleep saying 'Ah! oh!' and straightway she died."
Sanders drew a long breath.
"Get a rope," he said to one of his men, and when the rope arrived Abiboo scrambled58 up to the lower branch of a copal-gum and scientifically lashed59 a block and tackle.
"Okali," said Sanders, "I am going to hang you for the murder of your wife, for I am a busy man and have no time to make inquiries60; and if you are not guilty of her murder, yet there are many other abominable61 deeds you have been guilty of, therefore I am justified62 in hanging you."
The man was grey with terror when they slipped the noose63 over his neck and strapped64 his hands behind him.
"Lord, she was a bad wife to me and had many lovers," he stammered65. "I did not mean to kill her, but the Devil Man said that such medicine would make her forget her lovers----"
"Devil Man! What Devil Man?" asked Sanders quickly.
"Lord, there is a devil greatly respected in these parts, who wanders in the forest all the time and gives many curious medicines."
"Where is he to be found?"
"Lord, none know. He comes and goes, like a grey ghost, and he has a fetish more powerful than a thousand ordinary devils. Master, I gave the woman, my wife, that which he gave to me, and she died. How might I know that she would die?"
"Cheg'li," said Sanders shortly to the men at the rope-end, and cheg'li in the dialect of the River means "pull."
* * * * *
"Stop!"
Sanders was in a changeable mood, and a little irritable66 by reason of the fact that he knew himself to be fickle67.
"How came this drug to you? In powder, in liquid, or----"
The man's lips were dry. He could do no more than shake his head helplessly.
"Release him," said Sanders; and Abiboo loosened the noose and unstrapped the man's hands.
"If you have lied to me," said Sanders, "you die at sunset. First let me hear more of this Devil Man, for I am anxious to make his acquaintance."
He gave the man ten minutes to recover from the effects of his fear, then sent for him.
"Lord," said he, "I know nothing of the Devil Man save that he is the greatest witch-doctor in the world, and on nights when the moon is up and certain stars are in their places he comes like a ghost, and we are all afraid. Then those of us who need him go forth into the forest, and he gives to us according to our desires."
"How carried he the drug?"
"Lord, it was in a crystal rod, such as white men carry their medicines in. I will bring it to you."
He went back to his hut and returned a few minutes later with a phial, the fellow to that which was already in Sanders' possession. The Commissioner took it and smelt68 at the opening. There was the faintest odour of almonds, and Sanders whistled, for he recognised the after-scent of cyanide of potassium, which is not such a drug as untutored witch-doctors know, much less employ.
* * * * *
"I can only suggest," wrote Sanders to headquarters, "that by some mischance the medicine chest of the late Sir George Carsley has come into the possession of a native 'doctor.' You will remember that the chest was with the professor when he was drowned. It has possibly been washed up and discovered.... In the meantime, I am making diligent69 inquiries as to the identity of the Devil Man, who seems to have leapt into fame so suddenly."
There were sleepless70 nights ahead for Sanders, nights of swift marchings and doublings, of quick runs up the river, of unexpected arrivals in villages, of lonely vigils in the forest and by strange pools. But he had no word of the Devil Man, though he learnt many things of interest. Most potent71 of his magical possessions was a box, "so small," said one who had seen it, and indicated a six-inch square. In this box dwelt a small and malicious72 god who pinched and scratched (yet without leaving a mark), who could stick needles into the human body and never draw blood.
"I give it up," said Sanders in despair, and went back to his base to think matters out.
He was sitting at dinner one night, when far away on the river the drum beat. It was not the regular lo-koli roll, but a series of staccato tappings, and, stepping softly to the door, the Commissioner listened.
He had borrowed the Houssa signalling staff from headquarters, and stationed them at intervals73 along the river. On a still night the tapping of a drum carries far, but the rattle74 of iron-wood sticks on a hollowed tree-trunk carries farthest of all.
"Clok-clok, clockitty-clock."
It sounded like the far-away croaking76 of a bull-frog; but Sanders picked out the letters:
"Devil Man sacrifices to-morrow night in the Forest of Dreams."
As he jotted77 down the message on the white sleeve of his jacket, Abiboo came running up the path.
"I have heard," said Sanders briefly78. "There is steam in the pucapuc?"
"We are ready, master," said the man.
Sanders waited only to take a hanging revolver from the wall and throw his overcoat over his arm, for his travelling kit75 was already deposited on the Zaire, and had been for three days.
In the darkness the sharp nose of his little boat swung out to the stream, and ten minutes after the message came the boat was threshing a way against the swift river.
All night long the steamer went on, tacking79 from bank to bank to avoid the shoals.
Dawn found her at a wooding, where her men, working at fever speed, piled logs on her deck until she had the appearance of a timber-boat.
Then off again, stopping only to secure news of the coming sacrifice from the spies who were scattered80 up and down the river.
Sanders reached the edge of the Dream Forest at midnight and tied up. He had ten Houssa policemen with him, and at the head of these he stepped ashore81 into the blackness of the forest. One of the soldiers went ahead to find the path and keep it, and in single file the little force began its two-hour march. Once they came upon two leopards82 fighting; once they stumbled over a buffalo83 sleeping in their path. Twice they disturbed strange beasts that slunk into the shadows as they passed, and came snuffling after them, till Sanders flashed a white beam from his electric lamp in their direction. Eventually they came stealthily to the place of sacrifice.
There were at least six hundred people squatting84 in a semi-circle before a rough altar built of logs. Two huge fires blazed and crackled on either side of the altar; but Sanders' eyes were for the Devil Man, who leant over the body of a young girl, apparently85 asleep, stretched upon the logs.
Once the Devil Man had worn the garb86 of civilisation87; now he was clothed in rags. He stood in his grimy shirt-sleeves, his white beard wild and uncombed, his pale face tense, and a curious light in his eyes. In his hand was a bright scalpel, and he was speaking--and, curiously88 enough, in English.
"This, gentlemen," said he, leaning easily against the rude altar, and speaking with the assurance of one who had delivered many such lectures, "is a bad case of trynosomiasis. You will observe the discoloration of skin, the opalescent89 pupils, and now that I have placed the patient under anaesthetics you will remark the misplacement of the cervical glands90, which is an invariable symptom."
He paused and looked benignly91 around.
"I may say that I have lived for a great time amongst native people. I occupied the honourable92 position of witch-doctor in Central Africa----"
He stopped and passed his hand across his brow, striving to recall something; then he picked up the thread of his discourse93.
All the time he spoke the half-naked assembly sat silent and awe-stricken, comprehending nothing save that the witch-doctor with the white face, who had come from nowhere and had done many wonderful things--his magic box proved to be a galvanic battery--was about to perform strange rites94.
"Gentlemen," the old man went on, tapping the breast of his victim with the handle of his scalpel, "I shall make an incision----"
Sanders came from his place of concealment95, and walked steadily96 towards the extemporised operating-table.
"Professor," he said gently, and the madman looked at him with a puzzled frown.
"You are interrupting the clinic," he said testily97; "I am demonstrating----"
"I know, sir."
Sanders took his arm, and Sir George Carsley, a great scientist, consulting surgeon to St. Mark's Hospital, London, and the author of many books on tropical diseases, went with him like a child.
收听单词发音 |
1
pertaining
|
|
| 与…有关系的，附属…的，为…固有的(to) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
constituents
|
|
| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
commissioners
|
|
| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
commissioner
|
|
| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
everlastingly
|
|
| 永久地，持久地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
muddle
|
|
| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
folly
|
|
| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
discredit
|
|
| vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
smacking
|
|
| 活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
bungalow
|
|
| n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
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： |
|
|
|
|
16
palaver
|
|
| adj.壮丽堂皇的；n.废话，空话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
sullenly
|
|
| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
wry
|
|
| adj.讽刺的；扭曲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
hyenas
|
|
| n.鬣狗( hyena的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
shudder
|
|
| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
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： |
|
|
|
|
22
egress
|
|
| n.出去；出口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
divers
|
|
| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
sonorous
|
|
| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
mightily
|
|
| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
wedded
|
|
| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
squealing
|
|
| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
doom
|
|
| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
sundry
|
|
| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
invoked
|
|
| v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
eminent
|
|
| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
cuffed
|
|
| v.掌打，拳打( cuff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
solitude
|
|
| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
malarial
|
|
| 患疟疾的，毒气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
persistently
|
|
| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
intercourse
|
|
| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
apparatus
|
|
| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
belongings
|
|
| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
stark
|
|
| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
tardily
|
|
| adv.缓慢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
mortar
|
|
| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
deport
|
|
| vt.驱逐出境 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
mischief
|
|
| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
defiant
|
|
| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
doggedly
|
|
| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
plank
|
|
| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
wholesale
|
|
| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
dispenses
|
|
| v.分配，分与；分配( dispense的第三人称单数 )；施与；配（药） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
investigation
|
|
| n.调查，调查研究 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
scrambled
|
|
| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
lashed
|
|
| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
inquiries
|
|
| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
abominable
|
|
| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
justified
|
|
| a.正当的，有理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
noose
|
|
| n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
strapped
|
|
| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
stammered
|
|
| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
irritable
|
|
| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
fickle
|
|
| adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
smelt
|
|
| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
diligent
|
|
| adj.勤勉的，勤奋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
sleepless
|
|
| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
potent
|
|
| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
malicious
|
|
| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
intervals
|
|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
rattle
|
|
| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
kit
|
|
| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
croaking
|
|
| v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
jotted
|
|
| v.匆忙记下( jot的过去式和过去分词 )；草草记下，匆匆记下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
briefly
|
|
| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
tacking
|
|
| （帆船）抢风行驶，定位焊[铆]紧钉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
leopards
|
|
| n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
buffalo
|
|
| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
squatting
|
|
| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
garb
|
|
| n.服装，装束 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
civilisation
|
|
| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
opalescent
|
|
| adj.乳色的，乳白的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
glands
|
|
| n.腺( gland的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
benignly
|
|
| adv.仁慈地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
honourable
|
|
| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
discourse
|
|
| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
rites
|
|
| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
concealment
|
|
| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
testily
|
|
| adv. 易怒地, 暴躁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |