I had not seen Penfentenyou since the Middle Nineties, when he was Minister of Ways and Woodsides in De Thouar’s first Administration. Last summer, though he nominally1 held the same portfolio2, he was his Colony’s Premier3 in all but name, and the idol4 of his own province, which is two and a half times the size of England. Politically, his creed5 was his growing country; and he came over to England to develop a Great Idea in her behalf.
Believing that he had put it in train, I made haste to welcome him to my house for a week.
That he was chased to my door by his own Agent–General in a motor; that they turned my study into a Cabinet Meeting which I was not invited to attend; that the local telegraph all but broke down beneath the strain of hundred word coded cables; and that I practically broke into the house of a stranger to get him telephonic facilities on a Sunday, are things I overlook. What I objected to was his ingratitude6, while I thus tore up England to help him. So I said: “Why on earth didn’t you see your Opposite Number in Town instead of bringing your office work here?”
“Eh? Who?” said he, looking up from his fourth cable since lunch.
“See the English Minister for Ways and Woodsides.”
“I saw him,” said Penfentenyou, without enthusiasm.
It seemed that he had called twice on the gentleman, but without an appointment —(“I thought if I wasn’t big enough, my business was”)— and each time had found him engaged. A third party intervening, suggested that a meeting might be arranged if due notice were given.
“Then,” said Penfentenyou, “I called at the office at ten o’clock.”
“But they’d be in bed,” I cried.
“One of the babies was awake. He told me that — that ‘my sort of questions “’— he slapped the pile of cables —“were only taken between 11 and 2 P.M. So I waited.”
“And when you got to business?” I asked.
He made a gesture of despair. “It was like talking to children. They’d never heard of it.”
“And your Opposite Number?”
Penfentenyou described him.
“Hush! You mustn’t talk like that!” I shuddered7. “He’s one of the best of good fellows. You should meet him socially.”
“I’ve done that too,” he said. “Have you?”
“Heaven forbid!” I cried; “but that’s the proper thing to say.”
“Oh, he said all the proper things. Only I thought as this was England that they’d more or less have the hang of all the — general hang-together of my Idea. But I had to explain it from the beginning.”
“Ah! They’d probably mislaid the papers,” I said, and I told him the story of a three-million pound insurrection caused by a deputy Under–Secretary sitting upon a mass of green-labelled correspondence instead of reading it.
“I wonder it doesn’t happen every week,” the answered. “D’you mind my having the Agent–General to dinner again tonight? I’ll wire, and he can motor down.”
The Agent–General arrived two hours later, a patient and expostulating person, visibly torn between the pulling Devil of a rampant9 Colony, and the placid11 Baker12 of a largely uninterested England. But with Penfentenyou behind him he had worked; for he told us that Lord Lundie — the Law Lord was the final authority on the legal and constitutional aspects of the Great Idea, and to him it must be referred.
“Good Heavens alive!” thundered Penfentenyou. “I told you to get that settled last Christmas.”
“It was the middle of the house-party season,” said the Agent–General mildly. “Lord Lundie’s at Credence13 Green now — he spends his holidays there. It’s only forty miles off.”
“Shan’t I disturb his Holiness?” said Penfentenyou heavily. “Perhaps ‘my sort of questions,”’ he snorted, “mayn’t be discussed except at midnight.”
“Oh, don’t be a child,” I said.
“What this country needs,” said Penfentenyou, “is —” and for ten minutes he trumpeted15 rebellion.
“What you need is to pay for your own protection,” I cut in when he drew breath, and I showed him a yellowish paper, supplied gratis16 by Government, which is called Schedule D. To my merciless delight he had never seen the thing before, and I completed my victory over him and all the Colonies with a Brassey’s “Naval17 Annual” and a “Statesman’s Year Book.”
The Agent–General interposed with agent-generalities (but they were merely provocateurs) about Ties of Sentiment.
“They be blowed!” said Penfentenyou. “What’s the good of sentiment towards a Kindergarten?”
“Quite so. Ties of common funk are the things that bind18 us together; and the sooner you new nations realize it the better. What you need is an annual invasion. Then you’d grow up.”
“Thank you! Thank you!” said the Agent–General. “That’s what I am always trying to tell my people.”
“But, my dear fool,” Penfentenyou almost wept, “do you pretend that these banana-fingered amateurs at home are grown up?”
“You poor, serious, pagan man,” I retorted, “if you take ’em that way, you’ll wreck19 your Great Idea.”
“Will you take him to Lord Lundie’s tomorrow?” said the Agent–General promptly20.
“I suppose I must,” I said, “if you won’t.”
“Not me! I’m going home,” said the Agent–General, and departed. I am glad that I am no colony’s Agent–General.
Penfentenyou continued to argue about naval contributions till 1.15 A.M., though I was victor from the first.
At ten o’clock I got him and his correspondence into the motor, and he had the decency21 to ask whether he had been unpolished over-night. I replied that I waited an apology. This he made excuse for renewed arguments, and used wayside shows as illustrations of the decadence22 of England.
For example we burst a tyre within a mile of Credence Green, and, to save time, walked into the beautifully kept little village. His eye was caught by a building of pale-blue tin, stencilled24 “Calvinist Chapel,” before whose shuttered windows an Italian organ-grinder with a petticoated monkey was playing “Dolly Grey-”
“Yes. That’s it!” snapped the egoist. “That’s a parable25 of the general situation in England. And look at those brutes26!” A huge household removals van was halted at a public-house. The men in charge were drinking beer from blue and white mugs. It seemed to me a pretty sight, but Penfentenyou said it represented Our National Attitude.
Lord Lundie’s summer resting-place we learned was a farm, a little out of the village, up a hill round which curled a high hedged road. Only an initiated27 few spend their holidays at Credence Green, and they have trained the householders to keep the place select. Penfentenyou made a grievance28 of this as we walked up the lane, followed at a distance by the organ-grinder.
“Suppose he is having a house-party,” he said: “Anything’s possible in this insane land.”
Just at that minute we found ourselves opposite an empty villa23. Its roof was of black slate29, with bright unweathered ridge-tiling; its walls were of blood-coloured brick, cornered and banded with vermiculated stucco work, and there was cobalt, magenta30, and purest apple-green window-glass on either side of the front door. The whole was fenced from the road by a low, brick-pillared, flint wall, topped with a cast-iron Gothic rail, picked out in blue and gold.
Tight beds of geranium, calceolaria, and lobelia speckled the glass-plat, from whose centre rose one of the finest araucarias (its other name by the way is “monkey-puzzler”), that it has ever been my lot to see. It must have been full thirty feet high, and its foliage31 exquisitely32 answered the iron railings. Such bijou ne plus ultras, replete33 with all the amenities34, do not, as I pointed35 out to Penfentenyou, transpire36 outside of England.
A hedge, swinging sharp right, flanked the garden, and above it on a slope of daisy-dotted meadows we could see Lord Lundie’s tiled and half-timbered summer farmhouse37. Of a sudden we heard voices behind the tree — the fine full tones of the unembarrassed English, speaking to their equals — that tore through the hedge like sleet38 through rafters.
“That it is not called ‘monkey-puzzler’ for nothing, I willingly concede”— this was a rich and rolling note —“but on the other hand —”
“I submit, me lud, that the name implies that it might, could, would, or should be ascended39 by a monkey, and not that the ascent40 is a physical impossibility. I believe one of our South American spider monkeys wouldn’t hesitate... By Jove, it might be worth trying, if —”
This was a crisper voice than the first. A third, higher-pitched, and full of pleasant affectations, broke in.
“Oh, practical men, there is no ape here. Why do you waste one of God’s own days on unprofitable discussion? Give me a match!”
“I’ve a good mind to make you demonstrate in your own person. Come on, Bubbles! We’ll make Jimmy climb!”
There was a sound of scuffling, broken by squeaks41 from Jimmy of the high voice. I turned back and drew Penfentenyou into the side of the flanking hedge. I remembered to have read in a society paper that Lord Lundie’s lesser42 name was “Bubbles.”
“What are they doing?” Penfentenyou said sharply. “Drunk?”
“Just playing! Superabundant vitality43 of the Race, you know. We’ll watch ’em,” I answered. The noise ceased.
“My deliver,” Jimmy gasped44. “The ram10 caught in the thicket45, and — I’m the only one who can talk Neapolitan! Leggo my collar!” He cried aloud in a foreign tongue, and was answered from the gate.
“It’s the Calvinistic organ-grinder,” I whispered. I had already found a practicable break at the bottom of the hedge. “They’re going to try to make the monkey climb, I believe.”
“Here — let me look!” Penfentenyou flung himself down, and rooted till he too broke a peep-hole. We lay side by side commanding the entire garden at ten yards’ range.
“You know ’em?” said Penfentenyou, as I made some noise or other.
“By sight only. The big fellow in flannels46 is Lord Lundie; the light-built one with the yellow beard painted his picture at the last Academy: He’s a swell47 R.A., James Loman.”
“And the brown chap with the hands?”
“Tomling, Sir Christopher Tomling, the South American engineer who built the —”
“San Juan Viaduct. I know,” said Penfentenyou. “We ought to have had him with us.... Do you think a monkey would climb the tree?”
The organ-grinder at the gate fenced his beast with one arm as Jimmy-talked.
“Don’t show off your futile48 accomplishments,” said Lord Lundie. “Tell him it’s an experiment. Interest him!”
“Shut up, Bubbles. You aren’t in court,” Jimmy replied. “This needs delicacy49. Giuseppe says —”
“Interest the monkey,” the brown engineer interrupted. “He won’t climb for love. Cut up to the house and get some biscuits, Bubbles — sugar ones and an orange or two. No need to tell our womenfolk.”
The huge white figure lobbed off at a trot50 which would not have disgraced a boy of seventeen. I gathered from something Jimmy let fall that the three had been at Harrow together.
“That Tomling has a head on his Shoulders,” muttered Penfentenyou. “Pity we didn’t get him for the Colony. But the question is, will the monkey climb?”
“Be quick, Jimmy. Tell the man we’ll give him five bob for the loan of the beast. Now run the organ under the tree, and we’ll dress it when Bubbles comes back,” Sir Christopher cried.
“I’ve often wondered,” said Penfentenyou, “whether it would puzzle a monkey?” He had forgotten the needs of his Growing Nation, and was earnestly parting the white-thorn stems with his fingers.
Giuseppe and Jimmy did as they were told, the monkey following them with a wary51 and malignant52 eye.
“Here’s a discovery,” said Jimmy. “The singing part of this organ comes off the wheels.” He spoke53 volubly to the proprietor54. “Oh, it’s so as Giuseppe can take it to his room o’ nights. And play it. D’you hear that? The organ-grinder, after his day’s crime, plays his accursed machine for love. For love, Chris! And Michael Angelo was one of ’em!”
“Don’t jaw55! Tell him to take the beast’s petticoat off,” said Sir Christopher Tomling.
Lord Lundie returned, very little winded, through a gap higher up the hedge.
“They’re all out, thank goodness!” he cried, “but I’ve raided what I could. Macrons glaces, candied fruit, and a bag of oranges.”
“Excellent!” said the world-renowned contractor56.
“Jimmy, you’re the light-weight; jump up on the organ and impale57 these things on the leaves as I hand ’em!”
“I see,” said Jimmy, capering58 like a springbuck. “Upward and onward59, eh? First, he’ll reach out for — how infernal prickly these leaves are!— this biscuit. Next we’ll lure60 him on —(that’s about the reach of his arm)— with the marron glare, and then he’ll open out this orange. How human! How like your ignoble61 career, Bubbles!”
With care and elaboration they ornamented62 that tree’s lower branches with sugar-topped biscuits, oranges, bits of banana, and marrons glares till it looked very ape’s path to Paradise.
“Unchain the Gyascutis!” said Sir Christopher commandingly. Giuseppe placed the monkey atop of the organ, where the beast, misunderstanding, stood on his head.
“He’s throwing himself on the mercy of the Court, me lud,” said Jimmy. “No — now he’s interested. Now he’s reaching after higher things. What wouldn’t I give to have here” (he mentioned a name not unhonoured in British Art). “Ambition plucking apples of Sodom!” (the monkey had pricked63 himself and was swearing). “Genius hampered64 by Convention? Oh, there’s a whole bushelful of allegories in it!”
“Give him time. He’s balancing the probabilities,” said Lord Lundie.
The three closed round the monkey,— hanging on his every motion with an earnestness almost equal to ours. The great judge’s head — seamed and vertical65 forehead, iron mouth, and pike-like under-jaw, all set on that thick neck rising out of the white flannelled66 collar — was thrown against the puckered67 green silk of the organ-front as it might have been a cameo of Titus. Jimmy, with raised eyes and parted lips, fingered his grizzled chestnut68 beard, and I was near enough to-note, the capable beauty of his hands. Sir Christopher stood a little apart, his arms folded behind his back, one heavy brown boot thrust forward, chin in as curbed69, and black eyebrows70 lowered to shade the keen eyes.
Giuseppe’s dark face between flashing earrings71, a twisted rag of red and yellow silk round his throat, turned from the reaching yearning72 monkey to the pink and white biscuits spiked73 on the bronzed leafage. And upon them all fell the serious and workmanlike sun of an English summer forenoon.
“Fils de Saint Louis, montez au ciel!” said Lord Lundie suddenly in a voice that made me think of Black Caps. I do not know what the monkey thought, because at that instant he leaped off the organ and disappeared.
There was a clash of broken glass behind the tree.
The monkey’s face, distorted with passion, appeared at an upper window of the house, and a starred hole in the stained-glass window to the left of ‘the front door showed the first steps of his upward path.
“We’ve got to catch him,” cried Sir Christopher. “Come along!”
They pushed at the door, which was unlocked.
“Yes. But consider the ethics74 of the case,” said Jimmy. “Isn’t this burglary or something, Bubbles?”
“Settle that when he’s caught,” said Sir Christopher. “We’re responsible for the beast.”
A furious clanging of bells broke out of the empty house, followed by muffed gurglings and trumpetings.
“What the deuce is that?” I asked, half aloud.
“The plumbing75, of course,” said Penfentenyou. “What a pity! I believe he’d have climbed if Lord Lundie hadn’t put him off!”
“Wait a moment, Chris,” said Jimmy the interpreter; “Guiseppe says he may answer to the music of his infancy76. Giuseppe, therefore, will go in with the organ. Orpheus with his lute77, you know. Avante, Orpheus! There’s no Neapolitan for bathroom, but I fancy your friend is there.”
“I’m not going into another man’s house with a hurdy-gurdy,” said Lord Lundie, recoiling78, as Giuseppe unshipped the working mechanism79 of the organ (it developed a hang-down leg) from its wheels, slipped a strap80 round his shoulders, and gave the handle a twist.
“Don’t be a cad, Bubbles,” was Jimmy’s answer. “You couldn’t leave us now if you were on the Woolsack. Play, Orpheus! The Cadi accompanies.”
With a whoop81, a buzz, and a crash, the organ sprang to life under the hand of Giuseppe, and the procession passed through the rained-to-imitate-walnut front door. A moment later we saw the monkey ramping82 on the roof.
“He’ll be all over the township in a minute if we don’t head him,” said Penfentenyou, leaping to his feet, and crashing into the garden. We headed him with pebbles83 till he retired84 through a window to the tuneful reminder85 that he had left a lot of little things behind him. As we passed the front door it swung open, and showed Jimmy the artist sitting at the bottom of a newly-cleaned staircase. He waggled his hands at us, and when we entered we saw that the man was stricken speechless. His eyes grew red — red like a ferret’s — and what little breath he had whistled shrilly86. At first we thought it was a fit, and then we saw that it was mirth — the inopportune mirth of the Artistic87 Temperament88.
The house palpitated to an infamous89 melody punctuated90 by the stump91 of the barrel-organ’s one leg, as Giuseppe, above, moved from room to room after his rebel slave. Now and again a floor shook a little under the combined rushes of Lord Lundie and Sir Christopher Tomling, who gave many and contradictory92 orders. But when they could they cursed Jimmy with splendid thoroughness.
“Have you anything to do with the house?” panted Jimmy at last. “Because we’re using it just now.” He gulped93. “And I’m ah — keeping cave.”
“All right,” said Penfentenyou, and shut the hall door.
“Jimmy, you unspeakable blackguard, Jimmy, you cur! You coward!” (Lord Lundie’s voice overbore the flood of melody.) “Come up here! Giussieppe’s saying something we don’t understand.”
Jimmy listened and interpreted between hiccups94.
“He says you’d better play the organ, Bubbles, and let him do the stalking. The monkey knows him.”
“By Jove, he’s quite right,” said Sir Christopher from the landing. “Take it, Bubbles, at once.”
“My God!” said Lord Lundie in horror.
The chase reverberated95 over our heads, from the attics96 to the first floor and back again. Bodies and Voices met in collision and argument, and once or twice the organ hit walls and doors. Then it broke forth97 in a new manner.
“He’s playing it,” said Jimmy. “I know his acute Justinian ear. Are you fond of music?”
“I think Lord Lundie plays very well for a beginner,” I ventured.
“Ah! That’s the trained legal intellect. Like mastering a brief. I haven’t got it.” He wiped his eyes and shook.
“Hi!” said Penfentenyou, looking through the stained glass window down the garden. “What’s that!”
A household removals van, in charge of four men, had halted at the gate. A husband and his wife householders beyond question — quavered irresolutely98 up the path. He looked tired. She was certainly cross. In all this haphazard99 world the last couple to understand a scientific experiment.
I laid hands on Jimmy — the clamour above drowning speech and with Penfentenyou’s aid, propped100 him against the window, that he should see.
He saw, nodded, fell as an umbrella can fall, and kneeling, beat his forehead on the shut door. Penfentenyou slid the bolt.
The furniture men reinforced the two figures on the path, and advanced, spreading generously.
“Hadn’t we better warn them up-stairs?” I suggested:
“No. I’ll die first!” said Jimmy. “I’m pretty near it now. Besides, they called me names.”
I turned from the Artist to the Administrator101.
“Coeteris paribus, I think we’d better be going,” said Penfentenyou, dealer102 in crises.
“Ta — take me with you,” said Jimmy. “I’ve no reputation to lose, but I’d like to watch ’em from — er — outside the picture.”
“There’s always a modus viviendi,” Penfentenyou murmured, and tiptoed along the hall to a back door, which he opened quite silently. We passed into a tangle103 of gooseberry bushes where, at his statesmanlike example, we crawled on all fours, and regained104 the hedge.
Here we lay up, secure in our alibi105.
“But your firm,”— the woman was wailing106 to the furniture removals men —“your firm promised me everything should be in yesterday. And it’s today! You should have been here yesterday!”
“The last tenants107 ain’t out yet, lydy,” said one of them.
Lord Lundie was rapidly improving in technique, though organ-grinding, unlike the Law, is more of a calling than a trade, and he hung occasionally on a dead centre. Giuseppe, I think, was singing, but I could not understand the drift of Sir Christopher’s remarks. They were Spanish.
The woman said something we did not catch.
“You might ‘ave sub-let it,” the man insisted. “Or your gentleman ’ere might.”
“But I didn’t. Send for the Police at once.”
“I wouldn’t do that, lydy. They’re only fruit pickers on a beano. They aren’t particular where they sleep.”
“D’you mean they’ve been sleeping there? I only had it cleaned last week. Get them out.”
“Oh, if you say so, we’ll ‘ave ’em out of it in two twos. Alf, fetch me the spare swingle-bar.”
“Don’t! You’ll knock the paint off the door. Get them out!”
“What the ‘ell else am I trying to do for you, lydy?” the man answered with pathos108; but the woman wheeled on her mate.
“Edward! They’re all drunk here, and they’re all mad there. Do something!” she said.
Edward took one short step forward, and sighed “Hullo!” in the direction of the turbulent house. The woman walked up and down, the very figure of Domestic Tragedy. The furniture men swayed a little on their heels, and —
“Got him!” The shout rang through all the windows at once. It was followed by a blood-hound-like bay from Sir Christopher, a maniacal109 prestissimo on the organ, and loud cries, for Jimmy. But Jimmy, at my side, rolled his congested eyeballs, owl-wise.
“I never knew them,” he said. “I’m an orphan110.”
The front, door opened, and the three came forth to short-lived triumph. I had never before seen a Law Lord dressed as for tennis, with a stump-leg barrel-organ strapped111 to his shoulder. But it is a shy bird in this plumage. Lord Lundie strove to disembarrass himself of his accoutrements much as an ill-trained Punch and Judy dog tries to escape backwards112 through his frilled collar. Sir Christopher, covered with limewash, cherished a bleeding thumb, and the almost crazy monkey tore at Giuseppe’s hair.
The men on both sides reeled, but the woman stood her ground. “Idiots!” she said, and once more, “Idiots!”
I could have gladdened a few convicts of my acquaintance with a photograph of Lord Lundie at that instant.
“Madam,” he began, wonderfully preserving the roll in his voice, “it was a monkey.”
Sir Christopher sucked his thumb and nodded.
“Take it away and go,” she replied. “Go away!”
I would have gone, and gladly, on this permission, but these still strong men must ever be justifying113 themselves. Lord Lundie turned to the husband, who for the first time spoke.
“I have rented this house. I am moving in,” he said.
“We ought to have been in yesterday,” the woman interrupted.
“Yes. We ought to have been in yesterday. Have you slept there overnight?” said the man peevishly114.
“No; I assure you we haven’t,” said Lord Lundie.
“Then go away. Go quite away,” cried the woman.
They went — in single file down the path. They went silently, restrapping the organ on its wheels, and rechaining the monkey to the organ.
“Damn it all!” said Penfentenyou. “They do face the music, and they do stick by each other in private life!”
“Ties of Common Funk,” I answered. Giuseppe ran to the gate and fled back to the possible world. Lord Lundie and Sir Christopher, constrained115 by tradition, paced slowly.
Then it came to pass that the woman, who walked behind them, lifted up her eyes, and beheld116 the tree which they had dressed.
“Stop!” she called; and they stopped. “Who did that?”
There was no answer. The Eternal Bad Boy in every man hung its head before the Eternal Mother in every woman.
“Who put these disgusting things there?” she repeated.
Suddenly Penfentenyou, Premier of his Colony in all but name, left Jimmy and me, and appeared at the gate. (If he is not turned out of office, that is how he will appear on the Day of Armageddon.)
“Well done you!” he cried zealously117, and doffed118 his hat to the woman. “Have you any children, madam?” he demanded.
“Yes, two. They should have been here today. The firm promised —”
“Then we’re not a minute too soon. That monkey escaped. It was a very dangerous beast. ‘Might have frightened your children into fits. All the organ-grinder’s fault! A most lucky thing these gentlemen caught it when they did. I hope you aren’t badly mauled, Sir Christopher?” Shaken as I was (I wanted to get away and laugh) I could not but admire the scoundrel’s consummate119 tact120 in leading his second highest trump14. An ass8 would have introduced Lord Lundie and they would not have believed him.
It took the trick. The couple smiled, and gave respectful thanks for their deliverance by such hands from such perils121.
“Not in the least,” said Lord Lundie. “Anybody — any father would have done as much, and pray don’t apologize your mistake was quite natural.” A furniture man sniggered here, and Lord Lundie rolled an Eye of Doom122 on their ranks. “By the way, if you have trouble with these persons — they seem to have taken as much as is good for them — please let me know. Er — Good morning!”
They turned into the lane.
“Heavens!” said Jimmy, brushing himself down. “Who’s that real man with the real head?” and we hurried after them, for they were running unsteadily, squeaking123 like rabbits as they ran. We overtook them in a little nut wood half a mile up the road, where they had turned aside, and were rolling. So we rolled with them, and ceased not till we had arrived at the extremity124 of exhaustion125.
“You — you saw it all, then?” said Lord Lundie, rebuttoning his nineteen-inch collar.
“I saw it was a vital question from the first,” responded Penfentenyou, and blew his nose.
“It was. By the way, d’you mind telling me your name?”
Summa. Penfentenyou’s Great Idea has gone through, a little chipped at the edges, but in fine and far-reaching shape. His Opposite Number worked at it like a mule126 — a bewildered mule, beaten from behind, coaxed127 from in front, and propped on either soft side by Lord Lundie of the compressed mouth and the searing tongue.
Sir Christopher Tomling has been ravished from the Argentine, where, after all, he was but preparing trade-routes for hostile peoples, and now adorns128 the forefront of Penfentenyou’s Advisory129 Board. This was an unforeseen extra, as was Jimmy’s gratis full-length —(it will be in this year’s Academy) of Penfentenyou, who has returned to his own place.
Now and again, from afar off, between the slam and bump of his shifting scenery, the glare of his manipulated limelight, and the controlled rolling of his thunder-drums, I catch his voice, lifted in encouragement and advice to his fellow-countrymen. He is quite sound on Ties of Sentiment, and — alone of Colonial Statesmen ventures to talk of the Ties of Common Funk.
Herein I have my reward.
收听单词发音 |
1
nominally
|
|
| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
portfolio
|
|
| n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
premier
|
|
| adj.首要的；n.总理，首相 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
idol
|
|
| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
creed
|
|
| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
ingratitude
|
|
| n.忘恩负义 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
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： |
|
|
|
|
8
ass
|
|
| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
rampant
|
|
| adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
ram
|
|
| (random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
placid
|
|
| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
baker
|
|
| n.面包师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
credence
|
|
| n.信用，祭器台，供桌，凭证 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
trump
|
|
| n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
trumpeted
|
|
| 大声说出或宣告（trumpet的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
gratis
|
|
| adj.免费的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
naval
|
|
| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
bind
|
|
| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
wreck
|
|
| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
decency
|
|
| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
decadence
|
|
| n.衰落，颓废 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
villa
|
|
| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
stencilled
|
|
| v.用模板印（文字或图案）( stencil的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
parable
|
|
| n.寓言，比喻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
brutes
|
|
| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
initiated
|
|
| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
grievance
|
|
| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
slate
|
|
| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
magenta
|
|
| n..紫红色（的染料）；adj.紫红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
foliage
|
|
| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
exquisitely
|
|
| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
replete
|
|
| adj.饱满的，塞满的；n.贮蜜蚁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
amenities
|
|
| n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
transpire
|
|
| v.(使)蒸发，(使)排出 ；泄露，公开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
farmhouse
|
|
| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
sleet
|
|
| n.雨雪；v.下雨雪，下冰雹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
ascended
|
|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
ascent
|
|
| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
squeaks
|
|
| n.短促的尖叫声，吱吱声( squeak的名词复数 )v.短促地尖叫( squeak的第三人称单数 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
lesser
|
|
| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
vitality
|
|
| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
gasped
|
|
| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
thicket
|
|
| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
flannels
|
|
| 法兰绒男裤； 法兰绒( flannel的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
swell
|
|
| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
futile
|
|
| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
delicacy
|
|
| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
trot
|
|
| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
wary
|
|
| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
malignant
|
|
| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
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： |
|
|
|
|
54
proprietor
|
|
| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
jaw
|
|
| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
contractor
|
|
| n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
impale
|
|
| v.用尖物刺某人、某物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
capering
|
|
| v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的现在分词 )；蹦蹦跳跳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
onward
|
|
| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
lure
|
|
| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
ignoble
|
|
| adj.不光彩的，卑鄙的；可耻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
ornamented
|
|
| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
pricked
|
|
| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
hampered
|
|
| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
vertical
|
|
| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
flannelled
|
|
| 穿法兰绒衣服的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
67
puckered
|
|
| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
chestnut
|
|
| n.栗树，栗子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
curbed
|
|
| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
earrings
|
|
| n.耳环( earring的名词复数 )；耳坠子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
yearning
|
|
| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
spiked
|
|
| adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
ethics
|
|
| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
plumbing
|
|
| n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
infancy
|
|
| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
lute
|
|
| n.琵琶，鲁特琴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
recoiling
|
|
| v.畏缩( recoil的现在分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
mechanism
|
|
| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
strap
|
|
| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
whoop
|
|
| n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
ramping
|
|
| 土堤斜坡( ramp的现在分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
pebbles
|
|
| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
reminder
|
|
| n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
shrilly
|
|
| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
artistic
|
|
| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
temperament
|
|
| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
infamous
|
|
| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
punctuated
|
|
| v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 )；不时打断某事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
stump
|
|
| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
contradictory
|
|
| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
gulped
|
|
| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
hiccups
|
|
| n.嗝( hiccup的名词复数 )；连续地打嗝；暂时性的小问题；短暂的停顿v.嗝( hiccup的第三人称单数 )；连续地打嗝；暂时性的小问题；短暂的停顿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
reverberated
|
|
| 回响，回荡( reverberate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
attics
|
|
| n. 阁楼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
irresolutely
|
|
| adv.优柔寡断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
haphazard
|
|
| adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
propped
|
|
| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
administrator
|
|
| n.经营管理者，行政官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
dealer
|
|
| n.商人，贩子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
tangle
|
|
| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
regained
|
|
| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
alibi
|
|
| n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
wailing
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
tenants
|
|
| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
pathos
|
|
| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
maniacal
|
|
| adj.发疯的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
orphan
|
|
| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
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： |
|
|
|
|
112
backwards
|
|
| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
justifying
|
|
| 证明…有理( justify的现在分词 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
peevishly
|
|
| adv．暴躁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
constrained
|
|
| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
beheld
|
|
| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
zealously
|
|
| adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
doffed
|
|
| v.脱去，（尤指）脱帽( doff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
consummate
|
|
| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
tact
|
|
| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
perils
|
|
| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
doom
|
|
| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
squeaking
|
|
| v.短促地尖叫( squeak的现在分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
extremity
|
|
| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
exhaustion
|
|
| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
mule
|
|
| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
coaxed
|
|
| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
adorns
|
|
| 装饰，佩带( adorn的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
advisory
|
|
| adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |