I took one up in my hand and examined it more carefully; though the catching19 it wasn't by any means so easy as it sounds on paper, for these perambulatory fish are thoroughly20 inured21 to the dangers and difficulties of dry land, and can get out of your way when you try to capture them with a rapidity and dexterity22 which are truly surprising. The little creatures are very pretty, well-formed catfish23, with bright, intelligent eyes, and a body armed all over, like the armadillo's, with a continuous coat of hard and horny mail. This coat is not formed of scales, as in most fish, but of toughened skin, as in crocodiles and alligators24, arranged in two overlapping25 rows of imbricated shields, exactly like the round tiles so common on the roofs of Italian cottages. The fish walks, or rather shambles26 along ungracefully, by the shuffling movement of a pair of stiff spines27 placed close behind his head, aided by the steering28 action of his tail, and a constant snake-like wriggling29 motion of his entire body. Leg spines of somewhat the same sort are found in the common English gurnard, and in this age of Aquariums30 and Fisheries Exhibitions, most adult persons above the age of twenty-one years must have observed the gurnards themselves crawling along suspiciously by their aid at the bottom of a tank at the Crystal Palace or the polyonymous South Kensington building. But while the European gurnard only uses his substitutes for legs on the bed of the ocean, my itinerant31 tropical acquaintance (his name, I regret to say, is Callichthys) uses them boldly for terrestrial locomotion32 across the dry lowlands of his native country. And while the gurnard has no less than six of these pro-legs, the American land fish has only a single pair with which to accomplish his arduous33 journeys. If this be considered as a point of inferiority in the armour-plated American species, we must remember that while beetles34 and grasshoppers35 have as many as six legs apiece, man, the head and crown of things, is content to scramble36 through life ungracefully with no more than two.
There are a great many tropical American pond-fish which share these adventurous37 gipsy habits of the pretty little Callichthys. Though they belong to two distinct groups, otherwise unconnected, the circumstances of the country they inhabit have induced in both families this queer fashion of waddling38 out courageously39 on dry land, and going on voyages of exploration in search of fresh ponds and shallows new, somewhere in the neighbourhood of their late residence. One kind in particular, the Brazilian Doras, takes land journeys of such surprising length, that he often spends several nights on the way, and the Indians who meet the wandering bands during their migrations40 fill several baskets full of the prey41 thus dropped upon them, as it were, from the kindly42 clouds.
Both Doras and Callichthys, too, are well provided with means of defence against the enemies they may chance to meet during their terrestrial excursions; for in both kinds there are the same bony shields along the sides, securing the little travellers, as far as possible, from attack on the part of hungry piscivorous animals. Doras further utilises its powers of living out of water by going ashore43 to fetch dry leaves, with which it builds itself a regular nest, like a bird's, at the beginning of the rainy season. In this nest the affectionate parents carefully cover up their eggs, the hope of the race, and watch over them with the utmost attention. Many other fish build nests in the water, of materials naturally found at the bottom; but Doras, I believe, is the only one that builds them on the beach, of materials sought for on the dry land.
Such amphibious habits on the part of certain tropical fish are easy enough to explain by the fashionable clue of 'adaptation to environment.' Ponds are always very likely to dry up, and so the animals that frequent ponds are usually capable of bearing a very long deprivation44 of water. Indeed, our evolutionists generally hold that land animals have in every case sprung from pond animals which have gradually adapted themselves to do without water altogether. Life, according to this theory, began in the ocean, spread up the estuaries45 into the greater rivers, thence extended to the brooks47 and lakes, and finally migrated to the ponds, puddles48, swamps and marshes49, whence it took at last, by tentative degrees, to the solid shore, the plains, and the mountains. Certainly the tenacity50 of life shown by pond animals is very remarkable51. Our own English carp bury themselves deeply in the mud in winter, and there remain in a dormant52 condition many months entirely53 without food. During this long hibernating54 period, they can be preserved alive for a considerable time out of water, especially if their gills are, from time to time, slightly moistened. They may then be sent to any address by parcels post, packed in wet moss56, without serious damage to their constitution; though, according to Dr. Günther, these dissipated products of civilisation57 prefer to have a piece of bread steeped in brandy put into their mouths to sustain them beforehand. In Holland, where the carp are not so sophisticated, they are often kept the whole winter through, hung up in a net to keep them from freezing. At first they require to be slightly wetted from time to time, just to acclimatise them gradually to so dry an existence; but after a while they adapt themselves cheerfully to their altered circumstances, and feed on an occasional frugal58 meal of bread and milk with Christian59 resignation.
Of all land-frequenting fish, however, by far the most famous is the so-called climbing perch60 of India, which not only walks bodily out of the water, but even climbs trees by means of special spines, near the head and tail, so arranged as to stick into the bark and enable it to wriggle61 its way up awkwardly, something after the same fashion as the 'looping' of caterpillars62. The tree-climber is a small scaly63 fish, seldom more than seven inches long; but it has developed a special breathing apparatus64 to enable it to keep up the stock of oxygen on its terrestrial excursions, which may be regarded as to some extent the exact converse65 of the means employed by divers66 to supply themselves with air under water. Just above the gills, which form of course its natural hereditary67 breathing apparatus, the climbing perch has invented a new and wholly original water chamber68, containing within it a frilled bony organ, which enables it to extract oxygen from the stored-up water during the course of its a?rial peregrinations. While on shore it picks up small insects, worms, and grubs; but it also has vegetarian69 tastes of its own, and does not despise fruits and berries. The Indian jugglers tame the climbing perches70 and carry them about with them as part of their stock in trade; their ability to live for a long time out of water makes them useful confederates in many small tricks which seem very wonderful to people accustomed to believe that fish die almost at once when taken out of their native element.
The Indian snakehead is a closely allied71 species, common in the shallow ponds and fresh-water tanks of India, where holy Brahmans bathe and drink and die and are buried, and most of which dry up entirely during the dry season. The snakehead, therefore, has similarly accommodated himself to this annual peculiarity72 in his local habitation by acquiring a special chamber for retaining water to moisten his gills throughout his long deprivation of that prime necessary. He lives composedly in semi-fluid mud, or lies torpid74 in the hard baked clay at the bottom of the dry tank from which all the water has utterly75 evaporated in the drought of summer. As long as the mud remains76 soft enough to allow the fish to rise slowly through it, they come to the surface every now and then to take in a good hearty77 gulp78 of air, exactly as gold fish do in England when confined with thoughtless or ignorant cruelty in a glass globe too small to provide sufficient oxygen for their respiration79. But when the mud hardens entirely they hibernate80 or rather ?stivate, in a dormant condition, until the bursting of the monsoon81 fills the ponds once more with the welcome water. Even in the perfectly82 dry state, however, they probably manage to get a little air every now and again through the numerous chinks and fissures83 in the sun-baked mud. Our Aryan brother then goes a-fishing playfully with a spade and bucket, and digs the snakehead in this mean fashion out of his comfortable lair84, with an ultimate view to the manufacture of pillau. In Burmah, indeed, while the mud is still soft, the ingenious Burmese catch the helpless creatures by a still meaner and more unsportsmanlike device. They spread a large cloth over the slimy ooze85 where the snakeheads lie buried, and so cut off entirely for the moment their supply of oxygen. The poor fish, half-asphyxiated by this unkind treatment, come up gasping86 to the surface under the cloth in search of fresh air, and are then easily caught with the hand and tossed into baskets by the degenerate87 Buddhists88.
Old Anglo-Indians even say that some of these mud haunting Oriental fish will survive for many years in a state of suspended animation89, and that when ponds or jhíls which are known to have been dry for several successive seasons are suddenly filled by heavy rains, they are found to be swarming90 at once with full-grown snakeheads released in a moment from what I may venture to call their living tomb in the hardened bottom. Whether such statements are absolutely true or not the present deponent would be loth to decide dogmatically; but, if we were implicitly91 to swallow everything that the old Anglo-Indian in his simplicity92 assures us he has seen—well, the clergy93 would have no further cause any longer to deplore94 the growing scepticism and unbelief of these latter unfaithful ages.
This habit of lying in the mud and there becoming torpid may be looked upon as a natural alternative to the habit of migrating across country, when your pond dries up, in search of larger and more permanent sheets of water. Some fish solve the problem how to get through the dry season in one of these two alternative fashions and some in the other. In flat countries where small ponds and tanks alone exist, the burying plan is almost universal; in plains traversed by large rivers or containing considerable scattered95 lakes, the migratory96 system finds greater favour with the piscine population.
One tropical species which adopts the tactics of hiding itself in the hard clay, the African mud-fish, is specially55 interesting to us human beings on two accounts—first, because, unlike almost all other kinds of fish, it possesses lungs as well as gills; and, secondly97, because it forms an intermediate link between the true fish and the frogs or amphibians98, and therefore stands in all probability in the direct line of human descent, being the living representative of one among our own remote and early ancestors. Scientific interest and filial piety100 ought alike to secure our attention for the African mud-fish. It lives its amphibious life among the rice-fields on the Nile, the Zambesi, and the Gambia, and is so greatly given to a terrestrial existence that its swim-bladder has become porous101 and cellular102, so as to be modified into a pair of true and serviceable lungs. In fact, the lungs themselves in all the higher animals are merely the swim-bladders of fish, slightly altered so as to perform a new but closely allied office. The mud-fish is common enough in all the larger English aquariums, owing to a convenient habit in which it indulges, and which permits it to be readily conveyed to all parts of the globe on the same principle as the vans for furniture. When the dry season comes on and the rice-fields are reduced to banks of baking mud, the mud-fish retire to the bottom of their pools, where they form for themselves a sort of cocoon103 of hardened clay, lined with mucus, and with a hole at each end to admit the air; and in this snug104 retreat they remain torpid till the return of wet weather. As the fish usually reach a length of three or four feet, the cocoons105 are of course by no means easy to transport entire. Nevertheless the natives manage to dig them up whole, fish and all; and if the capsules are not broken, the unconscious inmates106 can be sent across by steamer to Europe with perfect safety. Their astonishment107 when they finally wake up after their long slumber108, and find themselves inspecting the British public, as introduced to them by Mr. Farini, through a sheet of plate-glass, must be profound and interesting.
In England itself, on the other hand, we have at least one kind of fish which exemplifies the opposite or migratory solution of the dry pond problem, and that is our familiar friend the common eel. The ways of eels109 are indeed mysterious, for nobody has ever yet succeeded in discovering where, when, or how they manage to spawn110; nobody has ever yet seen an eel's egg, or caught a female eel in the spawning111 condition, or even observed a really adult male or female specimen of perfect development. All the eels ever found in fresh water are immature112 and undeveloped creatures. But eels do certainly spawn somewhere or other in the deep sea, and every year, in the course of the summer, flocks of young ones, known as elvers, ascend113 the rivers in enormous quantities, like a vast army under numberless leaders. At each tributary114 or affluent115, be it river, brook46, stream, or ditch, a proportionate detachment of the main body is given off to explore the various branches, while the central force wriggles116 its way up the chief channel, regardless of obstacles, with undiminished vigour117. When the young elvers come to a weir118, a wall, a floodgate, or a lasher119, they simply squirm their way up the perpendicular120 barrier with indescribable wrigglings, as if they were wholly unacquainted, physically121 as well as mentally, with Newton's magnificent discovery of gravitation. Nothing stops them; they go wherever water is to be found; and though millions perish hopelessly in the attempt, millions more survive in the end to attain122 their goal in the upper reaches. They even seem to scent99 ponds or lakes mysteriously, at a distance, and will strike boldly straight across country, to sheets of water wholly cut off from communication with the river which forms their chief highway.
The full-grown eels are also given to journeying across country in a more sober, sedate123, and dignified124 manner, as becomes fish which have fully15 arrived at years, or rather months, of discretion125. When the ponds in which they live dry up in summer, they make in a bee-line for the nearest sheet of fresh water, whose direction and distance they appear to know intuitively, through some strange instinctive126 geographical127 faculty128. On their way across country, they do not despise the succulent rat, whom they swallow whole when caught with great gusto. To keep their gills wet during these excursions, eels have the power of distending129 the skin on each side of the neck, just below the head, so as to form a big pouch130 or swelling131. This pouch they fill with water, to carry a good supply along with them, until they reach the ponds for which they are making. It is the pouch alone that enables eels to live so long out of water under all circumstances, and so incidentally exposes them to the disagreeable experience of getting skinned alive, which it is to be feared still forms the fate of most of those that fall into the clutches of the human species.
A far more singular walking fish than any of these is the odd creature that rejoices (unfortunately) in the very classical surname of Periophthalmus, which is, being interpreted, Stare-about. (If he had a recognised English name of his own, I would gladly give it; but as he hasn't, and as it is clearly necessary to call him something, I fear we must stick to the somewhat alarming scientific nomenclature.) Periophthalmus, then, is an odd fish of the tropical Pacific shores, with a pair of very distinct forelegs (theoretically described as modified pectoral fins), and with two goggle132 eyes, which he can protrude133 at pleasure right outside the sockets134, so as to look in whatever direction he chooses, without even taking the trouble to turn his head to left or right, backward or forward. At ebb135 tide this singular peripatetic136 goby literally137 walks straight out of the water, and promenades138 the bare beach erect139 on two legs, in search of small crabs140 and other stray marine141 animals left behind by the receding142 waters. If you try to catch him, he hops143 away briskly much like a frog, and stares back at you grimly over his left shoulder, with his squinting144 optics. So completely adapted is he for this amphibious long-shore existence, that his big eyes, unlike those of most other fish, are formed for seeing in the air as well as in the water. Nothing can be more ludicrous than to watch him suddenly thrusting these very movable orbs145 right out of their sockets like a pair of telescopes, and twisting them round in all directions so as to see in front, behind, on top, and below, in one delightful146 circular sweep.
There is also a certain curious tropical American carp which, though it hardly deserves to be considered in the strictest sense as a fish out of water, yet manages to fall nearly half-way under that peculiar73 category, for it always swims with its head partly above the surface and partly below. But the funniest thing in this queer arrangement is the fact that one half of each eye is out in the air and the other half is beneath in the water. Accordingly, the eye is divided horizontally by a dark strip into two distinct and unlike portions, the upper one of which has a pupil adapted to vision in the air alone, while the lower is adapted to seeing in the water only. The fish, in fact, always swims with its eye half out of the water, and it can see as well on dry land as in its native ocean. Its name is Anableps, but in all probability it does not wish the fact to be generally known.
The flying fish are fish out of water in a somewhat different and more transitory sense. Their a?rial excursions are brief and rapid; they can only fly a very little way, and have soon to take once more for safety to their own more natural and permanent element. More than forty kinds of the family are known, in appearance very much like English herrings, but with the front fins expanded and modified into veritable wings. It is fashionable nowadays among naturalists147 to assert that the flying fish don't fly; that they merely jump horizontally out of the water with a powerful impulse, and fall again as soon as the force of the first impetus148 is entirely spent. When men endeavour to persuade you to such folly149, believe them not. For my own part, I have seen the flying fish fly—deliberately fly, and flutter, and rise again, and change the direction of their flight in mid-air, exactly after the fashion of a big dragonfly. If the other people who have watched them haven't succeeded in seeing them fly, that is their own fault, or at least their own misfortune; perhaps their eyes weren't quick enough to catch the rapid, though to me perfectly recognisable, hovering150 and fluttering of the gauze-like wings; but I have seen them myself, and I maintain that on such a question one piece of positive evidence is a great deal better than a hundred negative. The testimony151 of all the witnesses who didn't see the murder committed is as nothing compared with the single testimony of the one man who really did see it. And in this case I have met with many other quick observers who fully agreed with me, against the weight of scientific opinion, that they have seen the flying fish really fly with their own eyes, and no mistake about it. The German professors, indeed, all think otherwise; but then the German professors all wear green spectacles, which are the outward and visible sign of 'blinded eyesight poring over miserable152 books.' The unsophisticated vision of the noble British seaman153 is unanimously with me on the matter of the reality of the fishes' flight.
Another group of very interesting fish out of water are the flying gurnards, common enough in the Mediterranean154 and the tropical Atlantic. They are much heavier and bigger creatures than the true flying fish of the herring type, being often a foot and a half long, and their wings are much larger in proportion, though not, I think, really so powerful as those of their pretty little silvery rivals. All the flying fish fly only of necessity, not from choice. They leave the water when pursued by their enemies, or when frightened by the rapid approach of a big steamer. So swiftly do they fly, however, that they can far outstrip155 a ship going at the rate of ten knots an hour; and I have often watched one keep ahead of a great Pacific liner under full steam for many minutes together in quick successive flights of three or four hundred feet each. Oddly enough, they can fly further against the wind than before it—a fact acknowledged even by the spectacled Germans themselves, and very hard indeed to reconcile with the orthodox belief that they are not flying at all, but only jumping. I don't know whether the flying gurnards are good eating or not; but the silvery flying fish are caught for market (sad desecration156 of the poetry of nature!) in the Windward Islands, and when nicely fried in egg and bread-crumb are really quite as good for practical purposes as smelts157 or whiting or any other prosaic158 European substitute.
On the whole, it will be clear, I think, to the impartial159 reader from this rapid survey that the helplessness and awkwardness of a fish out of water has been much exaggerated by the thoughtless generalisation of unscientific humanity. Granting, for argument's sake, that most fish prefer the water, as a matter of abstract predilection160, to the dry land, it must be admitted per contra that many fish cut a much better figure on terra firma than most of their critics themselves would cut in mid-ocean. There are fish that wriggle across country intrepidly161 with the dexterity and agility162 of the most accomplished163 snakes; there are fish that walk about on open sand-banks, semi-erect on two legs, as easily as lizards; there are fish that hop7 and skip on tail and fins in a manner that the celebrated164 jumping frog himself might have observed with envy; and there are fish that fly through the air of heaven with a grace and swiftness that would put to shame innumerable species among their feathered competitors. Nay165, there are even fish, like some kinds of eels and the African mud-fish, that scarcely live in the water at all, but merely frequent wet and marshy166 places, where they lie snugly167 in the soft ooze and damp earth that line the bottom. If I have only succeeded, therefore, in relieving the mind of one sensitive and retiring fish from the absurd obloquy168 cast upon its appearance when it ventures away for awhile from its proper element, then, in the pathetic and prophetic words borrowed from a thousand uncut prefaces, this work will not, I trust, have been written in vain.
点击收听单词发音
1 latitudes | |
纬度 | |
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2 tangled | |
adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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3 lagoons | |
n.污水池( lagoon的名词复数 );潟湖;(大湖或江河附近的)小而浅的淡水湖;温泉形成的池塘 | |
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4 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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5 scuttling | |
n.船底穿孔,打开通海阀(沉船用)v.使船沉没( scuttle的现在分词 );快跑,急走 | |
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6 specimen | |
n.样本,标本 | |
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7 hop | |
n.单脚跳,跳跃;vi.单脚跳,跳跃;着手做某事;vt.跳跃,跃过 | |
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8 lizards | |
n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 ) | |
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9 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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10 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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11 shuffling | |
adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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12 scurrying | |
v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
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13 eel | |
n.鳗鲡 | |
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14 serpentine | |
adj.蜿蜒的,弯曲的 | |
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15 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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16 fins | |
[医]散热片;鱼鳍;飞边;鸭掌 | |
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17 spiny | |
adj.多刺的,刺状的;n.多刺的东西 | |
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18 hindrance | |
n.妨碍,障碍 | |
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19 catching | |
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住 | |
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20 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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21 inured | |
adj.坚强的,习惯的 | |
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22 dexterity | |
n.(手的)灵巧,灵活 | |
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23 catfish | |
n.鲶鱼 | |
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24 alligators | |
n.短吻鳄( alligator的名词复数 ) | |
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25 overlapping | |
adj./n.交迭(的) | |
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26 shambles | |
n.混乱之处;废墟 | |
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27 spines | |
n.脊柱( spine的名词复数 );脊椎;(动植物的)刺;书脊 | |
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28 steering | |
n.操舵装置 | |
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29 wriggling | |
v.扭动,蠕动,蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 );(使身体某一部位)扭动;耍滑不做,逃避(应做的事等);蠕蠕 | |
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30 aquariums | |
n.养鱼缸,水族馆( aquarium的名词复数 ) | |
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31 itinerant | |
adj.巡回的;流动的 | |
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32 locomotion | |
n.运动,移动 | |
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33 arduous | |
adj.艰苦的,费力的,陡峭的 | |
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34 beetles | |
n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 ) | |
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35 grasshoppers | |
n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 );蝗虫;蚂蚱;(孩子)矮小的 | |
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36 scramble | |
v.爬行,攀爬,杂乱蔓延,碎片,片段,废料 | |
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37 adventurous | |
adj.爱冒险的;惊心动魄的,惊险的,刺激的 | |
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38 waddling | |
v.(像鸭子一样)摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的现在分词 ) | |
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39 courageously | |
ad.勇敢地,无畏地 | |
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40 migrations | |
n.迁移,移居( migration的名词复数 ) | |
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41 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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42 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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43 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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44 deprivation | |
n.匮乏;丧失;夺去,贫困 | |
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45 estuaries | |
(江河入海的)河口,河口湾( estuary的名词复数 ) | |
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46 brook | |
n.小河,溪;v.忍受,容让 | |
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47 brooks | |
n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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48 puddles | |
n.水坑, (尤指道路上的)雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 ) | |
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49 marshes | |
n.沼泽,湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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50 tenacity | |
n.坚韧 | |
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51 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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52 dormant | |
adj.暂停活动的;休眠的;潜伏的 | |
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53 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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54 hibernating | |
(某些动物)冬眠,蛰伏( hibernate的现在分词 ) | |
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55 specially | |
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地 | |
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56 moss | |
n.苔,藓,地衣 | |
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57 civilisation | |
n.文明,文化,开化,教化 | |
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58 frugal | |
adj.节俭的,节约的,少量的,微量的 | |
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59 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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60 perch | |
n.栖木,高位,杆;v.栖息,就位,位于 | |
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61 wriggle | |
v./n.蠕动,扭动;蜿蜒 | |
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62 caterpillars | |
n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 );履带 | |
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63 scaly | |
adj.鱼鳞状的;干燥粗糙的 | |
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64 apparatus | |
n.装置,器械;器具,设备 | |
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65 converse | |
vi.谈话,谈天,闲聊;adv.相反的,相反 | |
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66 divers | |
adj.不同的;种种的 | |
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67 hereditary | |
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的 | |
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68 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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69 vegetarian | |
n.素食者;adj.素食的 | |
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70 perches | |
栖息处( perch的名词复数 ); 栖枝; 高处; 鲈鱼 | |
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71 allied | |
adj.协约国的;同盟国的 | |
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72 peculiarity | |
n.独特性,特色;特殊的东西;怪癖 | |
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73 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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74 torpid | |
adj.麻痹的,麻木的,迟钝的 | |
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75 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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76 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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77 hearty | |
adj.热情友好的;衷心的;尽情的,纵情的 | |
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78 gulp | |
vt.吞咽,大口地吸(气);vi.哽住;n.吞咽 | |
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79 respiration | |
n.呼吸作用;一次呼吸;植物光合作用 | |
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80 hibernate | |
v.冬眠,蛰伏 | |
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81 monsoon | |
n.季雨,季风,大雨 | |
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82 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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83 fissures | |
n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 );裂伤;分歧;分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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84 lair | |
n.野兽的巢穴;躲藏处 | |
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85 ooze | |
n.软泥,渗出物;vi.渗出,泄漏;vt.慢慢渗出,流露 | |
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86 gasping | |
adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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87 degenerate | |
v.退步,堕落;adj.退步的,堕落的;n.堕落者 | |
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88 Buddhists | |
n.佛教徒( Buddhist的名词复数 ) | |
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89 animation | |
n.活泼,兴奋,卡通片/动画片的制作 | |
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90 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 | |
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91 implicitly | |
adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
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92 simplicity | |
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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93 clergy | |
n.[总称]牧师,神职人员 | |
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94 deplore | |
vt.哀叹,对...深感遗憾 | |
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95 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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96 migratory | |
n.候鸟,迁移 | |
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97 secondly | |
adv.第二,其次 | |
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98 amphibians | |
两栖动物( amphibian的名词复数 ); 水陆两用车; 水旱两生植物; 水陆两用飞行器 | |
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99 scent | |
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉 | |
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100 piety | |
n.虔诚,虔敬 | |
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101 porous | |
adj.可渗透的,多孔的 | |
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102 cellular | |
adj.移动的;细胞的,由细胞组成的 | |
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103 cocoon | |
n.茧 | |
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104 snug | |
adj.温暖舒适的,合身的,安全的;v.使整洁干净,舒适地依靠,紧贴;n.(英)酒吧里的私房 | |
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105 cocoons | |
n.茧,蚕茧( cocoon的名词复数 )v.茧,蚕茧( cocoon的第三人称单数 ) | |
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106 inmates | |
n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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107 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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108 slumber | |
n.睡眠,沉睡状态 | |
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109 eels | |
abbr. 电子发射器定位系统(=electronic emitter location system) | |
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110 spawn | |
n.卵,产物,后代,结果;vt.产卵,种菌丝于,产生,造成;vi.产卵,大量生产 | |
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111 spawning | |
产卵 | |
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112 immature | |
adj.未成熟的,发育未全的,未充分发展的 | |
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113 ascend | |
vi.渐渐上升,升高;vt.攀登,登上 | |
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114 tributary | |
n.支流;纳贡国;adj.附庸的;辅助的;支流的 | |
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115 affluent | |
adj.富裕的,富有的,丰富的,富饶的 | |
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116 wriggles | |
n.蠕动,扭动( wriggle的名词复数 )v.扭动,蠕动,蜿蜒行进( wriggle的第三人称单数 );(使身体某一部位)扭动;耍滑不做,逃避(应做的事等) | |
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117 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
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118 weir | |
n.堰堤,拦河坝 | |
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119 lasher | |
n.堰,堰下的水溏,鞭打者;装石工 | |
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120 perpendicular | |
adj.垂直的,直立的;n.垂直线,垂直的位置 | |
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121 physically | |
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律 | |
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122 attain | |
vt.达到,获得,完成 | |
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123 sedate | |
adj.沉着的,镇静的,安静的 | |
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124 dignified | |
a.可敬的,高贵的 | |
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125 discretion | |
n.谨慎;随意处理 | |
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126 instinctive | |
adj.(出于)本能的;直觉的;(出于)天性的 | |
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127 geographical | |
adj.地理的;地区(性)的 | |
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128 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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129 distending | |
v.(使)膨胀,肿胀( distend的现在分词 ) | |
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130 pouch | |
n.小袋,小包,囊状袋;vt.装...入袋中,用袋运输;vi.用袋送信件 | |
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131 swelling | |
n.肿胀 | |
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132 goggle | |
n.瞪眼,转动眼珠,护目镜;v.瞪眼看,转眼珠 | |
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133 protrude | |
v.使突出,伸出,突出 | |
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134 sockets | |
n.套接字,使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 );孔( socket的名词复数 );(电器上的)插口;托座;凹穴 | |
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135 ebb | |
vi.衰退,减退;n.处于低潮,处于衰退状态 | |
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136 peripatetic | |
adj.漫游的,逍遥派的,巡回的 | |
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137 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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138 promenades | |
n.人行道( promenade的名词复数 );散步场所;闲逛v.兜风( promenade的第三人称单数 ) | |
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139 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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140 crabs | |
n.蟹( crab的名词复数 );阴虱寄生病;蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 ) | |
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141 marine | |
adj.海的;海生的;航海的;海事的;n.水兵 | |
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142 receding | |
v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 );向后倾斜;自原处后退或避开别人的注视;尤指问题 | |
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143 hops | |
跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 ); 单足蹦跳; 齐足(或双足)跳行; 摘葎草花 | |
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144 squinting | |
斜视( squint的现在分词 ); 眯着眼睛; 瞟; 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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145 orbs | |
abbr.off-reservation boarding school 在校寄宿学校n.球,天体,圆形物( orb的名词复数 ) | |
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146 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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147 naturalists | |
n.博物学家( naturalist的名词复数 );(文学艺术的)自然主义者 | |
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148 impetus | |
n.推动,促进,刺激;推动力 | |
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149 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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150 hovering | |
鸟( hover的现在分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫 | |
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151 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
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152 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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153 seaman | |
n.海员,水手,水兵 | |
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154 Mediterranean | |
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的 | |
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155 outstrip | |
v.超过,跑过 | |
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156 desecration | |
n. 亵渎神圣, 污辱 | |
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157 smelts | |
v.熔炼,提炼(矿石)( smelt的第三人称单数 ) | |
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158 prosaic | |
adj.单调的,无趣的 | |
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159 impartial | |
adj.(in,to)公正的,无偏见的 | |
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160 predilection | |
n.偏好 | |
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161 intrepidly | |
adv.无畏地,勇猛地 | |
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162 agility | |
n.敏捷,活泼 | |
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163 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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164 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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165 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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166 marshy | |
adj.沼泽的 | |
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167 snugly | |
adv.紧贴地;贴身地;暖和舒适地;安适地 | |
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168 obloquy | |
n.斥责,大骂 | |
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