That man who can appreciate the feelings of one who has become suddenly bankrupt may understand the mental condition of those on board the Great Eastern when they were thus tossed from the pinnacle2 of joyous3 hope to the depths of dark despair. It was not, however, absolute despair. The cable was utterly4 useless indeed—insensate—but it was not broken. There was still the blessed possibility of picking it up and bringing it to life again.
That, however, was scarcely an appreciable5 comfort at the moment, and little could be seen or heard on board the Great Eastern save elongated6 faces and gloomy forebodings.
Ebenezer Smith and his confrères worked in the testing-room like Trojans. They connected and disconnected; they put in stops and took them out; they intensified8 currents to the extent of their anxieties they reduced them to the measure of their despair—nothing would do. The cable was apparently9 dead. In these circumstances picking-up was the only resource, and the apparatus10 for that purpose was again rigged up in the bows.
In the meantime the splice11 which had been made to connect the tanks was cut and examined, and the portions coiled in the fore7 and main tanks were found to be perfect—alive and well—but the part between ship and shore was speechless.
So was poor Robin12 Wright! After Mr Field—whose life-hope seemed to be doomed14 to disappointment—the blow was probably felt most severely15 by Robin. But Fortune seemed to be playfully testing the endurance of these cable-layers at that time, for, when the despair was at its worst, the tell-tale light reappeared on the index of the galvanometer, without rhyme or reason, calling forth16 a shout of joyful17 surprise, and putting an abrupt18 stoppage to the labours of the pickers-up!
They never found out what was the cause of that fault; but that was a small matter, for, with restored sensation in the cable-nerve, renewed communication with the shore, and resumed progress of the ship towards her goal, they could afford to smile at former troubles.
Joy and sorrow, shower and sunshine, fair weather and foul19, was at first the alternating portion of the cable-layers.
“I can’t believe my eyes!” said Robin to Jim Slagg, as they stood next day, during a leisure hour, close to the whirling wheels and never-ending cable, about 160 miles of which had been laid by that time. “Just look at the Terrible and Sphinx; the sea is now so heavy that they are thumping20 into the waves, burying their bows in foam21, while we are slipping along as steadily22 as a Thames steamer.”
“That’s true, sir,” answered Slagg, whose admiration23 for our hero’s enthusiastic and simple character increased as their intimacy24 was prolonged, and whose manner of address became proportionally more respectful, “She’s a steady little duck is the Great Eastern! she has got the advantage of length, you see, over other ships, an’ rides on two waves at a time, instead of wobblin’ in between ’em; but I raither think she’d roll a bit if she was to go along in the trough of the seas. Don’t the cable go out beautiful, too—just like a long-drawn eel1 with the consumption! Did you hear how deep the captain said it was hereabouts?”
“Yes, I heard him say it was a little short of two miles deep, so it has got a long way to sink before it reaches its oozy25 bed.”
“How d’ee know what sort o’ bed it’s got to lie on?” asked Slagg.
“Because,” said Robin, “the whole Atlantic where the cable is to lie has been carefully sounded long ago, and it is found that the ocean-bed here, which looks so like mud, is composed of millions of beautiful shells, so small that they cannot be distinguished26 by the naked eye. Of course, they have no creatures in them. It would seem that these shell-fish go about the ocean till they die, and then fall to the bottom like rain.” See note one.
“You don’t say so!” returned Slagg, who, being utterly uneducated, received suchlike information with charming surprise, and regarded Robin as a very mine of knowledge. “Well now, that beats cock-fighting. But, I say, how is it that the electricity works through the cable? I heerd one o’ your electrical fellers explaining to a landlubber t’other evenin’ that electricity could only run along wires when the circuit was closed, by which he meant to say that it would fly from a battery and travel along a wire ever so far, if only that wire was to turn right round and run back to the same battery again. Now, if that’s so, seems to me that when you’ve got your cable to Newfoundland you’ll have to run another one back again to Ireland before it’ll work.”
“Ah, Slagg, that would indeed be the case,” returned Robin, “were it not that we have discovered the important fact that the earth—the round globe on which we stand—itself acts the part of a grand conductor. So we have only to send down earth-wires at the two ends—one into the earth of Ireland, the other into the earth of Newfoundland, and straightway the circuit is closed, and the electricity generated in our batteries passes through the cable from earth to earth.”
“Robin,” said Slagg doubtingly, “d’you expect me for to believe that?”
“Indeed I do,” said Robin simply.
“Then you’re greener than I took you for. No offence meant, but it’s my opinion some o’ these ’cute electricians has bin13 tryin’ the width of your swallow.”
“No, you are mistaken,” returned Robin earnestly; “I have read the fact in many books. The books differ in their opinions as to the causes and nature of the fact, but not as to the fact itself.”
It was evident that Robin looked upon this as an unanswerable argument, and his friend seemed perplexed27.
“Well, I don’ know how it is,” he said, after a pause, “but I do believe that this here wonderful electricity is fit for a’most anything, an’ that we’ll have it revoloosionising everything afore long—I do indeed.”
The intelligent reader who has noted28 the gigantic strides which we have recently made in electric lighting29 of late will observe that Slagg, unwittingly, had become almost prophetic at this time.
“We’re going along splendidly now,” said Mr Smith, coming up to Robin that evening while he was conversing30 with Slagg, who immediately retired31.—“Who is that youth? He seems very fond of you; I’ve observed that he makes up to you whenever you chance to be on deck together.”
“He is one of the steward’s lads, sir; I met him accidentally in the train; but I suspect the fondness is chiefly on my side. He was very kind to me when I first came on board, and I really think he is an intelligent, good fellow—a strange mixture of self-confidence and humility32. Sometimes, to hear him speak, you would think he knew everything; but at the same time he is always willing—indeed anxious—to listen and learn. He is a capital fighter too.”
Here Robin related the battle in the boys’ berth33, when Slagg thrashed Stumps34, whereat Mr Smith was much amused.
“So he seems a peculiar35 lad—modest, impudent36, teachable, kindly37, and warlike! Come below now, Robin, I have some work for you. Did you make the calculations I gave you yesterday?”
“Yes, sir, and they corresponded exactly with your own.”
“Good. Go fetch my little note-book: I left it in the grand saloon on the furthest aft seat, port side.”
Robin found the magnificent saloon of the big ship ringing with music and conversation. Joy over the recent restoration to health of the ailing38 cable, the comfortable stability of the ship in rough weather, and the satisfactory progress then being made, all contributed to raise the spirits of every one connected with the great work, so that, while some were amusing themselves at the piano, others were scattered39 about in little groups, discussing the profounder mysteries of electric science, or prophesying40 the speedy completion of the enterprise, while a few were speculating on the probability of sport in Newfoundland, or planning out journeys through the United States.
“There’s lots of game, I’m told, in Newfoundland,” said one of the youthful electricians, whose ruling passion—next to the subtle fluid—was the gun.
“So I’ve been told,” replied an elder and graver comrade. “Polar bears are quite common in the woods, and it is said that walrus41 are fond of roosting in the trees.”
“Yes, I have heard so,” returned the youthful sportsman, who, although young, was not to be caught with chaff42, “and the fishing, I hear, is also splendid. Salmon43 and cod44 are found swarming45 in the rivers by those who care for mild occupation, while really exciting sport is to be had in the great lakes of the interior, where there are plenty of fresh-water whales that take the fly.”
“The swan, you mean,” said another comrade. “The fly that is most killing46 among Newfoundland whales is a swan fastened whole to a shark hook—though a small boat’s anchor will do if you haven’t the right tackle.”
“Come, don’t talk nonsense, but let’s have a song!” said a brother electrician to the sporting youth.
“I never sing,” he replied, “except when hurt, and then I sing out. But see, our best musician has just seated himself at the instrument.”
“I don’t talk shop, Nimrod; call it the piano.”
Most of those present drew towards the musical corner, where Ebenezer Smith, having just entered the saloon in search of Robin, had been prevailed on to sit down and enliven the company. Robin, who had been delayed by difficulty in finding the note-book, stopped to listen.
Smith had a fair average voice and a vigorous manner.
“You wouldn’t object to hear the cook’s last?” asked Smith, running his fingers lightly over the keys.
“Of course not—go on,” chorused several voices.
“I had no idea,” lisped a simple youth, who was one of a small party of young gentlemen interested in engineering and science, who had been accommodated with a passage,—“I had no idea that our cook was a poet as well as an admirable chef de cuisine47.”
“Oh, it’s not our cook he means,” explained the sporting electrician; “Mr Smith refers to a certain sea-cook—or his son, I’m not sure which—who is chef des horse-marines.”
“Is there a chorus?” asked one.
“Of course there is,” replied Smith; “a sea-song without a chorus is like a kite without a tail—it is sure to fall flat, but the chorus is an old and well-known one—it is only the song that is new. Now then, clear your throats, gentlemen.”
Song—The Loss of the Nancy Lee.
I.
’Twas on a Friday morning that I went off,
An’ shipped in the Nancy Lee,
But that ship caught a cold and with one tremendous cough
Went slap to the bottom of the sea, the sea, the sea,
Went slap to the bottom of the sea.
Chorus.—Then the raging sea may roar,
An’ the stormy winds may blow,
And the landlubbers lie down below, below, below
And the landlubbers lie down below.
II.
An’ drove about the Ocean in mother o’ pearl cabs,
An’ dwelt in a cavern so blue.
Chorus.—Then the raging sea, etcetera.
III.
I soon forgot the sorrows o’ the world above
In the pleasures o’ the life below;
Queer fish they made up to me the want o’ human love,
As through the world o’ waters I did go, did go, did go;
As through the world o’ waters I did go.
Chorus.—Then the raging sea, etcetera.
IV.
An’ swung me up to the land,
An’ I never went to sea again, as everybody knows,
And as everybody well may understand, ’derstand, ’derstand,
And as everybody well may understand.
Chorus.—Then the raging sea, etcetera.
The plaudits with which this song was received were, it need scarcely be remarked, due more to the vigour53 of the chorus and the enthusiasm of the audience than to intrinsic merit. Even Robin Wright was carried off his legs for the moment, and, modest though he was, broke in at the chorus with such effect—his voice being shrill54 and clear—that, he unintentionally outyelled all the rest, and would have fled in consternation55 from the saloon if he had not been caught and forcibly detained by the sporting electrician, who demanded what right he had to raise his steam-whistle in that fashion.
“But I say, young Wright,” he added in a lower tone, leading our hero aside, “what’s this rumour56 I hear about a ghost in the steward’s cabin?”
“Oh! it is nothing to speak of,” replied Robin, with a laugh. “The lad they call Stumps got a fright—that’s all.”
“But that’s enough. Let us hear about it.”
“Well, I suppose you know,” said Robin, “that there’s a ghost in the Great Eastern.”
“No, I don’t know it from personal experience, but I have heard a report to that effect.”
“Well, I was down in Jim Slagg’s berth, having a chat with him about the nature of electric currents—for he has a very inquiring mind,—and somehow we diverged57 to ghosts, and began to talk of the ghost of the Great Eastern.
“‘I don’t believe in the Great Eastern ghost—no, nor in ghosts of any kind,’ said Stumps, who was sitting near us eating a bit of cheese.
“‘But I believe in ’em,’ said the boy Jeff, who was seated on the other side of the table, and looked at us so earnestly that we could scarce help smiling—though we didn’t feel in a smiling humour at the time, for it was getting dark, and we had got to talking in low tones and looking anxiously over our shoulders, you know—
“‘Oh yes, I know,’ replied the sportsman, with a laugh; ‘I have shuddered58 and grue-oo-ed many a time over ghost-stories. Well?’
“‘Because I hear one every night a’most when I go down into the dark places below to fetch things. There’s one particular spot where the ghost goes tap-tap-tapping continually.’
“‘Fiddlededee,’ said Stumps.
“‘Come down, and you shall hear it for yourself,’ said Jeff.
“Now, they say that Stumps is a coward, though he boasts a good deal—”
“You may say,” interrupted the sportsman, “that Stumps is a coward because he boasts a good deal. Boasting is often a sign of cowardice—though not always.”
“Well,” continued Robin, “being ashamed to draw back, I suppose, he agreed to accompany Jeff.
“‘Won’t you come too, Slagg?’ said Stumps.
“‘No; I don’t care a button for ghosts. Besides, I’m too busy, but Wright will go. There, don’t bother me!’ said Jim.
“I noticed, as I went last out of the room, that Slagg rose quickly and pulled a sheet off one of the beds. Afterwards, looking back, I saw him slip out and run down the passage in the opposite direction. I suspected he was about some mischief60, but said nothing.
“It was getting dark, as I have said, though not dark enough for lighting the lamps, and in some corners below it was as dark as midnight. To one of these places Jeff led us.
“‘Mind how you go now,’ whispered Jeff; ‘it’s here somewhere, and there’s a hole too—look-out—there it is!’
“‘What! the ghost?’ whispered Stumps, beginning to feel uneasy. To say truth, I began to feel uneasy myself without well knowing why. At that moment I fell over something, and came down with a crash that shook Stumps’s nerves completely out of order.
“‘I say, let’s go back,’ he muttered in a tremulous voice.
“‘No, no,’ whispered Jeff seizing Stumps by the arm with a sudden grip that made him give a short yelp61, ‘we are at the place now. It’s in this dark passage. Listen!’
“We all held our breath and listened. For a few seconds we heard nothing, but presently a slight tapping was heard.
“‘I’ve heard,’ whispered Jeff in a low tone, ‘that when the big ship was buildin’, one o’ the plate-riveters disappeared in some hole between the two skins o’ the ship hereabouts, and his comrades, not bein’ able to find him, were obliged at last to rivet62 him in, which they did so tight that even his ghost could not get out, so it goes on tappin’, as you hear, an’ is likely to go on tappin’ for ever.’
“‘Bosh!’ whispered Stumps; thus politely intimating his disbelief, but I felt him trembling all over notwithstanding.
“At that moment we saw a dim shadowy whitish object at the other end of the dark passage. ‘Wha’—wha’—what’s that?’ said I.
“Stumps gasped63. I heard his teeth chattering64, and I think his knees were knocking together. Jeff made no sound, and it was too dark to see his face. Suddenly the object rushed at us. There was no noise of footsteps—only a muffled65 sound and a faint hissing66. I stood still, unable to move. So did Jeff. I felt the hair of my head rising. Stumps gasped again—then turned and fled. The creature, whatever it was, brushed past us with a hideous67 laugh. I guessed at once that it was Jim Slagg, but evidently Stumps didn’t, for he uttered an awful yell that would have roused the whole ship if she had been of an ordinary size; at the same moment he tripped and fell on the thing that had upset me, and the ghost, leaping over him, vanished from our sight.
“To my surprise, on returning to our cabin, we found Slagg as we had left him, with both hands on his forehead poring over his book. I was almost as much surprised to see Jeff sit down and laugh heartily68.—Now, what do you think it could have been?”
“It was Slagg, of course,” answered the sporting electrician.
“Yes, but what causes the tapping?”
“Oh, that is no doubt some little trifle—a chip of wood, or bit of wire left hanging loose, which shakes about when the ship heaves.”
A sudden tramping of feet overhead brought this ghostly discussion to an abrupt close, and caused every man in the saloon to rush on deck with a terrible feeling in his heart that something had gone wrong.
“Not broken?” asked an electrician with a pale face on reaching the deck.
“Oh no, sir,” replied an engineer, with an anxious look, “not quite so bad as that, but a whale has taken a fancy to inspect us, and he is almost too attentive69.”
So it was. A large Greenland whale was playing about the big ship, apparently under the impression that she was a giant of his own species, and it had passed perilously70 close to the cable.
A second time it came up, rolling high above the waves. It went close past the stern—rose again and dived with a gentle flop71 of its great tail, which, if it had touched the cable, would have cut it like a thread. At that trying moment, as they saw its huge back glittering in the moonlight, the hearts of the helpless spectators appeared absolutely to stand still. When the monster dived its side even touched the cable, but did not damage it. Being apparently satisfied by that time that the ship was not a friend, the whale finally disappeared in the depths of its ocean home.
Those who visited the Crystal Palace at Sydenham during the recent Electrical Exhibition had an opportunity of seeing the shells here referred to under a powerful microscope.
点击收听单词发音
1 eel | |
n.鳗鲡 | |
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2 pinnacle | |
n.尖塔,尖顶,山峰;(喻)顶峰 | |
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3 joyous | |
adj.充满快乐的;令人高兴的 | |
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4 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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5 appreciable | |
adj.明显的,可见的,可估量的,可觉察的 | |
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6 elongated | |
v.延长,加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7 fore | |
adv.在前面;adj.先前的;在前部的;n.前部 | |
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8 intensified | |
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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10 apparatus | |
n.装置,器械;器具,设备 | |
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11 splice | |
v.接合,衔接;n.胶接处,粘接处 | |
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12 robin | |
n.知更鸟,红襟鸟 | |
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13 bin | |
n.箱柜;vt.放入箱内;[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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14 doomed | |
命定的 | |
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15 severely | |
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
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16 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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17 joyful | |
adj.欢乐的,令人欢欣的 | |
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18 abrupt | |
adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的 | |
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19 foul | |
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规 | |
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20 thumping | |
adj.重大的,巨大的;重击的;尺码大的;极好的adv.极端地;非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词);狠打;怦怦地跳;全力支持 | |
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21 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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22 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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23 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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24 intimacy | |
n.熟悉,亲密,密切关系,亲昵的言行 | |
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25 oozy | |
adj.软泥的 | |
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26 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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27 perplexed | |
adj.不知所措的 | |
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28 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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29 lighting | |
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光 | |
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30 conversing | |
v.交谈,谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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31 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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32 humility | |
n.谦逊,谦恭 | |
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33 berth | |
n.卧铺,停泊地,锚位;v.使停泊 | |
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34 stumps | |
(被砍下的树的)树桩( stump的名词复数 ); 残肢; (板球三柱门的)柱; 残余部分 | |
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35 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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36 impudent | |
adj.鲁莽的,卑鄙的,厚颜无耻的 | |
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37 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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38 ailing | |
v.生病 | |
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39 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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40 prophesying | |
v.预告,预言( prophesy的现在分词 ) | |
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41 walrus | |
n.海象 | |
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42 chaff | |
v.取笑,嘲笑;n.谷壳 | |
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43 salmon | |
n.鲑,大马哈鱼,橙红色的 | |
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44 cod | |
n.鳕鱼;v.愚弄;哄骗 | |
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45 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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46 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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47 cuisine | |
n.烹调,烹饪法 | |
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48 rattle | |
v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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49 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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50 mermaids | |
n.(传说中的)美人鱼( mermaid的名词复数 ) | |
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51 cavern | |
n.洞穴,大山洞 | |
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52 horrid | |
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的 | |
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53 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
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54 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
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55 consternation | |
n.大为吃惊,惊骇 | |
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56 rumour | |
n.谣言,谣传,传闻 | |
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57 diverged | |
分开( diverge的过去式和过去分词 ); 偏离; 分歧; 分道扬镳 | |
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58 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 | |
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59 scoffing | |
n. 嘲笑, 笑柄, 愚弄 v. 嘲笑, 嘲弄, 愚弄, 狼吞虎咽 | |
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60 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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61 yelp | |
vi.狗吠 | |
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62 rivet | |
n.铆钉;vt.铆接,铆牢;集中(目光或注意力) | |
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63 gasped | |
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要 | |
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64 chattering | |
n. (机器振动发出的)咔嗒声,(鸟等)鸣,啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的,啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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65 muffled | |
adj.(声音)被隔的;听不太清的;(衣服)裹严的;蒙住的v.压抑,捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 );用厚厚的衣帽包着(自己) | |
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66 hissing | |
n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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67 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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68 heartily | |
adv.衷心地,诚恳地,十分,很 | |
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69 attentive | |
adj.注意的,专心的;关心(别人)的,殷勤的 | |
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70 perilously | |
adv.充满危险地,危机四伏地 | |
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71 flop | |
n.失败(者),扑通一声;vi.笨重地行动,沉重地落下 | |
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