“Holiday Romance” was published in book form by Messrs Chapman & Hall in 1874, with “Edwin Drood” and other stories.
For this reprint the text of the story as it appeared in “All the Year Round” has been followed.
There was once a King, and he had a Queen; and he was the manliest3 of his sex, and she was the loveliest of hers. The King was, in his private profession, Under Government. The Queen’s father had been a medical man out of town.
They had nineteen children, and were always having more. Seventeen of these children took care of the baby; and Alicia, the eldest4, took care of them all. Their ages varied5 from seven years to seven months.
Let us now resume our story.
One day the King was going to the office, when he stopped at the fishmonger’s to buy a pound and a half of salmon6 not too near the tail, which the Queen (who was a careful housekeeper) had requested him to send home. Mr Pickles7, the fishmonger, said, “Certainly, sir, is there any other article, Good-morning.”
The King went on towards the office in a melancholy8 mood, for quarter day was such a long way off, and several of the dear children were growing out of their clothes. He had not proceeded far, when Mr Pickles’s errand-boy came running after him, and said, “Sir, you didn’t notice the old lady in our shop.”
Now, the King had not seen any old lady, because this old lady had been invisible to him, though visible to Mr Pickles’s boy. Probably because he messed and splashed the water about to that degree, and flopped10 the pairs of soles down in that violent manner, that, if she had not been visible to him, he would have spoilt her clothes.
Just then the old lady came trotting11 up. She was dressed in shot-silk of the richest quality, smelling of dried lavender.
“King Watkins the First, I believe?” said the old lady.
“Watkins,” replied the King, “is my name.”
“Papa, if I am not mistaken, of the beautiful Princess Alicia?” said the old lady.
“And of eighteen other darlings,” replied the King.
“Listen. You are going to the office,” said the old lady.
It instantly flashed upon the King that she must be a Fairy, or how could she know that?
“You are right,” said the old lady, answering his thoughts, “I am the Good Fairy Grandmarina. Attend. When you return home to dinner, politely invite the Princess Alicia to have some of the salmon you bought just now.”
“It may disagree with her,” said the King.
The old lady became so very angry at this absurd idea, that the King was quite alarmed, and humbly13 begged her pardon.
“We hear a great deal too much about this thing disagreeing, and that thing disagreeing,” said the old lady, with the greatest contempt it was possible to express. “Don’t be greedy. I think you want it all yourself.”
The King hung his head under this reproof14, and said he wouldn’t talk about things disagreeing, any more.
“Be good, then,” said the Fairy Grandmarina, “and don’t! When the beautiful Princess Alicia consents to partake of the salmon—as I think she will—you will find she will leave a fish-bone on her plate. Tell her to dry it, and to rub it, and to polish it till it shines like mother-of-pearl, and to take care of it as a present from me.”
“Is that all?” asked the King.
“Don’t be impatient, sir,” returned the Fairy Grandmarina, scolding him severely15. “Don’t catch people short, before they have done speaking. Just the way with you grown-up persons. You are always doing it.”
The King again hung his head, and said he wouldn’t do so any more.
“Be good then,” said the Fairy Grandmarina, “and don’t! Tell the Princess Alicia, with my love, that the fish-bone is a magic present which can only be used once; but that it will bring her, that once, whatever she wishes for, provided she wishes for it at the right time. That is the message. Take care of it.”
The King was beginning, “Might I ask the reason—?” when the Fairy became absolutely furious.
“Will you be good, sir?” she exclaimed, stamping her foot on the ground. “The reason for this, and the reason for that, indeed! You are always wanting the reason. No reason. There! Hoity toity me! I am sick of your grown-up reasons.”
The King was extremely frightened by the old lady’s flying into such a passion, and said he was very sorry to have offended her, and he wouldn’t ask for reasons any more.
“Be good then,” said the old lady, “and don’t!”
With those words, Grandmarina vanished, and the King went on and on and on, till he came to the office. There he wrote and wrote and wrote, till it was time to go home again. Then he politely invited the Princess Alicia, as the Fairy had directed him, to partake of the salmon. And when she had enjoyed it very much, he saw the fish-bone on her plate, as the Fairy had told him he would, and he delivered the Fairy’s message, and the Princess Alicia took care to dry the bone, and to rub it, and to polish it till it shone like mother-of-pearl.
And so when the Queen was going to get up in the morning, she said, “O, dear me, dear me; my head, my head!” and then she fainted away.
The Princess Alicia, who happened to be looking in at the chamber-door, asking about breakfast, was very much alarmed when she saw her Royal Mamma in this state, and she rang the bell for Peggy, which was the name of the Lord Chamberlain. But remembering where the smelling-bottle was, she climbed on a chair and got it, and after that she climbed on another chair by the bedside and held the smelling-bottle to the Queen’s nose, and after that she jumped down and got some water, and after that she jumped up again and wetted the Queen’s forehead, and, in short, when the Lord Chamberlain came in, that dear old woman said to the little Princess, “What a Trot12 you are! I couldn’t have done it better myself!”
But that was not the worst of the good Queen’s illness. O, no! She was very ill indeed, for a long time. The Princess Alicia kept the seventeen young Princes and Princesses quiet, and dressed and undressed and danced the baby, and made the kettle boil, and heated the soup, and swept the hearth16, and poured out the medicine, and nursed the Queen, and did all that ever she could, and was as busy busy busy, as busy could be. For there were not many servants at that Palace, for three reasons; because the King was short of money, because a rise in his office never seemed to come, and because quarter day was so far off that it looked almost as far off and as little as one of the stars.
But on the morning when the Queen fainted away, where was the magic fish-bone? Why, there it was in the Princess Alicia’s pocket. She had almost taken it out to bring the Queen to life again, when she put it back, and looked for the smelling-bottle.
After the Queen had come out of her swoon that morning, and was dozing17, the Princess Alicia hurried up-stairs to tell a most particular secret to a most particularly confidential18 friend of hers, who was a Duchess. People did suppose her to be a Doll; but she was really a Duchess, though nobody knew it except the Princess.
This most particular secret was a secret about the magic fish-bone, the history of which was well known to the Duchess, because the Princess told her everything. The Princess kneeled down by the bed on which the Duchess was lying, full-dressed and wide awake, and whispered the secret to her. The Duchess smiled and nodded. People might have supposed that she never smiled and nodded, but she often did, though nobody knew it except the Princess.
Then the Princess Alicia hurried downstairs again, to keep watch in the Queen’s room. She often kept watch by herself in the Queen’s room; but every evening, while the illness lasted, she sat there watching with the King. And every evening the King sat looking at her with a cross look, wondering why she never brought out the magic fish-bone. As often as she noticed this, she ran up-stairs, whispered the secret to the Duchess over again, and said to the Duchess besides, “They think we children never have a reason or a meaning!” And the Duchess, though the most fashionable Duchess that ever was heard of, winked19 her eye.
“Alicia,” said the King, one evening when she wished him Good Night.
“Yes, Papa.”
“What is become of the magic fish-bone?”
“In my pocket, Papa.”
“I thought you had lost it?”
“O, no, Papa.”
“Or forgotten it?”
“No, indeed, Papa.”
And so another time the dreadful little snapping pug-dog next door made a rush at one of the young Princes as he stood on the steps coming home from school, and terrified him out of his wits and he put his hand through a pane20 of glass, and bled bled bled. When the seventeen other young Princes and Princesses saw him bleed bleed bleed, they were terrified out of their wits too, and screamed themselves black in their seventeen faces all at once. But the Princess Alicia put her hands over all their seventeen mouths, one after another, and persuaded them to be quiet because of the sick Queen. And then she put the wounded Prince’s hand in a basin of fresh cold water, while they stared with their twice seventeen are thirty-four put down four and carry three eyes, and then she looked in the hand for bits of glass, and there were fortunately no bits of glass there. And then she said to two chubby-legged Princes who were sturdy though small, “Bring me in the Royal rag-bag; I must snip21 and stitch and cut and contrive22.” So those two young Princes tugged23 at the Royal rag-bag and lugged24 it in, and the Princess Alicia sat down on the floor with a large pair of scissors and a needle and thread, and snipped25 and stitched and cut and contrived26, and made a bandage and put it on, and it fitted beautifully, and so when it was all done she saw the King her Papa looking on by the door.
“Alicia.”
“Yes, Papa.”
“What have you been doing?”
“Snipping stitching cutting and contriving27, Papa.”
“Where is the magic fish-bone?”
“In my pocket, Papa.”
“I thought you had lost it?”
“O, no, Papa.”
“Or forgotten it?”
“No, indeed, Papa.”
After that, she ran up-stairs to the Duchess and told her what had passed, and told her the secret over again, and the Duchess shook her flaxen curls and laughed with her rosy28 lips.
Well! and so another time the baby fell under the grate. The seventeen young Princes and Princesses were used to it, for they were almost always falling under the grate or down the stairs, but the baby was not used to it yet, and it gave him a swelled29 face and a black eye. The way the poor little darling came to tumble was, that he slid out of the Princess Alicia’s lap just as she was sitting in a great coarse apron30 that quite smothered31 her, in front of the kitchen-fire, beginning to peel the turnips32 for the broth33 for dinner; and the way she came to be doing that was, that the King’s cook had run away that morning with her own true love who was a very tall but very tipsy soldier. Then, the seventeen young Princes and Princesses, who cried at everything that happened, cried and roared. But the Princess Alicia (who couldn’t help crying a little herself) quietly called to them to be still, on account of not throwing back the Queen up-stairs, who was fast getting well, and said, “Hold your tongues, you wicked little monkeys, every one of you, while I examine baby!” Then she examined baby, and found that he hadn’t broken anything, and she held cold iron to his poor dear eye, and smoothed his poor dear face, and he presently fell asleep in her arms. Then, she said to the seventeen Princes and Princesses, “I am afraid to lay him down yet, lest he should wake and feel pain, be good, and you shall all be cooks.” They jumped for joy when they heard that, and began making themselves cooks’ caps out of old newspapers. So to one she gave the salt-box, and to one she gave the barley34, and to one she gave the herbs, and to one she gave the turnips, and to one she gave the carrots, and to one she gave the onions, and to one she gave the spice-box, till they were all cooks, and all running about at work, she sitting in the middle smothered in the great coarse apron, nursing baby. By and by the broth was done, and the baby woke up smiling like an angel, and was trusted to the sedatest35 Princess to hold, while the other Princes and Princesses were squeezed into a far-off corner to look at the Princess Alicia turning out the saucepan-full of broth, for fear (as they were always getting into trouble) they should get splashed and scalded. When the broth came tumbling out, steaming beautifully, and smelling like a nosegay good to eat, they clapped their hands. That made the baby clap his hands; and that, and his looking as if he had a comic toothache, made all the Princes and Princesses laugh. So the Princess Alicia said, “Laugh and be good, and after dinner we will make him a nest on the floor in a corner, and he shall sit in his nest and see a dance of eighteen cooks.” That delighted the young Princes and Princesses, and they ate up all the broth, and washed up all the plates and dishes, and cleared away, and pushed the table into a corner, and then they in their cooks’ caps, and the Princess Alicia in the smothering36 coarse apron that belonged to the cook that had run away with her own true love that was the very tall but very tipsy soldier, danced a dance of eighteen cooks before the angelic baby, who forgot his swelled face and his black eye, and crowed with joy.
And so then, once more the Princess Alicia saw King Watkins the First, her father, standing37 in the doorway38 looking on, and he said: “What have you been doing, Alicia?”
“Cooking and contriving, Papa.”
“What else have you been doing, Alicia?”
“Keeping the children light-hearted, Papa.”
“Where is the magic fish-bone, Alicia?”
“In my pocket, Papa.”
“I thought you had lost it?”
“O, no, Papa.”
“Or forgotten it?”
“No, indeed, Papa.”
The King then sighed so heavily, and seemed so low-spirited, and sat down so miserably39, leaning his head upon his hand, and his elbow upon the kitchen table pushed away in the corner, that the seventeen Princes and Princesses crept softly out of the kitchen, and left him alone with the Princess Alicia and the angelic baby.
“What is the matter, Papa?”
“I am dreadfully poor, my child.”
“Have you no money at all, Papa?”
“None my child.”
“Is there no way left of getting any, Papa?”
“No way,” said the King. “I have tried very hard, and I have tried all ways.”
When she heard those last words, the Princess Alicia began to put her hand into the pocket where she kept the magic fish-bone.
“Papa,” said she, “when we have tried very hard, and tried all ways, we must have done our very very best?”
“No doubt, Alicia.”
“When we have done our very very best, Papa, and that is not enough, then I think the right time must have come for asking help of others.” This was the very secret connected with the magic fish-bone, which she had found out for herself from the good fairy Grandmarina’s words, and which she had so often whispered to her beautiful and fashionable friend the Duchess.
So she took out of her pocket the magic fish-bone that had been dried and rubbed and polished till it shone like mother-of-pearl; and she gave it one little kiss and wished it was quarter day. And immediately it was quarter day; and the King’s quarter’s salary came rattling40 down the chimney, and bounced into the middle of the floor.
But this was not half of what happened, no not a quarter, for immediately afterwards the good fairy Grandmarina came riding in, in a carriage and four (Peacocks), with Mr Pickles’s boy up behind, dressed in silver and gold, with a cocked hat, powdered hair, pink silk stockings, a jewelled cane41, and a nosegay. Down jumped Mr Pickles’s boy with his cocked hat in his hand and wonderfully polite (being entirely42 changed by enchantment), and handed Grandmarina out, and there she stood in her rich shot silk smelling of dried lavender, fanning herself with a sparkling fan.
“Alicia, my dear,” said this charming old Fairy, “how do you do, I hope I see you pretty well, give me a kiss.”
The Princess Alicia embraced her, and then Grandmarina turned to the King, and said rather sharply:—“Are you good?”
The King said he hoped so.
“I suppose you know the reason, now, why my god-Daughter here,” kissing the Princess again, “did not apply to the fish-bone sooner?” said the Fairy.
The King made her a shy bow.
“Ah! but you didn’t then!” said the Fairy.
The King made her a shyer bow.
“Any more reasons to ask for?” said the Fairy.
The King said no, and he was very sorry.
“Be good then,” said the Fairy, “and live happy ever afterwards.”
Then, Grandmarina waved her fan, and the Queen came in most splendidly dressed, and the seventeen young Princes and Princesses, no longer grown out of their clothes, came in newly fitted out from top to toe, with tucks in everything to admit of its being let out. After that, the Fairy tapped the Princess Alicia with her fan, and the smothering coarse apron flew away, and she appeared exquisitely43 dressed, like a little Bride, with a wreath of orange-flowers and a silver veil. After that, the kitchen dresser changed of itself into a wardrobe, made of beautiful woods and gold and looking glass, which was full of dresses of all sorts, all for her and all exactly fitting her. After that, the angelic baby came in, running alone, with his face and eye not a bit the worse but much the better. Then, Grandmarina begged to be introduced to the Duchess, and, when the Duchess was brought down many compliments passed between them.
A little whispering took place between the Fairy and the Duchess, and then the Fairy said out loud, “Yes. I thought she would have told you.” Grandmarina then turned to the King and Queen, and said, “We are going in search of Prince Certainpersonio. The pleasure of your company is requested at church in half an hour precisely44.” So she and the Princess Alicia got into the carriage, and Mr Pickles’s boy handed in the Duchess who sat by herself on the opposite seat, and then Mr Pickles’s boy put up the steps and got up behind, and the Peacocks flew away with their tails spread.
Prince Certainpersonio was sitting by himself, eating barley-sugar and waiting to be ninety. When he saw the Peacocks followed by the carriage, coming in at the window, it immediately occurred to him that something uncommon45 was going to happen.
“Prince,” said Grandmarina, “I bring you your Bride.”
The moment the Fairy said those words, Prince Certainpersonio’s face left off being stickey, and his jacket and corduroys changed to peach-bloom velvet46, and his hair curled, and a cap and feather flew in like a bird and settled on his head. He got into the carriage by the Fairy’s invitation, and there he renewed his acquaintance with the Duchess, whom he had seen before.
In the church were the Prince’s relations and friends, and the Princess Alicia’s relations and friends, and the seventeen Princes and Princesses, and the baby, and a crowd of the neighbours. The marriage was beautiful beyond expression. The Duchess was bridesmaid, and beheld47 the ceremony from the pulpit where she was supported by the cushion of the desk.
Grandmarina gave a magnificent wedding feast afterwards, in which there was everything and more to eat, and everything and more to drink. The wedding cake was delicately ornamented48 with white satin ribbons, frosted silver and white lilies, and was forty-two yards round.
When Grandmarina had drunk her love to the young couple, and Prince Certainpersonio had made a speech, and everybody had cried Hip49 hip hip hurrah50! Grandmarina announced to the King and Queen that in future there would be eight quarter days in every year, except in leap year, when there would be ten. She then turned to Certainpersonio and Alicia, and said, “My dears, you will have thirty-five children, and they will all be good and beautiful. Seventeen of your children will be boys, and eighteen will be girls. The hair of the whole of your children will curl naturally. They will never have the measles51, and will have recovered from the whooping-cough before being born.”
On hearing such good news, everybody cried out “Hip hip hip hurrah!” again.
“It only remains,” said Grandmarina in conclusion, “to make an end of the fish-bone.”
So she took it from the hand of the Princess Alicia, and it instantly flew down the throat of the dreadful little snapping pug-dog next door and choked him, and he expired in convulsions.
该作者的其它作品
A Tale of Two Cities双城记
David Copperfield大卫·科波菲尔
Oliver Twist雾都孤儿
炉边的蟋蟀 The Cricket on the Hearth
荒凉的小屋 Bleak House
董贝父子 Dombey and Son
匹克威克外传 Pickwick Papers
该作者的其它作品
A Tale of Two Cities双城记
David Copperfield大卫·科波菲尔
Oliver Twist雾都孤儿
炉边的蟋蟀 The Cricket on the Hearth
荒凉的小屋 Bleak House
董贝父子 Dombey and Son
匹克威克外传 Pickwick Papers
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收听单词发音
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purports
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v.声称是…,(装得)像是…的样子( purport的第三人称单数 ) | |
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aged
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adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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manliest
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manly(有男子气概的)的最高级形式 | |
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eldest
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adj.最年长的,最年老的 | |
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varied
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adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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salmon
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n.鲑,大马哈鱼,橙红色的 | |
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pickles
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n.腌菜( pickle的名词复数 );处于困境;遇到麻烦;菜酱 | |
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melancholy
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n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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enquired
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打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 ); 询问; 问问题; 查问 | |
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flopped
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v.(指书、戏剧等)彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 );(因疲惫而)猛然坐下;(笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地)移动或落下;砸锅 | |
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11
trotting
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小跑,急走( trot的现在分词 ); 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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trot
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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 | |
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13
humbly
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adv. 恭顺地,谦卑地 | |
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reproof
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n.斥责,责备 | |
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severely
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adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
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hearth
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n.壁炉炉床,壁炉地面 | |
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dozing
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v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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confidential
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adj.秘(机)密的,表示信任的,担任机密工作的 | |
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winked
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v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 );递眼色(表示友好或高兴等);(指光)闪烁;闪亮 | |
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pane
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n.窗格玻璃,长方块 | |
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snip
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n.便宜货,廉价货,剪,剪断 | |
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contrive
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vt.谋划,策划;设法做到;设计,想出 | |
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tugged
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v.用力拉,使劲拉,猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lugged
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vt.用力拖拉(lug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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snipped
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v.剪( snip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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contrived
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adj.不自然的,做作的;虚构的 | |
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contriving
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(不顾困难地)促成某事( contrive的现在分词 ); 巧妙地策划,精巧地制造(如机器); 设法做到 | |
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rosy
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adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的 | |
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swelled
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增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 ); 肿胀; (使)凸出; 充满(激情) | |
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apron
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n.围裙;工作裙 | |
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smothered
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(使)窒息, (使)透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 ); 覆盖; 忍住; 抑制 | |
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turnips
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芜青( turnip的名词复数 ); 芜菁块根; 芜菁甘蓝块根; 怀表 | |
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broth
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n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等) | |
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barley
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n.大麦,大麦粒 | |
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sedatest
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adj.镇定的( sedate的最高级 );泰然的;不慌不忙的(常用于名词前);宁静的 | |
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smothering
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(使)窒息, (使)透不过气( smother的现在分词 ); 覆盖; 忍住; 抑制 | |
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standing
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n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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doorway
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n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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miserably
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adv.痛苦地;悲惨地;糟糕地;极度地 | |
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rattling
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adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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cane
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n.手杖,细长的茎,藤条;v.以杖击,以藤编制的 | |
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entirely
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ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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exquisitely
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adv.精致地;强烈地;剧烈地;异常地 | |
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precisely
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adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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45
uncommon
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adj.罕见的,非凡的,不平常的 | |
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46
velvet
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n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的 | |
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47
beheld
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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 | |
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48
ornamented
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adj.花式字体的v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
hip
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n.臀部,髋;屋脊 | |
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50
hurrah
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int.好哇,万岁,乌拉 | |
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51
measles
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n.麻疹,风疹,包虫病,痧子 | |
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