“Why, to the nicest home ever was. Can’t be a nicer nowhere, not any single where. Not even on that big avenue where such shiny people as him live. Why, we’ve got a hull2 house to ourselves, haven’t we?”
“Child, stop. Tell me exact, as you never told before. Is Elbow Lane a ‘slum’?”
“‘Deed I don’t know, ’cause I never heard tell of a ‘slum’ ’fore. It’s the cutest little street ever was. Why, you can ’most reach acrost from one side to the other. Me an’ Billy has often tried. It’s got the loveliest crook3 in it, right here where we be; an’ one side runs out one way an’ t’other toward the river. Why, grandpa, Posy Jane says onct–onct, ’fore anybody here was livin’, the Lane was a cow-path an’ the cows was drove down it to the river to drink. Maybe she’s lyin’. ’Seems if she must be, ’cause now there ain’t no cows nor nothin’ but milk-carts an’ cans in corner stores, an’ buildin’s where onct she says was grass–grass, grandpa, do you hear?”
“Yes, I hear, mate. But the folks, the neighbors. A slum, deary, I guess a slum is only where wicked people live. I don’t know, really, for we had no such places on the broad high sea. Are our folks in the Lane wicked, daughter?”
“Grandpa!” she cried, indignantly. “When there’s such a good, good woman, Jane’s sister Meg-Laundress, what washes for us just ’cause I mend her things. An’ tailor-Jake who showed me to do a buttonhole an’ him all doubled up with coughin’; an’ Billy Buttons who gives us a paper sometimes, only neither of us can read it; an’ Nick, the parson, who helps me sort my goobers; an’ Posy Jane, that’s a kind o’ mother to everybody goin’. Don’t the hull kerboodle of ’em treat you like you was a prince in a storybook, as I’ve heard Billy tell about? Huh! Nice folks? I should think they was. Couldn’t be any nicer in the hull city. Couldn’t, for sure, an’ I say so, I, Glory Beck.”
“And all very poor, mate, terrible, desperate poor; an’ ragged4 an’ dirty an’ swearers, an’ not fit for my pet to mix with. Never go to church nor Sunday-school, nor―Eh, little mate?” persisted the old man, determined5 to get at the facts of the case at last.
Glory was troubled. In what words could she best defend her friends and convince her strangely anxious guardian6 that Elbow folks were wholly what they should be? Since she could remember she had known no other people, and if all were not good as she had fancied them, at least all were good to her. With all her honest loyal heart she loved them, and saw virtues7 in them which others, maybe, would not have seen. With a gesture of perplexity, she tossed her head and clasped her hands, demanding:
“An’ what’s poor? Why, I’ve heard you say that we’re poor, too, lots o’ times. But is any of us beggars? No, siree. Is any of us thievers? No, Grandpa Beck, not a one. An’ if some is ragged or dirty, that’s ’cause they don’t have clothes an’ spigots handy, an’ some’s afraid o’ takin’ cold, like the tailor man. Some of us lives two er three families in a room, but–but that’s them. Me an’ you don’t. We have a hull house. Why, me an’ you is sort of rich, seems if, and―It’s that big shiny-hatted man makes you talk so queer, grandpa darlin’, an’ I hate him. I wish he’d stayed to his house an’ not come near the Lane.”
“No, no, mate, hate nobody, nobody. He meant it kind. He didn’t know how kindness might hurt us, deary. He is Colonel Bonnicastle, who owned the ship I mastered, an’ many another that sails the sea this day. He’s got a lot to do with the ‘Harbor’ an’ never dreamed how’t we’d known about it long ago. A good ship it was an’ many a voyage she made, with me layin’ dollars away out of my wage, till the sudden blindness struck me an’ I crept down here where nobody knew me to get over it. That’s a long while since, deary, and the dollars have gone, I always hopin’ to get sight again and believin’ I’d done a fine thing for my orphan8 grandchild, keepin’ so snug9 a place over her head. So far, I’ve paid the rent reg’lar, and we’ve had our rations10, too. Now, mate, fetch me the bag and count what’s in it.”
The little canvas bag which Glory took from the tiny wall-cupboard seemed very light and empty, and when she had untied11 the string and held it upside down not a coin fell from it. The old man listened for the clink of silver but there was none to hear and he sighed deeply as he asked, “Empty, Glory?”
“Empty, grandpa. Never mind, we’ll soon put somethin’ back in it. You must get your throat cleared and go out early an’ sing your loudest. I’ll get Toni to let me have a fifty-bagger, an’ I’ll sell every single one. You might make as much as a hull quarter, you might, an’ me–I’ll have a nickel. A nickel buys lots o’ meal, an’ we can do without milk on our porridge quite a spell. That way we can put by somethin’ toward the rent, an’ we’ll be all right.
“Maybe,” little Glory went on, “that old colonel don’t have all to say ’bout the ‘Harbor.’ Maybe he don’t like little girls an’ that’s why. I’ll get Cap’n Gray to find out an’ tell. He likes ’em. He always gives me a cent to put in the bag–if he has one. He’s poor, too, though, but he’s got a daughter growed up ’at keeps him. When I get growed I’ll earn. Why, darlin’ grandpa, I’ll earn such a lot we can have everything we want. I will so and I’ll give you all I get. If–if so be, we don’t go to the ‘Harbor’ after all.”
The captain stroked his darling’s head and felt himself cheered by her hopefulness. Though they were penniless just now, they would not be for long if both set their minds to money getting; and, as for going to “Snug Harbor” without Glory, he would never do that, never.
“Well, well, mate, we’re our own masters still; and, when the colonel sends his man for me, I’ll tell him ‘no,’ so plain he’ll understand. ’Less I may be off on my rounds, singin’ to beat a premer donner. Hark! mess-time already. There goes eight bells. What’s for us, cook?”
As he spoke12, the little bell, which hung from the ceiling, struck eight tinkling13 notes and Glory’s face clouded. There was nothing in the tiny cupboard on the wall save a remnant of porridge from breakfast, that had cooled and stiffened14, and the empty money-bag.
“O grandpa! So soon? Why, I ought to have finished Jane’s jacket and took it to her. She’d have paid me an’ I’d ha’ got the loveliest chop from the store ’round the corner. But now, you dear, you’ll just have to eat what is an’ make the best of it. Next time it’ll be better an’ here’s your plate.”
Humming a tune15 and making a great flourish of plate and spoon, she placed the porridge before the captain and watched his face anxiously, her heart sinking as she saw the distaste apparent at his first mouthful. He was such a hungry old dear always, and so was she hungry, though she didn’t find it convenient to eat upon all such occasions. When there happened to be enough food for but one, she was almost glad of the sailor’s blindness. If he smelled one chop cooking on the little stove, how should he guess there weren’t two? And if she made a great clatter16 with knife and plate, how could he imagine she was not eating?
Up till now, Glory could always console herself with dreams of the “Snug Harbor” and the feasts some day to be enjoyed there. Alas17! The colonel’s words had changed all that. For her there would be no “Harbor,” ever; but for him, her beloved grandpa, it was still possible. A great fear suddenly possessed18 her. What if the captain should get so very, very hungry, that he would be tempted19 beyond resistance, and forsake20 her after all! She felt the suspicion unworthy, yet it had come, and as the blind man pushed his plate aside, unable to swallow the unpalatable porridge, she resolved upon her first debt. Laying her hand on his she begged, “Wait a minute, grandpa! I forgot–I mean I didn’t get the milk. I’ll run round an’ be back with it in a jiffy!”
“Got the pay, mate?” he called after her, but, if she heard him, she, for once, withheld21 an answer.
“O Mister Grocer!” she cried, darting22 into the dairy shop, like a stray blue and golden butterfly, “could you possibly lend me a cent’s worth o’ milk for grandpa’s dinner? I’ll pay you to-night, when I get home from peddlin’, if I can. If I can’t then, why the next time―”
“Say no more, Take-a-Stitch, I’ve a whole can turnin’ sour on me an’ you’re welcome to a pint23 on’t if you’ll take it. My respects to the captain, and here’s good luck to the Queen of Elbow Lane!”
Glory swept him a curtsy, flashed a radiant smile upon him and was tempted to hug him; but she refrained from this, not knowing how such a caress24 might be received. Then she thanked and thanked him till he bade her stop, and with her tin cup in her hand sped homeward again, crying:
“Here am I, grandpa! More milk ’an you can shake a stick at, with the store-man’s respeckses an’ all. A hull pint! Think o’ that! An’ only just a teeny, tiny mite25 sour. Isn’t he the nicest one to give it to us just for nothin’? An’ he’s another sort of Elbow folks, though he’s off a bit around the block. Oh, this is just the loveliest world there is! An’ who’d want to go to that old ‘Snug Harbor’ an’ leave such dear, dear people, I sh’d like to know? Not me nor you, Cap’n Simon Beck, an’ you know it!”
Glory sat down and watched her grandsire make the best dinner he could upon cold porridge and sour milk, her face radiant with pleasure that she had been able so well to supply him, and almost forgetting that horrid26, all-gone feeling in her own small stomach. Never mind, a peanut or so might come her way, if Toni Salvatore, the little Italian with the long name, should happen to be in a good humor and fling them to her, for well he knew that of the stock he trusted to her, not a single goober would be extracted for her personal enjoyment27; and this was why he oftener bestowed28 upon her a tiny bag of the dainties than upon any other of his small sales people.
The captain finished his meal and did not distress29 his darling by admitting that it was still distasteful, then rose, slung30 his basket of frames over his shoulder, took Bo’sn’s leading-string, and passed out to his afternoon’s peddling31 and singing. But, though he had kissed her good-bye, Glory dashed after him, begging still another and another caress, and feeling the greatest reluctance32 to letting him go, yet equally unwilling33 to have him stay.
“If he stays here that man will come and maybe get him, whether or no; an’ if he goes, the shiny colonel may meet him outside and take him anyhow. If only he’d sing alongside o’ my peddlin’ route! But he won’t. He never will. He hates to hear me holler. He says ‘little maids shouldn’t do it’; only I have to, to buy my sewin’ things with; an’―My, I clean forgot Posy Jane’s jacket! I must hurry an’ finish it, then off to peanuttin’,” pondered the child, and watched the blind man making his way, so surely and safely, around the corner into the next street, with Bo’sn walking proudly ahead, what tail he had pointing skyward and his one good ear pricked34 forward, intent and listening.
The old captain in the faded uniform he still wore, and the faithful little terrier, who guided his sightless master through the dangers of the city streets with almost a human intelligence were to Goober Glory the two dearest objects in the world, and for them she would do anything and everything.
“Funny how just them few words that shiny man said has changed our hull feelin’s ’bout the ‘Harbor.’ Only this mornin’, ’fore he come, we was a-plannin’ how lovely ’twas; an’ now–now I just hate it! I’m glad they’s water ’twixt us an’ that old Staten Island, an’ I’m glad we haven’t ferry money nor nothin’,” cried the little girl, aloud, shaking a small fist defiantly35 southward toward the land of her lost dreams. Then, singing to make herself forget how hungry she was, she hurried into the littlest house and–shall it be told?–caught up her grandpa’s plate and licked the crumbs36 from it, then inverted37 the tin cup and let the few drops still left in it trickle38 slowly down her throat; and such was Glory’s dinner.
Afterward39 she took out needle and thread and heigho! How the neat stitches fairly flew into place, although to make the small patch fill the big hole, there had to be a little pucker40 here and there. Never mind, a pucker more or less wouldn’t trouble happy-go-lucky Jane, who believed little Glory to be the very cleverest child in the whole world and a perfect marvel41 of neatness; for, in that particular, she had been well trained. The old sea captain would allow no dirt anywhere, being as well able to discover its presence by his touch as he had once been by sight; and, oddly enough, he was as deft42 with his needle as with his knife.
So, the jacket finished, Glory hurried away up the steep stairs to the great bridge-end, received from the friendly flower-seller unstinted praise and a ripe banana and felt her last anxiety vanish.
“A hull banana just for myself an’ not for pay, dear, dear Jane? Oh, how good you are! But you listen to me, ’cause I want to tell you somethin’. Me an’ grandpa ain’t never goin’ to that old ‘Snug Harbor,’ never, nohow. We wouldn’t be hired to. So there.”
“Why–why, Take-a-Stitch! Why, be I hearin’ or dreamin’, I should like to know. Not go there, when I thought you could scarce wait for the time to come? What’s up?”
“A shiny rich man from the avenue where such as him lives and what owns the ship grandpa used to master, an’ a lot more like it has so much to do with the ‘Harbor’ ’at he can get anybody in it or out of it just as he pleases. He’s been twice to see grandpa an’ made him all solemn an’ poor-feelin’, like he ain’t used to bein’. Why, he’s even been cross, truly cross, if you’ll believe it!”
“An’ if grandpa maybe goes alone, ’cause they don’t take little girls, nohow, then that colonel’d have me sent off to one o’ them Homeses or ’Sylums for childern that hasn’t got no real pas nor mas. Huh, needn’t tell me. I’ve seen ’em, time an’ again, walkin’ in processions, with Sisters of Charity in wide white flappin’ caps all the time scoldin’ them poor little girls for laughin’ too loud or gettin’ off the line or somethin’ like that. An’ them with long-tailed frocks an’ choky kind of aperns an’ big sunbonnets, lookin’ right at my basket o’ peanuts an’ never tastin’ a single one. Oh, jest catch me! I’ll be a newspaper boy, first, but–but, Jane dear, do you s’pose anything–any single thing, such as bein’ terrible hungry, or not gettin’ paid for frames or singin’–could that make my grandpa go and leave me?”
For at her own breathless vivid picture of the orphanage44 children, as she had seen them, the doubt concerning the captain’s future actions returned to torment45 her afresh.
“He might be sick, honey, or somethin’ like that, but not o’ free will. Old Simon Beck’ll never forsake the ’light o’ his eyes,’ as I’ve heard him call you, time an’ again.”
“Don’t you fret46, child,” continued Posy Jane. “Ain’t you the ‘Queen of Elbow Lane’? Ain’t all of us, round about, fond of you an’ proud of you, same’s if you was a real queen, indeed? Who’d look after Mis’ McGinty’s seven babies, when she goes a scrubbin’ the station floors, if you wasn’t here? Who’d help the tailor with his job when the fits of coughin’ get so bad? ’Twas only a spell ago he was showin’ me how’t you’d sewed in the linin’ to a coat he was too sick to finish an’ a praisin’ the stitches beautiful. What’d the boys do without you to sew their rags up decent an’ tend to their hurt fingers an’ share your dinner with ’em when–when you have one an’ they don’t?
“An’ you so masterful like,” went on the flower-seller, “a makin’ everybody do as you say, whether or no. If it’s a scrap47 in a tenement48, is my Glory afraid? not a mite. In she walks, walks she, as bold as bold, an’ lays her hand on this one’s shoulder an’ that one’s arm an’ makes ’em quit fightin’. Many’s the job you’ve saved the police, Glory Beck, an’ that very officer yonder was sayin’ only yesterday how’t he’d rather have you on his beat than another cop, no matter how smart he might be. He says, says he, ‘That little girl can do more to keep the peace in the Lane ’an the best man on the force,’ says he. ‘It’s prime wonderful how she manages it.’ An’ I up an’ tells him nothin’ wonderful ’bout it at all.’ It’s ’cause everybody loves you, little Glory, an’ is ashamed not to be just as good as they know you think they be.
“Don’t you fret, child,” Jane went on, “Elbow folks won’t let you go, nor’ll the cap’n leave you, and if bad come to worst them asylums49 are fine. The Sisters is all good an’ sweet, givin’ their lives to them ’at needs. Don’t you get notions, Glory Beck, an’ judge folks ’fore you know ’em. If them orphans50 gets scolded now an’ then it does ’em good. They ought to be. So’d you ought, if you don’t get off to your peddlin’. It’s long past your time. Here’s a nickel for the jacket an’ you put it safe by ’fore you start out. May as well let me pin one o’ these carnations51 on you, too. They ain’t sellin’ so fast an’ ’twould look purty on your blue frock. Blue an’ white an’ yeller–frock an’ flower an’ curly head–they compare right good.”
Ere Jane’s long gossip was ended, her favorite’s fears were wholly banished52. With a hug for thanks and farewell, Glory was off and away, and the tired eyes of the toilers in the Lane brightened as she flitted past their dingy53 windows, waving a hand to this one and that and smiling upon all. To put her earnings54 away in the canvas bag and catch up her flat, well-mended basket, took but a minute, and, singing as she went, the busy child sped around to that block where Antonio had his stand.
That day the trade in goobers had been slack and other of his small employees had found the peanut-man a trifle cross; but, when Glory’s shining head and merry face came into view, his own face cleared and he gave her a friendly welcome.
“A fifty-bagger this time, dear Toni! I’ve got to get a heap of money after this for grandpa!”
“Alla-right, I fill him,” returned the vender55; and, having carefully packed the fifty small packets in the shallow basket, he helped her to poise56 it on her head, as he had long since taught her his own countrywomen did. This was a fine thing for the growing child and gave her a firm erectness57 not common to young wage-earners. She was very proud of this accomplishment58, as was her teacher, Antonio, and had more than once outstripped59 Billy Buttons in a race, still supporting her burden.
“Sell every bag, little one, and come back to me. I, Antonio Salvatore have secret, mystery. That will I tell when basket empty. Secret bring us both to riches, indeed!”
Crafty60 Antonio! Well he knew that the little girl’s curiosity was great, and had led her into more than one scrape, and that his promise to impart a secret would make her more eager to sell her stock than the small money payment she would earn by doing so.
Glory clasped her hands and opened her brown eyes more widely, entreating61, “Now, Toni, dear Tonio, tell first and sell afterward. Please, please.”
“No, not so, little one. Sell first, then I tell. If you sell not―” Antonio shrugged62 his shoulders in a way that meant no sale, no secret. So, already much belated, Goober Glory–as she had now become–was forced to depart to her task, though she turned about once or twice to wave farewell to her employer and to smile upon him, but she meant to make the greatest haste, for, of all delightful63 things, a secret was best.
点击收听单词发音
1 wailed | |
v.哭叫,哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2 hull | |
n.船身;(果、实等的)外壳;vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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3 crook | |
v.使弯曲;n.小偷,骗子,贼;弯曲(处) | |
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4 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
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5 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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6 guardian | |
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者 | |
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7 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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8 orphan | |
n.孤儿;adj.无父母的 | |
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9 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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10 rations | |
定量( ration的名词复数 ); 配给量; 正常量; 合理的量 | |
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11 untied | |
松开,解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 ); 解除,使自由; 解决 | |
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12 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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13 tinkling | |
n.丁当作响声 | |
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14 stiffened | |
加强的 | |
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15 tune | |
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整 | |
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16 clatter | |
v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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17 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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18 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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19 tempted | |
v.怂恿(某人)干不正当的事;冒…的险(tempt的过去分词) | |
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20 forsake | |
vt.遗弃,抛弃;舍弃,放弃 | |
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21 withheld | |
withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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22 darting | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的现在分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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23 pint | |
n.品脱 | |
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24 caress | |
vt./n.爱抚,抚摸 | |
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25 mite | |
n.极小的东西;小铜币 | |
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26 horrid | |
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的 | |
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27 enjoyment | |
n.乐趣;享有;享用 | |
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28 bestowed | |
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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30 slung | |
抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往 | |
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31 peddling | |
忙于琐事的,无关紧要的 | |
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32 reluctance | |
n.厌恶,讨厌,勉强,不情愿 | |
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33 unwilling | |
adj.不情愿的 | |
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34 pricked | |
刺,扎,戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 ); 刺伤; 刺痛; 使剧痛 | |
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35 defiantly | |
adv.挑战地,大胆对抗地 | |
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36 crumbs | |
int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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37 inverted | |
adj.反向的,倒转的v.使倒置,使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38 trickle | |
vi.淌,滴,流出,慢慢移动,逐渐消散 | |
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39 afterward | |
adv.后来;以后 | |
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40 pucker | |
v.撅起,使起皱;n.(衣服上的)皱纹,褶子 | |
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41 marvel | |
vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异;n.令人惊异的事 | |
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42 deft | |
adj.灵巧的,熟练的(a deft hand 能手) | |
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43 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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44 orphanage | |
n.孤儿院 | |
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45 torment | |
n.折磨;令人痛苦的东西(人);vt.折磨;纠缠 | |
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46 fret | |
v.(使)烦恼;(使)焦急;(使)腐蚀,(使)磨损 | |
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47 scrap | |
n.碎片;废料;v.废弃,报废 | |
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48 tenement | |
n.公寓;房屋 | |
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49 asylums | |
n.避难所( asylum的名词复数 );庇护;政治避难;精神病院 | |
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50 orphans | |
孤儿( orphan的名词复数 ) | |
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51 carnations | |
n.麝香石竹,康乃馨( carnation的名词复数 ) | |
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52 banished | |
v.放逐,驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53 dingy | |
adj.昏暗的,肮脏的 | |
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54 earnings | |
n.工资收人;利润,利益,所得 | |
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55 vender | |
n.小贩 | |
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56 poise | |
vt./vi. 平衡,保持平衡;n.泰然自若,自信 | |
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57 erectness | |
n.直立 | |
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58 accomplishment | |
n.完成,成就,(pl.)造诣,技能 | |
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59 outstripped | |
v.做得比…更好,(在赛跑等中)超过( outstrip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60 crafty | |
adj.狡猾的,诡诈的 | |
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61 entreating | |
恳求,乞求( entreat的现在分词 ) | |
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62 shrugged | |
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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63 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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