I now approach an event in my life, so indelible, so awful, so bound by an infinite variety of ties to all that has preceded it, in these pages, that, from the beginning of my narrative1, I have seen it growing larger and larger as I advanced, like a great tower in a plain, and throwing its fore-cast shadow even on the incidents of my childish days.
For years after it occurred, I dreamed of it often. I have started up so vividly2 impressed by it, that its fury has yet seemed raging in my quiet room, in the still night. I dream of it sometimes, though at lengthened3 and uncertain intervals4, to this hour. I have an association between it and a stormy wind, or the lightest mention of a sea-shore, as strong as any of which my mind is conscious. As plainly as I behold5 what happened, I will try to write it down. I do not recall it, but see it done; for it happens again before me.
The time drawing on rapidly for the sailing of the emigrant-ship, my good old nurse (almost broken-hearted for me, when we first met) came up to London. I was constantly with her, and her brother, and the Micawbers (they being very much together); but Emily I never saw.
One evening when the time was close at hand, I was alone with Peggotty and her brother. Our conversation turned on Ham. She described to us how tenderly he had taken leave of her, and how manfully and quietly he had borne himself. Most of all, of late, when she believed he was most tried. It was a subject of which the affectionate creature never tired; and our interest in hearing the many examples which she, who was so much with him, had to relate, was equal to hers in relating them.
MY aunt and I were at that time vacating the two cottages at Highgate; I intending to go abroad, and she to return to her house at Dover. We had a temporary lodging7 in Covent Garden. As I walked home to it, after this evening's conversation, reflecting on what had passed between Ham and myself when I was last at Yarmouth, I wavered in the original purpose I had formed, of leaving a letter for Emily when I should take leave of her uncle on board the ship, and thought it would be better to write to her now. She might desire, I thought, after receiving my communication, to send some parting word by me to her unhappy lover. I ought to give her the opportunity.
I therefore sat down in my room, before going to bed, and wrote to her. I told her that I had seen him, and that he had requested me to tell her what I have already written in its place in these sheets. I faithfully repeated it. I had no need to enlarge upon it, if I had had the right. Its deep fidelity8 and goodness were not to be adorned9 by me or any man. I left it out, to be sent round in the morning; with a line to Mr. Peggotty, requesting him to give it to her; and went to bed at daybreak.
I was weaker than I knew then; and, not falling asleep until the sun was up, lay late, and unrefreshed, next day. I was roused by the silent presence of my aunt at my bedside. I felt it in my sleep, as I suppose we all do feel such things.
'Trot10, my dear,' she said, when I opened my eyes, 'I couldn't make up my mind to disturb you. Mr. Peggotty is here; shall he come up?'
I replied yes, and he soon appeared.
'Mas'r Davy,' he said, when we had shaken hands, 'I giv Em'ly your letter, sir, and she writ6 this heer; and begged of me fur to ask you to read it, and if you see no hurt in't, to be so kind as take charge on't.'
'Have you read it?' said I.
He nodded sorrowfully. I opened it, and read as follows:
'I have got your message. Oh, what can I write, to thank you for your good and blessed kindness to me!
'I have put the words close to my heart. I shall keep them till I die. They are sharp thorns, but they are such comfort. I have prayed over them, oh, I have prayed so much. When I find what you are, and what uncle is, I think what God must be, and can cry to him.
'Good-bye for ever. Now, my dear, my friend, good-bye for ever in this world. In another world, if I am forgiven, I may wake a child and come to you. All thanks and blessings11. Farewell, evermore.'
This, blotted12 with tears, was the letter.
'May I tell her as you doen't see no hurt in't, and as you'll be so kind as take charge on't, Mas'r Davy?' said Mr. Peggotty, when I had read it. 'Unquestionably,' said I - 'but I am thinking -'
'Yes, Mas'r Davy?'
'I am thinking,' said I, 'that I'll go down again to Yarmouth. There's time, and to spare, for me to go and come back before the ship sails. My mind is constantly running on him, in his solitude13; to put this letter of her writing in his hand at this time, and to enable you to tell her, in the moment of parting, that he has got it, will be a kindness to both of them. I solemnly accepted his commission, dear good fellow, and cannot discharge it too completely. The journey is nothing to me. I am restless, and shall be better in motion. I'll go down tonight.'
Though he anxiously endeavoured to dissuade14 me, I saw that he was of my mind; and this, if I had required to be confirmed in my intention, would have had the effect. He went round to the coach office, at my request, and took the box-seat for me on the mail. In the evening I started, by that conveyance15, down the road I had traversed under so many vicissitudes16.
'Don't you think that,' I asked the coachman, in the first stage out of London, 'a very remarkable17 sky? I don't remember to have seen one like it.'
'Nor I - not equal to it,' he replied. 'That's wind, sir. There'll be mischief18 done at sea, I expect, before long.'
It was a murky19 confusion - here and there blotted with a colour like the colour of the smoke from damp fuel - of flying clouds, tossed up into most remarkable heaps, suggesting greater heights in the clouds than there were depths below them to the bottom of the deepest hollows in the earth, through which the wild moon seemed to plunge20 headlong, as if, in a dread21 disturbance22 of the laws of nature, she had lost her way and were frightened. There had been a wind all day; and it was rising then, with an extraordinary great sound. In another hour it had much increased, and the sky was more overcast23, and blew hard.
But, as the night advanced, the clouds closing in and densely24 over-spreading the whole sky, then very dark, it came on to blow, harder and harder. It still increased, until our horses could scarcely face the wind. Many times, in the dark part of the night (it was then late in September, when the nights were not short), the leaders turned about, or came to a dead stop; and we were often in serious apprehension25 that the coach would be blown over. Sweeping26 gusts27 of rain came up before this storm, like showers of steel; and, at those times, when there was any shelter of trees or lee walls to be got, we were fain to stop, in a sheer impossibility of continuing the struggle.
When the day broke, it blew harder and harder. I had been in Yarmouth when the seamen28 said it blew great guns, but I had never known the like of this, or anything approaching to it. We came to Ipswich - very late, having had to fight every inch of ground since we were ten miles out of London; and found a cluster of people in the market-place, who had risen from their beds in the night, fearful of falling chimneys. Some of these, congregating29 about the inn-yard while we changed horses, told us of great sheets of lead having been ripped off a high church-tower, and flung into a by-street, which they then blocked up. Others had to tell of country people, coming in from neighbouring villages, who had seen great trees lying torn out of the earth, and whole ricks scattered30 about the roads and fields. Still, there was no abatement31 in the storm, but it blew harder.
As we struggled on, nearer and nearer to the sea, from which this mighty32 wind was blowing dead on shore, its force became more and more terrific. Long before we saw the sea, its spray was on our lips, and showered salt rain upon us. The water was out, over miles and miles of the flat country adjacent to Yarmouth; and every sheet and puddle33 lashed34 its banks, and had its stress of little breakers setting heavily towards us. When we came within sight of the sea, the waves on the horizon, caught at intervals above the rolling abyss, were like glimpses of another shore with towers and buildings. When at last we got into the town, the people came out to their doors, all aslant35, and with streaming hair, making a wonder of the mail that had come through such a night.
I put up at the old inn, and went down to look at the sea; staggering along the street, which was strewn with sand and seaweed, and with flying blotches36 of sea-foam37; afraid of falling slates38 and tiles; and holding by people I met, at angry corners. Coming near the beach, I saw, not only the boatmen, but half the people of the town, lurking39 behind buildings; some, now and then braving the fury of the storm to look away to sea, and blown sheer out of their course in trying to get zigzag40 back.
joining these groups, I found bewailing women whose husbands were away in herring or oyster41 boats, which there was too much reason to think might have foundered42 before they could run in anywhere for safety. Grizzled old sailors were among the people, shaking their heads, as they looked from water to sky, and muttering to one another; ship-owners, excited and uneasy; children, huddling43 together, and peering into older faces; even stout44 mariners45, disturbed and anxious, levelling their glasses at the sea from behind places of shelter, as if they were surveying an enemy.
The tremendous sea itself, when I could find sufficient pause to look at it, in the agitation46 of the blinding wind, the flying stones and sand, and the awful noise, confounded me. As the high watery47 walls came rolling in, and, at their highest, tumbled into surf, they looked as if the least would engulf48 the town. As the receding49 wave swept back with a hoarse50 roar, it seemed to scoop51 out deep caves in the beach, as if its purpose were to undermine the earth. When some white-headed billows thundered on, and dashed themselves to pieces before they reached the land, every fragment of the late whole seemed possessed52 by the full might of its wrath53, rushing to be gathered to the composition of another monster. Undulating hills were changed to valleys, undulating valleys (with a solitary54 storm-bird sometimes skimming through them) were lifted up to hills; masses of water shivered and shook the beach with a booming sound; every shape tumultuously rolled on, as soon as made, to change its shape and place, and beat another shape and place away; the ideal shore on the horizon, with its towers and buildings, rose and fell; the clouds fell fast and thick; I seemed to see a rending56 and upheaving of all nature.
Not finding Ham among the people whom this memorable57 wind - for it is still remembered down there, as the greatest ever known to blow upon that coast - had brought together, I made my way to his house. It was shut; and as no one answered to my knocking, I went, by back ways and by-lanes, to the yard where he worked. I learned, there, that he had gone to Lowestoft, to meet some sudden exigency58 of ship-repairing in which his skill was required; but that he would be back tomorrow morning, in good time.
I went back to the inn; and when I had washed and dressed, and tried to sleep, but in vain, it was five o'clock in the afternoon. I had not sat five minutes by the coffee-room fire, when the waiter, coming to stir it, as an excuse for talking, told me that two colliers had gone down, with all hands, a few miles away; and that some other ships had been seen labouring hard in the Roads, and trying, in great distress59, to keep off shore. Mercy on them, and on all poor sailors, said he, if we had another night like the last!
I was very much depressed60 in spirits; very solitary; and felt an uneasiness in Ham's not being there, disproportionate to the occasion. I was seriously affected61, without knowing how much, by late events; and my long exposure to the fierce wind had confused me. There was that jumble62 in my thoughts and recollections, that I had lost the clear arrangement of time and distance. Thus, if I had gone out into the town, I should not have been surprised, I think, to encounter someone who I knew must be then in London. So to speak, there was in these respects a curious inattention in my mind. Yet it was busy, too, with all the remembrances the place naturally awakened63; and they were particularly distinct and vivid.
In this state, the waiter's dismal64 intelligence about the ships immediately connected itself, without any effort of my volition65, with my uneasiness about Ham. I was persuaded that I had an apprehension of his returning from Lowestoft by sea, and being lost. This grew so strong with me, that I resolved to go back to the yard before I took my dinner, and ask the boat-builder if he thought his attempting to return by sea at all likely? If he gave me the least reason to think so, I would go over to Lowestoft and prevent it by bringing him with me.
I hastily ordered my dinner, and went back to the yard. I was none too soon; for the boat-builder, with a lantern in his hand, was locking the yard-gate. He quite laughed when I asked him the question, and said there was no fear; no man in his senses, or out of them, would put off in such a gale66 of wind, least of all Ham Peggotty, who had been born to seafaring.
So sensible of this, beforehand, that I had really felt ashamed of doing what I was nevertheless impelled67 to do, I went back to the inn. If such a wind could rise, I think it was rising. The howl and roar, the rattling68 of the doors and windows, the rumbling69 in the chimneys, the apparent rocking of the very house that sheltered me, and the prodigious70 tumult55 of the sea, were more fearful than in the morning. But there was now a great darkness besides; and that invested the storm with new terrors, real and fanciful.
I could not eat, I could not sit still, I could not continue steadfast71 to anything. Something within me, faintly answering to the storm without, tossed up the depths of my memory and made a tumult in them. Yet, in all the hurry of my thoughts, wild running with the thundering sea, - the storm, and my uneasiness regarding Ham were always in the fore-ground.
My dinner went away almost untasted, and I tried to refresh myself with a glass or two of wine. In vain. I fell into a dull slumber72 before the fire, without losing my consciousness, either of the uproar73 out of doors, or of the place in which I was. Both became overshadowed by a new and indefinable horror; and when I awoke - or rather when I shook off the lethargy that bound me in my chair- my whole frame thrilled with objectless and unintelligible74 fear.
I walked to and fro, tried to read an old gazetteer75, listened to the awful noises: looked at faces, scenes, and figures in the fire. At length, the steady ticking of the undisturbed clock on the wall tormented76 me to that degree that I resolved to go to bed.
It was reassuring77, on such a night, to be told that some of the inn-servants had agreed together to sit up until morning. I went to bed, exceedingly weary and heavy; but, on my lying down, all such sensations vanished, as if by magic, and I was broad awake, with every sense refined.
For hours I lay there, listening to the wind and water; imagining, now, that I heard shrieks78 out at sea; now, that I distinctly heard the firing of signal guns; and now, the fall of houses in the town. I got up, several times, and looked out; but could see nothing, except the reflection in the window-panes of the faint candle I had left burning, and of my own haggard face looking in at me from the black void.
At length, my restlessness attained79 to such a pitch, that I hurried on my clothes, and went downstairs. In the large kitchen, where I dimly saw bacon and ropes of onions hanging from the beams, the watchers were clustered together, in various attitudes, about a table, purposely moved away from the great chimney, and brought near the door. A pretty girl, who had her ears stopped with her apron80, and her eyes upon the door, screamed when I appeared, supposing me to be a spirit; but the others had more presence of mind, and were glad of an addition to their company. One man, referring to the topic they had been discussing, asked me whether I thought the souls of the collier-crews who had gone down, were out in the storm?
I remained there, I dare say, two hours. Once, I opened the yard-gate, and looked into the empty street. The sand, the sea-weed, and the flakes81 of foam, were driving by; and I was obliged to call for assistance before I could shut the gate again, and make it fast against the wind.
There was a dark gloom in my solitary chamber82, when I at length returned to it; but I was tired now, and, getting into bed again, fell - off a tower and down a precipice83 - into the depths of sleep. I have an impression that for a long time, though I dreamed of being elsewhere and in a variety of scenes, it was always blowing in my dream. At length, I lost that feeble hold upon reality, and was engaged with two dear friends, but who they were I don't know, at the siege of some town in a roar of cannonading.
The thunder of the cannon84 was so loud and incessant85, that I could not hear something I much desired to hear, until I made a great exertion86 and awoke. It was broad day - eight or nine o'clock; the storm raging, in lieu of the batteries; and someone knocking and calling at my door.
'What is the matter?' I cried.
I sprung out of bed, and asked, what wreck?
'A schooner88, from Spain or Portugal, laden89 with fruit and wine. Make haste, sir, if you want to see her! It's thought, down on the beach, she'll go to pieces every moment.'
The excited voice went clamouring along the staircase; and I wrapped myself in my clothes as quickly as I could, and ran into the street.
Numbers of people were there before me, all running in one direction, to the beach. I ran the same way, outstripping90 a good many, and soon came facing the wild sea.
The wind might by this time have lulled91 a little, though not more sensibly than if the cannonading I had dreamed of, had been diminished by the silencing of half-a-dozen guns out of hundreds. But the sea, having upon it the additional agitation of the whole night, was infinitely92 more terrific than when I had seen it last. Every appearance it had then presented, bore the expression of being swelled93; and the height to which the breakers rose, and, looking over one another, bore one another down, and rolled in, in interminable hosts, was most appalling94. In the difficulty of hearing anything but wind and waves, and in the crowd, and the unspeakable confusion, and my first breathless efforts to stand against the weather, I was so confused that I looked out to sea for the wreck, and saw nothing but the foaming95 heads of the great waves. A half-dressed boatman, standing96 next me, pointed97 with his bare arm (a tattoo'd arrow on it, pointing in the same direction) to the left. Then, O great Heaven, I saw it, close in upon us!
One mast was broken short off, six or eight feet from the deck, and lay over the side, entangled98 in a maze99 of sail and rigging; and all that ruin, as the ship rolled and beat - which she did without a moment's pause, and with a violence quite inconceivable - beat the side as if it would stave it in. Some efforts were even then being made, to cut this portion of the wreck away; for, as the ship, which was broadside on, turned towards us in her rolling, I plainly descried100 her people at work with axes, especially one active figure with long curling hair, conspicuous101 among the rest. But a great cry, which was audible even above the wind and water, rose from the shore at this moment; the sea, sweeping over the rolling wreck, made a clean breach102, and carried men, spars, casks, planks103, bulwarks104, heaps of such toys, into the boiling surge.
The second mast was yet standing, with the rags of a rent sail, and a wild confusion of broken cordage flapping to and fro. The ship had struck once, the same boatman hoarsely105 said in my ear, and then lifted in and struck again. I understood him to add that she was parting amidships, and I could readily suppose so, for the rolling and beating were too tremendous for any human work to suffer long. As he spoke106, there was another great cry of pity from the beach; four men arose with the wreck out of the deep, clinging to the rigging of the remaining mast; uppermost, the active figure with the curling hair.
There was a bell on board; and as the ship rolled and dashed, like a desperate creature driven mad, now showing us the whole sweep of her deck, as she turned on her beam-ends towards the shore, now nothing but her keel, as she sprung wildly over and turned towards the sea, the bell rang; and its sound, the knell107 of those unhappy men, was borne towards us on the wind. Again we lost her, and again she rose. Two men were gone. The agony on the shore increased. Men groaned108, and clasped their hands; women shrieked109, and turned away their faces. Some ran wildly up and down along the beach, crying for help where no help could be. I found myself one of these, frantically110 imploring111 a knot of sailors whom I knew, not to let those two lost creatures perish before our eyes.
They were making out to me, in an agitated112 way - I don't know how, for the little I could hear I was scarcely composed enough to understand - that the lifeboat had been bravely manned an hour ago, and could do nothing; and that as no man would be so desperate as to attempt to wade113 off with a rope, and establish a communication with the shore, there was nothing left to try; when I noticed that some new sensation moved the people on the beach, and saw them part, and Ham come breaking through them to the front.
I ran to him - as well as I know, to repeat my appeal for help. But, distracted though I was, by a sight so new to me and terrible, the determination in his face, and his look out to sea - exactly the same look as I remembered in connexion with the morning after Emily's flight - awoke me to a knowledge of his danger. I held him back with both arms; and implored114 the men with whom I had been speaking, not to listen to him, not to do murder, not to let him stir from off that sand!
Another cry arose on shore; and looking to the wreck, we saw the cruel sail, with blow on blow, beat off the lower of the two men, and fly up in triumph round the active figure left alone upon the mast.
Against such a sight, and against such determination as that of the calmly desperate man who was already accustomed to lead half the people present, I might as hopefully have entreated115 the wind. 'Mas'r Davy,' he said, cheerily grasping me by both hands, 'if my time is come, 'tis come. If 'tan't, I'll bide116 it. Lord above bless you, and bless all! Mates, make me ready! I'm a-going off!'
I was swept away, but not unkindly, to some distance, where the people around me made me stay; urging, as I confusedly perceived, that he was bent117 on going, with help or without, and that I should endanger the precautions for his safety by troubling those with whom they rested. I don't know what I answered, or what they rejoined; but I saw hurry on the beach, and men running with ropes from a capstan that was there, and penetrating118 into a circle of figures that hid him from me. Then, I saw him standing alone, in a seaman's frock and trousers: a rope in his hand, or slung119 to his wrist: another round his body: and several of the best men holding, at a little distance, to the latter, which he laid out himself, slack upon the shore, at his feet.
The wreck, even to my unpractised eye, was breaking up. I saw that she was parting in the middle, and that the life of the solitary man upon the mast hung by a thread. Still, he clung to it. He had a singular red cap on, - not like a sailor's cap, but of a finer colour; and as the few yielding planks between him and destruction rolled and bulged120, and his anticipative death-knell rung, he was seen by all of us to wave it. I saw him do it now, and thought I was going distracted, when his action brought an old remembrance to my mind of a once dear friend.
Ham watched the sea, standing alone, with the silence of suspended breath behind him, and the storm before, until there was a great retiring wave, when, with a backward glance at those who held the rope which was made fast round his body, he dashed in after it, and in a moment was buffeting121 with the water; rising with the hills, falling with the valleys, lost beneath the foam; then drawn122 again to land. They hauled in hastily.
He was hurt. I saw blood on his face, from where I stood; but he took no thought of that. He seemed hurriedly to give them some directions for leaving him more free - or so I judged from the motion of his arm - and was gone as before.
And now he made for the wreck, rising with the hills, falling with the valleys, lost beneath the rugged123 foam, borne in towards the shore, borne on towards the ship, striving hard and valiantly124. The distance was nothing, but the power of the sea and wind made the strife125 deadly. At length he neared the wreck. He was so near, that with one more of his vigorous strokes he would be clinging to it, - when a high, green, vast hill-side of water, moving on shoreward, from beyond the ship, he seemed to leap up into it with a mighty bound, and the ship was gone!
Some eddying126 fragments I saw in the sea, as if a mere127 cask had been broken, in running to the spot where they were hauling in. Consternation128 was in every face. They drew him to my very feet - insensible - dead. He was carried to the nearest house; and, no one preventing me now, I remained near him, busy, while every means of restoration were tried; but he had been beaten to death by the great wave, and his generous heart was stilled for ever.
As I sat beside the bed, when hope was abandoned and all was done, a fisherman, who had known me when Emily and I were children, and ever since, whispered my name at the door.
'Sir,' said he, with tears starting to his weather-beaten face, which, with his trembling lips, was ashy pale, 'will you come over yonder?'
The old remembrance that had been recalled to me, was in his look. I asked him, terror-stricken, leaning on the arm he held out to support me:
He said, 'Yes.'
'Do I know it?' I asked then.
He answered nothing.
But he led me to the shore. And on that part of it where she and I had looked for shells, two children - on that part of it where some lighter130 fragments of the old boat, blown down last night, had been scattered by the wind - among the ruins of the home he had wronged - I saw him lying with his head upon his arm, as I had often seen him lie at school.
1 narrative | |
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
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2 vividly | |
adv.清楚地,鲜明地,生动地 | |
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3 lengthened | |
(时间或空间)延长,伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
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5 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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6 writ | |
n.命令状,书面命令 | |
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7 lodging | |
n.寄宿,住所;(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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8 fidelity | |
n.忠诚,忠实;精确 | |
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9 adorned | |
[计]被修饰的 | |
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10 trot | |
n.疾走,慢跑;n.老太婆;现成译本;(复数)trots:腹泻(与the 连用);v.小跑,快步走,赶紧 | |
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11 blessings | |
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福 | |
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12 blotted | |
涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 ); (用吸墨纸)吸干 | |
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13 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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14 dissuade | |
v.劝阻,阻止 | |
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15 conveyance | |
n.(不动产等的)转让,让与;转让证书;传送;运送;表达;(正)运输工具 | |
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16 vicissitudes | |
n.变迁,世事变化;变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 );盛衰兴废 | |
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17 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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18 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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19 murky | |
adj.黑暗的,朦胧的;adv.阴暗地,混浊地;n.阴暗;昏暗 | |
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20 plunge | |
v.跳入,(使)投入,(使)陷入;猛冲 | |
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21 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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22 disturbance | |
n.动乱,骚动;打扰,干扰;(身心)失调 | |
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23 overcast | |
adj.阴天的,阴暗的,愁闷的;v.遮盖,(使)变暗,包边缝;n.覆盖,阴天 | |
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24 densely | |
ad.密集地;浓厚地 | |
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25 apprehension | |
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑 | |
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26 sweeping | |
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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27 gusts | |
一阵强风( gust的名词复数 ); (怒、笑等的)爆发; (感情的)迸发; 发作 | |
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28 seamen | |
n.海员 | |
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29 congregating | |
(使)集合,聚集( congregate的现在分词 ) | |
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30 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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31 abatement | |
n.减(免)税,打折扣,冲销 | |
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32 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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33 puddle | |
n.(雨)水坑,泥潭 | |
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34 lashed | |
adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 );煽动;紧系;怒斥 | |
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35 aslant | |
adv.倾斜地;adj.斜的 | |
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36 blotches | |
n.(皮肤上的)红斑,疹块( blotch的名词复数 );大滴 [大片](墨水或颜色的)污渍 | |
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37 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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38 slates | |
(旧时学生用以写字的)石板( slate的名词复数 ); 板岩; 石板瓦; 石板色 | |
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39 lurking | |
潜在 | |
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40 zigzag | |
n.曲折,之字形;adj.曲折的,锯齿形的;adv.曲折地,成锯齿形地;vt.使曲折;vi.曲折前行 | |
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41 oyster | |
n.牡蛎;沉默寡言的人 | |
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42 foundered | |
v.创始人( founder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43 huddling | |
n. 杂乱一团, 混乱, 拥挤 v. 推挤, 乱堆, 草率了事 | |
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45 mariners | |
海员,水手(mariner的复数形式) | |
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46 agitation | |
n.搅动;搅拌;鼓动,煽动 | |
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47 watery | |
adj.有水的,水汪汪的;湿的,湿润的 | |
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48 engulf | |
vt.吞没,吞食 | |
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49 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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50 hoarse | |
adj.嘶哑的,沙哑的 | |
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51 scoop | |
n.铲子,舀取,独家新闻;v.汲取,舀取,抢先登出 | |
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52 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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53 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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54 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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55 tumult | |
n.喧哗;激动,混乱;吵闹 | |
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56 rending | |
v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 );分裂;(因愤怒、痛苦等而)揪扯(衣服或头发等);(声音等)刺破 | |
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57 memorable | |
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的 | |
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58 exigency | |
n.紧急;迫切需要 | |
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59 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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60 depressed | |
adj.沮丧的,抑郁的,不景气的,萧条的 | |
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61 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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62 jumble | |
vt.使混乱,混杂;n.混乱;杂乱的一堆 | |
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63 awakened | |
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
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64 dismal | |
adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的 | |
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65 volition | |
n.意志;决意 | |
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66 gale | |
n.大风,强风,一阵闹声(尤指笑声等) | |
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67 impelled | |
v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68 rattling | |
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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69 rumbling | |
n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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70 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
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71 steadfast | |
adj.固定的,不变的,不动摇的;忠实的;坚贞不移的 | |
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72 slumber | |
n.睡眠,沉睡状态 | |
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73 uproar | |
n.骚动,喧嚣,鼎沸 | |
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74 unintelligible | |
adj.无法了解的,难解的,莫明其妙的 | |
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75 gazetteer | |
n.地名索引 | |
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76 tormented | |
饱受折磨的 | |
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77 reassuring | |
a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的,使人放心的 | |
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78 shrieks | |
n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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79 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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80 apron | |
n.围裙;工作裙 | |
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81 flakes | |
小薄片( flake的名词复数 ); (尤指)碎片; 雪花; 古怪的人 | |
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82 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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83 precipice | |
n.悬崖,危急的处境 | |
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84 cannon | |
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮 | |
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85 incessant | |
adj.不停的,连续的 | |
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86 exertion | |
n.尽力,努力 | |
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87 wreck | |
n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难 | |
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88 schooner | |
n.纵帆船 | |
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89 laden | |
adj.装满了的;充满了的;负了重担的;苦恼的 | |
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90 outstripping | |
v.做得比…更好,(在赛跑等中)超过( outstrip的现在分词 ) | |
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91 lulled | |
vt.使镇静,使安静(lull的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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92 infinitely | |
adv.无限地,无穷地 | |
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93 swelled | |
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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94 appalling | |
adj.骇人听闻的,令人震惊的,可怕的 | |
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95 foaming | |
adj.布满泡沫的;发泡 | |
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96 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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97 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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98 entangled | |
adj.卷入的;陷入的;被缠住的;缠在一起的v.使某人(某物/自己)缠绕,纠缠于(某物中),使某人(自己)陷入(困难或复杂的环境中)( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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99 maze | |
n.迷宫,八阵图,混乱,迷惑 | |
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100 descried | |
adj.被注意到的,被发现的,被看到的 | |
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101 conspicuous | |
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的 | |
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102 breach | |
n.违反,不履行;破裂;vt.冲破,攻破 | |
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103 planks | |
(厚)木板( plank的名词复数 ); 政纲条目,政策要点 | |
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104 bulwarks | |
n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 );保障;支柱;舷墙 | |
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105 hoarsely | |
adv.嘶哑地 | |
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106 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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107 knell | |
n.丧钟声;v.敲丧钟 | |
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108 groaned | |
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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109 shrieked | |
v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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110 frantically | |
ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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111 imploring | |
恳求的,哀求的 | |
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112 agitated | |
adj.被鼓动的,不安的 | |
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113 wade | |
v.跋涉,涉水;n.跋涉 | |
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114 implored | |
恳求或乞求(某人)( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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115 entreated | |
恳求,乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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116 bide | |
v.忍耐;等候;住 | |
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117 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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118 penetrating | |
adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的 | |
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119 slung | |
抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往 | |
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120 bulged | |
凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 ); 充满; 塞满(某物) | |
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121 buffeting | |
振动 | |
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122 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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123 rugged | |
adj.高低不平的,粗糙的,粗壮的,强健的 | |
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124 valiantly | |
adv.勇敢地,英勇地;雄赳赳 | |
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125 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
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126 eddying | |
涡流,涡流的形成 | |
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127 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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128 consternation | |
n.大为吃惊,惊骇 | |
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129 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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130 lighter | |
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级 | |
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