Mr Pulchop had long since departed this life, being considerably5 assisted in his exit from this wicked world by the quantity of patent medicines his wife compelled him to take to cure him, which unfortunately, however, had the opposite effect.
Mrs Pulchop said he had been a handsome man, but according to the portrait she had of him he resembled a bull-dog more than anything else in nature. The young Pulchops, of which there were two, both of the female sex, took after their father in appearance and their mother in temperament6, and from the time they could talk and crawl knew as much about drops, poultices, bandages, and draughts7 as many a hospital nurse of mature age.
One day Vandeloup sent a telegram to Kitty saying he would be home to dinner, and as he always required something extra in the way of cooking, Kitty went to interview Mrs Pulchop on the subject. She found that lady wrapped up in a heavy shawl, turning herself into a tea-kettle by drinking hot water, the idea being, as she assured Kitty, to rouse up her liver. Miss Topsy Pulchop was tying a bandage round her face, as she felt a toothache coming on, while Miss Anna Pulchop was unfortunately quite well, and her occupation being gone, was seated disconsolately8 at the window trying to imagine she felt pains in her back.
‘Ah!’ groaned9 Mrs Pulchop, in a squeaky voice, sipping11 her hot water; ‘you don’t know, my dear, what it is to be aworrited by your liver — tortures and inquisitions ain’t in it, my love.’
Kitty said she was very sorry, and asked her if nothing would relieve her sufferings, but Mrs Pulchop shook her head triumphantly12.
‘My sweet young thing,’ said the patient, with great gusto, ‘I’ve tried everything under the sun to make it right, but they ain’t no good; it’s always expanding and a contracting of itself unbeknown to me, and throwing the bile into the stomach, which ain’t its proper place.’
‘It does sound rather nasty,’ assented13 Kitty; ‘and Topsy seems to be ill, too.’
‘Toothache,’ growled16 Topsy, who had a deep, bass17 voice, and being modelled on the canine18 lines of her late lamented19 father, the growl15 suited her admirably. ‘I had two out last week, and now this one’s started.’
‘Try a roasted fig20, Topsy dear,’ suggested her mother, who, now, having finished her hot water, looked longingly21 at the kettle for more.
‘Toothache,’ growled Topsy, in reply, ‘not gumboil;’ the remedy suggested by Mrs Pulchop being for the latter of these ills.
‘You are quite well, at any rate,’ said Kitty to Anna, cheerfully.
Anna, however, declined to be considered in good health. ‘I fancy my back is going to ache,’ she said, darkly placing her hand in the small of it. ‘I’ll have to put a linseed poultice on it tonight, to draw the cold out.’
Then she groaned dismally22, and her mother and sister, hearing the familiar sound, also groaned, so there was quite a chorus, and Kitty felt inclined to groan10 also, out of sympathy.
‘M. Vandeloup is coming to dinner tonight,’ she said, timidly, to Mrs Pulchop.
‘And a wonder it is, my sweet angel,’ said that lady, indignantly, rising and glancing at the pretty girl, now so pale and sad-looking, ‘it’s once in a blue moon as he comes ‘ome, a — leaving you to mope at home like a broken-hearted kitten in a coal box. Ah, if he only had a liver, that would teach him manners.’
Groans23 of assent14 from the Misses Pulchops, who both had livers and were always fighting with them.
‘And what, my neglected cherub,’ asked Mrs Pulchop, going to a looking-glass which always hung in the kitchen, for the three to examine their tongues in, ‘what shall I give you for dinner?’
Kitty suggested a fowl24, macaroni cheese, and fruit for dessert, which bill of fare had such an effect on the family that they all groaned in unison25.
‘Macaroni cheese,’ growled Topsy, speaking from the very depth of the cork26 soles she wore to keep her feet dry; ‘there’s nothing more bilious27. I couldn’t look at it.’
‘Ah,’ observed Mrs Pulchop, ‘you’re only a weak gal28, and men is that obstinate29 they’d swaller bricks like ostriges sooner nor give in as it hurt ’em. You shall ‘ave a nice dinner, Mrs Vanloops, tho’ I can’t deny but what it ull be bilious.’
Thus warned, Kitty retired30 into her own room and made herself nice for Gaston to look on when he came.
Poor thing, it was so rarely now that he came home to dinner, that a visit from him was regarded by her in the light of a treat. She dressed herself in a pretty white dress and tied a blue sash round her waist, so that she might look the same to him as when he first saw her. But her face was now worn and white, and as she looked at her pallor in the glass she wished she had some rouge31 to bring a touch of colour to her cheeks. She tried to smile in her own merry way at the wan32 reflection she beheld33, but the effort was a failure, and she burst into tears.
At six o’clock everything was ready for dinner, and having seen that all was in good order, Kitty walked outside to watch for Gaston.
There was a faint, warm, light outside, and the sky was of a pale opaline tint34, while the breeze blowing across the garden brought the perfume of the flowers to her, putting Kitty in mind of Mrs Villiers’ garden at Ballarat. Oh, those innocent days! would they never come again? Alas35! she knew that they would not — the subtle feeling of youth had left her for ever; and this girl, leaning up against the house with her golden head resting on her arm, knew that the change had come over her which turns all from youth to age.
Suddenly she heard the rattle36 of wheels, and rousing herself from her reverie, she saw a hansom cab at the gate, and M. Vandeloup standing37 on the pavement paying the driver. She also heard her lover tell the cabman to call for him at eight o’clock, and her heart sank within her as she thought that he would be gone again in two hours. The cab drove off, and she stood cold and silent on the verandah waiting for Gaston, who sauntered slowly up the walk with one hand in the pocket of his trousers. He was in evening dress, and the night being warm he did not wear an overcoat, so looked tall and slim in his dark clothes as he came up the path swinging his cane38 gaily39 to and fro.
‘Well, Bebe,’ he said, brightly, as he bent40 down and kissed her, ‘here I am, you see; I hope you’ve got a nice dinner for me?’
‘Oh, yes,’ answered Kitty, trying to smile, and walking before him into the house; ‘I told Mrs Pulchop, and she has made special preparations.’
‘How is that walking hospital?’ asked Vandeloup, carelessly taking off his hat; ‘I suppose she is ill as usual.’
‘So she says,’ replied Kitty, with a laugh, as he put his arm in hers and walked into the room; ‘she is always ill.’
‘Why, Bebe, how charming you look tonight,’ said Vandeloup, holding her at arm’s length; ‘quite like your old self.’
And indeed she looked very pretty, for the excitement of seeing him had brightened her eyes and flushed her cheeks, and standing in the warm light of the lamp, with her golden hair floating round her head, she looked like a lovely picture.
‘You are not going away very soon?’ she whispered to Gaston, coming close to him, and putting her hand on his shoulder; ‘I see so little of you now.’
‘My dear child, I can’t help it,’ he said, carelessly removing her hand and walking over to the dinner table; ‘I have an engagement in town tonight.’
‘Ah, you no longer care for me,’ said Kitty, with a stifled41 sob42.
Vandeloup shrugged43 his shoulders.
‘If you are going to make a scene,’ he said, coldly, ‘please postpone44 it. I don’t want my appetite taken away; would you kindly45 see if the dinner is ready?’
Kitty dried her eyes and rang the bell, upon which Mrs Pulchop glided46 into the room, still wrapped in her heavy shawl.
‘It ain’t quite ready yet, sir,’ she said, in answer to Gaston’s question; ‘Topsy ‘aving been bad with the toothache, which you can’t expect people to cook dinners as is ill!’
‘Why don’t you send her to the hospital?’ said Vandeloup, with a yawn, looking at his watch.
‘Never,’ retorted Mrs Pulchop, in a decisively shrill47 voice; ‘their medicines ain’t pure, and they leaves you at the mercy of doctors to be practised on like a pianer. Topsy may go to the cemetery48 like her poor dear father, but never to an inquisition of a hospital;’ and with this Mrs Pulchop faded out of the room, for her peculiar49 mode of egress50 could hardly be called walking out.
At last dinner made its appearance, and Kitty recovering her spirits, they had a very pleasant meal together, and then Gaston sat over his coffee with a cigarette, talking to Kitty.
He never was without a cigarette in his mouth, and his fingers were all stained a yellowish brown by the nicotine51. Kitty lay back in a big arm-chair listening to his idle talk and admiring him as he sat at the dinner table.
‘Can’t you stay tonight?’ she said, looking imploringly52 at him.
Vandeloup shook his head gently.
‘I have an engagement, as I told you before,’ he said, lazily; ‘besides, evenings at home are so dreary53.’
‘I will be here,’ said Kitty, reproachfully.
‘That will, of course, make a difference,’ answered Gaston, with a faint sneer54; ‘but you know,’ shrugging his shoulders, ‘I do not cultivate the domestic virtues55.’
‘What will you do when we are married?’ said Kitty, with an uneasy laugh.
‘Enough for the day is the evil thereof,’ replied M. Vandeloup, with a gay smile.
‘What do you mean?’ asked the girl, with a sudden start.
Vandeloup arose from his seat, and lighting56 another cigarette he lounged over to the fireplace, and leaned against the mantelpiece with his hands in his pockets.
‘I mean that when we are married it will be time enough to talk about such things,’ he answered, looking at her through his eyelashes.
‘Then we will talk about them very shortly,’ said Kitty, with an angry laugh, as her hands clenched57 the arms of the chair tightly; ‘for the year is nearly up, and you promised to marry me at the end of it.’
‘How many things do we intend to do that are never carried out?’ said Gaston, gently. ‘Do you mean that you will break your promise?’ she asked, with a scared face.
Vandeloup removed the cigarette from his mouth, and, leaning one elbow on the mantelpiece, looked at her with a smile.
‘My dear,’ he said, quietly, ‘things are not going well with me at present, and I want money badly.’
‘Well?’ asked Kitty in a whisper, her heart beating loudly.
‘You are not rich,’ said her lover, ‘so why should we two paupers58 get married, only to plunge59 ourselves into misery60?’
‘Then you refuse to marry me?’ she said, rising to her feet.
He bowed his head gently.
‘At present, yes,’ he answered, and replaced the cigarette between his lips.
Kitty stood for a moment as if turned to stone, and then throwing up her hands with a gesture of despair, fell back into the chair, and burst into a flood of tears. Vandeloup shrugged his shoulders in a resigned sort of manner, and glanced at his watch to see when it would be time for him to go. Meanwhile he smoked quietly on, and Kitty, after sobbing61 for some time, dried her eyes, and sat up in the chair again.
‘How long is this going to last?’ she asked, in a hard voice.
‘Till I get rich!’
‘That may be a long time?’
‘It may.’
‘Perhaps never?’
‘Perhaps!’
‘And then I will never be your wife?’
‘Unfortunately, no.’
‘You coward!’ burst forth62 Kitty, rising from her seat, and crossing over to him; ‘you made me leave my home with your false promises, and now you refuse to make me the only reparation that is in your power.’
‘Circumstances are against any virtuous63 intentions I may entertain,’ retorted Vandeloup, coolly.
Kitty looked at him for a moment, then ran over to a desk near the window, and took from thence a small bottle of white glass with two red bands round it. She let the lid of the desk fall with a bang, then crossed to Vandeloup, holding the bottle up before him.
‘Do you know what this is?’ she asked, in a harsh voice.
‘The poison I made in Ballarat,’ he answered, coolly, blowing a wreath of smoke; ‘how did you get hold of it?’
‘I found it in your private desk,’ she said, coldly.
‘That was wrong, my dear,’ he answered, gently, ‘you should never betray confidences — I left the desk in your charge, and it should have been sacred to you.’
‘Out of your own mouth are you condemned,’ said the girl, quickly; ‘you have betrayed my confidence and ruined me, so if you do not fix a day for our marriage, I swear I will drink this and die at your feet.’
‘How melodramatic you are, Bebe,’ said Vandeloup, coolly; ‘you put me in mind of Croisette in “Le Sphinx”.’
‘You don’t believe I will do it.’
‘No! I do not.’
‘Then see.’ She took the stopper out of the bottle and held it to her lips. Vandeloup did not stir, but, still smoking, stood looking at her with a smile. His utter callousness64 was too much for her, and replacing the stopper again, she slipped the bottle into her pocket and let her hands fall idly by her side.
‘I thought you would not do it,’ replied Gaston, smoothly65, looking at his watch; ‘you must really excuse me, I hear the cab wheels outside.’
Kitty, however, placed herself in front of him as he moved towards the door.
‘Listen to me,’ she said, in a harsh voice, with white face and flaming eyes; ‘to-night I leave this house for ever.’
He bowed his head.
‘As it pleases you,’ he replied, simply.
‘My God!’ she cried, ‘have you no love for me now?’
‘No,’ he answered, coldly and brutally66, ‘I am tired of you.’
She fell on her knees and clutched his hand.
‘Dear Gaston! dear Gaston!’ she cried, covering it with kisses, ‘think how young I am, how my life is ruined, and by you. I gave up everything for your sake — home, father, and friends — you will not cast me off like this after all I have sacrificed for you? Oh, for God’s sake, speak — speak!’
‘My dear,’ said Vandeloup, gravely, looking down at the kneeling figure with the streaming eyes and clenched hands, ‘as long as you choose to stay here I will be your friend — I cannot afford to marry you, but while you are with me our lives will be as they have been; good-bye at present,’ touching67 her forehead coldly with his lips, ‘I will call to-morrow afternoon to see how you are, and I trust this will be the last of such scenes.’
He drew his hand away from hers, and she sat on the floor dull and silent, with her eyes fixed68 on the ground and an aching in her heart. Vandeloup went into the hall, put on his hat, then lighting another cigarette and taking his stick, walked gaily out of the house, humming an air from ‘La Belle69 Helene’. The cab was waiting for him at the door, and telling the man to drive to the Bachelors’ Club, he entered the cab and rattled70 away down the street without a thought for the broken-hearted woman he left behind.
Kitty sat on the floor with her folded hands lying carelessly on her lap and her eyes staring idly at the carpet. This, then, was the end of all her hopes and joys — she was cast aside carelessly by this man now that he wearied of her. Love’s young dream had been sweet indeed; but, ah! how bitter was the awakening71. Her castles in the air had all melted into clouds, and here in the very flower of her youth she felt that her life was ruined, and she was as one wandering in a sterile72 waste, with a black and starless sky overhead. She clasped her hands with a sensation of pain, and a rose at her breast fell down withered73 and dead. She took it up with listless fingers, and with the quiver of her hand the leaves fell off and were scattered74 over her white dress in a pink shower. It was an allegory of her life, she thought. Once it had been as fresh and full of fragrance75 as this dead rose; then it had withered, and now she saw all her hopes and beliefs falling off one by one like the faded petals76. Ah, there is no despair like that of youth; and Kitty, sitting on the floor with hot dry eyes and a pain in her heart, felt that the sun of her life had set for ever.
**
So still the night was. No moon as yet, but an innumerable blaze of stars set like diamonds in the dark blue sky. A smoky yellowish haze77 hung over the city, but down in the garden amid the flowers all was cool and fragrant78. The house was quite dark, and a tall mulberry tree on one side of it was black against the clear sky. Suddenly the door opened, and a figure came out and closed the door softly after it. Down the path it came, and standing in the middle of the garden, raised a white tear-stained face to the dark sky. A dog barked in the distance, and then a fresh cold breeze came sweeping79 through the trees and stirring the still perfumes of the flowers. The figure threw its hands out towards the house with a gesture of despair, then gliding80 down the path it went out of the gate and stole quietly down the lonely street.
点击收听单词发音
1 eyebrows | |
眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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2 onlooker | |
n.旁观者,观众 | |
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3 alluding | |
提及,暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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4 afflicted | |
使受痛苦,折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5 considerably | |
adv.极大地;相当大地;在很大程度上 | |
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6 temperament | |
n.气质,性格,性情 | |
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7 draughts | |
n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
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8 disconsolately | |
adv.悲伤地,愁闷地;哭丧着脸 | |
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9 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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10 groan | |
vi./n.呻吟,抱怨;(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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11 sipping | |
v.小口喝,呷,抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
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12 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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13 assented | |
同意,赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 assent | |
v.批准,认可;n.批准,认可 | |
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15 growl | |
v.(狗等)嗥叫,(炮等)轰鸣;n.嗥叫,轰鸣 | |
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16 growled | |
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说 | |
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17 bass | |
n.男低音(歌手);低音乐器;低音大提琴 | |
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18 canine | |
adj.犬的,犬科的 | |
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19 lamented | |
adj.被哀悼的,令人遗憾的v.(为…)哀悼,痛哭,悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20 fig | |
n.无花果(树) | |
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21 longingly | |
adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
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22 dismally | |
adv.阴暗地,沉闷地 | |
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23 groans | |
n.呻吟,叹息( groan的名词复数 );呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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24 fowl | |
n.家禽,鸡,禽肉 | |
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25 unison | |
n.步调一致,行动一致 | |
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26 cork | |
n.软木,软木塞 | |
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27 bilious | |
adj.胆汁过多的;易怒的 | |
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28 gal | |
n.姑娘,少女 | |
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29 obstinate | |
adj.顽固的,倔强的,不易屈服的,较难治愈的 | |
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30 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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31 rouge | |
n.胭脂,口红唇膏;v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
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32 wan | |
(wide area network)广域网 | |
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33 beheld | |
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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34 tint | |
n.淡色,浅色;染发剂;vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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35 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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36 rattle | |
v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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37 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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38 cane | |
n.手杖,细长的茎,藤条;v.以杖击,以藤编制的 | |
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39 gaily | |
adv.欢乐地,高兴地 | |
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40 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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41 stifled | |
(使)窒息, (使)窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 ); 镇压,遏制; 堵 | |
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42 sob | |
n.空间轨道的轰炸机;呜咽,哭泣 | |
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43 shrugged | |
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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44 postpone | |
v.延期,推迟 | |
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45 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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46 glided | |
v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 );掠过;(鸟或飞机 ) 滑翔 | |
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47 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
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48 cemetery | |
n.坟墓,墓地,坟场 | |
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49 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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50 egress | |
n.出去;出口 | |
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51 nicotine | |
n.(化)尼古丁,烟碱 | |
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52 imploringly | |
adv. 恳求地, 哀求地 | |
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53 dreary | |
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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54 sneer | |
v.轻蔑;嘲笑;n.嘲笑,讥讽的言语 | |
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55 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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56 lighting | |
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光 | |
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57 clenched | |
v.紧握,抓紧,咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58 paupers | |
n.穷人( pauper的名词复数 );贫民;贫穷 | |
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59 plunge | |
v.跳入,(使)投入,(使)陷入;猛冲 | |
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60 misery | |
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦 | |
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61 sobbing | |
<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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62 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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63 virtuous | |
adj.有品德的,善良的,贞洁的,有效力的 | |
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64 callousness | |
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65 smoothly | |
adv.平滑地,顺利地,流利地,流畅地 | |
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66 brutally | |
adv.残忍地,野蛮地,冷酷无情地 | |
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67 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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68 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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69 belle | |
n.靓女 | |
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70 rattled | |
慌乱的,恼火的 | |
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71 awakening | |
n.觉醒,醒悟 adj.觉醒中的;唤醒的 | |
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72 sterile | |
adj.不毛的,不孕的,无菌的,枯燥的,贫瘠的 | |
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73 withered | |
adj. 枯萎的,干瘪的,(人身体的部分器官)因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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74 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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75 fragrance | |
n.芬芳,香味,香气 | |
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76 petals | |
n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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77 haze | |
n.霾,烟雾;懵懂,迷糊;vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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78 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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79 sweeping | |
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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80 gliding | |
v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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