For a time Carol raced with them. The cold air gave fictive power. She felt that she could run on all night, leap twenty feet at a stride. But the excess of energy tired her, and she was glad to snuggle under the comforters which covered the hay in the sled-box.
In the midst of the babel she found enchanted8 quietude.
Along the road the shadows from oak-branches were inked on the snow like bars of music. Then the sled came out on the surface of Lake Minniemashie. Across the thick ice was a veritable road, a short-cut for farmers. On the glaring expanse of the lake-levels of hard crust, flashes of green ice blown clear, chains of drifts ribbed like the sea-beach — the moonlight was overwhelming. It stormed on the snow, it turned the woods ashore9 into crystals of fire. The night was tropical and voluptuous10. In that drugged magic there was no difference between heavy heat and insinuating11 cold.
Carol was dream-strayed. The turbulent voices, even Guy Pollock being connotative beside her, were nothing. She repeated:
Deep on the convent-roof the snows
Are sparkling to the moon.
The words and the light blurred12 into one vast indefinite happiness, and she believed that some great thing was coming to her. She withdrew from the clamor into a worship of incomprehensible gods. The night expanded, she was conscious of the universe, and all mysteries stooped down to her.
She was jarred out of her ecstasy13 as the bob-sled bumped up the steep road to the bluff14 where stood the cottages.
They dismounted at Jack Elder’s shack15. The interior walls of unpainted boards, which had been grateful in August, were forbidding in the chill. In fur coats and mufflers tied over caps they were a strange company, bears and walruses16 talking. Jack Elder lighted the shavings waiting in the belly17 of a cast-iron stove which was like an enlarged bean-pot. They piled their wraps high on a rocker, and cheered the rocker as it solemnly tipped over backward.
Mrs. Elder and Mrs. Sam Clark made coffee in an enormous blackened tin pot; Vida Sherwin and Mrs. McGanum unpacked18 doughnuts and gingerbread; Mrs. Dave Dyer warmed up “hot dogs”— frankfurters in rolls; Dr. Terry Gould, after announcing, “Ladies and gents, prepare to be shocked; shock line forms on the right,” produced a bottle of bourbon whisky.
The others danced, muttering “Ouch!” as their frosted feet struck the pine planks19. Carol had lost her dream. Harry20 Haydock lifted her by the waist and swung her. She laughed. The gravity of the people who stood apart and talked made her the more impatient for frolic.
Kennicott, Sam Clark, Jackson Elder, young Dr. McGanum, and James Madison Howland, teetering on their toes near the stove, conversed21 with the sedate22 pomposity23 of the commercialist. In details the men were unlike, yet they said the same things in the same hearty24 monotonous25 voices. You had to look at them to see which was speaking.
“Well, we made pretty good time coming up,” from one — any one.
“Yump, we hit it up after we struck the good going on the lake.”
“Seems kind of slow though, after driving an auto26.”
“Yump, it does, at that. Say, how’d you make out with that Sphinx tire you got?”
“Seems to hold out fine. Still, I don’t know’s I like it any better than the Roadeater Cord.”
“Yump, nothing better than a Roadeater. Especially the cord. The cord’s lots better than the fabric27.”
“Yump, you said something —— Roadeater’s a good tire.”
“Say, how’d you come out with Pete Garsheim on his payments?”
“He’s paying up pretty good. That’s a nice piece of land he’s got.”
“Yump, that’s a dandy farm.”
“Yump, Pete’s got a good place there.”
They glided28 from these serious topics into the jocose29 insults which are the wit of Main Street. Sam Clark was particularly apt at them. “What’s this wild-eyed sale of summer caps you think you’re trying to pull off?” he clamored at Harry Haydock. “Did you steal ’em, or are you just overcharging us, as usual? . . . Oh say, speaking about caps, d’I ever tell you the good one I’ve got on Will? The doc thinks he’s a pretty good driver, fact, he thinks he’s almost got human intelligence, but one time he had his machine out in the rain, and the poor fish, he hadn’t put on chains, and thinks I——”
Carol had heard the story rather often. She fled back to the dancers, and at Dave Dyer’s masterstroke of dropping an icicle down Mrs. McGanum’s back she applauded hysterically30.
They sat on the floor, devouring31 the food. The men giggled32 amiably33 as they passed the whisky bottle, and laughed, “There’s a real sport!” when Juanita Haydock took a sip34. Carol tried to follow; she believed that she desired to be drunk and riotous35; but the whisky choked her and as she saw Kennicott frown she handed the bottle on repentantly. Somewhat too late she remembered that she had given up domesticity and repentance36.
“Let’s play charades37!” said Raymie Wutherspoon.
“Oh yes, do let us,” said Ella Stowbody.
“That’s the caper,” sanctioned Harry Haydock.
They interpreted the word “making” as May and King. The crown was a red flannel38 mitten4 cocked on Sam Clark’s broad pink bald head. They forgot they were respectable. They made-believe. Carol was stimulated39 to cry:
“Let’s form a dramatic club and give a play! Shall we? It’s been so much fun tonight!”
They looked affable.
“Sure,” observed Sam Clark loyally.
“Oh, do let us! I think it would be lovely to present ‘Romeo and Juliet’!” yearned40 Ella Stowbody.
“Be a whale of a lot of fun,” Dr. Terry Gould granted.
“But if we did,” Carol cautioned, “it would be awfully41 silly to have amateur theatricals42. We ought to paint our own scenery and everything, and really do something fine. There’d be a lot of hard work. Would you — would we all be punctual at rehearsals43, do you suppose?”
“You bet!” “Sure.” “That’s the idea.” “Fellow ought to be prompt at rehearsals,” they all agreed.
“Then let’s meet next week and form the Gopher Prairie Dramatic Association!” Carol sang.
She drove home loving these friends who raced through moonlit snow, had Bohemian parties, and were about to create beauty in the theater. Everything was solved. She would be an authentic44 part of the town, yet escape the coma45 of the Village Virus. . . . She would be free of Kennicott again, without hurting him, without his knowing.
She had triumphed.
The moon was small and high now, and unheeding.
II
Though they had all been certain that they longed for the privilege of attending committee meetings and rehearsals, the dramatic association as definitely formed consisted only of Kennicott, Carol, Guy Pollock, Vida Sherwin, Ella Stowbody, the Harry Haydocks, the Dave Dyers, Raymie Wutherspoon, Dr. Terry Gould, and four new candidates: flirtatious46 Rita Simons, Dr. and Mrs. Harvey Dillon and Myrtle Cass, an uncomely but intense girl of nineteen. Of these fifteen only seven came to the first meeting. The rest telephoned their unparalleled regrets and engagements and illnesses, and announced that they would be present at all other meetings through eternity47.
Carol was made president and director.
She had added the Dillons. Despite Kennicott’s apprehension48 the dentist and his wife had not been taken up by the Westlakes but had remained as definitely outside really smart society as Willis Woodford, who was teller49, bookkeeper, and janitor50 in Stowbody’s bank. Carol had noted51 Mrs. Dillon dragging past the house during a bridge of the Jolly Seventeen, looking in with pathetic lips at the splendor52 of the accepted. She impulsively53 invited the Dillons to the dramatic association meeting, and when Kennicott was brusque to them she was unusually cordial, and felt virtuous54.
That self-approval balanced her disappointment at the small- ness of the meeting, and her embarrassment55 during Raymie Wutherspoon’s repetitions of “The stage needs uplifting,” and “I believe that there are great lessons in some plays.”
Ella Stowbody, who was a professional, having studied elocution in Milwaukee, disapproved56 of Carol’s enthusiasm for recent plays. Miss Stowbody expressed the fundamental principle of the American drama: the only way to be artistic57 is to present Shakespeare. As no one listened to her she sat back and looked like Lady Macbeth.
III
The Little Theaters, which were to give piquancy58 to American drama three or four years later, were only in embryo59. But of this fast coming revolt Carol had premonitions. She knew from some lost magazine article that in Dublin were innovators called The Irish Players. She knew confusedly that a man named Gordon Craig had painted scenery — or had he written plays? She felt that in the turbulence60 of the drama she was discovering a history more important than the commonplace chronicles which dealt with senators and their pompous61 puerilities. She had a sensation of familiarity; a dream of sitting in a Brussels cafe and going afterward62 to a tiny gay theater under a cathedral wall.
The advertisement in the Minneapolis paper leaped from the page to her eyes:
The Cosmos63 School of Music, Oratory64, and Dramatic Art announces a program of four one-act plays by Schnitzler, Shaw, Yeats, and Lord Dunsany.
She had to be there! She begged Kennicott to “run down to the Cities” with her.
“Well, I don’t know. Be fun to take in a show, but why the deuce do you want to see those darn foreign plays, given by a lot of amateurs? Why don’t you wait for a regular play, later on? There’s going to be some corkers coming: ‘Lottie of Two–Gun Rancho,’ and ‘Cops and Crooks’— real Broadway stuff, with the New York casts. What’s this junk you want to see? Hm. ‘How He Lied to Her Husband.’ That doesn’t listen so bad. Sounds racy. And, uh, well, I could go to the motor show, I suppose. I’d like to see this new Hup roadster. Well ——”
She never knew which attraction made him decide.
She had four days of delightful65 worry — over the hole in her one good silk petticoat, the loss of a string of beads66 from her chiffon and brown velvet67 frock, the catsup stain on her best georgette crepe blouse. She wailed68, “I haven’t a single solitary69 thing that’s fit to be seen in,” and enjoyed herself very much indeed.
Kennicott went about casually70 letting people know that he was “going to run down to the Cities and see some shows.”
As the train plodded71 through the gray prairie, on a windless day with the smoke from the engine clinging to the fields in giant cotton-rolls, in a low and writhing72 wall which shut off the snowy fields, she did not look out of the window. She closed her eyes and hummed, and did not know that she was humming.
She was the young poet attacking fame and Paris.
In the Minneapolis station the crowd of lumberjacks, farmers, and Swedish families with innumerous children and grandparents and paper parcels, their foggy crowding and their clamor confused her. She felt rustic73 in this once familiar city, after a year and a half of Gopher Prairie. She was certain that Kennicott was taking the wrong trolley74-car. By dusk, the liquor warehouses75, Hebraic clothing-shops, and lodging- houses on lower Hennepin Avenue were smoky, hideous76, ill- tempered. She was battered77 by the noise and shuttling of the rush-hour traffic. When a clerk in an overcoat too closely fitted at the waist stared at her, she moved nearer to Kennicott’s arm. The clerk was flippant and urban. He was a superior person, used to this tumult78. Was he laughing at her?
For a moment she wanted the secure quiet of Gopher Prairie.
In the hotel-lobby she was self-conscious. She was not used to hotels; she remembered with jealousy79 how often Juanita Haydock talked of the famous hotels in Chicago. She could not face the traveling salesmen, baronial in large leather chairs. She wanted people to believe that her husband and she were accustomed to luxury and chill elegance80; she was faintly angry at him for the vulgar way in which, after signing the register “Dr. W. P. Kennicott & wife,” he bellowed81 at the clerk, “Got a nice room with bath for us, old man?” She gazed about haughtily82, but as she discovered that no one was interested in her she felt foolish, and ashamed of her irritation83.
She asserted, “This silly lobby is too florid,” and simultaneously84 she admired it: the onyx columns with gilt85 capitals, the crown-embroidered velvet curtains at the restaurant door, the silk-roped alcove86 where pretty girls perpetually waited for mysterious men, the two-pound boxes of candy and the variety of magazines at the news-stand. The hidden orchestra was lively. She saw a man who looked like a European diplomat87, in a loose top-coat and a Homburg hat. A woman with a broadtail coat, a heavy lace veil, pearl earrings88, and a close black hat entered the restaurant. “Heavens! That’s the first really smart woman I’ve seen in a year!” Carol exulted89. She felt metropolitan90.
But as she followed Kennicott to the elevator the coat- check girl, a confident young woman, with cheeks powdered like lime, and a blouse low and thin and furiously crimson91, inspected her, and under that supercilious93 glance Carol was shy again. She unconsciously waited for the bellboy to precede her into the elevator. When he snorted “Go ahead!” she was mortified94. He thought she was a hayseed, she worried.
The moment she was in their room, with the bellboy safely out of the way, she looked critically at Kennicott. For the first time in months she really saw him.
His clothes were too heavy and provincial95. His decent gray suit, made by Nat Hicks of Gopher Prairie, might have been of sheet iron; it had no distinction of cut, no easy grace like the diplomat’s Burberry. His black shoes were blunt and not well polished. His scarf was a stupid brown. He needed a shave.
But she forgot her doubt as she realized the ingenuities96 of the room. She ran about, turning on the taps of the bathtub, which gushed97 instead of dribbling98 like the taps at home, snatching the new wash-rag out of its envelope of oiled paper, trying the rose-shaded light between the twin beds, pulling out the drawers of the kidney-shaped walnut99 desk to examine the engraved100 stationery101, planning to write on it to every one she knew, admiring the claret-colored velvet armchair and the blue rug, testing the ice-water tap, and squealing102 happily when the water really did come out cold. She flung her arms about Kennicott, kissed him.
“Like it, old lady?”
“It’s adorable. It’s so amusing. I love you for bringing me. You really are a dear!”
He looked blankly indulgent, and yawned, and condescended103, “That’s a pretty slick arrangement on the radiator104, so you can adjust it at any temperature you want. Must take a big furnace to run this place. Gosh, I hope Bea remembers to turn off the drafts tonight.”
Under the glass cover of the dressing-table was a menu with the most enchanting105 dishes: breast of guinea hen De Vitresse, pommes de terre a la Russe, meringue Chantilly, gateaux Bruxelles.
“Oh, let’s —— I’m going to have a hot bath, and put on my new hat with the wool flowers, and let’s go down and eat for hours, and we’ll have a cocktail106!” she chanted.
While Kennicott labored107 over ordering it was annoying to see him permit the waiter to be impertinent, but as the cocktail elevated her to a bridge among colored stars, as the oysters108 came in — not canned oysters in the Gopher Prairie fashion, but on the half-shell — she cried, “If you only knew how wonderful it is not to have had to plan this dinner, and order it at the butcher’s and fuss and think about it, and then watch Bea cook it! I feel so free. And to have new kinds of food, and different patterns of dishes and linen109, and not worry about whether the pudding is being spoiled! Oh, this is a great moment for me!”
IV
They had all the experiences of provincials110 in a metropolis111. After breakfast Carol bustled112 to a hair-dresser’s, bought gloves and a blouse, and importantly met Kennicott in front of an optician’s, in accordance with plans laid down, revised, and verified. They admired the diamonds and furs and frosty silverware and mahogany chairs and polished morocco sewing- boxes in shop-windows, and were abashed113 by the throngs114 in the department-stores, and were bullied115 by a clerk into buying too many shirts for Kennicott, and gaped116 at the “clever novelty perfumes — just in from New York.” Carol got three books on the theater, and spent an exultant117 hour in warning herself that she could not afford this rajah-silk frock, in thinking how envious118 it would make Juanita Haydock, in closing her eyes, and buying it. Kennicott went from shop to shop, earnestly hunting down a felt-covered device to keep the windshield of his car clear of rain.
They dined extravagantly119 at their hotel at night, and next morning sneaked120 round the corner to economize122 at a Childs’ Restaurant. They were tired by three in the afternoon, and dozed123 at the motion-pictures and said they wished they were back in Gopher Prairie — and by eleven in the evening they were again so lively that they went to a Chinese restaurant that was frequented by clerks and their sweethearts on pay-days. They sat at a teak and marble table eating Eggs Fooyung, and listened to a brassy automatic piano, and were altogether cosmopolitan125.
On the street they met people from home — the McGanums. They laughed, shook hands repeatedly, and exclaimed, “Well, this is quite a coincidence!” They asked when the McGanums had come down, and begged for news of the town they had left two days before. Whatever the McGanums were at home, here they stood out as so superior to all the undistinguishable strangers absurdly hurrying past that the Kennicotts held them as long as they could. The McGanums said good-by as though they were going to Tibet instead of to the station to catch No. 7 north.
They explored Minneapolis. Kennicott was conversational126 and technical regarding gluten and cockle-cylinders and No. I Hard, when they were shown through the gray stone hulks and new cement elevators of the largest flour-mills in the world. They looked across Loring Park and the Parade to the towers of St. Mark’s and the Procathedral, and the red roofs of houses climbing Kenwood Hill. They drove about the chain of garden-circled lakes, and viewed the houses of the millers127 and lumbermen and real estate peers — the potentates128 of the expanding city. They surveyed the small eccentric bungalows129 with pergolas, the houses of pebbledash and tapestry130 brick with sleeping-porches above sun-parlors, and one vast incredible chateau131 fronting the Lake of the Isles132. They tramped through a shining-new section of apartment-houses; not the tall bleak133 apartments of Eastern cities but low structures of cheerful yellow brick, in which each flat had its glass-enclosed porch with swinging couch and scarlet134 cushions and Russian brass124 bowls. Between a waste of tracks and a raw gouged135 hill they found poverty in staggering shanties136.
They saw miles of the city which they had never known in their days of absorption in college. They were distinguished137 explorers, and they remarked, in great mutual138 esteem139, “I bet Harry Haydock’s never seen the City like this! Why, he’d never have sense enough to study the machinery140 in the mills, or go through all these outlying districts. Wonder folks in Gopher Prairie wouldn’t use their legs and explore, the way we do!”
They had two meals with Carol’s sister, and were bored, and felt that intimacy141 which beatifies married people when they suddenly admit that they equally dislike a relative of either of them.
So it was with affection but also with weariness that they approached the evening on which Carol was to see the plays at the dramatic school. Kennicott suggested not going. “So darn tired from all this walking; don’t know but what we better turn in early and get rested up.” It was only from duty that Carol dragged him and herself out of the warm hotel, into a stinking142 trolley, up the brownstone steps of the converted residence which lugubriously143 housed the dramatic school.
V
They were in a long whitewashed144 hall with a clumsy draw- curtain across the front. The folding chairs were filled with people who looked washed and ironed: parents of the pupils, girl students, dutiful teachers.
“Strikes me it’s going to be punk. If the first play isn’t good, let’s beat it,” said Kennicott hopefully.
“All right,” she yawned. With hazy145 eyes she tried to read the lists of characters, which were hidden among lifeless advertisements of pianos, music-dealers, restaurants, candy.
She regarded the Schnitzler play with no vast interest. The actors moved and spoke146 stiffly. Just as its cynicism was beginning to rouse her village-dulled frivolity147, it was over.
“Don’t think a whale of a lot of that. How about taking a sneak121?” petitioned Kennicott.
“Oh, let’s try the next one, ‘How He Lied to Her Husband.’ ”
The Shaw conceit148 amused her, and perplexed149 Kennicott:
“Strikes me it’s darn fresh. Thought it would be racy. Don’t know as I think much of a play where a husband actually claims he wants a fellow to make love to his wife. No husband ever did that! Shall we shake a leg?”
“I want to see this Yeats thing, ‘Land of Heart’s Desire.’ I used to love it in college.” She was awake now, and urgent. “I know you didn’t care so much for Yeats when I read him aloud to you, but you just see if you don’t adore him on the stage.”
Most of the cast were as unwieldy as oak chairs marching, and the setting was an arty arrangement of batik scarfs and heavy tables, but Maire Bruin was slim as Carol, and larger- eyed, and her voice was a morning bell. In her, Carol lived, and on her lifting voice was transported from this sleepy small- town husband and all the rows of polite parents to the stilly loft150 of a thatched cottage where in a green dimness, beside a window caressed151 by linden branches, she bent152 over a chronicle of twilight153 women and the ancient gods.
“Well — gosh — nice kid played that girl — good-looker,” said Kennicott. “Want to stay for the last piece? Heh?”
She shivered. She did not answer.
The curtain was again drawn154 aside. On the stage they saw nothing but long green curtains and a leather chair. Two young men in brown robes like furniture-covers were gesturing vacuously155 and droning cryptic156 sentences full of repetitions.
It was Carol’s first hearing of Dunsany. She sympathized with the restless Kennicott as he felt in his pocket for a cigar and unhappily put it back.
Without understanding when or how, without a tangible157 change in the stilted158 intoning of the stage-puppets, she was conscious of another time and place.
Stately and aloof159 among vainglorious160 tiring-maids, a queen in robes that murmured on the marble floor, she trod the gallery of a crumbling161 palace. In the courtyard, elephants trumpeted162, and swart men with beards dyed crimson stood with blood-stained hands folded upon their hilts, guarding the caravan163 from El Sharnak, the camels with Tyrian stuffs of topaz and cinnabar. Beyond the turrets164 of the outer wall the jungle glared and shrieked165, and the sun was furious above drenched166 orchids167. A youth came striding through the steel- bossed doors, the sword-bitten doors that were higher than ten tall men. He was in flexible mail, and under the rim92 of his planished morion were amorous168 curls. His hand was out to her; before she touched it she could feel its warmth ——
“Gosh all hemlock169! What the dickens is all this stuff about, Carrie?”
She was no Syrian queen. She was Mrs. Dr. Kennicott. She fell with a jolt170 into a whitewashed hall and sat looking at two scared girls and a young man in wrinkled tights.
Kennicott fondly rambled171 as they left the hall:
“What the deuce did that last spiel mean? Couldn’t make head or tail of it. If that’s highbrow drama, give me a cow- puncher movie, every time! Thank God, that’s over, and we can get to bed. Wonder if we wouldn’t make time by walking over to Nicollet to take a car? One thing I will say for that dump: they had it warm enough. Must have a big hot-air furnace, I guess. Wonder how much coal it takes to run ’em through the winter?”
In the car he affectionately patted her knee, and he was for a second the striding youth in armor; then he was Doc Kennicott of Gopher Prairie, and she was recaptured by Main Street. Never, not all her life, would she behold172 jungles and the tombs of kings. There were strange things in the world, they really existed; but she would never see them.
She would recreate them in plays!
She would make the dramatic association understand her aspiration173. They would, surely they would ——
She looked doubtfully at the impenetrable reality of yawning trolley conductor and sleepy passengers and placards advertising174 soap and underwear.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
flakes
|
|
| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
yelped
|
|
| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
mittens
|
|
| 不分指手套 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
mitten
|
|
| n.连指手套，露指手套 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
rattled
|
|
| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
frantic
|
|
| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
jack
|
|
| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
enchanted
|
|
| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
voluptuous
|
|
| adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
insinuating
|
|
| adj.曲意巴结的，暗示的v.暗示( insinuate的现在分词 )；巧妙或迂回地潜入；（使）缓慢进入；慢慢伸入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
blurred
|
|
| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
ecstasy
|
|
| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
bluff
|
|
| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
shack
|
|
| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
walruses
|
|
| n.海象( walrus的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
belly
|
|
| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
unpacked
|
|
| v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的过去式和过去分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
planks
|
|
| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
harry
|
|
| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
conversed
|
|
| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
sedate
|
|
| adj.沉着的，镇静的，安静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
pomposity
|
|
| n.浮华；虚夸；炫耀；自负 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
hearty
|
|
| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
monotonous
|
|
| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
auto
|
|
| n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
fabric
|
|
| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
glided
|
|
| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
jocose
|
|
| adj.开玩笑的，滑稽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
hysterically
|
|
| ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
devouring
|
|
| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
giggled
|
|
| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
amiably
|
|
| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
sip
|
|
| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
riotous
|
|
| adj.骚乱的；狂欢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
repentance
|
|
| n.懊悔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
charades
|
|
| n.伪装( charade的名词复数 )；猜字游戏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
flannel
|
|
| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
stimulated
|
|
| a.刺激的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
yearned
|
|
| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
awfully
|
|
| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
theatricals
|
|
| n.（业余性的）戏剧演出，舞台表演艺术；职业演员；戏剧的( theatrical的名词复数 )；剧场的；炫耀的；戏剧性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
rehearsals
|
|
| n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
authentic
|
|
| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
coma
|
|
| n.昏迷，昏迷状态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
flirtatious
|
|
| adj.爱调情的，调情的，卖俏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
eternity
|
|
| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
apprehension
|
|
| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
teller
|
|
| n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
janitor
|
|
| n.看门人，管门人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
splendor
|
|
| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
impulsively
|
|
| adv.冲动地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
virtuous
|
|
| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
embarrassment
|
|
| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
disapproved
|
|
| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
artistic
|
|
| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
piquancy
|
|
| n.辛辣，辣味，痛快 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
embryo
|
|
| n.胚胎，萌芽的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
turbulence
|
|
| n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
pompous
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
cosmos
|
|
| n.宇宙；秩序，和谐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
oratory
|
|
| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
beads
|
|
| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
velvet
|
|
| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
wailed
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
casually
|
|
| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
plodded
|
|
| v.沉重缓慢地走（路）( plod的过去式和过去分词 )；努力从事；沉闷地苦干；缓慢进行（尤指艰难枯燥的工作） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
writhing
|
|
| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
rustic
|
|
| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
trolley
|
|
| n.手推车，台车；无轨电车；有轨电车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
warehouses
|
|
| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
battered
|
|
| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
tumult
|
|
| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
jealousy
|
|
| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
elegance
|
|
| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
bellowed
|
|
| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
haughtily
|
|
| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
irritation
|
|
| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
simultaneously
|
|
| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
gilt
|
|
| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
alcove
|
|
| n.凹室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
diplomat
|
|
| n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
earrings
|
|
| n.耳环( earring的名词复数 )；耳坠子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
exulted
|
|
| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
metropolitan
|
|
| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
crimson
|
|
| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
rim
|
|
| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
supercilious
|
|
| adj.目中无人的，高傲的；adv.高傲地；n.高傲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
mortified
|
|
| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
provincial
|
|
| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
ingenuities
|
|
| 足智多谋，心灵手巧( ingenuity的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
97
gushed
|
|
| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
dribbling
|
|
| n.（燃料或油从系统内）漏泄v.流口水( dribble的现在分词 )；（使液体）滴下或作细流；运球，带球 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
walnut
|
|
| n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
engraved
|
|
| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
stationery
|
|
| n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
squealing
|
|
| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
condescended
|
|
| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
radiator
|
|
| n.暖气片，散热器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
enchanting
|
|
| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
cocktail
|
|
| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
labored
|
|
| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
oysters
|
|
| 牡蛎( oyster的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
linen
|
|
| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
provincials
|
|
| n.首都以外的人，地区居民( provincial的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
metropolis
|
|
| n.首府；大城市 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
bustled
|
|
| 闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
abashed
|
|
| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
throngs
|
|
| n.人群( throng的名词复数 )v.成群，挤满( throng的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
bullied
|
|
| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
gaped
|
|
| v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
exultant
|
|
| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
envious
|
|
| adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
extravagantly
|
|
| adv.挥霍无度地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
sneaked
|
|
| v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
sneak
|
|
| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
economize
|
|
| v.节约，节省 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
dozed
|
|
| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
cosmopolitan
|
|
| adj.世界性的，全世界的，四海为家的，全球的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
conversational
|
|
| adj.对话的，会话的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
millers
|
|
| n.（尤指面粉厂的）厂主( miller的名词复数 )；磨房主；碾磨工；铣工 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
potentates
|
|
| n.君主，统治者( potentate的名词复数 )；有权势的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
bungalows
|
|
| n.平房( bungalow的名词复数 )；单层小屋，多于一层的小屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
tapestry
|
|
| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
chateau
|
|
| n.城堡，别墅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
isles
|
|
| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
bleak
|
|
| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
gouged
|
|
| v.凿( gouge的过去式和过去分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出… | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
shanties
|
|
| n.简陋的小木屋( shanty的名词复数 )；铁皮棚屋；船工号子；船歌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
mutual
|
|
| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
esteem
|
|
| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
machinery
|
|
| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
intimacy
|
|
| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
stinking
|
|
| adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
lugubriously
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
whitewashed
|
|
| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
hazy
|
|
| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
frivolity
|
|
| n.轻松的乐事，兴高采烈；轻浮的举止 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
conceit
|
|
| n.自负，自高自大 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
perplexed
|
|
| adj.不知所措的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
loft
|
|
| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
caressed
|
|
| 爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
twilight
|
|
| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
vacuously
|
|
| adv.无意义地，茫然若失地，无所事事地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
cryptic
|
|
| adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
tangible
|
|
| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
stilted
|
|
| adj.虚饰的；夸张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
aloof
|
|
| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
vainglorious
|
|
| adj.自负的；夸大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
crumbling
|
|
| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
trumpeted
|
|
| 大声说出或宣告（trumpet的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
caravan
|
|
| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
turrets
|
|
| （六角）转台( turret的名词复数 )； （战舰和坦克等上的）转动炮塔； （摄影机等上的）镜头转台； （旧时攻城用的）塔车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
shrieked
|
|
| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
drenched
|
|
| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
orchids
|
|
| n.兰花( orchid的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
amorous
|
|
| adj.多情的；有关爱情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
hemlock
|
|
| n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
jolt
|
|
| v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
rambled
|
|
| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的过去式和过去分词 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
behold
|
|
| v.看，注视，看到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
aspiration
|
|
| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
advertising
|
|
| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |