The great point, the point of honour, on these sacred occasions was for each man to strictly9 limit himself to half-a-pint of liquor. This scrupulosity10 was so well understood by the landlord that the whole company was served in cups of that measure. They were all exactly alike-straight-sided, with two leafless lime-trees done in eelbrown on the sides--one towards the drinker's lips, the other confronting his comrade. To wonder how many of these cups the landlord possessed11 altogether was a favourite exercise of children in the marvellous. Forty at least might have been seen at these times in the large room, forming a ring round the margin12 of the great sixteen-legged oak table, like the monolithic13 circle of Stonehenge in its pristine14 days. Outside and above the forty cups came a circle of forty smoke-jets from forty clay pipes; outside the pipes the countenances15 of the forty church-goers, supported at the back by a circle of forty chairs.
The conversation was not the conversation of week-days, but a thing altogether finer in point and higher in tone. They invariably discussed the sermon, dissecting17 it, weighing it, as above or below the average--the general tendency being to regard it as a scientific feat18 or performance which had no relation to their own lives, except as between critics and the thing criticized. The bass-viol player and the clerk usually spoke19 with more authority than the rest on account of their official connection with the preacher.
Now the Three Mariners was the inn chosen by Henchard as the place for closing his long term of dramless years. He had so timed his entry as to be well established in the large room by the time the forty church-goers entered to their customary cups. The flush upon his face proclaimed at once that the vow20 of twenty-one years had lapsed21, and the era of recklessness begun anew. He was seated on a small table, drawn22 up to the side of the massive oak board reserved for the churchmen, a few of whom nodded to him as they took their places and said, "How be ye, Mr. Henchard? Quite a stranger here."
Henchard did not take the trouble to reply for a few moments, and his eyes rested on his stretched-out legs and boots. "Yes," he said at length; "that's true. I've been down in spirit for weeks; some of ye know the cause. I am better now, but not quite serene23. I want you fellows of the choir to strike up a tune24; and what with that and this brew25 of Stannidge's, I am in hopes of getting altogether out of my minor26 key."
"With all my heart," said the first fiddle7. "We've let back our strings27, that's true, but we can soon pull 'em up again. Sound A, neighbours, and give the man a stave."
"I don't care a curse what the words be," said Henchard. "Hymns28, ballets, or rantipole rubbish; the Rogue's March or the cherubim's warble--'tis all the same to me if 'tis good harmony, and well put out."
"Well--heh, heh--it may be we can do that, and not a man among us that have sat in the gallery less than twenty year," said the leader of the band. "As 'tis Sunday, neighbours, suppose we raise the Fourth Psa'am, to Samuel Wakely's tune, as improved by me?"
"Hang Samuel Wakely's tune, as improved by thee!" said Henchard. "Chuck across one of your psalters--old Wiltshire is the only tune worth singing--the psalm29-tune that would make my blood ebb30 and flow like the sea when I was a steady chap. I'll find some words to fit en." He took one of the psalters and began turning over the leaves.
Chancing to look out of the window at that moment he saw a flock of people passing by, and perceived them to be the congregation of the upper church, now just dismissed, their sermon having been a longer one than that the lower parish was favoured with. Among the rest of the leading inhabitants walked Mr. Councillor Farfrae with Lucetta upon his arm, the observed and imitated of all the smaller tradesmen's womankind. Henchard's mouth changed a little, and he continued to turn over the leaves.
"Now then," he said, "Psalm the Hundred-and-Ninth, to the tune of Wiltshire: verses ten to fifteen. I gi'e ye the words:
"His seed shall orphans32 be, his wife
A widow plunged33 in grief;
His vagrant34 children beg their bread
Where none can give relief.
His ill-got riches shall be made
To usurers a prey35;
The fruit of all his toil36 shall be
By strangers borne away.
None shall be found that to his wants
Their mercy will extend,
Or to his helpless orphan31 seed
The least assistance lend.
A swift destruction soon shall seize
On his unhappy race;
And the next age his hated name
Shall utterly37 deface."
"I know the Psa'am--I know the Psa'am!" said the leader hastily; "but I would as lief not sing it. 'Twasn't made for singing. We chose it once when the gipsy stole the pa'son's mare38, thinking to please him, but pa'son were quite upset. Whatever Servant David were thinking about when he made a Psalm that nobody can sing without disgracing himself, I can't fathom39! Now then, the Fourth Psalm, to Samuel Wakely's tune, as improved by me."
"'Od seize your sauce--I tell ye to sing the Hundred-andNinth to Wiltshire, and sing it you shall!" roared Henchard. "Not a single one of all the droning crew of ye goes out of this room till that Psalm is sung!" He slipped off the table, seized the poker40, and going to the door placed his back against it. "Now then, go ahead, if you don't wish to have your cust pates41 broke!"
"Don't 'ee, don't'ee take on so!--As 'tis the Sabbath-day, and 'tis Servant David's words and not ours, perhaps we don't mind for once, hey?" said one of the terrified choir, looking round upon the rest. So the instruments were tuned42 and the comminatory verses sung.
"Thank ye, thank ye," said Henchard in a softened43 voice, his eyes growing downcast, and his manner that of a man much moved by the strains. "Don't you blame David," he went on in low tones, shaking his head without raising his eyes. "He knew what he was about when he wrote that!...If I could afford it, be hanged if I wouldn't keep a church choir at my own expense to play and sing to me at these low, dark times of my life. But the bitter thing is, that when I was rich I didn't need what I could have, and now I be poor I can't have what I need!"
While they paused, Lucetta and Farfrae passed again, this time homeward, it being their custom to take, like others, a short walk out on the highway and back, between church and tea-time. "There's the man we've been singing about," said Henchard.
The players and singers turned their heads and saw his meaning. "Heaven forbid!" said the bass-player.
"'Tis the man," repeated Henchard doggedly44.
"Then if I'd known," said the performer on the clarionet solemnly, "that 'twas meant for a living man, nothing should have drawn out of my wynd-pipe the breath for that Psalm, so help me!
"Nor from mine," said the first singer. "But, thought I, as it was made so long ago perhaps there isn't much in it, so I'll oblige a neighbour; for there's nothing to be said against the tune."
"Ah, my boys, you've sung it," said Henchard triumphantly45. "As for him, it was partly by his songs that he got over me, and heaved me out....I could double him up like that--and yet I don't." He laid the poker across his knee, bent46 it as if it were a twig47, flung it down, and came away from the door.
It was at this time that Elizabeth-Jane, having heard where her stepfather was, entered the room with a pale and agonized48 countenance16. The choir and the rest of the company moved off, in accordance with their half-pint regulation. Elizabeth-Jane went up to Henchard, and entreated49 him to accompany her home.
By this hour the volcanic50 fires of his nature had burnt down, and having drunk no great quantity as yet he was inclined to acquiesce51. She took his arm, and together they went on. Henchard walked blankly, like a blind man, repeating to himself the last words of the singers-
"And the next age his hated name
Shall utterly deface."
At length he said to her, "I am a man to my word. I have kept my oath for twenty-one years; and now I can drink with a good conscience....If I don't do for him--well, I am a fearful practical joker when I choose! He has taken away everything from me, and by heavens, if I meet him I won't answer for my deeds!"
These half-uttered words alarmed Elizabeth--all the more by reason of the still determination of Henchard's mien52.
"What will you do?" she asked cautiously, while trembling with disquietude, and guessing Henchard's allusion53 only too well.
Henchard did not answer, and they went on till they had reached his cottage. "May I come in?" she said.
"No, no; not to-day," said Henchard; and she went away; feeling that to caution Farfrae was almost her duty, as it was certainly her strong desire.
As on the Sunday, so on the week-days, Farfrae and Lucetta might have been seen flitting about the town like two butterflies--or rather like a bee and a butterfly in league for life. She seemed to take no pleasure in going anywhere except in her husband's company; and hence when business would not permit him to waste an afternoon she remained indoors waiting for the time to pass till his return, her face being visible to Elizabeth-Jane from her window aloft. The latter, however, did not say to herself that Farfrae should be thankful for such devotion, but, full of her reading, she cited Rosalind's exclamation54: "Mistress, know yourself; down on your knees and thank Heaven fasting for a good man's love."
She kept her eye upon Henchard also. One day he answered her inquiry55 for his health by saying that he could not endure Abel Whittle56's pitying eyes upon him while they worked together in the yard. "He is such a fool," said Henchard, "that he can never get out of his mind the time when I was master there."
"I'll come and wimble for you instead of him, if you will allow me," said she. Her motive57 on going to the yard was to get an opportunity of observing the general position of affairs on Farfrae's premises58 now that her stepfather was a workman there. Henchard's threats had alarmed her so much that she wished to see his behaviour when the two were face to face.
For two or three days after her arrival Donald did not make any appearance. Then one afternoon the green door opened, and through came, first Farfrae, and at his heels Lucetta. Donald brought his wife forward without hesitation59, it being obvious that he had no suspicion whatever of any antecedents in common between her and the now journeyman hay-trusser.
Henchard did not turn his eyes toward either of the pair, keeping them fixed60 on the bond he twisted, as if that alone absorbed him. A feeling of delicacy61, which ever prompted Farfrae to avoid anything that might seem like triumphing over a fallen rivel, led him to keep away from the hay-barn where Henchard and his daughter were working, and to go on to the corn department. Meanwhile Lucetta, never having been informed that Henchard had entered her husband's service, rambled62 straight on to the barn, where she came suddenly upon Henchard, and gave vent63 to a little "Oh!" which the happy and busy Donald was too far off to hear. Henchard, with withering64 humility65 of demeanour, touched the brim of his hat to her as Whittle and the rest had done, to which she breathed a dead-alive "Good afternoon."
"I beg your pardon, ma'am?" said Henchard, as if he had not heard.
"I said good afternoon," she faltered66.
"O yes, good afternoon, ma'am," he replied, touching67 his hat again. "I am glad to see you, ma'am." Lucetta looked embarrassed, and Henchard continued: "For we humble68 workmen here feel it a great honour that a lady should look in and take an interest in us."
She glanced at him entreatingly69; the sarcasm70 was too bitter, too unendurable.
"Can you tell me the time, ma'am?" he asked.
"Yes," she said hastily; "half-past four."
"Thank 'ee. An hour and a half longer before we are released from work. Ah, ma'am, we of the lower classes know nothing of the gay leisure that such as you enjoy!"
As soon as she could do so Lucetta left him, nodded and smiled to Elizabeth-Jane, and joined her husband at the other end of the enclosure, where she could be seen leading him away by the outer gates, so as to avoid passing Henchard again. That she had been taken by surprise was obvious. The result of this casual rencounter was that the next morning a note was put into Henchard's hand by the postman.
"Will you," said Lucetta, with as much bitterness as she could put into a small communication, "will you kindly71 undertake not to speak to me in the biting undertones you used to-day, if I walk through the yard at any time? I bear you no ill-will, and I am only too glad that you should have employment of my dear husband; but in common fairness treat me as his wife, and do not try to make me wretched by covert72 sneers73. I have committed no crime, and done you no injury.
"Poor fool!" said Henchard with fond savagery74, holding out the note. "To know no better than commit herself in writing like this! Why, if I were to show that to her dear husband-pooh!" He threw the letter into the fire.
Lucetta took care not to come again among the hay and corn. She would rather have died than run the risk of encountering Henchard at such close quarters a second time. The gulf75 between them was growing wider every day. Farfrae was always considerate to his fallen acquaintance; but it was impossible that he should not, by degrees, cease to regard the ex-corn-merchant as more than one of his other workmen. Henchard saw this, and concealed76 his feelings under a cover of stolidity77, fortifying78 his heart by drinking more freely at the Three Mariners every evening.
Often did Elizabeth-Jane, in her endeavours to prevent his taking other liquor, carry tea to him in a little basket at five o'clock. Arriving one day on this errand she found her stepfather was measuring up clover-seed and rape-seed in the corn-stores on the top floor, and she ascended79 to him. Each floor had a door opening into the air under a cat-head, from which a chain dangled80 for hoisting81 the sacks.
When Elizabeth's head rose through the trap she perceived that the upper door was open, and that her stepfather and Farfrae stood just within it in conversation, Farfrae being nearest the dizzy edge, and Henchard a little way behind. Not to interrupt them she remained on the steps without raising her head any higher. While waiting thus she saw--or fancied she saw, for she had a terror of feeling certain-her stepfather slowly raise his hand to a level behind Farfrae's shoulders, a curious expression taking possession of his face. The young man was quite unconscious of the action, which was so indirect that, if Farfrae had observed it, he might almost have regarded it as an idle outstretching of the arm. But it would have been possible, by a comparatively light touch, to push Farfrae off his balance, and send him head over heels into the air.
Elizabeth felt quite sick at heart on thinking of what this MIGHT have meant. As soon as they turned she mechanically took the tea to Henchard, left it, and went away. Reflecting, she endeavoured to assure herself that the movement was an idle eccentricity82, and no more. Yet, on the other hand, his subordinate position in an establishment where he once had been master might be acting83 on him like an irritant poison; and she finally resolved to caution Donald.
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1
convivial
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| adj.狂欢的，欢乐的 | |
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contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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3
sedate
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| adj.沉着的，镇静的，安静的 | |
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mariners
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| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
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5
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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6
fiddles
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| n.小提琴( fiddle的名词复数 )；欺诈；（需要运用手指功夫的）细巧活动；当第二把手v.伪造( fiddle的第三人称单数 )；篡改；骗取；修理或稍作改动 | |
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7
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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8
flutes
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| 长笛( flute的名词复数 )； 细长香槟杯（形似长笛） | |
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9
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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10
scrupulosity
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| n.顾虑 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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12
margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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13
monolithic
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| adj.似独块巨石的；整体的 | |
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14
pristine
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| adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的 | |
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15
countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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16
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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17
dissecting
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| v.解剖（动物等）( dissect的现在分词 )；仔细分析或研究 | |
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18
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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19
spoke
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| 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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20
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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22
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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23
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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24
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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25
brew
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| v.酿造，调制 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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27
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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28
hymns
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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29
psalm
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| n.赞美诗，圣诗 | |
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ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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orphans
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| 孤儿( orphan的名词复数 ) | |
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33
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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34
vagrant
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| n.流浪者，游民；adj.流浪的，漂泊不定的 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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37
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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poker
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| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
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pates
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| n.头顶，（尤指）秃顶，光顶( pate的名词复数 ) | |
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tuned
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| adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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43
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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44
doggedly
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| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
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45
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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46
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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47
twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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48
agonized
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| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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49
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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51
acquiesce
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| vi.默许，顺从，同意 | |
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52
mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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53
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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54
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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55
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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56
whittle
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| v.削（木头），削减；n.屠刀 | |
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57
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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58
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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59
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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60
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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61
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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62
rambled
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| （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 | |
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63
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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64
withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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65
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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66
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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67
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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68
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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69
entreatingly
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| 哀求地，乞求地 | |
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70
sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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71
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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72
covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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73
sneers
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| 讥笑的表情（言语）( sneer的名词复数 ) | |
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74
savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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75
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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76
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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77
stolidity
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| n.迟钝，感觉麻木 | |
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78
fortifying
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| 筑防御工事于( fortify的现在分词 )； 筑堡于； 增强； 强化（食品） | |
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79
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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80
dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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81
hoisting
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| 起重，提升 | |
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82
eccentricity
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| n.古怪，反常，怪癖 | |
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83
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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