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Chapter 12
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MORE and more I cut loose from the explanatory guiding strings1 of my sister and the family, even from the requested information of specialists, and wandered by myself in search of the widening daily acquaintance which alone could make life seem real again.

It was an easy world to wander in. The standard of general courtesy and intelligence of the officials, and of the average passer-by, was as much above what I remembered as the standard in Boston used to be above that of New York.

As most of the business was public business one could study and inquire freely. As much work as could be advantageously localized was so arranged, this saving in trans portation. The clothing industry, for in stance, instead of being carried on in swarming2 centers, and then distributed all over the country, formed part of the pleasant everyday work in each community and was mostly in the hands of women.

As a man I could appreciate little of the improved quality of fabrics3, save as I noticed their beauty, and that my own clothes wore longer, and both looked and felt more agreeable. But women told me how satisfying it was to know that silk was silk, and wool, wool. This improvement in textile values, with the outgrowing4 of that long obsession5 called fashion, reduced the labor6 of clothes-making materially.

Women’s clothes, I found, as I strolled were very delicate and fine, and had a gracious dignity and sanity7 far removed from the frantic8 concoctions9 I remembered in the windows; — shredded10 patchwork11 of muslin and lace, necessarily frail12 and short-lived even as ornaments13, never useful, and costing arduous14 labor in construction, with corresponding expense to the purchaser.

The robes and gowns were a joy to the eye. Some showed less taste than others, naturally, but nowhere was to be seen the shameless ugliness so common in my youth.

Beauty and peace, I found, care, leisure, quietness, plenty of gaiety, too, both in young and old. It struck me that the young (people, owing to their wider and sounder upbringing, were more serious, and that older people, owing to their safer, easier lives, were jollier. These sweet-faced, broad-minded young women did not show so much giggling15 inanity16 as once seemed necessary to them; and a young man, even a young man in college, did not, therefore, find pleasure in theft, cruelty, gross practical jokes and destruction of property.

As I noted17 this, I brought myself up with a start. It looked as if Nellie had written it. Surely, when I was in college — and there rose up within me a memory of the crass18, wasteful19 follies20 that used to be called “pranks” in my time, and considered perfectly21 natural in young men. I had not minded them in those days. It gave me a queer feeling to see by my own words how my judgment22 was affected23 already.

I explored the city from end to end, and satisfied myself that there was no poverty in it, no street that was not clean, no house that was not fit for human habitation. That is, as far as I could judge from an outside view.

Aimong the masses of people, after their busy mornings, there were vast numbers who used the afternoons for learning, the easy, interesting, endless learning now carried on far and wide. The more they learned the more they wanted to know; and the best minds, free for research work, and upheld in it by the deepening attention of the world, constantly pushed on the boundaries of knowledge.

There were some hospitals yet, but as one to a hundred of what used to be, of higher quality, and fuller usefulness. There were some of what I should have called prisons, though the life inside was not only as comfortable as that without, but administered with a stricter care for the advantage of those within.

There were the moral sanitariums — healthful and beautiful, richly endowed with the world’s best methods of improvement, and managed by the world’s best people. It made me almost dizzy to try to take in this opposite pole of judgment on the criminal.

Out of town I found that the park-like roads, so generally in use, by no means interfered24 with the wide stretches of what I used to call “real country.” Intensive agriculture took less ground, rather more; and the wide use of food-bearing trees had restored the wooded aspect, so pleasant in every sense.

The small country towns were of special interest to me; I visited scores of them; each differing from the others, all beautiful and clean and busy. They were numerous too; replacing the areas of scattered25 lonely farmhouses26, with these comfortable and pretty groups, each in its home park, with its standard of convenience as high as that in any town.

The smallest group had its power plant, supplying all the houses with heat, light and water, had its child gardens, its Town House and Club House, its workshops and foodshops as necessary as its postoffices.

The Socialized industries ensured employment to every citizen, and provided all the necessaries of life — larger order this than it used to be. Quite above this broad base of social control, the life of the people went on; far freer and more open to individual development than it had ever had a chance to be in the whole history of the world.

This I frankly28 conceded. I found I was making more concessions29 in my note-book than I had yet made to either Nellie or Owen. They encouraged me to travel about by myself. In fact, my sister was now about to resume her college position and Owen was going with her.

They both advised me not to settle upon any work for a full year.

“That’s little enough time in which to cover thirty,” Nellie said, patting my shoulder. “But you’re doing splendidly, John. We are proud of you. And there’s no hurry. You know there’s enough from our mine to enable you to join the leisure class’ — if you want to!”

I had no idea of doing this, as she well knew, but I did feel it necessary to get myself in some way grafted30 on to this new world before I took up regular employment. I found that there was not much call for ancient languages in the colleges, even if I had been in touch with the new methods; but there remained plenty of historical work, for which I had now a special fitness. Indeed some of my new scientific friends assured me I could be of the utmost service, with my unique experience.

So I was not worried about what to do, nor under any pressure about doing it. But the more I saw of all these new advantages, the more I was obliged to admit that they were advantages; the more I traveled and read and learned, the more lonesome and homesick I became.

It was a beautiful world, but it was not my world. It was like a beautiful dream, but seemed a dream nevertheless. I could no longer dispute that it was possible for people to be “healthy, wealthy and wise”; and happy, too — visibly happy — here they all were; working and playing and enjoying life as naturally as possible. But they were not the people I used to know; those, too, were like Frank Borderson and Morris Banks — changed so that they seemed more unreal than the others.

The beauty and peace and order of the whole thing wore on — me. I wanted to hear the roar of the elevated — to smell the foul31 air of the subway and see the people pile in, pushing and angry, as I still remembered in my visits to New York.

I wanted to see some neglected-looking land, some ragged32 suburbs, some far-away farmhouse27 alone under its big elms, with its own barns in odorous proximity33, its own cows, boy-driven, running and stumbling home to be milked.

I wanted a newspaper which gave me the excitement of guessing what the truth was, I wanted to see some foolish, crazily dressed, giggling girls, and equally foolish boys, but better dressed and less giggling, given to cigarettes and uproarious “good times.”

I was homesick, desperately34 homesick. So without saying a word to anyone I betook myself to old Slide-face, to see Uncle Jake.

All the way down — and I went by rail — no air travel for this homecoming! — I felt an increasing pleasure in the familiar look of things. The outlines of the Alleghanies had not changed. I. would not get out at any town, the shining neatness of the railroad station was enough; but the sleeping cars were a disappointment. The beds were wide, soft, cool, the blankets of light clean wool, the air clear and fresh, the noise and jar almost gone. Oh, well, I couldn’t expect to have everything as it used to be, of course.

But when I struck out, on foot, from Paintertown, and began to climb the road that led to my old home, my heart was in my mouth. It was a better road, of course — but I hardly noticed that. All the outlying farms were better managed and the little village groups showed here and there — but I shut my eyes to these things.

The hills were the same — the hills I had grown up among. They couldn’t alter the face of the earth much — that was still recognizable. Our own house I did not visit — both father and mother were gone, and the little wooden building replaced by a concrete mining office. Nellie had told me about all this; it was one reason why I had not come back before.

But now I went past our place almost with my eyes shut; and kept on along the. road to Uncle Jake’s. He had been a rich man, as farmers went, owning the land for a mile or two on every side, owning Slide-face as a matter of fact; and as he made enough from the rich little upland valley where the house stood, to pay his taxes, he owned it still.

The moment I reached his boundary I knew it, unmistakably. A ragged, home-made sign, sagging35 from its nails, announced “Private Road. No trespassers allowed.” Evidently they heeded36 the warning, for the stony37, washed-out roadbed was little traveled.

My heart quite leaped as I set foot on it. It was not “improved” in the least from what I remembered in my infrequent visits. My father and Uncle Jake had “a coldness” between them; which would have been a quarrel, I fancy, if father had not been a minister, §p I never saw much of these relations.

Drusilla I remembered well enough, though, a pretty, babyish thing, and Aunt Dorcas’s kind, patient, tired smile, and the fruit cakes she made.

Up and up, through the real woods, ragged and thick with dead boughs38, fallen trunks and underbrush, not touched by any forester, and finally, around the shoulder of Slide-face, to the farm.

I stood still and drew in a long breath of utter satisfaction. Here was something that had not changed. There was an old negro plowing39, the same negro I remembered, apparently40 not a day older. It is wonderful ( how little they do change with years. His wool showed white though, as he doffed41 his ragged cap and greeted me with cheerful cordiality as Mass’ John.

“We all been hearin’ about you, Mass’ John. We been powerful sorry ‘bout you long time, among de heathen,” he said. “You folks’ll be glad to see you!”

‘.‘Well, young man!” said Uncle Jake, with some show of cordiality; “better late than never. We wondered if you intended to look up your country relations.”

But Aunt Dorcas put her thin arms around my neck and kissed me, teary kisses with little pats and exclamations42. “To think of it! Thirty years among savages43! We heard about it from Nellie — she wrote us, of course. Nellie’s real good to Keep us posted.”

“She never comes to see us!” said my Uncle. “Nor those youngsters of hers. We’ve never had them here but once. They’re too ‘advanced’ for old-fashioned folks.”

Uncle Jake’s long upper lip set firmly; I remembered that look, as he used to sit in his wagon44 and talk with mother &t our gate, refusing to come in, little sunny-haired Drusilla looking shyly at me from under her sunbonnet the while.

Where was Drusilla? Surely not — that! A frail, weak, elderly, quiet, little woman stood there by Aunt Dorcas, her smooth fine, ash-brown hair drawn45 tightly back to a flat knot behind, her dull blue calico dress falling starkly46 about her.

She came forward, smiling, and held out a thin work-worn hand. “We’re so glad to see you, Cousin John,” she said. “We certainly are.”

They made much of me in the old familiar ways I had so thirsted for. The sense of family background, of common knowledge and experience was comforting in the extreme, the very furnishings and clothes as I recalled them. I told them what a joy it was.

This seemed to please Uncle Jake enormously.

“I thought you’d do it,” he said. “Like to find one place that hasn’t been turned upside down by all these new-fangled notions. Dreadful things have been goin’ on, John, while you were amongst them Feejees.”

I endeavored to explain to him something of the nature and appearance of the inhabitants of Tibet, but it made small impression. Uncle Jake’s mind was so completely occupied by what was in it, that any outside fact or idea had small chance of entry.

“They’ve got wimmin votin’ now, I understand,” he pursued; “I don’t read the papers much, they are so ungodly, but I’ve heard that. And they’ve been meddlin’ with Divine Providence47 in more ways than one — but I keep out of it, and so does Aunt Dorcas and the girl here.”

He looked around at my Aunt, who smiled her gentle, faithful smile, and at Drusilla, who dropped her eyes and flushed faintly. I suspected her of secret leanings toward the movement of the world outside.

“I don’t allow my family off the farm,” he went on, “except when we go to meetin’, and that’s not often. There’s hardly an orthodox preacher left, seems to me; hut we go up to the Ridge48 meetin’ house sometimes.”

“I should think you would find it a little dull — don’t you?” I ventured.

Drusilla flashed a grateful look at me.

“Nothing of the sort,” he answered. “I was horn on this farm, and it’s hig enough for anybody to be contented49 on. Your Aunt was born over in Hadley Holler — and she’s contented enough. As for Drusilly — ” he looked at her again with real affection, “Drusilly ‘s always been a good girl — never made any trouble in her life. Unless ’twas when she pretty near married that heretic minister — eh, Drusilly?”

My cousin did not respond warmly to this sally, but neither did she show signs of grief. I was conscious of a faint satisfaction that she had not married the heretic minister.

They made me very welcome, so welcome indeed that as days passed, Uncle Jake even broached50 the subject of my remaining there.

“I’ve got no son,” he said, “and a girl can’t run the farm. You stay here, John, and keep things goin’, and I’ll will it to you — what do you say? You ain’t married, I see. Just get you a nice girl — if there’s any left, and settle down here.”

I thanked him warmly, but said I must have time to consider — that I had thought of accepting other work which offered.

He was most insistent51 about it. “You better stay here, John. Here’s pure air and pure food — none of these artificial kickshaws I hear of folks havin’ nowadays. We smoke our own hams just as we used to do in my grandfather’s time — there’s none better. We buy sugar and rice and coffee and such as that; but I grind my own corn in the little mill there on the creek52 — reckon I’m the only one who uses it now. And your Aunt runs her loom53 to this day. Drusilly can, too, but she ‘lows she hates to do it. Girls aren’t what they used to be when I was young!”

It did not seem possible that Uncle Jake had ever been young. His sturdy, stooping frame, his hard, ruddy features were the same at seventy as I remembered them at forty, only the hair, whitened and thinned, was different.

My bedroom was exactly as when I last slept in it, on my one visit to the farm as a boy of fifteen. Drusilla had seemed only a baby then — a slender little five-year old. She had followed me about in silence, with adoring eyes, and I had teased her! — I hated to think of how I had teased her.

The gold in her hair was all dulled and faded, the rose-leaf color of her cheeks had faded, too, and her blue eyes wore a look of weary patience. She worked hard. Her mother was evidently feeble now, and the labor required in that primitive54 home was considerable.

The old negro brought water from the spring and milked the cows, but all the care of the dairy, the cooking for the family, the knitting and sewing and mending and the sweeping55, scrubbing and washing was in the hands of Aunt Dorcas and Drusilla.

She would make her mother sit down and chat with me, while Uncle Jake smoked his cob pipe, but she herself seemed always at work.

“There’s no getting any help nowadays,” said my Uncle. “Even if we needed it. Old Joe there stayed on — he was here before I was born. Joe must be eighty or over — there’s no telling the age of niggers. But the young ones are too uppity for any use. They want to be paid out of all reason, and treated like white folks at thatl”

He boasted that he had never worn a shirt or a pair of socks made off the place. “In my father’s time we raised a heap of cotton and sold it. Plenty of niggers then. Now I manage to get enough for my own use, and we spin and weave it on the spot!”

I watched Aunt Dorcas at her wheel and loom, and rubbed my eyes. It was only in the remote mountain regions that these things were done when I was young, and to see it now seemed utterly56 incredible. But Uncle Jake was proud of it.

“I don’t believe there’s another wheel agoin’ in the whole country,” he said. “The mountains ain’t what they used to be, John. They’ve got the trees all grafted up with new kinds of foolishness — nuts and fruit and one thing’n another — and unheard-of kinds of houses and schools, and play-acting everywhere. I can’t abide57 it,”

He set his jaw58 firmly, making the stiff white beard stand out at a sharp angle. “The farm’ll keep us for my time,” he concluded; “but I should hate to have it all ‘reformed’ and torn to pieces after I’m gone.” And he looked meaningly at me.

I lingered on, still enjoying the sense of family affection, but my satisfaction in the things about me slowly cooling.

A cotton quilt was heavier but not so warm as a woolen59 blanket. Homespun sheets were durable60, doubtless, but not comfortable. The bathing to be done in a small steep-sided china basin, with water poured from a pitcher61 the outlines of which were more concave than convex, was laborious62 and unsatisfying.

The relish63 of that “hog and hominy” and the beaten biscuit, the corn pone64, the molasses and pork gravy65 of my youth, wore off as the same viands66 reappeared on the table from day to day and week to week, and seemed ceaselessly present within me.

It was pleasant to listen to Aunt Dorcas’s gentle reminiscences of the past years, of my father and mother in their youth, of my infancy67, and Drusilla’s. She grieved that she had not more to tell. “I never was one to visit much,” she said.

But it was saddening to find that the dear old lady could talk of absolutely nothing else. In all her sixty-eight years she had known nothing else; her father’s home and her husband’s, alike in their contents and in their labors68, her own domestic limitations, and those of her neighbors, and her church paper — taken for forty years, and arbitrarily discontinued by Uncle Jake because it had grown too liberal.

“It never seemed over-liberal to me,” she said softly, “and I do miss it. I wouldn’t a’believed ‘Id a’missed anything so much. It used to come every week, and I kept more acquainted with what the rest of this circuit was doing. But your Uncle Jake is so set against liberalism!”

I turned to my cousin for some wider exchange of thoughts, and strove with all the remembered arts of my youth, and all the recently acquired wisdom of my present years, to win her confidence.

It was difficult at first. She was shy with the dumb shyness of an animal; not like a wild animal, frankly curious, not like a hunted animal, which runs away and hides, but like an animal in a menagerie, a sullen69, hopeless timidity, due to long restriction70. Life had slipped by her, all of it, as far as she knew. She had been an “old maid” for twenty-five years — they call them that in these mountains if they are not married at twenty. Her father’s domineering ways had discouraged most of the few young men she had known, and he had ruthlessly driven away the only one who came near enough to be dismissed.

Then it was only the housework, and caring for her mother as she grew older. The one pleasure of her own she ever had was in her flowers. She had transplanted wild ones, had now and then been given “a slip” by remote neighbors — in past years; and those carefully nurtured71 blossoms were all that brought color and sweetness into her gray life.

She did not complain. For a long time I could not get her to talk to me at all about herself, and when she did it was without hope or protest. She had practically no education — only a few years in a country school in childhood, and almost no reading, writing, conversation, any sort of knowledge of the life of the world about her.

And here she lived, meek72, patient, helpless, with neither complaint nor desire, endlessly working to make comfortable the parents who must some day leave her alone — to what?

My thirty years in Tibet seemed all at once a holiday Compared to this thirty years on an upland farm in the Alleghanies of Carolina. My loss of life — what was it to this loss? I, at least, had never known it, not until I was found and brought back, and she had known it every day and night for thirty years. I had come back at fifty-five, regaining73 a new youth in a new world. She apparently had had no youth, and now was old — older at forty-five than women of fifty and sixty whom I had met and talked with recently.

I thought of them, those busy, vigorous, eager, active women, of whom no one would ever predicate either youth or age; they were just women, permanently74, as men were men. I thought of their wide, free lives, their absorbing work and many minor75 interests, and the big, smooth, beautiful, moving world in which they lived, and my heart went out to Drusilla as to a baby in a well.

“Look here, Drusilla,” I said to her at last, “I want you to marry me. We’ll go away from here; you shall see something of life, my dear — there’s lot of time yet.”

She raised those quiet blue eyes and looked at me, a long, sweet, searching look, and then shook her head with gentle finality. “O, no,” she said. “Thank you,’ Cousin John, but I could not do that.”

And then, all at once I felt more lonely and out of life than when the first shock met me.

“O, Drusilla!” I begged; “Do-do! Don’t you see, if you won’t have me nobody ever will? I am all alone in the world, Drusilla; the world has all gone away from me! You are the only woman alive who would understand. Dear cousin — dear little girl — you’ll have to marry me — out of pity!” And she did.

Nobody would know Drusilla now. She grew young at a rate that seemed a heavenly miracle. To her the world was like heaven, and, being an angel was natural to her anyway.

I grew to find the world like heaven, too — if only for what it did to Drusilla.

The End


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 strings nh0zBe     
n.弦
参考例句:
  • He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上,随意地拨着吉他的弦。
  • She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
2 swarming db600a2d08b872102efc8fbe05f047f9     
密集( swarm的现在分词 ); 云集; 成群地移动; 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去
参考例句:
  • The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。
  • The beach is swarming with bathers. 海滩满是海水浴的人。
3 fabrics 678996eb9c1fa810d3b0cecef6c792b4     
织物( fabric的名词复数 ); 布; 构造; (建筑物的)结构(如墙、地面、屋顶):质地
参考例句:
  • cotton fabrics and synthetics 棉织物与合成织物
  • The fabrics are merchandised through a network of dealers. 通过经销网点销售纺织品。
4 outgrowing 82cd0add74c70b02ba181ae60184a279     
长[发展] 得超过(某物)的范围( outgrow的现在分词 ); 长[发展]得不能再要(某物); 长得比…快; 生长速度超过
参考例句:
  • Vibrant colors last year around without wilting, watering, or outgrowing their pots early, quantities are limited. 它高贵优雅,不容易萎蔫,不用经常浇水,也不会长出花盆之外。
5 obsession eIdxt     
n.困扰,无法摆脱的思想(或情感)
参考例句:
  • I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
  • She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。
6 labor P9Tzs     
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
参考例句:
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
7 sanity sCwzH     
n.心智健全,神智正常,判断正确
参考例句:
  • I doubt the sanity of such a plan.我怀疑这个计划是否明智。
  • She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
8 frantic Jfyzr     
adj.狂乱的,错乱的,激昂的
参考例句:
  • I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
  • He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。
9 concoctions 2ee2f48a3ae91fdb33f79ec1604d8d1b     
n.编造,捏造,混合物( concoction的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • We bearrived scientists and tested concoctions of milk, orange juice, and mouthwash. 咱们是科技家,尝试牛奶、橙汁和漱口水的混合物。 来自互联网
  • We became scientists and tested concoctions of milk, orange juice, and mouthwash. 我们是科学家,尝试牛奶、橙汁和漱口水的混合物。 来自互联网
10 shredded d51bccc81979c227d80aa796078813ac     
shred的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • Serve the fish on a bed of shredded lettuce. 先铺一层碎生菜叶,再把鱼放上,就可以上桌了。
  • I think Mapo beancurd and shredded meat in chilli sauce are quite special. 我觉得麻婆豆腐和鱼香肉丝味道不错。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 patchwork yLsx6     
n.混杂物;拼缝物
参考例句:
  • That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
  • She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上,所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。
12 frail yz3yD     
adj.身体虚弱的;易损坏的
参考例句:
  • Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了,身体虚弱,不便独居。
  • She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上,看上去特别虚弱。
13 ornaments 2bf24c2bab75a8ff45e650a1e4388dec     
n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 );点缀;装饰品;首饰v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
  • Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 arduous 5vxzd     
adj.艰苦的,费力的,陡峭的
参考例句:
  • We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
  • The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。
15 giggling 2712674ae81ec7e853724ef7e8c53df1     
v.咯咯地笑( giggle的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • We just sat there giggling like naughty schoolchildren. 我们只是坐在那儿像调皮的小学生一样的咯咯地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I can't stand her giggling, she's so silly. 她吃吃地笑,叫我真受不了,那样子傻透了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
16 inanity O4Lyd     
n.无意义,无聊
参考例句:
  • Their statement was a downright inanity.他们的声明是彻头彻尾的废话。
  • I laugh all alone at my complete inanity.十分无聊时,我就独自大笑。
17 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
18 crass zoMzH     
adj.愚钝的,粗糙的;彻底的
参考例句:
  • The government has behaved with crass insensitivity.该政府行事愚蠢而且麻木不仁。
  • I didn't want any part of this silly reception,It was all so crass.我完全不想参加这个无聊的欢迎会,它实在太糟糕了。
19 wasteful ogdwu     
adj.(造成)浪费的,挥霍的
参考例句:
  • It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
  • Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源,任务已经重新分派。
20 follies e0e754f59d4df445818b863ea1aa3eba     
罪恶,时事讽刺剧; 愚蠢,蠢笨,愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • He has given up youthful follies. 他不再做年轻人的荒唐事了。
  • The writings of Swift mocked the follies of his age. 斯威夫特的作品嘲弄了他那个时代的愚人。
21 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
22 judgment e3xxC     
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见
参考例句:
  • The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
  • He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。
23 affected TzUzg0     
adj.不自然的,假装的
参考例句:
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
24 interfered 71b7e795becf1adbddfab2cd6c5f0cff     
v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 );调停;妨碍;干涉
参考例句:
  • Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》
25 scattered 7jgzKF     
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的
参考例句:
  • Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来,塞进文件夹里。
26 farmhouses 990ff6ec1c7f905b310e92bc44d13886     
n.农舍,农场的主要住房( farmhouse的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Then perhaps she is staying at one of cottages or farmhouses? 那么也许她现在住在某个农舍或哪个农场的房子里吧? 来自辞典例句
  • The countryside was sprinkled with farmhouses. 乡间到处可见农家的房舍。 来自辞典例句
27 farmhouse kt1zIk     
n.农场住宅(尤指主要住房)
参考例句:
  • We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
  • We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。
28 frankly fsXzcf     
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
参考例句:
  • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
  • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说,我不反对改革。
29 concessions 6b6f497aa80aaf810133260337506fa9     
n.(尤指由政府或雇主给予的)特许权( concession的名词复数 );承认;减价;(在某地的)特许经营权
参考例句:
  • The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工,公司将不得不作出一些让步。
  • The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。
30 grafted adfa8973f8de58d9bd9c5b67221a3cfe     
移植( graft的过去式和过去分词 ); 嫁接; 使(思想、制度等)成为(…的一部份); 植根
参考例句:
  • No art can be grafted with success on another art. 没有哪种艺术能成功地嫁接到另一种艺术上。
  • Apples are easily grafted. 苹果树很容易嫁接。
31 foul Sfnzy     
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规
参考例句:
  • Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
  • What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气!
32 ragged KC0y8     
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的
参考例句:
  • A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
  • Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。
33 proximity 5RsxM     
n.接近,邻近
参考例句:
  • Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
  • Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。
34 desperately cu7znp     
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地
参考例句:
  • He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
  • He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。
35 sagging 2cd7acc35feffadbb3241d569f4364b2     
下垂[沉,陷],松垂,垂度
参考例句:
  • The morale of the enemy troops is continuously sagging. 敌军的士气不断低落。
  • We are sagging south. 我们的船正离开航线向南漂流。
36 heeded 718cd60e0e96997caf544d951e35597a     
v.听某人的劝告,听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 );变平,使(某物)变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She countered that her advice had not been heeded. 她反驳说她的建议未被重视。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I heeded my doctor's advice and stopped smoking. 我听从医生的劝告,把烟戒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
37 stony qu1wX     
adj.石头的,多石头的,冷酷的,无情的
参考例句:
  • The ground is too dry and stony.这块地太干,而且布满了石头。
  • He listened to her story with a stony expression.他带着冷漠的表情听她讲经历。
38 boughs 95e9deca9a2fb4bbbe66832caa8e63e0     
大树枝( bough的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The green boughs glittered with all their pearls of dew. 绿枝上闪烁着露珠的光彩。
  • A breeze sighed in the higher boughs. 微风在高高的树枝上叹息着。
39 plowing 6dcabc1c56430a06a1807a73331bd6f2     
v.耕( plow的现在分词 );犁耕;费力穿过
参考例句:
  • "There are things more important now than plowing, Sugar. "如今有比耕种更重要的事情要做呀,宝贝儿。 来自飘(部分)
  • Since his wife's death, he has been plowing a lonely furrow. 从他妻子死后,他一直过着孤独的生活。 来自辞典例句
40 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
41 doffed ffa13647926d286847d70509f86d0f85     
v.脱去,(尤指)脱帽( doff的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He doffed his hat. 他脱掉帽子。 来自互联网
  • The teacher is forced to help her pull next pulling again mouth, unlock button, doffed jacket. 老师只好再帮她拉下拉口,解开扣子,将外套脱了下来。 来自互联网
42 exclamations aea591b1607dd0b11f1dd659bad7d827     
n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 );感叹;感叹语;感叹词
参考例句:
  • The visitors broke into exclamations of wonder when they saw the magnificent Great Wall. 看到雄伟的长城,游客们惊叹不已。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • After the will has been read out, angry exclamations aroused. 遗嘱宣读完之后,激起一片愤怒的喊声。 来自辞典例句
43 savages 2ea43ddb53dad99ea1c80de05d21d1e5     
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • There're some savages living in the forest. 森林里居住着一些野人。
  • That's an island inhabited by savages. 那是一个野蛮人居住的岛屿。
44 wagon XhUwP     
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车
参考例句:
  • We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
  • The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。
45 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
46 starkly 4e0b2db3ce8605be1f8d536fac698e3f     
adj. 变硬了的,完全的 adv. 完全,实在,简直
参考例句:
  • The city of Befast remains starkly divided between Catholics and Protestants. 贝尔法斯特市完全被处在天主教徒和新教徒的纷争之中。
  • The black rocks stood out starkly against the sky. 那些黑色的岩石在天空衬托下十分显眼。
47 providence 8tdyh     
n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝
参考例句:
  • It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
  • To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事,是违背上帝的意志的。
48 ridge KDvyh     
n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭
参考例句:
  • We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
  • The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。
49 contented Gvxzof     
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的
参考例句:
  • He won't be contented until he's upset everyone in the office.不把办公室里的每个人弄得心烦意乱他就不会满足。
  • The people are making a good living and are contented,each in his station.人民安居乐业。
50 broached 6e5998583239ddcf6fbeee2824e41081     
v.谈起( broach的过去式和过去分词 );打开并开始用;用凿子扩大(或修光);(在桶上)钻孔取液体
参考例句:
  • She broached the subject of a picnic to her mother. 她向母亲提起野餐的问题。 来自辞典例句
  • He broached the subject to the stranger. 他对陌生人提起那话题。 来自辞典例句
51 insistent s6ZxC     
adj.迫切的,坚持的
参考例句:
  • There was an insistent knock on my door.我听到一阵急促的敲门声。
  • He is most insistent on this point.他在这点上很坚持。
52 creek 3orzL     
n.小溪,小河,小湾
参考例句:
  • He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
  • People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。
53 loom T8pzd     
n.织布机,织机;v.隐现,(危险、忧虑等)迫近
参考例句:
  • The old woman was weaving on her loom.那位老太太正在织布机上织布。
  • The shuttle flies back and forth on the loom.织布机上梭子来回飞动。
54 primitive vSwz0     
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物
参考例句:
  • It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
  • His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。
55 sweeping ihCzZ4     
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的
参考例句:
  • The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
  • Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗?
56 utterly ZfpzM1     
adv.完全地,绝对地
参考例句:
  • Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民,把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
  • I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。
57 abide UfVyk     
vi.遵守;坚持;vt.忍受
参考例句:
  • You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
  • If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部,你就得遵守它的规章。
58 jaw 5xgy9     
n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训
参考例句:
  • He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
  • A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。
59 woolen 0fKw9     
adj.羊毛(制)的;毛纺的
参考例句:
  • She likes to wear woolen socks in winter.冬天她喜欢穿羊毛袜。
  • There is one bar of woolen blanket on that bed.那张床上有一条毛毯。
60 durable frox4     
adj.持久的,耐久的
参考例句:
  • This raincoat is made of very durable material.这件雨衣是用非常耐用的料子做的。
  • They frequently require more major durable purchases.他们经常需要购买耐用消费品。
61 pitcher S2Gz7     
n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐;(棒球)投手
参考例句:
  • He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
  • Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。
62 laborious VxoyD     
adj.吃力的,努力的,不流畅
参考例句:
  • They had the laborious task of cutting down the huge tree.他们接受了伐大树的艰苦工作。
  • Ants and bees are laborious insects.蚂蚁与蜜蜂是勤劳的昆虫。
63 relish wBkzs     
n.滋味,享受,爱好,调味品;vt.加调味料,享受,品味;vi.有滋味
参考例句:
  • I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
  • I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。
64 pone Xu8yF     
n.玉米饼
参考例句:
  • Give me another mite of that pone before you wrap it up.慢点包,让我再吃口玉米面包吧。
  • He paused and gnawed the tough pone.他停下来,咬一了口硬面包。
65 gravy Przzt1     
n.肉汁;轻易得来的钱,外快
参考例句:
  • You have spilled gravy on the tablecloth.你把肉汁泼到台布上了。
  • The meat was swimming in gravy.肉泡在浓汁之中。
66 viands viands     
n.食品,食物
参考例句:
  • Greek slaves supplied them with exquisite viands at the slightest nod.只要他们轻轻点点头希腊奴隶就会供奉给他们精美的食品。
  • The family sat down to table,and a frugal meal of cold viands was deposited beforethem.一家老少,都围着桌子坐下,几样简单的冷食,摆在他们面前。
67 infancy F4Ey0     
n.婴儿期;幼年期;初期
参考例句:
  • He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。
  • Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。
68 labors 8e0b4ddc7de5679605be19f4398395e1     
v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转
参考例句:
  • He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors. 他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜,令人生厌。 来自辞典例句
  • Farm labors used to hire themselves out for the summer. 农业劳动者夏季常去当雇工。 来自辞典例句
69 sullen kHGzl     
adj.愠怒的,闷闷不乐的,(天气等)阴沉的
参考例句:
  • He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
  • Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐,因为昨晚没睡好。
70 restriction jW8x0     
n.限制,约束
参考例句:
  • The park is open to the public without restriction.这个公园对公众开放,没有任何限制。
  • The 30 mph speed restriction applies in all built-up areas.每小时限速30英里适用于所有建筑物聚集区。
71 nurtured 2f8e1ba68cd5024daf2db19178217055     
养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 ); 培育; 滋长; 助长
参考例句:
  • She is looking fondly at the plants he had nurtured. 她深情地看着他培育的植物。
  • Any latter-day Einstein would still be spotted and nurtured. 任何一个未来的爱因斯坦都会被发现并受到培养。
72 meek x7qz9     
adj.温顺的,逆来顺受的
参考例句:
  • He expects his wife to be meek and submissive.他期望妻子温顺而且听他摆布。
  • The little girl is as meek as a lamb.那个小姑娘像羔羊一般温顺。
73 regaining 458e5f36daee4821aec7d05bf0dd4829     
复得( regain的现在分词 ); 赢回; 重回; 复至某地
参考例句:
  • She was regaining consciousness now, but the fear was coming with her. 现在她正在恢发她的知觉,但是恐怖也就伴随着来了。
  • She said briefly, regaining her will with a click. 她干脆地答道,又马上重新振作起精神来。
74 permanently KluzuU     
adv.永恒地,永久地,固定不变地
参考例句:
  • The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
  • The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。
75 minor e7fzR     
adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修
参考例句:
  • The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
  • I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。


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