And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart,
That thus so clearly I myself am free.’
DRAYTON.
Margaret shut herself up in her own room, after she had quitted Mrs. Thornton. She began to walk backwards1 and forwards, in her old habitual2 way of showing agitation3; but, then, remembering that in that slightly-built house every step was heard from one room to another, she sate4 down until she heard Mrs. Thornton go safely out of the house. She forced herself to recollect5 all the conversation that had passed between them; speech by speech, she compelled her memory to go through with it. At the end, she rose up, and said to herself, in a melancholy6 tone:
‘At any rate, her words do not touch me; they fall off from me; for I am innocent of all the motives8 she attributes to me. But still, it is hard to think that any one — any woman — can believe all this of another so easily. It is hard and sad. Where I have done wrong, she does not accuse me — she does not know. He never told her: I might have known he would not!’
She lifted up her head, as if she took pride in any delicacy9 of feeling which Mr. Thornton had shown. Then, as a new thought came across her, she pressed her hands tightly together.
‘He, too, must take poor Frederick for some lover.’ (She blushed as the word passed through her mind.) ‘I see it now. It is not merely that he knows of my falsehood, but he believes that some one else cares for me; and that I—— Oh dear! — oh dear! What shall I do? What do I mean? Why do I care what he thinks, beyond the mere10 loss of his good opinion as regards my telling the truth or not? I cannot tell. But I am very miserable11! Oh, how unhappy this last year has been! I have passed out of childhood into old age. I have had no youth — no womanhood; the hopes of womanhood have closed for me — for I shall never marry; and I anticipate cares and sorrows just as if I were an old woman, and with the same fearful spirit. I am weary of this continual call upon me for strength. I could bear up for papa; because that is a natural, pious12 duty. And I think I could bear up against — at any rate, I could have the energy to resent, Mrs. Thornton’s unjust, impertinent suspicions. But it is hard to feel how completely he must misunderstand me. What has happened to make me so morbid13 today? I do not know. I only know I cannot help it. I must give way sometimes. No, I will not, though,’ said she, springing to her feet. ‘I will not — I will not think of myself and my own position. I won’t examine into my own feelings. It would be of no use now. Some time, if I live to be an old woman, I may sit over the fire, and, looking into the embers, see the life that might have been.’
All this time, she was hastily putting on her things to go out, only stopping from time to time to wipe her eyes, with an impatience14 of gesture at the tears that would come, in spite of all her bravery.
‘I dare say, there’s many a woman makes as sad a mistake as I have done, and only finds it out too late. And how proudly and impertinently I spoke15 to him that day! But I did not know then. It has come upon me little by little, and I don’t know where it began. Now I won’t give way. I shall find it difficult to behave in the same way to him, with this miserable consciousness upon me; but I will be very calm and very quiet, and say very little. But, to be sure, I may not see him; he keeps out of our way evidently. That would be worse than all. And yet no wonder that he avoids me, believing what he must about me.’
She went out, going rapidly towards the country, and trying to drown reflection by swiftness of motion.
As she stood on the door-step, at her return, her father came up:
‘Good girl!’ said he. ‘You’ve been to Mrs. Boucher’s. I was just meaning to go there, if I had time, before dinner.’
‘No, papa; I have not,’ said Margaret, reddening. ‘I never thought about her. But I will go directly after dinner; I will go while you are taking your nap.
Accordingly Margaret went. Mrs. Boucher was very ill; really ill — not merely ailing16. The kind and sensible neighbour, who had come in the other day, seemed to have taken charge of everything. Some of the children were gone to the neighbours. Mary Higgins had come for the three youngest at dinner-time; and since then Nicholas had gone for the doctor. He had not come as yet; Mrs. Boucher was dying; and there was nothing to do but to wait. Margaret thought that she should like to know his opinion, and that she could not do better than go and see the Higginses in the meantime. She might then possibly hear whether Nicholas had been able to make his application to Mr. Thornton.
She found Nicholas busily engaged in making a penny spin on the dresser, for the amusement of three little children, who were clinging to him in a fearless manner. He, as well as they, was smiling at a good long spin; and Margaret thought, that the happy look of interest in his occupation was a good sign. When the penny stopped spinning, ‘lile Johnnie’ began to cry.
‘Come to me,’ said Margaret, taking him off the dresser, and holding him in her arms; she held her watch to his ear, while she asked Nicholas if he had seen Mr. Thornton.
The look on his face changed instantly.
‘Ay!’ said he. ‘I’ve seen and heerd too much on him.’
‘He refused you, then?’ said Margaret, sorrowfully.
‘To be sure. I knew he’d do it all long. It’s no good expecting marcy at the hands o’ them measters. Yo’re a stranger and a foreigner, and aren’t likely to know their ways; but I knowed it.’
‘I am sorry I asked you. Was he angry? He did not speak to you as Hamper18 did, did he?’
‘He weren’t o’er-civil!’ said Nicholas, spinning the penny again, as much for his own amusement as for that of the children. ‘Never yo’ fret19, I’m only where I was. I’ll go on tramp tomorrow. I gave him as good as I got. I telled him, I’d not that good opinion on him that I’d ha’ come a second time of mysel’; but yo’d advised me for to come, and I were beholden to yo’.’
‘You told him I sent you?’
‘I dunno’ if I ca’d yo’ by your name. I dunnot think I did. I said, a woman who knew no better had advised me for to come and see if there was a soft place in his heart.’
‘And he —?’ asked Margaret.
‘Said I were to tell yo’ to mind yo’r own business. — That’s the longest spin yet, my lads. — And them’s civil words to what he used to me. But ne’er mind. We’re but where we was; and I’ll break stones on th’ road afore I let these little uns clem.’
Margaret put the struggling Johnnie out of her arms, back into his former place on the dresser.
‘I am sorry I asked you to go to Mr. Thornton’s. I am disappointed in him.’
There was a slight noise behind her. Both she and Nicholas turned round at the same moment, and there stood Mr. Thornton, with a look of displeased20 surprise upon his face. Obeying her swift impulse, Margaret passed out before him, saying not a word, only bowing low to hide the sudden paleness that she felt had come over her face. He bent21 equally low in return, and then closed the door after her. As she hurried to Mrs. Boucher’s, she heard the clang, and it seemed to fill up the measure of her mortification22. He too was annoyed to find her there. He had tenderness in his heart —‘a soft place,’ as Nicholas Higgins called it; but he had some pride in concealing23 it; he kept it very sacred and safe, and was jealous of every circumstance that tried to gain admission. But if he dreaded24 exposure of his tenderness, he was equally desirous that all men should recognise his justice; and he felt that he had been unjust, in giving so scornful a hearing to any one who had waited, with humble25 patience, for five hours, to speak to him. That the man had spoken saucily26 to him when he had the opportunity, was nothing to Mr. Thornton. He rather liked him for it; and he was conscious of his own irritability27 of temper at the time, which probably made them both quits. It was the five hours of waiting that struck Mr. Thornton. He had not five hours to spare himself; but one hour — two hours, of his hard penetrating28 intellectual, as well as bodily labour, did he give up to going about collecting evidence as to the truth of Higgins’s story, the nature of his character, the tenor29 of his life. He tried not to be, but was convinced that all that Higgins had said was true. And then the conviction went in, as if by some spell, and touched the latent tenderness of his heart; the patience of the man, the simple generosity30 of the motive7 (for he had learnt about the quarrel between Boucher and Higgins), made him forget entirely31 the mere reasonings of justice, and overleap them by a diviner instinct. He came to tell Higgins he would give him work; and he was more annoyed to find Margaret there than by hearing her last words, for then he understood that she was the woman who had urged Higgins to come to him; and he dreaded the admission of any thought of her, as a motive to what he was doing solely32 because it was right.
‘So that was the lady you spoke of as a woman?’ said he indignantly to Higgins. ‘You might have told me who she was.
‘And then, maybe, yo’d ha’ spoken of her more civil than yo’ did; yo’d getten a mother who might ha’ kept yo’r tongue in check when yo’ were talking o’ women being at the root o’ all the plagues.’
‘Of course you told that to Miss Hale?’
‘In coorse I did. Leastways, I reckon I did. I telled her she weren’t to meddle33 again in aught that concerned yo’.’
‘Whose children are those — yours?’ Mr. Thornton had a pretty good notion whose they were, from what he had heard; but he felt awkward in turning the conversation round from this unpromising beginning.
‘They’re not mine, and they are mine.’
‘They are the children you spoke of to me this morning?’
‘When yo’ said,’ replied Higgins, turning round, with ill-smothered fierceness, ‘that my story might be true or might not, bur it were a very unlikely one. Measter, I’ve not forgetten.’
Mr. Thornton was silent for a moment; then he said: ‘No more have I. I remember what I said. I spoke to you about those children in a way I had no business to do. I did not believe you. I could not have taken care of another man’s children myself, if he had acted towards me as I hear Boucher did towards you. But I know now that you spoke truth. I beg your pardon.’
Higgins did not turn round, or immediately respond to this. But when he did speak, it was in a softened34 tone, although the words were gruff enough.
‘Yo’ve no business to go prying35 into what happened between Boucher and me. He’s dead, and I’m sorry. That’s enough.’
‘So it is. Will you take work with me? That’s what I came to ask.’
Higgins’s obstinacy37 wavered, recovered strength, and stood firm. He would not speak. Mr. Thornton would not ask again. Higgins’s eye fell on the children.
‘Yo’ve called me impudent38, and a liar39, and a mischief40-maker, and yo’ might ha’ said wi’ some truth, as I were now and then given to drink. An’ I ha’ called you a tyrant41, an’ an oud bull-dog, and a hard, cruel master; that’s where it stands. But for th’ childer. Measter, do yo’ think we can e’er get on together?’
‘Well!’ said Mr. Thornton, half-laughing, ‘it was not my proposal that we should go together. But there’s one comfort, on your own showing. We neither of us can think much worse of the other than we do now.’
‘That’s true,’ said Higgins, reflectively. ‘I’ve been thinking, ever sin’ I saw you, what a marcy it were yo’ did na take me on, for that I ne’er saw a man whom I could less abide42. But that’s maybe been a hasty judgment43; and work’s work to such as me. So, measter, I’ll come; and what’s more, I thank yo’; and that’s a deal fro’ me,’ said he, more frankly44, suddenly turning round and facing Mr. Thornton fully17 for the first time.
‘And this is a deal from me,’ said Mr. Thornton, giving Higgins’s hand a good grip. ‘Now mind you come sharp to your time,’ continued he, resuming the master. ‘I’ll have no laggards45 at my mill. What fines we have, we keep pretty sharply. And the first time I catch you making mischief, off you go. So now you know where you are.’
‘Yo’ spoke of my wisdom this morning. I reckon I may bring it wi’ me; or would yo’ rayther have me ‘bout my brains?’
‘‘Bout your brains if you use them for meddling46 with my business; with your brains if you can keep them to your own.’
‘I shall need a deal o’ brains to settle where my business ends and yo’rs begins.’
‘Your business has not begun yet, and mine stands still for me. So good afternoon.’
Just before Mr. Thornton came up to Mrs. Boucher’s door, Margaret came out of it. She did not see him; and he followed her for several yards, admiring her light and easy walk, and her tall and graceful47 figure. But, suddenly, this simple emotion of pleasure was tainted48, poisoned by jealousy49. He wished to overtake her, and speak to her, to see how she would receive him, now she must know he was aware of some other attachment50. He wished too, but of this wish he was rather ashamed, that she should know that he had justified51 her wisdom in sending Higgins to him to ask for work; and had repented52 him of his morning’s decision. He came up to her. She started.
‘Allow me to say, Miss Hale, that you were rather premature53 in expressing your disappointment. I have taken Higgins on.’
‘I am glad of it,’ said she, coldly.
‘He tells me, he repeated to you, what I said this morning about —’ Mr. Thornton hesitated. Margaret took it up:
‘About women not meddling. You had a perfect right to express your opinion, which was a very correct one, I have no doubt. But,’ she went on a little more eagerly, ‘Higgins did not quite tell you the exact truth.’ The word ‘truth,’ reminded her of her own untruth, and she stopped short, feeling exceedingly uncomfortable.
Mr. Thornton at first was puzzled to account for her silence; and then he remembered the lie she had told, and all that was foregone. ‘The exact truth!’ said he. ‘Very few people do speak the exact truth. I have given up hoping for it. Miss Hale, have you no explanation to give me? You must perceive what I cannot but think.’
Margaret was silent. She was wondering whether an explanation of any kind would be consistent with her loyalty54 to Frederick.
‘Nay,’ said he, ‘I will ask no farther. I may be putting temptation in your way. At present, believe me, your secret is safe with me. But you run great risks, allow me to say, in being so indiscreet. I am now only speaking as a friend of your father’s: if I had any other thought or hope, of course that is at an end. I am quite disinterested55.’
‘I am aware of that,’ said Margaret, forcing herself to speak in an indifferent, careless way. ‘I am aware of what I must appear to you, but the secret is another person’s, and I cannot explain it without doing him harm.’
‘I have not the slightest wish to pry36 into the gentleman’s secrets,’ he said, with growing anger. ‘My own interest in you is — simply that of a friend. You may not believe me, Miss Hale, but it is — in spite of the persecution56 I’m afraid I threatened you with at one time — but that is all given up; all passed away. You believe me, Miss Hale?’
‘Yes,’ said Margaret, quietly and sadly.
‘Then, really, I don’t see any occasion for us to go on walking together. I thought, perhaps you might have had something to say, but I see we are nothing to each other. If you’re quite convinced, that any foolish passion on my part is entirely over, I will wish you good afternoon.’ He walked off very hastily.
‘What can he mean?’ thought Margaret — ‘what could he mean by speaking so, as if I were always thinking that he cared for me, when I know he does not; he cannot. His mother will have said all those cruel things about me to him. But I won’t care for him. I surely am mistress enough of myself to control this wild, strange, miserable feeling, which tempted57 me even to betray my own dear Frederick, so that I might but regain58 his good opinion — the good opinion of a man who takes such pains to tell me that I am nothing to him. Come poor little heart! be cheery and brave. We’ll be a great deal to one another, if we are thrown off and left desolate59.’
Her father was almost startled by her merriment this afternoon. She talked incessantly60, and forced her natural humour to an unusual pitch; and if there was a tinge61 of bitterness in much of what she said; if her accounts of the old Harley Street set were a little sarcastic62, her father could not bear to check her, as he would have done at another time — for he was glad to see her shake off her cares. In the middle of the evening, she was called down to speak to Mary Higgins; and when she came back, Mr. Hale imagined that he saw traces of tears on her cheeks. But that could not be, for she brought good news — that Higgins had got work at Mr. Thornton’s mill. Her spirits were damped, at any rate, and she found it very difficult to go on talking at all, much more in the wild way that she had done. For some days her spirits varied63 strangely; and her father was beginning to be anxious about her, when news arrived from one or two quarters that promised some change and variety for her. Mr. Hale received a letter from Mr. Bell, in which that gentleman volunteered a visit to them; and Mr. Hale imagined that the promised society of his old Oxford64 friend would give as agreeable a turn to Margaret’s ideas as it did to his own. Margaret tried to take an interest in what pleased her father; but she was too languid to care about any Mr. Bell, even though he were twenty times her godfather. She was more roused by a letter from Edith, full of sympathy about her aunt’s death; full of details about herself, her husband, and child; and at the end saying, that as the climate did not suit, the baby, and as Mrs. Shaw was talking of returning to England, she thought it probable that Captain Lennox might sell out, and that they might all go and live again in the old Harley Street house; which, however, would seem very incomplete with-out Margaret. Margaret yearned65 after that old house, and the placid66 tranquillity67 of that old well-ordered, monotonous68 life. She had found it occasionally tiresome69 while it lasted; but since then she had been buffeted70 about, and felt so exhausted71 by this recent struggle with herself, that she thought that even stagnation72 would be a rest and a refreshment73. So she began to look towards a long visit to the Lennoxes, on their return to England, as to a point — no, not of hope — but of leisure, in which she could regain her power and command over herself. At present it seemed to her as if all subjects tended towards Mr. Thornton; as if she could not for-get him with all her endeavours. If she went to see the Higginses, she heard of him there; her father had resumed their readings together, and quoted his opinions perpetually; even Mr. Bell’s visit brought his tenant’s name upon the tapis; for he wrote word that he believed he must be occupied some great part of his time with Mr. Thornton, as a new lease was in preparation, and the terms of it must be agreed upon.
点击收听单词发音
1 backwards | |
adv.往回地,向原处,倒,相反,前后倒置地 | |
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2 habitual | |
adj.习惯性的;通常的,惯常的 | |
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3 agitation | |
n.搅动;搅拌;鼓动,煽动 | |
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4 sate | |
v.使充分满足 | |
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5 recollect | |
v.回忆,想起,记起,忆起,记得 | |
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6 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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7 motive | |
n.动机,目的;adv.发动的,运动的 | |
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8 motives | |
n.动机,目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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9 delicacy | |
n.精致,细微,微妙,精良;美味,佳肴 | |
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10 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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11 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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12 pious | |
adj.虔诚的;道貌岸然的 | |
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13 morbid | |
adj.病的;致病的;病态的;可怕的 | |
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14 impatience | |
n.不耐烦,急躁 | |
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15 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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16 ailing | |
v.生病 | |
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17 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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18 hamper | |
vt.妨碍,束缚,限制;n.(有盖的)大篮子 | |
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19 fret | |
v.(使)烦恼;(使)焦急;(使)腐蚀,(使)磨损 | |
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20 displeased | |
a.不快的 | |
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21 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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22 mortification | |
n.耻辱,屈辱 | |
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23 concealing | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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24 dreaded | |
adj.令人畏惧的;害怕的v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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25 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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26 saucily | |
adv.傲慢地,莽撞地 | |
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27 irritability | |
n.易怒 | |
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28 penetrating | |
adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的 | |
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29 tenor | |
n.男高音(歌手),次中音(乐器),要旨,大意 | |
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30 generosity | |
n.大度,慷慨,慷慨的行为 | |
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31 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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32 solely | |
adv.仅仅,唯一地 | |
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33 meddle | |
v.干预,干涉,插手 | |
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34 softened | |
(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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35 prying | |
adj.爱打听的v.打听,刺探(他人的私事)( pry的现在分词 );撬开 | |
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36 pry | |
vi.窥(刺)探,打听;vt.撬动(开,起) | |
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37 obstinacy | |
n.顽固;(病痛等)难治 | |
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38 impudent | |
adj.鲁莽的,卑鄙的,厚颜无耻的 | |
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39 liar | |
n.说谎的人 | |
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40 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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41 tyrant | |
n.暴君,专制的君主,残暴的人 | |
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42 abide | |
vi.遵守;坚持;vt.忍受 | |
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43 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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44 frankly | |
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
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45 laggards | |
n.落后者( laggard的名词复数 ) | |
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46 meddling | |
v.干涉,干预(他人事务)( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
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47 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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48 tainted | |
adj.腐坏的;污染的;沾污的;感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 );使污染;败坏;被污染,腐坏,败坏 | |
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49 jealousy | |
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
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50 attachment | |
n.附属物,附件;依恋;依附 | |
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51 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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52 repented | |
对(自己的所为)感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53 premature | |
adj.比预期时间早的;不成熟的,仓促的 | |
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54 loyalty | |
n.忠诚,忠心 | |
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55 disinterested | |
adj.不关心的,不感兴趣的 | |
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56 persecution | |
n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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57 tempted | |
v.怂恿(某人)干不正当的事;冒…的险(tempt的过去分词) | |
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58 regain | |
vt.重新获得,收复,恢复 | |
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59 desolate | |
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂 | |
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60 incessantly | |
ad.不停地 | |
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61 tinge | |
vt.(较淡)着色于,染色;使带有…气息;n.淡淡色彩,些微的气息 | |
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62 sarcastic | |
adj.讥讽的,讽刺的,嘲弄的 | |
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63 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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64 Oxford | |
n.牛津(英国城市) | |
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65 yearned | |
渴望,切盼,向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66 placid | |
adj.安静的,平和的 | |
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67 tranquillity | |
n. 平静, 安静 | |
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68 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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69 tiresome | |
adj.令人疲劳的,令人厌倦的 | |
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70 buffeted | |
反复敲打( buffet的过去式和过去分词 ); 连续猛击; 打来打去; 推来搡去 | |
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71 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
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72 stagnation | |
n. 停滞 | |
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73 refreshment | |
n.恢复,精神爽快,提神之事物;(复数)refreshments:点心,茶点 | |
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