To add a handful of New England Independents, a Puritan of Boston, and three Huguenots to such a gathering11, was indeed to bring fire-brand and powder-barrel together. And yet all aboard were so busy with their own concerns that the castaways were left very much to themselves. Thirty of the soldiers were down with fever and scurvy12, and both priests and nuns were fully13 taken up in nursing them. Denonville, the governor, a pious-minded dragoon, walked the deck all day reading the Psalms14 of David, and sat up half the night with maps and charts laid out before him, planning out the destruction of the Iroquois who were ravaging15 his dominions16. The gallants and the ladies flirted17, the maidens of Anjou made eyes at the soldiers of Quercy, and the bishop Saint Vallier read his offices and lectured his clergy18. Ephraim Savage19 used to stand all day glaring at the good man as he paced the deck with his red-edged missal in his hand, and muttering about the “abomination of desolation,” but his little ways were put down to his exposure upon the iceberg20, and to the fixed21 idea in the French mind that men of the Anglo–Saxon stock are not to be held accountable for their actions.
There was peace between England and France at present, though feeling ran high between Canada and New York, the French believing, and with some justice, that the English colonists22 were whooping23 on the demons24 who attacked them. Ephraim and his men were therefore received hospitably26 on board, though the ship was so crowded that they had to sleep wherever they could find cover and space for their bodies. The Catinats, too, had been treated in an even more kindly27 fashion, the weak old man and the beauty of his daughter arousing the interest of the governor himself. De Catinat had, during the voyage, exchanged his uniform for a plain sombre suit, so that, except for his military bearing, there was nothing to show that he was a fugitive28 from the army. Old Catinat was now so weak that he was past the answering of questions, his daughter was forever at his side, and the soldier was diplomatist enough, after a training at Versailles, to say much without saying anything, and so their secret was still preserved. De Catinat had known what it was to be a Huguenot in Canada before the law was altered. He had no wish to try it after.
On the day after the rescue they sighted Cape29 Breton in the south, and soon running swiftly before an easterly wind, saw the loom30 of the east end of Anticosti. Then they sailed up the mighty31 river, though from mid-channel the banks upon either side were hardly to be seen. As the shores narrowed in, they saw the wild gorge32 of the Saguenay River upon the right, with the smoke from the little fishing and trading station of Tadousac streaming up above the pine trees. Naked Indians with their faces daubed with red clay, Algonquins and Abenakis, clustered round the ship in their birchen canoes with fruit and vegetables from the land, which brought fresh life to the scurvy-stricken soldiers. Thence the ship tacked25 on up the river past Mal Bay, the Ravine of the Eboulements and the Bay of St. Paul with its broad valley and wooded mountains all in a blaze with their beautiful autumn dress, their scarlets33, their purples, and their golds, from the maple34, the ash, the young oak, and the saplings of the birch. Amos Green, leaning on the bulwarks35, stared with longing36 eyes at these vast expanses of virgin37 woodland, hardly traversed save by an occasional wandering savage or hardy38 coureur-debois. Then the bold outline of Cape Tourmente loomed39 up in front of them; they passed the rich placid40 meadows of Laval’s seigneury of Beaupre, and, skirting the settlements of the Island of Orleans, they saw the broad pool stretch out in front of them, the falls of Montmorenci, the high palisades of Cape Levi, the cluster of vessels41, and upon the right that wonderful rock with its diadem42 of towers and its township huddled43 round its base, the centre and stronghold of French power in America. Cannon44 thundered from the bastions above, and were echoed back by the warship45, while ensigns dipped, hats waved, and a swarm46 of boats and canoes shot out to welcome the new governor, and to convey the soldiers and passengers to shore.
The old merchant had pined away since he had left French soil, like a plant which has been plucked from its roots. The shock of the shipwreck1 and the night spent in their bleak47 refuge upon the iceberg had been too much for his years and strength. Since they had been picked up he had lain amid the scurvy-stricken soldiers with hardly a sign of life save for his thin breathing and the twitching48 of his scraggy throat. Now, however, at the sound of the cannon and the shouting he opened his eyes, and raised himself slowly and painfully upon his pillow. “What is it, father? What can we do for you?” cried Adele. “We are in America, and here is Amory and here am I, your children.”
But the old man shook his head. “The Lord has brought me to the promised land, but He has not willed that I should enter into it,” said he. “May His will be done, and blessed be His name forever! But at least I should wish, like Moses, to gaze upon it, if I cannot set foot upon it. Think you, Amory, that you could lend me your arm and lead me on to the deck?”
“If I have another to help me,” said De Catinat, and ascending49 to the deck, he brought Amos Green back with him. “Now, father, if you will lay a hand upon the shoulder of each, you need scarce put your feet to the boards.”
A minute later the old merchant was on the deck, and the two young men had seated him upon a coil of rope with his back against the mast, where he should be away from the crush. The soldiers were already crowding down into the boats, and all were so busy over their own affairs that they paid no heed50 to the little group of refugees who gathered round the stricken man. He turned his head painfully from side to side, but his eyes brightened as they fell upon the broad blue stretch of water, the flash of the distant falls, the high castle, and the long line of purple mountains away to the north-west.
“It is not like France,” said he. “It is not green and peaceful and smiling, but it is grand and strong and stern like Him who made it. As I have weakened, Adele, my soul has been less clogged51 by my body, and I have seen clearly much that has been dim to me. And it has seemed to me, my children, that all this country of America, not Canada alone, but the land where you were born also, Amos Green, and all that stretches away towards yonder setting sun, will be the best gift of God to man. For this has He held it concealed52 through all the ages, that now His own high purpose may be wrought53 upon it. For here is a land which is innocent, which has no past guilt54 to atone55 for, no feud56, nor ill custom, nor evil of any kind. And as the years roll on all the weary and homeless ones, all who are stricken and landless and wronged, will turn their faces to it, even as we have done. And hence will come a nation which will surely take all that is good and leave all that is bad, moulding and fashioning itself into the highest. Do I not see such a mighty people, a people who will care more to raise their lowest than to exalt57 their richest—who will understand that there is more bravery in peace than in war, who will see that all men are brothers, and whose hearts will not narrow themselves down to their own frontiers, but will warm in sympathy with every noble cause the whole world through? That is what I see, Adele, as I lie here beside a shore upon which I shall never set my feet, and I say to you that if you and Amory go to the building of such a nation then indeed your lives are not misspent. It will come, and when it comes, may God guard it, may God watch over it and direct it!” His head had sunk gradually lower upon his breast and his lids had fallen slowly over his eyes which had been looking away out past Point Levi at the rolling woods and the far-off mountains. Adele gave a quick cry of despair and threw her arms round the old man’s neck.
“He is dying, Amory, he is dying!” she cried.
A stern Franciscan friar, who had been telling his beads58 within a few paces of them, heard the cry and was beside them in an instant.
“He is indeed dying,” he said, as he gazed down at the ashen59 face. “Has the old man had the sacraments of the Church?”
“I do not think that he needs them,” answered De Catinat evasively.
“Which of us do not need them, young man!” said the friar sternly. “And how can a man hope for salvation60 without them? I shall myself administer them without delay.”
But the old Huguenot had opened his eyes, and with a last flicker61 of strength he pushed away the gray-hooded figure which bent62 over him.
“I left all that I love rather than yield to you,” he cried, “and think you that you can overcome me now?”
The Franciscan started back at the words, and his hard suspicious eyes shot from De Catinat to the weeping girl.
“So!” said he. “You are Huguenots, then!”
“Hush! Do not wrangle63 before a man who is dying!” cried De Catinat in a voice as fierce as his own.
“Before a man who is dead,” said Amos Green solemnly.
As he spoke64 the old man’s face had relaxed, his thousand wrinkles had been smoothed suddenly out, as though an invisible hand had passed over them, and his head fell back against the mast. Adele remained motionless with her arms still clasped round his neck and her cheek pressed against his shoulder. She had fainted.
De Catinat raised his wife and bore her down to the cabin of one of the ladies who had already shown them some kindness. Deaths were no new thing aboard the ship, for they had lost ten soldiers upon the outward passage, so that amid the joy and bustle65 of the disembarking there were few who had a thought to spare upon the dead pilgrim, and the less so when it was whispered abroad that he had been a Huguenot. A brief order was given that he should be buried in the river that very night, and then, save for a sailmaker who fastened the canvas round him, mankind had done its last for Theophile Catinat. With the survivors66, however, it was different, and when the troops were all disembarked, they were mustered67 in a little group upon the deck, and an officer of the governor’s suite68 decided69 upon what should be done with them. He was a portly, good-humoured, ruddy-cheeked man, but De Catinat saw with apprehension70 that the friar walked by his side as he advanced along the deck, and exchanged a few whispered remarks with him. There was a bitter smile upon the monk’s dark face which boded71 little good for the heretics.
“It shall be seen to, good father, it shall be seen to,” said the officer impatiently, in answer to one of these whispered injunctions. “I am as zealous72 a servant of Holy Church as you are.”
“I trust that you are, Monsieur de Bonneville. With so devout73 a governor as Monsieur de Denonville, it might be an ill thing even in this world for the officers of his household to be lax.”
The soldier glanced angrily at his companion, for he saw the threat which lurked74 under the words.
“I would have you remember, father,” said he, “that if faith is a virtue75, charity is no less so.” Then, speaking in English: “Which is Captain Savage?”
“Ephraim Savage of Boston.”
“And Master Amos Green?”
“Amos Green of New York.”
“And Master Tomlinson?”
“John Tomlinson of Salem.”
“And master mariners76 Hiram Jefferson, Joseph Cooper, Seek-grace Spalding, and Paul Cushing, all of Massachusetts Bay?”
“We are all here.”
“It is the governor’s order that all whom I have named shall be conveyed at once to the trading brig Hope, which is yonder ship with the white paint line. She sails within the hour for the English provinces.”
A buzz of joy broke from the castaway mariners at the prospect77 of being so speedily restored to their homes, and they hurried away to gather together the few possessions which they had saved from the wreck2. The officer put his list in his pocket and stepped across to where De Catinat leaned moodily78 against the bulwarks.
“Surely you remember me,” he said. “I could not forget your face, even though you have exchanged a blue coat for a black one.”
De Catinat grasped the hand which was held out to him.
“I remember you well, De Bonneville, and the journey that we made together to Fort Frontenac, but it was not for me to claim your friendship, now that things have gone amiss with me.”
“Tut, man; once my friend always my friend.”
“I feared, too, that my acquaintance would do you little good with yonder dark-cowled friar who is glowering79 behind you.”
“Well, well, you know how it is with us here. Frontenac could keep them in their place, but De la Barre was as clay in their hands, and this new one promises to follow in his steps. What with the Sulpitians at Montreal and the Jesuits here, we poor devils are between the upper and the nether80 stones. But I am grieved from my heart to give such a welcome as this to an old comrade, and still more to his wife.”
“What is to be done, then?”
“You are to be confined to the ship until she sails, which will be in a week at the furthest.”
“And then?”
“You are to be carried home in her and handed over to the Governor of Rochelle to be sent back to Paris. Those are Monsieur de Denonville’s orders, and if they be not carried out to the letter, then we shall have the whole hornet’s nest about our ears.”
De Catinat groaned81 as he listened. After all their strivings and trials and efforts, to return to Paris, the scorn of his enemies, and an object of pity to his friends, was too deep a humiliation82. He flushed with shame at the very thought. To be led back like the home-sick peasant who has deserted83 from his regiment! Better one spring into the broad blue river beneath him, were it not for little pale-faced Adele who had none but him to look to. It was so tame! So ignominious84! And yet in this floating prison, with a woman whose fate was linked with his own, what hope was there of escape?
De Bonneville had left him, with a few blunt words of sympathy, but the friar still paced the deck with a furtive85 glance at him from time to time, and two soldiers who were stationed upon the poop passed and repassed within a few yards of him. They had orders evidently to mark his movements. Heart-sick he leaned over the side watching the Indians in their paint and feathers shooting backwards86 and forwards in their canoes, and staring across at the town where the gaunt gable ends of houses and charred87 walls marked the effect of the terrible fire which a few years before had completely destroyed the lower part.
As he stood gazing, his attention was drawn away by the swish of oars88, and a large boat full of men passed immediately underneath89 where he stood.
It held the New Englanders, who were being conveyed to the ship which was to take them home. There were the four seamen90 huddled together, and there in the sheets were Captain Ephraim Savage and Amos Green, conversing91 together and pointing to the shipping92. The grizzled face of the old Puritan and the bold features of the woodsman were turned more than once in his direction, but no word of farewell and no kindly wave of the hand came back to the lonely exile. They were so full of their own future and their own happiness, that they had not a thought to spare upon his misery93. He could have borne anything from his enemies, but this sudden neglect from his friends came too heavily after his other troubles. He stooped his face to his arms and burst in an instant into a passion of sobs94. Before he raised his eyes again the brig had hoisted95 her anchor, and was tacking96 under full canvas out of the Quebec basin.
点击收听单词发音
1 shipwreck | |
n.船舶失事,海难 | |
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2 wreck | |
n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难 | |
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3 consorts | |
n.配偶( consort的名词复数 );(演奏古典音乐的)一组乐师;一组古典乐器;一起v.结伴( consort的第三人称单数 );交往;相称;调和 | |
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4 regiment | |
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制 | |
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5 bishop | |
n.主教,(国际象棋)象 | |
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6 nuns | |
n.(通常指基督教的)修女, (佛教的)尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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7 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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8 maidens | |
处女( maiden的名词复数 ); 少女; 未婚女子; (板球运动)未得分的一轮投球 | |
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9 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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10 wards | |
区( ward的名词复数 ); 病房; 受监护的未成年者; 被人照顾或控制的状态 | |
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11 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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12 scurvy | |
adj.下流的,卑鄙的,无礼的;n.坏血病 | |
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13 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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14 psalms | |
n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 );圣诗;圣歌;(中的) | |
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15 ravaging | |
毁坏( ravage的现在分词 ); 蹂躏; 劫掠; 抢劫 | |
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16 dominions | |
统治权( dominion的名词复数 ); 领土; 疆土; 版图 | |
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17 flirted | |
v.调情,打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18 clergy | |
n.[总称]牧师,神职人员 | |
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19 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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20 iceberg | |
n.冰山,流冰,冷冰冰的人 | |
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21 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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22 colonists | |
n.殖民地开拓者,移民,殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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23 whooping | |
发嗬嗬声的,发咳声的 | |
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24 demons | |
n.恶人( demon的名词复数 );恶魔;精力过人的人;邪念 | |
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25 tacked | |
用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 ); 附加,增补; 帆船抢风行驶,用粗线脚缝 | |
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26 hospitably | |
亲切地,招待周到地,善于款待地 | |
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27 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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28 fugitive | |
adj.逃亡的,易逝的;n.逃犯,逃亡者 | |
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29 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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30 loom | |
n.织布机,织机;v.隐现,(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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31 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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32 gorge | |
n.咽喉,胃,暴食,山峡;v.塞饱,狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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33 scarlets | |
鲜红色,猩红色( scarlet的名词复数 ) | |
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34 maple | |
n.槭树,枫树,槭木 | |
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35 bulwarks | |
n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 );保障;支柱;舷墙 | |
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36 longing | |
n.(for)渴望 | |
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37 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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38 hardy | |
adj.勇敢的,果断的,吃苦的;耐寒的 | |
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39 loomed | |
v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近 | |
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40 placid | |
adj.安静的,平和的 | |
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41 vessels | |
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人 | |
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42 diadem | |
n.王冠,冕 | |
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43 huddled | |
挤在一起(huddle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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44 cannon | |
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮 | |
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45 warship | |
n.军舰,战舰 | |
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46 swarm | |
n.(昆虫)等一大群;vi.成群飞舞;蜂拥而入 | |
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47 bleak | |
adj.(天气)阴冷的;凄凉的;暗淡的 | |
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48 twitching | |
n.颤搐 | |
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49 ascending | |
adj.上升的,向上的 | |
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50 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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51 clogged | |
(使)阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 ); 淤滞 | |
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52 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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53 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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54 guilt | |
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
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55 atone | |
v.赎罪,补偿 | |
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56 feud | |
n.长期不和;世仇;v.长期争斗;世代结仇 | |
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57 exalt | |
v.赞扬,歌颂,晋升,提升 | |
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58 beads | |
n.(空心)小珠子( bead的名词复数 );水珠;珠子项链 | |
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59 ashen | |
adj.灰的 | |
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60 salvation | |
n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困 | |
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61 flicker | |
vi./n.闪烁,摇曳,闪现 | |
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62 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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63 wrangle | |
vi.争吵 | |
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64 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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65 bustle | |
v.喧扰地忙乱,匆忙,奔忙;n.忙碌;喧闹 | |
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66 survivors | |
幸存者,残存者,生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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67 mustered | |
v.集合,召集,集结(尤指部队)( muster的过去式和过去分词 );(自他人处)搜集某事物;聚集;激发 | |
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68 suite | |
n.一套(家具);套房;随从人员 | |
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69 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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70 apprehension | |
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑 | |
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71 boded | |
v.预示,预告,预言( bode的过去式和过去分词 );等待,停留( bide的过去分词 );居住;(过去式用bided)等待 | |
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72 zealous | |
adj.狂热的,热心的 | |
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73 devout | |
adj.虔诚的,虔敬的,衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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74 lurked | |
vi.潜伏,埋伏(lurk的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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75 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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76 mariners | |
海员,水手(mariner的复数形式) | |
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77 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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78 moodily | |
adv.喜怒无常地;情绪多变地;心情不稳地;易生气地 | |
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79 glowering | |
v.怒视( glower的现在分词 ) | |
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80 nether | |
adj.下部的,下面的;n.阴间;下层社会 | |
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81 groaned | |
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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82 humiliation | |
n.羞辱 | |
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83 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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84 ignominious | |
adj.可鄙的,不光彩的,耻辱的 | |
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85 furtive | |
adj.鬼鬼崇崇的,偷偷摸摸的 | |
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86 backwards | |
adv.往回地,向原处,倒,相反,前后倒置地 | |
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87 charred | |
v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式);烧焦 | |
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88 oars | |
n.桨,橹( oar的名词复数 );划手v.划(行)( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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89 underneath | |
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面 | |
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90 seamen | |
n.海员 | |
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91 conversing | |
v.交谈,谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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92 shipping | |
n.船运(发货,运输,乘船) | |
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93 misery | |
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦 | |
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94 sobs | |
啜泣(声),呜咽(声)( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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95 hoisted | |
把…吊起,升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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96 tacking | |
(帆船)抢风行驶,定位焊[铆]紧钉 | |
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