Yet it is extraordinary to observe how some people will talk about him, as they talk about the good old times; how they will regret his disappearance16, in the course of this world’s development, from such and such lands where his absence is a blessed relief and an indispensable preparation for the sowing of the very first seeds of any influence that can exalt17 humanity; how, even with the evidence of himself before them, they will either be determined18 to believe, or will suffer themselves to be persuaded into believing, that he is something which their five senses tell them he is not.
There was Mr. Catlin, some few years ago, with his Ojibbeway Indians. Mr. Catlin was an energetic, earnest man, who had lived among more tribes of Indians than I need reckon up here, and who had written a picturesque19 and glowing book about them. With his party of Indians squatting20 and spitting on the table before him, or dancing their miserable21 jigs22 after their own dreary23 manner, he called, in all good faith, upon his civilised audience to take notice of their symmetry and grace, their perfect limbs, and the exquisite24 expression of their pantomime; and his civilised audience, in all good faith, complied and admired. Whereas, as mere animals, they were wretched creatures, very low in the scale and very poorly formed; and as men and women possessing any power of truthful25 dramatic expression by means of action, they were no better than the chorus at an Italian Opera in England — and would have been worse if such a thing were possible.
Mine are no new views of the noble savage. The greatest writers on natural history found him out long ago. BUFFON knew what he was, and showed why he is the sulky tyrant26 that he is to his women, and how it happens (Heaven be praised!) that his race is spare in numbers. For evidence of the quality of his moral nature, pass himself for a moment and refer to his ‘faithful dog.’ Has he ever improved a dog, or attached a dog, since his nobility first ran wild in woods, and was brought down (at a very long shot) by POPE? Or does the animal that is the friend of man, always degenerate27 in his low society?
It is not the miserable nature of the noble savage that is the new thing; it is the whimpering over him with maudlin28 admiration29, and the affecting to regret him, and the drawing of any comparison of advantage between the blemishes30 of civilisation and the tenor31 of his swinish life. There may have been a change now and then in those diseased absurdities32, but there is none in him.
Think of the Bushmen. Think of the two men and the two women who have been exhibited about England for some years. Are the majority of persons — who remember the horrid33 little leader of that party in his festering bundle of hides, with his filth34 and his antipathy35 to water, and his straddled legs, and his odious36 eyes shaded by his brutal37 hand, and his cry of ‘Qu-u-u-u-aaa!’ (Bosjesman for something desperately38 insulting I have no doubt) — conscious of an affectionate yearning39 towards that noble savage, or is it idiosyncratic in me to abhor40, detest41, abominate42, and abjure43 him? I have no reserve on this subject, and will frankly44 state that, setting aside that stage of the entertainment when he counterfeited45 the death of some creature he had shot, by laying his head on his hand and shaking his left leg — at which time I think it would have been justifiable46 homicide to slay47 him — I have never seen that group sleeping, smoking, and expectorating round their brazier, but I have sincerely desired that something might happen to the charcoal48 smouldering therein, which would cause the immediate49 suffocation50 of the whole of the noble strangers.
There is at present a party of Zulu Kaffirs exhibiting at the St. George’s Gallery, Hyde Park Corner, London. These noble savages51 are represented in a most agreeable manner; they are seen in an elegant theatre, fitted with appropriate scenery of great beauty, and they are described in a very sensible and unpretending lecture, delivered with a modesty52 which is quite a pattern to all similar exponents53. Though extremely ugly, they are much better shaped than such of their predecessors54 as I have referred to; and they are rather picturesque to the eye, though far from odoriferous to the nose. What a visitor left to his own interpretings and imaginings might suppose these noblemen to be about, when they give vent55 to that pantomimic expression which is quite settled to be the natural gift of the noble savage, I cannot possibly conceive; for it is so much too luminous56 for my personal civilisation that it conveys no idea to my mind beyond a general stamping, ramping57, and raving58, remarkable59 (as everything in savage life is) for its dire60 uniformity. But let us — with the interpreter’s assistance, of which I for one stand so much in need — see what the noble savage does in Zulu Kaffirland.
The noble savage sets a king to reign61 over him, to whom he submits his life and limbs without a murmur62 or question, and whose whole life is passed chin deep in a lake of blood; but who, after killing63 incessantly64, is in his turn killed by his relations and friends, the moment a grey hair appears on his head. All the noble savage’s wars with his fellow-savages (and he takes no pleasure in anything else) are wars of extermination65 — which is the best thing I know of him, and the most comfortable to my mind when I look at him. He has no moral feelings of any kind, sort, or description; and his ‘mission’ may be summed up as simply diabolical66.
The ceremonies with which he faintly diversifies67 his life are, of course, of a kindred nature. If he wants a wife he appears before the kennel68 of the gentleman whom he has selected for his father-in-law, attended by a party of male friends of a very strong flavour, who screech69 and whistle and stamp an offer of so many cows for the young lady’s hand. The chosen father-in-law — also supported by a high-flavoured party of male friends — screeches70, whistles, and yells (being seated on the ground, he can’t stamp) that there never was such a daughter in the market as his daughter, and that he must have six more cows. The son-in-law and his select circle of backers screech, whistle, stamp, and yell in reply, that they will give three more cows. The father-in-law (an old deluder71, overpaid at the beginning) accepts four, and rises to bind72 the bargain. The whole party, the young lady included, then falling into epileptic convulsions, and screeching73, whistling, stamping, and yelling together — and nobody taking any notice of the young lady (whose charms are not to be thought of without a shudder) — the noble savage is considered married, and his friends make demoniacal leaps at him by way of congratulation.
When the noble savage finds himself a little unwell, and mentions the circumstance to his friends, it is immediately perceived that he is under the influence of witchcraft74. A learned personage, called an Imyanger or Witch Doctor, is immediately sent for to Nooker the Umtargartie, or smell out the witch. The male inhabitants of the kraal being seated on the ground, the learned doctor, got up like a grizzly75 bear, appears, and administers a dance of a most terrific nature, during the exhibition of which remedy he incessantly gnashes his teeth, and howls:— ‘I am the original physician to Nooker the Umtargartie. Yow yow yow! No connexion with any other establishment. Till till till! All other Umtargarties are feigned76 Umtargarties, Boroo Boroo! but I perceive here a genuine and real Umtargartie, Hoosh Hoosh Hoosh! in whose blood I, the original Imyanger and Nookerer, Blizzerum Boo! will wash these bear’s claws of mine. O yow yow yow!’ All this time the learned physician is looking out among the attentive77 faces for some unfortunate man who owes him a cow, or who has given him any small offence, or against whom, without offence, he has conceived a spite. Him he never fails to Nooker as the Umtargartie, and he is instantly killed. In the absence of such an individual, the usual practice is to Nooker the quietest and most gentlemanly person in company. But the nookering is invariably followed on the spot by the butchering.
Some of the noble savages in whom Mr. Catlin was so strongly interested, and the diminution78 of whose numbers, by rum and smallpox79, greatly affected80 him, had a custom not unlike this, though much more appalling81 and disgusting in its odious details.
The women being at work in the fields, hoeing the Indian corn, and the noble savage being asleep in the shade, the chief has sometimes the condescension82 to come forth83, and lighten the labour by looking at it. On these occasions, he seats himself in his own savage chair, and is attended by his shield-bearer: who holds over his head a shield of cowhide — in shape like an immense mussel shell — fearfully and wonderfully, after the manner of a theatrical84 supernumerary. But lest the great man should forget his greatness in the contemplation of the humble85 works of agriculture, there suddenly rushes in a poet, retained for the purpose, called a Praiser. This literary gentleman wears a leopard86’s head over his own, and a dress of tigers’ tails; he has the appearance of having come express on his hind87 legs from the Zoological Gardens; and he incontinently strikes up the chief’s praises, plunging88 and tearing all the while. There is a frantic89 wickedness in this brute’s manner of worrying the air, and gnashing out, ‘O what a delightful90 chief he is! O what a delicious quantity of blood he sheds! O how majestically91 he laps it up! O how charmingly cruel he is! O how he tears the flesh of his enemies and crunches92 the bones! O how like the tiger and the leopard and the wolf and the bear he is! O, row row row row, how fond I am of him!’ which might tempt93 the Society of Friends to charge at a hand-gallop into the Swartz-Kop location and exterminate94 the whole kraal.
When war is afoot among the noble savages — which is always — the chief holds a council to ascertain95 whether it is the opinion of his brothers and friends in general that the enemy shall be exterminated96. On this occasion, after the performance of an Umsebeuza, or war song, — which is exactly like all the other songs, — the chief makes a speech to his brothers and friends, arranged in single file. No particular order is observed during the delivery of this address, but every gentleman who finds himself excited by the subject, instead of crying ‘Hear, hear!’ as is the custom with us, darts97 from the rank and tramples98 out the life, or crushes the skull99, or mashes100 the face, or scoops101 out the eyes, or breaks the limbs, or performs a whirlwind of atrocities102 on the body, of an imaginary enemy. Several gentlemen becoming thus excited at once, and pounding away without the least regard to the orator103, that illustrious person is rather in the position of an orator in an Irish House of Commons. But, several of these scenes of savage life bear a strong generic104 resemblance to an Irish election, and I think would be extremely well received and understood at Cork105.
In all these ceremonies the noble savage holds forth to the utmost possible extent about himself; from which (to turn him to some civilised account) we may learn, I think, that as egotism is one of the most offensive and contemptible106 littlenesses a civilised man can exhibit, so it is really incompatible107 with the interchange of ideas; inasmuch as if we all talked about ourselves we should soon have no listeners, and must be all yelling and screeching at once on our own separate accounts: making society hideous108. It is my opinion that if we retained in us anything of the noble savage, we could not get rid of it too soon. But the fact is clearly otherwise. Upon the wife and dowry question, substituting coin for cows, we have assuredly nothing of the Zulu Kaffir left. The endurance of despotism is one great distinguishing mark of a savage always. The improving world has quite got the better of that too. In like manner, Paris is a civilised city, and the Theatre Francais a highly civilised theatre; and we shall never hear, and never have heard in these later days (of course) of the Praiser THERE. No, no, civilised poets have better work to do. As to Nookering Umtargarties, there are no pretended Umtargarties in Europe, and no European powers to Nooker them; that would be mere spydom, subordination, small malice109, superstition, and false pretence110. And as to private Umtargarties, are we not in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-three, with spirits rapping at our doors?
To conclude as I began. My position is, that if we have anything to learn from the Noble Savage, it is what to avoid. His virtues111 are a fable112; his happiness is a delusion113; his nobility, nonsense.
We have no greater justification114 for being cruel to the miserable object, than for being cruel to a WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE or an ISAAC NEWTON; but he passes away before an immeasurably better and higher power than ever ran wild in any earthly woods, and the world will be all the better when his place knows him no more.
点击收听单词发音
1 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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2 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
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3 superstition | |
n.迷信,迷信行为 | |
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4 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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5 civilisation | |
n.文明,文化,开化,教化 | |
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6 lobes | |
n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 );(器官的)叶;肺叶;脑叶 | |
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7 flattens | |
变平,使(某物)变平( flatten的第三人称单数 ); 彻底打败某人,使丢脸; 停止增长(或上升); (把身体或身体部位)紧贴… | |
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8 tattoos | |
n.文身( tattoo的名词复数 );归营鼓;军队夜间表演操;连续有节奏的敲击声v.刺青,文身( tattoo的第三人称单数 );连续有节奏地敲击;作连续有节奏的敲击 | |
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9 eccentricities | |
n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 );反常;怪癖 | |
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10 addicted | |
adj.沉溺于....的,对...上瘾的 | |
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11 questionable | |
adj.可疑的,有问题的 | |
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12 conceited | |
adj.自负的,骄傲自满的 | |
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13 tiresome | |
adj.令人疲劳的,令人厌倦的 | |
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14 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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15 humbug | |
n.花招,谎话,欺骗 | |
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16 disappearance | |
n.消失,消散,失踪 | |
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17 exalt | |
v.赞扬,歌颂,晋升,提升 | |
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18 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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19 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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20 squatting | |
v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 );非法擅自占用(土地或房屋);为获得其所有权;而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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21 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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22 jigs | |
n.快步舞(曲)极快地( jig的名词复数 );夹具v.(使)上下急动( jig的第三人称单数 ) | |
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23 dreary | |
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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24 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
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25 truthful | |
adj.真实的,说实话的,诚实的 | |
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26 tyrant | |
n.暴君,专制的君主,残暴的人 | |
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27 degenerate | |
v.退步,堕落;adj.退步的,堕落的;n.堕落者 | |
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28 maudlin | |
adj.感情脆弱的,爱哭的 | |
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29 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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30 blemishes | |
n.(身体的)瘢点( blemish的名词复数 );伤疤;瑕疵;污点 | |
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31 tenor | |
n.男高音(歌手),次中音(乐器),要旨,大意 | |
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32 absurdities | |
n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 );荒谬;谬论;荒谬的行为 | |
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33 horrid | |
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的 | |
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34 filth | |
n.肮脏,污物,污秽;淫猥 | |
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35 antipathy | |
n.憎恶;反感,引起反感的人或事物 | |
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36 odious | |
adj.可憎的,讨厌的 | |
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37 brutal | |
adj.残忍的,野蛮的,不讲理的 | |
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38 desperately | |
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地 | |
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39 yearning | |
a.渴望的;向往的;怀念的 | |
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40 abhor | |
v.憎恶;痛恨 | |
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41 detest | |
vt.痛恨,憎恶 | |
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42 abominate | |
v.憎恨,厌恶 | |
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43 abjure | |
v.发誓放弃 | |
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44 frankly | |
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
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45 counterfeited | |
v.仿制,造假( counterfeit的过去分词 ) | |
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46 justifiable | |
adj.有理由的,无可非议的 | |
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47 slay | |
v.杀死,宰杀,杀戮 | |
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48 charcoal | |
n.炭,木炭,生物炭 | |
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49 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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50 suffocation | |
n.窒息 | |
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51 savages | |
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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52 modesty | |
n.谦逊,虚心,端庄,稳重,羞怯,朴素 | |
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53 exponents | |
n.倡导者( exponent的名词复数 );说明者;指数;能手 | |
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54 predecessors | |
n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 );前辈;(被取代的)原有事物;前身 | |
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55 vent | |
n.通风口,排放口;开衩;vt.表达,发泄 | |
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56 luminous | |
adj.发光的,发亮的;光明的;明白易懂的;有启发的 | |
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57 ramping | |
土堤斜坡( ramp的现在分词 ); 斜道; 斜路; (装车或上下飞机的)活动梯 | |
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58 raving | |
adj.说胡话的;疯狂的,怒吼的;非常漂亮的;令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话;疯话adv.胡言乱语地;疯狂地 | |
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59 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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60 dire | |
adj.可怕的,悲惨的,阴惨的,极端的 | |
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61 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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62 murmur | |
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
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63 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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64 incessantly | |
ad.不停地 | |
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65 extermination | |
n.消灭,根绝 | |
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66 diabolical | |
adj.恶魔似的,凶暴的 | |
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67 diversifies | |
v.使多样化,多样化( diversify的第三人称单数 );进入新的商业领域 | |
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68 kennel | |
n.狗舍,狗窝 | |
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69 screech | |
n./v.尖叫;(发出)刺耳的声音 | |
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70 screeches | |
n.尖锐的声音( screech的名词复数 )v.发出尖叫声( screech的第三人称单数 );发出粗而刺耳的声音;高叫 | |
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71 deluder | |
欺骗,哄骗 | |
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72 bind | |
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
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73 screeching | |
v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 );发出粗而刺耳的声音;高叫 | |
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74 witchcraft | |
n.魔法,巫术 | |
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75 grizzly | |
adj.略为灰色的,呈灰色的;n.灰色大熊 | |
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76 feigned | |
a.假装的,不真诚的 | |
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77 attentive | |
adj.注意的,专心的;关心(别人)的,殷勤的 | |
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78 diminution | |
n.减少;变小 | |
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79 smallpox | |
n.天花 | |
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80 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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81 appalling | |
adj.骇人听闻的,令人震惊的,可怕的 | |
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82 condescension | |
n.自以为高人一等,贬低(别人) | |
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83 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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84 theatrical | |
adj.剧场的,演戏的;做戏似的,做作的 | |
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85 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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86 leopard | |
n.豹 | |
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87 hind | |
adj.后面的,后部的 | |
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88 plunging | |
adj.跳进的,突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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89 frantic | |
adj.狂乱的,错乱的,激昂的 | |
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90 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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91 majestically | |
雄伟地; 庄重地; 威严地; 崇高地 | |
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92 crunches | |
n.(突发的)不足( crunch的名词复数 );需要做出重要决策的困难时刻;紧要关头;嘎吱的响声v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的第三人称单数 );嘎吱作响;(快速大量地)处理信息;数字捣弄 | |
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93 tempt | |
vt.引诱,勾引,吸引,引起…的兴趣 | |
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94 exterminate | |
v.扑灭,消灭,根绝 | |
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95 ascertain | |
vt.发现,确定,查明,弄清 | |
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96 exterminated | |
v.消灭,根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97 darts | |
n.掷飞镖游戏;飞镖( dart的名词复数 );急驰,飞奔v.投掷,投射( dart的第三人称单数 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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98 tramples | |
踩( trample的第三人称单数 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
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99 skull | |
n.头骨;颅骨 | |
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100 mashes | |
(水、谷物等混合而成的)糊状物( mash的名词复数 ) | |
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101 scoops | |
n.小铲( scoop的名词复数 );小勺;一勺[铲]之量;(抢先刊载、播出的)独家新闻v.抢先报道( scoop的第三人称单数 );(敏捷地)抱起;抢先获得;用铲[勺]等挖(洞等) | |
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102 atrocities | |
n.邪恶,暴行( atrocity的名词复数 );滔天大罪 | |
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103 orator | |
n.演说者,演讲者,雄辩家 | |
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104 generic | |
adj.一般的,普通的,共有的 | |
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105 cork | |
n.软木,软木塞 | |
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106 contemptible | |
adj.可鄙的,可轻视的,卑劣的 | |
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107 incompatible | |
adj.不相容的,不协调的,不相配的 | |
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108 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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109 malice | |
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
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110 pretence | |
n.假装,作假;借口,口实;虚伪;虚饰 | |
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111 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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112 fable | |
n.寓言;童话;神话 | |
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113 delusion | |
n.谬见,欺骗,幻觉,迷惑 | |
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114 justification | |
n.正当的理由;辩解的理由 | |
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