THE FORM of government for any given country being (within certain definite conditions) amenable1 to choice, it is now to be considered by what test the choice should be directed; what are the distinctive2 characteristics of the form of government best fitted to promote the interests of any given society.
Before entering into this inquiry3, it may seem necessary to decide what are the proper functions of government; for, government altogether being only a means, the eligibility4 of the means must depend on their adaptation to the end. But this mode of stating the problem gives less aid to its investigation5 than might be supposed, and does not even bring the whole of the question into view. For, in the first place, the proper functions of a government are not a fixed6 thing, but different in different states of society; much more extensive in a backward than in an advanced state. And, secondly7, the character of a government or set of political institutions cannot be sufficiently8 estimated while we confine our attention to the legitimate9 sphere of governmental functions. For though the goodness of a government is necessarily circumscribed10 within that sphere, its badness unhappily is not. Every kind and degree of evil of which mankind are susceptible11 may be inflicted12 on them by their government; and none of the good which social existence is capable of can be any further realised than as the constitution of the government is compatible with, and allows scope for, its attainment13. Not to speak of indirect effects, the direct meddling14 of the public authorities has no necessary limits but those of human existence; and the influence of government on the well-being15 of society can be considered or estimated in reference to nothing less than the whole of the interests of humanity.
Being thus obliged to place before ourselves, as the test of good and bad government, so complex an object as the aggregate16 interests of society, we would willingly attempt some kind of classification of those interests, which, bringing them before the mind in definite groups, might give indication of the qualities by which a form of government is fitted to promote those various interests respectively. It would be a great facility if we could say the good of society consists of such and such elements; one of these elements requires such conditions, another such others; the government, then, which unites in the greatest degree all these conditions, must be the best. The theory of government would thus be built up from the separate theorems of the elements which compose a good state of society.
Unfortunately, to enumerate17 and classify the constituents18 of social well-being, so as to admit of the formation of such theorems, is no easy task. Most of those who, in the last or present generation, have applied20 themselves to the philosophy of politics in any comprehensive spirit, have felt the importance of such a classification; but the attempts which have been made towards it are as yet limited, so far as I am aware, to a single step. The classification begins and ends with a partition of the exigencies21 of society between the two heads of Order and Progress (in the phraseology of French thinkers); Permanence and Progression in the words of Coleridge. This division is plausible22 and seductive, from the apparently23 clean-cut opposition24 between its two members, and the remarkable25 difference between the sentiments to which they appeal. But I apprehend26 that (however admissible for purposes of popular discourse) the distinction between Order, or Permanence, and Progress, employed to define the qualities necessary in a government, is unscientific and incorrect.
For, first, what are Order and Progress? Concerning Progress there is no difficulty, or none which is apparent at first sight. When Progress is spoken of as one of the wants of human society, it may be supposed to mean Improvement. That is a tolerably distinct idea. But what is Order? Sometimes it means more, sometimes less, but hardly ever the whole of what human society needs except improvement.
In its narrowest acceptation Order means Obedience27. A government is said to preserve order if it succeeds in getting itself obeyed. But there are different degrees of obedience, and it is not every degree that is commendable28. Only an unmitigated despotism demands that the individual citizen shall obey unconditionally29 every mandate30 of persons in authority. We must at least limit the definition to such mandates31 as are general and issued in the deliberate form of laws. Order, thus understood, expresses, doubtless, an indispensable attribute of government. Those who are unable to make their ordinances32 obeyed, cannot be said to govern. But though a necessary condition, this is not the object of government. That it should make itself obeyed is requisite33, in order that it may accomplish some other purpose. We are still to seek what is this other purpose, which government ought to fulfil, abstractedly from the idea of improvement, and which has to be fulfilled in every society, whether stationary34 or progressive.
In a sense somewhat more enlarged, Order means the preservation35 of peace by the cessation of private violence. Order is said to exist where the people of the country have, as a general rule, ceased to prosecute36 their quarrels by private force, and acquired the habit of referring the decision of their disputes and the redress37 of their injuries to the public authorities. But in this larger use of the term, as well as in the former narrow one, Order expresses rather one of the conditions of government, than either its purpose or the criterion of its excellence38. For the habit may be well established of submitting to the government, and referring all disputed matters to its authority, and yet the manner in which the government deals with those disputed matters, and with the other things about which it concerns itself, may differ by the whole interval39 which divides the best from the worst possible.
If we intend to comprise in the idea of Order all that society requires from its government which is not included in the idea of Progress, we must define Order as the preservation of all kinds and amounts of good which already exist, and Progress as consisting in the increase of them. This distinction does comprehend in one or the other section everything which a government can be required to promote. But, thus understood, it affords no basis for a philosophy of government. We cannot say that, in constituting a polity, certain provisions ought to be made for Order and certain others for Progress; since the conditions of Order, in the sense now indicated, and those of Progress, are not opposite, but the same. The agencies which tend to preserve the social good which already exists are the very same which promote the increase of it, and vice40 versa: the sole difference being, that a greater degree of those agencies is required for the latter purpose than for the former.
What, for example, are the qualities in the citizens individually which conduce most to keep up the amount of good conduct, of good management, of success and prosperity, which already exist in society? Everybody will agree that those qualities are industry, integrity, justice, and prudence41. But are not these, of all qualities, the most conducive42 to improvement? and is not any growth of these virtues43 in the community in itself the greatest of improvements? If so, whatever qualities in the government are promotive of industry, integrity, justice, and prudence, conduce alike to permanence and to progression; only there is needed more of those qualities to make the society decidedly progressive than merely to keep it permanent.
What, again, are the particular attributes in human beings which seem to have a more especial reference to Progress, and do not so directly suggest the ideas of Order and Preservation? They are chiefly the qualities of mental activity, enterprise, and courage. But are not all these qualities fully47 as much required for preserving the good we have, as for adding to it? If there is anything certain in human affairs, it is that valuable acquisitions are only to be retained by the continuation of the same energies which gained them. Things left to take care of themselves inevitably48 decay. Those whom success induces to relax their habits of care and thoughtfulness, and their willingness to encounter disagreeables, seldom long retain their good fortune at its height. The mental attribute which seems exclusively dedicated49 to Progress, and is the culmination50 of the tendencies to it, is Originality51, or Invention. Yet this is no less necessary for Permanence; since, in the inevitable52 changes of human affairs, new inconveniences and dangers continually grow up, which must be encountered by new resources and contrivances, in order to keep things going on even only as well as they did before. Whatever qualities, therefore, in a government, tend to encourage activity, energy, courage, originality, are requisites53 of Permanence as well as of Progress; only a somewhat less degree of them will on the average suffice for the former purpose than for the latter.
To pass now from the mental to the outward and objective requisites of society; it is impossible to point out any contrivance in politics, or arrangement of social affairs, which conduces to Order only, or to Progress only; whatever tends to either promotes both. Take, for instance, the common institution of a police. Order is the object which seems most immediately interested in the efficiency of this part of the social organisation55. Yet if it is effectual to promote Order, that is, if it represses crime, and enables every one to feel his person and property secure, can any state of things be more conducive to Progress? The greater security of property is one of the main conditions and causes of greater production, which is Progress in its most familiar and vulgarest aspect. The better repression56 of crime represses the dispositions57 which tend to crime, and this is Progress in a somewhat higher sense. The release of the individual from the cares and anxieties of a state of imperfect protection, sets his faculties59 free to be employed in any new effort for improving his own state and that of others: while the same cause, by attaching him to social existence, and making him no longer see present or prospective60 enemies in his fellow creatures, fosters all those feelings of kindness and fellowship towards others, and interest in the general well-being of the community, which are such important parts of social improvement.
Take, again, such a familiar case as that of a good system of taxation61 and finance. This would generally be classed as belonging to the province of Order. Yet what can be more conducive to Progress? A financial system which promotes the one, conduces, by the very same excellences62, to the other. Economy, for example, equally preserves the existing stock of national wealth, and favours the creation of more. A just distribution of burthens, by holding up to every citizen an example of morality and good conscience applied to difficult adjustments, and an evidence of the value which the highest authorities attach to them, tends in an eminent63 degree to educate the moral sentiments of the community, both in respect of strength and of discrimination. Such a mode of levying64 the taxes as does not impede65 the industry, or unnecessarily interfere66 with the liberty, of the citizen, promotes, not the preservation only, but the increase of the national wealth, and encourages a more active use of the individual faculties. And vice versa, all errors in finance and taxation which obstruct67 the improvement of the people in wealth and morals tend also, if of sufficiently serious amount, positively68 to impoverish69 and demoralise them. It holds, in short, universally, that when Order and Permanence are taken in their widest sense, for the stability of existing advantages, the requisites of Progress are but the requisites of Order in a greater degree; those of Permanence merely those of Progress in a somewhat smaller measure.
In support of the position that Order is intrinsically different from Progress, and that preservation of existing and acquisition of additional good are sufficiently distinct to afford the basis of a fundamental classification, we shall perhaps be reminded that Progress may be at the expense of Order; that while we are acquiring, or striving to acquire, good of one kind, we may be losing ground in respect to others: thus there may be progress in wealth, while there is deterioration70 in virtue44. Granting this, what it proves is not that Progress is generically71 a different thing from Permanence, but that wealth is a different thing from virtue. Progress is permanence and something more; and it is no answer to this to say that Progress in one thing does not imply Permanence in everything. No more does Progress in one thing imply Progress in everything. Progress of any kind includes Permanence in that same kind; whenever Permanence is sacrificed to some particular kind of Progress, other Progress is still more sacrificed to it; and if it be not worth the sacrifice, not the interest of Permanence alone has been disregarded, but the general interest of Progress has been mistaken.
If these improperly73 contrasted ideas are to be used at all in the attempt to give a first commencement of scientific precision to the notion of good government, it would be more philosophically74 correct to leave out of the definition the word Order, and to say that the best government is that which is most conducive to Progress. For Progress includes Order, but Order does not include Progress. Progress is a greater degree of that of which Order is a less. Order, in any other sense, stands only for a part of the pre-requisites of good government, not for its idea and essence. Order would find a more suitable place among the conditions of Progress; since, if we would increase our sum of good, nothing is more indispensable than to take due care of what we already have. If we are endeavouring after more riches, our very first rule should be not to squander75 uselessly our existing means. Order, thus considered, is not an additional end to be reconciled with Progress, but a part and means of Progress itself. If a gain in one respect is purchased by a more than equivalent loss in the same or in any other, there is not Progress. Conduciveness to Progress, thus understood, includes the whole excellence of a government.
But, though metaphysically defensible, this definition of the criterion of good government is not appropriate, because, though it contains the whole of the truth, it recalls only a part. What is suggested by the term Progress is the idea of moving onward76, whereas the meaning of it here is quite as much the prevention of falling back. The very same social causes — the same beliefs, feelings, institutions, and practices — are as much required to prevent society from retrograding, as to produce a further advance. Were there no improvement to be hoped for, life would not be the less an unceasing struggle against causes of deterioration; as it even now is. Politics, as conceived by the ancients, consisted wholly in this. The natural tendency of men and their works was to degenerate77, which tendency, however, by good institutions virtuously78 administered, it might be possible for an indefinite length of time to counteract80. Though we no longer hold this opinion; though most men in the present age profess81 the contrary creed82, believing that the tendency of things, on the whole, is towards improvement; we ought not to forget that there is an incessant83 and ever-flowing current of human affairs towards the worse, consisting of all the follies84, all the vices85, all the negligences, indolences, and supinenesses of mankind; which is only controlled, and kept from sweeping87 all before it, by the exertions88 which some persons constantly, and others by fits, put forth89 in the direction of good and worthy90 objects. It gives a very insufficient91 idea of the importance of the strivings which take place to improve and elevate human nature and life, to suppose that their chief value consists in the amount of actual improvement realised by their means, and that the consequence of their cessation would merely be that we should remain as we are. A very small diminution92 of those exertions would not only put a stop to improvement, but would turn the general tendency of things towards deterioration; which, once begun, would proceed with increasingly rapidity, and become more and more difficult to check, until it reached a state often seen in history, and in which many large portions of mankind even now grovel93; when hardly anything short of superhuman power seems sufficient to turn the tide, and give a fresh commencement to the upward movement.
These reasons make the word Progress as unapt as the terms Order and Permanence to become the basis for a classification of the requisites of a form of government. The fundamental antithesis94 which these words express does not lie in the things themselves, so much as in the types of human character which answer to them. There are, we know, some minds in which caution, and others in which boldness, predominates: in some, the desire to avoid imperilling what is already possessed95 is a stronger sentiment than that which prompts to improve the old and acquire new advantages; while there are others who lean the contrary way, and are more eager for future than careful of present good. The road to the ends of both is the same; but they are liable to wander from it in opposite directions. This consideration is of importance in composing the personnel of any political body: persons of both types ought to be included in it, that the tendencies of each may be tempered, in so far as they are excessive, by a due proportion of the other. There needs no express provision to ensure this object, provided care is taken to admit nothing inconsistent with it. The natural and spontaneous admixture of the old and the young, of those whose position and reputation are made and those who have them still to make, will in general sufficiently answer the purpose, if only this natural balance is not disturbed by artificial regulation.
Since the distinction most commonly adopted for the classification of social exigencies does not possess the properties needful for that use, we have to seek for some other leading distinction better adapted to the purpose. Such a distinction would seem to be indicated by the considerations to which I now proceed.
If we ask ourselves on what causes and conditions good government in all its senses, from the humblest to the most exalted96, depends, we find that the principal of them, the one which transcends97 all others, is the qualities of the human beings composing the society over which the government is exercised.
We may take, as a first instance, the administration of justice; with the more propriety98, since there is no part of public business in which the mere46 machinery99, the rules and contrivances for conducting the details of the operation, are of such vital consequence. Yet even these yield in importance to the qualities of the human agents employed. Of what efficacy are rules of procedure in securing the ends of justice, if the moral condition of the people is such that the witnesses generally lie, and the judges and their subordinates take bribes100? Again, how can institutions provide a good municipal administration if there exists such indifference101 to the subject that those who would administer honestly and capably cannot be induced to serve, and the duties are left to those who undertake them because they have some private interest to be promoted? Of what avail is the most broadly popular representative system if the electors do not care to choose the best member of parliament, but choose him who will spend most money to be elected? How can a representative assembly work for good if its members can be bought, or if their excitability of temperament102, uncorrected by public discipline or private self-control, makes them incapable103 of calm deliberation, and they resort to manual violence on the floor of the House, or shoot at one another with rifles? How, again, can government, or any joint104 concern, be carried on in a tolerable manner by people so envious105 that, if one among them seems likely to succeed in anything, those who ought to cooperate with him form a tacit combination to make him fail? Whenever the general disposition58 of the people is such that each individual regards those only of his interests which are selfish, and does not dwell on, or concern himself for, his share of the general interest, in such a state of things good government is impossible. The influence of defects of intelligence in obstructing106 all the elements of good government requires no illustration. Government consists of acts done by human beings; and if the agents, or those who choose the agents, or those to whom the agents are responsible, or the lookers-on whose opinion ought to influence and check all these, are mere masses of ignorance, stupidity, and baleful prejudice, every operation of government will go wrong; while, in proportion as the men rise above this standard, so will the government improve in quality; up to the point of excellence, attainable107 but nowhere attained108, where the officers of government, themselves persons of superior virtue and intellect, are surrounded by the atmosphere of a virtuous79 and enlightened public opinion.
The first element of good government, therefore, being the virtue and intelligence of the human beings composing the community, the most important point of excellence which any form of government can possess is to promote the virtue and intelligence of the people themselves. The first question in respect to any political institutions is, how far they tend to foster in the members of the community the various desirable qualities, moral and intellectual; or rather (following Bentham's more complete classification) moral, intellectual, and active. The government which does this the best has every likelihood of being the best in all other respects, since it is on these qualities, so far as they exist in the people, that all possibility of goodness in the practical operations of the government depends.
We may consider, then, as one criterion of the goodness of a government, the degree in which it tends to increase the sum of good qualities in the governed, collectively and individually; since, besides that their well-being is the sole object of government, their good qualities supply the moving force which works the machinery. This leaves, as the other constituent19 element of the merit of a government, the quality of the machinery itself; that is, the degree in which it is adapted to take advantage of the amount of good qualities which may at any time exist, and make them instrumental to the right purposes. Let us again take the subject of judicature as an example and illustration. The judicial109 system being given, the goodness of the administration of justice is in the compound ratio of the worth of the men composing the tribunals, and the worth of the public opinion which influences or controls them. But all the difference between a good and a bad system of judicature lies in the contrivances adopted for bringing whatever moral and intellectual worth exists in the community to bear upon the administration of justice, and making it duly operative on the result. The arrangements for rendering110 the choice of the judges such as to obtain the highest average of virtue and intelligence; the salutary forms of procedure; the publicity111 which allows observation and criticism of whatever is amiss; the liberty of discussion and censure112 through the press; the mode of taking evidence, according as it is well or ill adapted to elicit113 truth; the facilities, whatever be their amount, for obtaining access to the tribunals; the arrangements for detecting crimes and apprehending114 offenders115; — all these things are not the power, but the machinery for bringing the power into contact with the obstacle: and the machinery has no action of itself, but without it the power, let it be ever so ample, would be wasted and of no effect.
A similar distinction exists in regard to the constitution of the executive departments of administration. Their machinery is good, when the proper tests are prescribed for the qualifications of officers, the proper rules for their promotion116; when the business is conveniently distributed among those who are to transact117 it, a convenient and methodical order established for its transaction, a correct and intelligible118 record kept of it after being transacted119; when each individual knows for what he is responsible, and is known to others as responsible for it; when the best-contrived checks are provided against negligence86, favouritism, or jobbery, in any of the acts of the department. But political checks will no more act of themselves than a bridle120 will direct a horse without a rider. If the checking functionaries121 are as corrupt122 or as negligent123 as those whom they ought to check, and if the public, the mainspring of the whole checking machinery, are too ignorant, too passive, or too careless and inattentive, to do their part, little benefit will be derived124 from the best administrative125 apparatus126. Yet a good apparatus is always preferable to a bad. It enables such insufficient moving or checking power as exists to act at the greatest advantage; and without it, no amount of moving or checking power would be sufficient. Publicity, for instance, is no impediment to evil nor stimulus127 to good if the public will not look at what is done; but without publicity, how could they either check or encourage what they were not permitted to see? The ideally perfect constitution of a public office is that in which the interest of the functionary128 is entirely129 coincident with his duty. No mere system will make it so, but still less can it be made so without a system, aptly devised for the purpose.
What we have said of the arrangements for the detailed130 administration of the government is still more evidently true of its general constitution. All government which aims at being good is an organisation of some part of the good qualities existing in the individual members of the community for the conduct of its collective affairs. A representative constitution is a means of bringing the general standard of intelligence and honesty existing in the community, and the individual intellect and virtue of its wisest members, more directly to bear upon the government, and investing them with greater influence in it, than they would in general have under any other mode of organisation; though, under any, such influence as they do have is the source of all good that there is in the government, and the hindrance131 of every evil that there is not. The greater the amount of these good qualities which the institutions of a country succeed in organising, and the better the mode of organisation, the better will be the government.
We have now, therefore, obtained a foundation for a twofold division of the merit which any set of political institutions can possess. It consists partly of the degree in which they promote the general mental advancement132 of the community, including under that phrase advancement in intellect, in virtue, and in practical activity and efficiency; and partly of the degree of perfection with which they organise133 the moral, intellectual, and active worth already existing, so as to operate with the greatest effect on public affairs. A government is to be judged by its action upon men, and by its action upon things; by what it makes of the citizens, and what it does with them; its tendency to improve or deteriorate134 the people themselves, and the goodness or badness of the work it performs for them, and by means of them. Government is at once a great influence acting135 on the human mind, and a set of organised arrangements for public business: in the first capacity its beneficial action is chiefly indirect, but not therefore less vital, while its mischievous136 action may be direct.
The difference between these two functions of a government is not, like that between Order and Progress, a difference merely in degree, but in kind. We must not, however, suppose that they have no intimate connection with one another. The institutions which ensure the best management of public affairs practicable in the existing state of cultivation137 tend by this alone to the further improvement of that state. A people which had the most just laws, the purest and most efficient judicature, the most enlightened administration, the most equitable138 and least onerous139 system of finance, compatible with the stage it had attained in moral and intellectual advancement, would be in a fair way to pass rapidly into a higher stage. Nor is there any mode in which political institutions can contribute more effectually to the improvement of the people than by doing their more direct work well. And, reversely, if their machinery is so badly constructed that they do their own particular business ill, the effect is felt in a thousand ways in lowering the morality and deadening the intelligence and activity of the people. But the distinction is nevertheless real, because this is only one of the means by which political institutions improve or deteriorate the human mind, and the causes and modes of that beneficial or injurious influence remain a distinct and much wider subject of study.
Of the two modes of operation by which a form of government or set of political institutions affects the welfare of the community — its operation as an agency of national education, and its arrangements for conducting the collective affairs of the community in the state of education in which they already are; the last evidently varies much less, from difference of country and state of civilisation140, than the first. It has also much less to do with the fundamental constitution of the government. The mode of conducting the practical business of government, which is best under a free constitution, would generally be best also in an absolute monarchy141: only an absolute monarchy is not so likely to practise it. The laws of property, for example; the principles of evidence and judicial procedure; the system of taxation and of financial administration, need not necessarily be different in different forms of government. Each of these matters has principles and rules of its own, which are a subject of separate study. General jurisprudence, civil and penal142 legislation, financial and commercial policy, are sciences in themselves, or rather, separate members of the comprehensive science or art of government: and the most enlightened doctrines143 on all these subjects, though not equally likely to be understood, or acted on under all forms of government, yet, if understood and acted on, would in general be equally beneficial under them all. It is true that these doctrines could not be applied without some modifications144 to all states of society and of the human mind: nevertheless, by far the greater number of them would require modifications solely145 of details, to adapt them to any state of society sufficiently advanced to possess rulers capable of understanding them. A government to which they would be wholly unsuitable must be one so bad in itself, or so opposed to public feeling, as to be unable to maintain itself in existence by honest means.
It is otherwise with that portion of the interests of the community which relate to the better or worse training of the people themselves. Considered as instrumental to this, institutions need to be radically147 different, according to the stage of advancement already reached. The recognition of this truth, though for the most part empirically rather than philosophically, may be regarded as the main point of superiority in the political theories of the present above those of the last age; in which it customary to claim representative democracy for England or France by arguments which would equally have proved it the only fit form of government for Bedouins or Malays. The state of different communities, in point of culture and development, ranges downwards148 to a condition very little above the highest of the beasts. The upward range, too, is considerable, and the future possible extension vastly greater. A community can only be developed out of one of these states into a higher by a concourse of influences, among the principal of which is the government to which they are subject. In all states of human improvement ever yet attained, the nature and degree of authority exercised over individuals, the distribution of power, and the conditions of command and obedience, are the most powerful of the influences, except their religious belief, which make them what they are, and enable them to become what they can be. They may be stopped short at any point in their progress by defective149 adaptation of their government to that particular stage of advancement. And the one indispensable merit of a government, in favour of which it may be forgiven almost any amount of other demerit compatible with progress, is that its operation on the people is favourable150, or not unfavourable, to the next step which it is necessary for them to take, in order to raise themselves to a higher level.
Thus (to repeat a former example), a people in a state of savage151 independence, in which every one lives for himself, exempt152, unless by fits, from any external control, is practically incapable of making any progress in civilisation until it has learnt to obey. The indispensable virtue, therefore, in a government which establishes itself over a people of this sort is, that it make itself obeyed. To enable it to do this, the constitution of the government must be nearly, or quite, despotic. A constitution in any degree popular, dependent on the voluntary surrender by the different members of the community of their individual freedom of action, would fail to enforce the first lesson which the pupils, in this stage of their progress, require. Accordingly, the civilisation of such tribes, when not the result of juxtaposition153 with others already civilised, is almost always the work of an absolute ruler, deriving154 his power either from religion or military prowess; very often from foreign arms.
Again, uncivilised races, and the bravest and most energetic still more than the rest, are averse155 to continuous labour of an unexciting kind. Yet all real civilisation is at this price; without such labour, neither can the mind be disciplined into the habits required by civilised society, nor the material world prepared to receive it. There needs a rare concurrence156 of circumstances, and for that reason often a vast length of time, to reconcile such a people to industry, unless they are for a while compelled to it. Hence even personal slavery, by giving a commencement to industrial life, and enforcing it as the exclusive occupation of the most numerous portion of the community, may accelerate the transition to a better freedom than that of fighting and rapine. It is almost needless to say that this excuse for slavery is only available in a very early state of society. A civilised people have far other means of imparting civilisation to those under their influence; and slavery is, in all its details, so repugnant to that government of law, which is the foundation of all modern life, and so corrupting157 to the master-class when they have once come under civilised influences, that its adoption158 under any circumstances whatever in modern society is a relapse into worse than barbarism.
At some period, however, of their history, almost every people, now civilised, have consisted, in majority, of slaves. A people in that condition require to raise them out of it a very different polity from a nation of savages159. If they are energetic by nature, and especially if there be associated with them in. the same community an industrious160 class who are neither slaves nor slave-owners (as was the case in Greece), they need, probably, no more to ensure their improvement than to make them free: when freed, they may often be fit, like Roman freedmen, to be admitted at once to the full rights of citizenship161. This, however, is not the normal condition of slavery, and is generally a sign that it is becoming obsolete162. A slave, properly so called, is a being who has not learnt to help himself. He is, no doubt, one step in advance of a savage. He has not the first lesson of political society still to acquire. He has learnt to obey. But what he obeys is only a direct command. It is the characteristic of born slaves to be incapable of conforming their conduct to a rule, or law. They can only do what they are ordered, and only when they are ordered to do it. If a man whom they fear is standing146 over them and threatening them with punishment, they obey; but when his back is turned, the work remains163 undone164. The motive45 determining them must appeal not to their interests, but to their instincts; immediate54 hope or immediate terror. A despotism, which may tame the savage, will, in so far as it is a despotism, only confirm the slaves in their incapacities. Yet a government under their own control would be entirely unmanageable by them. Their improvement cannot come from themselves, but must be superinduced from without. The step which they have to take, and their only path to improvement, is to be raised from a government of will to one of law. They have to be taught self-government, and this, in its initial stage, means the capacity to act on general instructions. What they require is not a government of force, but one of guidance. Being, however, in too low a state to yield to the guidance of any but those to whom they look up as the possessors of force, the sort of government fittest for them is one which possesses force, but seldom uses it: a parental165 despotism or aristocracy, resembling the St. Simonian form of Socialism; maintaining a general superintendence over all the operations of society, so as to keep before each the sense of a present force sufficient to compel his obedience to the rule laid down, but which, owing to the impossibility of descending166 to regulate all the minutae of industry and life, necessarily leaves and induces individuals to do much of themselves. This, which may be termed the government of leading-strings, seems to be the one required to carry such a people the most rapidly through the next necessary step in social progress. Such appears to have been the idea of the government of the Incas of Peru; and such was that of the Jesuits of Paraguay. I need scarcely remark that leading-strings are only admissible as a means of gradually training the people to walk alone.
It would be out of place to carry the illustration further. To attempt to investigate what kind of government is suited to every known state of society would be to compose a treatise167, not on representative government, but on political science at large. For our more limited purpose we borrow from political philosophy only its general principles. To determine the form of government most suited to any particular people, we must be able, among the defects and shortcomings which belong to that people, to distinguish those that are the immediate impediment to progress; to discover what it is which (as it were) stops the way. The best government for them is the one which tends most to give them that for want of which they cannot advance, or advance only in a lame168 and lopsided manner. We must not, however, forget the reservation necessary in all things which have for their object improvement, or Progress; namely, that in seeking the good which is needed, no damage, or as little as possible, be done to that already possessed. A people of savages should be taught obedience but not in such a manner as to convert them into a people of slaves. And (to give the observation a higher generality) the form of government which is most effectual for carrying a people through the next stage of progress will still be very improper72 for them if it does this in such a manner as to obstruct, or positively unfit them for, the step next beyond. Such cases are frequent, and are among the most melancholy169 facts in history. The Egyptian hierarchy170, the paternal171 despotism of China, were very fit instruments for carrying those nations up to the point of civilisation which they attained. But having reached that point, they were brought to a permanent halt for want of mental liberty and individuality; requisites of improvement which the institutions that had carried them thus far entirely incapacitated them from acquiring; and as the institutions did not break down and give place to others, further improvement stopped.
In contrast with these nations, let us consider the example of an opposite character afforded by another and a comparatively insignificant172 Oriental people — the Jews. They, too, had an absolute monarchy and a hierarchy, their organised institutions were as obviously of sacerdotal origin as those of the Hindoos. These did for them what was done for other Oriental races by their institutions — subdued173 them to industry and order, and gave them a national life. But neither their kings nor their priests ever obtained, as in those other countries, the exclusive moulding of their character. Their religion, which enabled persons of genius and a high religious tone to be regarded and to regard themselves as inspired from heaven, gave existence to an inestimably precious unorganised institution — the Order (if it may be so termed) of Prophets. Under the protection, generally though not always effectual, of their sacred character, the Prophets were a power in the nation, often more than a match for kings and priests, and kept up, in that little corner of the earth, the antagonism174 of influences which is the only real security for continued progress. Religion consequently was not there what it has been in so many other places — a consecration175 of all that was once established, and a barrier against further improvement. The remark of a distinguished176 Hebrew, M. Salvador, that the Prophets were, in Church and State, the equivalent of the modern liberty of the press, gives a just but not an adequate conception of the part fulfilled in national and universal history by this great element of Jewish life; by means of which, the canon of inspiration never being complete, the persons most eminent in genius and moral feeling could not only denounce and reprobate177, with the direct authority of the Almighty178, whatever appeared to them deserving of such treatment, but could give forth better and higher interpretations179 of the national religion, which thenceforth became part of the religion. Accordingly, whoever can divest180 himself of the habit of reading the Bible as if it was one book, which until lately was equally inveterate181 in Christians182 and in unbelievers, sees with admiration183 the vast interval between the morality and religion of the Pentateuch, or even of the historical books (the unmistakable work of Hebrew Conservatives of the sacerdotal order), and the morality and religion of the Prophecies: a distance as wide as between these last and the Gospels. Conditions more favourable to Progress could not easily exist: accordingly, the Jews, instead of being stationary like other Asiatics, were, next to the Greeks, the most progressive people of antiquity184, and, jointly185 with them, have been the starting-point and main propelling agency of modern cultivation.
It is, then, impossible to understand the question of the adaptation of forms of government to states of society without taking into account not only the next step, but all the steps which society has yet to make; both those which can be foreseen, and the far wider indefinite range which is at present out of sight. It follows, that to judge of the merits of forms of government, an ideal must be constructed of the form of government most eligible186 in itself, that is, which, if the necessary conditions existed for giving effect to its beneficial tendencies, would, more than all others, favour and promote not some one improvement, but all forms and degrees of it. This having been done, we must consider what are the mental conditions of all sorts, necessary to enable this government to realise its tendencies, and what, therefore, are the various defects by which a people is made incapable of reaping its benefits. It would then be possible to construct a theorem of the circumstances in which that form of government may wisely be introduced; and also to judge, in cases in which it had better not be introduced, what inferior forms of polity will best carry those communities through the intermediate stages which they must traverse before they can become fit for the best form of government.
Of these inquiries187, the last does not concern us here; but the first is an essential part of our subject: for we may, without rashness, at once enunciate188 a proposition, the proofs and illustrations of which will present themselves in the ensuing pages; that this ideally best form of government will be found in some one or other variety of the Representative System.
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1
amenable
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| adj.经得起检验的；顺从的；对负有义务的 | |
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distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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eligibility
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| n.合格，资格 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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circumscribed
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| adj.[医]局限的：受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；划定…范围；限制；限定 | |
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susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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meddling
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| v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
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well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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aggregate
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| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
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enumerate
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| v.列举，计算，枚举，数 | |
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constituents
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| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
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constituent
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| n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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exigencies
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| n.急切需要 | |
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plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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apprehend
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| vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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commendable
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| adj.值得称赞的 | |
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unconditionally
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| adv.无条件地 | |
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mandate
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| n.托管地；命令，指示 | |
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mandates
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| 托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式） | |
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ordinances
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| n.条例，法令( ordinance的名词复数 ) | |
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requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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stationary
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| adj.固定的，静止不动的 | |
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preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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prosecute
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| vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官 | |
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redress
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| n.赔偿，救济，矫正；v.纠正，匡正，革除 | |
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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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conducive
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| adj.有益的，有助的 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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culmination
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| n.顶点；最高潮 | |
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originality
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| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
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52
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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53
requisites
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| n.必要的事物( requisite的名词复数 ) | |
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54
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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55
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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56
repression
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| n.镇压，抑制，抑压 | |
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dispositions
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| 安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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59
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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60
prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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excellences
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| n.卓越( excellence的名词复数 )；（只用于所修饰的名词后）杰出的；卓越的；出类拔萃的 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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levying
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| 征（兵）( levy的现在分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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impede
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| v.妨碍，阻碍，阻止 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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obstruct
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| v.阻隔，阻塞(道路、通道等)；n.阻碍物，障碍物 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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impoverish
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| vt.使穷困，使贫困 | |
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deterioration
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| n.退化；恶化；变坏 | |
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generically
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| adv.一般地 | |
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improper
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| adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的 | |
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improperly
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| 不正确地，不适当地 | |
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philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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squander
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| v.浪费，挥霍 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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virtuously
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| 合乎道德地，善良地 | |
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virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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counteract
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| vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消 | |
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profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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follies
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| 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 ) | |
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85
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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negligence
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| n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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grovel
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| vi.卑躬屈膝，奴颜婢膝 | |
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antithesis
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| n.对立；相对 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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96
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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transcends
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| 超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的第三人称单数 )； 优于或胜过… | |
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98
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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99
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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100
bribes
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| n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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101
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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102
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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103
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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104
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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105
envious
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| adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的 | |
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106
obstructing
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| 阻塞( obstruct的现在分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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107
attainable
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| a.可达到的，可获得的 | |
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108
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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109
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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110
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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111
publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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112
censure
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| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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113
elicit
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| v.引出,抽出,引起 | |
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114
apprehending
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的现在分词 )； 理解 | |
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115
offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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116
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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117
transact
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| v.处理；做交易；谈判 | |
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118
intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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119
transacted
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| v.办理（业务等）( transact的过去式和过去分词 )；交易，谈判 | |
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120
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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121
functionaries
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| n.公职人员，官员( functionary的名词复数 ) | |
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122
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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123
negligent
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| adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的 | |
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124
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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125
administrative
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| adj.行政的，管理的 | |
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126
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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127
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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128
functionary
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| n.官员；公职人员 | |
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129
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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130
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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131
hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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132
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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133
organise
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| vt.组织，安排，筹办 | |
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134
deteriorate
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| v.变坏；恶化；退化 | |
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135
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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136
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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137
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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138
equitable
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| adj.公平的；公正的 | |
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139
onerous
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| adj.繁重的 | |
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140
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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141
monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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142
penal
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| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
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143
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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144
modifications
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| n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变 | |
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145
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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146
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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147
radically
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| ad.根本地，本质地 | |
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148
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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149
defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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150
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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151
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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152
exempt
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| adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者 | |
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153
juxtaposition
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| n.毗邻，并置，并列 | |
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154
deriving
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| v.得到( derive的现在分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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155
averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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156
concurrence
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| n.同意；并发 | |
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157
corrupting
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的现在分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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158
adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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159
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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160
industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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161
citizenship
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| n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份) | |
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162
obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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163
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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164
undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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165
parental
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| adj.父母的；父的；母的 | |
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166
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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167
treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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168
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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169
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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170
hierarchy
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| n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层 | |
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171
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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172
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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173
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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174
antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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175
consecration
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| n.供献，奉献，献祭仪式 | |
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176
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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177
reprobate
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| n.无赖汉；堕落的人 | |
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178
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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179
interpretations
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| n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解 | |
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180
divest
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| v.脱去，剥除 | |
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181
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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182
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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183
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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184
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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185
jointly
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| ad.联合地，共同地 | |
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186
eligible
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| adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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187
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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188
enunciate
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| v.发音；（清楚地）表达 | |
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