And he saw, instead, a vast multitude of warm, living faces, upturned in breathless silence towards the pulpit, at the angle between the nave and the choir. The multitude was of all ranks, from magistrates8 and dames9 of gentle nurture10 to coarsely-clad artisans and country people. In the pulpit was a Dominican friar, with strong features and dark hair, preaching with the crucifix in his hand.
For the first few minutes Baldassarre noted11 nothing of his preaching. Silent as his entrance had been, some eyes near the doorway had been turned on him with surprise and suspicion. The rope indicated plainly enough that he was an escaped prisoner, but in that case the church was a sanctuary12 which he had a right to claim; his advanced years and look of wild misery13 were fitted to excite pity rather than alarm; and as he stood motionless, with eyes that soon wandered absently from the wide scene before him to the pavement at his feet, those who had observed his entrance presently ceased to regard him, and became absorbed again in the stronger interest of listening to the sermon.
Among the eyes that had been turned towards him were Romola’s: she had entered late through one of the side doors and was so placed that she had a full view of the main entrance. She had looked long and attentively14 at Baldassarre, for grey hairs made a peculiar15 appeal to her, and the stamp of some unwonted suffering in the face, confirmed by the cord around his neck, stirred in her those sensibilities towards the sorrows of age, which her whole life had tended to develop. She fancied that his eyes had met hers in their first wandering gaze; but Baldassarre had not, in reality, noted her; he had only had a startled consciousness of the general scene, and the consciousness was a mere16 flash that made no perceptible break in the fierce tumult17 of emotion which the encounter with Tito had created. Images from the past kept urging themselves upon him like delirious18 visions strangely blended with thirst and anguish19. No distinct thought for the future could shape itself in the midst of that fiery20 passion: the nearest approach to such thought was the bitter sense of enfeebled powers, and a vague determination to universal distrust and suspicion. Suddenly he felt himself vibrating to loud tones, which seemed like the thundering echo of his own passion. A voice that penetrated21 his very marrow22 with its accent of triumphant23 certitude was saying — ‘The day of vengeance24 is at hand!’
Baldassarre quivered and looked up. He was too distant to see more than the general aspect of the preacher standing25, with his right arm outstretched, lifting up the crucifix; but he panted for the threatening voice again as if it had been a promise of bliss26. There was a pause before the preacher spoke27 again. He gradually lowered his arm. He deposited the crucifix on the edge of the pulpit, and crossed his arms over his breast, looking round at the multitude as if he would meet the glance of every individual face.
‘All ye in Florence are my witnesses, for I spoke not in a corner. Ye are my witnesses, that four years ago, when there were yet no signs of war and tribulation28, I preached the coming of the scourge29. I lifted up my voice as a trumpet30 to the prelates and princes and people of Italy and said, The cup of your iniquity31 is full. Behold32, the thunder of the Lord is gathering33, and it shall fall and break the cup, and your iniquity, which seems to you as pleasant wine, shall be poured out upon you, and shall be as molten lead. And you, O priests, who say, Ha, ha! there is no Presence in the sanctuary — the Shechinah is nought34 — the Mercy-seat is bare: we may sin behind the veil, and who shall punish us? To you, I said, the presence of God shall be revealed in his temple as a consuming fire, and your sacred garments shall become a winding-sheet of flame, and for sweet music there shall be shrieks35 and hissing36, and for soft couches there shall be thorns, and for the breath of wantons shall come the pestilence37. Trust not in your gold and silver, trust not in your high fortresses38; for, though the walls were of iron, and the fortresses of adamant39, the Most High shall put terror into your hearts and weakness into your councils, so that you shall be confounded and flee like women. He shall break in pieces mighty40 men without number, and put others in their stead. For God will no longer endure the pollution of his sanctuary; he will thoroughly41 purge42 his Church.
‘And forasmuch as it is written that God will do nothing but he revealeth it to his servants the prophets, he has chosen me, his unworthy servant, and made his purpose present to my soul in the living word of the Scriptures43, and in the deeds of his providence44; and by the ministry45 of angels he has revealed it to me in visions. And his word possesses me so that I am but as the branch of the forest when the wind of heaven penetrates46 it, and it is not in me to keep silence, even though I may be a derision to the scorner. And for four years I have preached in obedience47 to the Divine will: in the face of scoffing48 I have preached three things, which the Lord has delivered to me: that in these times God will regenerate49 his Church, and that before the regeneration must come the scourge over all Italy, and that these things will come quickly.
‘But hypocrites who cloak their hatred50 of the truth with a show of love have said to me, “Come now, Frate, leave your prophesyings: it is enough to teach virtue51.” To these I answer: “Yes, you say in your hearts, God lives afar off, and his word is as a parchment written by dead men, and he deals not as in the days of old, rebuking52 the nations, and punishing the oppressors, and smiting53 the unholy priests as he smote54 the sons of Eli. But I cry again in your ears: God is near and not afar off; his judgments55 change not. He is the God of armies; the strong men who go up to battle are his ministers, even as the storm, and fire, and pestilence. He drives them by the breath of his angels, and they come upon the chosen land which has forsaken56 the covenant58. And thou, O Italy, art the chosen land; has not God placed his sanctuary within thee, and thou hast polluted it? Behold, the ministers of his wrath59 are upon thee — they are at thy very doors! “ ’
Savonarola’s voice had been rising in impassioned force up to this point, when he became suddenly silent, let his hands fall and clasped them quietly before him. His silence, instead of being the signal for small movements amongst his audience, seemed to be as strong a spell to them as his voice. Through the vast area of the cathedral men and women sat with faces upturned, like breathing statues, till the voice was heard again in clear low tones.
‘Yet there is a pause — even as in the days when Jerusalem was destroyed there was a pause^S that the children of God might flee from it. There is a stillness before the storm: lo, there is blackness above, but not a leaf quakes: the winds are stayed, that the voice of God’s warning may be heard. Hear it now, O Florence, chosen city in the chosen land! Repent60 and forsake57 evil: do justice: love mercy: put away all uncleanness from among you, that the spirit of truth and holiness may fill your souls and breathe through all your streets and habitations, and then the pestilence shall not enter, and the sword shall pass over you and leave you unhurt.
‘For the sword is hanging from the sky; it is quivering; it is about to fall! The sword of God upon the earth, swift and sudden! Did I not tell you, years ago, that I had beheld61 the vision and heard the voice? And behold, it is fulfilled! Is there not a king with his army at your gates? Does not the earth shake with the tread of horses and the wheels of swift cannon62? Is there not a fierce multitude that can lay bare the land as with a sharp razor? I tell you the French king with his army is the minister of God: God shall guide him as the hand guides a sharp sickle64, and the joints65 of the wicked shall melt before him, and they shall be mowed66 down as stubble: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. And the tyrants67 who have made to themselves a throne out of the vices69 of the multitude, and the unbelieving priests who traffic in the souls of men and fill the very sanctuary with fornication, shall be hurled70 from their soft couches into burning hell; and the pagans and they who sinned under the old covenant shall stand aloof71 and say: “Lo, these men have brought the stench of a new wickedness into the everlasting72 fire.”
‘But thou, O Florence, take the offered mercy. See! the Cross is held out to you: come and be healed. Which among the nations of Italy has had a token like unto yours? The tyrant68 is driven out from among you: the men who held a bribe73 in their left hand and a rod in the right are gone forth74, and no blood has been spilled. And now put away every other abomination from among you, and you shall be strong enough in the strength of the living God. Wash yourselves from the black pitch of your vices, which have made you even as the heathens: put away the envy and hatred that have made your city as a nest of wolves. And there shall no harm happen to you: and the passage of armies shall be to you as a flight of birds, and rebellious75 Pisa shall be given to you again, and famine and pestilence shall be far from your gates, and you shall be as a beacon76 among the nations. But, mark! while you suffer the accursed thing to lie in the camp you shall be afflicted77 and tormented78, even though a remnant among you may be saved.’
These admonitions and promises had been spoken in an incisive79 tone of authority; but in the next sentence the preacher’s voice melted into a strain of entreaty80.
‘Listen, O people, over whom my heart yearns81, as the heart of a mother over the children she has travailed for! God is my witness that but for your sakes I would willingly live as a turtle in the depths of the forest, singing low to my Beloved, who is mine and I am his. For you I toil83, for you I languish84, for you my nights are spent in watching, and my soul melteth away for very heaviness. O Lord, thou knowest I am willing — I am ready. Take me, stretch me on thy cross: let the wicked who delight in blood, and rob the poor, and defile85 the temple of their bodies, and harden themselves against thy mercy — let them wag their heads and shoot out the lip at me: let the thorns press upon my brow, and let my sweat be anguish — I desire to be made like thee in thy great love. But let me see the fruit of my travail82 — let this people be saved! Let me see them clothed in purity: let me hear their voices rise in concord86 as the voices of the angels: let them see no wisdom but in thy eternal law, no beauty but in holiness. Then they shall lead the way before the nations, and the people from the four winds shall follow them, and be gathered into the fold of the blessed. For it is thy will, O God, that the earth shall be converted unto thy law: it is thy will that wickedness shall cease and love shall reign87. Come, O blessed promise; and behold, I am willing — lay me on the altar: let my blood flow and the fire consume me; but let my witness be remembered among men, that iniquity shall not prosper88 for ever.’
During the last appeal, Savonarola had stretched out his arms and lifted up his eyes to heaven; his strong voice had alternately trembled with emotion and risen again in renewed energy; but the passion with which he offered himself as a victim became at last too strong to allow of further speech, and he ended in a sob89. Every changing tone, vibrating through the audience, shook them into answering emotion. There were plenty among them who had very moderate faith in the Frate’s prophetic mission, and who in their cooler moments loved him little; nevertheless, they too were carried along by the great wave of feeling which gathered its force from sympathies that lay deeper than all theory. A loud responding sob rose at once from the wide multitude, while Savonarola had fallen on his knees and buried his face in his mantle90. He felt in that moment the rapture91 and glory of martyrdom without its agony.
In that great sob of the multitude Baldassarre’s had mingled92. Among all the human beings present, there was perhaps not one whose frame vibrated more strongly than his to the tones and words of the preacher; but it had vibrated like a harp63 of which all the strings93 had been wrenched94 away except one. That threat of a fiery inexorable vengeance — of a future into which the hated sinner might be pursued and held by the avenger95 in an eternal grapple, had come to him like the promise of an unquenchable fountain to unquenchable thirst. The doctrines96 of the sages97, the old contempt for priestly superstitions98, had fallen away from his soul like a forgotten language: if he could have remembered them, what answer could they have given to his great need like the answer given by this voice of energetic conviction? The thunder of denunciation fell on his passion-wrought nerves with all the force of self-evidence: his thought never went beyond it into questions — he was possessed99 by it as the war-horse is possessed by the clash of sounds. No word that was not a threat touched his consciousness — he had no fibre to be thrilled by it. But the fierce exultant100 delight to which he was moved by the idea of perpetual vengeance found at once a climax101 and a relieving outburst in the preacher’s words of self-sacrifice. To Baldassarre those words only brought the vague triumphant sense that he too was devoting himself — signing with his own blood the deed by which he gave himself over to an unending fire, that would seem but coolness to his burning hatred.
‘I rescued him — I cherished him — if I might clutch his heart-strings for ever! Come, O blessed promise! Let my blood flow; let the fire consume me!’
The one cord vibrated to its utmost. Baldassarre clutched his own palms, driving his long nails into them, and burst into a sob with the rest.
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收听单词发音
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1
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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2
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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nave
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| n.教堂的中部；本堂 | |
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emblems
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| n.象征，标记( emblem的名词复数 ) | |
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5
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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6
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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7
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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8
magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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9
dames
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| n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人 | |
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10
nurture
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| n.养育，照顾，教育；滋养，营养品；vt.养育，给与营养物，教养，扶持 | |
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11
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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13
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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14
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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15
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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17
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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18
delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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19
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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21
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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22
marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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23
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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24
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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25
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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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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27
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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tribulation
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| n.苦难，灾难 | |
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29
scourge
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| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
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30
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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iniquity
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| n.邪恶；不公正 | |
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32
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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35
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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38
fortresses
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| 堡垒，要塞( fortress的名词复数 ) | |
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39
adamant
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| adj.坚硬的，固执的 | |
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40
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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41
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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42
purge
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| n.整肃，清除，泻药，净化；vt.净化，清除，摆脱；vi.清除，通便，腹泻，变得清洁 | |
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43
scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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44
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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45
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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46
penetrates
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| v.穿过( penetrate的第三人称单数 )；刺入；了解；渗透 | |
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47
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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48
scoffing
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| n. 嘲笑, 笑柄, 愚弄 v. 嘲笑, 嘲弄, 愚弄, 狼吞虎咽 | |
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49
regenerate
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| vt.使恢复，使新生；vi.恢复，再生；adj.恢复的 | |
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50
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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51
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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52
rebuking
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的现在分词 ) | |
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53
smiting
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的现在分词 ) | |
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54
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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55
judgments
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| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
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56
Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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57
forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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58
covenant
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| n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约 | |
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59
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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60
repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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61
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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62
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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63
harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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64
sickle
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| n.镰刀 | |
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65
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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66
mowed
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| v.刈，割( mow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67
tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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68
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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69
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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70
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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71
aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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72
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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73
bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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74
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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incisive
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| adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的 | |
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entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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yearns
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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travail
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| n.阵痛；努力 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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languish
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| vi.变得衰弱无力，失去活力，（植物等）凋萎 | |
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defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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concord
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| n.和谐；协调 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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strings
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| n.弦 | |
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wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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avenger
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| n. 复仇者 | |
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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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sages
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| n.圣人( sage的名词复数 )；智者；哲人；鼠尾草（可用作调料） | |
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superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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