Bernardo del Nero had been elected Gonfaloniere. By great exertions2 the Medicean party had so far triumphed, and that triumph had deepened Romola’s presentiment3 of some secretly-prepared scheme likely to ripen4 either into success or betrayal during these two months of her godfather’s auth ority. Every morning the dim daybreak as it peered into her room seemed to be that haunting fear coming back to her. Every morning the fear went with her as she passed through the streets on her way to the early sermon in the Duomo: but there she gradually lost the sense of its chill presence, as men lose the dread5 of death in the clash of battle.
In the Duomo she felt herself sharing in a passionate6 conflict which had wider relations than any enclosed within the walls of Florence. For Savonarola was preaching — preaching the last course of Lenten sermons he was ever allowed to finish in the Duomo: he knew that excommunication was imminent7, and he had reached the point of defying it. He held up the condition of the Church in the terrible mirror of his unflinching speech, which called things by their right names and dealt in no polite periphrases; he proclaimed with heightening confidence the advent8 of renovation9 — of a moment when there would be a general revolt against corruption11. As to his own destiny, he seemed to have a double and alternating prevision: sometimes he saw himself taking a glorious part in that revolt, sending forth12 a voice that would be heard through all Christendom, and making the dead body of the Church tremble into new life, as the body of Lazarus trembled when the Divine voice pierced the sepulchre; sometimes he saw no prospect13 for himself but persecution14 and martyrdom:— this life for him was only a vigil, and only after death would come the dawn.
The position was one which must have had its impressiveness for all minds that were not of the dullest order, even if they were inclined, as Macchiavelli was, to interpret the Frate’s character by a key that presupposed no loftiness. To Romola, whose kindred ardour gave her a firm belief in Savonarola’s genuine greatness of purpose, the crisis was as stirring as if it had been part of her personal lot. It blent itself as an exalting15 memory with all her daily labours; and those labours were calling not only for difficult perseverance16, but for new courage. Famine had never yet taken its flight from Florence, and all distress17, by its long continuance, was getting harder to bear; disease was spreading in the crowded city, and the Plague was expected. As Romola walked, often in weariness, among the sick, the hungry, and the murmuring, she felt it good to be inspired by something more than her pity — by the belief in a heroism18 struggling for sublime19 ends, towards which the daily action of her pity could only tend feebly, as the dews that freshen the weedy ground to-day tend to prepare an unseen harvest in the years to come.
But that mighty20 music which stirred her in the Duomo was not without its jarring notes. Since those first days of glowing hope when the Frate, seeing the near triumph of good in the reform of the Republic and the coming of the French deliverer, had preached peace, charity, and oblivion of political differences, there had been a marked change of conditions: political intrigue21 had been too obstinate22 to allow of the desired oblivion; the belief in the French deliverer, who had turned his back on his high mission, seemed to have wrought23 harm; and hostility24, both on a petty and on a grand scale, was attacking the Prophet with new weapons and new determination.
It followed that the spirit of contention25 and self-vindication pierced more and more conspicuously26 in his sermons; that he was urged to meet the popular demands not only by increased insistance and detail concerning visions and private revelations, but by a tone of defiant27 confidence against objectors; and from having denounced the desire for the miraculous28, and declared that miracles had no relation to true faith, he had come to assert that at the right moment the Divine power would attest29 the truth of his prophetic preaching by a miracle. And continually, in the rapid transitions of excited feeling, as the vision of triumphant30 good receded31 behind the actual predominance of evil, the threats of coming vengeance32 against vicious tyrants33 and corrupt10 priests gathered some impetus34 from personal exasperation35, as well as from indignant zeal36.
In the career of a great public orator37 who yields himself to the inspiration of the moment, that conflict of selfish and unselfish emotion which in most men is hidden in the chamber38 of the soul, is brought into terrible evidence: the language of the inner voices is written out in letters of fire.
But if the tones of exasperation jarred on Romola, there was often another member of Fra Girolamo’s audience to whom they were the only thrilling tones, like the vibration39 of deep bass40 notes to the deaf. Baldassarre had found out that the wonderful Frate was preaching again, and as often as he could, he went to hear the Lenten sermon, that he might drink in the threats of a voice which seemed like a power on the side of justice. He went the more because he had seen that Romola went too; for he was waiting and watching for a time when not only outward circumstances, but his own varying mental state, would mark the right moment for seeking an interview with her. Twice Romola had caught sight of his face in the Duomo — once when its dark glance was fixed41 on hers. She wished not to see it again, and yet she looked for it, as men look for the reappearance of a portent42. But any revelation that might be yet to come about this old man was a subordinate fear now: it referred, she thought, only to the past, and her anxiety was almost absorbed by the present.
Yet the stirring Lent passed by; April, the second and final month of her godfather’s supreme43 authority, was near its close; and nothing had occurred to fulfil her presentiment. In the public mind, too, there had been fears, and rumours44 had spread from Rome of a menacing activity on the part of Piero de’ Medici; but in a few days the suspected Bernardo would go out of power.
Romola was trying to gather some courage from the review of her futile45 fears, when on the twenty-seventh, as she was walking out on her usual errands of mercy in the afternoon, she was met by a messenger from Camilla Rucellai, chief among the feminine seers of Florence, desiring her presence forthwith on matters of the highest moment. Romola, who shrank with unconquerable repulsion from the shrill46 volubility of those illuminated47 women, and had just now a special repugnance48 towards Camilla because of a report that she had announced revelations hostile to Bernardo del Nero, was at first inclined to send back a flat refusal. Camilla’s message might refer to public affairs, and Romola’s immediate49 prompting was to close her ears against knowledge that might only make her mental burden heavier. But it had become so thoroughly50 her habit to reject her impulsive51 choice, and to obey passively the guidance of outward claims, that, reproving herself for allowing her presentiments52 to make her cowardly and selfish, she ended by compliance53, and went straight to Camilla.
She found the nervous grey-haired woman in a chamber arranged as much as possible like a convent cell. The thin fingers clutching Romola as she sat, and the eager voice addressing her at first in a loud whisper, caused her a physical shrinking that made it difficult for her to keep her seat.
Camilla had a vision to communicate — a vision in which it had been revealed to her by Romola’s Angel, that Romola knew certain secrets concerning her godfather, Bernardo del Nero, which, if disclosed, might save the Republic from peril54. Camilla’s voice rose louder and higher as she narrated55 her vision, and ended by exhorting56 Romola to obey the command of her Angel, and separate herself from the enemy of God.
Romola’s impetuosity was that of a massive nature, and, except in moments when she was deeply stirred, her manner was calm and self-controlled. She had a constitutional disgust for the shallow excitability of women like Camilla, whose faculties57 seemed all wrought up into fantasies, leaving nothing for emotion and thought. The exhortation58 was not yet ended when she started up and attempted to wrench59 her arm from Camilla’s tightening60 grasp. It was of no use. The prophetess kept her hold like a crab61, and, only incited62 to more eager exhortation by Romola’s resistance, was carried beyond her own intention into a shrill statement of other visions which were to corroborate63 this. Christ himself had appeared to her and ordered her to send his commands to certain citizens in office that they should throw Bernardo del Nero from the window of the Palazzo Vecchio. Fra Girolamo himself knew of it, and had not dared this time to say that the vision was not of Divine authority.
‘And since then,’ said Camilla, in her excited treble, straining upward with wild eyes towards Romola’s face, ‘the Blessed Infant has come to me and laid a wafer of sweetness on my tongue in token of his pleasure that I had done his will.’
‘Let me go!’ said Romola, in a deep voice of anger. ‘God grant you are mad! else you are detestably wicked! ’
The violence of her effort to be free was too strong for Camilla now. She wrenched64 away her arm and rushed out of the room, not pausing till she had hurriedly gone far along the street, and found herself close to the church of the Badia. She had but to pass behind the curtain under the old stone arch, and she would find a sanctuary65 shut in from the noise and hurry of the street, where all objects and all uses suggested the thought of an eternal peace subsisting66 in the midst of turmoil67.
She turned in, and sinking down on the step of the altar in front of Filippino Lippi’s serene68 Virgin69 appearing to St Bernard, she waited in hope that the inward tumult70 which agitated71 her would by-and-by subside72.
The thought which pressed on her the most acutely was that Camilla could allege73 Savonarola’s countenance74 of her wicked folly75. Romola did not for a moment believe that he had sanctioned the throwing of Bernardo del Nero from the window as a Divine suggestion; she felt certain that there was falsehood or mistake in that allegation. Savonarola had become more and more severe in his views of resistance to malcontents; but the ideas of strict law and order were fundamental to all his political teaching. Still, since he knew the possibly fatal effects of visions like Camilla’s, since he had a marked distrust of such spirit-seeing women, and kept aloof76 from them as much as possible, why, with his readiness to denounce wrong from the pulpit, did he not publicly denounce these pretended revelations which brought new darkness instead of light across the conception of a Supreme Will? Why? The answer came with painful clearness: he was fettered77 inwardly by the consciousness that such revelations were not, in their basis, distinctly separable from his own visions; he was fettered outwardly by the foreseen consequence of raising a cry against himself even among members of his own party, as one who would suppress all Divine inspiration of which he himself was not the vehicle — he or his confidential78 and supplementary79 seer of visions, Fra Salvestro.
Romola, kneeling with buried face on the altar-step, was enduring one of those sickening moments, when the enthusiasm which had come to her as the only energy strong enough to make life worthy80, seemed to be inevitably81 bound up with vain dreams and wilful82 eye-shutting. Her mind rushed back with a new attraction towards the strong worldly sense, the dignified83 prudence84, the untheoretic virtues85 of her godfather, who was to be treated as a sort of Agag because he held that a more restricted form of government was better than the Great Council, and because he would not pretend to forget old ties to the banished86 family.
But with this last thought rose the presentiment of some plot to restore the Medici; and then again she felt that the popular party was half justified87 in its fierce suspicion. Again she felt that to keep the Government of Florence pure, and to keep out a vicious rule, was a sacred cause; the Frate was right there, and had carried her understanding irrevocably with him. But at this moment the assent89 of her understanding went alone; it was given unwillingly90. Her heart was recoiling91 from a right allied92 to so much narrowness; a right apparently93 entailing94 that hard systematic95 judgment96 of men which measures them by assents97 and denials quite superficial to the manhood within them. Her affection and respect were clinging with new tenacity98 to her godfather, and with him to those memories of her father which were in the same opposition99 to the division of men into sheep and goats by the easy mark of some political or religious symbol.
After all has been said that can be said about the widening influence of ideas, it remains100 true that they would hardly be such strong agents unless they were taken in a solvent101 of feeling. The great world-struggle of developing thought is continually foreshadowed in the struggle of the affections, seeking a justification102 for love and hope.
If Romola’s intellect had been less capable of discerning the complexities103 in human things, all the early loving associations of her life would have forbidden her to accept implicitly104 the denunciatory exclusiveness of Savonarola. She had simply felt that his mind had suggested deeper and more efficacious truth to her than any other, and the large breathing-room she found in his grand view of human duties had made her patient towards that part of his teaching which she could not absorb, so long as its practical effect came into collision with no strong force in her. But now a sudden insurrection of feeling had brought about that collision. Her indignation, once roused by Camilla’s visions, could not pause there, but ran like an illuminating105 fire over all the kindred facts in Savonarola’s teaching, and for the moment she felt what was true in the scornful sarcasms106 she heard continually flung against him, more keenly than she felt what was false.
But it was an illumination that made all life look ghastly to her. Where were the beings to whom she could cling, with whom she could work and endure, with the belief that she was working for the right? On the side from which moral energy came lay a fanaticism107 from which she was shrinking with newly-startled repulsion; on the side to which she was drawn108 by affection and memory, there was the presentiment of some secret plotting, which her judgment told her would not be unfairly called crime. And still surmounting109 every other thought was the dread inspired by Tito’s hints, lest that presentiment should be converted into knowledge, in such a way that she would be torn by irreconcilable110 claims.
Calmness would not come even on the altar-steps; it would not come from looking at the serene picture where the saint, writing in the rocky solitude111, was being visited by faces with celestial112 peace in them. Romola was in the hard press of human difficulties, and that rocky solitude was too far off. She rose from her knees that she might hasten to her sick people in the courtyard, and by some immediate beneficent action, revive that sense of worth in life which at this moment was unfed by any wider faith. But when she turned round, she found herself face to face with a man who was standing88 only two yards off her. The man was Baldassarre.
点击收听单词发音
1 carnival | |
n.嘉年华会,狂欢,狂欢节,巡回表演 | |
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2 exertions | |
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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3 presentiment | |
n.预感,预觉 | |
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4 ripen | |
vt.使成熟;vi.成熟 | |
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5 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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6 passionate | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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7 imminent | |
adj.即将发生的,临近的,逼近的 | |
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8 advent | |
n.(重要事件等的)到来,来临 | |
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9 renovation | |
n.革新,整修 | |
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10 corrupt | |
v.贿赂,收买;adj.腐败的,贪污的 | |
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11 corruption | |
n.腐败,堕落,贪污 | |
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12 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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13 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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14 persecution | |
n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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15 exalting | |
a.令人激动的,令人喜悦的 | |
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16 perseverance | |
n.坚持不懈,不屈不挠 | |
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17 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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18 heroism | |
n.大无畏精神,英勇 | |
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19 sublime | |
adj.崇高的,伟大的;极度的,不顾后果的 | |
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20 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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21 intrigue | |
vt.激起兴趣,迷住;vi.耍阴谋;n.阴谋,密谋 | |
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22 obstinate | |
adj.顽固的,倔强的,不易屈服的,较难治愈的 | |
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23 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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24 hostility | |
n.敌对,敌意;抵制[pl.]交战,战争 | |
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25 contention | |
n.争论,争辩,论战;论点,主张 | |
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26 conspicuously | |
ad.明显地,惹人注目地 | |
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27 defiant | |
adj.无礼的,挑战的 | |
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28 miraculous | |
adj.像奇迹一样的,不可思议的 | |
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29 attest | |
vt.证明,证实;表明 | |
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30 triumphant | |
adj.胜利的,成功的;狂欢的,喜悦的 | |
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31 receded | |
v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 );向后倾斜;自原处后退或避开别人的注视;尤指问题 | |
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32 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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33 tyrants | |
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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34 impetus | |
n.推动,促进,刺激;推动力 | |
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35 exasperation | |
n.愤慨 | |
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36 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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37 orator | |
n.演说者,演讲者,雄辩家 | |
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38 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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39 vibration | |
n.颤动,振动;摆动 | |
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40 bass | |
n.男低音(歌手);低音乐器;低音大提琴 | |
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41 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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42 portent | |
n.预兆;恶兆;怪事 | |
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43 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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44 rumours | |
n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 );风闻;谣言;谣传 | |
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45 futile | |
adj.无效的,无用的,无希望的 | |
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46 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
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47 illuminated | |
adj.被照明的;受启迪的 | |
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48 repugnance | |
n.嫌恶 | |
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49 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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50 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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51 impulsive | |
adj.冲动的,刺激的;有推动力的 | |
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52 presentiments | |
n.(对不祥事物的)预感( presentiment的名词复数 ) | |
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53 compliance | |
n.顺从;服从;附和;屈从 | |
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54 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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55 narrated | |
v.故事( narrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56 exhorting | |
v.劝告,劝说( exhort的现在分词 ) | |
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57 faculties | |
n.能力( faculty的名词复数 );全体教职员;技巧;院 | |
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58 exhortation | |
n.劝告,规劝 | |
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59 wrench | |
v.猛拧;挣脱;使扭伤;n.扳手;痛苦,难受 | |
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60 tightening | |
上紧,固定,紧密 | |
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61 crab | |
n.螃蟹,偏航,脾气乖戾的人,酸苹果;vi.捕蟹,偏航,发牢骚;vt.使偏航,发脾气 | |
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62 incited | |
刺激,激励,煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63 corroborate | |
v.支持,证实,确定 | |
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64 wrenched | |
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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65 sanctuary | |
n.圣所,圣堂,寺庙;禁猎区,保护区 | |
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66 subsisting | |
v.(靠很少的钱或食物)维持生活,生存下去( subsist的现在分词 ) | |
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67 turmoil | |
n.骚乱,混乱,动乱 | |
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68 serene | |
adj. 安详的,宁静的,平静的 | |
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69 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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70 tumult | |
n.喧哗;激动,混乱;吵闹 | |
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71 agitated | |
adj.被鼓动的,不安的 | |
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72 subside | |
vi.平静,平息;下沉,塌陷,沉降 | |
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73 allege | |
vt.宣称,申述,主张,断言 | |
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74 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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75 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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76 aloof | |
adj.远离的;冷淡的,漠不关心的 | |
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77 fettered | |
v.给…上脚镣,束缚( fetter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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78 confidential | |
adj.秘(机)密的,表示信任的,担任机密工作的 | |
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79 supplementary | |
adj.补充的,附加的 | |
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80 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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81 inevitably | |
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地 | |
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82 wilful | |
adj.任性的,故意的 | |
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83 dignified | |
a.可敬的,高贵的 | |
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84 prudence | |
n.谨慎,精明,节俭 | |
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85 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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86 banished | |
v.放逐,驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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88 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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89 assent | |
v.批准,认可;n.批准,认可 | |
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90 unwillingly | |
adv.不情愿地 | |
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91 recoiling | |
v.畏缩( recoil的现在分词 );退缩;报应;返回 | |
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92 allied | |
adj.协约国的;同盟国的 | |
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93 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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94 entailing | |
使…成为必要( entail的现在分词 ); 需要; 限定继承; 使必需 | |
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95 systematic | |
adj.有系统的,有计划的,有方法的 | |
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96 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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97 assents | |
同意,赞同( assent的名词复数 ) | |
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98 tenacity | |
n.坚韧 | |
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99 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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100 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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101 solvent | |
n.溶剂;adj.有偿付能力的 | |
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102 justification | |
n.正当的理由;辩解的理由 | |
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103 complexities | |
复杂性(complexity的名词复数); 复杂的事物 | |
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104 implicitly | |
adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
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105 illuminating | |
a.富于启发性的,有助阐明的 | |
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106 sarcasms | |
n.讥讽,讽刺,挖苦( sarcasm的名词复数 ) | |
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107 fanaticism | |
n.狂热,盲信 | |
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108 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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109 surmounting | |
战胜( surmount的现在分词 ); 克服(困难); 居于…之上; 在…顶上 | |
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110 irreconcilable | |
adj.(指人)难和解的,势不两立的 | |
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111 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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112 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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