Beyond the table, as if turned to stone by this culminating horror of revelation, stood Aline.
M. de La Tour d’Azyr was the first to stir. Into his bewildered mind came the memory of something that Mme. de Plougastel had said of a letter that was on the table. He came forward, unhindered. The announcement made, Mme. de Plougastel no longer feared the sequel, and so she let him go. He walked unsteadily past this new-found son of his, and took up the sheet that lay beside the candlebranch. A long moment he stood reading it, none heeding3 him. Aline’s eyes were all on Andre–Louis, full of wonder and commiseration4, whilst Andre–Louis was staring down, in stupefied fascination5, at his mother.
M. de La Tour d’Azyr read the letter slowly through. Then very quietly he replaced it. His next concern, being the product of an artificial age sternly schooled in the suppression of emotion, was to compose himself. Then he stepped back to Mme. de Plougastel’s side and stooped to raise her.
“Therese,” he said.
Obeying, by instinct, the implied command, she made an effort to rise and to control herself in her turn. The Marquis half conducted, half carried her to the armchair by the table.
Andre–Louis looked on. Still numbed6 and bewildered, he made no attempt to assist. He saw as in a dream the Marquis bending over Mme. de Plougastel. As in a dream he heard him ask:
“How long have you known this, Therese?”
“I . . . I have always known it . . . always. I confided7 him to Kercadiou. I saw him once as a child . . . Oh, but what of that?”
“Why was I never told? Why did you deceive me? Why did you tell me that this child had died a few days after birth? Why, Therese? Why?”
“I was afraid. I . . . I thought it better so — that nobody, nobody, not even you, should know. And nobody has known save Quintin until last night, when to induce him to come here and save me he was forced to tell him.”
“But I, Therese?” the Marquis insisted. “It was my right to know.”
“Your right? What could you have done? Acknowledge him? And then? Ha!” It was a queer, desperate note of laughter. “There was Plougastel; there was my family. And there was you . . . you, yourself, who had ceased to care, in whom the fear of discovery had stifled8 love. Why should I have told you, then? Why? I should not have told you now had there been any other way to . . . to save you both. Once before I suffered just such dreadful apprehensions9 when you and he fought in the Bois. I was on my way to prevent it when you met me. I would have divulged10 the truth, as a last resource, to avert11 that horror. But mercifully God spared me the necessity then.”
It had not occurred to any of them to doubt her statement, incredible though it might seem. Had any done so her present words must have resolved all doubt, explaining as they did much that to each of her listeners had been obscure until this moment.
M. de La Tour d’Azyr, overcome, reeled away to a chair and sat down heavily. Losing command of himself for a moment, he took his haggard face in his hands.
Through the windows open to the garden came from the distance the faint throbbing12 of a drum to remind them of what was happening around them. But the sound went unheeded. To each it must have seemed that here they were face to face with a horror greater than any that might be tormenting13 Paris. At last Andre–Louis began to speak, his voice level and unutterably cold.
“M. de La Tour d’Azyr,” he said, “I trust that you’ll agree that this disclosure, which can hardly be more distasteful and horrible to you than it is to me, alters nothing, since it effaces14 nothing of all that lies between us. Or, if it alters anything, it is merely to add something to that score. And yet . . . Oh, but what can it avail to talk! Here, monsieur, take this safe-conduct which is made out for Mme. de Plougastel’s footman, and with it make your escape as best you can. In return I will beg of you the favour never to allow me to see you or hear of you again.”
“Andre!” His mother swung upon him with that cry. And yet again that question. “Have you no heart? What has he ever done to you that you should nurse so bitter a hatred15 of him?”
“You shall hear, madame. Once, two years ago in this very room I told you of a man who had brutally16 killed my dearest friend and debauched the girl I was to have married. M. de La Tour d’Azyr is that man.”
A moan was her only answer. She covered her face with her hands.
The Marquis rose slowly to his feet again. He came slowly forward, his smouldering eyes scanning his son’s face.
“You are hard,” he said grimly. “But I recognize the hardness. It derives17 from the blood you bear.”
“Spare me that,” said Andre–Louis.
The Marquis inclined his head. “I will not mention it again. But I desire that you should at least understand me, and you too, Therese. You accuse me, sir, of murdering your dearest friend. I will admit that the means employed were perhaps unworthy. But what other means were at my command to meet an urgency that every day since then proves to have existed? M. de Vilmorin was a revolutionary, a man of new ideas that should overthrow18 society and rebuild it more akin19 to the desires of such as himself. I belonged to the order that quite as justifiably20 desired society to remain as it was. Not only was it better so for me and mine, but I also contend, and you have yet to prove me wrong, that it is better so for all the world; that, indeed, no other conceivable society is possible. Every human society must of necessity be composed of several strata21. You may disturb it temporarily into an amorphous22 whole by a revolution such as this; but only temporarily. Soon out of the chaos23 which is all that you and your kind can ever produce, order must be restored or life will perish; and with the restoration of order comes the restoration of the various strata necessary to organized society. Those that were yesterday at the top may in the new order of things find themselves dispossessed without any benefit to the whole. That change I resisted. The spirit of it I fought with whatever weapons were available, whenever and wherever I encountered it. M. de Vilmorin was an incendiary of the worst type, a man of eloquence24 full of false ideals that misled poor ignorant men into believing that the change proposed could make the world a better place for them. You are an intelligent man, and I defy you to answer me from your heart and conscience that such a thing was true or possible. You know that it is untrue; you know that it is a pernicious doctrine25; and what made it worse on the lips of M. de Vilmorin was that he was sincere and eloquent26. His voice was a danger that must be removed — silenced. So much was necessary in self-defence. In self-defence I did it. I had no grudge27 against M. de Vilmorin. He was a man of my own class; a gentleman of pleasant ways, amiable28, estimable, and able.
“You conceive me slaying29 him for the very lust30 of slaying, like some beast of the jungle flinging itself upon its natural prey31. That has been your error from the first. I did what I did with the very heaviest heart — oh, spare me your sneer32! — I do not lie, I have never lied. And I swear to you here and now, by my every hope of Heaven, that what I say is true. I loathed33 the thing I did. Yet for my own sake and the sake of my order I must do it. Ask yourself whether M. de Vilmorin would have hesitated for a moment if by procuring34 my death he could have brought the Utopia of his dreams a moment nearer realization35.
“After that. You determined36 that the sweetest vengeance37 would be to frustrate38 my ends by reviving in yourself the voice that I had silenced, by yourself carrying forward the fantastic apostleship of equality that was M. de Vilmorin’s. You lacked the vision that would have shown you that God did not create men equals. Well, you are in case to-night to judge which of us was right, which wrong. You see what is happening here in Paris. You see the foul39 spectre of Anarchy40 stalking through a land fallen into confusion. Probably you have enough imagination to conceive something of what must follow. And do you deceive yourself that out of this filth41 and ruin there will rise up an ideal form of society? Don’t you understand that society must re-order itself presently out of all this?
“But why say more? I must have said enough to make you understand the only thing that really matters — that I killed M. de Vilmorin as a matter of duty to my order. And the truth — which though it may offend you should also convince you — is that to-night I can look back on the deed with equanimity42, without a single regret, apart from what lies between you and me.
“When, kneeling beside the body of your friend that day at Gavrillac, you insulted and provoked me, had I been the tiger you conceived me I must have killed you too. I am, as you may know, a man of quick passions. Yet I curbed43 the natural anger you aroused in me, because I could forgive an affront44 to myself where I could not overlook a calculated attack upon my order.”
He paused a moment. Andre–Louis stood rigid45 listening and wondering. So, too, the others. Then M. le Marquis resumed, on a note of less assurance. “In the matter of Mlle. Binet I was unfortunate. I wronged you through inadvertence. I had no knowledge of the relations between you.”
Andre–Louis interrupted him sharply at last with a question: “Would it have made a difference if you had?”
“No,” he was answered frankly46. “I have the faults of my kind. I cannot pretend that any such scruple47 as you suggest would have weighed with me. But can you — if you are capable of any detached judgment48 — blame me very much for that?”
“All things considered, monsieur, I am rapidly being forced to the conclusion that it is impossible to blame any man for anything in this world; that we are all of us the sport of destiny. Consider, monsieur, this gathering49 — this family gathering — here to-night, whilst out there . . . O my God, let us make an end! Let us go our ways and write ‘finis’ to this horrible chapter of our lives.”
M. le La Tour considered him gravely, sadly, in silence for a moment.
“Perhaps it is best,” he said, at length, in a small voice. He turned to Mme. de Plougastel. “If a wrong I have to admit in my life, a wrong that I must bitterly regret, it is the wrong that I have done to you, my dear . . . ”
“Not now, Gervais! Not now!” she faltered50, interrupting him.
“Now — for the first and the last time. I am going. It is not likely that we shall ever meet again — that I shall ever see any of you again — you who should have been the nearest and dearest to me. We are all, he says, the sport of destiny. Ah, but not quite. Destiny is an intelligent force, moving with purpose. In life we pay for the evil that in life we do. That is the lesson that I have learnt to-night. By an act of betrayal I begot51 unknown to me a son who, whilst as ignorant as myself of our relationship, has come to be the evil genius of my life, to cross and thwart52 me, and finally to help to pull me down in ruin. It is just — poetically53 just. My full and resigned acceptance of that fact is the only atonement I can offer you.”
He stooped and took one of madame’s hands that lay limply in her lap.
“Good-bye, Therese!” His voice broke. He had reached the end of his iron self-control.
She rose and clung to him a moment, unashamed before them. The ashes of that dead romance had been deeply stirred this night, and deep down some lingering embers had been found that glowed brightly now before their final extinction54. Yet she made no attempt to detain him. She understood that their son had pointed55 out the only wise, the only possible course, and was thankful that M. de La Tour d’Azyr accepted it.
“God keep you, Gervais,” she murmured. “You will take the safe-conduct, and . . . and you will let me know when you are safe?”
He held her face between his hands an instant; then very gently kissed her and put her from him. Standing56 erect57, and outwardly calm again, he looked across at Andre–Louis who was proffering58 him a sheet of paper.
“It is the safe-conduct. Take it, monsieur. It is my first and last gift to you, and certainly the last gift I should ever have thought of making you — the gift of life. In a sense it makes us quits. The irony59, sir, is not mine, but Fate’s. Take it, monsieur, and go in peace.”
M. de La Tour d’Azyr took it. His eyes looked hungrily into the lean face confronting him, so sternly set. He thrust the paper into his bosom60, and then abruptly61, convulsively, held out his hand. His son’s eyes asked a question.
“Let there be peace between us, in God’s name,” said the Marquis thickly.
Pity stirred at last in Andre–Louis. Some of the sternness left his face. He sighed. “Good-bye, monsieur,” he said.
“You are hard,” his father told him, speaking wistfully. “But perhaps you are in the right so to be. In other circumstances I should have been proud to have owned you as my son. As it is . . . ” He broke off abruptly, and as abruptly added, “Good-bye.”
He loosed his son’s hand and stepped back. They bowed formally to each other. And then M. de La Tour d’Azyr bowed to Mlle. de Kercadiou in utter silence, a bow that contained something of utter renunciation, of finality.
That done he turned and walked stiffly out of the room, and so out of all their lives. Months later they were to hear of him in the service of the Emperor of Austria.
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1
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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2
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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3
heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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4
commiseration
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| n.怜悯，同情 | |
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5
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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6
numbed
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| v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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8
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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9
apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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10
divulged
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| v.吐露，泄露( divulge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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12
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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13
tormenting
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| 使痛苦的，使苦恼的 | |
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14
effaces
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| v.擦掉( efface的第三人称单数 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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15
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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16
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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17
derives
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| v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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18
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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19
akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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20
justifiably
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| adv.无可非议地 | |
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21
strata
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| n.地层（复数）；社会阶层 | |
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22
amorphous
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| adj.无定形的 | |
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23
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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24
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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25
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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26
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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27
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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28
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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29
slaying
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| 杀戮。 | |
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30
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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31
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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32
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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33
loathed
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
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34
procuring
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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35
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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36
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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37
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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38
frustrate
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| v.使失望；使沮丧；使厌烦 | |
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39
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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40
anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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41
filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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42
equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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43
curbed
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
affront
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| n./v.侮辱，触怒 | |
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45
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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46
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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47
scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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48
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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49
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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50
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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51
begot
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| v.为…之生父( beget的过去式 )；产生，引起 | |
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52
thwart
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| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
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53
poetically
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| adv.有诗意地，用韵文 | |
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54
extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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55
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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56
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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57
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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58
proffering
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的现在分词 ) | |
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59
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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60
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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61
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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