There was another too who began to be of the same opinion. Notwithstanding the indignant manner in which Katie had darted14 away after discovering the previous relations of Walter with Julia Herbert, and hearing Underwood’s malicious15 statement that “he must always have some one to amuse himself with,” there was yet in her mind a conviction that something more must be heard of Lord Erradeen. He would write, she thought, when he found that she had not waited for any explanation from him. It was not possible that after the close intercourse16 that had existed he would disappear and make no sign. And when months passed by and nothing was heard of him, Katie was more surprised than she would confess. He had “slipped away like a knotless thread.” Nothing could be more true than this description. From the moment when she turned away from him in the great room at Burlington House, she had heard or seen nothing more of Walter. Her heart was quite whole, and there was not any personal wistfulness in her questionings; but she was piqued17, and curious, and perhaps more interested in Lord Erradeen than she had ever been before.
In these circumstances it was very natural, almost inevitable18, that she should take Oona into her confidence. For Oona was known, on his first appearance, to have “seen a great deal” of Lord Erradeen. This she herself explained with some eagerness to mean that she had met him three times—one of these times being the memorable19 moment of the eviction20 which he had put a stop to, an incident which had naturally made a great commotion21 in the country-side. But Mrs. Forrester had never felt the slightest reluctance22 to talk of their intercourse with the young lord. She had declared that she took a great interest in him, and that she was his first friend on Loch Houran: and anticipated with cheerful confidence the certainty of his coming back, “more like one of my own boys than anything else,” she said. The fact that the Forresters were the first to know, and indeed the only people who had known him, did indeed at the time of his first appearance identify them with Lord Erradeen in a marked way. The minister and the factor, though not match-makers, had allowed, as has been said, to steal into their minds, that possibility which is more or less in the air when youth and maiden23 meet. And there were others who had said—some, that Oona Forrester would make a capital wife for Lord Erradeen, a young man who was a stranger in the country; some, that it would be a good thing for Oona to secure, before any one else knew him, the best match on the loch; and some even, that though Mrs. Forrester looked such a simple person, she had her wits all about her, and never neglected the interests of her family. In the course of time, as Lord Erradeen disappeared and was not heard of any more, this gossip drooped24 and died away. But it left a general impression on the mind of the district that there was a tie of friendship between Lord Erradeen and the ladies of the Isle25. They had something to do with him—not love, since he had never come again; but some link of personal knowledge, interest, which nobody else had: any information about him would naturally be carried there first; and Katie, having elucidations to ask as well as confidences to make, lost no time in carrying her budget to the Isle.
The true position of affairs there was unsuspected by any one. The blank which Oona anticipated had closed down upon her with a force even stronger than that which she had feared. The void, altogether unknown to any one but herself, had made her sick with shame and distress26. It was inconceivable to her that the breaking off of an intercourse so slight (as she said to herself), the absence of an individual of whom she knew so little, not enough even for the most idiotical love at first sight, should have thus emptied out the interests of life, and made such a vacancy27 about her. It was a thing not to be submitted to, not to be acknowledged even, which she would have died sooner than let any one know, which she despised herself for being capable of. But notwithstanding all this self-indignation, repression28, and shame, it was there. Life seemed emptied out of all its interest to the struggling, indignant, unhappy girl. Why should such a thing be? A chance encounter, no fault of hers, or his, or any one’s. A few meetings, to her consciousness quite accidental, which she had neither wished for nor done anything to bring about. And then some strange difficulty, danger, she could not tell what, in which he had appealed to her for her help. She would have refused that help to no one. It was as natural for her to give aid and service as to breathe. But why, why should a thing so simple have brought upon her all this that followed? She was not aware even that she loved the man; no! she said to herself with a countenance29 ablaze30 with shame, how could she love him? she knew nothing of him; and yet when he had gone away the light had been drawn31 out of her horizon, the heart out of her life. It was intolerable, it was cruel; and yet so it was. Nobody knew with what a miserable32 monotony the old routine of existence went on for some time after. She was so indignant, so angry, so full of resistance, that it disturbed her temper a little: and perhaps the irritation33 did her good. She went on (of course, having no choice in the matter) with all her old occupations just as usual, feeling herself in a sort of iron framework within which she moved without any volition34 of her own. The winter months passed like one long blank unfeatured day. But when the spring came, Oona’s elastic35 nature had at last got the upper hand. There began again to be a little sweetness to her in her existence. All this long struggle, and the slowly acquired victory, had been absolutely unsuspected by those about her. Mysie, perhaps, spectator as servants are of the life from which they are a little more apart than the members of a family, divined a disturbance36 in the being of her young mistress who was at the same time her child; but even she had no light as to what it was; and thus unobserved, unknown, though with many a desperate episode and conflict more than bloody37, the little war began to be over. It left the girl with a throbbing38 experience of pain such as it is extraordinary to think could be acquired in the midst of so much peace, and at the same time with a sort of sickening apprehension39 now and then of the possibility of a renewal40 of the conflict. But no, she said to herself, that was not possible. Another time she would at least be forewarned. She would put on her armour41 and look to all her defences. Such a cheap and easy conquest should never be made of her again.
She had thus regained42 the command of herself without in the least forgetting what had been, when Katie came with her story to claim her advice and sympathy. Katie came from her father’s castle with what was in reality a more splendid equipage than that which conveyed her with swift prancing43 horses along the side of the loch. She came attended by a crew of gentlemen, the best in these parts. Young Tom Campbell, of the Ellermore family, was her bow oar44. He was furthest off, as being hopelessly ineligible45, and not having, even in his own opinion, the least right to come to speech of the heiress, for whom he had a hot boyish passion. Scott of Inverhouran, a Campbell too by the mother’s side, and not far off the head of his clan46, was stroke; and between these two sat the son of a Glasgow trader, who could have bought them both up, and an English baronet who had come to Birkenbraes nominally47 for the grouse, really for Katie. Tom of Ellermore was the only one of the crew who might not, as people say, have married anybody, from the Duke’s daughter downwards48. Katie was accompanied by a mild, grey-haired lady who had once been her governess, and a pretty little girl of fifteen, not indisposed to accept a passing tribute from the least engaged of the gentlemen. Katie deposited her companions and her crew with Mrs. Forrester, and calling Oona aside, rushed up-stairs to that young lady’s bed-chamber, where it was evident nobody could pursue them.
“Oh, Oona, never mind them,” she cried. “Your mother will give them their tea and scones49; but I want you—I want your advice—or at least I want you to tell me what you think. They will do very well with Mrs. Forrester.” Then she drew her friend into the little elbow-chair in the window, Oona’s favourite seat, and threw herself down on the footstool at her feet. “I want you to tell me—” she said, with a certain solemnity, “what you think of Lord Erradeen.”
“Of Lord Erradeen?” said Oona, faintly. She was taken so completely by surprise that the shock almost betrayed her. Katie fixed50 upon her a pair of open, penetrating51 brown eyes. They were both fair, but Oona was of a golden tint52, and Katie of a less distinguished53 light brownness. Katie, with her little profile somewhat blurred54 and indistinct in the outlines, had an air of common sense and reason, while Oona’s was the higher type of poetry and romance.
“Yes; you know him better than any one about here. But first, I will tell you the circumstances. We saw a great deal of him in London. He went everywhere with us, and met us everywhere——”
“Then, Katie,” cried Oona, with a little burst of natural impatience55; “you must know him a great deal better than I.”
Said Kate calmly—“I am a quite different person from you, and I saw him only in society. Just hear me out, and you will know what I mean. People thought he was coming after me. I thought so myself more or less: but he never said a word. And the last night we met another girl, who took hold of him as some girls do—you know? Oh, not taking his arm with her hand, as you or I should do, or looking at him with her eyes; but just with a fling, with the whole of her, as those girls do. I was disgusted, and I sent him away. I don’t think yet that he wished it, or cared. But of course he was obliged to go. And then Captain—I mean one that knew him—told me—oh, yes, that he was like that; he must always have some one to amuse himself with. I would not see him after: I just came away. Now what does it mean? Is he a thing of that sort, that is not worth thinking about; or is he—?—oh, no, I am not asking for your advice: I ask you what you think.”
Oona was not able to quench56 the agitation57 that rose up in her heart. It was like a sea suddenly roused by an unforeseen storm.
“I wish,” she said, “you would not ask me such questions. I think nothing at all. I—never saw him—in that light.”
“What do you think?” said Katie, without changing her tone. She did not look in her friend’s face to make any discovery, but trifled with the bangles upon her arm, and left Oona free. As a matter of fact, she was quite unsuspicious of her companion’s agitation; for the question, though very important, was not agitating58 to herself. She was desirous of having an unbiassed opinion, but even if that were unfavourable, it would not, she was aware, be at all likely to break her heart.
Oona on her side was used to having her advice asked. In the interval59 she schooled herself to a consideration of the question.
“I will tell you, Katie, how I have seen him,” she said, “here with my mother, and among the poor cotters in the Truach Glas. How could I tell from that how he would behave to a girl? He was very pretty, with my mother. I liked him for it. He listened to her and did what she told him, and never put on an air, or looked wearied, as gentlemen will sometimes do. Then he was very kind to the cotters, as I have told you. To see them turned out made him wild with indignation. You may judge by that the kind of man he was. It was not like doing them a favour; it was mending a miserable wrong.”
“I have heard all this before,” said Katie, with a slight impatience, “but what has that to do with it? You are telling me facts, when I want your opinion. The one has nothing to do with the other. I can put this and that together myself. But what I want is an opinion. What do you think? Don’t put me off any longer, but tell me that,” Katie cried.
“What do you want my opinion about?” asked the other, with also, in her turn, some impatience in her voice.
Then Katie ceased playing with her bangles, and looked up. She had never before met with such an unsatisfactory response from Oona. She said with a directness which denoted a natural and hereditary60 turn for the practical—“Whether he will come; and if he comes, what it will be for?”
“He will certainly come,” said Oona, “because he must. You that have lived on the loch so long—you know what the lords of Erradeen have to do.”
“And do you mean to say,” cried Katie, with indignation, “that an old silly story will bring him—and not me? If that is your opinion, Oona! Do you know that he is a man like ourselves? Lord Innishouran thinks very well of him. He thinks there is something in him. For my part, I have never seen that he was clever; but I should think he had some sense. And how could a man who has any sense allow himself to be led into that?” She jumped up from her seat at Oona’s feet in her indignation. “Perhaps you believe in the Warlock lord?” she said, with fine scorn. “Perhaps he believes in him? If Lord Erradeen should speak of that to me, I would laugh in his face. With some people it might be excusable, but with a man who is of his century!—The last one was a fool—everybody says so: and had his head full of rubbish, when he was not going wrong. By the by!” Katie cried—then stopped, as if struck by a new thought which had not occurred to her before.
“What is it?” said Oona, who had been listening with mingled61 resignation and impatience.
“When we took Lord Erradeen up he was with that Captain Underwood, who used to be with the old lord. I told him you would be sorry to see it. Now that I remember, he never asked me the reason why; but Captain Underwood disappeared. That looks as if he had given great importance to what I said to him. Perhaps after all, Oona, it is you of whom he was thinking. That, however, would not justify62 him in coming after me. I am very fond of you, but I should not care to be talked about all over London because a gentleman was in love with you!”
Oona had coloured high, and then grown pale. “You will see, if you think of it, that you must not use such words about me,” she said, with an effort to be perfectly63 calm. “There is no gentleman in love—as you say—with me. I have never put it in any one’s power to speak so.” As she spoke64 it was not only once but a dozen times that her countenance changed. With a complexion65 as clear as the early roses, and blood that ebbs66 and flows in her veins68 at every touch of feeling, how can a girl preserve such secrets from the keen perceptions of another? Katie kept an eye upon her, watching from under her downcast eyelids69. She had the keenest powers of vision, and even could understand, when thus excited, characters of a higher tone than her own. She did not all at once say anything, but paused to take in this new idea and reconcile it with the other ideas that had been in her mind before.
“This is very funny,” said Katie, after an interval. “I never thought anything dramatical was going to happen to me: but I suppose, as they say in books, that your life is always a great deal more near that sort of thing than you suppose.”
“What sort of thing?” said Oona, who felt that she had betrayed herself, yet was more determined70 than ever not to betray herself or to yield a single step to the curiosity of the world as embodied71 in this inquiring spirit. She added, with a little flush of courage, “When you, a great heiress, come in the way of a young lord, there is a sort of royal character about it. You will—marry for the sake of the world as well as for your own sake; and all the preliminaries, the doubts, and the difficulties, and the obstacles that come in the way, of course they are all like a romance. This interruption will be the most delightful72 episode. The course of true love never did run——”
“Oh stop!” cried Katie, “that’s all so commonplace. It is far more exciting and original, Oona, that we should be rivals, you and I.”
“You are making a great mistake,” said Oona, rising with the most stately gravity. “I am no one’s rival. I would not be even if——. But in this case it is absurd. I scarcely know Lord Erradeen, as I have told you. Let us dismiss him from the conversation,” she added, with a movement of her hands as if putting something away. It had been impossible, however, even to say so much without the sudden flush which said more to the eyes of Katie, not herself addicted73 to blushing, than any words could do to her ears.
“It is very interesting,” she said. “We may dismiss him from the conversation, but we can’t dismiss him from life, you know. And if he is sure to come to Kinloch Houran, as you say, not for me, nor for you, but for that old nonsense, why then he will be——And we shall be forced to consider the question. For my part, I find it far more interesting than I ever thought it would be. You are proud, and take it in King Cambyses’ vein67. But I’m not proud,” said Katie, “I am a student of human nature. It will take a great deal of thinking over, and it’s very interesting. I am fond of you, Oona, and you are prettier and better than I am; but I don’t quite think at this moment that I will give in even to you, till——”
“If you insist on making a joke, I cannot help it,” said Oona, still stately, “but I warn you, Katie, that you will offend me.”
“Oh, offend you! Why should I offend you?” cried Katie, putting her arm within that of the princess. “It is no joke, it is a problem. When I came to ask for your opinion I never thought it would be half so interesting. If he has good taste, of course I know whom he will choose.”
“Katie!” cried Oona, with a violent blush, “if you think that I would submit to be a candidate—a competitor—for any man to choose——”
“How can you help it?” said Katie, calmly. “It appears it’s nature. We have a great deal to put up with, being women, but we can’t help ourselves. Of course the process will go on in his own mind. He will not be so brutal74 as to let us see that he is weighing and considering. And we can have our revenge after, if we like: we can always refuse. Come, Oona, I am quite satisfied. You and me, that are very fond of each other, we are rivals. We will not say a word about it, but we’ll just go on and see what will happen. And I promise you I shall be as fond of you as ever, whatever happens. Men would say that was impossible—just as they say, the idiots, that women are never true friends. That is mere folly75; but this is a problem, and it will be very interesting to work it out. I wonder if those boys have eaten all the scones,” Katie said, with the greatest simplicity76, as she led Oona down-stairs. She was so perfectly at her ease, taking the command of her more agitated77 companion, and so much pleased with her problem, that Oona’s proud excitement of self-defence melted away in the humour of the situation. She threw herself into the gaiety of the merry young party down-stairs, among whom Mrs. Forrester was in her element, dispensing78 tea and the most liberal supply of scones, which Mysie, with equal satisfaction, kept bringing in in ever fresh supplies, folded in the whitest of napkins. Katie immediately claimed her share of these dainties, intimating at once, with the decision of a connoisseur79, the kind she preferred: but when supplied remained a little serious, paying no attention to “the boys,” as she, somewhat contemptuously, entitled her attendants, and thinking over her problem. But Oona, in her excitement and self-consciousness, ran over with mirth and spirits. She talked and laughed with nervous gaiety, so that Hamish heard the sound of the fun down upon the beach where he watched over the boats, lest a passing shower should come up and wet the cushions of the magnificent vessel80 from Birkenbraes, which he admired and despised. “Those Glasgow persons,” said Hamish, “not to be disrespectful, they will just be made of money; but Miss Oona she’ll be as well content with no cushions at all. And if they’ll be making her laugh that’s a good thing,” Hamish said.
点击收听单词发音
1 trumpets | |
喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 ); 小号; 喇叭形物; (尤指)绽开的水仙花 | |
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2 conceals | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,遮住( conceal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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3 scotch | |
n.伤口,刻痕;苏格兰威士忌酒;v.粉碎,消灭,阻止;adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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4 moors | |
v.停泊,系泊(船只)( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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5 disappearance | |
n.消失,消散,失踪 | |
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6 elicited | |
引出,探出( elicit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7 avowed | |
adj.公开声明的,承认的v.公开声明,承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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8 proprietor | |
n.所有人;业主;经营者 | |
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9 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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10 grouse | |
n.松鸡;v.牢骚,诉苦 | |
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11 hospitable | |
adj.好客的;宽容的;有利的,适宜的 | |
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12 rites | |
仪式,典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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13 potentates | |
n.君主,统治者( potentate的名词复数 );有权势的人 | |
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14 darted | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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15 malicious | |
adj.有恶意的,心怀恶意的 | |
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16 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
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17 piqued | |
v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 );激起(好奇心) | |
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18 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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19 memorable | |
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的 | |
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20 eviction | |
n.租地等的收回 | |
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21 commotion | |
n.骚动,动乱 | |
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22 reluctance | |
n.厌恶,讨厌,勉强,不情愿 | |
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23 maiden | |
n.少女,处女;adj.未婚的,纯洁的,无经验的 | |
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24 drooped | |
弯曲或下垂,发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25 isle | |
n.小岛,岛 | |
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26 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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27 vacancy | |
n.(旅馆的)空位,空房,(职务的)空缺 | |
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28 repression | |
n.镇压,抑制,抑压 | |
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29 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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30 ablaze | |
adj.着火的,燃烧的;闪耀的,灯火辉煌的 | |
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31 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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32 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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33 irritation | |
n.激怒,恼怒,生气 | |
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34 volition | |
n.意志;决意 | |
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35 elastic | |
n.橡皮圈,松紧带;adj.有弹性的;灵活的 | |
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36 disturbance | |
n.动乱,骚动;打扰,干扰;(身心)失调 | |
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37 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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38 throbbing | |
a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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39 apprehension | |
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑 | |
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40 renewal | |
adj.(契约)延期,续订,更新,复活,重来 | |
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41 armour | |
(=armor)n.盔甲;装甲部队 | |
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42 regained | |
复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 ); 赢回; 重回; 复至某地 | |
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43 prancing | |
v.(马)腾跃( prance的现在分词 ) | |
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44 oar | |
n.桨,橹,划手;v.划行 | |
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45 ineligible | |
adj.无资格的,不适当的 | |
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46 clan | |
n.氏族,部落,宗族,家族,宗派 | |
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47 nominally | |
在名义上,表面地; 应名儿 | |
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48 downwards | |
adj./adv.向下的(地),下行的(地) | |
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49 scones | |
n.烤饼,烤小圆面包( scone的名词复数 ) | |
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50 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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51 penetrating | |
adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的 | |
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52 tint | |
n.淡色,浅色;染发剂;vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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53 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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54 blurred | |
v.(使)变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 );(使)难以区分;模模糊糊;迷离 | |
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55 impatience | |
n.不耐烦,急躁 | |
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56 quench | |
vt.熄灭,扑灭;压制 | |
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57 agitation | |
n.搅动;搅拌;鼓动,煽动 | |
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58 agitating | |
搅动( agitate的现在分词 ); 激怒; 使焦虑不安; (尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而)激烈争论 | |
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59 interval | |
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
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60 hereditary | |
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的 | |
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61 mingled | |
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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62 justify | |
vt.证明…正当(或有理),为…辩护 | |
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63 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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64 spoke | |
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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65 complexion | |
n.肤色;情况,局面;气质,性格 | |
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66 ebbs | |
退潮( ebb的名词复数 ); 落潮; 衰退 | |
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67 vein | |
n.血管,静脉;叶脉,纹理;情绪;vt.使成脉络 | |
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68 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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69 eyelids | |
n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 );眼睛也不眨一下;不露声色;面不改色 | |
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70 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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71 embodied | |
v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 );象征;包括;包含 | |
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72 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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73 addicted | |
adj.沉溺于....的,对...上瘾的 | |
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74 brutal | |
adj.残忍的,野蛮的,不讲理的 | |
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75 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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76 simplicity | |
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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77 agitated | |
adj.被鼓动的,不安的 | |
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78 dispensing | |
v.分配( dispense的现在分词 );施与;配(药) | |
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79 connoisseur | |
n.鉴赏家,行家,内行 | |
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80 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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