Chapter 83

Nevertheless, Peters, I’m still spooked by him enough to hesitate: while I have seen my sentry¹ fail this once to point out the peril², I have yet to see him be mistaken about a peril’s presence. So I make some conjecture⁴ on my own; I ask myself, “Now just what could happen to me if I go through with this?” And the only answer I can truthfully make is, “Viv. Viv could happen to you. ...” But unlike the time before, when I did not want to hurt her, this time I am hung-up with the possibility of helping⁵ her and the gratitude⁶ that might result. This is why I was coming on about roots and our generation’s aversion to being tied down: Perhaps I have become fond enough of this girl (or fond enough of this girl’s need for what I have to offer) that I stand a chance of being caught. Perhaps Old Reliable is warning me of a treacherous⁷ tarbaby trap, that Viv is a sticky pickaninny of a woman 488 ken³ kesey who is just waiting to turn a fond touch into an attachment⁸ so black and unbreakable that a man would feel forever horrible and eternally— The pencil lead had dimmed almost completely into the chewed wood; I stopped and reread the last few lines of the letter, then penciled through them with anger and shame and the very last of the protruding⁹ lead, telling myself that even Peters—as emancipated¹⁰ as he claimed to be from caring about cracks to do with color—still didn’t deserve to be subjected to such tasteless tar-colored metaphors¹¹: “No reason to risk hurting a friend’s feelings,” I told myself, but I knew that I had crossed out the statement in the interest more of honesty than of diplomacy¹². In the first place I knew that there was nothing farther from the truth than a description presenting Viv as a sort of glue-ball female, and that there was even reason to suspect that any attachment occurring between us, be it black or be it unbreakable, would have made me feel quite the opposite of horrible. I gnawed¹³ a bit more lead into view on the stub of pencil, turned to the next page in my musty-smelling ledger¹⁴, and tried again: In spite of this girl’s Al Capp cover story, Peters, she is a rather extraordinary person. She told me, for example, that her parents were both college grads (killed in a car accident when she was in the second grade) and that her mother had taught keyboard for some years. At Juilliard, no less. Again I stopped, snapping the ledger shut on the pencil in my disgust and breaking its lead; while this statement about her parents was at least accurate, it still seemed a long way from telling any sort of truth about the girl I had come to know. It was still part of the intellectual smoke-screen put up to shroud¹⁵ the true scene, and the true emotions I had felt growing since the night that circumstances—and an SOS from some hapless saboteurs up the river—gave Viv and me the first chance since the fox-hunt to be alone together. sometimes a great notion I had perhaps been the only one still awake in the rain-battered old house when the phone rang. Unable to sleep as a result of too much hot lemon-tea sloshed to soothe¹⁶ an irritated throat, I was passing the caffeined hours propped¹⁷ up under the covers beside my bedside lamp, trying to collect some new meanings from the depths of some old Wallace Stevens poetry (as we grow more literate¹⁸ it seems we mature mentally in our collecting, passing from the kid stuff of stamps and bubble-gum cards and butterflies to the more adult items such as “deep meanings”), when I heard the ringing start downstairs. After a dozen or so nail-loosening rings, I heard the unmistakable hard-heeled thudding of Hank’s barefoot tread as he worked his way along the hall and down the steps. In a moment the tread came back up the steps and past my door to Joe and Jan’s room, then returned, accompanied by the erratic¹⁹ hop-step-and-stumble of Joe Ben’s walk. The feet hurried downstairs and donned boots; I listened, wondering what strange midnight doings were afoot and—after I heard the boat start outside and roar off up river—afloat. All this strange and sudden activity seemed even more pregnant with possible deep meanings than Stevens’ poetry, so I switched off my light and lay back to try to plumb²⁰ the depth of these midnight doings. What was up with all this barefoot roaming? Where were those feet going in that boat at this hour? And, snuggling deeper into my drowse, I was just getting the boots laced onto the feet of my own fantasies—“Perhaps the call told of a great forest fire and Hank and Joe Ben...no; too wet;...a flood, that’s it. Andy has called to say that a terrible forty-caliber rainstorm is strafing the land and splintering the trees and tearing the machinery²¹ to shreds²²!”—when a soft click snapped my eyes back open and a thin needle of light stabbing my bed told me that Viv had turned on her lamp in the room next to mine. ...Going to read until he gets back, I surmised²³. This means either he is to be gone only a short time and nothing to worry about, or a long time and maybe she’d better wait up. I wrestled²⁴ with my curiosity a few minutes, then got out of bed and pulled on an old army surplus raincoat in lieu of a bathrobe; neither a fitting nor stylish²⁵ attire²⁶ to call at a young 490 ken kesey lady’s room, but it was a choice between the raincoat, the still damp work pants spread out before the heater, or the pegged²⁷ and pressed slacks hanging in my closet, and somehow the raincoat seemed the least ridiculous of the three. My choice turned out to be a fortunate one; when she said, “Yes?” to my knock I opened the door to find her in almost complete accord with my apparel: she was on the couch, surrounded by pillows and lamplight and an overcoat even bigger and harsher than mine. And much heavier. A black wool job of obscure extraction; I suspected that the coat had once belonged to old Henry or someone even taller; its folds and fabric²⁸ were so dark that it lost all outline against itself, becoming a featureless clot²⁹ of sooty black from which was thrust a gleam of face and two slight white hands holding a paperback³⁰ novel. The coincidence gave us a chance to laugh, a chance to cut through the distances that ordinarily take hours to overcome before you can feel anything in common. The raincoats afforded us an in-commonness to start from. “Very pleased to see that you are hip³² to the latest thing in casual wear,” I told her when our laughter had stopped, “but I feel that you—ah— should see your tailor about the fit,” I said, and shuffled³³ a sneaky yard into the room. She lifted her arms and studied the overwhelming sleeves. “You think so? Or should I wait till I wash it and see if it shrinks?” “Yes. Better wait; wouldn’t want it to be too small for you.” We laughed again and I advanced another dozen inches. “Actually,” she explained, “I do have a housecoat, but I never wear it. I believe it was a gift—it must have been a gift—from Hank for my birthday or something right after I first came out here.” “It must be a sight to behold³⁴, this gift, if you wear that tent instead. . . .” “No,” she said. “It’s all right. For a housecoat. But, you see ...I had an aunt that was in a housecoat all the day long, morning to night, never got into anything else till night, when she got fixed³⁵ up to go to Pueblo³⁶ or someplace ...and I promised myself Vivian, honey, when you get big you go nakedy before you run around in a old housecoat!” sometimes a great notion “My reason precisely,” I replied, “for not wearing a smoking jacket.” I assumed a look of lidded reverie. “Yes. Had an uncle. Same way about his dress. Always in this ruddy old tweed, getting cigar ashes in the sherry; smelling up the house; shedding. Damn nuisance.” “My aunt had terrible breath...” “Oh, my uncle’s breath would sometimes asphyxiate³⁸ entire rooms full of poor souls unaccustomed to his stench.” “Did he always leave the sleepy in his eyes?” “Never removed it; let it build up in the corners of his eyes over the weeks until it was heavy enough to fall out in walnut-sized chunks³⁹.” “I wish we might have got them together, my aunt and this uncle of yours; they sound made for each other, don’t they? Too bad that she couldn’t have married a man like him. With those cigars,” she remarked wistfully. “My aunt had a perfume that she wore that would have gone perfect with his cigars. What will we call your uncle?” “Uncle Mortique. Mort for short. Your aunt?” “Her real name was Mabel, but I always called her—to myself, I mean—Maybelline...because of all the eye make-up she used.” “Uncle Mort...? meet Maybelline. Now why don’t you two go on off someplace and get acquainted? There’s good kids ...” Sputtering⁴⁰ giggles⁴² like silly children, we went on to wave the pretended pair out of the room, bade them not hurry back, then—“There goes a real cute couple,”—closed the door behind them triumphantly⁴³. With the little trip ended, we were for a moment without words. I sat down on the big piece of driftwood. Viv closed her paperback. “Well,” I said, “alone at last”—trying to draw out the joke. But this time the response was forced, the giggle⁴¹ much less childlike, and the joke not nearly so silly. Viv and I were fortunate to be able to kid with each other; as with Peters, operating within the limits of humor and make-believe afforded Viv and me opportunities to laugh and make jokes, put each other at ease with pretense⁴⁴; and with this system we could enjoy a 492 ken kesey relationship without too much worry about commitment. But a system made secure by the protective plating of humor and pretense always runs the risk of having its protection get out of hand. A relationship based on jokes invites jokes; jokes about anything—“Yes,” Viv said, in an attempt to reinforce my attempt, “alone at long last,”—and jokes about anything are now and then bound to cut too close to the truth. I saved us from the fate of hangnail-tending and lint-picking, by remembering what I had come calling to ask about in the first place. The mysterious phone call, she answered, was almost as much a mystery to her as to me. Hank had stuck his head in the door and told her he had to go up to the mill to fish some of his friends and neighbors out of the river, but he hadn’t said who they were or what they were doing at the mill at this hour. I asked if she had any ideas what it was all about. She said no ideas at all. I said it certainly is peculiar⁴⁵. She said it sure is. And I said especially this late at night. And she said and it raining so bad and all. And I said we’ll probably find out in the morning. And she said yes, in the morning, or maybe when Hank and Joby get back. And I said yes. . . . And after another small silence I said that the weather doesn’t seem to be easing up any. And she said the radio says a new low’s moving down from Canada, be like this another week. And I said that’s sure happy tidings. And she said isn’t it, though ...? And then, we just sat. Wishing we hadn’t been so wasteful⁴⁶ with our topics, realizing we had exhausted⁴⁷ all the excuses and that if we were to talk it would have to be plunge⁴⁸ right into the subject of each other—the only topic left in common—or not talk at all. I stood up, and shuffled backward toward the door, preferring at this point to take the second alternative of not-atall, but before I could finish my good night Viv took the plunge. “Lee . . .” She paused a moment to debate something with herself, while she tilted⁵⁰ her head and studied me with one blue eye peeking⁵¹ over the coat’s black collar. Then all at once asked me point-blank “. . . what are you doing out here? with all your learning . . . education, out here spending your time wrapping a dull old cable around a dull old log?” sometimes a great notion “The cable and the log are not that dull”—I tried to clown my way through—“not when analyzed⁵² in their truer, their deeper meaning, as sexual symbols. Yas. You must keep it a secret, of course, but I am out here on a grant from the Kinsey foundation, doing research for a book on the Castration Complex of the Choker-setter. Fascinating study . . .” But she had asked the question out of serious curiosity and she was waiting for a serious answer. “No, I mean it, Lee,” she said. “Why are you out here?” I began racking my brain and kicking my rear for not having anticipated this inevitable⁵³ question with a good, ready-made, and logical-sounding lie. Damn stupid oversight⁵⁴! And this brain-racking, or the rear-kicking, or both, must have produced an expression of considerable anguish⁵⁵, for Viv’s head immediately straightened out of its questioning tilt⁴⁹ and her face filled with sympathy. “Oh. I didn’t mean to ask about something . . . about something you—” “It’s okay. It’s not that kind of question. It was just that—” “No; it is that kind of question. I could see it. I’m really sorry, Lee; I do that sometimes without thinking. I had just been wondering why and thought I’d ask; I wasn’t intending to pick at a purple place. . . .” “Purple place?” “A bruise⁵⁶, a hurt place in somebody’s past, do you know? Well . . . see, in Rocky Ford³¹, my uncle used to run the jail . . . and he used to tell me that I ought to talk with the prisoners a little when I brought their food because they—he was a good man about things like this—because the poor men felt low enough already without me acting⁵⁷ stuck-uppish. Mostly drifters, tramps, drunks; Rocky Ford was a big railroad town once. And he was right, my uncle, that they felt low enough. I would listen to them, their stories and how come they were in jail and what they were aiming to do, and really get involved, you see? And then my aunt would see this and come in and sit on my bed at night and tell me that I was maybe fooling those poor men or my uncle, but she was onto me. She knew what I was, she’d say—whispering, sitting there on my cot in the dark—that I was one of these carrion-bird people. Like a magpie⁵⁸ or a raven⁵⁹. 494 ken kesey Somebody . . . just interested in picking at the purple places in people’s past, she’d say, not at their healthy places, just at their hurts ...that she was onto me and that I’d better watch out.” Viv looked down at her hands for a second. “And a lot of times—I’m still not sure—I thought she was right.” Then back up at me: “Anyway, do you see what I mean? about purple places?” “No. Yes. I mean yes I see what a purple place is and no you didn’t hit one with your question . . . all right? Why I couldn’t answer, Viv ...I don’t really know what I’m doing out here, fighting dull old logs. But then I didn’t know what I was doing back at school, fighting dull old poems and plays written by dull old Englishmen, either ...making believe I cared about it all so a committee of dull old professors would authorize⁶⁰ me to teach the same rot to more young fellows making believe so more committees would authorize them to teach more fellows, and so on to the last syllables⁶¹ of recorded time. ...Didn’t it bother you? having your aunt accuse you of preying⁶² on the jailbirds?” “Terribly,” she answered, “for a while, anyway.” I sat down again on the driftwood. “It’s one of the worst sort of binds⁶⁴ you can be put in, you know,” I informed her, in a voice I’m sure must have made me sound as though a record number of similar situations had made me the world’s foremost authority on the resulting hang-ups. “The binds—I mean a bind⁶³; the binds sounds like something caused by nitrogen bubbles in your ego—a bind is when you are put in a damnedif-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situation. In your case, for instance, you were made to feel guilty if you didn’t listen to the prisoners, and guilty if you did.” She listened patiently but didn’t seem very impressed by my diagnosis⁶⁵. “I felt something like that, I guess,” she said, and smiled, “but you know, it didn’t bother me too long. Because I found out something. I found out little by little that whatever either my aunt or uncle were after me about didn’t really mean anything but that they were onto themselves about it already. That aunt of mine; boy, she used to wear make-up all week long so terrible thick that—well, she started about Wednesday layering it on, and she never washed, and every day she slapped sometimes a great notion down a new layer. Until Sunday. Then on Sunday she kind of peeled it off to go to church. And after church she was so holy she’d follow after me for hours to see if she could catch me putting on some lipstick⁶⁶ so she could make a big fuss.” Viv smiled, remembering. “Boy, she was a case; I used to hope she’d skip a Sunday—sleep through to Monday or something—because I knew two weeks’ worth of make-up and she’d set up like a statue. Especially as hot as it got around there. Boy oh boy.” She shook her head at the memory, smiling. Then yawned and stretched, becoming lanky⁶⁷, her lanky cowgirl arms lengthening⁶⁸ up out of the sleeves. Arms still stretched, she said, “Lee, if it really isn’t prying⁶⁹ ...was it always dull, your studies? Or did something happen to take the life out of it?” I had become so engrossed⁷⁰ in the shy outpouring from her world that the sudden cut back to me and mine once more caught me off guard; and I stammered⁷¹ out the first answer that came into my mind. “Yes,” I said. “No,” I said. “No, it wasn’t always dull. Not at first. When I first discovered the worlds that came before our world, other scenes in other times, I thought the discovery so bright and blazing I wanted to read everything ever written about these worlds, in these worlds. Let it teach me, then me teach it to everybody. But the more I read...after a while...I began to find they were all writing about the same thing, this same dull old here-today-gone-tomorrow scene... Shakespeare, Milton, Matthew Arnold, even Baudelaire, even this cat whoever he was that wrote Beowulf ...the same scene for the same reasons and to the same end, whether it was Dante with his pit or Baudelaire with his pot: ...the same dull old scene...” “What scene is that? I don’t understand.” “What? Oh, I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to come on so jaded⁷². What scene? This one, the rain, those geese up there with their hard-luck stories ...this, this same world. They all tried to do something with it. Dante did his best to build himself a hell because a hell presuppose a heaven. Baudelaire scarfed hashish and looked inside. Nothing there. Nothing but dreams and delusion⁷³. They all were driven by the need for something else. But when the drive was over, and the dreaming and the deluding⁷⁴ 496 ken kesey worn out, they all ended up with the same dull old scene. But, look, you see, Viv, they had an advantage with their scene, they had something we’ve lost . . .” I waited for her to ask what that something was, but she only sat silently, her hands folded on the black overcoat. “. . . They had a limitless supply of tomorrows to work with. If you didn’t make your dream today, well, there was always more days coming, more dreams full of more sound and fury and future: what if today was a hassle? There was always tomorrow to find the River Jordan, or Valhalla, or that special providence⁷⁵ in the fall of a sparrow...we could believe in the Great Gettin’-up Morning coming someday because if it didn’t make it today there was always tomorrow.” “And there isn’t any more?” I looked up at her and grinned. “What do you think?” “I think it’s pretty likely ...that the alarm will go off at four-thirty, and I’ll be down making pancakes and coffee, just like yesterday.” “Pretty likely, sure. But let’s say Jack³⁷ comes home unexpectedly, all miffed at the steel magnates, his back aching and his vigor⁷⁶ gone, and finds Jackie and Barry making it in his rocking chair ...then what? Or, say, Nikita has one vodka too many and decides what-the-hell, then what? I’ll tell you. Zap; that’s all it takes. The little red button and zap. Right? And this little button makes a definite difference in our world; in our generation, ever since we’ve been old enough to read, our tomorrows have been at the mercy of this button. Well ...at least we’ve quit kidding ourselves about the Great Gettin’-up Mornin’ acoming someday; when you can’t even be sure of having that ‘someday’ come along, you have the devil’s own time convincing yourself of that Mornin’.” “Is it that?” she asked in a soft voice, once more examining her hands, “not being sure of that ‘someday’? Or is it not being sure of having that ‘somebody’?” Her face raised, framed by the contrasting black of the overcoat’s collar. The best I could do was respond with a question of my own. “Have you ever read Wallace Stevens?” I asked, like a sophomore⁷⁷ on a Coke date. “Wait. I’ll get you this book. . . .” And I sometimes a great notion fled to my room to recuperate⁷⁸. The light from the hole showed me the book on the bed, open to the poem I had been reading. I picked it up, keeping my place, but hesitated to return. For a moment I stood, sucking at my cheeks, still feeling that glow, then, like Nikita after too much vodka, decided⁷⁹ what-the-hell and tiptoed quickly to the hole in the wall.

1 sentry   

n.哨兵，警卫

参考例句：

• They often stood sentry on snowy nights.他们常常在雪夜放哨。
• The sentry challenged anyone approaching the tent.哨兵查问任一接近帐篷的人。

2 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

3 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

4 conjecture   

n./v.推测，猜测

参考例句：

• She felt it no use to conjecture his motives.她觉得猜想他的动机是没有用的。
• This conjecture is not supported by any real evidence.这种推测未被任何确切的证据所证实。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

7 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

8 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

9 protruding   

v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸

参考例句：

• He hung his coat on a nail protruding from the wall. 他把上衣挂在凸出墙面的一根钉子上。
• There is a protruding shelf over a fireplace. 壁炉上方有个突出的架子。 来自辞典例句

10 emancipated   

adj.被解放的，不受约束的v.解放某人（尤指摆脱政治、法律或社会的束缚）( emancipate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Slaves were not emancipated until 1863 in the United States. 美国奴隶直到1863年才获得自由。
• Women are still struggling to be fully emancipated. 妇女仍在为彻底解放而斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 metaphors   

隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I can only represent it to you by metaphors. 我只能用隐喻来向你描述它。
• Thus, She's an angel and He's a lion in battle are metaphors. 因此她是天使，他是雄狮都是比喻说法。

12 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

13 gnawed   

咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物

参考例句：

• His attitude towards her gnawed away at her confidence. 他对她的态度一直在削弱她的自尊心。
• The root of this dead tree has been gnawed away by ants. 这棵死树根被蚂蚁唼了。

14 ledger   

n.总帐，分类帐；帐簿

参考例句：

• The young man bowed his head and bent over his ledger again.那个年轻人点头应诺，然后又埋头写起分类帐。
• She is a real accountant who even keeps a detailed household ledger.她不愧是搞财务的，家庭分类账记得清楚详细。

15 shroud   

n.裹尸布，寿衣；罩，幕；vt.覆盖，隐藏

参考例句：

• His past was enveloped in a shroud of mystery.他的过去被裹上一层神秘色彩。
• How can I do under shroud of a dark sky?在黑暗的天空的笼罩下，我该怎么做呢？

16 soothe   

v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承

参考例句：

• I've managed to soothe him down a bit.我想方设法使他平静了一点。
• This medicine should soothe your sore throat.这种药会减轻你的喉痛。

17 propped   

支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sat propped up in the bed by pillows. 他靠着枕头坐在床上。
• This fence should be propped up. 这栅栏该用东西支一支。

18 literate   

n.学者；adj.精通文学的，受过教育的

参考例句：

• Only a few of the nation's peasants are literate.这个国家的农民中只有少数人能识字。
• A literate person can get knowledge through reading many books.一个受过教育的人可以通过读书而获得知识。

19 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

20 plumb   

adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深

参考例句：

• No one could plumb the mystery.没人能看破这秘密。
• It was unprofitable to plumb that sort of thing.这种事弄个水落石出没有什么好处。

21 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

22 shreds   

v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件）

参考例句：

• Peel the carrots and cut them into shreds. 将胡罗卜削皮，切成丝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I want to take this diary and rip it into shreds. 我真想一赌气扯了这日记。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

23 surmised   

v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想

参考例句：

• From the looks on their faces, I surmised that they had had an argument. 看他们的脸色，我猜想他们之间发生了争执。
• From his letter I surmised that he was unhappy. 我从他的信中推测他并不快乐。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 wrestled   

v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤

参考例句：

• As a boy he had boxed and wrestled. 他小的时候又是打拳又是摔跤。
• Armed guards wrestled with the intruder. 武装警卫和闯入者扭打起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 stylish   

adj.流行的，时髦的；漂亮的，气派的

参考例句：

• He's a stylish dresser.他是个穿着很有格调的人。
• What stylish women are wearing in Paris will be worn by women all over the world.巴黎女性时装往往会引导世界时装潮流。

26 attire   

v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装

参考例句：

• He had no intention of changing his mode of attire.他无意改变着装方式。
• Her attention was attracted by his peculiar attire.他那奇特的服装引起了她的注意。

27 pegged   

v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的过去式和过去分词 )；使固定在某水平

参考例句：

• They pegged their tent down. 他们钉好了账篷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She pegged down the stairs. 她急忙下楼。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

28 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

29 clot   

n.凝块；v.使凝成块

参考例句：

• Platelets are one of the components required to make blood clot.血小板是血液凝固的必须成分之一。
• The patient's blood refused to clot.病人的血液无法凝结。

30 paperback   

n.平装本，简装本

参考例句：

• A paperback edition is now available at bookshops.平装本现在在书店可以买到。
• Many books that are out of print are reissued in paperback form.许多绝版的书籍又以平装本形式重新出现。

31 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

32 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

33 shuffled   

v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼

参考例句：

• He shuffled across the room to the window. 他拖着脚走到房间那头的窗户跟前。
• Simon shuffled awkwardly towards them. 西蒙笨拙地拖着脚朝他们走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

34 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

35 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

36 pueblo   

n.（美国西南部或墨西哥等）印第安人的村庄

参考例句：

• For over 2,000 years,Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States.在长达2，000多年的时间里，印第安人统治着现在美国西南部的大片土地。
• The cross memorializes the Spanish victims of the 1680 revolt,when the region's Pueblo Indians rose up in violent protest against their mistreatment and burned the cit

37 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

38 asphyxiate   

v.无法呼吸，窒息而死

参考例句：

• We must trace the source of these noxious gases before they asphyxiate us.在我们被这些有毒气体窒息之前，必须查出其来源。
• Three people were asphyxiated in the crush for last week's train.在上周的火车撞车事故中有3人窒息死亡。

39 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

40 sputtering   

n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出

参考例句：

• A wick was sputtering feebly in a dish of oil. 瓦油灯上结了一个大灯花，使微弱的灯光变得更加阴暗。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• Jack ran up to the referee, sputtering protest. 贾克跑到裁判跟前，唾沫飞溅地提出抗议。 来自辞典例句

41 giggle   

n.痴笑，咯咯地笑；v.咯咯地笑着说

参考例句：

• Both girls began to giggle.两个女孩都咯咯地笑了起来。
• All that giggle and whisper is too much for me.我受不了那些咯咯的笑声和交头接耳的样子。

42 giggles   

n.咯咯的笑( giggle的名词复数 )；傻笑；玩笑；the giggles 止不住的格格笑v.咯咯地笑( giggle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Her nervous giggles annoyed me. 她神经质的傻笑把我惹火了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I had to rush to the loo to avoid an attack of hysterical giggles. 我不得不冲向卫生间，以免遭到别人的疯狂嘲笑。 来自辞典例句

43 triumphantly   

ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地

参考例句：

• The lion was roaring triumphantly. 狮子正在发出胜利的吼叫。
• Robert was looking at me triumphantly. 罗伯特正得意扬扬地看着我。

44 pretense   

n.矫饰，做作，借口

参考例句：

• You can't keep up the pretense any longer.你无法继续伪装下去了。
• Pretense invariably impresses only the pretender.弄虚作假欺骗不了真正的行家。

45 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

46 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

47 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

48 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

49 tilt   

v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜

参考例句：

• She wore her hat at a tilt over her left eye.她歪戴着帽子遮住左眼。
• The table is at a slight tilt.这张桌子没放平，有点儿歪.

50 tilted   

v. 倾斜的

参考例句：

• Suddenly the boat tilted to one side. 小船突然倾向一侧。
• She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。

51 peeking   

v.很快地看( peek的现在分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• I couldn't resist peeking in the drawer. 我不由得偷看了一下抽屉里面。
• They caught him peeking in through the keyhole. 他们发现他从钥匙孔里向里窥视。 来自辞典例句

52 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

53 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

54 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

55 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

56 bruise   

n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤

参考例句：

• The bruise was caused by a kick.这伤痕是脚踢的。
• Jack fell down yesterday and got a big bruise on his face.杰克昨天摔了一跤，脸上摔出老大一块淤斑。

57 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

58 magpie   

n.喜欢收藏物品的人，喜鹊，饶舌者

参考例句：

• Now and then a magpie would call.不时有喜鹊的叫声。
• This young man is really a magpie.这个年轻人真是饶舌。

59 raven   

n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的

参考例句：

• We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
• Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。

60 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

61 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

62 preying   

v.掠食( prey的现在分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生

参考例句：

• This problem has been preying on my mind all day. 这个问题让我伤了整整一天脑筋。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• For a while he let his eyes idly follow the preying bird. 他自己的眼睛随着寻食的鸟毫无目的地看了一会儿。 来自辞典例句

63 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

64 binds   

v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕

参考例句：

• Frost binds the soil. 霜使土壤凝结。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Stones and cement binds strongly. 石头和水泥凝固得很牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》

65 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

66 lipstick   

n.口红，唇膏

参考例句：

• Taking out her lipstick,she began to paint her lips.她拿出口红，开始往嘴唇上抹。
• Lipstick and hair conditioner are cosmetics.口红和护发素都是化妆品。

67 lanky   

adj.瘦长的

参考例句：

• He was six feet four,all lanky and leggy.他身高6英尺4英寸，瘦高个儿，大长腿。
• Tom was a lanky boy with long skinny legs.汤姆是一个腿很细的瘦高个儿。

68 lengthening   

（时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长

参考例句：

• The evening shadows were lengthening. 残阳下的影子越拉越长。
• The shadows are lengthening for me. 我的影子越来越长了。 来自演讲部分

69 prying   

adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开

参考例句：

• I'm sick of you prying into my personal life! 我讨厌你刺探我的私生活！
• She is always prying into other people's affairs. 她总是打听别人的私事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

70 engrossed   

adj.全神贯注的

参考例句：

• The student is engrossed in his book.这名学生正在专心致志地看书。
• No one had ever been quite so engrossed in an evening paper.没人会对一份晚报如此全神贯注。

71 stammered   

v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He stammered most when he was nervous. 他一紧张往往口吃。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Barsad leaned back in his chair, and stammered, \"What do you mean?\" 巴萨往椅背上一靠，结结巴巴地说，“你是什么意思？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

72 jaded   

adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的

参考例句：

• I felt terribly jaded after working all weekend. 整个周末工作之后我感到疲惫不堪。
• Here is a dish that will revive jaded palates. 这道菜简直可以恢复迟钝的味觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

73 delusion   

n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑

参考例句：

• He is under the delusion that he is Napoleon.他患了妄想症，认为自己是拿破仑。
• I was under the delusion that he intended to marry me.我误认为他要娶我。

74 deluding   

v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They used Teresa's desolation as another proof that believers are deluding themselves. 他们用德肋撒嬷嬷的孤寂再一次论证信徒们是在蒙蔽自己。 来自互联网
• There is, for instance, a self-deluding interpretation of the contemporary world situation. 比如说有一些对当代世界时局自我欺骗式的阐释。 来自互联网

75 providence   

n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝

参考例句：

• It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
• To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事，是违背上帝的意志的。

76 vigor   

n.活力，精力，元气

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• She didn't want to be reminded of her beauty or her former vigor.现在，她不愿人们提起她昔日的美丽和以前的精力充沛。

77 sophomore   

n.大学二年级生；adj.第二年的

参考例句：

• He is in his sophomore year.他在读二年级。
• I'm a college sophomore majoring in English.我是一名英语专业的大二学生。

78 recuperate   

v.恢复

参考例句：

• Stay in the hospital for a few more days to recuperate.再住院几天，好好地恢复。
• He went to the country to recuperate.他去乡下养病去了。

79 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。