Chapter 90

Teddy had responded with a blush and some mumbled² agreement, pleased that Draeger had chosen to be so intimate with him, but, all taken into consideration, rather saddened by the news that the whole by god shooting match was ended; the trouble with the Stampers may have hurt the rest of the town, but it had certainly kept his own till ringing. He would miss that sound.... “What’ll you do now, Mr. Draeger?” And miss even more this forceful and wise and handsome relief from all the fools that patronized his place. “Go back to California, I suppose?” “I’m afraid so.” Draeger’s cultured voice had been a delightful⁴ 610 ken³ kesey interlude—intelligent, calm, kind but not pitying like the others. “Yes, Ted¹, I’m off to Eugene now to tie up some things, then I’m coming back to share Thanksgiving with the Even-writes, but after that . . . it’s back to sunny southland.” “All your . . . all the trouble up here is cleared up?” Draeger grinned across the bar, laying down a five for his I. W. Harpers. “Wouldn’t you say so, Teddy? Keep the change— but, all kidding aside, wouldn’t you say it was cleared up?” Teddy nodded resignedly; he’d always known Draeger would show the muscleheads....“I guess so. Yes. Yes, I’m sure it is, Mr. Draeger ...the wholebygod shootin’match, all cleared up.” Now, only a day later, Teddy wasn’t so sure. The let-up in business that he’d expected to accompany the town’s good fortune had yet to begin; it should have started, by his reckoning, as soon as the flush of victory had been drunk away last night. But, if anything, business had picked up instead of let up. When he consulted the neat set of records he kept in his head, and checked under “Quarts Consumed per Customer,” he found that individual consumption was up close to twenty per cent over last week, and, while he couldn’t be sure of “Customers per Cubic Foot per Hour” until the peak time tonight, all indications pointed⁶ to a top-notch crowd. At the rate men were dropping in already, it looked like the Snag would be filled tonight. But, unlike Ray, Teddy knew his customers too well to ever believe that sweet joy could fill a bar. Or victory either. Teddy knew that it took something much stronger than those two watery⁷ reasons to fill a bar. Especially with the weather so nice. If it were still raining, he mused⁸, looking at his neons dead and powerless under the bright sunshine, I might understand. If it were raining and dark and cold, then I might know what was forcing them here, but with weather like this— “Teddy, Teddy, Teddy . . .” At one of the tables near the window, Boney Stokes squinted¹⁰ against the sun. “Shouldn’t we have us a shade or blinds or something to pull over that terrible glare?” “I’m sorry, Mr. Stokes.” sometimes a great notion “A curtain or some-thing?” His meatless old hand pawed at the light. “To protect tired old eyes?” “I’m sorry, Mr. Stokes; I sent the blinds off to Eugene for cleaning when the rains started. I just never in a hundred years thought we’d get any more sun, I sure didn’t. But let me see . . .” He turned to the laundry box behind the bar; in the mirror Boney’s reflection blinked hollowly after him. Stupid old eyes, always looking for something to whine¹¹ about . . . “Perhaps I might be able to pin up some cloth and help?” “Okay, you do that.” Then Boney craned his neck, squinting¹² at the street. “No. Wait. Best not, I reckon. No. I want to be sure and see him when he drives out to the cemetery¹³....” “Who’s that, Mr. Stokes?” “Never mind. I just ...don’t feel like attendin’ the funeral— my lungs and so on—and I want to watch them drive by to the buryin’ ground. I’ll just sit here. I can endure the glare; I reckon I’ll just have to....” “Very well.” Teddy returned the dishtowel to its box, glancing again at the reflection of the skinny man. Repulsive¹⁴ old specter. Stupid old eyes, cold as marble; and vicious, too, in a stupid way. Boney Stokes’s eyes never have seen anything but rain and dreariness¹⁵, so it’s no mystery him being in here on such a pretty day; he’s seen nothing but fear all the days of his stupid life. But these others, all these others...“Teddy! Get your pink little rear in gear, by gory¹⁶; there’s drinkin’ to be done!” He rippled¹⁷ soundlessly down the bar with his pink little rear switching in tight black trousers, toward the draft taps where a crowd of sweat-shirted shamblers had gathered again already with empty glasses. “Yes sir, what’ll it be, sir?” But what about all these others? No fear seemed to cloud their fool’s firmament¹⁹, or no more than usual anyway....What drove these men in, like cattle to the barn in a thunderstorm, on this crystal-clear day? Could it be that his cherished equations and formulas of man, based on years of correctly relating alcohol intake²⁰ to fear output, were finally being proved imperfect? For what awful fear could possibly lurk²¹ beneath all this noisy joy and victory? How could a storm strong enough to drive such a large herd²² into his 612 ken kesey long, barnlike bar be thundering behind all this blue sky and sunshine? Evenwrite, panting at the bathroom mirror, finds himself wondering along about the same lines as Teddy, only with less eloquence²³: Why ain’t I happy with how things worked out?—as he arranges the oversized knot on his tie to try to conceal²⁴ the unbuttoned gap in his collar. “God! Damn! Dammit!” But why ain’t I pleased . . . ?—wrenching at the collar furiously. He hated white shirts anyhow, never had liked ’em, wouldn’t even wear the things to big muckymuck meetings—frig ’em; they ain’t no better bird just because they can afford better feathers!— and he didn’t see why he couldn’t use the same argument on a dolled-up corpse²⁵. His wife saw differently. “Maybe poor Joe Stamper won’t kick about your blue Catalina Casual with the stripes, but I wouldn’t go to a funeral dressed like that dead!” He’d argued, but he saw her point, and he’d been forced to dig down through the drawers after the shirt he’d been married in, only to find that the goddam collar had shrunk a good god-dam two inches. “Jesus, Mama,” he called out to his wife, leaning from the bathroom door, “what’d you wash this shirt in to shrink it so bad?” “Your white shirt?” his wife called back. “Hasn’t been near water since our first wedding anniversary, buster. When you got drunk and decided²⁷ that if a man was high enough he didn’t need no such stuff and tossed it in the punch.” “Yeah, well, if that’s so . . .” he trailed off weakly, jerking the tie unknotted to start over. Then why ain’t I happy with how things worked out? Simone, on the other hand, lighter²⁸ by the fifteen pounds she had always promised herself that she would lose (the weeks of virtue²⁹ had rendered her poor enough to keep that promise), looks back over her shoulder at the reflection of her nude³⁰ ass¹⁸ in the cracked full-length mirror in her closet door, and wonders if she didn’t look better sinfully plump than morally trim. Well, it’s hard to say, nude; perhaps new clothes—her old wardrobe hung on her like dreadful old sacks!—perhaps if she could afford one of these smart new short things and a— sometimes a great notion She stopped. She walked to the dresser and felt again in the empty Marlboro box, avoiding looking at the dresser mirror, trying to forget her wardrobe; this kind of thinking, it could do nothing but make her sad all over again for the appearance she made in those hateful rags. Why torture yourself drooling after thousand-franc cakes when six hundred francs was all you had? But she liked pretty things. And she detested³¹ her clothed look, so much so that she frequently spent her hours in her room naked to keep from seeing her baggy³² image in the mirror. And now, now, it seems—she turned to confront the reflection full front, head tipped and one hip³³ thrown forward—that even this body—unless that crack distorted more than she thought—is becoming no longer a pretty thing to see! It’s all wrong. The...the bones push out. The flesh, it is become too small. ...I need money . . . Simone was thankful that the Holy Mother was closed in the closet so that the evil desires did not cause Her sorrow; the poor Virgin³⁴, how such desires must pain Her! But one cannot help wishing sometimes, damn it, that one could afford something decent, just one pretty thing to fit right . . . it didn’t seem fair for one to have to endure the double humility³⁵ of having both clothes too large and flesh too small. The sun shines. The wood steams. The sapsuckers rap happily on the softened³⁶ scrub-oak trunks. Men straighten up and women fill their washing machines in these little coast towns. But in Wakonda there is some dissent³⁷ against this mood (and outside of Wakonda, up river, in the Stamper barn . . .) and some gloom in all the sunshine. Even Biggy Newton, who had leaped about the water in the drainage ditch like an overjoyed whale when his boss had strolled by the job to let him know that old Hank Stamper had finally throwed in the towel ...even this swollen³⁸ boy, pledged to the last ounce of his stunted³⁹ intelligence as Hank Stamper’s arch enemy, found himself feeling less and less overjoyed. As he got drunker and drunker in the Snag. Big had not always been big; at thirteen he had been Ben, Benjamin Newton, an average lad of normal size and sense. Then fourteen had pushed him up over six feet, and fifteen had 614 ken kesey carried him on up to six-six and left him with less sense than he’d had at twelve. By this time he had acquired a number of managers, and they could lay claim to at least part of the credit for Biggy’s first-rate progress. Older men, these managers— uncles, cousins, and job friends of his father’s—had devoted⁴⁰ a lot of time to the big boy’s training. A lot of time to training and a precious lot to conditioning. And by the time he’d reached his full growth, he was so well conditioned that he was as sure as they were that he was the bully⁴¹ of the woods, the thickheaded heavy who’d bust²⁶ up any block who got in his road. And after busting⁴² up enough of these blocks he’d become good enough at his role that his road began to be avoided. Now, barely voting age, he faced the bleakish future of the bully with no blocks left who’d get in his road and nothing to bust up. He hulked over his dark beer in the Snag, brooding about the years ahead, and wondering why all them managers who’d started slapping his back and buying him drafts when he was fifteen hadn’t prepared him for this inevitable⁴³ blockless day. “Hot diggity dawg!” Les Gibbons, one of the crowd at Biggy’s table, lurched up out of his chair, overcome with emotion and Seven Crown. “I do feel fine. I feel just real fine, to be siffically honest....” He tossed down the last of his drink, then wagged his head about in search of some way to demonstrate just how fine he really felt. He decided throwing his glass at something was the only way to give them some idea. He aimed for the eagle in the big Anheuser-Busch clock above Teddy’s mounted Chinook salmon⁴⁴ and hit the fish square in the eye, spraying glass and old fish scales over a booth full of tourists in deer-hunting garb⁴⁵. They started to protest, but Les stopped their objections with a steely-eyed stare. “Yessir!” he crowed. “I feel fine! And like a pur-ty tough bird, too.” Big could hardly stir himself enough to raise his head for a look at this bird; and after he looked he didn’t even bother speaking. Boy, if this Gibbons was the toughest block a crowd this size could offer to bust, then his future was bleakish for goddam sure. Dammit anyhow....What does a guy do ... when his purpose in life peters out? when he ain’t fit for marryin’ or bein’ friends or for nothin’ but bustin’ up one certain sometimes a great notion somebody? And that certain somebody’s just finked out? Big ground his teeth: Stamper, dammit anyhow, how could you be such a bad ass, so downright thoughtless as to cop before them managers got me a replacement⁴⁶ trained? (. . . Up river, in the barn, Hank hears Viv’s call stretch out to him from the house. She is ready to leave. He stands up and releases the old redbone hound whose ear he has been doctoring. The dog shakes himself with a great dusty flapping of ears and lopes eagerly out of the dim barn into the sunshine. Hank returns the swab-stopper to the bottle of creosote and sets it up on the shelf with the rest of the various animal medicines. He brushes his hands on his slacks, picks up his jacket, and starts for the back door that leads out of the barn, down to the dock. Outside, the sun strikes his barn-accustomed eyes and momentarily blinds him. He pauses, blinking, while he puts on his sports jacket, thinking Dang ...wouldn’t old Joby be pleased to see what a fair day we got for his funeral?) “Yes, merciful.” Brother Walker picked up the conversation again. “Merciful, just, and fair . . . is what the Lord is. That is why I cannot be too stricken by Brother Joe Ben’s death. Grieved, if you know what I mean, Mr. Loop, but not stricken. For I feel that the Lord needed the use of Joe to make Hank Stamper see the Light, so to speak. That is why, like I was telling the little woman this morning, ‘I cannot be too stricken by poor Brother Joe Ben’s death, much as we all will miss him...for he was an instrument, an instrument.’ ” “A real squareshooter,” the Real Estate Hotwire felt moved to add. “Right down the middle. Myself, I was never actually very closely acquainted with ol’ Joe, but what I seen always struck me that he was a real squareshooter!” “Yes, yes, an instrument.” “A real right-down-the-center guy.” The conversation faded again and they continued toward the funeral parlor⁴⁷ in silence; Brother Walker was looking forward to the funeral. He knew that enough members of the Faith would be there to insist that he say a few words about Brother-in-the-Faith Joe Ben after the Reverend Toms finished, and the prospect⁴⁸ of saying a few words to all those polished seats, those 616 ken kesey somber⁴⁹ clothes, the organ, the drapes, to all the plush and pompery of conventional religion, always made him a little schoolgirlish. A tent, he knew, could certainly be the House of the Lord as well as any building, and as long as he held with the Faith—which did not hold with any gaudy⁵⁰ show of mourning— he was compelled to frown on the orthodox Christian⁵¹ funeral; but frown as he might, he was always secretly pleased when one of the deceased’s kin⁵ insisted—as one of the deceased’s kin invariably did—that, with all due respect for the Faith’s teachings, still perhaps a funeral should, just for appearances, be held at a funeral parlor. And in spite of all its ostentatious, gaudy, and disgusting pageantry, you couldn’t deny that that pale gray drapery lining⁵² Lilienthal’s Funeral Parlor was acoustically⁵³ superior to canvas as a backdrop for the Word of God. Yes, a tent could most certainly be a House of the Lord as well as any fancy building, but it was still just a tent. (Wouldn’t old Joby have a field day with these kind of sunshiny signals? I thought to myself, just standing⁵⁴ there, looking at the sky ...wouldn’t he bust a gut⁵⁵? Then I heard Viv call again and headed on to the boat . . .) Simone works futilely⁵⁶ with scissors and needle. Indian Jenny sighs and untangles her legs and arranges them full length on her cot heavily. Oh, she isn’t giving up on her projects—she reaches for the copy of The Search for Bridey Murphy lying on the shack⁵⁷ floor—she is merely changing her approach once more . . . In their hotel room Rod gives up on the want ads and reluctantly unsnaps his guitar case to join this madman roommate of his in rehearsing. Behind his sunlit scrawl⁵⁸ of neon tubes Teddy listens to the rising pitch of laughter and merrymaking and tries to plumb⁵⁹ the dark well it rises from. What are they afraid of now? Even-write gives up on his tie: a white shirt, o-kay, but that was compromise enough . . . no by god chokerope, and that’s final! Simone hears the doorbell ring and hurries to answer it before it wakes her six-year-old from his nap; disgustedly she wraps a faded chenille housecoat about her body and checks the empty cigarette box one last time as she leaves the bedroom. Big Newton sometimes a great notion drinks his tasteless beer and orders another, feeling more bleakish than ever . . . (Across the river, at the garage landing, I held the boat steady while Viv stepped out of the boat with the hem⁹ of her skirt held in one hand, watching that she didn’t get any mud on her high-heeled shoes. She crossed the gravel⁶⁰, then headed on up to the garage and waited there for me to tie the boat up and drag a tarp over the motor. The sky looked clear, and maybe that tarp wouldn’t be necessary, but one thing you learn young in this neck of the woods is not to be sucked in by a little fair weather. “Never trust the sun no further than you can throw it,” the old man always said. I took my time lashing⁶¹ on the tarp in spite of the sunshine, and even though we was running a little late. I took my time and got it right and let her stand there . . .) The Real Estate Hotwire waves at someone down the street. “There’s Sis. Hey, Sissy, wait up.” And they step up their walk to reach her. The Real Estate Man took her arm. “You positive you feel up to this, Sissy? This close after Willard’s?” She blew her nose through the veil. “Willard always had the finest opinion of Joe Ben. I feel I should go.” “There’s a girl. You know Brother Walker, don’t you? Of the First Church and Christian Science?” “Metaphysics, Mr. Loop. Yes, we saw each other at—the other day. May I say again how sorry I am, Mrs. Eggleston.” Brother Walker extended his hand along with his condolences. “These last few days . . . have been a cross for many of us.” The Real Estate Man squeezed her arm. “But we’re through it, now, isn’t that so, Sissy-little? We’re around that corner.” They resumed walking. Sissy-little wished she were alone with her brother so she could tell him about this awful thing the insurance company was trying to do with her Willard’s money. The Real Estate Hotwire wished he’d sold Willard a better package than that theater, as long as it looked like it was coming back to him anyway. And Brother Walker wished he’d worn less sedate⁶² garb. As they walked he watched the healthy bounce of the Real Estate Man’s once-muscular breasts through the casual blue polo shirt and wished he’d dared a bit of casualness himself. It would make a nice picture against all the rest of the 618 ken kesey stiff and formal trappings. He wondered ...perhaps he could remove his dark serge coat and loosen his tie; on a day like this, who could blame a man for being a little informal? Even a man of God? It would be one way to show all those who were not Brothers or Sisters just how the Faith stood on appearances, show them he was a regular guy. He might even remove his tie completely. Wouldn’t Reverend Toms, with his french cuffs⁶³ and his double-breasted black and his hanky-in-the-pocket, wouldn’t old Biddy Toms go into a flap when he was replaced by an open-collared white shirt that delivered a better eulogy⁶⁴ in a more resonant⁶⁵ voice? A regular flap? “Ohyas,” he said, “a time of great trial for many of us.” (I got the boat secured good and walked up to the garage. Viv was waiting to see what I planned to drive into town; the jeep had that damn top on it I never liked, but the pick-up was still a mess from driving old Henry to the hospital—I hadn’t done anything about cleaning it up but for taking out that arm. So I said let’s take the jeep. And you drive, okay? I don’t care to.... I never minded driving the jeep during the summer, it’s wide open and wild in good weather; but with that damned top on for winter, it makes the thing like a tin coffin⁶⁶ on wheels, hardly any rear or front vision at all and just a couple slits⁶⁷ in the side so you can see out that way. Not the sort of thing I like to ride in anyhow, especially to a funeral. Viv got in behind the wheel and went to grinding the starter. I leaned back and tried to rub me a spot to see out through that plastic-covered slit⁶⁸ in the door....) When Floyd Evenwrite leaves the house, wearing a tie, on his way to warm up his car, he meets Orland Stamper walking to his own car, as groomed⁶⁹ and grumpy as Floyd himself— “. . . yeah, it took some doin’, Orland...but, shit, he needed brought down a peg⁷⁰ or two.” “If he’d been brought down sooner,” Orland said harshly, “Janice would have her a live man today instead of something swole up over at Edward Lilienthal’s. We’re just lucky his hardheadedness didn’t get more of us hurt....” “Yeah ...too bad about Joe Ben. He was a good old boy.” sometimes a great notion “If Hank’d been brought down that couple pegs⁷¹ just one day sooner . . . them five little tykes’d have a daddy instead of a piddling little four-thousand-dollar policy. The old man’d still have two arms. . . .” “What’s the word about old Henry?” Evenwrite asked. “Comin’ along, they say; comin’ along. Hard old coon to kill.” “What has he said about his pride and joy knuckling⁷² under to the union? Looks to me like that alone would be enough to kill the old coon....” “Why, to tell the truth, I don’t know how he took it. I didn’t think about it. Maybe they ain’t even told him.” “Bull. Somebody’d sure have told.” “Maybe not. Hank’s give orders nobody’s to get to see him. Maybe the doctor wants him to get his strength back before he hears the news.” “Uhuh ...an’ then you know what. He’ll go to frailin’ whoever’s knob happens to be closest. Personally, I was Hank, I’d tell him before he got able to swing that cane⁷³ of his again.” “With one arm gone clean,” Orland said, “and the other just fresh out of a sling⁷⁴, I’d venture Henry Stamper’s knob-frailin’ days are a thing of the past.” “Never saw the sun,” Ray sings, “shining so bright . . .” “I ain’t givin’ up,” Jenny vows⁷⁵. “Teddy . . . ?” Boney Stokes calls. “What’s the time?” “Twenty till, Mr. Stokes,” Teddy answers. “They should be comin’ past in about twenty minutes, then. My, my; that awful sun...you should think about putting up an awning⁷⁶, Teddy.” “Yes, I guess I should.” Teddy returns to his spigots. It is still picking up. If it continues he will have to call in Mrs. Carleson from the Sea Breeze to help tonight. He should have already made the arrangements, but he still is unable to believe that such weather and well-being⁷⁷ could stimulate⁷⁸ so much business. It goes against all he has learned . . . (Viv let go the jeep’s starter and took off her white gloves— the wheel and gear shift are wrapped with friction⁷⁹ tape—and handed them to me so she could wrestle⁸⁰ the jeep without getting 620 ken kesey them dirty. Neither of us said anything. She was fixed⁸¹ up real nice for the occasion; she’d worked half the morning getting her hair stacked onto her head like a coil of gold ropes—I swear to god the only thing a woman’ll spend more effort getting ready for is a wedding—but by the time she got that coldblooded bastard⁸² choked, started, killed, started again, into low, killed again, and finally out on the road, the golden coil was on its way to coming unwound. I watched her but I didn’t put my two cents in. I didn’t even tell her to throttle⁸³ it with the choke. I just sat there with them gloves in my lap figuring it’s by god time somebody besides me learned to tote and roll . . .) “I ain’t quitting,” Indian Jenny assures herself when she shuts her book and puts it down, “just resting.” She closes her eyes, but the image of a green-eyed, proud-eyed young logger with a bristling⁸⁴ mustache will not let her sleep. Simone answers the door and...why, Howie Evans! “Yeah, Simone, I’m just wondering . . . if you might not join me at the Snag tonight?” “No, Howie. I am sorry. Look at me...can I go into public like this?” He shuffled⁸⁵ uncomfortably for a moment, started to make a wisecrack, then grinned and said, “Well, who knows? Maybe a fairy godmother er somethin’ will come through, huh? Anyhow... we’ll be seeing you?” “Perhaps....” He was gone before she could say good-by.... The Real Estate Man and his bereaved⁸⁶ sister leave Brother Walker when they reach Lilienthal’s, to go talk something over. Brother Walker searches the crowd for Janice—she will need him in this hour of need, certainly—and is astounded⁸⁷ at the number of people who have turned out to pay their last respects to poor Joe. He’d no idea Brother Joe Ben had been so well loved by his neighbors . . . (Viv or me didn’t say a word all the way into town, about Joe or anything. I imagine she figures I’d just rather not talk. She don’t have any way of knowing what I know. And it’s just as well. Because I didn’t feel like telling her how I come to know it. The jeep was bumping and bouncing and banging so much sometimes a great notion we couldn’t of heard each other anyhow. There’s chuckholes galore. The road’s tore to hell after the storms, and the road crews are out working on it. Above the mountains there’s lots of small, tight clouds cluttering⁸⁸ up the sky, and the sun keeps going off and on, dodging⁸⁹ behind first one and then the other. “Man, I’m drained to a frazzle,” I say, but Viv doesn’t hear. I lay my head down against the plexiglass window and just take it easy. The sun comes out bright as hell, like it was lit with more than light. I see that snarl⁹⁰ of berry vine beside the road and it’s like somehow it scrubs both my eyeballs clean of stuff that’d built up there without me knowing it, because I blink a couple times and look around and I’m seeing things clear as a bell. This kept happening, off and on. It’d be bright for a little bit, everything shining like chrome, waxy⁹¹-looking, polished, then go dark as muddy water. Then bright again. It’s the first time I’ve really been out since Joe bought it, and I can’t help feeling that the world looks different. I tell myself that it looks so bright just because the light zooming⁹² on after that dark spell makes a diamond flash out of everything. But I ain’t convinced. It still feels like that first dazzling swipe of berry vine scrubbed my eyes clear. I just sit there in a kind of doze⁹³, looking out through the flicker⁹⁴ of ditch willows⁹⁵ zipping past along the road and enjoying the scenery. Maybe I was seeing things so clear because it was the first time in I don’t know how many years I’d rode this stretch without having to do the driving. Maybe that’s it. All I know is everything was shining like a new dime⁹⁶. There’s rusty⁹⁷ screen-topped cones⁹⁸ of sawdust-burners vomiting⁹⁹ sparks and blue smoke; widow’s-lace fern waving around the mailboxes; busy glisten¹⁰⁰ of little breezes blowing across the standing water . . . swoop¹⁰¹ of powerlines ...spearmint bush so bright and new I smell them as we pass ...squirrels hustling¹⁰² around... then more rusty burners. Leaves, bright, waxy green, scrubbed, sort of. Prismed light where the sun comes through the drops hanging off the leaves, shattered and pure and bright.... I put my face closer to the little window so I could see more. There was the sky, the little clouds, then the treetops running into the steep sloped-off canyon¹⁰³ down to the railroad embankment, 622 ken kesey then there’s a wide drainage between the road and the track. This ditch is a mangle¹⁰⁴ of scrubby little Himalaya vines; Himalaya blackberry got a pretty good flavor but loaded with seeds big enough to knock a tooth out. All the leaves had been whipped off the vines by that last big storm, and the vines look like a king-sized roll of steel wool. I bounce along, looking at them vines, thinking to myself if a fellow was big enough he’d just grab him a handful of that and scrub the world to a farethee-well, get shut of them clouds, really brighten things up....This notion slid into a kind of open-eyed dream. I take a giant fistful of steel wool and go at it, working like a nigger. I can’t stop somehow. I finish with the sky and go at the beach. Then the town, then the hills. I’m panting and sweating and scrubbing like a nigger! I step back and take a look: but instead of things getting brighter and clearer this time, it’s just made them duller. Like it kind of faded the color out. I grab up the roll and tear into it again, and when I’m finished this time it’s even more faded than before. So this time I really work it over. I scrub everything, the world and sky and my eyes and the sun and everything, and finally fall back, wore clean out. I take a look and it’s bright all right, like a movie-show screen when the film breaks and you got nothing to look at up there but the bright white light. Everything else is gone. I throw away the steel wool; it’s fine to brighten things up with once in a while, but too much of it, man, can rub everything away.) In the Snag, Boney Stokes complains about the glare as he moves his chair closer to the window. Teddy finally gives Mrs. Carleson a call and she says sorry but she’s too busy herself right then, but she’ll send over her daughter. Big Newton watches Les Gibbons get drunker and fiercer but seriously doubts that the big liver-lipped monkey will ever get drunk or fierce enough. And the crowd lingering outside the funeral parlor swings suddenly around at someone’s whisper to see a yellow jeep turn the corner of Nahamish and South Main, coming toward them, finally. (So many folks had come to the funeral that we couldn’t find a parking place closer than two blocks off. “Joe Ben would’ve popped his eyes out to see what a draw he was dead,” I said to sometimes a great notion Viv. I popeyed a little myself; I knew he was the type guy always liked by everybody that knew him, but I didn’t know this many even knew him. Walking back from the jeep, I saw that even the lawn on the family-entrance side of Lilienthal’s was packed to the sidewalk with dark blue suits and black frocks. As I got closer I saw that the whole working force from WP was there, Floyd Evenwrite too—all standing and talking in respectful voices, and slipping off two or three at a time behind Lilienthal’s big black ’53 Caddy hearse where they could crack out their pocket stashes¹⁰⁵ and have a nip out of sight of the women. Most of the women were standing up on the steps or just inside the door, touching¹⁰⁶ their faces to little white hankies. The men nipped; the women dabbed¹⁰⁷. Everybody to their own kick, I figured. They saw Viv and me come walking up toward them, and I heard the talk drone to a stop. The guys behind the Caddy quick stuck their bottle out of our sight. They all watched us walk past, working their faces, those faces you always see at a goddamned funeral. Little smiles, understanding smiles, and eyes like they borrowed them from cocker spaniels especially for the occasion. They watch and nod whenever I look their direction. Nobody says a thing. The crowd from around the other side of the building comes bustling¹⁰⁸ to get a look, and a couple more women’s heads poke¹⁰⁹ out the door. Orland’s car slides up to the side door, and Orland’s wife helps Jan out. Jan’s just as lumpy and owl-like as ever, for all the black net they’d hung over her. The crowd turns to watch her walk along so stooped for a second, but then turns right back to me and Viv. They aren’t interested in Jan. Big a deal as a griefstruck woman is, she still isn’t what they’d gone to the trouble of primping and preening¹¹⁰ and getting into their Easter Sunday costumes to come out and see. Jan’s just the side attraction, the prelim. And they didn’t come for that. A crowd comes to an event to see the main attraction, I thought to myself. And at a funeral the main attraction is somebody belly¹¹¹ up. That ain’t lumpy little Jan. And, much as I hate to steal your thunder, Joby, I’m afraid that you ain’t the main attraction at this particular event, either. Viv and me followed Orland and Jan and them into the dim-lit 624 ken kesey family room. Everybody else was there, sitting quiet in little padded folding chairs in front of a sort of gauzy curtain separating us from the main section. We could see them out there but they couldn’t see in; they’d to be satisfied with what sniffs¹¹² and sobs¹¹³ drifted out to them. The heads of the family craned around at me and Viv as we sidled into our seats. I braced¹¹⁴ myself for the scalding looks I’d been expecting to get, but the heat wasn’t there. I’d expected a verdict of guilty from every Stamper eye in the house, but got nothing except that same sad cocker-spaniel smile. I guess I was still a little rummy from the ride because this threw me pretty bad. I stared back at them, froze where I stood....Good Christ, didn’t they realize? Didn’t they know I’d as well as killed him? I opened my mouth to demand at least one of them recognize this, but the only sound that came out was the moo of an electric organ someplace, then old lady Lilienthal singing. Viv took my hand and pulled me into my seat. The organ mooed and bawled¹¹⁵. Old lady Lilienthal tried to outdo it with “End of a Perfect Day,” the same song she’d sung at my mom’s funeral out at the house twenty years before, sung just as bad today, only slower. It took her hours. If she lasted another twenty years of funeral singing and kept getting slower, they would have to come up with some new embalming¹¹⁶ preservatives¹¹⁷. The organ played again. Somebody recited something from a book of poems. Lilienthal, who couldn’t stay out of the show any more than his wife, read a list of names of folks who couldn’t make it for one reason or another, and had sent flowers in their place. “Lily Gilchrest,” he would singsong, “her spirit is with us today. Mr. and Mrs. Edward R. Sorenson . . . their spirit is with us today.” La-da-dee-la-dee-la-da. It was a running battle built up over the years between him and his wife and that mooing organ, to see which one could drag out his part the longest. Then old man Toms got up and went to droning on. I thought about how funny it was that Joby should be drummed out this way ...a guy who could cram¹¹⁸ more words into a minute than these three, going all at once, could get into a day. sometimes a great notion I begin to get sleepy. Brother Walker came out in his shirtsleeves, looking like a coach at half-time. He opened a Bible that bristled¹¹⁹ like a porcupine¹²⁰ with place-markers and, using Joby’s death like a man on a springboard, took a running jump at the stars. He lost me someplace during the dive. Viv shook me awake. We were getting up out of the seats and filing through an opening in the curtain. The main room had already took its look and were waiting outside while we had our turn. I strolled past and looked in. By golly. You don’t look so bad. The drowned ones I seen before always looked waterlogged. I guess you weren’t in long enough to soak up much. Fact the matter is, you ugly little toad¹²¹, you look a damn sight better than usual. They painted your face with some stuff that dulled the scars some, and you don’t have your ordinary raw-meatball look. And a black tie. You’d be amazed. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. To see how godawful handsome they could make. “Hank ...Hank, please . . .” Except. Damn, I wish they hadn’t made you such a frigging sobersides because it makes you look like. “Please, the others are waitin’....What are you doing?” You need the grin, man. The goofy one. You taking it so serious. Swing with what you got. Here. Hold on, I’ll just.

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 mumbled   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话，可我没太听清楚。
• George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。

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 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

5 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

6 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

7 watery   

adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的

参考例句：

• In his watery eyes there is an expression of distrust.他那含泪的眼睛流露出惊惶失措的神情。
• Her eyes became watery because of the smoke.因为烟熏，她的双眼变得泪汪汪的。

8 mused   

v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事）

参考例句：

• \"I wonder if I shall ever see them again, \"he mused. “我不知道是否还可以再见到他们，”他沉思自问。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"Where are we going from here?\" mused one of Rutherford's guests. 卢瑟福的一位客人忍不住说道：‘我们这是在干什么？” 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

9 hem   

n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制

参考例句：

• The hem on her skirt needs sewing.她裙子上的褶边需要缝一缝。
• The hem of your dress needs to be let down an inch.你衣服的折边有必要放长1英寸。

10 squinted   

斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• Pulling his rifle to his shoulder he squinted along the barrel. 他把枪顶肩，眯起眼睛瞄准。
• I squinted through the keyhole. 我从锁眼窥看。

11 whine   

v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣

参考例句：

• You are getting paid to think,not to whine.支付给你工资是让你思考而不是哀怨的。
• The bullet hit a rock and rocketed with a sharp whine.子弹打在一块岩石上，一声尖厉的呼啸，跳飞开去。

12 squinting   

斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• "More company," he said, squinting in the sun. "那边来人了，"他在阳光中眨巴着眼睛说。
• Squinting against the morning sun, Faulcon examined the boy carefully. 对着早晨的太阳斜起眼睛，富尔康仔细地打量着那个年轻人。

13 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

14 repulsive   

adj.排斥的，使人反感的

参考例句：

• She found the idea deeply repulsive.她发现这个想法很恶心。
• The repulsive force within the nucleus is enormous.核子内部的斥力是巨大的。

15 dreariness   

沉寂，可怕，凄凉

参考例句：

• The park wore an aspect of utter dreariness and ruin. 园地上好久没人收拾，一片荒凉。
• There in the melancholy, in the dreariness, Bertha found a bitter fascination. 在这里，在阴郁、倦怠之中，伯莎发现了一种刺痛人心的魅力。

16 gory   

adj.流血的；残酷的

参考例句：

• I shuddered when I heard the gory details.我听到血淋淋的详情，战栗不已。
• The newspaper account of the accident gave all the gory details.报纸上报道了这次事故中所有骇人听闻的细节。

17 rippled   

使泛起涟漪（ripple的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The lake rippled gently. 湖面轻轻地泛起涟漪。
• The wind rippled the surface of the cornfield. 微风吹过麦田，泛起一片麦浪。

18 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

19 firmament   

n.苍穹；最高层

参考例句：

• There are no stars in the firmament.天空没有一颗星星。
• He was rich,and a rising star in the political firmament.他十分富有，并且是政治高层一颗冉冉升起的新星。

20 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

21 lurk   

n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏

参考例句：

• Dangers lurk in the path of wilderness.在这条荒野的小路上隐伏着危险。
• He thought he saw someone lurking above the chamber during the address.他觉得自己看见有人在演讲时潜藏在会议厅顶上。

22 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

23 eloquence   

n.雄辩；口才，修辞

参考例句：

• I am afraid my eloquence did not avail against the facts.恐怕我的雄辩也无补于事实了。
• The people were charmed by his eloquence.人们被他的口才迷住了。

24 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

25 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

26 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

27 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。

28 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

29 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

30 nude   

adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品

参考例句：

• It's a painting of the Duchess of Alba in the nude.这是一幅阿尔巴公爵夫人的裸体肖像画。
• She doesn't like nude swimming.她不喜欢裸泳。

31 detested   

v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They detested each other on sight. 他们互相看着就不顺眼。
• The freethinker hated the formalist; the lover of liberty detested the disciplinarian. 自由思想者总是不喜欢拘泥形式者，爱好自由者总是憎恶清规戒律者。 来自辞典例句

32 baggy   

adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的

参考例句：

• My T-shirt went all baggy in the wash.我的T恤越洗越大了。
• Baggy pants are meant to be stylish,not offensive.松松垮垮的裤子意味着时髦，而不是无礼。

33 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。

34 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

35 humility   

n.谦逊，谦恭

参考例句：

• Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
• His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。

36 softened   

（使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰

参考例句：

• His smile softened slightly. 他的微笑稍柔和了些。
• The ice cream softened and began to melt. 冰淇淋开始变软并开始融化。

37 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

38 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

39 stunted   

adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的

参考例句：

• the stunted lives of children deprived of education 未受教育的孩子所过的局限生活
• But the landed oligarchy had stunted the country's democratic development for generations. 但是好几代以来土地寡头的统治阻碍了这个国家民主的发展。

40 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

41 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

42 busting   

打破，打碎( bust的现在分词 )； 突击搜查（或搜捕）； （使）降级，降低军阶

参考例句：

• Jim and his wife were busting up again yesterday. 吉姆和他的妻子昨天又吵架了。
• He figured she was busting his chops, but it was all true. 他以为她在捉弄他，其实完全是真的。

43 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。

44 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

45 garb   

n.服装，装束

参考例句：

• He wore the garb of a general.他身着将军的制服。
• Certain political,social,and legal forms reappear in seemingly different garb.一些政治、社会和法律的形式在表面不同的外衣下重复出现。

46 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

47 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

48 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

49 somber   

adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• He had a somber expression on his face.他面容忧郁。
• His coat was a somber brown.他的衣服是暗棕色的。

50 gaudy   

adj.华而不实的；俗丽的

参考例句：

• She was tricked out in gaudy dress.她穿得华丽而俗气。
• The gaudy butterfly is sure that the flowers owe thanks to him.浮华的蝴蝶却相信花是应该向它道谢的。

51 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

52 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

53 acoustically   

听觉上，声学上

参考例句：

• The hall is excellent acoustically. 这个大厅在传音方面极好。
• Moos Acoustically speaking, what happens before and after mating is most interesting. 默丝从象的叫声判断，交配前后发生的事情最有意思。

54 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

55 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

56 futilely   

futile（无用的）的变形； 干

参考例句：

• Hitler, now ashen-gray, futilely strained at his chains. 希特勒这时面如死灰，无可奈何地死拽住身上的锁链不放。 来自名作英译部分
• Spinning futilely at first, the drivers of the engine at last caught the rails. 那机车的主动轮起先转了一阵也没有用处，可到底咬住了路轨啦。

57 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

58 scrawl   

vt.潦草地书写；n.潦草的笔记，涂写

参考例句：

• His signature was an illegible scrawl.他的签名潦草难以辨认。
• Your beautiful handwriting puts my untidy scrawl to shame.你漂亮的字体把我的潦草字迹比得见不得人。

59 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。

60 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

61 lashing   

n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The speaker was lashing the crowd. 演讲人正在煽动人群。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rain was lashing the windows. 雨急打着窗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

62 sedate   

adj.沉着的，镇静的，安静的

参考例句：

• After the accident,the doctor gave her some pills to sedate her.事故发生后，医生让她服了些药片使她镇静下来。
• We spent a sedate evening at home.我们在家里过了一个恬静的夜晚。

63 cuffs   

n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• a collar and cuffs of white lace 带白色蕾丝花边的衣领和袖口
• The cuffs of his shirt were fraying. 他衬衣的袖口磨破了。

64 eulogy   

n.颂词；颂扬

参考例句：

• He needs no eulogy from me or from any other man. 他不需要我或者任何一个人来称颂。
• Mr.Garth gave a long eulogy about their achievements in the research.加思先生对他们的研究成果大大地颂扬了一番。

65 resonant   

adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的

参考例句：

• She has a resonant voice.她的嗓子真亮。
• He responded with a resonant laugh.他报以洪亮的笑声。

66 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

67 slits   

n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子

参考例句：

• He appears to have two slits for eyes. 他眯着两眼。
• "You go to--Halifax,'she said tensely, her green eyes slits of rage. "你给我滚----滚到远远的地方去！" 她恶狠狠地说，那双绿眼睛冒出了怒火。

68 slit   

n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂

参考例句：

• The coat has been slit in two places.这件外衣有两处裂开了。
• He began to slit open each envelope.他开始裁开每个信封。

69 groomed   

v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的过去式和过去分词 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗

参考例句：

• She is always perfectly groomed. 她总是打扮得干净利落。
• Duff is being groomed for the job of manager. 达夫正接受训练，准备当经理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

70 peg   

n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定

参考例句：

• Hang your overcoat on the peg in the hall.把你的大衣挂在门厅的挂衣钩上。
• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。

71 pegs   

n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平

参考例句：

• She hung up the shirt with two (clothes) pegs. 她用两只衣夹挂上衬衫。 来自辞典例句
• The vice-presidents were all square pegs in round holes. 各位副总裁也都安排得不得其所。 来自辞典例句

72 knuckling   

n.突球v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的现在分词 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝

参考例句：

73 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

74 sling   

vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓

参考例句：

• The boy discharged a stone from a sling.这个男孩用弹弓射石头。
• By using a hoist the movers were able to sling the piano to the third floor.搬运工人用吊车才把钢琴吊到3楼。

75 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

76 awning   

n.遮阳篷；雨篷

参考例句：

• A large green awning is set over the glass window to shelter against the sun.在玻璃窗上装了个绿色的大遮棚以遮挡阳光。
• Several people herded under an awning to get out the shower.几个人聚集在门栅下避阵雨

77 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

78 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

79 friction   

n.摩擦，摩擦力

参考例句：

• When Joan returned to work,the friction between them increased.琼回来工作后，他们之间的摩擦加剧了。
• Friction acts on moving bodies and brings them to a stop.摩擦力作用于运动着的物体，并使其停止。

80 wrestle   

vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付

参考例句：

• He taught his little brother how to wrestle.他教他小弟弟如何摔跤。
• We have to wrestle with difficulties.我们必须同困难作斗争。

81 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。

82 bastard   

n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子

参考例句：

• He was never concerned about being born a bastard.他从不介意自己是私生子。
• There was supposed to be no way to get at the bastard.据说没有办法买通那个混蛋。

83 throttle   

n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压

参考例句：

• These government restrictions are going to throttle our trade.这些政府的限制将要扼杀我们的贸易。
• High tariffs throttle trade between countries.高的关税抑制了国与国之间的贸易。

84 bristling   

a.竖立的

参考例句：

• "Don't you question Miz Wilkes' word,'said Archie, his beard bristling. "威尔克斯太太的话，你就不必怀疑了。 "阿尔奇说。他的胡子也翘了起来。
• You were bristling just now. 你刚才在发毛。

85 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》

86 bereaved   

adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物）

参考例句：

• The ceremony was an ordeal for those who had been recently bereaved. 这个仪式对于那些新近丧失亲友的人来说是一种折磨。
• an organization offering counselling for the bereaved 为死者亲友提供辅导的组织

87 astounded   

v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶

参考例句：

• His arrogance astounded her. 他的傲慢使她震惊。
• How can you say that? I'm absolutely astounded. 你怎么能说出那种话？我感到大为震惊。

88 cluttering   

v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的现在分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满…

参考例句：

• I'm sick of all these books cluttering up my office. 我讨厌办公室里乱糟糟地堆放着这些书。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some goals will need to be daily-say, drinking water, or exercise, or perhaps de cluttering. 对这些目标，需要把他们变成我们日常事务的一部分。 来自互联网

89 dodging   

n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避

参考例句：

• He ran across the road, dodging the traffic. 他躲开来往的车辆跑过马路。
• I crossed the highway, dodging the traffic. 我避开车流穿过了公路。 来自辞典例句

90 snarl   

v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮

参考例句：

• At the seaside we could hear the snarl of the waves.在海边我们可以听见波涛的咆哮。
• The traffic was all in a snarl near the accident.事故发生处附近交通一片混乱。

91 waxy   

adj.苍白的；光滑的

参考例句：

• Choose small waxy potatoes for the salad.选些个头小、表皮光滑的土豆做色拉。
• The waxy oil keeps ears from getting too dry.这些蜡状耳油可以保持耳朵不会太干燥。

92 zooming   

adj.快速上升的v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去分词 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨

参考例句：

• Zooming and panning are navigational tools for exploring 2D and 3D information. 缩放和平移是浏览二维和三维信息的导航工具。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Panning and zooming, especially when paired together, create navigation difficulties for users. 对于用户来说，平移和缩放一起使用时，产生了更多的导航困难。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

93 doze   

v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐

参考例句：

• He likes to have a doze after lunch.他喜欢午饭后打个盹。
• While the adults doze,the young play.大人们在打瞌睡，而孩子们在玩耍。

94 flicker   

vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现

参考例句：

• There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
• At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时，光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现，几乎并不灿烂。

95 willows   

n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木

参考例句：

• The willows along the river bank look very beautiful. 河岸边的柳树很美。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Willows are planted on both sides of the streets. 街道两侧种着柳树。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

96 dime   

n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角

参考例句：

• A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
• The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。

97 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

98 cones   

n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒

参考例句：

• In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
• Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

99 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

100 glisten   

vi.（光洁或湿润表面等）闪闪发光，闪闪发亮

参考例句：

• Dewdrops glisten in the morning sun.露珠在晨光下闪闪发光。
• His sunken eyes glistened with delight.他凹陷的眼睛闪现出喜悦的光芒。

101 swoop   

n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击

参考例句：

• The plane made a swoop over the city.那架飞机突然向这座城市猛降下来。
• We decided to swoop down upon the enemy there.我们决定突袭驻在那里的敌人。

102 hustling   

催促（hustle的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Our quartet was out hustling and we knew we stood good to take in a lot of change before the night was over. 我们的四重奏是明显地卖座的， 而且我们知道在天亮以前，我们有把握收入一大笔钱。
• Men in motors were hustling to pass one another in the hustling traffic. 开汽车的人在繁忙的交通中急急忙忙地互相超车。

103 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

104 mangle   

vt.乱砍，撕裂，破坏，毁损，损坏，轧布

参考例句：

• New shoes don't cut,blister,or mangle his feet.新鞋子不会硌脚、起泡或让脚受伤。
• Mangle doesn't increase the damage of Maul and Shred anymore.裂伤不再增加重殴和撕碎的伤害。

105 stashes   

n.隐藏处( stash的名词复数 )v.贮藏( stash的第三人称单数 )；隐藏；藏匿；藏起

参考例句：

• The squirrel stashes away nuts for winter. 松鼠贮藏胡桃以备过冬。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The giving up love, after stashes the love again, how always? 放弃爱，呜咽后再拥有爱，多么总？ 来自互联网

106 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

107 dabbed   

（用某物）轻触( dab的过去式和过去分词 )； 轻而快地擦掉（或抹掉）； 快速擦拭； （用某物）轻而快地涂上（或点上）…

参考例句：

• She dabbed her eyes and blew her nose. 她轻轻擦了几下眼睛，擤了擤鼻涕。
• He dabbed at the spot on his tie with a napkin. 他用餐巾快速擦去领带上的污点。

108 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

109 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

110 preening   

v.（鸟）用嘴整理（羽毛）( preen的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Will you stop preening yourself in front of the mirror? 你别对着镜子打扮个没完行不行？
• She was fading, while he was still preening himself in his elegance and youth. 她已显老，而他却仍然打扮成翩翩佳公子。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

111 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

112 sniffs   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的第三人称单数 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When a dog smells food, he usually sniffs. 狗闻到食物时常吸鼻子。 来自辞典例句
• I-It's a difficult time [ Sniffs ] with my husband. 最近[哭泣]和我丈夫出了点问题。 来自电影对白

113 sobs   

啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She was struggling to suppress her sobs. 她拼命不让自己哭出来。
• She burst into a convulsive sobs. 她突然抽泣起来。

114 braced   

adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来

参考例句：

• They braced up the old house with balks of timber. 他们用梁木加固旧房子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The house has a wooden frame which is braced with brick. 这幢房子是木结构的砖瓦房。 来自《简明英汉词典》

115 bawled   

v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物）

参考例句：

• She bawled at him in front of everyone. 她当着大家的面冲他大喊大叫。
• My boss bawled me out for being late. 我迟到，给老板训斥了一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》

116 embalming   

v.保存（尸体）不腐( embalm的现在分词 )；使不被遗忘；使充满香气

参考例句：

• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming. 尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were experts at preserving the bodies of the dead by embalming them with special lotions. 他们具有采用特种药物洗剂防止尸体腐烂的专门知识。 来自辞典例句

117 preservatives   

n.防腐剂( preservative的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The juice contains no artificial preservatives. 这种果汁不含人工防腐剂。
• Meat spoils more quickly without preservatives. 不加防腐剂，肉会坏得快。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

118 cram   

v.填塞，塞满，临时抱佛脚，为考试而学习

参考例句：

• There was such a cram in the church.教堂里拥挤得要命。
• The room's full,we can't cram any more people in.屋里满满的，再也挤不进去人了。

119 bristled   

adj. 直立的，多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• They bristled at his denigrating description of their activities. 听到他在污蔑他们的活动，他们都怒发冲冠。
• All of us bristled at the lawyer's speech insulting our forefathers. 听到那个律师在讲演中污蔑我们的祖先，大家都气得怒发冲冠。

120 porcupine   

n.豪猪， 箭猪

参考例句：

• A porcupine is covered with prickles.箭猪身上长满了刺。
• There is a philosophy parable,call philosophy of porcupine.有一个哲学寓言，叫豪猪的哲学。

121 toad   

n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆

参考例句：

• Both the toad and frog are amphibian.蟾蜍和青蛙都是两栖动物。
• Many kinds of toad hibernate in winter.许多种蟾蜍在冬天都会冬眠。