Chapter 95

“THEN WHAT . . . ARE WE FLAILING¹ AROUND TO GET UP OUT OF THIS BERRY VINE FOR? TO STAGGER BACK OUT IN THE GRAVEL² AND LOSE ANOTHER TOOTH? IF ...HE ISN’T BENT³ ON HOMICIDE, WHAT LOGICAL REASON HAVE WE FOR TRYING TO RISE TO DEFEND OURSELVES?” I ceased my thorny⁴ struggle for a second, perplexed⁵ by this new tack⁶. Yes, now that you mention it, why? I pondered the question as the world of my left eye rapidly shrank to a blue-lined slit⁷. Why indeed? Then Hank, mistaking my hesitation⁸ for surrender, stepped over to extend a hand of aid. I took it and he dragged me from the vines . . . (Because if he knows already that I can, could have killed him—might have killed him ...would have! would have just as sure as sin if he had kept on just standing⁹ there letting me beat him up in front of Viv . . . just like he would have drowned under that car at the beach on Halloween if it had been left up to him ...but this time he didn’t just stand, to my everlasting¹⁰ surprise the kid had fought back, even after she’d seen all she needed . . .) “Well?” Hank asked. “You had it?” I was grateful for the opportunity. “I think so.” “Good goddam deal . . . because I’m shot clean to hell. Let’s wash up.” (This time he had fought with nobody to pull him out from under what he knew was maybe death when he crawled in under it . . . nobody to pull him out but himself.) We walked back to the landing and squatted¹¹ there, tossing water into our faces. I rose to get the album with Viv’s photo from the boat, then returned. Andy silently offered a handkerchief and 702 ken¹² kesey we silently accepted, taking turns. There was no more shouting, either from across the river or inside the head; no more stomping¹³, no more voices . . . it was quiet. (And when I saw this I gave up my notion of homicide. I had already cooled down a good deal, for one thing—because I got to realizing that whether Lee knew it or not, him prodding¹⁴ me into a hassle was for much more than just Viv’s benefit ...and for another thing, it just ain’t so light a chore doing a man in— I don’t care how hot you are under the collar—if that man himself decides to do something against it. We finished up washing and walked up to stand in the garage. The kid was looking pretty stunned¹⁵ by all the action he’d been in, so was old Andy, and me too, I imagine; none of us thought Leland had that much gumption¹⁶ to him. “Well, you can take the jeep on in if you want,” I told him. “I’ll stay an’ talk a little with Andy, I believe, about this mill fire business . . .” “But how’ll you get it back from town?” Lee asked me and said, “I can hitchhike . . . I’ve done it before. If you want to keep it here.” “Naw.” I patted the jeep on the hood¹⁷; it was still hot. “Go on and use her,” I told him. “I’ll send...somebody in in a little bit, with Andy, to bring her back.” Lee didn’t say anything to that; he was looking pretty solemn up at that window. But some way I felt like kidding a bit. “The only thing I ask, is you take care of her. She’s mighty¹⁸ finicky sometimes.” “What?” he said; it tickled¹⁹ me to fruster him that way; it always had. “What are you—” “The jeep. I’m asking, will you take care of her?” He looked at the dock. “Best that I can...” “She may need gas.” I took out my wallet. “I can give you some cash—?” “No. I’ll be all right. With my wages and policy.” “You’re sure? You’ll say so if you need some more money? You’ll get word back?” “I promise.” “Andy, man, what do you say me and you ride over t’ the house and get me some of Lee’s blood outa my hair and talk sometimes a great notion about grinning black cats and the like, hey? ...over a bottle of Johnny Walker, what say? Okeedoke, then, bub; so long and maybe we’ll see you around sometime.” And we left him there, starting the jeep, and walked back down to the boat. I was feeling all right, maybe not in God’s pocket because it ain’t so easy a thing losing a wife, but more all right about myself than I had in a good spell . . .) In the attic²⁰, Viv reaches out to pull the window closed. In just the short time it has been open the rain has swollen²¹ the edges enough to make shutting it difficult. By the time she has it wedged shut again the jeep has pulled away down the road and Hank and Andy are returning in the boat. Hank seems cheerful when she greets him downstairs; she doesn’t mention the fight; she can’t tell if he knows she was watching or not. He is talking to Andy at a great rate about a fire at the mill. “Was it bad?” she asks Andy. Hank grins at her and answers for Andy. “Just enough, chicken, just bad enough. Tell you what I’m thinking about doing; I’m thinking—since I already missed my game, nothing else to do, can’t dance, too wet to plow—that me, and Andy here might take us a little tugboat ride.” “Hank!” She really doesn’t need to ask. “Are you going to try to drive the booms down river to Wakonda Pacific?” She knew the moment she saw him. “Oh, Hank, by yourself?” “Pee on that Oh-Hank-by-yourself business. Don’t you think Andy’s gonna be in there helpin’?” “But it’ll take one of you to pilot. Hon, you can’t control all those logs by yourself.” She watches Hank waggle a loosened tooth with his forefinger²³, speaking around it. “A man’s always surprised just how much he can do by himself. Anyhow, what I want you to do... is Lee took the jeep in, see, so you ride in with Andy and bring it back out. Go look Lee up at the hotel and—” “Lee?” She tries to catch his eye, but he’s busy fingering his tooth. “That’s right—and tell him I sent you to—” “But Lee?” “You want to go or not? Huh? Okay, then. Andy, while 704 ken kesey you’re gone I’ll gather up a good supply of chains and peavey poles and get me some eggs ...and I’ll put us up a big Thermos²⁴ of coffee, too, because I expect we’ll need something hot—can you get a boat offn Mama Olson? She’s liable not to care about getting out on Thanksgiving to rent one, especially when she hears what it’s about . . .” “Yeah, I’ll get a boat . . .” “Good man. Can you pilot one?” “I’ll get it up here. I’ll have it up here the way the tide’s comin’ in now in about an hour.” “Good man. Now . . .” Hank slaps his belly²⁵; Viv starts at the flat, sudden sound. “We better get to moving around, I reckon.” “Hank.” She reaches to touch his arm. “I’ll stay and cook you up some breakfast if you—” “No, you go on. I can burn me some eggs. Here—” He takes out his wallet and removes all the bills; he divides them between Andy and Viv. “This is for Mama Olson, and this...is in case the jeep needs money. So let’s get in gear—Listen: what’s that now?” The four measured notes of a musical auto²⁶ horn reach them faintly. Andy goes to the window. “It’s that delivery truck from Stokes’ General,” he says. “Lee said they was coming past, remember? You want me to go up the flagpole and signal or something?” “I’d like to signal him with a good salt load, the old spook. No, wait, Andy; wait...a... minute. I think I’ll—Listen, you two head on out; I’ll handle the signals.” He grins, striding into the kitchen. “Where’s that arm of the old man’s, chicken?” “In the deep freeze where you put it. Why?” “I may fry it up to go with my breakfast. Now you two get gone and leave me to business. I got things to do, eggs to hatch, wood to chop, and ground to scratch. I’ll see you in about an hour, Andy. Good-by, Viv, chicken. I’ll see you when I see you. Now move, for Pete’s sake! I got to run everything in this boogerin’ two-bit show?” In her shack²⁷ on the mudflats Indian Jenny casts her shells more and more slowly; any time now, baby, any time. In his bed sometimes a great notion Big Newton belches²⁸ tremendously, and sleeps. Evenwrite waits by his phone, hoping Draeger had been as right about this one prediction as all the others. In the foyer Viv is once more climbing into the big rain poncho²⁹ when Hank comes down from upstairs with Lee’s leather-elbowed jacket. “Looks like the kid forgot his coat. You better take it to him: he ain’t gonna look very spiffy runnin’ around New York City in that old mackinaw of Joby’s. And bundle up good, it’s commencing to blow to beat the band out there.” After pulling galoshes on over her tennis shoes she rolls the jacket into a small bundle and tucks it up inside her rain poncho. She stands then with her hand on the knob, feeling the door tremble with the force of the whipping rain. Andy is waiting silently beside her in his great brown coat. She stands, holding the door for a moment, waiting for Hank to say something else. “Hank—?” she starts. “Get gone, slowpoke,” she hears him call from the kitchen, amused-sounding, over the hiss³⁰ of frying sausages. She pushes the door and goes on out; she had wanted to talk with him but the tone of bitter amusement, though slight, is still clear enough to render looking at him unnecessary. Even without turning, she can see the look perfectly³¹. Across the river the mountains and naked rock of the railway embankment loom³² in blurred³³ relief, appearing almost flat, two-dimensional like a photograph, and scratched slantwise by the rain as if the photo had been scoured³⁵ diagonally with a stiff wire brush. The effect seems extremely strange to her, though she can’t at first decide why. Then she realizes it is because the scratches run from the upper right-hand corner of the picture down to the lower left, instead of from left to right as the rains usually fall. The wind is blowing from the east. The East Wind. The slides far up river, the constant grumble³⁶ of the skies, and the vicious rains have wakened the old East Wind from his hermit’s lair³⁷ high up in the pass. Viv lifts the hood of her poncho against this ranting³⁸ wind and hurries behind Andy down to the boat. Before she gets in the boat she tries to zip the front of her garment up to her throat to keep her hair dry, but the zipper³⁹ snarls⁴⁰ in her long tresses. She snatches at the snagged hair for a second with 706 ken kesey chilled fingers, then gives up and climbs into the boat, leaving the front of her blouse bared to the wind and her hair getting wet again in the rain...He’s seen me before, she thinks wryly⁴¹, with my hair a little straggly . . . In the Snag, Lee has already purchased his bus ticket. He is sipping⁴³ a beer and checking through the policies in the shoebox while he waits for the bus. There are a lot of extra policies; he’ll have to leave all those that do not concern him with Teddy. He finds the one naming him as beneficiary and shoves it inside the photo album and feels there the picture he appropriated up in that attic. Forgot all about it. And the little scuffle couldn’t have helped it much . . . The album, though it had been in the boat during the fracas⁴⁴, had still been splattered with mud and blood, but the photo was still in as good condition as ever, which wasn’t saying a whole lot; the only thing the scuffling had done was succeed where I had failed in separating the photograph from the papers. I started to drop these papers in the shoebox with all the other stuff I was planning to leave with Teddy, when the handwriting on one of the envelopes caught my eye. For an instant he is lost from time, the past and present crisscrossing through his mind like bright swords dueling⁴⁵ in the dawn fog. They were letters from my mother, dating from our first years in New York up to the time of her death. The letters tremble, rustling⁴⁶; the picture in his other hand slides away unnoticed to the floor. In the dim barroom light it was almost impossible for me to make out much more than the barest of details. He sinks over the first letter, forming the words “Dearest Hank:” with his lips as he brings the faint rustle⁴⁷ of scented⁴⁹ print close to his eyes . . . Damn him, he has no right, no he has no right. I was able to make out however various requests for money, anecdotes⁵⁰, sentimentalities ...but even more infuriating than these things was the discovery of that that perfume? little booklet of my high school poems White Lilac? that I remember she claimed she had no right lost in an Automat on Forty-second Street years before. The poems I had written and hand-printed meticulously⁵¹ the scent⁴⁸ falls, white lilac for her birthday, now, here from the trembling page, her perfume it turns up, a few thousand miles sometimes a great notion like crumbling⁵² petals⁵³ from dear old Forty-second shaken from a faded lilac . . . and in the mail of my brother! He has no right she has no right with my poems! As I scanned the letters I went quietly mad. Because he has no right it became increasingly apparent that she had never been mine my dearest Hank I have no way of telling you in all those years together she had still been his how much I missed your hands your lips and they had no right it can’t be can we ever see each other again but each word, each scent without my bringing back so cruel Sweetheart the snow here turns black and actual movement of her hand the people here are even colder and blacker but as it lifted her hair to touch the bottle of perfume I do so wish that we might have beneath her pearled earlobe of course Lee does much better in school scented dark pendulum⁵⁴ of her hair still, we may not have to wait as long as he has no right to my twelve years darling until he had his twelve years he has no right to mine we can find that place alone in the sky please to write more until, by the time the door opened, with all my love, Myra and Viv was there, crying, nondescript in her big poncho PS Lee needs tuition and the doctor writes that the payments on the policies have lapsed⁵⁵ again; could you? By the time the poor girl arrived the insurance too? I was almost beside myself with rage. They had no right to do this! And by the time Viv had stopped crying long enough to tell me he was taking the run down the river, “Just he and Andy. And he’ll drown out there...and I hope he does!” I was already feeling that the years had used me badly. When she finished choking out her news I felt as though I were being raped⁵⁶ by time itself. Again! Just like he did before when he let her go! I tried to explain, but I fear it was largely gibberish. Again he will let her go and steal her forever from me! I could only try to tell her, “When we fought, Viv, he asked if I’d had enough. But hadn’t I taken his best punch? Hadn’t I! Hadn’t I!” I demanded shouting at her, lashing⁵⁷ out in a fury of denial and affirmation, but she didn’t understand. “Viv, don’t you see, if I let him do this I’ll just lose all over again. I didn’t have enough. I can never have had enough as long as he makes me say that! I can never have you as long as I let him make the heroic runs down the river. Don’t you—? Oh, 708 ken kesey Viv . . .” I gripped her hand; I could see she had no idea what I was talking about; I could see I would never be able to explain it. “But listen...for a while there, do you see? out on the bank? I was fighting for my life. I know it. Not running for my life as I’ve always done before. But fighting for it. Not merely to keep it, or to have it, but for it . . . fighting to get it, to win it?” I slapped the table. She was saying something but I didn’t hear. “No! by god I don’t care what he thinks I haven’t had enough. And the pompous⁵⁸ prick⁵⁹, he doesn’t have any goddamned right— Where is he, anyway, still at the house? Well, where’s Andy with the boat? I’m not going to let him, not again. Not this time! Here, take all this stuff. I’ve got to catch a boat.” She was saying something but I didn’t hear, I ran, leaving her behind, toward my brother ...leaving her and blindly hoping she might see that I was making it possible to perhaps someday have her. Her or someone. Later. For the dance between my brother and me was not finished. It was just intermission, just a bloody⁶⁰ break with both partners supine and saturated⁶¹ ...but not finished. Maybe never. Each of us had sensed that, on the bank, that when the partner is equal there exits no end, no winning, no losing, and no stopping ...There is only the intermission while the orchestra takes five for smokes. Were I to have pounded Hank unconscious—I use the subjunctive because I had lost too much blood and smoked too many cigarettes for the possibility to be other than hypothetical—I still would have proved nothing but his unconsciousness. Not his defeat. I know it now, and I think I even knew it then. Just as he must have known when I struck back that my defeat was now beyond the reach of his weapons. The peavey pole I had worried about could only snatch out my innards; the cork⁶² boots could only tear my neurons to bits with my Golden Delicious; even by threat, even if he had held his twelve-bladed whittler knife at my throat while forcing me to sign a paper swearing everlasting allegiance to John Birch, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Daughters of the American Revolution combined, he would have defeated me no more than I would have defeated him by following him right into the sanctuary⁶³ of the polling booth and forcing him at gunpoint to vote the straight Socialist⁶⁴ ticket. sometimes a great notion For there is always a sanctuary more, a door that can never be forced, whatever the force, a last inviolable stronghold that can never be taken, whatever the attack; your vote can be taken, your name, your innards, even your life, but that last stronghold can only be surrendered. And to surrender it for any reason other than love is to surrender love. Hank had always known this without knowing it, and by making him doubt it briefly⁶⁵ I made it possible for both of us to discover it. I knew it now. And I knew that to win my love, my life, I would have to win back for myself the right to this last stronghold. Which meant winning back the strength I had bartered⁶⁶ away years before for a watered-down love. Which meant winning back the pride I had exchanged for pity. Which meant not letting that bastard⁶⁷ make that goddam run against the river without me, not again, not this time; even if we both drowned, I did not intend to spend another dozen years in his shadow, no matter how big it loomed⁶⁸! Viv sits at the table, staring after Lee, her hands resting on the album. It is beginning to dawn on her that she has never really understood, not just since Lee came to Oregon, but since she came. The phone beside Floyd Evenwrite rings. He jumps, jerking it from his cradle. As he listens his face becomes redder and redder and just who the motherlovin’ hell does he think he is, damn him anyway, calling a man on Thanksgiving Day with news like that ...! “Clara! That was Hank Stamper! The sonofabitch is gonna try to run them logs down to WP; what do you think of that kinda chickenshit business? I told that Draeger you couldn’t trust them hardnoses . . .” Who the hell does he think, calling a man just sweet as you please to tell him he was about to have the rug jerked out from under him . . . well we’ll by god just see about that! “Get me my boots. An’ listen, Tommy, you get in here an’ listen...I got to get out an’ see if I can do something an’ I want you to make these calls while I’m gone. To Sorenson, Gibbons, Evans, Newton, Sitkins, Arnsen, Toms, Nielsen...hell, you know...an’ if that Draeger calls, tell him he can find me out at the Stamper house!” Lee sees the tug²² pushing through the heavy rain and swings 710 ken kesey the jeep to the side of the road. “Andy! Over here, it’s Lee!” We’ll see who’s had enough and who hasn’t . . . Jenny finishes her bottle and lets it drop to the floor. She picks up the shells. “Any time, now, honeybunch, any old time...” Viv gathers all the papers together that Lee left with her, tamping⁶⁹ them neat and even and returning them to the shoe-box. Then she sees the picture on the floor... Hank, grinning broadly, labors⁷⁰ over one of the laundry trays beside the deep freeze on the back porch; steam clouds the cold air . . . (Soon as Viv was gone to meet the kid I get me that wing of the old man’s out of the freezer. It’s froze dry and light and the color of wet driftwood. And brittle⁷¹ as ice. When I try bending the little finger of it, it snaps off clean as a whistle. So I take it to the laundry tray and run tapwater over the rest of the fingers to thaw⁷² them limber. Cold water, too, at first, just like they say you’re supposed to treat frostbite. Then I got to laughing about that and figured What the hell, meat’s meat ...and gave it the hot . . .) Steadying himself on the slippery foredeck, Lee watches Andy jockey their tug in as close to the destroyed boathouse as possible, tooting its little air horn. “There he is up yonder,” Andy says, pointing to the second-story window; “and just look what he’s hanging out. Golly, golly ...I mean just look!” Shading his eyes against the blowing rain, Lee leans out to look; “The devil,” he says, grinning up at the arm. But if he thinks I’ve had enough ...! As Viv looks at the photograph she absent-mindedly works at the zipper of her poncho, trying to free her hair. That hair. All the zippers⁷³ of her life, it seems, have been snarled⁷⁴ with that hair. That darn hair. Snarled in a zipper when the weather was cold or sweated to her brow and throat when the weather was warm. As a child her uncle had allowed her neither to cut it short nor to put it up. “Your mother did enough of that sort of thing for the both of you,” was the way he looked at it, “and while you stay with me you’ll let it hang like God and nature aimed it to hang.” And spent her summer days hoeing irrigation trenches⁷⁵ through the heat-weaving Colorado melon fields, with her hair prickling her neck and sticking to her face and sometimes a great notion hanging the way it was aimed to hang. Her nights she spent trying to keep it from hanging in the zipper of her sleeping bag where she lay near a flashlight and a four-ten single-shot guarding against the bands of young thieves that her uncle claimed were waiting to pillage⁷⁶ his fields at night. In a country where melons grow wild along every waterhole, her uncle believed every poor soul in his jail to be secretly guilty of stealing his watermelons. The only marauders Viv had ever had a chance to rout⁷⁷ were the jackrabbits and the prairie dogs, but the long wide-awake vigils gave her time to dream anyway, and to plan. She, and the stars and the big flatland moon had worked to build her a life from the dark, a life complete to the very flowers she would plant in her yard, detailed⁷⁸ to the names of the four children she would have. What were those names? The first, a boy of course, was to be named after her husband, but he was to be called by his middle name, Nelson, after her dead father. The second...? Was it a girl? Yes, a girl ...but the name? Not after her mother. No. It was the same name as the doll her father had given her. Starting with N, also. What was it? Not Nellie ...Not Norma...It seems it was an Indian name... She shakes her head and has a sip⁴² of Lee’s beer, giving up trying to remember. That had been so long. And that dream that a little girl had helped the moon and the stars forge so painstakingly⁷⁹ from the dry, crisp Colorado nights wasn’t built to stand up against weather like this. The dream had been like the sand-paintings of the Hopis, permanent only in the dry. In this kind of weather the colors ran, the edges softened⁸⁰, and the dream which had once shone so sharp and precise in the future now remained only as an ambiguous lump to mock the little girl who had dreamed it so long ago. She jerks again at the zipper, smiling: “But I do remember this part real clear: that the man I marry is going to have to agree to me cutting my hair short. That was one of the first things, the hair, I remember . . .” Suddenly she feels that she wants to cry, but that she has been robbed of her tears somewhere along the way. She hunches⁸¹ down inside the poncho, like a snail⁸² . . . 712 ken kesey “I remember...I promised me—her—that I would never marry a man who made me keep my hair long. I—she trusted me to keep that promise. She trusted me to get my hair cut short . . .” A skinny child looks up from the task of picking cockleburs out of her hair and watches Viv with curious eyes; after a moment she speaks. “You were going to have a boy and a girl and two more boys. Nelson, Neatha, Clark, and William after little Willy, the rope doll?” “That’s right. You’re right . . .” The little girl reaches a slim hand to touch Viv’s cheek. “And a piano. We were going to get him to buy us a piano, don’t you remember? And teach the kids to sing? Kids and a piano, and teach them all the songs Mama and Daddy sang, who studied at Juilliard...remember, Vivvy?” She moves nearer, looking up into Viv’s face. “And a canary. Two canaries, we would call them Bill and Coo. Real German rollers that could sing as good as the ones in the United Motor Parts and Radio Repair ...Weren’t we going to have two canaries?” Viv looks past the child to the present, down at the photograph in her hand. She examines the face in the picture: the eyes direct and powerful, the hands folded, the shadow, the little boy standing there so serious in glasses . . . back to the girl’s face, and the smile that laughs at her through the hair, the tossed swoop⁸³ of hair out over her left shoulder like a glossy⁸⁴ black wing fixed⁸⁵ in time... “And most of all, Vivvy, that Someone, remember? He was to be Someone who wanted the real us, me, who wanted— truly—what I am—was. Yes. Not a Someone who just wanted what they needed me to be...” She turns the picture over and brings it closer to her face: Rubber-stamped on the back was the studio name, “modern’s . . . Eugene, Oregon,” and the date, “Sept. 1945.” She hears Hank now for the first time, trying to tell her, and Lee, finally hears them, and sees for herself how they had all been cheated . . . “I love them, I do. I truly can love. I have that . . .” But this minute, for this woman, this dead image, she feels a sometimes a great notion hatred⁸⁶ that sings in her ears like steam. This woman has been like a dark fire, a cold fire, that melted them all almost beyond recognition. Burned them until they barely knew themselves or each other. “But I won’t let her use me any longer. I love them but I cannot give myself for them. Not my whole self. I have no right to do that.” She slips the picture inside the shoebox and picks up the bus ticket Lee has left lying on the table. The rain drives against the earth; the river swells⁸⁷, glutted⁸⁸ and still hungry. Hank leaps from the yard over the berry vine, one foot striking the bank, one on the overturned boathouse, and on into the back of the tug; he is surprised to see Lee, but his hand covers his smile...“Can you swim, bub? You may have to do a little swimming, you know...” Jenny casts her shells. Evenwrite charges about the bank among the gathering⁸⁹ loggers, outraged⁹⁰ and righteous and sweating in his underwear. “Just where does this big-ass Stamper think he gets off?”—and still smelling of gasoline. “Just you?” “Just me...” Teddy watches Draeger hurry from his car toward the Snag’s front door. There are bigger forces, Mr. Draeger. I don’t know what they are but they got ours whipped sometimes. I don’t know what they are but I know they aren’t making me a dime³⁴. And Draeger, walking past the gently throbbing⁹¹ glow of the jukebox, the shuffleboard, through the partitioned gloom of empty booths—I want to know what happened, and why— finally finds the slim blond girl. By herself. With a beer glass. Her pale hands resting on a large maroon⁹² album. Waiting to tell him: “You must go through a winter to get some notion . . .” Viv closes the large book. For some time now she has been turning the pages in silence as Draeger watches, entranced by the flow of faces. “So,” she says, smiling. Draeger starts, his 714 ken kesey head coming up. “I still don’t understand what happened,” he says after a moment. “Maybe that’s because it’s still happening,” Viv says. She gathers the strewn papers and photos into a neat pile on the table, laying that picture of the dark-haired woman and boy on top. “Anyway ...I think I hear my bus now. So. It’s been nice running through the family history with you, Mr. Draeger, but now—as soon as I . . .” Viv borrows a knife from Teddy and frees her snagged hair in time to board the bus. Just she and the driver and a gum-chewing child. “I’m going to Corvallis to visit my grandmother and grandfather and their horses,” the child informs Viv. “Where are you going?” “Who knows?” Viv answers. “I’m just going.” “Just you?” “Just me.” Draeger sits his term at that table. The juke bubbles. The whistle buoy⁹³ moans in the bay. Cables ravel. Johnny Redfeather sings “Swanee.” The tug heaves against its load. The booms begin to move, groaning⁹⁴, behind the chugging wake of the tug; Hank and Lee hurry to secure the couplings between the great carpets of logs. “Keep on the bounce,” is Hank’s advice, “or they’ll go to rollin’ under you. It maybe don’t look it, but it’s safest to keep on the bounce.” The bus hisses⁹⁵ through the swirling⁹⁶ rain; Viv takes a Kleenex from her pocket to wipe the fog from the window to get a look at the two tiny figures leaping foolishly from log to log. She rubs and rubs, but the mist just doesn’t seem to clear. “They’re nincompoops!” Gibbons proclaims. “They cain’t make it in this water . . .” On the boat Andy repeats over and over to himself, in spite of Hank’s admission of worry before going out onto the booms, “Nothin’ to sweat, nothin’ to sweat . . .” Evenwrite calls a group into the garage near the landing. “We got some things to work out, boys . . . in case they do make it.” Big Newton, still belching⁹⁷, begins doing push-ups on the living-room rug. sometimes a great notion The arm, dangling⁹⁸ in front of the dogs, twists and slowly untwists in the billowing rain. Jenny steps back from the face before her, dropping her eyes. “Jenny ...is that your name, Jenny?” “Yeah. Not really. People just allus call me Jenny.” “And your real name?” “Leahnoomish. Means Brown Fern.” “Lee-ah-noo-mish...Brown Fern. That is very pretty.” “Yeah. Look here. You think I have a pretty legs?” “Very pretty. And the skirt also. Very very pretty . . . little Brown Fern.” “Haw,” Jenny says triumphantly⁹⁹, lifting the mud-hemmed garment on off over her head.

The End

1 flailing   

v.鞭打( flail的现在分词 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克

参考例句：

• He became moody and unreasonable, flailing out at Katherine at the slightest excuse. 他变得喜怒无常、不可理喻，为点鸡毛蒜皮的小事就殴打凯瑟琳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His arms were flailing in all directions. 他的手臂胡乱挥舞着。 来自辞典例句

2 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。

3 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

4 thorny   

adj.多刺的，棘手的

参考例句：

• The young captain is pondering over a thorny problem.年轻的上尉正在思考一个棘手的问题。
• The boys argued over the thorny points in the lesson.孩子们辩论功课中的难点。

5 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

6 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

7 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。

8 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

9 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。

10 everlasting   

adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的

参考例句：

• These tyres are advertised as being everlasting.广告上说轮胎持久耐用。
• He believes in everlasting life after death.他相信死后有不朽的生命。

11 squatted   

v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。

参考例句：

• He squatted down beside the footprints and examined them closely. 他蹲在脚印旁仔细地观察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He squatted in the grass discussing with someone. 他蹲在草地上与一个人谈话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 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.

13 stomping   

v.跺脚，践踏，重踏( stomp的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He looked funny stomping round the dance floor. 他在舞池里跺着舞步，样子很可笑。 来自辞典例句
• Chelsea substitution Wright-Phillips for Robben. Wrighty back on his old stomping to a mixed reception. 77分–切尔西换人：赖特．菲利普斯入替罗本。小赖特在主场球迷混杂的欢迎下，重返他的老地方。 来自互联网

14 prodding   

v.刺，戳( prod的现在分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳

参考例句：

• He needed no prodding. 他不用督促。
• The boy is prodding the animal with a needle. 那男孩正用一根针刺那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

16 gumption   

n.才干

参考例句：

• With his gumption he will make a success of himself.凭他的才干，他将大有作为。
• Surely anyone with marketing gumption should be able to sell good books at any time of year.无疑，有经营头脑的人在一年的任何时节都应该能够卖掉好书。

17 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

18 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

19 tickled   

（使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐

参考例句：

• We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友，我们高兴极了。
• I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚，使她发笑。

20 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

21 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。

22 tug   

v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船

参考例句：

• We need to tug the car round to the front.我们需要把那辆车拉到前面。
• The tug is towing three barges.那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。

23 forefinger   

n.食指

参考例句：

• He pinched the leaf between his thumb and forefinger.他将叶子捏在拇指和食指之间。
• He held it between the tips of his thumb and forefinger.他用他大拇指和食指尖拿着它。

24 thermos   

n.保湿瓶，热水瓶

参考例句：

• Can I borrow your thermos?我可以借用你的暖水瓶吗？
• It's handy to have the thermos here.暖瓶放在这儿好拿。

25 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。

26 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

27 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。

28 belches   

n.嗳气( belch的名词复数 )；喷吐；喷出物v.打嗝( belch的第三人称单数 )；喷出，吐出；打（嗝）；嗳（气）

参考例句：

• A volcano belches smoke and ashes. 火山喷出黑烟和灰土。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• A volcano belches forth smoke and ashes. 火山喷出烟和尘埃。 来自互联网

29 poncho   

n.斗篷，雨衣

参考例句：

• He yawned and curled his body down farther beneath the poncho.他打了个呵欠，把身子再蜷拢点儿，往雨披里缩了缩。
• The poncho is made of nylon.这雨披是用尼龙制造的。

30 hiss   

v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满

参考例句：

• We can hear the hiss of air escaping from a tire.我们能听到一只轮胎的嘶嘶漏气声。
• Don't hiss at the speaker.不要嘘演讲人。

31 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

32 loom   

n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近

参考例句：

• The old woman was weaving on her loom.那位老太太正在织布机上织布。
• The shuttle flies back and forth on the loom.织布机上梭子来回飞动。

33 blurred   

v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离

参考例句：

• She suffered from dizziness and blurred vision. 她饱受头晕目眩之苦。
• Their lazy, blurred voices fell pleasantly on his ears. 他们那种慢吞吞、含糊不清的声音在他听起来却很悦耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

34 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。

35 scoured   

走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮

参考例句：

• We scoured the area for somewhere to pitch our tent. 我们四处查看，想找一个搭帐篷的地方。
• The torrents scoured out a channel down the hill side. 急流沿着山腰冲刷出一条水沟。

36 grumble   

vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another grumble from you.我不愿再听到你的抱怨。
• He could do nothing but grumble over the situation.他除了埋怨局势之外别无他法。

37 lair   

n.野兽的巢穴；躲藏处

参考例句：

• How can you catch tiger cubs without entering the tiger's lair?不入虎穴，焉得虎子？
• I retired to my lair,and wrote some letters.我回到自己的躲藏处，写了几封信。

38 ranting   

v.夸夸其谈( rant的现在分词 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨

参考例句：

• Mrs. Sakagawa stopped her ranting. 坂川太太戛然中断悲声。 来自辞典例句
• He was ranting about the murder of his dad. 他大叫她就是杀死他父亲的凶手。 来自电影对白

39 zipper   

n.拉链；v.拉上拉链

参考例句：

• The zipper is red.这条拉链是红色的。
• The zipper is a wonderful invention.拉链是个了不起的发明。

40 snarls   

n.（动物的）龇牙低吼( snarl的名词复数 )；愤怒叫嚷（声）；咆哮（声）；疼痛叫声v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的第三人称单数 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说

参考例句：

• I don't know why my hair snarls easily. 我不知道我的头发为什么容易缠结。 来自辞典例句
• She combed the snarls out of her hair. 她把头发的乱结梳理通。 来自辞典例句

41 wryly   

adv. 挖苦地，嘲弄地

参考例句：

• Molly smiled rather wryly and said nothing. 莫莉苦笑着，一句话也没说。
• He smiled wryly, then closed his eyes and gnawed his lips. 他狞笑一声，就闭了眼睛，咬着嘴唇。 来自子夜部分

42 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。

43 sipping   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She sat in the sun, idly sipping a cool drink. 她坐在阳光下懒洋洋地抿着冷饮。
• She sat there, sipping at her tea. 她坐在那儿抿着茶。

44 fracas   

n.打架；吵闹

参考例句：

• A couple of mobsters were rubbed out in a fracas with the law.几个暴徒在与警方喧闹的斗争中丧命。
• The police were called in to stop the fracas.警察奉命去制止骚乱。

45 dueling   

n. 决斗, 抗争(=duelling) 动词duel的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• More light-hearted But somewhat puzzled, Vladimir prepared to meet Eugene on the dueling ground. 弗拉基米尔心里轻松了一些，但仍感到有些困惑，在这种心情下，他准备去决斗场地迎战叶甫盖尼。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
• They had been dueling for hours and finally called a draw. 他们一直决斗了数小时，最后打成平局。

46 rustling   

n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的

参考例句：

• the sound of the trees rustling in the breeze 树木在微风中发出的沙沙声
• the soft rustling of leaves 树叶柔和的沙沙声

47 rustle   

v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声

参考例句：

• She heard a rustle in the bushes.她听到灌木丛中一阵沙沙声。
• He heard a rustle of leaves in the breeze.他听到树叶在微风中发出的沙沙声。

48 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

49 scented   

adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词)

参考例句：

• I let my lungs fill with the scented air. 我呼吸着芬芳的空气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The police dog scented about till he found the trail. 警犬嗅来嗅去，终于找到了踪迹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

50 anecdotes   

n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• amusing anecdotes about his brief career as an actor 关于他短暂演员生涯的趣闻逸事
• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman. 他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

51 meticulously   

adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心

参考例句：

• The hammer's silvery head was etched with holy runs and its haft was meticulously wrapped in blue leather. 锤子头是纯银制成的，雕刻着神圣符文，而握柄则被精心地包裹在蓝色的皮革中。 来自辞典例句
• She is always meticulously accurate in punctuation and spelling. 她的标点和拼写总是非常精确。 来自辞典例句

52 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

53 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

54 pendulum   

n.摆，钟摆

参考例句：

• The pendulum swung slowly to and fro.钟摆在慢慢地来回摆动。
• He accidentally found that the desk clock did not swing its pendulum.他无意中发现座钟不摇摆了。

55 lapsed   

adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He had lapsed into unconsciousness. 他陷入了昏迷状态。
• He soon lapsed into his previous bad habits. 他很快陷入以前的恶习中去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

56 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

57 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》

58 pompous   

adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities.他有点自大，自视甚高。
• He is a good man underneath his pompous appearance. 他的外表虽傲慢，其实是个好人。

59 prick   

v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛

参考例句：

• He felt a sharp prick when he stepped on an upturned nail.当他踩在一个尖朝上的钉子上时，他感到剧烈的疼痛。
• He burst the balloon with a prick of the pin.他用针一戳，气球就爆了。

60 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

61 saturated   

a.饱和的，充满的

参考例句：

• The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 连绵不断的雨把土地淋了个透。
• a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化钠饱和溶液

62 cork   

n.软木，软木塞

参考例句：

• We heard the pop of a cork.我们听见瓶塞砰的一声打开。
• Cork is a very buoyant material.软木是极易浮起的材料。

63 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

64 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

65 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

66 bartered   

v.作物物交换，以货换货( barter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The local people bartered wheat for tools. 当地人用小麦换取工具。
• They bartered farm products for machinery. 他们用农产品交换机器。 来自《简明英汉词典》

67 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。

68 loomed   

v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• A dark shape loomed up ahead of us. 一个黑糊糊的影子隐隐出现在我们的前面。
• The prospect of war loomed large in everyone's mind. 战事将起的庞大阴影占据每个人的心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

69 tamping   

n.填塞物，捣紧v.捣固( tamp的现在分词 )；填充；（用炮泥）封炮眼口；夯实

参考例句：

• The foundation becomes solid after tamping. 打夯以后，地基就瓷实了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Practical construction shows that equal energy, equal deformation tamping a. 等能量、等变形夯扩挤密矸石桩是一种地基加固新技术。 来自互联网

70 labors   

v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors. 他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。 来自辞典例句
• Farm labors used to hire themselves out for the summer. 农业劳动者夏季常去当雇工。 来自辞典例句

71 brittle   

adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的

参考例句：

• The pond was covered in a brittle layer of ice.池塘覆盖了一层易碎的冰。
• She gave a brittle laugh.她冷淡地笑了笑。

72 thaw   

v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和

参考例句：

• The snow is beginning to thaw.雪已开始融化。
• The spring thaw caused heavy flooding.春天解冻引起了洪水泛滥。

73 zippers   

n.拉链( zipper的名词复数 )；用拉链的人，装拉链的包

参考例句：

• Buttons, zippers should be glitch free and sharp edge. 纽扣、拉链应无毛刺和锐利边缘。 来自互联网
• Buttons, Zippers, Trimmings and Accessories for the Garment Industry. 主营钮扣，拉链，装饰品和其他服装辅料。 来自互联网

74 snarled   

v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说

参考例句：

• The dog snarled at us. 狗朝我们低声吼叫。
• As I advanced towards the dog, It'snarled and struck at me. 我朝那条狗走去时，它狂吠着向我扑来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

75 trenches   

深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕

参考例句：

• life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活
• The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕，并在田野上呈扇形散开。

76 pillage   

v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物

参考例句：

• The invading troops were guilty of rape and pillage.侵略军犯了抢劫和强奸的罪。
• It was almost pillage.这简直是一场洗劫。

77 rout   

n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮

参考例句：

• The enemy was put to rout all along the line.敌人已全线崩溃。
• The people's army put all to rout wherever they went.人民军队所向披靡。

78 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

79 painstakingly   

adv. 费力地 苦心地

参考例句：

• Every aspect of the original has been closely studied and painstakingly reconstructed. 原作的每一细节都经过了仔细研究，费尽苦心才得以重现。
• The cause they contrived so painstakingly also ended in failure. 他们惨淡经营的事业也以失败而告终。

80 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。

81 hunches   

预感，直觉( hunch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A technical sergeant hunches in a cubicle. 一位技术军士在一间小屋里弯腰坐着。
• We often test our hunches on each other. 我们经常互相检验我们的第六感觉。

82 snail   

n.蜗牛

参考例句：

• Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
• Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。

83 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。

84 glossy   

adj.平滑的；有光泽的

参考例句：

• I like these glossy spots.我喜欢这些闪闪发光的花点。
• She had glossy black hair.她长着乌黑发亮的头发。

85 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。

86 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

87 swells   

增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The waters were heaving up in great swells. 河水正在急剧上升。
• A barrel swells in the middle. 水桶中部隆起。

88 glutted   

v.吃得过多( glut的过去式和过去分词 )；（对胃口、欲望等）纵情满足；使厌腻；塞满

参考例句：

• The market was glutted with shoddy goods. 次货充斥市场。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The tour of Guilin glutted my eyes. 桂林一游使我大饱眼福。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

89 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

90 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

91 throbbing   

a. 跳动的,悸动的

参考例句：

• My heart is throbbing and I'm shaking. 我的心在猛烈跳动，身子在不住颤抖。
• There was a throbbing in her temples. 她的太阳穴直跳。

92 maroon   

v.困住，使（人）处于孤独无助之境；n.逃亡黑奴；孤立的人；酱紫色，褐红色；adj.酱紫色的，褐红色的

参考例句：

• Five couples were marooned in their caravans when the River Avon broke its banks.埃文河决堤的时候，有5对夫妇被困在了他们的房车里。
• Robinson Crusoe has been marooned on a desert island for 26 years.鲁滨逊在荒岛上被困了26年。

93 buoy   

n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The party did little to buoy up her spirits.这次聚会并没有让她振作多少。
• The buoy floated back and forth in the shallow water.这个浮标在浅水里漂来漂去。

94 groaning   

adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• She's always groaning on about how much she has to do. 她总抱怨自己干很多活儿。
• The wounded man lay there groaning, with no one to help him. 受伤者躺在那里呻吟着，无人救助。

95 hisses   

嘶嘶声( hiss的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The speaker was received with a mixture of applause and hisses. 那演说者同时得到喝彩声和嘘声。
• A fire hisses if water is thrown on it. 把水浇到火上，火就发出嘶嘶声。

96 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句

97 belching   

n. 喷出，打嗝 动词belch的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The Tartars employed another weapon, the so-called Chinese dragon belching fire. 鞑靼人使用了另一种武器，所谓中国龙喷火器。
• Billows of smoke were belching from the chimney. 巨浪似的烟正从烟囱里喷出来。

98 dangling   

悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 结果，那颗牙就晃来晃去吊在床柱上了。
• The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子们坐在一堵高墙上，摇晃着他们的双腿。

99 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。