The wife of the Tartar placed before me, on a table only a foot high and little more than a foot square, a large tin tray, containing some hard boiled eggs, black rye bread, and a vessel15 filled with the sweet juice of pears. It was a strange and humble16 repast, but proved quite Apician to me after our mode of messing before Sebastopol. I had barely ended this simple Tartar breakfast, when the Stamboul Hadji, who was to be my guide to Canrobert's post near Kokoz, exclaimed, in a startled voice, "Allah kerim--look!"
I followed the direction indicated by his hand and dark, gleaming eyes, and with emotions of a very chequered kind saw, through an open window, "a clump17 of spears," as Scott would have called them; in short, a party of Cossacks riding slowly and leisurely18 down the mountain-path that led straight towards the house. In the eastern sunlight the tips of their lances shone like fiery19 stars; but no other appointments glittered about them; for unlike the gay light cavalry20 of France and Britain, their uniforms are generally of the most plain and dingy21 description. As yet they were about a mile distant, and if I would escape them, there was not a moment to be lost. I rushed to my horse, looked hastily but surely to bridle22-bit, to saddle-girth, and stirrup-leather; and without waiting for the Hadji, who, being afoot, would only serve to retard23 my pace and lead to my capture, I gave some money to the Tartar hostess, and galloped24 away, diving deep into the forest, hoping that I had been as yet unseen, and should escape if none of the people at the caravanserai betrayed me, either under the inspiration of cowardice25 or malevolence26. To avoid this party, who, it would appear, were coming right along the road I should pursue, I rode due eastward27 towards the ridge28 of Mount Yaila, which rose between me and the Black Sea, and which extends from Balaclava nearly to Alushta, a distance of fifty miles.
The day was clear and lovely, though cold and wintry, as the season was so far advanced, and I proceeded lightly along a narrow forest path, the purely-bred animal I rode seeming scarcely to touch, but merely to brush, the dewy grass with its small hoofs29. The air was loaded by the fragrance30 of the firs; here and there, between the dark and bronze-looking glades31, fell the golden gleams of the morning sun; and at times I had a view of the sombre sea of cones that spread over the hills in countless32 lines, and in places untrodden, perhaps, save by the wolf and the badger33; overhead the black Egyptian vulture hovered34 in mid-air, the brown partridges whirred up before my horse's feet, and the hare, too, fled from its lurking35-place among the long grass; but by wandering thus deviously36 in such a lonely place, though I might avoid those ubiquitous Cossacks, who were scattered37 "broadcast" over all Crim Tartary, I should never reach Kokoz, or deliver that despatch38, which, if taken by the enemy, I meant to destroy. Once or twice I came upon some Tartar huts, whose occupants seemed to be chiefly women--the men being all probably employed as military wagoners, in the forest or afield; but they drew close their yashmacs and shut their doors at my approach; so midday came on, and I was still in ignorance of the route to pursue, and in a district so primitive39 that, when the simple natives saw me scrape a lucifer-match to light a cigar, they were struck dumb with fear and wonder. Vague, wild, and romantic dreams and hopes came into my mind, that, if I perished and my name appeared in the Gazette, Estelle would weep for me; and in my absurd, most misplaced regard, and almost boyish enthusiasm, I felt that I should cheerfully have given up the life God gave me, for a tear from this false girl, could I be but certain that she would have shed it. Ay, there was the rub! Would she shed it, or the sacrifice be worth the return?
"Bah!" thought I, as I bit my lip, and uttering something like a malediction40 rode sullenly41 and madly on.
"Why cling thus to the dead past?" thought I, after a time. "Pshaw! Phil Caradoc was right in all he urged upon me. Yet that past is so sweet--it was so brilliant and tender--that memory cannot but dwell upon it with fondness and regret, with passion and bitterness."
Pausing for nearly an hour, my whole "tiffin" being a damp cheroot, I loosened my horse's girths for the time, and turned his quivering and distended42 nostrils43 to the keen winter blast that blew from the Euxine, and then I remounted. After wandering dubiously45 backward and forward, and seeking to guide my motions by the sun, just as I was about to penetrate46 into a narrow rocky defile47, the outer end of which I hoped would bring me to some proper roadway or place where my route could be ascertained48, the distant sound of a Cossack trumpet49 fairly in my front, and responded to by another apparently50 but some fifty yards in my rear, made me rein51 in my horse, while my heart beat wildly.
"Cossacks again!" I exclaimed, for I was evidently between two scouting52 parties, and if I escaped one, was pretty certain to be captured by the other.
Instinctively53 I guided my horse aside into a clump of wild pear-trees, the now leafless stems and branches of which I greatly feared would fail to conceal54 either it or me; but no nearer lurking place was nigh, and there I waited and watched, my spirit galled55 and my heart swollen56 with natural excitement and anxiety. Death seemed very close to me at that moment; yet I sat in my saddle, revolver in hand, the blade of my drawn57 sword in the same grasp with my reins58, and ready for instant use, as I was resolved to sell my life dearly. Preoccupied59, I had been unconscious for some time past that the cold had been increasing; that the sun, lately so brilliant, had become obscured in sombre gray clouds, and even that snow had begun to fall. Delicate and white as floating swans'-down fell the flakes60 over all the scenery. On my clothing and on my horse-furniture it remained white and pure; but on the roadway I had to traverse it speedily became half-frozen mud. If I escaped these scouting parties my horse-tracks might yet betray me, and I thought vainly of the foresight61 of Robert Bruce when he fled from London over a snow-covered country with his horse-shoes inverted62. If I escaped them! I was not left long in uncertainty63 of my fate in that respect.
Riding in double file, and led by an officer who wore the usual long coat with silver shoulder-straps and a stiff flat forage-cap, a party of forty Cossacks issued slowly from the defile. Their leader was either a staff-officer or a member of some other force, as his uniform was quite different from theirs, which declared them to be Tchernimorski Cossacks, the tribe who inhabit the peninsula of Tamar, and all the country between the Kuban and Asof, being literally64 the Cossacks of the Black Sea, and natives of the district. They carried their cartridges65 ranged across their breast in rows of tin tubes, à la Circassienne, and were all bronzed, bearded, and rough-looking men, whose whole bearing spoke66 of Crimean and Circassian service, of hard outpost work among the wild Caucasus, of many a bloody67 conflict with Schamyl--conflicts in which quarter was neither asked nor given! I had never been quite so near those wild warriors68 of the Russian steppes before, and have no desire ever to be so again, at least under the same dubious44 circumstances. They wore little squab-shaped busbies of brown fur; sheepskin shoubahs, or cloaks, over their coarse green uniforms; and had trusses of straw and bags of corn so secured over the shoulders and cruppers of their small shaggy horses, that but little more of the latter were visible than their noses and tails. They rode with their knees high and stirrup-leathers short, their lances slung69 behind them, and carbines rested on the right thigh71. Captivity72 or escape, life or death, were in the balance as they slowly rode onward73; but favoured by the already failing light and the falling snow, I am now inclined to think that my figure should have escaped even their keen and watchful74 eyes, had not evil fortune caused my horse, on discovering a mare75 or so among their cattle, after snuffing the air with quivering nostrils, to whinny and to neigh! At that moment we were not more than fifty yards apart.
A shout, or rather a series of wild cries, escaped the Cossacks. I pressed the spurs into the flanks of my gallant76 black horse, and he sprang away with a wild bound; while the bullets from nearly twenty carbines whistled past me harmlessly, thank heaven, and I rode steadily77 away--away. I cared not in what direction now, so that the more pressing danger was eluded78, while cries and threats, and shot after shot followed me; but I had no great fear of them so long as they fired from the saddle, experience having taught me that even the best-trained cavalry are but indifferent marksmen. Before me rose the green ridge of Mount Yaila; the ground was somewhat open there, being pastoral hill-slopes gradually culminating in those peaks, from whence, in a clear day, the snow-clad summits of the Caucasus can be discerned; and to reach a ravine or cleft79 in the hills before me, I strained every effort of my horse, hoping, with the coming night, to escape, or find some shelter by the seashore.
The idea was vague, uncertain, and wild, I know; but I had no other alternative save to halt, wheel about, and sell my life as best I could at terrible odds80; while to prevent me eluding81 them, the Cossacks had gradually opened out their files into a wide semicircle, lest I should seek to escape by some sudden flank movement; and all kept their horses--wiry, fiery, and active little brutes--well in hand. Their leader was better mounted and kept far in advance of them--unpleasantly close on my flanks, indeed--but still his nag82 was no match for the noble English horse I rode; and so as the blue shadows lengthened83 and deepened in the snow-coated valley, I began to breathe more freely, and to think, or hope, there was perhaps a chance for me after all. Perhaps some of the Cossacks began to think so, for they dismounted, and, while the rest kept fiercely and closely in pursuit, levelled their carbines over their saddles, over each other's shoulders, or with left elbow firmly planted on the knee, and thus took quiet and deliberate pot-shots at me; and two had effect on the hind70 legs of my horse, tending seriously to injure his speed and strength; and as each ball struck him he gave a snort, and shivered with pain and terror. On and on yet up the mountain valley!
An emotion of mockery, defiance84, and exultation85 almost filled me--the exultation of the genuine English racing86 spirit--on finding that I was leaving the most of them behind, and was already well through the vale, or cleft, in the mountains, the slopes of which were then as easy to traverse as if coursing on the downs of Sussex; and already I could see, some three miles distant, the waters of the Euxine, and the smoke of our war-steamers cruising off Yalta and Livadia. I looked back. The Cossack leader was very close to me now, and five of his men, all riding with lance in hand, as they had probably expended87 their ammunition88, were but a few horse-lengths behind him. I could perceive that he had also armed himself with a lance, and felt assured that in his rage at having had so long and futile89 a pursuit, he would certainly not receive my sword, even if I offered it, as a prisoner of war; so I resolved to shoot him as soon as he came within range of my "Colt," the six chambers90 of which I had been too wary91 to discharge as yet.
Checking my panting and bleeding horse for a second or two, to let the galloping92 Russian come closer, I fired at him under my bridle arm, and a mocking laugh informed me that my Parthian shot had gone wide of its mark. Not venturing to fire again, I continued to spur my black horse on still; for now the friendly twilight93 had descended94 on the mountains and the sea, whose waves at the horizon were yet reddened by the farewell rays of the winter sun as he sank beyond them. Suddenly the character of the ground seemed to change--vacancy yawned before me, and I found myself within some twenty yards of a pretty high limestone95 cliff that overhung the water!
The hand of fate seemed on me now, and reining96 round my horse, I found myself almost face to face with the leader of the Cossacks; and all that passed after this occurred in shorter time than I can take to write it. Uttering an exulting97 cry, he raised himself in his stirrups, and savagely98 launched at me with all his force the Cossack spear. I eluded it by swerving99 my body round; but it pierced deeply the off flank of my poor horse, and hung dangling100 there, with the crimson101 blood pouring from the wound and smoking upward from the snow. The animal was plunging102 wildly and madly now, yet I fired the five remaining pistol shots full at the Russian ere he could draw his sword; and one at least must have taken effect somewhere, for he fell almost beneath my horse's hoofs, and as he did so his cap flew off, and I recognised Volhonski--whom, by a singular coincidence, I thus again encountered--Count Volhonski, the Colonel of the Vladimir Infantry103! At the same moment I was fiercely charged by the five advanced Cossacks, with their levelled lances, and with my horse was literally hurled104 over the cliffs into the sea, the waves of which I heard bellowing105 below me.
Within the pace of one pulsation--one respiration--as we fell whizzing through the air for some sixty feet together, I seemed to live all my past life over again; but I have no language wherewith to express the mingled106 bitterness and desolation that came over my soul at that time. Estelle lost to me; life, too, it seemed, going, for I must be drowned or taken--taken but to die. The remembrance of all I had loved and of all who loved me; all that I had delighted in--the regiment107, which was my pride--my friends and comrades, and all that had ever raised hope or fancy, or excited emulation--seemed lost to me, as the waves of the Black Sea closed over my head, and I went down to die, my fate unknown, and even in my grave, "unhousled, disappointed, unaneled."
Even now as I write, when the danger has long since passed away, and when the sun has shone again in all his glory on me, in my dreams I am sometimes once more the desperate and despairing fellow I was then.
点击收听单词发音
1 divan | |
n.长沙发;(波斯或其他东方诗人的)诗集 | |
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2 confided | |
v.吐露(秘密,心事等)( confide的过去式和过去分词 );(向某人)吐露(隐私、秘密等) | |
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3 sleepers | |
n.卧铺(通常以复数形式出现);卧车( sleeper的名词复数 );轨枕;睡觉(呈某种状态)的人;小耳环 | |
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4 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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5 dormant | |
adj.暂停活动的;休眠的;潜伏的 | |
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6 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 | |
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7 puffs | |
n.吸( puff的名词复数 );(烟斗或香烟的)一吸;一缕(烟、蒸汽等);(呼吸或风的)呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧 | |
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8 eddied | |
起漩涡,旋转( eddy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9 vent | |
n.通风口,排放口;开衩;vt.表达,发泄 | |
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10 embroidered | |
adj.绣花的 | |
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11 quaint | |
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的 | |
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12 recede | |
vi.退(去),渐渐远去;向后倾斜,缩进 | |
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13 twitched | |
vt.& vi.(使)抽动,(使)颤动(twitch的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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14 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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15 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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16 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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17 clump | |
n.树丛,草丛;vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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18 leisurely | |
adj.悠闲的;从容的,慢慢的 | |
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19 fiery | |
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的 | |
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20 cavalry | |
n.骑兵;轻装甲部队 | |
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21 dingy | |
adj.昏暗的,肮脏的 | |
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22 bridle | |
n.笼头,束缚;vt.抑制,约束;动怒 | |
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23 retard | |
n.阻止,延迟;vt.妨碍,延迟,使减速 | |
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24 galloped | |
(使马)飞奔,奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 ); 快速做[说]某事 | |
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25 cowardice | |
n.胆小,怯懦 | |
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26 malevolence | |
n.恶意,狠毒 | |
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27 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
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28 ridge | |
n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭 | |
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29 hoofs | |
n.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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30 fragrance | |
n.芬芳,香味,香气 | |
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31 glades | |
n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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32 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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33 badger | |
v.一再烦扰,一再要求,纠缠 | |
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34 hovered | |
鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫 | |
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35 lurking | |
潜在 | |
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36 deviously | |
弯曲地,绕道地 | |
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37 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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38 despatch | |
n./v.(dispatch)派遣;发送;n.急件;新闻报道 | |
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39 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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40 malediction | |
n.诅咒 | |
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41 sullenly | |
不高兴地,绷着脸,忧郁地 | |
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42 distended | |
v.(使)膨胀,肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43 nostrils | |
鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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44 dubious | |
adj.怀疑的,无把握的;有问题的,靠不住的 | |
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45 dubiously | |
adv.可疑地,怀疑地 | |
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46 penetrate | |
v.透(渗)入;刺入,刺穿;洞察,了解 | |
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47 defile | |
v.弄污,弄脏;n.(山间)小道 | |
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48 ascertained | |
v.弄清,确定,查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49 trumpet | |
n.喇叭,喇叭声;v.吹喇叭,吹嘘 | |
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50 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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51 rein | |
n.疆绳,统治,支配;vt.以僵绳控制,统治 | |
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52 scouting | |
守候活动,童子军的活动 | |
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53 instinctively | |
adv.本能地 | |
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54 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
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55 galled | |
v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 );擦伤;烦扰;侮辱 | |
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56 swollen | |
adj.肿大的,水涨的;v.使变大,肿胀 | |
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57 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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58 reins | |
感情,激情; 缰( rein的名词复数 ); 控制手段; 掌管; (成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的)保护带 | |
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59 preoccupied | |
adj.全神贯注的,入神的;被抢先占有的;心事重重的v.占据(某人)思想,使对…全神贯注,使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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60 flakes | |
小薄片( flake的名词复数 ); (尤指)碎片; 雪花; 古怪的人 | |
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61 foresight | |
n.先见之明,深谋远虑 | |
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62 inverted | |
adj.反向的,倒转的v.使倒置,使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63 uncertainty | |
n.易变,靠不住,不确知,不确定的事物 | |
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64 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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65 cartridges | |
子弹( cartridge的名词复数 ); (打印机的)墨盒; 录音带盒; (唱机的)唱头 | |
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66 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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67 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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68 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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69 slung | |
抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往 | |
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70 hind | |
adj.后面的,后部的 | |
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71 thigh | |
n.大腿;股骨 | |
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72 captivity | |
n.囚禁;被俘;束缚 | |
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73 onward | |
adj.向前的,前进的;adv.向前,前进,在先 | |
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74 watchful | |
adj.注意的,警惕的 | |
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75 mare | |
n.母马,母驴 | |
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76 gallant | |
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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77 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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78 eluded | |
v.(尤指机敏地)避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 );逃避;躲避;使达不到 | |
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79 cleft | |
n.裂缝;adj.裂开的 | |
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80 odds | |
n.让步,机率,可能性,比率;胜败优劣之别 | |
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81 eluding | |
v.(尤指机敏地)避开( elude的现在分词 );逃避;躲避;使达不到 | |
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82 nag | |
v.(对…)不停地唠叨;n.爱唠叨的人 | |
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83 lengthened | |
(时间或空间)延长,伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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84 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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85 exultation | |
n.狂喜,得意 | |
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86 racing | |
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的 | |
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87 expended | |
v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 );使用(钱等)做某事;用光;耗尽 | |
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88 ammunition | |
n.军火,弹药 | |
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89 futile | |
adj.无效的,无用的,无希望的 | |
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90 chambers | |
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅 | |
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91 wary | |
adj.谨慎的,机警的,小心的 | |
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92 galloping | |
adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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93 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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94 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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95 limestone | |
n.石灰石 | |
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96 reining | |
勒缰绳使(马)停步( rein的现在分词 ); 驾驭; 严格控制; 加强管理 | |
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97 exulting | |
vi. 欢欣鼓舞,狂喜 | |
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98 savagely | |
adv. 野蛮地,残酷地 | |
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99 swerving | |
v.(使)改变方向,改变目的( swerve的现在分词 ) | |
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100 dangling | |
悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 ); 摆动不定; 用某事物诱惑…; 吊胃口 | |
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101 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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102 plunging | |
adj.跳进的,突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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103 infantry | |
n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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104 hurled | |
v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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105 bellowing | |
v.发出吼叫声,咆哮(尤指因痛苦)( bellow的现在分词 );(愤怒地)说出(某事),大叫 | |
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106 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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107 regiment | |
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制 | |
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