Some of them had written very pleasantly of this unknown aspirant1; others had been severely2 derisive3, a fact they overlooked when they called at the chalet later on and took out their note-books as a matter of course.
He, good man, had but a dim understanding of later-day journalism4, and these attentions overwhelmed him. Some of his replies were quite unconventional. They asked him where he was educated, and he answered "anywhere." An interrogation concerning his favourite pursuits obtained the response "doing nothing." Generally, he said that if the engine kept going, he would win the money; but that if the engine stopped, he would not win it, and this was written down as an item of great importance, and cabled to London for the next day's issue.
Now all this had carried the man into a new world, and so swiftly that it seemed but yesterday he was a plodder5 in a dull workshop, without prospects6 and unknown. He had dreamed of fame, but not of this kind of fame, which came to him, note-book in hand, and desired to hear whether he flew on whisky or cold water. The world he would conquer was a shadow world; the great vague universe, wherein so many ambitions are interred7. To be a newspaper hero was well enough, but he reflected a little sadly that even an acrobat8 may be that. He wondered already if he would find the fruits of success to be bitter; and this speculation9 set him thinking of Lily Delayne. Did he owe it to her indifference10 that flight to-morrow was possible? In truth, he believed that he did.
Brother Jack11, upon the other hand, welcomed the reporters with real cordiality. He delighted to talk of his clever brother; to tell them impossible anecdotes12 of Benny's youth, and to insist that he himself had always known he was a genius. Jack spent a long afternoon in this employment, and when he varied13 it, his activities carried him up to the plateau whence the start was to be made, and back again to the shed wherein the machine was housed. What hours of strenuous14 labour it stood for; how they had worked to get everything ready! And now their work was done. Not a wire that had not been overhauled15; not a stay which had not been tested.
Of those who had come from England to witness the great attempt, Sir John Perinder, the proprietor16 of the Daily Recorder, was the most eminent17. A well-built, clear-eyed man, his manner was volatile18 to a ridiculous extent, and had earned for him the title of the greatest hustler in the universe. Naturally he asked Benny to dinner at the Palace, and with him Brother Jack and the Abbé Villari, of whom he heard with much interest. These had been but a little while at the table when they discovered that their host knew a great deal about aviation, and had the clearest perceptions as to the future of flying. At the same time he did not deceive himself by any of those futile19 prophecies in which unthinking men delight.
"You fellows are about to give us a new sport," he said bluntly, "young men will fly because they are tired of motoring. There will be a fine trade with the war-offices of Europe, but the rest I don't see. None of us now living will take aeroplanes where we now take cabs. That's foolish talk; the world will prefer terra firma to the air, just as it prefers terra firma to the sea. Do you think I would go to America on a ship if I could travel in a train? You know that I wouldn't. And so with your airships, good enough for their own purposes, but limited by the factor of personal courage. Why, I wouldn't go up in one for a thousand, and I'll warrant Monsieur l'Abbé here wouldn't go up for two."
Here, however, he met a tough adversary20. The abbé had followed the movement with interest from the beginning. He had even built a machine of his own, and purposed to show it at Rome in the spring of the year. His optimism baffled the blunt baronet, who brushed it aside with a jest, and went on to speak of to-morrow's flight.
"If you win," he said to Benny, "you'll do the greatest thing ever done by man. I've been a climber for twenty years, and never did I think that a man would look down on what I've looked up to with awe21. You'll do that to-morrow if you succeed. You're going to see the Alps as no man has ever seen them since the world dropped out of the sun. That's something to sleep on, Mr. Benson; it's something to take with you on your journey. I'd give ten thousand pounds to see it myself—twenty thousand for the courage which would let me do what you are going to do. It's a safe offer. There isn't a greater coward living where a height is concerned, and yet I climb mountains. Explain that if you can."
Benny would have explained it if he had been given half a chance, but he had hardly opened his mouth when the baronet was off again, saying how the affair must be "boomed" in this or the other way; the reports which must be given of it; the particular points which the aviator22 must note during his voyage. He declared that the public liked sensation, but must have it first hand nowadays. The man who has seen another man eaten by a lion in Africa is of no use—he must be eaten himself. Few mechanical minds were capable of conveying mechanical sensations, and that was the difficulty. He hoped that Benny would prove the exception to the rule, and give them a story for their money. Commercialism intruded23 when he added that no other paper in Europe would have put up such a sum, and that he relied upon Benny not to let him down. This the inventor modestly offered not to do if he could help it. "We ride in the same boat," he explained, and added, in imitation of Douglas Jerrold, "but we use different sculls."
The party was gay enough, and broke up early. The bright light which beat suddenly upon this quite modest throne somewhat alarmed Benny, and set him hungering for the solitude24 of the chalet. He had left gendarmes26 in charge of his machine, but he was anxious none the less; and upon that was all the fulsome27 adulation now lavished28 upon him by good-natured folk who had just discovered his existence.
He could detect a change everywhere, a new respect paid to him, and a desire to be seen in his company. Even such athletic29 aristocrats30 as Keith Rivers patronised him no longer; while it began to be plain that he had lighted a candle which failure alone would put out. That was the rub which must be present in his reckoning. It would be a mighty31 humiliation32 to fail before the thousands who were coming to Andana to see him start. He knew that there would be thousands, for the hotel people said as much; and when he managed to escape his host and to steal as a fugitive33 from the Palace, the night bore witness to the truth of such prophecies.
Surely such a spectacle had never been seen in this place before. Scores of great arc lamps illuminated34 the scene. Workmen from Sierre, from Martigny, and from Lausanne were busy erecting35 shelters for the people and building barriers. Sleighs came up the mountain-side, so many that he wondered whence they had been conjured36 up. Averse37 to all such trappings of spectacle himself, he guessed that Sir John Perinder had contrived38 this aspect of tournament, and had set the lists that the Daily Recorder might be glorified39. He imagined that the affair had been largely advertised both in Switzerland and in Italy, and this was the case. All joined willingly in such an emprise; the hotel-keepers to begin with, then the railway companies. Excursions were to be run from Milan, from Geneva, even from Paris. The flight across the Alps appealed to the imagination of all.
Benny had a great deal of courage, but this new aspect of life filled him with dread40. At the same time it was not unattended by a certain pride which spoke41 of many emotions. He realised that he had yet to earn the homage42 now paid to him. After all, he was but a tyro43 in achievement, and the world had taken him at his own estimate. If he failed to succeed, he would be forgotten in three days, and no one would listen to him afterwards. This he remembered as he took his way up the mountain-side toward his own chalet. He might be leaving Switzerland a broken man to-morrow, and the contempt of the multitude would attend him. Vain to accomplish in secret that which he had promised to do in public. The world is credulous44 where the inventor is concerned and seldom gives him a second chance.
He wondered if all were really as well as Brother Jack and the abbé believed it to be. They had done wonders during those long days, worked heroically, and with true devotion. He himself had set them no mean example when he had discovered a woman's indifference and the true meaning of her lightly-spoken words. Why should he think of her? What part had she to play in the story of his life? His very friendship might be misconstrued, and he resolved to terminate it so soon as his self-invited obligation had been fulfilled. For the moment she was alone and without a friend—this great lady who was of a world apart, whom he had worshipped in secret as his own type of true womanhood. He remembered the day when he had first seen her at Holmswell, her gentle bearing, her sweet courtesy. What right had he to expect her interest? Reason answered, none.
He was approaching her chalet at this time, and perceived that a light shone from the window of her sitting-room45. When he drew a little nearer, he discerned Lily herself, dressed in a gown of white lace, and seated at the writing-table by the window. She was not writing, however, and her profound reverie appeared to be unbroken by any knowledge of the stir without. In such an attitude there were aspects of her beauty he had yet to mark, a grace of pose and bearing as inimitable by the divinities of his own world as they were inherent in hers. Benny stood a long while, as though a single step would warn her and shut the vision from his sight. He would have wanted words to convey his impressions, and would have contented46 himself, perhaps, by the one word "queenly." She was born to reign47, this mistress of a heritage of woe48; life had dealt hardly with her when it shut her from her kingdom.
Men rarely confess to their most secret thought, even in the confessional of the intimate hours. Benny would have been ashamed to tell his oldest friend that he had dwelt for an instant there, at the gate of the chalet, in a shadowland of dreams, and that it had shown him this gracious lady as his wife. His destiny linked to hers, imagination led him to the high places of the world. He shared her kingdom in his thoughts, and wore the armour49 of a chivalry50 as true as any in the human story. Recreated by the dream, he struck off the shackles51 of birth and obliterated52 the scars of a mean heritage. For such a woman, a man could give life itself, he thought; for her there would be no sacrifice from which the mind would shrink. Nor could calamity53 cast down this idol54 from its pedestal. He worshipped more surely because she no longer commanded worship as a right. The world's contempt would dower her anew in his eyes, would give him a title which otherwise he had not possessed55.
For a little while these vain thoughts afflicted56 him, to give place to others of a very different order. So many strangers were at Andana that he was not surprised to discover an intruder even here upon the mountain path, but when that intruder emerged suddenly from the shadows, and Benny saw that it was the little gendarme25, Philip, his interest was awakened57 while his false gods were shattered. The gendarme, on his part, recognised him immediately, and with hardly a gesture of apology set out to follow him to his house.
"I wish you success for to-morrow, sir," he said, and then, as simply, "I may not be here, unfortunately, to offer my compliments then."
Benny looked at him with curiosity.
"You are going away, Monsieur Philip?"
"Yes, sir, into Italy; the man who killed my brother is there."
Benny walked a little faster, but he did not turn his head.
"How do you know that he is in Italy, Monsieur Philip?"
"Because I have discovered that he left the hotel at Brigue on the night of the murder. I have a friend here, and he knows. The man did not go to Paris; then he has gone to Milan, and I shall find him."
"Do you know who he is?"
The lad stood still and repeated the words very slowly.
"He is an Englishman. They call him Sir Luton Delayne, and his wife is at the chalet down yonder."
Benny stopped also. They stood together, looking down to the window whence the light shone out upon the snow.
"Oh, but that is nonsense. Sir Luton Delayne is a great man in his own country. What do your superiors say to it?"
Monsieur Philip answered without emotion.
"They will give me leave of absence, sir. I am to go to Milan."
"And if you do not find him at Milan?"
"Then the Italian police will help me. I have their promise. It is impossible now that he will escape arrest, sir. I thought you would be glad to know that."
He saluted58 respectfully and went down toward the valley.
Benny, however, did not move from the place. The light shone upon the glistening59 snow as a beacon60 which must guide him, even if it were to the house of his illusions.
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1
aspirant
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| n.热望者；adj.渴望的 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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derisive
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| adj.嘲弄的 | |
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journalism
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| n.新闻工作，报业 | |
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plodder
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| n.沉重行走的人，辛勤工作的人 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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interred
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| v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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acrobat
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| n.特技演员，杂技演员 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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overhauled
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| v.彻底检查( overhaul的过去式和过去分词 )；大修；赶上；超越 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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volatile
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| adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质 | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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aviator
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| n.飞行家，飞行员 | |
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intruded
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| n.侵入的，推进的v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的过去式和过去分词 )；把…强加于 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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gendarme
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| n.宪兵 | |
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gendarmes
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| n.宪兵，警官( gendarme的名词复数 ) | |
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fulsome
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| adj.可恶的，虚伪的，过分恭维的 | |
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lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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aristocrats
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| n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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erecting
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| v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立 | |
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conjured
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| 用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现 | |
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averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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41
spoke
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| 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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42
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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tyro
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| n.初学者；生手 | |
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credulous
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| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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51
shackles
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| 手铐( shackle的名词复数 )； 脚镣； 束缚； 羁绊 | |
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52
obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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53
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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57
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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58
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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59
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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