In the course of my love affairs, which were as incomplete and incoherent as the rest of my existence, I had already experienced this dangerous situation more than once. I had been the too tender friend of a woman who was in love with some one else, but never with the sudden emotion, with the troubled ardour in the sympathy which Camille Favier inspired in me. I was afraid, so I concluded a solemn compact with myself. I took my hand and said aloud: “I give my word of honour to myself I will keep my door shut all the week, and I will neither go to see Jacques, nor to the theatre, nor to the Rue9 de la Barouillére. I will work and cure myself.”
Every one in his character has strong points which correspond to his weak ones. The latter are the ransom12 of the former. My task of energy in positive action is compensated13 by a rare power of passive energy, if that expression is allowable. Incapable14 of going forward vigorously, even when my keenest desire urges me on, I am capable of singular endurance in abstention, in abnegation and absence. Telling a woman that I love her stifles15 me with timidity into thinking that I shall die of it. I have been able to fly with savage16 energy from mistresses I have passionately18 adored, 113and remain even without answering their letters, though in agonies of grief, because I had sworn never to see them again. To keep my oath as regards Camille was much easier. In fact the week I deemed sufficient for my cure passed without my giving to her or to Jacques any sign of my existence. Neither did the two lovers give me any sign of their existence.
The first part of the programme was completed, but not the second, for the cure did not come. I must say that my wisdom in my actions was not accompanied by equal wisdom in my thoughts. I worked hard, but at what! I tried at first for forty eight hours to resume my “Psyché pardonnée.” I could not become absorbed in it. The smile and the eyes of my friend’s mistress ceaselessly interposed between my picture and myself. I put down my brush. I told Malvina Ducras, my stupid model with a common voice and such sad eyes, to take a little rest, and while the girl smoked cigarettes and read a bad novel, my mind went far away from my studio and I could see Camille again. I had read too many books, as my custom was, about this fable19 of Psyché for it not to make me dream. The idea represented by this story, this cruel affirmation that the soul can only love in unconsciousness, has always appeared to me to be a theme of inexpressible melancholy20. Alas21! it is not for matters of love only that the Psyché imprisoned22 and palpitating in each of us submits to this law of ignorant and obscure instinct. This stern law dominates matters of religion and 114matters of art. To believe is to renounce23 understanding. To create is to renounce reflection.
When an artist like myself suffers from a hypertrophy of the intelligence, when he feels himself intoxicated25 by criticism, paralysed by theories, this symbol of the cursed and wandering nymph who expiates26 in distress27 the crime of wishing to know, becomes, too, too real, too true. It agitates28 too powerfully cords which are too deep. I always felt myself attracted by this subject, without doubt on account of that, and I have never been able to make a success of the scenes of canvasses29 on which I have begun to treat the subject. Camille Favier is far away and the “Psyché pardonnée” is still unfinished. I would like to introduce into the picture, too, many tints30. But then the slightest pretext31 has always been and will always be enough to distract me. The clear impression which I retained of Camille was of all these pretexts32 the most delightful33, and the one which least disturbed my craft as a painter, thanks to the strange compromise of conscience which I devised, about which I will tell you.
“As I cannot help thinking of her all day long,” I said to myself at last, “suppose I try to paint her portrait from memory? Goethe pretended that to deliver himself from a sorrow, it was sufficient for him to compose a poem. Why should not a painted poem have the same virtue34 as a written one?” Was not this paradoxical and foolish enterprise, the portrait without a model of a woman seen but twice, the work of a poet? It was paradoxical but not foolish. I had to fix 115upon canvas this pale silhouette35 which haunted my dreams, my first impression of which was so clear that by shutting my eyes I could see her before me just as she appeared—upon the stage, fine and fairylike in her youth and genius beneath her make-up, with the blue costume of her part; then in her dressing-room, by turns tender and satirical, with the picturesque36 disorder37 around her which betrayed the thousand small miseries38 of her calling; then along the wall of the Invalides under the stars of that December night, leaning on my arm, pale and magnified as if she were transfigured by the sadness of her confidences; and last of all at home, tragic39 and trembling at the deceit practised upon her? All these Camilles were blended in my mind into an image hardly less clear than her presence itself. I dismissed Malvina. I relegated40 “Psyché” to a corner of the studio, and I made a large red crayon drawing of my phantom41. The likeness42 in this portrait outlined in the fever of a passionate17 pity was striking. Camille smiled at me from the bluish paper. It was only a sketch43, but so lifelike that I was astonished at it myself.
As usual I doubted my own talent, and to verify the fact that this portrait from memory was really successful to this extent, I went to a shop in the Rue de Rivoli where photographs of famous people were for sale. I asked for one of the fashionable actress. They had a collection of six. I bought them with a blush on my face, a ridiculous timidity considering my age, my profession, and the innocence44 116of the purchase. I waited before examining, them in detail till I was alone beneath the bare chestnuts45 in the Tuileries on this overcast46 autumn afternoon, which accorded well with the nostalgia47 with which I was seized before these portraits. The most charming of them represented Camille in walking dress. It must have been at least two years old, at a period certainly before she became Jacques’ mistress. There was in the eyes and at the lips of this girlish picture a maidenly48 and somewhat shy expression, the shamefaced nervous reserve of a soul which has not yet given itself—the soul of a child which foresees its destiny and fears it, but desires the mysterious unknown. Two others of these photographs represented the debutante49 in the two parts she had played at the Odéon. She was the same innocent child, but the determination to succeed had formed a wrinkle between her brows, and there was the light of battle in her eyes; the firm, almost strained fold of the mouth revealed the anxiety of an ambition which doubts itself. The three latter photographs showed in the costume of the Blue Duchess the woman at last born from the child. The revelation of love was displayed by the nostrils50 which breathed life, and by the eyes in which the flame of pleasure, light and burning, floated; and the mouth had something like a trace, upon its fuller lips, of kisses given and received.
Would another day come when other pictures would tell no more of the romance of the artist and lover, but of the venal51 slave of gallantry, kept 117by a Tournade, by several Tournades, and forever branded by shameless and profligate52 luxury. But I always went back to the earliest of these photographs, the one I would have desired, had I been able to meet the living model in that same garden of the Tuileries, on her way to the Conservatoire. Now I could think of her only as she had been before her first stain, such as she would never be again!
“Poesy is deliverance”; yes, perhaps, for a Goethe, or for a Leonard, for one of those sovereign creatures who throw all their inner being into, and incarnate53 it in, a written or painted work. There is another race of artists to whom their work is only an exaltation of a certain inner state. They do not rid themselves of suffering by expressing it, they develop it, they inflame54 it, perhaps because they do not know how to express it and to entirely55 rid themselves of it. This was so in my own case. Before these photographs my project for a portrait became praise. I only retained the first one. It was the eighteen-year-old Camille I wished to evoke56 and paint. It was a phantom, the phantom of her whom I might have known in her purity, as a virgin57, might have loved and perhaps married. It was a portrait of a phantom, of a dead woman.
From this task was diffused58 upon me during the week’s seclusion59 and uninterrupted labour that vague and satisfying delight which floats around a woman’s form which has gone for ever. In analysing under the microscope the tiny details 118of this face upon this bad and almost faded photograph, I enjoyed for hours a voluptuous60 and unutterably attractive soul’s pleasure. There was not a trait in this ingenuous61 face in which I did not discover a proof, quite obvious and physiological62 to me, of an exquisite63 delicacy64 of nature in the person, of whom that had been a momentary65 likeness. The tiny ear with its pretty lobe66 told of her breeding. Her pale silky hair displayed tints in its ringlets which seemed faded and washed out. The construction of the lower part of the face could be seen to be fine and robust67 beneath her slender cheeks. There was a shade of sensuality in her lower lip which was slightly flattened69 and split by the wrinkle which betokens70 great goodness. There was intelligence and gaiety in her straight nose, which was cut a trifle short in comparison with her chin. But what of her eyes? Her great, clear, profound eyes, innocent and tender, curious and dreamy! As I looked at them, to my overwrought imagination they seemed to be animate71. Her little head turned upon a neck, which fine attachment72 displayed the slenderness of the rest of the body.
I never understood so well as in that period of contemplative exaltation that oriental jealousy which protects their women from the caress73 of the glance, which is as passionate, as enveloping74, and almost as deflowering as the other caresses76. To contemplate77 is to possess. How I felt that during those long sittings spent in putting on to canvas such a real and deceptive78 mirage79 as the 119smile and eyes of Camille, her smile of the past, and her eyes of to-day lit by ether flames! How I felt, too, that my talent was not in the depths of my soul, since the intoxication80 of this spiritual possession was not achieved by a definite creature! I have only sketched81 these days in which I lived and experienced the sensations produced by the achievement of a masterpiece. At least I respected in myself this attack of the sacred fever, and I never again touched, to complete it, the portrait I had drawn82 in that week. Why was not the period prolonged?
Why? The fault is not alone in my own weakness. A simple incident occurred which did not depend upon my will. It sufficed to dismiss me from the drama of coquetry and real love which I wished to shun83, to avoid being the confidant of former tragedies boasted of by Jacques—a confidant himself wounded and bleeding. Because of my troubles during the day following my introduction to the Bonnivets, and during my week’s solitary84 work, I had neglected to call upon them and leave my card. For that reason I felt I was not likely to see Queen Anne again. But that was the quarter from which reached me the pretext to break this period of solitude85 and work in the ordinary shape of a perfumed note emblazoned and scrawled86 in the most coquettish and impersonal87 English handwriting, by Madam de Bonnivet herself. It was an invitation to dine with her and a small party of mutual88 friends.
The fact that this invitation reached me after 120my breach89 of etiquette90 proved clearly enough that her quarrel with Jacques had not lasted. The brief notice the dinner was for the following day, showed on the other hand that it was an unexpected invitation. A third fact added an enigmatic character to this note, which was as commonplace as the writing in it! Why had it not reached me through Jacques or with a few lines from him? My first idea was to refuse it. A dinner in town had appeared to me for years an insupportable and useless task. The too numerous family feasts I am constrained91 to attend, why?—the monthly love feasts of fellow artists which I am weak enough to frequent—why again?—two or three friends who dine with me from time to time—because I like them—the dining-room at the club where I go when I am very bored—these gatherings92 to a great extent suffice for the social sense which has withered93 in me with age. I shall end, I think, by only dining out about once in three years.
The dinner to which the beautiful and dangerous Queen Anne had invited me was one the more to be avoided, as it plunged94 me once more into the current of emotions I had stemmed so resolutely95 and painfully. I sat down to write a note of refusal, which I put into an envelope and stamped. Then instead of sending the letter to the post, I put it in my pocket to post myself. I called a passing cab, and instead of telling the driver to stop at the nearest post office I gave him Molan’s address, Place Delaborde—the house I had sworn 121not to enter again. Would there not still be time to send my refusal after finding out from Jacques the reason of Madam de Bonnivet’s amiability96, about which I could say with Ségur of the promotion97 of officers, after the battle of Moskwa: “These favours threatened?”
The page showed me this time into the great man’s study. Molan was sitting at his writing-table which was of massive oak with numerous drawers in it. Bookcases were all round this little room, and in appearance the volumes were works of reference often used but always put back in their places. There was no dust on them, nor was there any trace of the disorder to be found with the writer-born, whose fancy ceaselessly interrupts his work. A high desk held out an invitation for standing24 composition. Another bookcase, lofty and revolving98, full of dictionaries, atlas99, books of reference, and maps stood at the corner of the writing-table; and the order of the latter piece of furniture, with its sheets of paper carefully cut, its stock of useful articles, its place for answered letters and for letters to be answered, demonstrated the methodical habits of work daily allotted100 and executed. These details of practical installation were too like their owner for a single one to escape me. There was not a work of art to be seen, not even on the mantelpiece, where stood the usual library clock. This timepiece which marked the hours of work was a good, accurate instrument, metallic101 and clear in its glass and copper102 case.
122What other portrait could one paint of this writer, who was an absolute stranger to anything not his own business, as methodical as if he were not a man of the world, as regular as if he were not, by his art itself, the painter of all the troubles and all the disorders103 of the human soul, than sitting at his table with his cold and reflective face, and his way of using his pen with a free, measured and regular gesture. To make his portrait really typical it was necessary to paint Molan as I surprised him, engaged in reading the four pages he had written since his awakening104 that morning—four little sheets covered with lines of equal length in a handwriting every letter of which was properly made, every T crossed and every I dotted. Was I envious105 as I noted106 these details with an irritation107 not justified108 in appearance? He had the right after all, this fellow, to administer his literary fortune as if it were a house of business. But is there not something in us, almost a sense which this indefinable deception109 offends: this working of a fine talent, with so much egoism, so much calculation at its base, and so little moral unity110 between the written thought and the thought lived?
Another mannerism111 of Jacques’ irritated my nerves. He stretched out his hand to me with an indifferent cordiality quite his own. He had been for months without seeing me till we met at the club, and he spoke112 to me then in as friendly a way as if we had met on the previous day. He had told me about the two adventures he had on hand as if I were his best and surest friend. 123Directly I turned on my heel I saw or heard no more of him. I had ceased to exist as far as he was concerned. When I saw him again he greeted me with just the same handshake. How much I prefer, to these smiling and facile friends, the suspicious, the susceptible113, and the irritable114 ones with whom you quarrel, who either want you or do not do so, who often get angry with you, sometimes wrongly and by the most involuntary negligence115, but for whom you exist and are real with human living reality! To the real egoists, on the other hand, you are an object, a thing the equal in their eyes of the couch they offer you to sit down upon with their most amiable116 and empty smile. Your only reality to them is your presence, and the pleasure or the reverse they feel at it. To be entirely frank, perhaps I should have wished Camille’s lover to receive me in the way he always had done, with his impersonal graciousness, if I had not found him looking a little pale and heavy-eyed; and I was obliged to attribute this slight fatigue117 to his love of the charming girl, whose maidenly grace of the past I had just spent a week in evoking118, sustained by the most passionate of retrospective hypnotism. This impression was as painful to me as if I had over Camille other rights than those of dream and sympathy. I had really come to talk about her, and I would have liked to depart without even her name being mentioned. This silence was the more impossible as after our greeting I held out to Jacques Madam de Bonnivet’s invitation.
124“Were you the cause of this being sent to me?” I asked him. “Who will be present at this dinner? What answer shall I give?”
“I?” he said, after reading the letter, unable to conceal119 his astonishment120. “No. I had nothing to do with it. You must accept for two reasons: first because it will amuse you, and then you, by doing so, will be rendering121 me a real service.”
“You a service?”
“Yes. It is very simple,” he replied, a little impatient at my stupidity. “You don’t understand that Madam de Bonnivet has invited you because she hopes to find out from you my actual relations with Camille Favier? It is a little ruse122. As a matter of fact, you have deserted123 me again and are not up-to-date. But you know me well enough to be sure that I have not let the week pass without man?uvring skilfully124 in the little war which Queen Anne and myself are waging! I say skilfully, but it is merely working a scheme, the foundation of which never varies. Mine has progressed in the way I told you, by persuading the lady more and more that I have a profound passion for little Camille. There is no need for me to tell you my various stratagems125, the simplest of which has been to behave with Camille as if I really loved her. But Queen Anne is clever, and is studying my play. I have only to make one slip and my plan will fail.”
“Come. I don’t understand you. One fact is that you are courting Madam de Bonnivet. You talk to her about your passion for little Favier; 125that is another fact. How do you manage that? For to pay court to one is not to have a passion for the other?”
“But, my dear fellow,” he interrupted, “you forget the remorse126 and the temptation. I am not paying court to Queen Anne, I am arranging to do so. Have you ever kept a dog? Yes. Then you have seen it, when you were at table enjoying a cutlet, look at you and the bone with eyes in which the honest sentiments of duty and the gluttonous128 appetite of the carnivorous animal were striving for mastery? Ah, well, I have those eyes for Queen Anne at each new ruse she employs to arouse my desire for her beauty. The man being superior to the dog in virtue, sir, and in self-control, duty carries him away. I leave her quickly like some one who does not wish to succumb129 to temptation. Stop, shall I give you an illustration? Take, for example, yesterday; we were in a carriage in the fog; it was what I call a nice little adultery fog. Madam de Bonnivet and I had met in a curiosity shop, where she had gone to buy tapestry130, and so had I. What luck! She offered me a lift.”
“In her own carriage?” I asked.
“You would have preferred a public carriage, would you not?” he asked me. “I do not, for let me tell you that carriage rides are very fashionable. There are innocent and guilty ones. You can imagine us, then, in this small carriage filled with the perfume of woman, one of those vague and penetrating131 aromas132 in which a hundred scents133 126are mingled134. Queen Anne and I were in this soft, warm atmosphere. The fog enveloped135 the carriage. I took her hand, which she did not withdraw. I pressed the little hand, and it returned my pressure. I put my arm around her waist. Her loins bent136 as if to avoid me, in reality to make me feel their suppleness137. She turned to me as if to become indignant, but in reality to envelop75 me with her staring eyes and madden me. My lips sought her lips. She struggled, and suddenly instead of insisting, I repulsed138 her. It was I who said: 'No, no, no. It would be too wicked.’ I could not do that to her, and made use of the expressions usual to her sex at such times. I it was who stopped the carriage and fled! With a mistress on the other side of Paris, who loves and pleases you, to whom to bring the desire awakened139 by her rival, this is truly the most delightful of sports. It is very natural that Queen Anne will allow herself to be taken. The feeling that she is passionately desired and at the same time shunned140 is likely to provoke the worst follies141 in a woman, who is a little corrupt142 and a little cold, a little vain and a little curious.”
“Then if I have understood you, my part at to-morrow’s dinner would consist of lying to the same effect as yourself when Madam de Bonnivet speaks to me of Camille? In that case it would be useless for me to accept the invitation. I will not commit that villainy.”
“Villainy is a hard word. Why not?” asked Jacques with a laugh.
127“Because I should feel remorse at contributing to the success of this dirty intrigue143,” I replied, getting quite angry at his laughter. “Whether Madam de Bonnivet does or does not deceive her husband is no business of mine, nor would it concern me if either of you injured yourself through the villainous game you are playing. But when I meet real sentiment, I take my hat off to it, and I do not trample144 on it. It is real sentiment which Camille Favier feels for you. I heard her speak of her love, the evening I saw her, while you were at supper with your coquette. I saw her, too, the next day when she received your cruel reply. This girl is true as gold. She loves you with all her heart. No, no, I will not help you to betray her, all the more so as the crisis is graver than you think.”
I was wound up. I went on telling him with all the eloquence145 at my command the discoveries I had made and omitted to tell him a week before: the troubles of the pretty actress, what he had been, what he was to her, the ideal of passion and art she believed she was realizing in their liaison146, the temptations of luxury which surrounded her, and the crime it is to provoke the first great deception in a human being. At last I was expending147, in defending the little Blue Duchess to her lover, the warmth of the unfortunate love I myself felt for her. And I was so jealous of it! It was a grievous sentimental148 anomaly which Jacques did not discern in spite of his keenness. He could only see in my protests the deplorable na?veté with 128which he always believed me to be contaminated, and he replied with a smile more indulgent than ironical—
“Did she tell you this in the two or three hours you were together? It is not a boat she has manned, it is a squadron, a flotilla, an armada! But, my friend, do you think I have not noticed the feelings of our little Blue Duchess? It is perfectly149 true that she was chaste150 before meeting me. But as she first threw herself at my head and knew perfectly well what she was doing, however modest she may have been, you will permit me to have no remorse, and all the more so since I have never concealed151 from her that I only offered her a fantasy and that I did not love her with real love. Even I have my own code of loyalty152 to women, although you don’t think so. Only I place it so as not to deceive them upon the quality of the little combination to which I invite them in courting them. It is for them to accept and take the consequences. If to-day Camille experiences the temptation for luxury, which, by the way, I think very natural, this temptation has nothing to do with her broken ideal. She makes that pretty excuse to herself, and that, I think, is very natural too. She is almost as sincere as the young girls who make a wealthy marriage and excuse themselves for a first love betrayed. Let her take her rich lover—you can give her my permission; let him pay for dresses for her by Worth, horses, carriages, a house and jewels! Let her take him this afternoon, to-morrow, 129and I swear to you I shall have no more remorse than I have in lighting153 this cigarette. It will even amuse me when she does so. In the meantime, accept Madam Bonnivet’s invitation. You will have a good dinner, a thing never to be disdained154, and then you can thwart155 my dirty intrigue, as you call it, as much as you please. In love it is just as at chess. Nothing is so interesting as playing in difficulties. Besides, I am foolish to suppose even for a moment that you would not go. You will go, I can see it in your eyes.”
“How?” I asked him, somewhat confused at his perspicacity156. It was true that I felt my resolution to refuse destroyed by his presence alone.
“How? By your look while you are listening to me. Would you pay such attention if the story did not passionately interest you? It means that you would imagine us all three, Camille, Madame Bonnivet and myself, rather than pass from knowing us. I told you the other day, you are a born looker-on and confidant. You have been mine. You suddenly became Camille’s, and now you must become Madam de Bonnivet’s. You will receive the confidences of this woman of the world; you will receive them and believe them!” he insisted, accentuating157 each syllable158, and he concluded: “That will be the punishment for your blasphemies159. But it has just occurred to me, when do you begin the portrait of the Blue Duchess?”
It must be admitted that this devil of a man was not wrong; as a matter of fact, his adventure 130hypnotized me with irresistible160 magnetism161. After all, I did not leave his study till I had written with his pen on his paper a letter of acceptance to Madam Bonnivet. Besides that, I had done worse. In spite of the spasm162 of unreasonable163 and morbid164 jealousy which clutched my heart each time I thought of the intercourse165 between Jacques and his mistress, I made an appointment to begin the promised portrait, not that of the ideal dream Camille, but of the real one, who belonged to this man, who gave him her mouth, and her throat, and who surrendered herself entirely to him, and we arranged the first sitting for the day after Madam de Bonnivet’s dinner, in my studio!
I repented166 of these two weaknesses before I was down the staircase of the house in the Place Delaborde, but not enough, alas, to return and take back my note, which Jacques had promised to deliver. My remorse increased as directly I entered my studio I saw Camille’s head upon my easel. Delicious in her phantom and unfinished life, she smiled at me from her frameless canvas. “No, you will never finish me,” she seemed to say to me with her sad eyes, her fine oval face, and her mouth framed in a melancholy smile. It is certain that neither that evening nor during the hours which followed had I the courage to touch that poor head, nor have I done so since. The enchantment167 was broken. I passed the ensuing hours in a state of singular agitation168. I was seized again by the fever of my new-born 131passion, and this time I had neither the hope nor the will to struggle. I felt that this week of renunciation and seclusion with the ideal Camille had given me the only joy that this passion, which was so false and also condemned169 in advance, would ever give me. These joys I renounced170 were symbolized171 to me by this chimerical172 portrait.
But to continue, I spent the day before Madam de Bonnivet’s dinner in contemplation. Then when the moment of departure had come, I wished to bid adieu to this picture, or, rather, to ask its pardon. I experienced in the presence of this dream portrait, with which I had spent a sweet romantic week, as much inner remorse as if it had been the image, not of a chimera173, but of an actually betrayed fiancée. I can see myself now as I appeared in the large mirror of the studio, walking with my fur coat open like a guilty man towards the canvas, which, after gazing at for the last time, I was about to hide by turning it face towards the wall in an adjoining garret. Did not the Camille Favier of my fancy disappear to give place to another as pretty, as touching174 perhaps, but not my Camille?
But come, my sweet phantom, one more sigh, one more look, and I will return to reality. Reality was, in fact, a cab waiting at the door to take me through the driving rain to the Rue des écuries d’Artois, where the fashionable rival of the pretty actress dwelt. What would she say when Jacques told her that I had dined at her rival’s house? He would be sure to tell her in order to enjoy my 132embarrassment. What would Madam de Bonnivet herself say? Why had she invited me? What did I really know about it? What did I know of her, save that the sight of her gave me a pronounced feeling of antipathy175, and Jacques had told me many unpleasant things about her? But my antipathy might be mistaken, and Jacques might be slandering176 her as he did Camille Favier. “Suppose,” I asked myself, “this coquette is caught in the net? It is not very likely,” I replied, “seeing the hard blue of her eyes, her thin lips, her sharp profile, and the haughty177 harshness of her face. But still she might!”
It was less probable still, when one came to consider the frequent festivities and the gaiety at the house before which my modest cab stopped in the course of this monologue178. I don’t consider myself more stupidly plebeian179 than most people, but the sensation of arriving at a 600,000 franc house to take part in a fifty pound dinner in a vehicle fare thirty-five sous will always suffice to disgust me with the smart world without anything else. But other things had a similar effect on me, and the Bonnivets’ house was one of them, for it seemed to me most like a parody180 of architecture, in which the feat181 has been achieved of mingling182 twenty-five styles and building a wooden staircase in the English style in a Renaissance183 framework; the hang-dog faces of the footmen in livery seemed like a gallery of mute insolence184 to the visitor. How could I bear this adornment185 of things and people without perceiving its hideous186 artificiality? 133How could I help detesting187 the impression made by this furniture, which smelt188 of plunder189 and curiosity shops, for nothing was in its place: eighteenth century tapestry alternated with sixteenth century pictures, with furniture of the days of Louis XV, with modern sliding curtains, and with bits of ancient stoles furnishing off a reclining chair, the back of a couch, or the cushion of a divan190! In short, when I was ushered191 into the boudoir drawing-room where Madam de Bonnivet held her assizes I was a greater partisan192 than ever of Camille, the brave little actress, as she had appeared to me in the modest room in the Rue de la Barouillére.
The millionairess rival of this poor girl was reclining rather than sitting upon a kind of bed of the purest Empire style, after the manner in which David has immortalized the cruel grace of Madam Récamier, the illustrious patroness of coquettes of the siren order. She wore one of those dresses which are very simple in appearance, but which in reality mark the limit between superior elegance193 and the other kind. The greatest artists in the business are the only ones successful with them. It consisted of a skirt of a thick dead-black silk which absorbed the light instead of reflecting it. A cuirass, a jet coat of mail, applied194 to this stuff, showed distinctly the shape of the bust68, and allowed the whiteness of the flesh to shine through at the bare places at the shoulders and arms. A jet girdle, a model of those worn in ancient statues on tombs by queens of the Middle Ages, followed 134the sinuous195 line of the hips196, and terminated in two pendants crossed very low down. Enormous turquoises197 surrounded by diamonds shone in this pretty woman’s ears. These turquoises and a golden serpent on each arm—two marvellous copies of golden serpents in the Museum at Naples—were the only jewels to lighten this costume, which made her figure look longer and more slender even than it was. Her blonde pallor, heightened by the contrast of this sombre harmony in black and gold, took the delicacy of living ivory. Not a stone shone in her clear golden hair, and it looked as if she had matched the blue of her turquoise198 with the blue of her eyes, so exactly similar was the shade, except that the blue of these stones, which is supposed to pale when the wearer is in danger, revealed tender and almost loving shades when compared with the metallic and implacable azure199 of her eyes. She was fanning herself with a large feather fan as black as her dress, on which was a countess’ coronet encrusted in roses. It was without doubt a slight effort towards a definite relationship with the real Bonnivet. I have found out since that she went further than that. But the real Duc de Bonnivet, on the occasion of a charity fête, where Queen Anne had risked claiming a title, had interposed with a lordly and inflexible200 letter, and all that was left of this thwarted201 pretension202 was this coronet, embroidered203 here and there, without a coat of arms.
Near this slender and dangerous creature, so blonde and white in the dead-black sheath of her 135spangled corsage and skirt, Senneterre, “the beater,” was sitting on a very low chair, almost a footstool, while Pierre de Bonnivet warmed at the fire the soles of his pumps as he talked to my master Miraut. The latter seemed somewhat surprised, and not very pleased to see me. Dear old master; if he only knew how wrong he was in thinking that I was his rival for a 20,000-franc portrait! But this pastel merchant comes of the race of good giants. Besides his six foot in height, and suppleness from exercise, his porter’s shoulders, broadened still more by his daily boxing, his Francis I profile, sensual, fine, and gluttonous, he has retained, beneath the trickery of the profession, a generous temperament204. So he received me with a friendly though a little too patronizing greeting!
“Ah! then you know my pupil?” he said to Madam de Bonnivet. “He has great ability, only he lacks assurance and confidence in himself.”
“But there are so many who have too much of these qualities,” the young woman interposed, casting an evil glance at the pastelist who seemed disconcerted. “He makes up for them.”
“Good!” I thought, “she is not in a good humour, nor even polite. It is quite true that Miraut is a little too conceited205. But he is a man of great talent, who has done her a great honour by coming here. How bad-tempered206 she looks this evening! Bonnivet, too, looks preoccupied207 in spite of his mask of gaiety! I will stand by what 136I told Jacques the other day. I would not trust either the woman or the husband. These cold-looking blondes are capable of anything, and so are strong full-blooded men like the husband. Now we shall see Jacques’ man?uvre. To think that he could be so happy quite simply with his little friend! Life is really very badly arranged.”
This fresh internal monologue was almost as distinct as I have written it. This doubling process proved the extreme excitement of my faculties208. For my clear, distinct thoughts did not prevent me being all attention to the conversation which was reinforced by the presence of Count and Countess Abel Mosé. He is an accomplished209 type of the great modern financier. Strange to say, this kind of face which is often met with among the Jews is not displeasing210 to me. I can see in it the setting of a real passion. For people of this kind the vanity of their club and drawing-room life has at least its realism. In playing the part of the noble host they prove they have mounted one step of the social ladder. The life of fashion is to them a second business, which is in juxtaposition211 to the other and continues it. It is a step gained; but what a life theirs must be to endure the wear and tear of these two existences, anxious cares alternating with exhausting pleasures, and years made up of days on the Stock Exchange followed by dinners in town. Then, too, Madam Mosé is very beautiful in her oriental fashion, with nothing of the conventional style and irregular features about her! She is the 137Biblical Judith, the creature with eyes burning like the sands in the desert, over which the soldiers of Holophernes passed. “Who could hate the Hebrews when they have such women?” I said with them.
Five minutes afterwards pretty Madam éthorel entered with her husband; then—“naturally,” as Miraut said between his teeth, to make me understand that he knew the secrets of this society—Crucé the collector; then came Machault, a professional athlete, whom I have seen fence at the School of Arms; then appeared a certain Baron212 Desforges, a man of sixty, whose eye at once struck me as being almost too acute, and whose colour was too red, like that of a man of the world grown old. The conversation began to buzz, obligatory213 questions as to the weather and health being mingled with previous scandals and recollections of the day, which were very often full of ennui214 and simply mentioned for the sake of something to say. I can still hear some of these phrases.
“You don’t take enough walking exercise,” Desforges was saying to Mosé, who had declared that he felt a little heavy after a meal. “People digest with their legs, that is what Doctor Noirot is always dinning215 into my ears.”
“But the time?” the financier replied.
“Try massage216 then,” Desforges went on. “I will send Noirot to you. Massage is the essence of exercise.”
“You did not buy these two candelabra?” Crucé was saying to éthorel. “At three thousand 138francs, my dear fellow, they were being given away.”
“You were not skating this morning, Anne, dear,” Madam Mosé was saying to Madam de Bonnivet; “it is a fine chance to take advantage of the early winter. Before the first of January, too! Think of it! It does not happen twice in a century. I looked for you there!”
“So did I,” Madam éthorel said. “You would have been amused at the sight of that old fool Madam Hurtrel on the ice, running after young Liauran. She was red in the face and perspiring217, while he was carrying on with Mabel Adrahan.”
“It amuses you, madam. But if I said I pitied her?” Senneterre said.
“Respect love! We know her,” Madam de Bonnivet interrupted with that bitter laugh which I had noticed at the theatre. She was visibly in a nervous state, which I explained to myself when the dinner was served and Jacques had not arrived. I was soon to learn both the false excuse and the real reason of his absence. During the first course the flowers and silver upon the dinner-table directed the conversation to the subject of the taste of the period and mistakes made on the stage. The guests all combined to praise the skill of the late M. Perrin in the putting on of modern comedies. The talk drifted to actual plays, and an allusion218 being made to La Duchesse Blue, one of the guests, Machault, I think it was, said—
“Has its run ceased altogether? As I passed 139along the Boulevard I saw there was a change of bill at the Vaudeville219 this evening. Do you know the cause of it?”
“Because Bressoré has a severe cold and is too unwell to act. I heard that by accident at the Club,” Mosé said, “and the play rests upon his shoulders. He is clever, but he is the only one in the company,” he went on, and this proved that Madam de Bonnivet’s antipathy to Camille Favier had not escaped the dark, observant eyes of the business man.
“It appears to be contagious220 in the theatre,” said Bonnivet. “Molan should have been here, but he excused himself at the last moment. He has a slight attack himself.”
As he said this he looked at his wife, who did not even deign221 to listen to him. She was talking to Miraut, who was near her. Neither her metallic voice nor her hard, clear eyes betrayed the least sign of trouble, but the cruel curves she sometimes had at the corners of her mouth made it more cruel, and a little throbbing222 of the nostrils, imperceptible but to one of my profession or a jealous man, revealed that the absence of Jacques was the cause of her nervousness. At the same time I felt that Bonnivet was scrutinizing223 my face with the same look which he gave to his wife, and three things became evident to me: one, and the most terrible was that the husband was suspicious of the relations between Queen Anne and my comrade; the second was that my companion had seized the opportunity of the change of bill to 140provoke in the coquette an access of spiteful jealousy by passing, or pretending to pass, the evening with Camille Favier; the third was that this simple ruse wounded the vanity of the pretty actress’ rival to the quick. These three instinctive224 conclusions, two of which at least were fraught225 with the most serious consequences, were sufficient to render the commonplace dinner passionately interesting to me.
I could not help concentrating my whole attention on Pierre de Bonnivet and his wife. On the other hand, I feared that directly we left the dinner-table they would try to make me talk, and I did not wish to betray Molan either to her, or particularly to him. The easily distended226 veins227 of his full-blooded forehead, his greenish eyes so quick to display anger, and the coarse red hair, which grew right down his arms to his fingers, were all signs of brutality228 which gave me the impression that he was a redoubtable229 person. Tragic action would be as natural to him as grievous timidity to me or fatuous230 insolence to Jacques. The evening ought not to end without furnishing me with the proof that my diverse intuitions had not deceived me. We had just left the dinner-table for the smoking-room when Machault said to me as he took my arm—
“You see a good deal of Jacques Molan, don’t you, La Croix?”
“We were at college together, and I see him sometimes still,” I replied evasively.
“Ah, well! If you see him in a day or two, 141warn him that Senneterre met him to-night when on his way here. Consequently they know his cold and headache are only an excuse. It is of no other importance, but with Anne it is always better to be well informed.”
I had no time to question the brave swordsman, who had smiled an unaccountable smile as he uttered this enigmatic phrase, for just then Pierre de Bonnivet came towards us with a box of cigars in one hand and a box of cigarettes in the other. I took a Russian cigarette, while the robust gladiator put into his mouth a veritable tree trunk, wrinkled and black. Then before the coffee, espying231 upon the table a bottle of fine champagne232, he filled a little glass, which he proceeded to enjoy, saying as he did so—-
“This is an excellent appetizer233 with which to start the evening.”
“Will you have, M. la Croix, a cup of coffee? No. A drop of Kummel or Chartreuse?” Bonnivet asked. “Not even a thimbleful of cherry brandy?”
“No liqueur or coffee this evening,” I said, and I added with a smile: “I have not the stomach or the nerves of a Hercules.”
“There is no need to be as strong as Machault to like alcohol. Take our friend Molan, for instance,” the husband said, watching me as he pronounced the name. Then after a short silence he said: “Do you know what is really the matter with him?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “Perhaps he has 142overworked himself. He works harder than he drinks.”
“But he loves little Favier still more?” my questioner insisted, giving me another keen glance.
“He loves little Favier more still,” I replied in the same indifferent tone.
“Has this affair been going on for long?” the husband asked after a little hesitation234.
“As long as La Duchesse Blue has been running. It is a honeymoon235 in its first quarter.”
“But his indisposition this evening when she is not acting236?” he asked me without entirely formulating237 his question, though I completed it in my reply, giving it a cynical238 form which relieved my discomfort239.
“Would it be an excuse to pass an evening with her and afterwards the night? I don’t know, I am sure, but it is very likely.”
I could see at these words, which I hope if Camille Favier ever reads these pages she will forgive, the face of the jealous husband brighten. Evidently the note of excuse sent by Molan at the last minute had not seemed to him genuine. He had found out that Madam de Bonnivet was annoyed at it, and asked himself the reason. Did he think that he had stumbled upon, between his wife and Jacques, one of those momentary quarrels which, more than constant attentions, denounce a love intrigue? He suspected that I was in my comrade’s confidence. He thought I knew the real reason of his absence, and his suspicion was soothed240 at the sincerity241 of my voice. As jealous 143people, being all imagination, mistrust themselves and reassure242 themselves at the same time, he assumed his most charming manner to say to Baron Deforges, who came in, having delayed a little while in joining us—
“Ah, well, Frederick, were you pleased with the dinner?”
“I have just called Asmé to congratulate him on the little timbales and to make an observation about the foie gras,” the Baron replied. “I shall not tell you what it was, but you shall judge from experience. He is, as I have always said, what I call a real chef. But he is still young.”
“He will shape better,” said Bonnivet as he threw me a meaning look, “with a master like you.”
“He is the seventh who has passed through my hands,” Deforges said with a shrug243 of the shoulders and in the most serious tones, “not one more, since I have known what eating really is. The seventh, do you hear? Then I pass them on to you and you spoil them by your praise. Chefs are like other artists. They are not proof against the compliments of the ignorant.”
I had reckoned on going for a short time from the smoking-room to the drawing-room and, after a short period of polite and general conversation there, on leaving in the English fashion, taking advantage of the return of the smokers244 or the arrival of fresh guests to do so. When I reached the drawing-room there were only the two ladies who had dined and Senneterre there. Such small parties being unfavourable to private conversation, 144I had reason to hope that Madam de Bonnivet would not have the opportunity of cornering and confessing me. I little knew this capricious and authoritative245 woman who was also well acquainted with her husband’s ways. She had realized that it would not do for her to talk to me in Bonnivet’s presence. Directly I appeared she rose from the couch where she was sitting by Madam éthorel’s side facing Madam Mosé, with Senneterre on a low chair at her feet holding her fan. She came towards me and led the way into a second drawing-room which opened out of the first, where she sat down upon a couch near me.
“We can talk more quietly here,” she began. Then she sharply said: “Is your portrait of Mademoiselle Favier far advanced?” She had a way of questioning which betrayed the despotism of the rich and pretty woman who regards the person to whom she is talking in the light of a servant to amuse or inform her. Each time I come across this unconscious insolence in a fashionable doll an irresistible desire seizes me to give her a disagreeable answer. Jacques had without doubt speculated upon this trait of my character in making me play the part of exciter, which, however, I refused with such loyal energy to do.
“The portrait of Mademoiselle Favier? Why, I have not even begun it,” I replied.
“Ah!” she said with a nasty smile, “has Molan changed his mind and forbidden it? You are in love with the pretty little woman, M. la Croix, confess it?”
145“In love with her?” I replied. “Not the least bit in the world.”
“It looked like it the other day,” she said, “and Jacques Molan was, in fact, a little bit jealous of you.”
“All lovers are more or less jealous,” I interposed, and yielding to the desire I felt to hurt her, I added: “He is very wrong; Camille Favier loves him with all her heart, and she has a big heart.”
“It is a great misfortune for her talent,” Madam de Bonnivet said, knitting her blonde brows just enough to let me know that I had struck home.
“I cannot agree with you, madam,” I replied this time with conviction. “Little Favier has not only adorable beauty, but she has a sort of genius too, and a charming heart and mind.”
“One would never suspect it from seeing her act,” she replied, “at least, in my opinion. But if so, it is worse still. Happiness has never yet inspired a writer. But I am sure this affair will not last long. Molan will find out that she has deceived him with a side scene with a member of the company and then——”
“You are wrongly informed about this poor girl, madam,” I interrupted more quickly than was absolutely polite. “She is very noble, very proud, and quite incapable of a mean action.”
“But that does not prevent her being kept by Molan,” she interrupted, “if my information is accurate, and eating up his author’s rights to the last sou.”
146“Kept!” I cried. “No, madam, your information is very inaccurate246. If she desired luxury she could have it. She has refused a house, horses, dresses, jewels, and all the things which tempt127 one in her position, to give herself where her heart is. She loves Jacques with a most sincere and beautiful attachment.”
“I pity her if you are right,” she said with a sneer247; “for your friend is not much good.”
“He is my friend,” I replied with an aggressive dryness, “and I am original enough to defend my friends.”
“That is a reason why one should attack them all the more.” This pretty woman’s fine face expressed, as she made this commonplace observation, such detestable wickedness, and the conversation betrayed on her part such odious248 meanness and hatred249, that my antipathy for her increased to hate, and I replied to her insolence by another—
“In the world in which you live, perhaps, madam, but not in our world where there are a few decent people.”
She looked at me as I launched this impertinence, which was not even clever, at her. I read in her blue eyes less anger than surprise. One of the peculiar250 characteristics of these coquettish jades251 is to esteem252 those who oppose them in some degree or manner. She smiled an almost amiable smile.
“Molan told me that you were original,” she replied. “But you know I am somewhat original, too, and I think we should get on together.”
147Here was a sudden change of front in her conversation, and I was again given an exhibition of that female intelligence which in the box had enabled her to hit upon the words to please me. Now she talked to me of my travels. She herself had visited Italy. Without doubt she had there met some distinguished253 artist who had acted as her guide, for she enunciated254 ideas which contrasted strangely with the mediocrity of her previous conversation. Assuredly the ideas were not her own, but she retained them and realized that now was her chance to place them. She made in this way two or three ingenuous remarks upon Perugins and Raphael, notably255 upon the illogicalness of the latter, in eliminating from his Madonnas every Christian256 sentiment to give them too much beauty, a paganism of health irreconcilable257 with the mystic beyond and his dream. She had such a way of appearing to understand what she was saying, that I did not think ridiculous the admiration258 with which the ninny Senneterre, who had joined us, listened to her remarks. This jealous fellow had not been able to prevent himself from interrupting our tête-à-tête, and as Madam de Bonnivet, strange to say, did not bully259 him, he began to lavish260 his benevolence261 upon me. He had his plan, too, the final scene of his na?ve thinking out being a Vaudeville scene that evening when I experienced for a moment a little dramatic shudder262. He insisted, when I said good night, before eleven, on accompanying me, and he began to sing the praises of Queen Anne as we walked along the Champs élysées. Then 148as we passed the Avenue d’Antin he asked me carelessly—
“Have you ever done any pistol shooting?”
“Never,” I replied.
“Bonnivet is a first-rate shot,” he went on, “quite first class. Go and see his target cards some day. He has put ten shots in a space as large as a 20 franc piece; it is quite a curiosity, I can assure you.”
He left me to go along the Rue Fran?ois I, where he lived, with this sinister263 warning.
点击收听单词发音
1 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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2 stifling | |
a.令人窒息的 | |
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3 irony | |
n.反语,冷嘲;具有讽刺意味的事,嘲弄 | |
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4 cowardice | |
n.胆小,怯懦 | |
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5 brutally | |
adv.残忍地,野蛮地,冷酷无情地 | |
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6 exhort | |
v.规劝,告诫 | |
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7 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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8 reconciliation | |
n.和解,和谐,一致 | |
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9 rue | |
n.懊悔,芸香,后悔;v.后悔,悲伤,懊悔 | |
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10 grotesque | |
adj.怪诞的,丑陋的;n.怪诞的图案,怪人(物) | |
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11 jealousy | |
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
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12 ransom | |
n.赎金,赎身;v.赎回,解救 | |
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13 compensated | |
补偿,报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 ); 给(某人)赔偿(或赔款) | |
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14 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
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15 stifles | |
(使)窒息, (使)窒闷( stifle的第三人称单数 ); 镇压,遏制 | |
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16 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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17 passionate | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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18 passionately | |
ad.热烈地,激烈地 | |
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19 fable | |
n.寓言;童话;神话 | |
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20 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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21 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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22 imprisoned | |
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23 renounce | |
v.放弃;拒绝承认,宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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24 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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25 intoxicated | |
喝醉的,极其兴奋的 | |
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26 expiates | |
v.为(所犯罪过)接受惩罚,赎(罪)( expiate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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27 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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28 agitates | |
搅动( agitate的第三人称单数 ); 激怒; 使焦虑不安; (尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而)激烈争论 | |
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29 canvasses | |
n.检票员,游说者,推销员( canvass的名词复数 )v.(在政治方面)游说( canvass的第三人称单数 );调查(如选举前选民的)意见;为讨论而提出(意见等);详细检查 | |
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30 tints | |
色彩( tint的名词复数 ); 带白的颜色; (淡色)染发剂; 痕迹 | |
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31 pretext | |
n.借口,托词 | |
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32 pretexts | |
n.借口,托辞( pretext的名词复数 ) | |
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33 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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34 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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35 silhouette | |
n.黑色半身侧面影,影子,轮廓;v.描绘成侧面影,照出影子来,仅仅显出轮廓 | |
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36 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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37 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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38 miseries | |
n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 );痛苦的事;穷困;常发牢骚的人 | |
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39 tragic | |
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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40 relegated | |
v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 );使降职;转移;把…归类 | |
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41 phantom | |
n.幻影,虚位,幽灵;adj.错觉的,幻影的,幽灵的 | |
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42 likeness | |
n.相像,相似(之处) | |
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43 sketch | |
n.草图;梗概;素描;v.素描;概述 | |
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44 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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45 chestnuts | |
n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 );栗色;栗树;栗色马 | |
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46 overcast | |
adj.阴天的,阴暗的,愁闷的;v.遮盖,(使)变暗,包边缝;n.覆盖,阴天 | |
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47 nostalgia | |
n.怀乡病,留恋过去,怀旧 | |
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48 maidenly | |
adj. 像处女的, 谨慎的, 稳静的 | |
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49 debutante | |
n.初入社交界的少女 | |
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50 nostrils | |
鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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51 venal | |
adj.唯利是图的,贪脏枉法的 | |
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52 profligate | |
adj.行为不检的;n.放荡的人,浪子,肆意挥霍者 | |
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53 incarnate | |
adj.化身的,人体化的,肉色的 | |
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54 inflame | |
v.使燃烧;使极度激动;使发炎 | |
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55 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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56 evoke | |
vt.唤起,引起,使人想起 | |
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57 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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58 diffused | |
散布的,普及的,扩散的 | |
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59 seclusion | |
n.隐遁,隔离 | |
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60 voluptuous | |
adj.肉欲的,骄奢淫逸的 | |
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61 ingenuous | |
adj.纯朴的,单纯的;天真的;坦率的 | |
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62 physiological | |
adj.生理学的,生理学上的 | |
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63 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
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64 delicacy | |
n.精致,细微,微妙,精良;美味,佳肴 | |
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65 momentary | |
adj.片刻的,瞬息的;短暂的 | |
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66 lobe | |
n.耳垂,(肺,肝等的)叶 | |
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67 robust | |
adj.强壮的,强健的,粗野的,需要体力的,浓的 | |
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68 bust | |
vt.打破;vi.爆裂;n.半身像;胸部 | |
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69 flattened | |
[医](水)平扁的,弄平的 | |
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70 betokens | |
v.预示,表示( betoken的第三人称单数 ) | |
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71 animate | |
v.赋于生命,鼓励;adj.有生命的,有生气的 | |
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72 attachment | |
n.附属物,附件;依恋;依附 | |
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73 caress | |
vt./n.爱抚,抚摸 | |
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74 enveloping | |
v.包围,笼罩,包住( envelop的现在分词 ) | |
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75 envelop | |
vt.包,封,遮盖;包围 | |
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76 caresses | |
爱抚,抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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77 contemplate | |
vt.盘算,计议;周密考虑;注视,凝视 | |
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78 deceptive | |
adj.骗人的,造成假象的,靠不住的 | |
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79 mirage | |
n.海市蜃楼,幻景 | |
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80 intoxication | |
n.wild excitement;drunkenness;poisoning | |
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81 sketched | |
v.草拟(sketch的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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82 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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83 shun | |
vt.避开,回避,避免 | |
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84 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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85 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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86 scrawled | |
乱涂,潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87 impersonal | |
adj.无个人感情的,与个人无关的,非人称的 | |
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88 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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89 breach | |
n.违反,不履行;破裂;vt.冲破,攻破 | |
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90 etiquette | |
n.礼仪,礼节;规矩 | |
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91 constrained | |
adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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92 gatherings | |
聚集( gathering的名词复数 ); 收集; 采集; 搜集 | |
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93 withered | |
adj. 枯萎的,干瘪的,(人身体的部分器官)因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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94 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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95 resolutely | |
adj.坚决地,果断地 | |
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96 amiability | |
n.和蔼可亲的,亲切的,友善的 | |
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97 promotion | |
n.提升,晋级;促销,宣传 | |
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98 revolving | |
adj.旋转的,轮转式的;循环的v.(使)旋转( revolve的现在分词 );细想 | |
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99 atlas | |
n.地图册,图表集 | |
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100 allotted | |
分配,拨给,摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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101 metallic | |
adj.金属的;金属制的;含金属的;产金属的;像金属的 | |
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102 copper | |
n.铜;铜币;铜器;adj.铜(制)的;(紫)铜色的 | |
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103 disorders | |
n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 );凌乱;骚乱;(身心、机能)失调 | |
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104 awakening | |
n.觉醒,醒悟 adj.觉醒中的;唤醒的 | |
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105 envious | |
adj.嫉妒的,羡慕的 | |
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106 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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107 irritation | |
n.激怒,恼怒,生气 | |
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108 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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109 deception | |
n.欺骗,欺诈;骗局,诡计 | |
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110 unity | |
n.团结,联合,统一;和睦,协调 | |
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111 mannerism | |
n.特殊习惯,怪癖 | |
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112 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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113 susceptible | |
adj.过敏的,敏感的;易动感情的,易受感动的 | |
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114 irritable | |
adj.急躁的;过敏的;易怒的 | |
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115 negligence | |
n.疏忽,玩忽,粗心大意 | |
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116 amiable | |
adj.和蔼可亲的,友善的,亲切的 | |
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117 fatigue | |
n.疲劳,劳累 | |
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118 evoking | |
产生,引起,唤起( evoke的现在分词 ) | |
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119 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
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120 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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121 rendering | |
n.表现,描写 | |
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122 ruse | |
n.诡计,计策;诡计 | |
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123 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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124 skilfully | |
adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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125 stratagems | |
n.诡计,计谋( stratagem的名词复数 );花招 | |
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126 remorse | |
n.痛恨,悔恨,自责 | |
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127 tempt | |
vt.引诱,勾引,吸引,引起…的兴趣 | |
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128 gluttonous | |
adj.贪吃的,贪婪的 | |
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129 succumb | |
v.屈服,屈从;死 | |
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130 tapestry | |
n.挂毯,丰富多采的画面 | |
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131 penetrating | |
adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的 | |
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132 aromas | |
n.芳香( aroma的名词复数 );气味;风味;韵味 | |
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133 scents | |
n.香水( scent的名词复数 );气味;(动物的)臭迹;(尤指狗的)嗅觉 | |
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134 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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135 enveloped | |
v.包围,笼罩,包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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136 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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137 suppleness | |
柔软; 灵活; 易弯曲; 顺从 | |
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138 repulsed | |
v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 );驳斥;拒绝 | |
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139 awakened | |
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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140 shunned | |
v.避开,回避,避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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141 follies | |
罪恶,时事讽刺剧; 愚蠢,蠢笨,愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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142 corrupt | |
v.贿赂,收买;adj.腐败的,贪污的 | |
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143 intrigue | |
vt.激起兴趣,迷住;vi.耍阴谋;n.阴谋,密谋 | |
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144 trample | |
vt.踩,践踏;无视,伤害,侵犯 | |
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145 eloquence | |
n.雄辩;口才,修辞 | |
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146 liaison | |
n.联系,(未婚男女间的)暖昧关系,私通 | |
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147 expending | |
v.花费( expend的现在分词 );使用(钱等)做某事;用光;耗尽 | |
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148 sentimental | |
adj.多愁善感的,感伤的 | |
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149 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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150 chaste | |
adj.贞洁的;有道德的;善良的;简朴的 | |
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151 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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152 loyalty | |
n.忠诚,忠心 | |
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153 lighting | |
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光 | |
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154 disdained | |
鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 ); 不屑于做,不愿意做 | |
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155 thwart | |
v.阻挠,妨碍,反对;adj.横(断的) | |
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156 perspicacity | |
n. 敏锐, 聪明, 洞察力 | |
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157 accentuating | |
v.重读( accentuate的现在分词 );使突出;使恶化;加重音符号于 | |
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158 syllable | |
n.音节;vt.分音节 | |
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159 blasphemies | |
n.对上帝的亵渎,亵渎的言词[行为]( blasphemy的名词复数 );侮慢的言词(或行为) | |
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160 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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161 magnetism | |
n.磁性,吸引力,磁学 | |
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162 spasm | |
n.痉挛,抽搐;一阵发作 | |
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163 unreasonable | |
adj.不讲道理的,不合情理的,过度的 | |
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164 morbid | |
adj.病的;致病的;病态的;可怕的 | |
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165 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
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166 repented | |
对(自己的所为)感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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167 enchantment | |
n.迷惑,妖术,魅力 | |
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168 agitation | |
n.搅动;搅拌;鼓动,煽动 | |
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169 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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170 renounced | |
v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 );宣布放弃;宣布与…决裂;宣布摒弃 | |
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171 symbolized | |
v.象征,作为…的象征( symbolize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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172 chimerical | |
adj.荒诞不经的,梦幻的 | |
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173 chimera | |
n.神话怪物;梦幻 | |
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174 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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175 antipathy | |
n.憎恶;反感,引起反感的人或事物 | |
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176 slandering | |
[法]口头诽谤行为 | |
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177 haughty | |
adj.傲慢的,高傲的 | |
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178 monologue | |
n.长篇大论,(戏剧等中的)独白 | |
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179 plebeian | |
adj.粗俗的;平民的;n.平民;庶民 | |
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180 parody | |
n.打油诗文,诙谐的改编诗文,拙劣的模仿;v.拙劣模仿,作模仿诗文 | |
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181 feat | |
n.功绩;武艺,技艺;adj.灵巧的,漂亮的,合适的 | |
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182 mingling | |
adj.混合的 | |
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183 renaissance | |
n.复活,复兴,文艺复兴 | |
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184 insolence | |
n.傲慢;无礼;厚颜;傲慢的态度 | |
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185 adornment | |
n.装饰;装饰品 | |
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186 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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187 detesting | |
v.憎恶,嫌恶,痛恨( detest的现在分词 ) | |
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188 smelt | |
v.熔解,熔炼;n.银白鱼,胡瓜鱼 | |
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189 plunder | |
vt.劫掠财物,掠夺;n.劫掠物,赃物;劫掠 | |
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190 divan | |
n.长沙发;(波斯或其他东方诗人的)诗集 | |
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191 ushered | |
v.引,领,陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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192 partisan | |
adj.党派性的;游击队的;n.游击队员;党徒 | |
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193 elegance | |
n.优雅;优美,雅致;精致,巧妙 | |
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194 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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195 sinuous | |
adj.蜿蜒的,迂回的 | |
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196 hips | |
abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯,耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 );[建筑学]屋脊;臀围(尺寸);臀部…的 | |
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197 turquoises | |
n.绿松石( turquoise的名词复数 );青绿色 | |
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198 turquoise | |
n.绿宝石;adj.蓝绿色的 | |
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199 azure | |
adj.天蓝色的,蔚蓝色的 | |
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200 inflexible | |
adj.不可改变的,不受影响的,不屈服的 | |
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201 thwarted | |
阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 ); 使受挫折; 挫败; 横过 | |
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202 pretension | |
n.要求;自命,自称;自负 | |
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203 embroidered | |
adj.绣花的 | |
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204 temperament | |
n.气质,性格,性情 | |
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205 conceited | |
adj.自负的,骄傲自满的 | |
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206 bad-tempered | |
adj.脾气坏的 | |
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207 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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208 faculties | |
n.能力( faculty的名词复数 );全体教职员;技巧;院 | |
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209 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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210 displeasing | |
不愉快的,令人发火的 | |
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211 juxtaposition | |
n.毗邻,并置,并列 | |
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212 baron | |
n.男爵;(商业界等)巨头,大王 | |
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213 obligatory | |
adj.强制性的,义务的,必须的 | |
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214 ennui | |
n.怠倦,无聊 | |
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215 dinning | |
vt.喧闹(din的现在分词形式) | |
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216 massage | |
n.按摩,揉;vt.按摩,揉,美化,奉承,篡改数据 | |
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217 perspiring | |
v.出汗,流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
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218 allusion | |
n.暗示,间接提示 | |
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219 vaudeville | |
n.歌舞杂耍表演 | |
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220 contagious | |
adj.传染性的,有感染力的 | |
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221 deign | |
v. 屈尊, 惠允 ( 做某事) | |
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222 throbbing | |
a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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223 scrutinizing | |
v.仔细检查,详审( scrutinize的现在分词 ) | |
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224 instinctive | |
adj.(出于)本能的;直觉的;(出于)天性的 | |
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225 fraught | |
adj.充满…的,伴有(危险等)的;忧虑的 | |
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226 distended | |
v.(使)膨胀,肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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227 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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228 brutality | |
n.野蛮的行为,残忍,野蛮 | |
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229 redoubtable | |
adj.可敬的;可怕的 | |
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230 fatuous | |
adj.愚昧的;昏庸的 | |
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231 espying | |
v.看到( espy的现在分词 ) | |
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232 champagne | |
n.香槟酒;微黄色 | |
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233 appetizer | |
n.小吃,开胃品 | |
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234 hesitation | |
n.犹豫,踌躇 | |
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235 honeymoon | |
n.蜜月(假期);vi.度蜜月 | |
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236 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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237 formulating | |
v.构想出( formulate的现在分词 );规划;确切地阐述;用公式表示 | |
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238 cynical | |
adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的,不信世道向善的 | |
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239 discomfort | |
n.不舒服,不安,难过,困难,不方便 | |
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240 soothed | |
v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 );抚慰;使舒服;减轻痛苦 | |
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241 sincerity | |
n.真诚,诚意;真实 | |
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242 reassure | |
v.使放心,使消除疑虑 | |
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243 shrug | |
v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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244 smokers | |
吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 ) | |
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245 authoritative | |
adj.有权威的,可相信的;命令式的;官方的 | |
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246 inaccurate | |
adj.错误的,不正确的,不准确的 | |
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247 sneer | |
v.轻蔑;嘲笑;n.嘲笑,讥讽的言语 | |
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248 odious | |
adj.可憎的,讨厌的 | |
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249 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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250 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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251 jades | |
n.玉,翡翠(jade的复数形式)v.(使)疲(jade的第三人称单数形式) | |
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252 esteem | |
n.尊敬,尊重;vt.尊重,敬重;把…看作 | |
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253 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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254 enunciated | |
v.(清晰地)发音( enunciate的过去式和过去分词 );确切地说明 | |
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255 notably | |
adv.值得注意地,显著地,尤其地,特别地 | |
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256 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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257 irreconcilable | |
adj.(指人)难和解的,势不两立的 | |
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258 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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259 bully | |
n.恃强欺弱者,小流氓;vt.威胁,欺侮 | |
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260 lavish | |
adj.无节制的;浪费的;vt.慷慨地给予,挥霍 | |
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261 benevolence | |
n.慈悲,捐助 | |
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262 shudder | |
v.战粟,震动,剧烈地摇晃;n.战粟,抖动 | |
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263 sinister | |
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
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