The accustomed gold, silver, and copper7 were laid on the book by the bridegroom, the portentous8 words were spoken, with the melancholy10 Galway accent adding its emphasis to them, and at the next interval11 the priest opened the window behind him.
"Run down to Mick Leonard's for a coal," he said in Irish to some one outside, and then proceeded with a most sound and simple exordium to the newly married pair.
In a few minutes there appeared in the open window a hand holding a live coal of turf in a bent12 stick. I can see it yet, the pale fire in the white ash of the sod, thrust between us and the blue sky, and the priest's hand put out to take it, but I cannot remember now what was its mission, whether to light a candle or incense13.
After this came a sprinkling with holy water with something that nearly resembled a hearth-brush. A drop fell into my open mouth as I stood gaping14 with the detestable curiosity of my age, and its peculiar15, slightly brackish16 flavour is always the impression that comes first when I recall that day. There was a long business of hand shakings and huggings, and the wedding party squeezed itself out of the narrow vestry doorway17, with hearts fully18 attuned19 to the afternoon's entertainment.
At the gate some shaggy horses were tied up, and having clambered on to one of these, much as a man would climb a tree, the bridegroom hauled his bride up behind him, and started for home at a lumbering21 gallop22. Shouting and whooping23, the other men got on their horses and pursued, and the whole clattering24, bumping cavalcade25 passed out of sight, leaving us transfixed in admiration26 of the traditional "dragging home" of the bride. For me the only remaining recollections of the day are of a surfeit28 in the bedroom of the bride's mother, where in gluttonous29 solitude30 I partook of hot soda-bread, half a glass of luscious31 port, and a boiled egg; while the less honoured guests in the kitchen outside harangued32 and sang songs, and drank the wine of the country in its integrity. My wedding garment was, I recollect27, a Holland "waggoner," loosely girt by a shiny black belt with a brass33 serpent buckle34. At no subsequent wedding breakfast have I been as enjoyably dressed, and, as a natural consequence, at none have I eaten as much.
As my first distinct glimpse into matrimony it stands far back and detached; after it, in the Bayeux tapestry35 of childhood, horses, dogs, and baffled governesses moved on in untiring confusion, for periods of unmeasured time, before the subject again presented itself.
There lives in my memory a Sunday morning in spring, when the little beech36 leaves were poised37 like pale green moths38 among the bare branches, and the northerly showers whipped the lambs into shelter. The servants had gone in a body to early mass, leaving the preparations for breakfast in the hands of Tom Cashen, a trusted friend and counsellor, whose ordinary business it was to attend to the affairs of the yard and its pigs.
There was soda-bread to be watched in the oven, there were saucepans and kettles resolved upon untimely boiling, there was porridge to be stirred, and there was also Tom Cashen's dog, a hungry, furtive39 thing, capable at any moment of clearing the table of all that was upon it. The moment came, as it comes to those who wait with complete attentiveness40, and Tom Cashen's dog did not let it slip. It was during the retributions of justice that the bread burned in the oven, the coffee boiled over on the range, and the porridge adhered massively to the bottom of the saucepan.
"I'd sooner be digging the clay from morning till night," said Tom Cashen, after a long and prayerful imprecation, "than to be at this kind of work. There isn't a man in the world without getting married but he's sure to die quare, and no wonder, from the work that's within!"
Translated into our inferior English this aphorism41 sets forth the opinion that a bachelor who has to do his own household work is bound to end his days in a lunatic asylum42. This view of matrimony had not before been heard by me, and it seemed to be wholly reasonable. For one thing, the men in the yard were always right in our eyes, and always full of just complaints against the kitchen; in any case, the Work that was Within—the arduous43 triflings with saucepans and sweeping-brushes—was certainly contemptible44 as compared with the realities and the fascinations45 of the stable and the hay-cart. The point of view of Mrs. Tom Cashen was not touched upon; I think I realised that she was not likely to have one.
She was described at the time of her marriage as "fine and fair and freckled46, and a great warrant to fatten47 turkeys," and she walked two miles every day, with a basket on her back, to carry Tom Cashen's dinner to him—potatoes and boiled eggs, kept hot in a clean towel. Later on the dinner was carried by two barefooted little boys; from thenceforward, during many years, there was always a barefooted little boy or two to carry it, whereat the heart of Tom Cashen was glad, and so, in a modified degree, was the heart of Mrs. Tom Cashen, combating hourly, in a swarming48 cabin, with the Work that was Within.
Some time afterwards, when a spare son or two had betaken themselves, weeping direfully, to America, it fell to my lot to sit by the fire in the Cashen household, and to read aloud a letter from one of them, for the enlightenment of his parents, who were not skilled in the finer arts. It was a most affectionate letter, inquiring in turn for all members of the family, and it enclosed an order for two pounds. It concluded as follows:
"I think, my dear father, I will not see you again, because you are very old and you will soon die, but when I come home I hope to have the pleasure of visiting your grave and crying my stomachful over it."
On receiving these cheering assurances the gratification of Tom Cashen was enormous; it was more to him, he said, than the two pounds itself, and, in his own words, he "had to cry a handful."
There came a day when the words of the letter recurred49 in their extremest force. Within sight of the Chapel, spoken of further back, stands a ruin, with the ground inside and outside of it choked with graves; mound50 and crooked51 headstone and battered52 slab53, with the briar wreathing them, and the limestone54 rock thrusting its strong shoulder up between. In the last light of an October afternoon I found myself there, in a crowd that huddled55 and swayed round one intense point of interest—a shallow grave, dug with difficulty, where was laid in its deal coffin56 the quiet body left behind by the restless spirit of Tom Cashen, at the close of a companionship that had always been interesting and generally happy.
The parish priest was ill, and his substitute was late; the matter was proceeded with in a simplicity57 that was quite without self-consciousness or embarrassment58. Tom Cashen's eldest59 son, grieved, as was well known, to his gentle heart's core, had in a newspaper earth that had been blessed (by whom I know not), and from the newspaper it was shaken by him upon the coffin. Holy water was poured into the grave from a soda-water bottle, and the bottle itself thrown in after it; then followed the shovelling60 in and stamping down, and the tender twilight61 falling in compassion62 on the scene.
The crowd became thin and dispersed63, and as I walked away meditating64 on things that had passed and things that had endured during an absence of many years, a woman kneeling by a grave got heavily on to her feet and called me by my name. A middle-aged65 stranger in a frilled cap and blue cloak, with handsome eyes full of friendliness66; that was the first impression. Then some wraith67 of old association began to flit about the worn features, and suddenly the bride of twenty-five years ago was there beneath the cap frill. Five minutes told the story: ill-health, an everlasting69 pain "out through the top of the head," sons and daughters in profusion70, and baskets of turf carried on the back in boggy71 places. "Himself" was pointed73 out among the crowd. His nose glowed portentously74 above a rusty75 grey beard, and beneath a hat-brim of a bibulous76 tilt77. The introduction was not pressed.
The sunny Shrove Tuesday in early March lived again as she spoke9, the glare of sunshine upon the bare country brimming with imminent78 life, the scent79 of the furze, already muffling80 its spikes81 in bloom, the daffodils hanging their lamps in the shady places. How strangely, how bleakly82 different was the life history summarised in the melancholy October evening. Instead of the broad-backed horse, galloping83 on roads that were white in the sun and haze84 of the strong March day, with the large frieze-clad waist to meet her arms about, and the laughter and shouting of the pursuers coming to her ear, there would be a long and miry tramping in the darkness, behind her spouse85, with talk of guano and geese and pigs' food, and a perfect foreknowledge of how he would complete, at the always convenient shebeen, the glorious fabric86 of intoxication87, of which the foundation had been well and duly laid at the funeral.
The possessor of these materials for discontent was quite unaware88 of any of them. Her husband was as good as other people's, and seldom got drunk, except at funerals, weddings and fairs, or on the Holy days of the Church, and that was no more than was natural. Anything less would be cheerless, even uncanny. She introduced her daughter, "the second eldest, and she up to twenty years, and she having her passage paid to America with all she earned in the lace school." The young lady up to twenty years had her hair down her back, and wore a long coat with huge buttons, and a whole Harvest Festival in her hat, from which wisps of emerald grass drooped89 over the fierce fringe below it. To be very young, even childish, is the aim of her generation. The battle has been waged, even to weeping, by the ladies of the Big House, with a "tweeny" of seventeen, who, on every descent to the populous90 regions of the yard and kitchen, plucked the hairpins91 from her orange mane, and allowed it to flow forth in assertion of her infant charms. The previous generation, superior in this as in many other ways, grows old as unaffectedly as animals; it is a part of its deep and unstudied philosophy.
"I'm very old now, sure," said the matron of twenty-five years' standing92, with a comfortable laugh, "I think I must be near forty-five years."
Had she said sixty it would not have seemed much above the mark, and she would have said it with equal composure. I looked the conventional incredulity, and realised that it was thrown away. She, in return, assured me that for my part she had often read of beauty in a book, but had never till now really seen it, that my face was made for the ruin of the world, and that she'd know me out of my father's family by the two eyes and the snout. All was accepted with fitting seriousness, and the piece of news that had been held back with difficulty during these ceremonial observances, was at length given the rein93. Had I not heard of how her sister's daughter, down in Drohorna, had that morning brought three children into the world, daughters, unfortunately, but still a matter reflecting much lustre94 on the parish, and on that Providence95 that had singled it out from the Diocese for the honour.
The conversation abruptly96 closed, as the priest who was to have performed the Funeral Office scorched97 up on his bicycle, scarlet-faced, and half an hour late. As if the sight of him set the seal of the irrevocable upon what had been done, the widow of Tom Cashen broke into hoarse98 wailing99; she was arduously100 consoled and taken away, and her husband was left behind in the solitude, he, who hated to be alone, and was afraid to pass the churchyard at night.
A discussion raged as to the opening of his strong box, the men who stamped down the earth on the grave using the action as an emphasis to their assertions. At length the churchyard emptied, the evening wind was raw, and in the gloom the white chapel on the hill stared with its gaunt windows, impervious101 to the life histories of its own making impossible as an accessory to sentiment.
"WHAT HAVE YE ON YER NO-ASE?"
"WHAT HAVE YE ON YER NO-ASE?"
Obvious duty has seldom gone more suavely102 hand-in-hand with perfect enjoyment103 than in the attendance of the parish, practically en masse, at the levée held next day, and for many succeeding days, by the Triplets. A grey road runs north and south past their cabin door, level on the level face of the bog72 for a shelterless half-mile, and neither wake nor "Stations" could have commanded a more representative gathering104 than went and came upon it in those moist autumn afternoons. The gander who lorded it over the nibbled105 strip of grass in front of the cabin yard was worn down to amiability106 by a hundred assaults on new comers and an equal number of glorious returns to the applause of his family; the half-bred collie, coiled under a cart, closed his cunning eyes to aggressions that were beyond all barking; a five-year-old boy with tough tight curls of amber20, and an appallingly107 dirty face, regarded me from the doorstep with brazen108 sang froid as I approached, and said in a loud and winding109 drawl: "What have ye on yer no-ase?" Praise is seldom perfected in the mouth of the babe and suckling. I removed my pince-nez, and passed with difficulty into a doorway filled with people, the blue smoke from the interior filling up the crevices110. The father of the Triplets, a lanky111 young man, in the Sunday clothes in which he had just returned from making his application for the King's Bounty112, was according an unchanging, helpless grin to the shafts113 of felicitation that beset114 him, the most barbed being screamed in Irish by the old women, to the rapture115 of the audience.
Behind this unequal strife116 the Triplets held their court, in a cradle by the fire, canopied117 with coarse flannel118, and rocked unceasingly, one would say maddeningly, by a female relative with an expression of pomp befitting the show-woman. It suggested the bellringer who said, "We preached a very fine sermon to-day." The wicker walls rolled creakily. The rockers were uneven119, so was the earthen floor beneath them, and each oscillation contained three separate jerks. In this bewildering world, composed of sallow blankets and an unceasing earthquake, the three brand new souls reposed120 as best they might; the show-woman's grimy hand parted their firmament121 of flannel, and revealed three minute faces of the pallor of lard, dome-like in forehead, with tiny and precisely122 similar features, wonderfully absorbed in sleep. The infant of a day old appeals unfailingly to the compassion, but its most impassioned adherent123 must admit that it is out of drawing. The light from the open door struck suddenly into the cradle, as some one clove124 a path through the assemblage; one of the absorbed faces worked in vexation, elderly, miserable125 vexation. Tears, too, angry and pitiful; the long slit126 of opening eyelid127 was full of them, the unseeing disc of dull blue within swam in them, the stately bald head turned to terra-cotta.
"SHE'S THE LIVELIEST OF THEM, GOD BLESS HER!"
"SHE'S THE LIVELIEST OF THEM, GOD BLESS HER!"
"She's the liveliest of them, God bless her!" said the show-woman, in high admiration, "but as for the little one-een next the fire, she'll never do a day's good. 'Twasn't hardly making day this morning when I had a pot of water on the fire for her."
Being interpreted, this meant that the little one-een by the fire had in the cold autumn dawn retraced128 her way so far into the white trance of the unknown that all was made ready for washing and laying her out. She lay like a doll made of pale puckered129 wax, her sleeping lids had a lavender tone, and the shadows about her mouth were grey. Next morning the cocks had crowed but once when the pot of water simmered again over the turf fire, and the weak and lonely combat with death ended in defeat.
The life that she was not to share moved on about her in leisurely131 squalor; the smoke from the turf fire strayed languidly up the sooty wall, and blundered against the broad mouth of the chimney till the rafters were lost in the blue and settled obscurity. The walls were yellow with smoke; it was easy to imagine its flavour in the bowl of milk that stood on the dresser, ready for the invalid132 in the inner room. Obscure corners harboured obscure masses that might be family raiment, or beds, or old women; somewhere among them the jubilant cry of a hen proclaimed the feat68 of laying an egg, in muffled133 tones that suggested a lurking-place under a bed. Between the cradle and the fire sat an old man in a prehistoric134 tall hat, motionless in the stupor135 of his great age; at his feet a boy wrangled136 with a woolly puppy that rolled its eyes till the blue whites showed, in a delicious glance of humour, as it tugged137 at the red flannel shirt of its playmate.
"God save all here," said a voice, very dictatorially138, at the door; a black-haired old woman shoved her way to the cradle, and parted the blankets with a professional air. She was a Wise Woman from the mountain, and foreknowing the moment when she would spit, for luck, in the faces of the helpless trio in the cradle, I jostled my way to the bedroom of their mother. It had an almost conventual calm. Moderate as was the light that struggled through a hermetically sealed window of eighteen inches by twelve, it was further baffled by an apron139 pinned across the panes140; the air was heavy, reinforced only by the draughts141 and the smoke that entered hand-in-hand from the kitchen.
In one of two great beds the invalid lay in the twilight, with her hand pressed to her head. She was collected, well-bred, and concerned for the welfare of the visitor, and of all the visitor's relations, mentioned in due order of seniority. The glory of her position burned in two spots of excitement on her high cheek bones, but it could not eliminate her good manners. Her sister loudly recited the facts that she was using no food, only sups of milk and water, that as for puddings or any little rarities, if you ran down gold in a cup she wouldn't let it to her lips.
"There's nothing in the world wide I could fancy," said the sick girl, feebly, "unless it'd be the lick of a fish's tail."
The entry of the Wise Woman, with a stentorian142 benediction143, here drove me forth like a bolted rabbit, and having skirted the evil-smelling morass144 in front of the house, I breathed the large air of the bogs145 with enthusiasm. The evening was speechless and oppressive; it held like a headache the question whether it is useful to be sorry for those who are not sorry for themselves, and, unrepining, grope out their lives in the dark house of ignorance; and whether discontent with one's lot is not the mother of good cooking and other excellent things.
A week afterwards an emissary brought to the Big House the intelligence that the mother of the Triplets had in the interval been at the point of death, and had been anointed, had an impression on her chest, and could give "no account of the pain she had in her side, only that it was like a person polishing a boot, and there to be lumps in the boot, and he having a brush in his hand." From out of these symptoms was distilled146 the fact that she had had pleurisy, acquired while walking barefoot in the yard to feed the calves147. She entreated148 the gift of a pair of boots, and the emissary added, as a rider, the fact that the Colonel's boots would be just her fit. The Colonel was away, but the main body of his boots stood in battalions149 in his room. A pair of the dustiest was snatched, in a heat of philanthropy, and bestowed150, and proved, we were given to understand, an invaluable151 adjunct to the feeding of the calves. It is worth mentioning that the Colonel, on his return next day, was by no means as gratified as had been hoped; they were, he said, the one and only pair of patent leather boots in which he could walk with comfort and credit in London, and the moving circumstance of Triplets had no power to allay152 his bitter and impotent wrath153. His only tall hat had already been sold at a Jumble154 sale, and he did well to be angry. The cook, who had been sceptical throughout as to the necessity for the gift, tactfully reported that the Colonel's boots were too tight for That One, and brought from Second Mass the comfortable tidings that they had preyed155 on her feet.
The cook, always lenient156, after the manner of her kind, to the Colonel and all his sex, was at that time much preoccupied157 with matrimonial affairs. It was soon afterwards that a strange young man in Sunday clothes appeared at intervals158 in the yard, and melted like a wraith into dark doorways159 in the kitchen passages. He was found eating trifle in the servants' hall, and in the evenings he fished on the lake. He was, we discovered, the cook's brother, arrived from Loughrea to investigate the position of the swain whom the cook wished to marry. On the fourth day he passed imperceptibly out of the establishment, and the cook fought loudly and venomously with all who crossed her path. It transpired160 that the brother had visited the home of the aspirant161, and had found, she said, that it was a backwards162 place, and a narrow house, and he wouldn't let her go in it. She had twice at Mass seen the candidate for her hand, she informed us, lamentably163, and he was a nice young man, foxy in the face, and she got a good account of him. That it was remarkable164, or at all unpleasant, to marry a perfect stranger was a point quite outside her comprehension. She had never spoken to him, she admitted, but what signified, so long as she got a good account of him. It was afterwards discovered that the lover had been rejected because his family had been broom-makers, and that no self-respecting girl would look at him on that account. The point of social etiquette165 here touched remains166 still dark, but it was insuperable, and the cook eventually married the gentleman whose lofty calling it was to drive the butcher's cart.
The day before the marriage the battle was waged in the usual manner between the Loughrea brother and the bridegroom; greasy167 pound notes were slapped down on the table, the bride's savings168 were vaunted above the bridegroom's heifers and position as heir to his mother's bit of land, and with swaggering and bluff169 and whiskey drinking the bargain was concluded. Nothing could have been more frankly170 commercial; nothing, apparently171, could have given more satisfaction. The cook departed, and lived in a cabin with a variety of her husband's relatives, who were by no means overjoyed at the circumstance; potatoes for dinner, and stewed172 tea morning, noon and night were her diet; the hens roosted above her bed, she weeded turnips173 and "spread" turf, she grew thin and pale, but never, so far as is known, did she repine, or regret the print dresses and the flesh-pots. The butcher's driver was "a quiet boy," better than most husbands; had it been the broom-maker, foxy in the face she would have made him an equally good wife. In a community where old maids are almost unknown, the only point worth considering was that she was married and had a "young son," and every man and woman in the country would have said that she was right. In traversing the point we should run our heads against a wall of primeval instinct.
Writers of novels, and readers of novels, had better shut their eyes to the fact, the inexorable fact, that such marriages are rushed into every day—loveless, sordid174 marriages, such as we are taught to hold in abhorrence175, and that from them springs, like a flower from a dust heap, the unsullied, uneventful home-life of Western Ireland. It is romance that holds the two-edged sword, the sharp ecstasy176 and the severing177 scythe178 stroke, the expectancy179 and the disillusioning180, the trance and the clearer vision.
It is even more than passive domestic toleration that blossoms in the cramped181 and dirty cabin life, affection grows with years, and where personal attraction never counted for much, the loss of it hurts nobody.
"Their hearts were within in each other," was said of an elderly couple, who, thirty years before, had been married in the priest's kitchen on the last night of Shraft; married as a happy thought, and by the merest chance. The lawful182 bride had taken her place by the bridegroom, but, changing her mind at the last possible moment, sprang from her knees, and declined the ceremony. As her betrothal183 was probably an affair of that afternoon it was not so dramatic an action as might be assumed, nor did it cause any hitch184 in the proceedings185. The priest looked round the well-filled kitchen.
"Here, Mary Kate!" he said to his servant, "come on you, and marry the man! Sure you wouldn't let him go away, and he after walking five miles in the rain!"
Mary Kate knelt down by the bridegroom. We do not hear of remonstrance186 on her part, and thirty years afterwards, when their children were married or gone to America, it was said that this couple's "hearts were within in each other." It was said with perfect perception of the ways and the deeps of devotion; but the absence of it at their wedding was not worthy187 of remark, and in these things is the essence of the Irish nature, that keenly perceives sentiment, and contentedly188 ignores it.
"She isn't much, indeed," said a farmer of exceeding astuteness189, when questioned about his matrimonial intentions, "but she's a nate little clerk." By this was delicately conveyed the fact that she could read and write, and that he could not. The marriage was highly successful.
Years afterwards a friend said to him in congratulation, "Well, James, I hear you married your daughter well."
"I did, sir, and I got him cheap." Then in a whisper, "He was divilish owld."
The computation by which the years of the bridegroom were set against the purchase money—in other words, the bride's dowry—must have been an intricate one, involving, one would say, the tables of insurance, and the best skill of the nate little clerk.
Congratulations, not unmixed with some genial190 surprise, were proffered191 to another parent on the marriage of his daughter, a person by no means in her first youth, and possessed192 of but one eye.
"Sure I had to give him ten pounds agin' the blind eye," explained the father of the bride, with unimpaired cordiality.
There is here no material, of the accepted sort, for a playwright193; no unsatisfied yearnings and shattered ideals, nothing but remarkable common sense, and a profound awe194 for the Sacrament of Marriage. Marriage, humourous, commercial, and quite unlovely, is the first act; the second is mere130 preoccupation with an accomplished195 destiny; the last is usually twilight and much faithfulness. The dialogue is a masterpiece throughout, epigram, heart-piercing pathos196, with humour, heavenly and inveterate197, lubricating all. Perhaps the clue to success lies here, in the mutual198 possession of agreeability and the good nature that goes with the best agreeability; certain it is that with a command of repartee199 that makes fighting an artistic200 enjoyment, their conjugal201 battles are insignificant202.
The two-fold heart of the race beats everywhere in the confusion; gross worldliness, and a matrimonial standard clear and unquestioned as the stars; Love the negligible quantity, and attachment203 the rule. It is for us, more singly bent on happiness, to aim at rapture and to foreknow disappointment.
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1
coerced
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| v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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wriggling
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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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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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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brackish
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| adj.混有盐的；咸的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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attuned
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| v.使协调( attune的过去式和过去分词 )；调音 | |
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amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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23
whooping
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| 发嗬嗬声的，发咳声的 | |
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24
clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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25
cavalcade
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| n.车队等的行列 | |
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26
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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27
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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28
surfeit
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| v.使饮食过度；n.(食物)过量，过度 | |
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29
gluttonous
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| adj.贪吃的，贪婪的 | |
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30
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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31
luscious
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| adj.美味的；芬芳的；肉感的，引与性欲的 | |
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32
harangued
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| v.高谈阔论( harangue的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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34
buckle
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| n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲 | |
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35
tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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36
beech
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| n.山毛榉；adj.山毛榉的 | |
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37
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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38
moths
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| n.蛾( moth的名词复数 ) | |
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39
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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40
attentiveness
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| [医]注意 | |
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41
aphorism
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| n.格言，警语 | |
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42
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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43
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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44
contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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45
fascinations
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|
| n.魅力( fascination的名词复数 )；有魅力的东西；迷恋；陶醉 | |
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46
freckled
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|
| adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
fatten
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| v.使肥，变肥 | |
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48
swarming
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|
| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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49
recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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50
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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51
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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52
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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53
slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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54
limestone
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|
| n.石灰石 | |
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55
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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56
coffin
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|
| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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57
simplicity
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|
| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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58
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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59
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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60
shovelling
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|
| v.铲子( shovel的现在分词 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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61
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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62
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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63
dispersed
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|
| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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64
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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65
middle-aged
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|
| adj.中年的 | |
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66
friendliness
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|
| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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67
wraith
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|
| n.幽灵；骨瘦如柴的人 | |
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68
feat
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|
| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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69
everlasting
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|
| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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70
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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71
boggy
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| adj.沼泽多的 | |
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72
bog
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|
| n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖 | |
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73
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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74
portentously
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75
rusty
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|
| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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76
bibulous
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|
| adj.高度吸收的，酗酒的 | |
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77
tilt
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|
| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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78
imminent
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|
| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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79
scent
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|
| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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80
muffling
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|
| v.压抑，捂住( muffle的现在分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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81
spikes
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|
| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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82
bleakly
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|
| 无望地，阴郁地，苍凉地 | |
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83
galloping
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|
| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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84
haze
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|
| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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85
spouse
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| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
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86
fabric
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|
| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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87
intoxication
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|
| n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning | |
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88
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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89
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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90
populous
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|
| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
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91
hairpins
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|
| n.发夹( hairpin的名词复数 ) | |
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92
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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93
rein
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|
| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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94
lustre
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|
| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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95
providence
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|
| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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96
abruptly
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|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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97
scorched
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|
| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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98
hoarse
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|
| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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99
wailing
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|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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100
arduously
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| adv.费力地，严酷地 | |
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101
impervious
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|
| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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102
suavely
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103
enjoyment
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|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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104
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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105
nibbled
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|
| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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106
amiability
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|
| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
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107
appallingly
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| 毛骨悚然地 | |
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108
brazen
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|
| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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109
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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110
crevices
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| n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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111
lanky
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|
| adj.瘦长的 | |
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112
bounty
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|
| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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113
shafts
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|
| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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114
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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115
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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116
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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117
canopied
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| adj. 遮有天篷的 | |
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118
flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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119
uneven
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| adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的 | |
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120
reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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121
firmament
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| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
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122
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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123
adherent
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| n.信徒，追随者，拥护者 | |
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124
clove
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| n.丁香味 | |
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125
miserable
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|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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126
slit
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|
| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
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127
eyelid
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| n.眼睑，眼皮 | |
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128
retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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129
puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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130
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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131
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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132
invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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133
muffled
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|
| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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134
prehistoric
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|
| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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135
stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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136
wrangled
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| v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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137
tugged
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| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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138
dictatorially
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|
| adv.独裁地，自大地 | |
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139
apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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140
panes
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| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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141
draughts
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| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
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142
stentorian
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|
| adj.大声的，响亮的 | |
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143
benediction
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| n.祝福；恩赐 | |
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144
morass
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| n.沼泽，困境 | |
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145
bogs
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|
| n.沼泽，泥塘( bog的名词复数 )；厕所v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的第三人称单数 )；妨碍，阻碍 | |
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146
distilled
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|
| adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )；从…提取精华 | |
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147
calves
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| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
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148
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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149
battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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150
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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invaluable
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| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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152
allay
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| v.消除，减轻(恐惧、怀疑等) | |
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153
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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154
jumble
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| vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆 | |
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preyed
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| v.掠食( prey的过去式和过去分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生 | |
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156
lenient
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| adj.宽大的，仁慈的 | |
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157
preoccupied
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| 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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158
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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159
doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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transpired
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| （事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的过去式和过去分词 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生 | |
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161
aspirant
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| n.热望者；adj.渴望的 | |
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162
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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lamentably
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| adv.哀伤地，拙劣地 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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167
greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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169
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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172
stewed
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| adj.焦虑不安的，烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 )；煨；思考；担忧 | |
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173
turnips
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| 芜青( turnip的名词复数 )； 芜菁块根； 芜菁甘蓝块根； 怀表 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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abhorrence
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| n.憎恶；可憎恶的事 | |
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176
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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177
severing
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的现在分词 )；断，裂 | |
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178
scythe
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| n. 长柄的大镰刀，战车镰； v. 以大镰刀割 | |
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179
expectancy
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| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
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180
disillusioning
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| 使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭( disillusion的现在分词 ) | |
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181
cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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182
lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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183
betrothal
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| n. 婚约, 订婚 | |
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184
hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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186
remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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187
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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188
contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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189
astuteness
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| n.敏锐；精明；机敏 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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192
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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193
playwright
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| n.剧作家，编写剧本的人 | |
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194
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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195
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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196
pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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197
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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198
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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199
repartee
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| n.机敏的应答 | |
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200
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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201
conjugal
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| adj.婚姻的，婚姻性的 | |
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202
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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203
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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