The figure had sounded apt to Anna on that Sunday evening when the Doctor employed it; apt enough--until the outburst of that great and dreadful news whose inseparable implications and forebodings robbed her of all sleep that night and made her the first one astir at daybreak. But thenceforward, and now for half a week or more, the aptness seemed quite to have passed. Strange was the theatre whose play was all and only a frightful1 reality; whose swarming2, thundering, smoking stage had its audience, its New Orleans audience, wholly behind it, and whose curtain of distance, however thin, mocked every bodily sense and compelled all to be seen and heard by the soul's eye and ear, with all the joy and woe4 of its actuality and all its suspense5, terror, triumph, heartbreak, and despair.
Yet here was that theatre, and the Doctor's metaphor6 was still good enough for the unexacting taste of the two Valcour ladies, to whom Anna had quoted it. And here, sprinkled through the vast audience of that theatre, with as keen a greed for its play as any, were all the various non-combatants with whom we are here concerned, though not easily to be singled out, such mere7 units were they of the impassioned multitude every mere unit of which, to loved and loving ones, counted for more than we can tell.
However, our favourites might be glimpsed now and then. On a certain midday of that awful half-week the Callenders, driving, took up Victorine at her gate and Flora8 at her door and sped up-town to the newspaper offices in Camp street to rein9 in against a countless10 surge of old men in fine dress, their precious dignity thrown to the dogs, each now but one of the common herd11, and each against all, shouldering, sweating, and brandishing12 wide hands to be the first purchaser and reader of the list, the long, ever-lengthening list of the killed and wounded. Much had been learned of the great two-days' battle, and many an infantry13 sister, and many a battery sister besides Anna, was second-sighted enough to see, night and day, night and day, the muddy labyrinth14 of roads and by-roads that braided and traversed the wide, unbroken reaches of dense15 timber--with their deep ravines, their long ridges17, and their creek-bottom marshes18 and sloughs--in the day's journey from Corinth to the bluffs19 of the Tennessee. They saw them, not empty, nor fearlessly crossed by the quail20, the wild turkey, the fox, or the unhunted deer, nor travelled alone by the homespun "citizen" or by scouts21 or foragers, but slowly overflowed23 by a great gray, silent, tangled24, armed host--cavalry, infantry, ordnance25 trains, batteries, battery wagons26 and ambulances: Saw Hilary Kincaid and all his heroes and their guns, and all the "big generals" and their smart escorts and busy staffs: Saw the various columns impeding27 each other, taking wrong ways and losing priceless hours while thousands of inexperienced boys, footsore, drenched28 and shivering yet keen for the fight, ate their five-days' food in one, or threw it away to lighten the march, and toiled29 on in hunger, mud, cold and rain, without the note of a horn or drum or the distant eye of one blue scout22 to tell of their oncoming.
They saw, did Anna and those sisters (and many and many a wife and mother from Callender House to Carrollton), the vast, stealthy, fireless bivouac at fall of night, in ear-shot of the enemy's tattoo30, unsheltered from the midnight storm save by raked-up leaves: Saw, just in the bivouac's tortuous31 front, softly reddening the low wet sky, that huge, rude semicircle of camps in the dark ridged and gullied forests about Shiloh's log meeting-house, where the victorious32 Grant's ten-thousands--from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, as new to arms as their foe33, yet a band of lions in lair--lay dry-tented, full fed and fast asleep, safely flanked by swollen34 streams, their gunboats behind them and Buell coming, but without one mounted outpost, a scratch of entrenchment35 or a whisper of warning.
Amid the eager carriage talk, in which Anna kept her part, her mind's eye still saw the farther scene as it changed again and the gray dawn and gray host furtively36 rose together and together silently spread through the deep woods. She watched the day increase and noon soar up and sink away while the legions of Hardee, Bragg, Polk and Breckinridge slowly writhed37 out of their perplexed38 folds and set themselves, still undetected in their three successive lines of battle. She beheld39 the sun set calm and clear, the two hosts lie down once more, one in its tents, the other on its arms, the leafy night hang over them resplendent with stars, its watches near by, the Southern lines reawaken in recovered strength, spring up and press forward exultantly40 to the awful issue, and the Sabbath dawn brighten into a faultless day with the boom of the opening gun.
As the ladies drew up behind the throng41 and across the throat of Commercial Alley42 the dire43 List began to flutter from the Picayune office in greedy palms and over and among dishevelled heads like a feeding swarm3 of white pigeons. News there was as well as names, but every eye devoured44 the names first and then--unless some name struck lightning in the heart, as Anna saw it do every here and there and for that poor old man over yonder--after the names the news.
"Nan, we needn't stay if you--"
"Oh, Miranda, isn't all this ours?"
The bulletin boards were already telling in outline, ahead of the list, thrilling things about the Orleans Guards, the whirlwind onset45 of whose maiden46 bayonets had captured double its share of the first camp taken from the amazed, unbreakfasted enemy, and who again and again, hour by hour, by the half-mile and mile, had splendidly helped to drive him--while he hammered back with a deadly stubbornness all but a match for their fury. Through forests, across clearings, over streams and bogs47 and into and out of ravines and thickets48 they had swept, seizing transiently a whole field battery, permanently49 hundreds of prisoners, and covering the strife's broad wake with even more appalling50 numbers of their own dead and wounded than of the foe's: wailing51 wounded, ghastly, grimy dead, who but yesterday were brothers, cousins and playmates of these very men snatching and searching the list. They told, those boards, of the Washington Artillery52 (fifth company, never before under fire) being thanked on the field by one of the "big generals," their chests and wheels shot half to splinters but no gun lost. They told of all those Louisiana commands whose indomitable lines charged and melted, charged and withered53, over and over the torn and bloody54 ground in that long, horrible struggle that finally smoked out the "Hornets' Nest." They told of the Crescent Regiment55, known and loved on all these sidewalks and away up to and beyond their Bishop-General Polk's Trinity Church, whose desperate gallantry had saved that same Washington Artillery three of its pieces, and to whose thinned and bleeding ranks swarms56 of the huddled57 Western farm boys, as shattered and gory58 as their captors and as glorious, had at last laid down their arms. And they told of Kincaid's Battery, Captain Kincaid commanding; how, having early lost in the dense oak woods and hickory brush the brigade--Brodnax's--whose way they had shelled open for a victorious charge, they had followed their galloping59 leader, the boys running beside the wheels, from position to position, from ridge16 to ridge, in rampant60 obedience61 of an order to "go in wherever they heard the hottest firing", how for a time they had fought hub to hub beside the Washington Artillery; how two of their guns, detached for a special hazard and sweeping62 into fresh action on a flank of the "Hornets' Nest," had lost every horse at a single volley of the ambushed63 foe, yet had instantly replied with slaughterous64 vengeance65; and how, for an hour thereafter, so wrapped in their own smoke that they could be pointed66 only by the wheel-ruts of their recoil67, they had been worked by their depleted68 gunners on hands and knees with Kincaid and Villeneuve themselves at the trails and with fuses cut to one second. So, in scant69 outline said the boards, or more in detail read one man aloud to another as they hurried by the carriage.
"But," said Anna, while Flora enjoyed her pallor, "all that is about the first day's fight!"
"No," cried Constance, "it's the second day's, that Beauregard calls 'a great and glorious victory!'"
"Yes," interposed Flora, "but writing from behind his fortification' at Corinth, yes!"
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1
frightful
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adj.可怕的;讨厌的 | |
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2
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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3
swarm
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n.(昆虫)等一大群;vi.成群飞舞;蜂拥而入 | |
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4
woe
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n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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5
suspense
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n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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metaphor
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n.隐喻,暗喻 | |
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mere
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adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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flora
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n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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9
rein
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n.疆绳,统治,支配;vt.以僵绳控制,统治 | |
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10
countless
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adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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11
herd
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n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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12
brandishing
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v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 );炫耀 | |
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infantry
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n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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14
labyrinth
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n.迷宫;难解的事物;迷路 | |
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15
dense
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a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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16
ridge
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n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭 | |
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ridges
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n.脊( ridge的名词复数 );山脊;脊状突起;大气层的)高压脊 | |
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18
marshes
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n.沼泽,湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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19
bluffs
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恐吓( bluff的名词复数 ); 悬崖; 峭壁 | |
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20
quail
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n.鹌鹑;vi.畏惧,颤抖 | |
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21
scouts
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侦察员[机,舰]( scout的名词复数 ); 童子军; 搜索; 童子军成员 | |
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22
scout
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n.童子军,侦察员;v.侦察,搜索 | |
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23
overflowed
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溢出的 | |
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24
tangled
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adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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ordnance
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n.大炮,军械 | |
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26
wagons
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n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 );铁路货车;小手推车 | |
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impeding
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a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的,临近的 | |
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28
drenched
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adj.湿透的;充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 );在某人(某物)上大量使用(某液体) | |
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29
toiled
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长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 ); 艰难缓慢地移动,跋涉 | |
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30
tattoo
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n.纹身,(皮肤上的)刺花纹;vt.刺花纹于 | |
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31
tortuous
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adj.弯弯曲曲的,蜿蜒的 | |
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victorious
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adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
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33
foe
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n.敌人,仇敌 | |
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swollen
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adj.肿大的,水涨的;v.使变大,肿胀 | |
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35
entrenchment
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n.壕沟,防御设施 | |
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36
furtively
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adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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37
writhed
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(因极度痛苦而)扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
perplexed
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adj.不知所措的 | |
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39
beheld
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v.看,注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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40
exultantly
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adv.狂欢地,欢欣鼓舞地 | |
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41
throng
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n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集 | |
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42
alley
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n.小巷,胡同;小径,小路 | |
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43
dire
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adj.可怕的,悲惨的,阴惨的,极端的 | |
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44
devoured
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吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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45
onset
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n.进攻,袭击,开始,突然开始 | |
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46
maiden
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n.少女,处女;adj.未婚的,纯洁的,无经验的 | |
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47
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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48
thickets
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n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 );丛状物 | |
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49
permanently
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adv.永恒地,永久地,固定不变地 | |
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50
appalling
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adj.骇人听闻的,令人震惊的,可怕的 | |
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51
wailing
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v.哭叫,哀号( wail的现在分词 );沱 | |
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52
artillery
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n.(军)火炮,大炮;炮兵(部队) | |
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53
withered
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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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54
bloody
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adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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55
regiment
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n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制 | |
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56
swarms
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蜂群,一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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57
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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58
gory
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adj.流血的;残酷的 | |
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59
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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60
rampant
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adj.(植物)蔓生的;狂暴的,无约束的 | |
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61
obedience
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n.服从,顺从 | |
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62
sweeping
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adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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63
ambushed
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v.埋伏( ambush的过去式和过去分词 );埋伏着 | |
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slaughterous
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adj.好杀戮的 | |
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vengeance
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n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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66
pointed
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adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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recoil
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vi.退却,退缩,畏缩 | |
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68
depleted
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adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词 | |
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69
scant
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adj.不充分的,不足的;v.减缩,限制,忽略 | |
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