In Shoa the preliminaries of a journey are replete1 with noise, inconvenience, and confusion. Friends come to “see you off,” as an indispensable piece of etiquette2, and the lounging townspeople, who have at no time much business of their own, flock to assist the traveller by filling the court-yard, choking the door-way, and amusing themselves by canvassing3 the property packed. Should rain be falling, which is too frequently the case, the rabble4 take shelter inside the house, subject every article within their reach to the pollution of greasy5 paws, leave the carpet an inch thick in mire6, and, unless by dint7 of shoving and elbowing, debar all egress8 to the lawful9 proprietor10.
It was in the midst of attentions such as these on the part of the idlers of Ankóber, on a raw, cold, foggy morning in September—the last of the Ethiopic year—that we took the road to Debra Berhán. The sun was already high when the sure-footed mules11 were mounted, and as the retiring mist scudded13 over the face of the mountains, many were the bold beauties revealed. Cascades14 tumbled down the stupendous range on the one hand, amid snug15 houses and tufted knolls16, and on the other, at the foot of perpendicular17 crags thundered the river Airára. On its bank stands the only piece of machinery18 in the kingdom—a rude watermill constructed by an Albanian visitor; but the intolerant and ignorant priesthood pronouncing the revolution of the wheel to be the work of devils and genii, its use was interdicted19 after three days, and it has since remained silent.
Beyond the ford20 of the foaming21 torrent22 the road becomes extremely rough, steep, and difficult. The first traveller had been unable to breast the mountain side outright23; and his zigzag24 route remains25 untouched by the hand of the pioneer. The craggy rock must be surmounted26, and the narrow and slippery channel be still threaded with the same risk as when the first bold foot was planted on the serrated ridge27; and the torrent of centuries, whilst indenting28 the furrow29 yet deeper, has added the impediment of slimy residuum.
The range whereof the Chaka forms a part divides the streams that flow into the Nile, from those which are tributary30 to the Háwash; and the ascent31 above Ankóber being not less than two thousand feet, the difference in temperature on the summit was fully32 perceptible. Half an hour was occupied in the scramble33 to a crumbling34 basaltic pillar styled “Room dingai,” “the standing35 stone,” which very aptly transfers its name to this most indifferent pass to the new capital of Shoa. Mamrat still towered overhead full three or four thousand feet, making its total height above the level of the sea at least thirteen thousand; yet is snow a stranger to its cloud-capped summit, and indeed to the language of all Amhára, south of the cold mountains of Simien.
It is from June to September that old Father Nilus carries plenty into “the land of marvels”—and rolling on to its mouths in solitary36 grandeur37, without receiving a single tributary in its long course of thirteen hundred and fifty nautical38 miles below the junction39 of the Tacazzé, it may fairly be stated that Abyssinia holds in her Christian40 hands the inexhaustible riches of Egypt. Hatzé Tekla Ha?manót the Great, had therefore reason on his side when, in the beginning of the twelfth century, he wrote under the style of “Son of the King of the Church of Ethiop to the Pacha and the Lords Commanders of the Militia41 at Grand Cairo, desiring attention to the fact that in himself for the time being was vested power to render the Nile an instrument of vengeance42 for overt43 acts of hostility—the Almighty44 having given into his hands its fountains, its passage, and its increase, and thus entrusted45 him with power to make the river work good or evil.”
Among the numberless fictions recorded of this emperor, it is said that when he was about to relinquish46 the cares of government in order to retire to a cloister47, he divided his countless48 wealth with his feet into two parts, the one designed as an offering to the Church, the other to be distributed in alms among the poor: and both heaps, although mountain high, were, on being weighed, found exactly equal. Lalíbela, one of his successors, is believed to have attempted the diversion to the Indian Ocean and to the Lake Zooai, of all those principal tributaries49 to the Nile which take their source in the highest table land. The measure was in resentment50 for the persecutions exercised towards the Christians51 in Egypt after the Saracen conquest, and the monarch52 was only induced to relinquish his gigantic project by the earnest remonstrance53 of the monks54, who strongly urged the impolicy of fertilising the arid55 Moslem56 countries that intervene betwixt the mountains and the sea.
On the summit of the Chaka commences an uninterrupted terrace, stretching hundreds of miles to the southward, through the fair territories of the Galla. Glimpses of blue sky, of a brightness unseen for months, now gave happy presage57 of coming fine weather, and a cold bracing58 breeze from the eastward59 announced the termination of the protracted60 season of rain. The country had assumed the uninteresting character inseparable from elevated downs—rich swampy62 meadows, clothed with camomile, clover, and trefoil, and covered with oxen, horses, and sheep, being intersected by gentle undulations of moor-land, with occasional oviform hills. Bare-banked rills, streaming through the lower tracts63, succeed each other in quick succession, and drain the table-land to the sources of the Beréza; whilst the great extent of ground under cultivation64, waving crops of wheat, beans, and barley65, with independent farm-houses scattered66 over the face of the landscape, proclaim a government which cannot be of a very bad description, and regions long exempt67 from the presence of an inimical power.
Across the Toro Mesk, the principal streamlet that intersects the road, and the sources of which are visible at a great distance to the north-east, is a rude pile of stones bearing the dignified68 appellation69 of “the King’s Bridge.” Johannes, the Armenian architect, received the hand of a high-born dame70 in reward of his skill, and by no foot save that of the despot, is the barred entrance ever passed. Two other bridges, upon the same primitive71 principle, have since been constructed over nameless but rapid rivulets72, and if not very durable73, they serve greatly to facilitate the royal progress at periods when the country is inundated74.
During the reign75 of the sire and grandsire of the present monarch, the entire tract61 between Ankóber and Debra Berhán was in the hands of the heathen Galla; and Tenna Káloo, the last daring chieftain who disputed its possession, has left in the minds of the present generation the recollection of the prowess in arms that he evinced to their fathers, numbers of whom fell in the strife76. Not a tree, nor even a shrub77 higher than the Abyssinian thistle, is to be seen, save here and there a solitary “cosso,” whose venerable boughs78, the witnesses of idolatrous rites79, mark the ancient site of villages now gone to decay. Flourishing Christian hamlets have risen in their stead; yet the visible population is small, and the long naked sweeping80 plains, silent and lonesome, present a stern and melancholy81 appearance, which the absence of groves82 and hedges and singing birds tends materially to heighten. The vulture and the eagle are alone seen wheeling above the green cliffs, or a solitary buzzard soaring in quest of his prey83 over the great sheets of cultivation. Shepherds, wearing high conical hempen84 caps, lay ensconced, with their large shaggy dogs, under the shelter of knolls and caves; and in some few of the fields, where last year’s crops were yet unhoused, or the land remained untilled, the peasantry pursued their industrious85 occupation.
At length the monotonous86 view opened over a wide plateau sloping gently to the west. The blue peaks of Sallála Moogher, beyond which flows the infant Nile, rose faintly in the distance, and the intervening country, still destitute87 of wood, was traversed by broad, broken, precipitous ravines. On a hill to the northward88 is visible the extensive market-place of Bool Worki, “the cave of gold,” a great mart for horses, mules, and woollen cloths, which, with grain, asses89, and horned cattle, are brought every Saturday by the adjacent Galla tribes. and, when sold, pay a heavy duty to the crown. To account for the name of the place, there is a tradition extant, that in days of yore, many holy arks with vast quantities of the purest gold were deposited by the emperors of Ethiopia in a certain deep cave having a bottomless lake interposed to save them from the grasp of the avaricious90. Its waters form the abode91 of a legion of evil spirits, whose Alaka gratuitously92 exhibited himself one market-day, mounted upon an ambling93 mule12 loaded with massive golden trappings, and attended by a black cat wearing about its neck a bell of the same costly94 metal—a sight quite sufficient to deter95 intrusion on the part of the curious.
A cluster of white-roofed houses, straggling beyond the walled palace and the church of the Holy Trinity—long indistinctly visible—now rose rapidly to view; and a small eminence96 having been ascended97, the goal was presently attained98. As we passed the royal lodge99, a page mounted on one of the king’s horses rode forth100 to reconnoitre, and, taking a hasty glance, galloped101 off to make his report. The customary announcement through an Afero, who has always access to the palace, elicited102 a pair of monstrous103 Galla rams104, which were thrust into observation while the message which follows—one strictly105 in accordance with Abyssinian etiquette—was delivered with shoulders bare by him to whom it had been confided:—“Are you well? Are you well? Are you well? Have you been quite well since our last interview? Are you all well? Have my children had a good journey? Have they entered in safety? My love amounts to heaven and earth; therefore the king said, they might eat these sheep.”
Awnings106, wrought107 of goats’ hair, and resembling the black tents of Kedar, had meanwhile been erected108 for us on the green-sward, and we had no sooner taken up our quarters than there came, by a succession of maids of honour, bread in wicker baskets, old hydromel in coloured decanters, pots of honey, and compliments in profusion109 from the queen. Many of the courtiers visited us in the evening, too evidently fresh from the royal banquet, which is daily spread in the great hall, and from which few ever rise in a state of sobriety—their amount of friendship professed110, and the modicum111 of flattery that they bestowed112, being in the exact ratio of the potations swallowed during their revel113. Glimmering114 lights soon illumined the straggling hamlet—dancing and singing occupied both sexes of the inhabitants—and with almost as much pomp and ceremony as in more civilised lands, the departed year was consigned115 to its last long resting-place in the relentless116 tomb of Time.
点击收听单词发音
1 replete | |
adj.饱满的,塞满的;n.贮蜜蚁 | |
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2 etiquette | |
n.礼仪,礼节;规矩 | |
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3 canvassing | |
v.(在政治方面)游说( canvass的现在分词 );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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4 rabble | |
n.乌合之众,暴民;下等人 | |
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5 greasy | |
adj. 多脂的,油脂的 | |
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6 mire | |
n.泥沼,泥泞;v.使...陷于泥泞,使...陷入困境 | |
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7 dint | |
n.由于,靠;凹坑 | |
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8 egress | |
n.出去;出口 | |
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9 lawful | |
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的 | |
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10 proprietor | |
n.所有人;业主;经营者 | |
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11 mules | |
骡( mule的名词复数 ); 拖鞋; 顽固的人; 越境运毒者 | |
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12 mule | |
n.骡子,杂种,执拗的人 | |
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13 scudded | |
v.(尤指船、舰或云彩)笔直、高速而平稳地移动( scud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 cascades | |
倾泻( cascade的名词复数 ); 小瀑布(尤指一连串瀑布中的一支); 瀑布状物; 倾泻(或涌出)的东西 | |
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15 snug | |
adj.温暖舒适的,合身的,安全的;v.使整洁干净,舒适地依靠,紧贴;n.(英)酒吧里的私房 | |
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16 knolls | |
n.小圆丘,小土墩( knoll的名词复数 ) | |
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17 perpendicular | |
adj.垂直的,直立的;n.垂直线,垂直的位置 | |
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18 machinery | |
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构 | |
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19 interdicted | |
v.禁止(行动)( interdict的过去式和过去分词 );禁用;限制 | |
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20 Ford | |
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过 | |
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21 foaming | |
adj.布满泡沫的;发泡 | |
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22 torrent | |
n.激流,洪流;爆发,(话语等的)连发 | |
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23 outright | |
adv.坦率地;彻底地;立即;adj.无疑的;彻底的 | |
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24 zigzag | |
n.曲折,之字形;adj.曲折的,锯齿形的;adv.曲折地,成锯齿形地;vt.使曲折;vi.曲折前行 | |
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25 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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26 surmounted | |
战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 ); 克服(困难); 居于…之上; 在…顶上 | |
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27 ridge | |
n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭 | |
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28 indenting | |
n.成穴的v.切割…使呈锯齿状( indent的现在分词 );缩进排版 | |
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29 furrow | |
n.沟;垄沟;轨迹;车辙;皱纹 | |
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30 tributary | |
n.支流;纳贡国;adj.附庸的;辅助的;支流的 | |
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31 ascent | |
n.(声望或地位)提高;上升,升高;登高 | |
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32 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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33 scramble | |
v.爬行,攀爬,杂乱蔓延,碎片,片段,废料 | |
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34 crumbling | |
adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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35 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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36 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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37 grandeur | |
n.伟大,崇高,宏伟,庄严,豪华 | |
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38 nautical | |
adj.海上的,航海的,船员的 | |
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39 junction | |
n.连接,接合;交叉点,接合处,枢纽站 | |
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40 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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41 militia | |
n.民兵,民兵组织 | |
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42 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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43 overt | |
adj.公开的,明显的,公然的 | |
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44 almighty | |
adj.全能的,万能的;很大的,很强的 | |
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45 entrusted | |
v.委托,托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46 relinquish | |
v.放弃,撤回,让与,放手 | |
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47 cloister | |
n.修道院;v.隐退,使与世隔绝 | |
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48 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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49 tributaries | |
n. 支流 | |
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50 resentment | |
n.怨愤,忿恨 | |
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51 Christians | |
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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52 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
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53 remonstrance | |
n抗议,抱怨 | |
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54 monks | |
n.修道士,僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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55 arid | |
adj.干旱的;(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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56 Moslem | |
n.回教徒,穆罕默德信徒;adj.回教徒的,回教的 | |
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57 presage | |
n.预感,不祥感;v.预示 | |
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58 bracing | |
adj.令人振奋的 | |
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59 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
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60 protracted | |
adj.拖延的;延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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61 tract | |
n.传单,小册子,大片(土地或森林) | |
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62 swampy | |
adj.沼泽的,湿地的 | |
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63 tracts | |
大片土地( tract的名词复数 ); 地带; (体内的)道; (尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的)短文 | |
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64 cultivation | |
n.耕作,培养,栽培(法),养成 | |
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65 barley | |
n.大麦,大麦粒 | |
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66 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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67 exempt | |
adj.免除的;v.使免除;n.免税者,被免除义务者 | |
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68 dignified | |
a.可敬的,高贵的 | |
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69 appellation | |
n.名称,称呼 | |
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70 dame | |
n.女士 | |
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71 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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72 rivulets | |
n.小河,小溪( rivulet的名词复数 ) | |
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73 durable | |
adj.持久的,耐久的 | |
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74 inundated | |
v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 );(洪水般地)涌来;充满;给予或交予(太多事物)使难以应付 | |
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75 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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76 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
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77 shrub | |
n.灌木,灌木丛 | |
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78 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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79 rites | |
仪式,典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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80 sweeping | |
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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81 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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82 groves | |
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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83 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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84 hempen | |
adj. 大麻制的, 大麻的 | |
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85 industrious | |
adj.勤劳的,刻苦的,奋发的 | |
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86 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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87 destitute | |
adj.缺乏的;穷困的 | |
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88 northward | |
adv.向北;n.北方的地区 | |
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89 asses | |
n. 驴,愚蠢的人,臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人 | |
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90 avaricious | |
adj.贪婪的,贪心的 | |
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91 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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92 gratuitously | |
平白 | |
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93 ambling | |
v.(马)缓行( amble的现在分词 );从容地走,漫步 | |
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94 costly | |
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的 | |
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95 deter | |
vt.阻止,使不敢,吓住 | |
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96 eminence | |
n.卓越,显赫;高地,高处;名家 | |
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97 ascended | |
v.上升,攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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98 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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99 lodge | |
v.临时住宿,寄宿,寄存,容纳;n.传达室,小旅馆 | |
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100 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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101 galloped | |
(使马)飞奔,奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 ); 快速做[说]某事 | |
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102 elicited | |
引出,探出( elicit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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103 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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104 rams | |
n.公羊( ram的名词复数 );(R-)白羊(星)座;夯;攻城槌v.夯实(土等)( ram的第三人称单数 );猛撞;猛压;反复灌输 | |
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105 strictly | |
adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
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106 awnings | |
篷帐布 | |
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107 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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108 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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109 profusion | |
n.挥霍;丰富 | |
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110 professed | |
公开声称的,伪称的,已立誓信教的 | |
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111 modicum | |
n.少量,一小份 | |
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112 bestowed | |
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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113 revel | |
vi.狂欢作乐,陶醉;n.作乐,狂欢 | |
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114 glimmering | |
n.微光,隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光,发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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115 consigned | |
v.把…置于(令人不快的境地)( consign的过去式和过去分词 );把…托付给;把…托人代售;丟弃 | |
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116 relentless | |
adj.残酷的,不留情的,无怜悯心的 | |
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