'He set in order many proverbs.'
It is London in October--two months further on in the story.
Bede's Inn has this peculiarity1, that it faces, receives from, and discharges into a bustling2 thoroughfare speaking only of wealth and respectability, whilst its postern abuts3 on as crowded and poverty-stricken a network of alleys5 as are to be found anywhere in the metropolis6. The moral consequences are, first, that those who occupy chambers7 in the Inn may see a great deal of shirtless humanity's habits and enjoyments8 without doing more than look down from a back window; and second they may hear wholesome9 though unpleasant social reminders10 through the medium of a harsh voice, an unequal footstep, the echo of a blow or a fall, which originates in the person of some drunkard or wife-beater, as he crosses and interferes11 with the quiet of the square. Characters of this kind frequently pass through the Inn from a little foxhole12 of an alley4 at the back, but they never loiter there.
It is hardly necessary to state that all the sights and movements proper to the Inn are most orderly. On the fine October evening on which we follow Stephen Smith to this place, a placid13 porter is sitting on a stool under a sycamore-tree in the midst, with a little cane14 in his hand. We notice the thick coat of soot15 upon the branches, hanging underneath16 them in flakes17, as in a chimney. The blackness of these boughs18 does not at present improve the tree--nearly forsaken19 by its leaves as it is--but in the spring their green fresh beauty is made doubly beautiful by the contrast. Within the railings is a flower-garden of respectable dahlias and chrysanthemums20, where a man is sweeping21 the leaves from the grass.
Stephen selects a doorway22, and ascends23 an old though wide wooden staircase, with moulded balusters and handrail, which in a country manor-house would be considered a noteworthy specimen24 of Renaissance25 workmanship. He reaches a door on the first floor, over which is painted, in black letters, 'Mr. Henry Knight26'-'Barrister-at-law' being understood but not expressed. The wall is thick, and there is a door at its outer and inner face. The outer one happens to be ajar: Stephen goes to the other, and taps.
'Come in!' from distant penetralia.
First was a small anteroom, divided from the inner apartment by a wainscoted archway two or three yards wide. Across this archway hung a pair of dark-green curtains, making a mystery of all within the arch except the spasmodic scratching of a quill27 pen. Here was grouped a chaotic28 assemblage of articles--mainly old framed prints and paintings--leaning edgewise against the wall, like roofing slates29 in a builder's yard. All the books visible here were folios too big to be stolen--some lying on a heavy oak table in one corner, some on the floor among the pictures, the whole intermingled with old coats, hats, umbrellas, and walking-sticks.
Stephen pushed aside the curtain, and before him sat a man writing away as if his life depended upon it--which it did.
A man of thirty in a speckled coat, with dark brown hair, curly beard, and crisp moustache: the latter running into the beard on each side of the mouth, and, as usual, hiding the real expression of that organ under a chronic30 aspect of impassivity.
'Ah, my dear fellow, I knew 'twas you,' said Knight, looking up with a smile, and holding out his hand.
Knight's mouth and eyes came to view now. Both features were good, and had the peculiarity of appearing younger and fresher than the brow and face they belonged to, which were getting sicklied o'er by the unmistakable pale cast. The mouth had not quite relinquished31 rotundity of curve for the firm angularities of middle life; and the eyes, though keen, permeated32 rather than penetrated33: what they had lost of their boy-time brightness by a dozen years of hard reading lending a quietness to their gaze which suited them well.
A lady would have said there was a smell of tobacco in the room: a man that there was not.
Knight did not rise. He looked at a timepiece on the mantelshelf, then turned again to his letters, pointing to a chair.
'Well, I am glad you have come. I only returned to town yesterday; now, don't speak, Stephen, for ten minutes; I have just that time to the late post. At the eleventh minute, I'm your man.'
Stephen sat down as if this kind of reception was by no means new, and away went Knight's pen, beating up and down like a ship in a storm.
Cicero called the library the soul of the house; here the house was all soul. Portions of the floor, and half the wall-space, were taken up by book-shelves ordinary and extraordinary; the remaining parts, together with brackets, side-tables, &c., being occupied by casts, statuettes, medallions, and plaques34 of various descriptions, picked up by the owner in his wanderings through France and Italy.
One stream only of evening sunlight came into the room from a window quite in the corner, overlooking a court. An aquarium35 stood in the window. It was a dull parallelopipedon enough for living creatures at most hours of the day; but for a few minutes in the evening, as now, an errant, kindly36 ray lighted up and warmed the little world therein, when the many-coloured zoophytes opened and put forth37 their arms, the weeds acquired a rich transparency, the shells gleamed of a more golden yellow, and the timid community expressed gladness more plainly than in words.
Within the prescribed ten minutes Knight flung down his pen, rang for the boy to take the letters to the post, and at the closing of the door exclaimed, 'There; thank God, that's done. Now, Stephen, pull your chair round, and tell me what you have been doing all this time. Have you kept up your Greek?'
'No.'
'How's that?'
'I haven't enough spare time.'
'That's nonsense.'
'Well, I have done a great many things, if not that. And I have done one extraordinary thing.'
Knight turned full upon Stephen. 'Ah-ha! Now, then, let me look into your face, put two and two together, and make a shrewd guess.'
Stephen changed to a redder colour.
'Why, Smith,' said Knight, after holding him rigidly38 by the shoulders, and keenly scrutinising his countenance39 for a minute in silence, 'you have fallen in love.'
'Well--the fact is----'
'Now, out with it.' But seeing that Stephen looked rather distressed40, he changed to a kindly tone. 'Now Smith, my lad, you know me well enough by this time, or you ought to; and you know very well that if you choose to give me a detailed41 account of the phenomenon within you, I shall listen; if you don't, I am the last man in the world to care to hear it.'
'I'll tell this much: I HAVE fallen in love, and I want to be MARRIED.'
Knight looked ominous42 as this passed Stephen's lips.
'Don't judge me before you have heard more,' cried Stephen anxiously, seeing the change in his friend's countenance.
'I don't judge. Does your mother know about it?'
'Nothing definite.'
'Father?'
'No. But I'll tell you. The young person----'
'Come, that's dreadfully ungallant. But perhaps I understand the frame of mind a little, so go on. Your sweetheart----'
'She is rather higher in the world than I am.'
'As it should be.'
'And her father won't hear of it, as I now stand.'
'And now comes what I want your advice upon. Something has happened at her house which makes it out of the question for us to ask her father again now. So we are keeping silent. In the meantime an architect in India has just written to Mr. Hewby to ask whether he can find for him a young assistant willing to go over to Bombay to prepare drawings for work formerly45 done by the engineers. The salary he offers is 350 rupees a month, or about 35 Pounds. Hewby has mentioned it to me, and I have been to Dr. Wray, who says I shall acclimatise without much illness. Now, would you go?'
'You mean to say, because it is a possible road to the young lady.'
'Yes; I was thinking I could go over and make a little money, and then come back and ask for her. I have the option of practising dor myself after a year.'
'Would she be staunch?'
'Oh yes! For ever--to the end of her life!'
'How do you know?'
'Why, how do people know? Of course, she will.'
Knight leant back in his chair. 'Now, though I know her thoroughly46 as she exists in your heart, Stephen, I don't know her in the flesh. All I want to ask is, is this idea of going to India based entirely47 upon a belief in her fidelity48?'
'Yes; I should not go if it were not for her.'
'Well, Stephen, you have put me in rather an awkward position. If I give my true sentiments, I shall hurt your feelings; if I don't, I shall hurt my own judgment49. And remember, I don't know much about women.'
'But you have had attachments50, although you tell me very little about them.'
'And I only hope you'll continue to prosper51 till I tell you more.'
Stephen winced52 at this rap. 'I have never formed a deep attachment,' continued Knight. 'I never have found a woman worth it. Nor have I been once engaged to be married.'
'You write as if you had been engaged a hundred times, if I may be allowed to say so,' said Stephen in an injured tone.
'Yes, that may be. But, my dear Stephen, it is only those who half know a thing that write about it. Those who know it thoroughly don't take the trouble. All I know about women, or men either, is a mass of generalities. I plod53 along, and occasionally lift my eyes and skim the weltering surface of mankind lying between me and the horizon, as a crow might; no more.'
Knight stopped as if he had fallen into a train of thought, and Stephen looked with affectionate awe54 at a master whose mind, he believed, could swallow up at one meal all that his own head contained.
There was affective sympathy, but no great intellectual fellowship, between Knight and Stephen Smith. Knight had seen his young friend when the latter was a cherry-cheeked happy boy, had been interested in him, had kept his eye upon him, and generously helped the lad to books, till the mere55 connection of patronage56 grew to acquaintance, and that ripened57 to friendship. And so, though Smith was not at all the man Knight would have deliberately58 chosen as a friend--or even for one of a group of a dozen friends-he somehow was his friend. Circumstance, as usual, did it all. How many of us can say of our most intimate alter ego59, leaving alone friends of the outer circle, that he is the man we should have chosen, as embodying60 the net result after adding up all the points in human nature that we love, and principles we hold, and subtracting all that we hate? The man is really somebody we got to know by mere physical juxtaposition61 long maintained, and was taken into our confidence, and even heart, as a makeshift.
'And what do you think of her?' Stephen ventured to say, after a silence.
'Taking her merits on trust from you,' said Knight, 'as we do those of the Roman poets of whom we know nothing but that they lived, I still think she will not stick to you through, say, three years of absence in India.'
'But she will!' cried Stephen desperately62. 'She is a girl all delicacy63 and honour. And no woman of that kind, who has committed herself so into a man's hands as she has into mine, could possibly marry another.'
'How has she committed herself?' asked Knight cunously.
Stephen did not answer. Knight had looked on his love so sceptically that it would not do to say all that he had intended to say by any means.
'Well, don't tell,' said Knight. 'But you are begging the question, which is, I suppose, inevitable64 in love.'
'And I'll tell you another thing,' the younger man pleaded. 'You remember what you said to me once about women receiving a kiss. Don't you? Why, that instead of our being charmed by the fascination65 of their bearing at such a time, we should immediately doubt them if their confusion has any GRACE in it--that awkward bungling66 was the true charm of the occasion, implying that we are the first who has played such a part with them.'
'It is true, quite,' said Knight musingly67.
It often happened that the disciple68 thus remembered the lessons of the master long after the master himself had forgotten them.
'Well, that was like her!' cried Stephen triumphantly69. 'She was in such a flurry that she didn't know what she was doing.'
'Splendid, splendid!' said Knight soothingly70. 'So that all I have to say is, that if you see a good opening in Bombay there's no reason why you should not go without troubling to draw fine distinctions as to reasons. No man fully43 realizes what opinions he acts upon, or what his actions mean.'
'Yes; I go to Bombay. I'll write a note here, if you don't mind.'
'Sleep over it--it as the best plan--and write to-morrow. Meantime, go there to that window and sit down, and look at my Humanity Show. I am going to dine out this evening, and have to dress here out of my portmanteau. I bring up my things like this to save the trouble of going down to my place at Richmond and back again.'
Knight then went to the middle of the room and flung open his portmanteau, and Stephen drew near the window. The streak71 of sunlight had crept upward, edged away, and vanished; the zoophytes slept: a dusky gloom pervaded72 the room. And now another volume of light shone over the window.
'There!' said Knight, 'where is there in England a spectacle to equal that? I sit there and watch them every night before I go home. Softly open the sash.'
Beneath them was an alley running up to the wall, and thence turning sideways and passing under an arch, so that Knight's back window was immediately over the angle, and commanded a view of the alley lengthwise. Crowds--mostly of women--were surging, bustling, and pacing up and down. Gaslights glared from butchers' stalls, illuminating73 the lumps of flesh to splotches of orange and vermilion, like the wild colouring of Turner's later pictures, whilst the purl and babble74 of tongues of every pitch and mood was to this human wild-wood what the ripple75 of a brook76 is to the natural forest.
Nearly ten minutes passed. Then Knight also came to the window.
'Well, now, I call a cab and vanish down the street in the direction of Berkeley Square,' he said, buttoning his waistcoat and kicking his morning suit into a corner. Stephen rose to leave.
'What a heap of literature!' remarked the young man, taking a final longing77 survey round the room, as if to abide78 there for ever would be the great pleasure of his life, yet feeling that he had almost outstayed his welcome-while. His eyes rested upon an armchair piled full of newspapers, magazines, and bright new volumes in green and red.
'Yes,' said Knight, also looking at them and breathing a sigh of weariness; 'something must be done with several of them soon, I suppose. Stephen, you needn't hurry away for a few minutes, you know, if you want to stay; I am not quite ready. Overhaul79 those volumes whilst I put on my coat, and I'll walk a little way with you.'
Stephen sat down beside the arm-chair and began to tumble the books about. Among the rest he found a novelette in one volume, THE COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE. By Ernest Field.
'Are you going to review this?' inquired Stephen with apparent unconcern, and holding up Elfride's effusion.
'Which? Oh, that! I may--though I don't do much light reviewing now. But it is reviewable.'
'How do you mean?'
Knight never liked to be asked what he meant. 'Mean! I mean that the majority of books published are neither good enough nor bad enough to provoke criticism, and that that book does provoke it.'
'By its goodness or its badness?' Stephen said with some anxiety on poor little Elfride's score.
'Its badness. It seems to be written by some girl in her teens.'
Stephen said not another word. He did not care to speak plainly of Elfride after that unfortunate slip his tongue had made in respect of her having committed herself; and, apart from that, Knight's severe--almost dogged and self-willed--honesty in ariticizing was unassailable by the humble80 wish of a youthful friend like Stephen.
Knight was now ready. Turning off the gas, and slamming together the door, they went downstairs and into the street.
收听单词发音 |
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peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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abuts
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| v.（与…）邻接( abut的第三人称单数 )；（与…）毗连；接触；倚靠 | |
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alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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enjoyments
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| 愉快( enjoyment的名词复数 )； 令人愉快的事物； 享有； 享受 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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reminders
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| n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 )；提醒…的东西；（告知该做某事的）通知单；提示信 | |
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interferes
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| vi. 妨碍，冲突，干涉 | |
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foxhole
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| n.（军）散兵坑 | |
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placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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chrysanthemums
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| n.菊花( chrysanthemum的名词复数 ) | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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ascends
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的第三人称单数 ) | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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renaissance
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| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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quill
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| n.羽毛管；v.给（织物或衣服）作皱褶 | |
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chaotic
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| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
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slates
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| （旧时学生用以写字的）石板( slate的名词复数 )； 板岩； 石板瓦； 石板色 | |
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chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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relinquished
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| 交出，让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 )； 放弃 | |
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permeated
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| 弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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plaques
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| （纪念性的）匾牌( plaque的名词复数 )； 纪念匾； 牙斑； 空斑 | |
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aquarium
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| n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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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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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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47
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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48
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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50
attachments
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| n.（用电子邮件发送的）附件( attachment的名词复数 )；附着；连接；附属物 | |
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51
prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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52
winced
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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plod
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| v.沉重缓慢地走，孜孜地工作 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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57
ripened
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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embodying
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| v.表现( embody的现在分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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juxtaposition
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| n.毗邻，并置，并列 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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66
bungling
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| adj.笨拙的，粗劣的v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的现在分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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67
musingly
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| adv.沉思地，冥想地 | |
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68
disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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69
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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70
soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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71
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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72
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73
illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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74
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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75
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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76
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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77
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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78
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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79
overhaul
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| v./n.大修，仔细检查 | |
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80
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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