'A woman's way.'
Haggard cliffs, of every ugly altitude, are as common as sea-fowl along the line of coast between Exmoor and Land's End; but this outflanked and encompassed1 specimen2 was the ugliest of them all. Their summits are not safe places for scientific experiment on the principles of air-currents, as Knight3 had now found, to his dismay.
He still clutched the face of the escarpment--not with the frenzied4 hold of despair, but with a dogged determination to make the most of his every jot5 of endurance, and so give the longest possible scope to Elfride's intentions, whatever they might be.
He reclined hand in hand with the world in its infancy6. Not a blade, not an insect, which spoke7 of the present, was between him and the past. The inveterate8 antagonism9 of these black precipices10 to all strugglers for life is in no way more forcibly suggested than by the paucity12 of tufts of grass, lichens13, or confervae on their outermost14 ledges15.
Knight pondered on the meaning of Elfride's hasty disappearance16, but could not avoid an instinctive17 conclusion that there existed but a doubtful hope for him. As far as he could judge, his sole chance of deliverance lay in the possibility of a rope or pole being brought; and this possibility was remote indeed. The soil upon these high downs was left so untended that they were unenclosed for miles, except by a casual bank or dry wall, and were rarely visited but for the purpose of collecting or counting the flock which found a scanty18 means of subsistence thereon.
At first, when death appeared improbable, because it had never visited him before, Knight could think of no future, nor of anything connected with his past. He could only look sternly at Nature's treacherous19 attempt to put an end to him, and strive to thwart20 her.
From the fact that the cliff formed the inner face of the segment of a huge cylinder21, having the sky for a top and the sea for a bottom, which enclosed the cove22 to the extent of more than a semicircle, he could see the vertical23 face curving round on each side of him. He looked far down the facade24, and realized more thoroughly25 how it threatened him. Grimness was in every feature, and to its very bowels26 the inimical shape was desolation.
By one of those familiar conjunctions of things wherewith the inanimate world baits the mind of man when he pauses in moments of suspense28, opposite Knight's eyes was an imbedded fossil, standing29 forth30 in low relief from the rock. It was a creature with eyes. The eyes, dead and turned to stone, were even now regarding him. It was one of the early crustaceans31 called Trilobites. Separated by millions of years in their lives, Knight and this underling seemed to have met in their death. It was the single instance within reach of his vision of anything that had ever been alive and had had a body to save, as he himself had now.
The creature represented but a low type of animal existence, for never in their vernal years had the plains indicated by those numberless slaty32 layers been traversed by an intelligence worthy33 of the name. Zoophytes, mollusca, shell-fish, were the highest developments of those ancient dates. The immense lapses34 of time each formation represented had known nothing of the dignity of man. They were grand times, but they were mean times too, and mean were their relics35. He was to be with the small in his death.
Knight was a geologist36; and such is the supremacy37 of habit over occasion, as a pioneer of the thoughts of men, that at this dreadful juncture38 his mind found time to take in, by a momentary39 sweep, the varied40 scenes that had had their day between this creature's epoch41 and his own. There is no place like a cleft42 landscape for bringing home such imaginings as these.
Time closed up like a fan before him. He saw himself at one extremity43 of the years, face to face with the beginning and all the intermediate centuries simultaneously44. Fierce men, clothed in the hides of beasts, and carrying, for defence and attack, huge clubs and pointed46 spears, rose from the rock, like the phantoms47 before the doomed48 Macbeth. They lived in hollows, woods, and mud huts--perhaps in caves of the neighbouring rocks. Behind them stood an earlier band. No man was there. Huge elephantine forms, the mastodon, the hippopotamus49, the tapir, antelopes50 of monstrous51 size, the megatherium, and the myledon--all, for the moment, in juxtaposition52. Further back, and overlapped53 by these, were perched huge-billed birds and swinish creatures as large as horses. Still more shadowy were the sinister54 crocodilian outlines--alligators and other uncouth55 shapes, culminating in the colossal56 lizard57, the iguanodon. Folded behind were dragon forms and clouds of flying reptiles58: still underneath59 were fishy60 beings of lower development; and so on, till the lifetime scenes of the fossil confronting him were a present and modern condition of things. These images passed before Knight's inner eye in less than half a minute, and he was again considering the actual present. Was he to die? The mental picture of Elfride in the world, without himself to cherish her, smote61 his heart like a whip. He had hoped for deliverance, but what could a girl do? He dared not move an inch. Was Death really stretching out his hand? The previous sensation, that it was improbable he would die, was fainter now.
However, Knight still clung to the cliff.
To those musing62 weather-beaten West-country folk who pass the greater part of their days and nights out of doors, Nature seems to have moods in other than a poetical63 sense: predilections64 for certain deeds at certain times, without any apparent law to govern or season to account for them. She is read as a person with a curious temper; as one who does not scatter65 kindnesses and cruelties alternately, impartially66, and in order, but heartless severities or overwhelming generosities67 in lawless caprice. Man's case is always that of the prodigal's favourite or the miser's pensioner68. In her unfriendly moments there seems a feline69 fun in her tricks, begotten70 by a foretaste of her pleasure in swallowing the victim.
Such a way of thinking had been absurd to Knight, but he began to adopt it now. He was first spitted on to a rock. New tortures followed. The rain increased, and persecuted71 him with an exceptional persistency72 which he was moved to believe owed its cause to the fact that he was in such a wretched state already. An entirely73 new order of things could be observed in this introduction of rain upon the scene. It rained upwards74 instead of down. The strong ascending75 air carried the rain-drops with it in its race up the escarpment, coming to him with such velocity76 that they stuck into his flesh like cold needles. Each drop was virtually a shaft77, and it pierced him to his skin. The water- shafts78 seemed to lift him on their points: no downward rain ever had such a torturing effect. In a brief space he was drenched79, except in two places. These were on the top of his shoulders and on the crown of his hat.
The wind, though not intense in other situations was strong here. It tugged80 at his coat and lifted it. We are mostly accustomed to look upon all opposition81 which is not animate27, as that of the stolid82, inexorable hand of indifference83, which wears out the patience more than the strength. Here, at any rate, hostility84 did not assume that slow and sickening form. It was a cosmic agency, active, lashing85, eager for conquest: determination; not an insensate standing in the way.
Knight had over-estimated the strength of his hands. They were getting weak already. 'She will never come again; she has been gone ten minutes,' he said to himself.
This mistake arose from the unusual compression of his experiences just now: she had really been gone but three.
'As many more minutes will be my end,' he thought.
Next came another instance of the incapacity of the mind to make comparisons at such times.
'This is a summer afternoon,' he said, 'and there can never have been such a heavy and cold rain on a summer day in my life before.'
He was again mistaken. The rain was quite ordinary in quantity; the air in temperature. It was, as is usual, the menacing attitude in which they approached him that magnified their powers.
He again looked straight downwards86, the wind and the water-dashes lifting his moustache, scudding87 up his cheeks, under his eyelids88, and into his eyes. This is what he saw down there: the surface of the sea--visually just past his toes, and under his feet; actually one-eighth of a mile, or more than two hundred yards, below them. We colour according to our moods the objects we survey. The sea would have been a deep neutral blue, had happier auspices89 attended the gazer it was now no otherwise than distinctly black to his vision. That narrow white border was foam90, he knew well; but its boisterous91 tosses were so distant as to appear a pulsation92 only, and its plashing was barely audible. A white border to a black sea--his funeral pall93 and its edging.
The world was to some extent turned upside down for him. Rain descended94 from below. Beneath his feet was aerial space and the unknown; above him was the firm, familiar ground, and upon it all that he loved best.
Pitiless nature had then two voices, and two only. The nearer was the voice of the wind in his ears rising and falling as it mauled and thrust him hard or softly. The second and distant one was the moan of that unplummetted ocean below and afar--rubbing its restless flank against the Cliff without a Name.
Knight perseveringly95 held fast. Had he any faith in Elfride? Perhaps. Love is faith, and faith, like a gathered flower, will rootlessly live on.
Nobody would have expected the sun to shine on such an evening as this. Yet it appeared, low down upon the sea. Not with its natural golden fringe, sweeping96 the furthest ends of the landscape, not with the strange glare of whiteness which it sometimes puts on as an alternative to colour, but as a splotch of vermilion red upon a leaden ground--a red face looking on with a drunken leer.
Most men who have brains know it, and few are so foolish as to disguise this fact from themselves or others, even though an ostentatious display may be called self-conceit. Knight, without showing it much, knew that his intellect was above the average. And he thought--he could not help thinking--that his death would be a deliberate loss to earth of good material; that such an experiment in killing97 might have been practised upon some less developed life.
A fancy some people hold, when in a bitter mood, is that inexorable circumstance only tries to prevent what intelligence attempts. Renounce98 a desire for a long-contested position, and go on another tack45, and after a while the prize is thrown at you, seemingly in disappointment that no more tantalizing99 is possible.
Knight gave up thoughts of life utterly100 and entirely, and turned to contemplate101 the Dark Valley and the unknown future beyond. Into the shadowy depths of these speculations102 we will not follow him. Let it suffice to state what ensued.
At that moment of taking no more thought for this life, something disturbed the outline of the bank above him. A spot appeared. It was the head of Elfride.
Knight immediately prepared to welcome life again.
The expression of a face consigned104 to utter loneliness, when a friend first looks in upon it, is moving in the extreme. In rowing seaward to a light-ship or sea-girt lighthouse, where, without any immediate103 terror of death, the inmates105 experience the gloom of monotonous106 seclusion107, the grateful eloquence108 of their countenances109 at the greeting, expressive110 of thankfulness for the visit, is enough to stir the emotions of the most careless observer.
Knight's upward look at Elfride was of a nature with, but far transcending111, such an instance as this. The lines of his face had deepened to furrows112, and every one of them thanked her visibly. His lips moved to the word 'Elfride,' though the emotion evolved no sound. His eyes passed all description in their combination of the whole diapason of eloquence, from lover's deep love to fellow- man's gratitude113 for a token of remembrance from one of his kind.
Elfride had come back. What she had come to do he did not know. She could only look on at his death, perhaps. Still, she had come back, and not deserted114 him utterly, and it was much.
It was a novelty in the extreme to see Henry Knight, to whom Elfride was but a child, who had swayed her as a tree sways a bird's nest, who mastered her and made her weep most bitterly at her own insignificance115, thus thankful for a sight of her face. She looked down upon him, her face glistening116 with rain and tears. He smiled faintly.
'How calm he is!' she thought. 'How great and noble he is to be so calm!' She would have died ten times for him then.
The gliding117 form of the steamboat caught her eye: she heeded118 it no longer.
'How much longer can you wait?' came from her pale lips and along the wind to his position.
'Four minutes,' said Knight in a weaker voice than her own.
'But with a good hope of being saved?'
'Seven or eight.'
He now noticed that in her arms she bore a bundle of white linen119, and that her form was singularly attenuated120. So preternaturally thin and flexible was Elfride at this moment, that she appeared to bend under the light blows of the rain-shafts, as they struck into her sides and bosom121, and splintered into spray on her face. There is nothing like a thorough drenching122 for reducing the protuberances of clothes, but Elfride's seemed to cling to her like a glove.
Without heeding123 the attack of the clouds further than by raising her hand and wiping away the spirts of rain when they went more particularly into her eyes, she sat down and hurriedly began rending124 the linen into strips. These she knotted end to end, and afterwards twisted them like the strands125 of a cord. In a short space of time she had formed a perfect rope by this means, six or seven yards long.
'Can you wait while I bind126 it?' she said, anxiously extending her gaze down to him.
'Yes, if not very long. Hope has given me a wonderful instalment of strength.'
Elfride dropped her eyes again, tore the remaining material into narrow tape-like ligaments, knotted each to each as before, but on a smaller scale, and wound the lengthy127 string she had thus formed round and round the linen rope, which, without this binding128, had a tendency to spread abroad.
'Now,' said Knight, who, watching the proceedings129 intently, had by this time not only grasped her scheme, but reasoned further on, 'I can hold three minutes longer yet. And do you use the time in testing the strength of the knots, one by one.'
She at once obeyed, tested each singly by putting her foot on the rope between each knot, and pulling with her hands. One of the knots slipped.
'Oh, think! It would have broken but for your forethought,' Elfride exclaimed apprehensively130.
She retied the two ends. The rope was now firm in every part.
'When you have let it down,' said Knight, already resuming his position of ruling power, 'go back from the edge of the slope, and over the bank as far as the rope will allow you. Then lean down, and hold the end with both hands.'
He had first thought of a safer plan for his own deliverance, but it involved the disadvantage of possibly endangering her life.
'I have tied it round my waist,' she cried, 'and I will lean directly upon the bank, holding with my hands as well.'
It was the arrangement he had thought of, but would not suggest.
'I will raise and drop it three times when I am behind the bank,' she continued, 'to signify that I am ready. Take care, oh, take the greatest care, I beg you!'
She dropped the rope over him, to learn how much of its length it would be necessary to expend131 on that side of the bank, went back, and disappeared as she had done before.
The rope was trailing by Knight's shoulders. In a few moments it twitched132 three times.
He waited yet a second or two, then laid hold.
The incline of this upper portion of the precipice11, to the length only of a few feet, useless to a climber empty-handed, was invaluable133 now. Not more than half his weight depended entirely on the linen rope. Half a dozen extensions of the arms, alternating with half a dozen seizures134 of the rope with his feet, brought him up to the level of the soil.
He was saved, and by Elfride.
He extended his cramped135 limbs like an awakened136 sleeper137, and sprang over the bank.
At sight of him she leapt to her feet with almost a shriek138 of joy. Knight's eyes met hers, and with supreme139 eloquence the glance of each told a long-concealed tale of emotion in that short half- moment. Moved by an impulse neither could resist, they ran together and into each other's arms.
At the moment of embracing, Elfride's eyes involuntarily flashed towards the Puffin steamboat. It had doubled the point, and was no longer to be seen.
An overwhelming rush of exultation140 at having delivered the man she revered141 from one of the most terrible forms of death, shook the gentle girl to the centre of her soul. It merged142 in a defiance143 of duty to Stephen, and a total recklessness as to plighted144 faith. Every nerve of her will was now in entire subjection to her feeling--volition as a guiding power had forsaken145 her. To remain passive, as she remained now, encircled by his arms, was a sufficiently146 complete result--a glorious crown to all the years of her life. Perhaps he was only grateful, and did not love her. No matter: it was infinitely147 more to be even the slave of the greater than the queen of the less. Some such sensation as this, though it was not recognized as a finished thought, raced along the impressionable soul of Elfride.
Regarding their attitude, it was impossible for two persons to go nearer to a kiss than went Knight and Elfride during those minutes of impulsive148 embrace in the pelting149 rain. Yet they did not kiss. Knight's peculiarity150 of nature was such that it would not allow him to take advantage of the unguarded and passionate151 avowal152 she had tacitly made.
Elfride recovered herself, and gently struggled to be free.
He reluctantly relinquished153 her, and then surveyed her from crown to toe. She seemed as small as an infant. He perceived whence she had obtained the rope.
'Elfride, my Elfride!' he exclaimed in gratified amazement154.
'I must leave you now,' she said, her face doubling its red, with an expression between gladness and shame 'You follow me, but at some distance.'
'The rain and wind pierce you through; the chill will kill you. God bless you for such devotion! Take my coat and put it on.'
'No; I shall get warm running.'
Elfride had absolutely nothing between her and the weather but her exterior155 robe or 'costume.' The door had been made upon a woman's wit, and it had found its way out. Behind the bank, whilst Knight reclined upon the dizzy slope waiting for death, she had taken off her whole clothing, and replaced only her outer bodice and skirt. Every thread of the remainder lay upon the ground in the form of a woollen and cotton rope.
'I am used to being wet through,' she added. 'I have been drenched on Pansy dozens of times. Good-bye till we meet, clothed and in our right minds, by the fireside at home!'
She then ran off from him through the pelting rain like a hare; or more like a pheasant when, scampering156 away with a lowered tail, it has a mind to fly, but does not. Elfride was soon out of sight.
Knight felt uncomfortably wet and chilled, but glowing with fervour nevertheless. He fully157 appreciated Elfride's girlish delicacy158 in refusing his escort in the meagre habiliments she wore, yet felt that necessary abstraction of herself for a short half-hour as a most grievous loss to him.
He gathered up her knotted and twisted plumage of linen, lace, and embroidery159 work, and laid it across his arm. He noticed on the ground an envelope, limp and wet. In endeavouring to restore this to its proper shape, he loosened from the envelope a piece of paper it had contained, which was seized by the wind in falling from Knight's hand. It was blown to the right, blown to the left-- it floated to the edge of the cliff and over the sea, where it was hurled160 aloft. It twirled in the air, and then flew back over his head.
Knight followed the paper, and secured it. Having done so, he looked to discover if it had been worth securing.
The troublesome sheet was a banker's receipt for two hundred pounds, placed to the credit of Miss Swancourt, which the impractical161 girl had totally forgotten she carried with her.
Knight folded it as carefully as its moist condition would allow, put it in his pocket, and followed Elfride.
1 encompassed | |
v.围绕( encompass的过去式和过去分词 );包围;包含;包括 | |
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2 specimen | |
n.样本,标本 | |
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3 knight | |
n.骑士,武士;爵士 | |
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4 frenzied | |
a.激怒的;疯狂的 | |
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5 jot | |
n.少量;vi.草草记下;vt.匆匆写下 | |
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6 infancy | |
n.婴儿期;幼年期;初期 | |
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7 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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8 inveterate | |
adj.积习已深的,根深蒂固的 | |
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9 antagonism | |
n.对抗,敌对,对立 | |
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10 precipices | |
n.悬崖,峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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11 precipice | |
n.悬崖,危急的处境 | |
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12 paucity | |
n.小量,缺乏 | |
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13 lichens | |
n.地衣( lichen的名词复数 ) | |
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14 outermost | |
adj.最外面的,远离中心的 | |
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15 ledges | |
n.(墙壁,悬崖等)突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 );(平窄的)壁架;横档;(尤指)窗台 | |
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16 disappearance | |
n.消失,消散,失踪 | |
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17 instinctive | |
adj.(出于)本能的;直觉的;(出于)天性的 | |
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18 scanty | |
adj.缺乏的,仅有的,节省的,狭小的,不够的 | |
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19 treacherous | |
adj.不可靠的,有暗藏的危险的;adj.背叛的,背信弃义的 | |
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20 thwart | |
v.阻挠,妨碍,反对;adj.横(断的) | |
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21 cylinder | |
n.圆筒,柱(面),汽缸 | |
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22 cove | |
n.小海湾,小峡谷 | |
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23 vertical | |
adj.垂直的,顶点的,纵向的;n.垂直物,垂直的位置 | |
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24 facade | |
n.(建筑物的)正面,临街正面;外表 | |
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25 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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26 bowels | |
n.肠,内脏,内部;肠( bowel的名词复数 );内部,最深处 | |
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27 animate | |
v.赋于生命,鼓励;adj.有生命的,有生气的 | |
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28 suspense | |
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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29 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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30 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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31 crustaceans | |
n.甲壳纲动物(如蟹、龙虾)( crustacean的名词复数 ) | |
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32 slaty | |
石板一样的,石板色的 | |
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33 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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34 lapses | |
n.失误,过失( lapse的名词复数 );小毛病;行为失检;偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 );陷入;倒退;丧失 | |
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35 relics | |
[pl.]n.遗物,遗迹,遗产;遗体,尸骸 | |
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36 geologist | |
n.地质学家 | |
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37 supremacy | |
n.至上;至高权力 | |
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38 juncture | |
n.时刻,关键时刻,紧要关头 | |
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39 momentary | |
adj.片刻的,瞬息的;短暂的 | |
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40 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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41 epoch | |
n.(新)时代;历元 | |
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42 cleft | |
n.裂缝;adj.裂开的 | |
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43 extremity | |
n.末端,尽头;尽力;终极;极度 | |
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44 simultaneously | |
adv.同时发生地,同时进行地 | |
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45 tack | |
n.大头钉;假缝,粗缝 | |
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46 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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47 phantoms | |
n.鬼怪,幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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48 doomed | |
命定的 | |
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49 hippopotamus | |
n.河马 | |
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50 antelopes | |
羚羊( antelope的名词复数 ); 羚羊皮革 | |
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51 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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52 juxtaposition | |
n.毗邻,并置,并列 | |
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53 overlapped | |
_adj.重叠的v.部分重叠( overlap的过去式和过去分词 );(物体)部份重叠;交叠;(时间上)部份重叠 | |
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54 sinister | |
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
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55 uncouth | |
adj.无教养的,粗鲁的 | |
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56 colossal | |
adj.异常的,庞大的 | |
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57 lizard | |
n.蜥蜴,壁虎 | |
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58 reptiles | |
n.爬行动物,爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
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59 underneath | |
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面 | |
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60 fishy | |
adj. 值得怀疑的 | |
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61 smote | |
v.猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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62 musing | |
n. 沉思,冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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63 poetical | |
adj.似诗人的;诗一般的;韵文的;富有诗意的 | |
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64 predilections | |
n.偏爱,偏好,嗜好( predilection的名词复数 ) | |
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65 scatter | |
vt.撒,驱散,散开;散布/播;vi.分散,消散 | |
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66 impartially | |
adv.公平地,无私地 | |
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67 generosities | |
n.慷慨( generosity的名词复数 );大方;宽容;慷慨或宽容的行为 | |
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68 pensioner | |
n.领养老金的人 | |
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69 feline | |
adj.猫科的 | |
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70 begotten | |
v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 );产生,引起 | |
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71 persecuted | |
(尤指宗教或政治信仰的)迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 ); 烦扰,困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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72 persistency | |
n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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73 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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74 upwards | |
adv.向上,在更高处...以上 | |
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75 ascending | |
adj.上升的,向上的 | |
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76 velocity | |
n.速度,速率 | |
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77 shaft | |
n.(工具的)柄,杆状物 | |
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78 shafts | |
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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79 drenched | |
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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80 tugged | |
v.用力拉,使劲拉,猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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81 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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82 stolid | |
adj.无动于衷的,感情麻木的 | |
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83 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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84 hostility | |
n.敌对,敌意;抵制[pl.]交战,战争 | |
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85 lashing | |
n.鞭打;痛斥;大量;许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 );煽动;紧系;怒斥 | |
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86 downwards | |
adj./adv.向下的(地),下行的(地) | |
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87 scudding | |
n.刮面v.(尤指船、舰或云彩)笔直、高速而平稳地移动( scud的现在分词 ) | |
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88 eyelids | |
n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 );眼睛也不眨一下;不露声色;面不改色 | |
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89 auspices | |
n.资助,赞助 | |
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90 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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91 boisterous | |
adj.喧闹的,欢闹的 | |
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92 pulsation | |
n.脉搏,悸动,脉动;搏动性 | |
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93 pall | |
v.覆盖,使平淡无味;n.柩衣,棺罩;棺材;帷幕 | |
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94 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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95 perseveringly | |
坚定地 | |
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96 sweeping | |
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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97 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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98 renounce | |
v.放弃;拒绝承认,宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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99 tantalizing | |
adj.逗人的;惹弄人的;撩人的;煽情的v.逗弄,引诱,折磨( tantalize的现在分词 ) | |
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100 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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101 contemplate | |
vt.盘算,计议;周密考虑;注视,凝视 | |
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102 speculations | |
n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 );思考;投机活动;推断 | |
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103 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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104 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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105 inmates | |
n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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106 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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107 seclusion | |
n.隐遁,隔离 | |
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108 eloquence | |
n.雄辩;口才,修辞 | |
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109 countenances | |
n.面容( countenance的名词复数 );表情;镇静;道义支持 | |
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110 expressive | |
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
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111 transcending | |
超出或超越(经验、信念、描写能力等)的范围( transcend的现在分词 ); 优于或胜过… | |
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112 furrows | |
n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 );(脸上的)皱纹v.犁田,开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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113 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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114 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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115 insignificance | |
n.不重要;无价值;无意义 | |
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116 glistening | |
adj.闪耀的,反光的v.湿物闪耀,闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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117 gliding | |
v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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118 heeded | |
v.听某人的劝告,听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 );变平,使(某物)变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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119 linen | |
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的 | |
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120 attenuated | |
v.(使)变细( attenuate的过去式和过去分词 );(使)变薄;(使)变小;减弱 | |
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121 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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122 drenching | |
n.湿透v.使湿透( drench的现在分词 );在某人(某物)上大量使用(某液体) | |
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123 heeding | |
v.听某人的劝告,听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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124 rending | |
v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 );分裂;(因愤怒、痛苦等而)揪扯(衣服或头发等);(声音等)刺破 | |
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125 strands | |
n.(线、绳、金属线、毛发等的)股( strand的名词复数 );缕;海洋、湖或河的)岸;(观点、计划、故事等的)部份v.使滞留,使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 ) | |
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126 bind | |
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
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127 lengthy | |
adj.漫长的,冗长的 | |
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128 binding | |
有约束力的,有效的,应遵守的 | |
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129 proceedings | |
n.进程,过程,议程;诉讼(程序);公报 | |
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130 apprehensively | |
adv.担心地 | |
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131 expend | |
vt.花费,消费,消耗 | |
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132 twitched | |
vt.& vi.(使)抽动,(使)颤动(twitch的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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133 invaluable | |
adj.无价的,非常宝贵的,极为贵重的 | |
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134 seizures | |
n.起获( seizure的名词复数 );没收;充公;起获的赃物 | |
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135 cramped | |
a.狭窄的 | |
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136 awakened | |
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
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137 sleeper | |
n.睡眠者,卧车,卧铺 | |
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138 shriek | |
v./n.尖叫,叫喊 | |
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139 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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140 exultation | |
n.狂喜,得意 | |
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141 revered | |
v.崇敬,尊崇,敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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142 merged | |
(使)混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 ); 相融; 融入; 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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143 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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144 plighted | |
vt.保证,约定(plight的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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145 Forsaken | |
adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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146 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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147 infinitely | |
adv.无限地,无穷地 | |
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148 impulsive | |
adj.冲动的,刺激的;有推动力的 | |
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149 pelting | |
微不足道的,无价值的,盛怒的 | |
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150 peculiarity | |
n.独特性,特色;特殊的东西;怪癖 | |
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151 passionate | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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152 avowal | |
n.公开宣称,坦白承认 | |
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153 relinquished | |
交出,让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 ); 放弃 | |
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154 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
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155 exterior | |
adj.外部的,外在的;表面的 | |
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156 scampering | |
v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑,惊惶奔跑( scamper的现在分词 ) | |
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157 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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158 delicacy | |
n.精致,细微,微妙,精良;美味,佳肴 | |
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159 embroidery | |
n.绣花,刺绣;绣制品 | |
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160 hurled | |
v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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161 impractical | |
adj.不现实的,不实用的,不切实际的 | |
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