Beyond the first flutter of surprise, the Martians had shown no interestin the abrupt1 termination of the year's divinations. They melted away, atrifle more silently per- haps2 than usual, when I shattered the magic globe,but with their invariable indifference3, and having handed the revivingHeru over to some women who led her away, apparently4 already halfforgetful of the things that had just happened, I was left alone on thepalace steps, not even An beside me, and only the shadow of a passerbynow and then to break the solitude5. Whereon a great lone- liness tookhold upon me, and, pacing to and fro along the ancient terrace with benthead and folded arms, I bewailed my fate. To and fro I walked, heedlessand melancholy7, thinking of the old world, that was so far and this nearworld so distant from me in everything making life worth living, thinking,as I strode gloomily here and there, how gladly I would exchange thesepoor puppets and the mockery of a town they dwelt in, for a sight of mycom- rades and a corner in the poorest wine-shop salon8 in New York or'Frisco; idly speculating why, and how, I came here, as I sauntered downamongst the glistening9, shell-like fragments of the shattered globe, andfinding no answer. How could I? It was too fair, I thought, standing10 therein the open; there was a fatal sweetness in the air, a deadly sufficiency inthe beauty of everything around falling on the lax senses like some sleepydraught of pleasure. Not a leaf stirred, the wide purple roof of the skywas unbroken by the healthy promise of a cloud from rim12 to rim, thesplendid country, teeming13 with its spring-time richness, lay in rankperfection everywhere; and just as rank and sleek14 and passionless werethose who owned it.
Why, even I, who yesterday was strong, began to come under the spellof it. But yesterday the spirit of the old world was still strong within me,yet how much things were now changing. The well-strung musclesloosening, the heart beating a slower measure, the busy mind drowsing offto listlessness. Was I, too, destined15 to become like these? Was the redstuff in my veins16 to be watered down to pallid17 Martian sap? Wasambition and hope to desert me, and idleness itself become laborious, while life ran to seed in gilded18 uselessness? Little did I guess howunnecessary my fears were, or of the incredible fairy tale of adventure intowhich fate was going to plunge19 me.
Still engrossed20 the next morning by these thoughts, I decided21 I wouldgo to Hath. Hath was a man--at least they said so--he might sympathiseeven though he could not help, and so, dressing22 finished, I went downtowards the innermost palace whence for an hour or two had come soundsof unwonted bustle23. Asking for the way occasion- ally from sleepy folklolling about the corridors, waiting as it seemed for their breakfasts tocome to them, and embarrassed by the new daylight, I wandered to and froin the labyrinths24 of that stony25 ant-heap until I chanced upon a curtaineddoorway which admitted to a long cham- ber, high-roofed, ample inproportions, with colonnades27 on either side separated from the main aisleby rows of flowery figures and emblematic28 scroll-work, meaning I knewnot what. Above those pillars ran a gallery with many windows lookingout over the ruined city. While at the further end of the chamber29 stoodthree broad steps leading to a dais. As I entered, the whole place was fullof bustling30 girls, their yellow garments like a bed of flowers in the sunlighttrickling through the casements31, and all intent on the spreading of a feaston long tables ranged up and down the hall. The morning light streamedin on the white cloths. It glittered on the glass and the gold they wereputting on the trestles, and gave resplendent depths of colour to the ribbonbands round the pillars. All were so busy no one noticed me standing inthe twilight32 by the door, but presently, laying a hand on a worker'sshoulder, I asked who they banqueted for, and why such unwontedpreparation?
"It is the marriage-feast tonight, stranger, and a marvel33 you did notknow it. You, too, are to be wed34.""I had not heard of it, damsel; a paternal35 forethought of yourGovernment, I suppose? Have you any idea who the lady is?""How should I know?" she answered laughingly. "That is the secretof the urn36. Meanwhile, we have set you a place at the table-head nearPrincess Heru, and tonight you dip and have your chance like all of them;may luck send you a rosy37 bride, and save her from Ar-hap.""Ay, now I remember; An told me of this before; Ar-hap is thesovereign with whom your people have a little difference, and sharesunbidden in the free distribution of brides to-night. This promises to beinteresting; depend on it I will come; if you will keep me a place where Ican hear the speeches, and not forget me when the turtle soup goes round,I shall be more than grateful. Now to another matter. I want to get a fewminutes with your President, Prince Hath. He concentrates the fluidintelligence of this sphere, I am told. Where can I find him?""He is drunk, in the library, sir!""My word! It is early in the day for that, and a singular conjunctionof place and circumstance.""Where," said the girl, "could he safer be? We can always fetch himif we want him, and sunk in blue ob- livion he will not come to harm.""A cheerful view, Miss, which is worthy38 of the attention of ourreformers. Nevertheless, I will go to him. I have known men tell moretruth in that state than in any other."The servitor directed me to the library, and after deso- late wanderingsup crumbling39 steps and down mouldering40 corridors, sunny and lovely indecay, I came to the im- mense lumber-shed of knowledge they had toldme of, a city of dead books, a place of dusty cathedral aisles41 stored withforgotten learning. At a table sat Hath the purposeless, enthroned inleather and vellum, snoring in divine content amongst all that wastedlabour, and nothing I could do was sufficient to shake him into semblanceof intelligence. So perforce I turned away till he should have come tohim-self, and wandering round the splendid litter of a noble library,presently amongst the ruck of volumes on the floor, amongst those lordlytomes in tattered42 green and gold, and ivory, my eye lit upon a volumepropped up curiously43 on end, and going to it through the confusion I sawby the dried fruit rind upon the sticks supporting it, that the grave andreverend tome was set to catch a mouse! It was a splendid book when Ilooked more closely, bound as a king might bind44 his choicest treasure, thesweet- scented45 leather on it was no doubt frayed46; the golden arabesquesupon the covers had long since shed their eyes of inset gems47, the jewelledclasp locking its learning up from vulgar gaze was bent6 and open. Yet it was a lordly tome with an odour of sanctity about it, and lifting it withdiffi- culty, I noticed on its cover a red stain of mouse's blood. Those whoput it to this quaint48 use of mouse-trap had already had some sport, butsurely never was a mouse crushed before under so much learning. Andwhile I stood guessing at what the book might hold within, Heru, theprincess, came tripping in to me, and with the abrupt famili- arity of herkind, laid a velvet49 hand upon my wrist, conned50 the title over to herself.
"What does it say, sweet girl?" I asked. "The matter is learned, by itsfeel," and that maid, pursing up her pretty lips, read the title to me--"TheSecret of the Gods.""The Secret of the Gods," I murmured. "Was it pos- sible otherworlds had struggled hopelessly to come within the barest ken11 of that greatknowledge, while here the same was set to catch a mouse with?"I said, "Silver-footed, sit down and read me a passage or two," andpropping the mighty51 volume upon a table drew a bench before it andpulled her down beside me.
"Oh! a horrid52, dry old book for certain," cried that lady, her pinkfingertips falling as lightly on the musty leaves as almond petals53 on Marchdust. "Where shall I begin? It is all equally dull.""Dip in," was my answer. " 'Tis no great matter where, but near thebeginning. What says the writer of his intention? What sets he out toprove?""He says that is the Secret of the First Great Truth, descended55 straightto him--""Many have said so much, yet have lied.""He says that which is written in his book is through him but not ofhim, past criticism and beyond cavil56. 'Tis all in ancient and crabbedcharacters going back to the threshold of my learning, but here upon thispassage-top where they are writ54 large I make them out to say, 'ONLY THEMAN WHO HAS DIED MANY TIMES BEGINS TO LIVE.'""A pregnant passage! Turn another page, and try again; I have aninkling of the book already.""'Tis poor, silly stuff," said the girl, slipping a hand covertly57 into myown. "Why will you make me read it? I have a book on pomatums worth twice as much as this.""Nevertheless, dip in again, dear lady. What says the next heading?"And with a little sigh at the heaviness of her task, Heru read out:
"SOMETIMES THE GODS THEM- SELVES FORGET THE ANSWERSTO THEIR OWN RIDDLES58.""Lady, I knew it!
"All this is still preliminary to the great matter of the book, but themutterings of the priest who draws back the cur- tains of the shrine--andhere, after the scribe has left these two yellow pages blank as though to seta space of reverence59 between himself and what comes next--here speaksthe truth, the voice, the fact of all life." But "Oh! Jones," she said,turning from the dusty pages and clasping her young, milk-warm handsover mine and leaning towards me until her blushing cheek was near tomy shoulder and the incense60 of her breath upon me. "Oh! GulliverJones," she said. "Make me read no more; my soul revolts from the task,the crazy brown letters swim before my eyes. Is there no learning near athand that would be pleasanter reading than this silly book of yours?
What, after all," she said, growing bolder at the sound of her own voice,"what, after all, is the musty reticence61 of gods to the whispered secret of amaid? Jones, splendid stranger for whom all men stand aside and womenlook over shoulders, oh, let me be your book!" she whispered, slipping onto my knee and winding62 her arms round my neck till, through the whiteglimmer of her single vest, I could feel her heart beating against mine.
"Newest and dearest of friends, put by this dreary63 learning and look in myeyes; is there nothing to be spelt out there?"And I was constrained64 to do as she bid me, for she was as fresh as analmond blossom touched by the sun, and looking down into twoswimming blue lakes where shyness and passion were contending--bookseasy enough, in truth, to be read, I saw that she loved me, with theunconventional ardour of her nature.
It was a pleasant discovery, if its abruptness65 was em- barrassing, forshe was a maid in a thousand; and half ashamed and half laughing I let herescalade me, throwing now and then a rueful look at the Secret of theGods, and all that priceless knowledge treated so unworthily.
What else could I do? Besides, I loved her myself! And if therewas a momentary66 chagrin67 at having yonder golden knowledge put off bythis lovely interruption, yet I was flesh and blood, the gods could wait-they had to wait long and often before, and when this sweet interpreterwas comforted we would have another try. So it happened I took her intomy heart and gave her the answer she asked for.
For a long time we sat in the dusky grandeur68 of the royal library, mymind revolving69 between wonder and ad- miration of the neglectedknowledge all about, and the stir- rings of a new love, while Heru herself,lapsed again into Martian calm, lay half sleeping on my shoulder, but presently, unwinding her arms, I put her down.
"There, sweetheart," I whispered, "enough of this for the moment;tonight, perhaps, some more, but while we are here amongst all this lordlylitter, I can think of nothing else." Again I bid her turn the pages, noting asshe did so how each chapter was headed by the coloured configuration70 ofa world. Page by page we turned of crackling parchment, until by chance,at the top of one, my eye caught a coloured round I could not fail torecognise--'twas the spinning but- ton on the blue breast of theimmeasurable that yesterday I inhabited. "Read here," I cried, clappingmy finger upon the page midway down, where there were some signslooking like Egyptian writing. "Says this quaint dabbler71 in all knowledgeanything of Isis, anything of Phra, of Am- mon, of Ammon Top?""And who was Isis? who Ammon Top?" asked the lady.
"Nay, read," I answered, and down the page her slender fingers wentawandering till at a spot of knotted signs they stopped. "Why, here issomething about thy Isis," ex- claimed Heru, as though amused at myperspicuity. "Here, halfway72 down this chapter of earth-history, it says,"and putting one pink knee across the other to better prop26 the book sheread:
"And the priests of Thebes were gone; the sand stood un- trampled73 onthe temple steps a thousand years; the wild bees sang the song ofdesolation in the ears of Isis; the wild cats littered in the stony lap ofAmmon; ay, another thou- sand years went by, and earth was tilled ofunseen hands and sown with yellow grain from Paradise, and the thin veil that separates the known from the unknown was rent, and men walked toand fro.""Go on," I said.
"Nay," laughed the other, "the little mice in their eager-ness have beenbefore you--see, all this corner is gnawed74 away.""Read on again," I said, "where the page is whole; those sips75 ofknowledge you have given make me thirsty for more. There, begin wherethis blazonry of initialed red and gold looks so like the carpet spread bythe scribe for the feet of a sovereign truth--what says he here?" And she,half pouting76 to be set back once more to that task, half won- dering as shegazed on those magic letters, let her eyes run down the page, then began:
"And it was the Beginning, and in the centre void pres- ently therecame a nucleus77 of light: and the light brightened in the grey primevalmorning and became definite and articulate. And from the midst of thatnatal splendour, behind which was the Unknowable, the life camehitherward; from the midst of that nucleus undescribed, undescribable,there issued presently the primeval sigh that breathed the breath of life intoall things. And that sigh thrilled through the empty spaces of theillimitable: it breathed the breath of promise over the frozen hills of theoutside planets where the night-frost had lasted without beginning: and thewaters of ten thousand nameless oceans, girding nameless planets, werestirred, trembling into their depth. It crossed the il- limitable spaceswhere the herding78 aerolites swirl79 forever through space in the wake ofcareering world, and all their whistling wings answered to it. Itreverberated through the grey wastes of vacuity80, and crossed the darkoceans of the Outside, even to the black shores of the eternal nightbeyond.
"And hardly had echo of that breath died away in the hollow of theheavens and the empty wombs of a million barren worlds, when the lightbrightened again, and draw- ing in upon itself became definite and tookform, and therefrom, at the moment of primitive81 conception, there came--"And just then, as she had read so far as that, when all my facultieswere aching to know what came next-- whether this were but the idlescribbling of a vacuous82 fool, or something else--there rose the sound of soft flutes83 and tinkling84 bells in the corridors, as seneschals wandered piping round the palace to call folk to meals, a smell of roast meat andgrilling fish as that procession lifted the curtains between the halls, and-"Dinner!" shouted my sweet Martian, slapping the cov- ers of TheSecret of the Gods together and pushing the stately tome headlong fromthe table. "Dinner! 'Tis worth a hundred thousand planets to thehungry!"Nothing I could say would keep her, and, scarcely know- ing whetherto laugh or to be angry at so unseemly an interruption, but both beingpurposeless I dug my hands into my pockets, and somewhat sulkilyrefusing Heru's invita- tion to luncheon85 in the corridor (Navy rations86 hadnot fitted my stomach for these constant debauches of gos- samer food),strolled into the town again in no very pleasant frame of mind.
1 abrupt | |
adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的 | |
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2 haps | |
n.粗厚毛披巾;偶然,机会,运气( hap的名词复数 ) | |
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3 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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4 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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5 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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6 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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7 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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8 salon | |
n.[法]沙龙;客厅;营业性的高级服务室 | |
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9 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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10 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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11 ken | |
n.视野,知识领域 | |
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12 rim | |
n.(圆物的)边,轮缘;边界 | |
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13 teeming | |
adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 );到处都是;(指水、雨等)暴降;倾注 | |
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14 sleek | |
adj.光滑的,井然有序的;v.使光滑,梳拢 | |
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15 destined | |
adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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16 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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17 pallid | |
adj.苍白的,呆板的 | |
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18 gilded | |
a.镀金的,富有的 | |
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19 plunge | |
v.跳入,(使)投入,(使)陷入;猛冲 | |
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20 engrossed | |
adj.全神贯注的 | |
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21 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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22 dressing | |
n.(食物)调料;包扎伤口的用品,敷料 | |
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23 bustle | |
v.喧扰地忙乱,匆忙,奔忙;n.忙碌;喧闹 | |
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24 labyrinths | |
迷宫( labyrinth的名词复数 ); (文字,建筑)错综复杂的 | |
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25 stony | |
adj.石头的,多石头的,冷酷的,无情的 | |
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26 prop | |
vt.支撑;n.支柱,支撑物;支持者,靠山 | |
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27 colonnades | |
n.石柱廊( colonnade的名词复数 ) | |
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28 emblematic | |
adj.象征的,可当标志的;象征性 | |
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29 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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30 bustling | |
adj.喧闹的 | |
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31 casements | |
n.窗扉( casement的名词复数 ) | |
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32 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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33 marvel | |
vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异;n.令人惊异的事 | |
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34 wed | |
v.娶,嫁,与…结婚 | |
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35 paternal | |
adj.父亲的,像父亲的,父系的,父方的 | |
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36 urn | |
n.(有座脚的)瓮;坟墓;骨灰瓮 | |
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37 rosy | |
adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的 | |
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38 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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39 crumbling | |
adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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40 mouldering | |
v.腐朽( moulder的现在分词 );腐烂,崩塌 | |
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41 aisles | |
n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
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42 tattered | |
adj.破旧的,衣衫破的 | |
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43 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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44 bind | |
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
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45 scented | |
adj.有香味的;洒香水的;有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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46 frayed | |
adj.磨损的v.(使布、绳等)磨损,磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47 gems | |
growth; economy; management; and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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48 quaint | |
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的 | |
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49 velvet | |
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的 | |
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50 conned | |
adj.被骗了v.指挥操舵( conn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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52 horrid | |
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的 | |
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53 petals | |
n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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54 writ | |
n.命令状,书面命令 | |
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55 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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56 cavil | |
v.挑毛病,吹毛求疵 | |
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57 covertly | |
adv.偷偷摸摸地 | |
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58 riddles | |
n.谜(语)( riddle的名词复数 );猜不透的难题,难解之谜 | |
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59 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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60 incense | |
v.激怒;n.香,焚香时的烟,香气 | |
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61 reticence | |
n.沉默,含蓄 | |
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62 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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63 dreary | |
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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64 constrained | |
adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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65 abruptness | |
n. 突然,唐突 | |
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66 momentary | |
adj.片刻的,瞬息的;短暂的 | |
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67 chagrin | |
n.懊恼;气愤;委屈 | |
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68 grandeur | |
n.伟大,崇高,宏伟,庄严,豪华 | |
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69 revolving | |
adj.旋转的,轮转式的;循环的v.(使)旋转( revolve的现在分词 );细想 | |
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70 configuration | |
n.结构,布局,形态,(计算机)配置 | |
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71 dabbler | |
n. 戏水者, 业余家, 半玩半认真做的人 | |
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72 halfway | |
adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途 | |
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73 trampled | |
踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
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74 gnawed | |
咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 ); (长时间) 折磨某人; (使)苦恼; (长时间)危害某事物 | |
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75 sips | |
n.小口喝,一小口的量( sip的名词复数 )v.小口喝,呷,抿( sip的第三人称单数 ) | |
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76 pouting | |
v.撅(嘴)( pout的现在分词 ) | |
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77 nucleus | |
n.核,核心,原子核 | |
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78 herding | |
中畜群 | |
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79 swirl | |
v.(使)打漩,(使)涡卷;n.漩涡,螺旋形 | |
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80 vacuity | |
n.(想象力等)贫乏,无聊,空白 | |
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81 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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82 vacuous | |
adj.空的,漫散的,无聊的,愚蠢的 | |
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83 flutes | |
长笛( flute的名词复数 ); 细长香槟杯(形似长笛) | |
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84 tinkling | |
n.丁当作响声 | |
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85 luncheon | |
n.午宴,午餐,便宴 | |
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86 rations | |
定量( ration的名词复数 ); 配给量; 正常量; 合理的量 | |
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