Warmest climes but nurse the cruellest fangs1: the tiger of Bengal crouches2 in spiced groves3 of ceaseless verdure. Skies the most effulgent4 but basket the deadliest thunders: gorgeous Cuba knows tornadoes5 that never swept tame northern lands. So, too, it is, that in these resplendent Japanese seas the mariner6 encounters the direst of all storms, the Typhoon. It will sometimes burst from out that cloudless sky, like an exploding bomb upon a dazed and sleepy town.
Towards evening of that day, the Pequod was torn of her canvas, and bare-poled was left to fight a Typhoon which had struck her directly ahead. When darkness came on, sky and sea roared and split with the thunder, and blazed with the lightning, that showed the disabled mast fluttering here and there with the rags which the first fury of the tempest had left for its after sport.
Holding by a shroud7, Starbuck was standing8 on the quarter-deck; at every flash of the lightning glancing aloft, to see what additional disaster might have befallen the intricate hamper9 there; while Stubb and Flask10 were directing the men in the higher hoisting11 and firmer lashing12 of the boats. But all their pains seemed naught13. Though lifted to the very top of the cranes, the windward quarter boat (Ahab's) did not escape. A great rolling sea, dashing high up against the reeling ship's high teetering side, stove in the boat's bottom at the stern, and left it again, all dripping through like a sieve15.
"Bad work, bad work! Mr. Starbuck," said Stubb, regarding the wreck16, "but the sea will have its way. Stubb, for one, can't fight it. You see, Mr. Starbuck, a wave has such a great long start before it leaps, all round the world it runs, and then comes the spring! But as for me, all the start I have to meet it, is just across the deck here. But never mind; it's all in fun: so the old song says;"--(sings.)
Oh! jolly is the gale18, And a joker is the whale, A' flourishin' his tail,-- Such a funny, sporty, gamy, jesty, joky, hoky-poky lad, is the Ocean, oh! The scud19 all a flyin', That's his flip20 only foamin'; When he stirs in the spicin',-- Such a funny, sporty, gamy, jesty, joky, hoky-poky lad, is the Ocean, oh! Thunder splits the ships, But he only smacks21 his lips, A tastin' of this flip,-- Such a funny, sporty, gamy, jesty, joky, hoky-poky lad, is the Ocean, oh!
"Avast Stubb," cried Starbuck, "let the Typhoon sing, and strike his harp22 here in our rigging; but if thou art a brave man thou wilt23 hold thy peace."
"But I am not a brave man; never said I was a brave man; I am a coward; and I sing to keep up my spirits. And I tell you what it is, Mr. Starbuck, there's no way to stop my singing in this world but to cut my throat. And when that's done, ten to one I sing ye the doxology for a wind-up."
"Madman! look through my eyes if thou hast none of thine own."
"What! how can you see better of a dark night than anybody else, never mind how foolish?"
"Here!" cried Starbuck, seizing Stubb by the shoulder, and pointing his hand towards the weather bow, "markest thou not that the gale comes from the eastward24, the very course Ahab is to run for Moby Dick? the very course he swung to this day noon? now mark his boat there; where is that stove? In the stern-sheets, man; where he is wont25 to stand-- his stand-point is stove, man! Now jump overboard, and sing away, if thou must!
"I don't half understand ye: what's in the wind?"
"Yes, yes, round the Cape14 of Good Hope is the shortest way to Nantucket," soliloquized Starbuck suddenly, heedless of Stubb's question. "The gale that now hammers at us to stave us, we can turn it into a fair wind that will drive us towards home. Yonder, to windward, all is blackness of doom26; but to leeward27, homeward--I see it lightens up there; but not with the lightning."
At that moment in one of the intervals28 of profound darkness, following the flashes, a voice was heard at his side; and almost at the same instant a volley of thunder peals29 rolled overhead.
"Who's there?"
"Old Thunder!" said Ahab, groping his way along the bulwarks30 to his pivot-hole; but suddenly finding his path made plain to him by elbowed lances of fire.
Now, as the lightning rod to a spire31 on shore is intended to carry off the perilous32 fluid into the soil; so the kindred rod which at sea some ships carry to each mast, is intended to conduct it into the water. But as this conductor must descend33 to considerable depth, that its end may avoid all contact with the hull34; and as moreover, if kept constantly towing there, it would be liable to many mishaps35, besides interfering36 not a little with some of the rigging, and more or less impeding37 the vessel's way in the water; because of all this, the lower parts of a ship's lightning-rods are not always overboard; but are generally made in long slender links, so as to be the more readily hauled up into the chains outside, or thrown down into the sea, as occasion may require.
"The rods! the rods!" cried Starbuck to the crew, suddenly admonished38 to vigilance by the vivid lightning that had just been darting40 flambeaux, to light Ahab to his post. "Are they overboard? drop them over, fore17 and aft. Quick!"
"Avast!" cried Ahab; "let's have fair play here, though we be the weaker side. Yet I'll contribute to raise rods on the Himmalehs and Andes, that all the world may be secured; but out on privileges! Let them be, sir."
"Look aloft!" cried Starbuck. "The corpusants! the corpusants!
All the yard-arms were tipped with a pallid41 fire; and touched at each tri-pointed lightning-rod-end with three tapering43 white flames, each of the three tall masts was silently burning in that sulphurous air, like three gigantic wax tapers44 before an altar.
"Blast the boat! let it go!" cried Stubb at this instant, as a swashing sea heaved up under his own little craft so that its gunwale violently jammed his hand, as he was passing a lashing. "Blast it!"--but slipping backward on the deck, his uplifted eyes caught the flames; and immediately shifting his tone he cried--"The corpusants have mercy on us all!"
To sailors, oaths are household words; they will swear in the trance of the calm, and in the teeth of the tempest; they will imprecate curses from the topsail-yard-arms, when most they teeter over to a seething45 sea; but in all my voyagings, seldom have I heard a common oath when God's burning finger has been laid on the ship; when His "Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin" has been woven into the shrouds46 and the cordage.
While this pallidness47 was burning aloft, few words were heard from the enchanted48 crew; who in one thick cluster stood on the forecastle, all their eyes gleaming in that pale phosphorescence, like a faraway constellation49 of stars. Relieved against the ghostly light, the gigantic jet negro, Daggoo, loomed50 up to thrice his real stature51, and seemed the black cloud from which the thunder had come. The parted mouth of Tashtego revealed his shark-white teeth, which strangely gleamed as if they too had been tipped by corpusants; while lit up by the preternatural light, Queequeg's tattooing52 burned like Satanic blue flames on his body.
The tableau53 all waned54 at last with the pallidness aloft; and once more the Pequod and every soul on her decks were wrapped in a pall42. A moment or two passed, when Starbuck, going forward, pushed against some one. It was Stubb. "What thinkest thou now, man; I heard thy cry; it was not the same in the song."
"No, no, it wasn't; I said the corpusants have mercy on us all; and I hope they will, still. But do they only have mercy on long faces?--have they no bowels55 for a laugh? And look ye, Mr. Starbuck--but it's too dark to look. Hear me, then; I take that mast-head flame we saw for a sign of good luck; for those masts are rooted in a hold that is going to be chock a' block with sperm56-oil, d'ye see; and so, all that sperm will work up into the masts, like sap in a tree. Yes, our three masts will yet be as three spermaceti candles-- that's the good promise we saw."
At that moment Starbuck caught sight of Stubb's face slowly beginning to glimmer57 into sight. Glancing upwards58, he cried: "See! see!" and once more the high tapering flames were beheld59 with what seemed redoubled supernaturalness in their pallor.
"The corpusants have mercy on us all," cried Stubb, again.
At the base of the main-mast, full beneath the doubloon and the flame, the Parsee was kneeling in Ahab's front, but with his head bowed away from him; while near by, from the arched and overhanging rigging, where they had just been engaged securing a spar, a number of the seamen60, arrested by the glare, now cohered61 together, and hung pendulous62, like a knot of numbed63 wasps64 from a drooping65, orchard66 twig67. In various enchanted attitudes like the standing, or stepping, or running skeletons in Herculaneum, others remained rooted to the deck; but all their eyes upcast.
"Aye, aye, men!" cried Ahab. "Look up at it; mark it well; the white flame but lights the way to the White Whale! Hand me those mainmast links there; I would fain feel this pulse, and let mine beat against it; blood against fire! So."
Then turning--the last link held fast in his left hand, he put his foot upon the Parsee; and with fixed68 upward eye, and high-flung right arm, he stood erect69 before the lofty tri-pointed trinity of flames.
"Oh! thou clear spirit of clear fire, whom on these seas I as Persian once did worship, till in the sacramental act so burned by thee, that to this hour I bear the scar; I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I now know that thy right worship is defiance70. To neither love nor reverence71 wilt thou be kind; and e'en for hate thou canst but kill; and all are killed. No fearless fool now fronts thee. I own thy speechless, placeless power; but to the last gasp72 of my earthquake life will dispute its unconditional73, unintegral mastery in me. In the midst of the personified impersonal74, a personality stands here. Though but a point at best; whenceso'er I came; whereso'er I go; yet while I earthly live, the queenly personality lives in me, and feels her royal rights. But war is pain, and hate is woe75. Come in thy lowest form of love, and I will kneel and kiss thee; but at thy highest, come as mere76 supernal77 power; and though thou launchest navies of full-freighted worlds, there's that in here that still remains78 indifferent. Oh, thou clear spirit, of thy fire thou madest me, and like a true child of fire, I breathe it back to thee."
(Sudden, repeated flashes of lightning; the nine flames leap lengthwise to thrice their previous height; Ahab, with the rest, closes his eyes, his right hand pressed hard upon them.)
"I own thy speechless, placeless power; said I not so? Nor was it wrung79 from me; nor do I now drop these links. Thou canst blind; but I can then grope. Thou canst consume; but I can then be ashes. Take the homage80 of these poor eyes, and shutter-hands. I would not take it. The lightning flashes through my skull81; mine eyeballs ache and ache; my whole beaten brain seems as beheaded, and rolling on some stunning82 ground. Oh, oh! Yet blindfold83, yet will I talk to thee. Light though thou be, thou leapest out of darkness; but I am darkness leaping out of light, leaping out of thee! The javelins84 cease; open eyes; see, or not? There burn the flames! Oh, thou magnanimous! now do I do glory in my genealogy85. But thou art but my fiery86 father; my sweet mother, I know not. Oh, cruel! what hast thou done with her? There lies my puzzle; but thine is greater. Thou knowest not how came ye, hence callest thyself unbegotten; certainly knowest not thy beginning, hence callest thyself unbegun. I know that of me, which thou knowest not of thyself, oh, thou omnipotent87. There is some unsuffusing thing beyond thee, thou clear spirit, to whom all thy eternity88 is but time, all thy creativeness mechanical. Through thee, thy flaming self, my scorched89 eyes do dimly see it. Oh, thou foundling fire, thou hermit90 immemorial, thou too hast thy incommunicable riddle91, thy unparticipated grief. Here again with haughty92 agony, I read my sire. Leap! leap up, and lick the sky! I leap with thee; I burn with thee; would fain be welded with thee; defyingly I worship thee!"
"The boat! the boat!" cried Starbuck, "look at thy boat, old man!"
Ahab's harpoon93, the one forged at Perth's fire, remained firmly lashed94 in its conspicuous95 crotch, so that it projected beyond his whale-boat's bow; but the sea that had stove its bottom had caused the loose leather sheath to drop off; and from the keen steel barb96 there now came a levelled flame of pale, forked fire. As the silent harpoon burned there like a serpent's tongue, Starbuck grasped Ahab by the arm--"God, God is against thee, old man; forbear! 't is an ill voyage! ill begun, ill continued; let me square the yards, while we may, old man, and make a fair wind of it homewards, to go on a better voyage than this."
Overhearing Starbuck, the panic-stricken crew instantly ran to the braces--though not a sail was left aloft. For the moment all the aghast mate's thoughts seemed theirs; they raised a half mutinous97 cry. But dashing the rattling98 lightning links to the deck, and snatching the burning harpoon, Ahab waved it like a torch among them; swearing to transfix with it the first sailor that but cast loose a rope's end. Petrified99 by his aspect, and still more shrinking from the fiery dart39 that he held, the men fell back in dismay, and Ahab again spoke:--
"All your oaths to hunt the White Whale are as binding100 as mine; and heart, soul, and body, lungs and life, old Ahab is bound. And that ye may know to what tune101 this heart beats: look ye here; thus I blow out the last fear!" And with one blast of his breath he extinguished the flame.
As in the hurricane that sweeps the plain, men fly the neighborhood of some lone102, gigantic elm, whose very height and strength but render it so much the more unsafe, because so much the more a mark for thunderbolts; so at those last words of Ahab's many of the mariners103 did run from him in a terror of dismay.
1 fangs | |
n.(尤指狗和狼的)长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 );(蛇的)毒牙;罐座 | |
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2 crouches | |
n.蹲着的姿势( crouch的名词复数 )v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的第三人称单数 ) | |
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3 groves | |
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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4 effulgent | |
adj.光辉的;灿烂的 | |
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5 tornadoes | |
n.龙卷风,旋风( tornado的名词复数 ) | |
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6 mariner | |
n.水手号不载人航天探测器,海员,航海者 | |
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7 shroud | |
n.裹尸布,寿衣;罩,幕;vt.覆盖,隐藏 | |
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8 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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9 hamper | |
vt.妨碍,束缚,限制;n.(有盖的)大篮子 | |
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10 flask | |
n.瓶,火药筒,砂箱 | |
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11 hoisting | |
起重,提升 | |
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12 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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13 naught | |
n.无,零 [=nought] | |
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14 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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15 sieve | |
n.筛,滤器,漏勺 | |
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16 wreck | |
n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难 | |
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17 fore | |
adv.在前面;adj.先前的;在前部的;n.前部 | |
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18 gale | |
n.大风,强风,一阵闹声(尤指笑声等) | |
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19 scud | |
n.疾行;v.疾行 | |
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20 flip | |
vt.快速翻动;轻抛;轻拍;n.轻抛;adj.轻浮的 | |
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21 smacks | |
掌掴(声)( smack的名词复数 ); 海洛因; (打的)一拳; 打巴掌 | |
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22 harp | |
n.竖琴;天琴座 | |
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23 wilt | |
v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎;(指人)疲倦,衰弱 | |
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24 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
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25 wont | |
adj.习惯于;v.习惯;n.习惯 | |
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26 doom | |
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定 | |
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27 leeward | |
adj.背风的;下风的 | |
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28 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
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29 peals | |
n.(声音大而持续或重复的)洪亮的响声( peal的名词复数 );隆隆声;洪亮的钟声;钟乐v.(使)(钟等)鸣响,(雷等)发出隆隆声( peal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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30 bulwarks | |
n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 );保障;支柱;舷墙 | |
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31 spire | |
n.(教堂)尖顶,尖塔,高点 | |
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32 perilous | |
adj.危险的,冒险的 | |
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33 descend | |
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
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34 hull | |
n.船身;(果、实等的)外壳;vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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35 mishaps | |
n.轻微的事故,小的意外( mishap的名词复数 ) | |
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36 interfering | |
adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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37 impeding | |
a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的,临近的 | |
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38 admonished | |
v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 );训诫;(温和地)责备;轻责 | |
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39 dart | |
v.猛冲,投掷;n.飞镖,猛冲 | |
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40 darting | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的现在分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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41 pallid | |
adj.苍白的,呆板的 | |
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42 pall | |
v.覆盖,使平淡无味;n.柩衣,棺罩;棺材;帷幕 | |
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43 tapering | |
adj.尖端细的 | |
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44 tapers | |
(长形物体的)逐渐变窄( taper的名词复数 ); 微弱的光; 极细的蜡烛 | |
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45 seething | |
沸腾的,火热的 | |
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46 shrouds | |
n.裹尸布( shroud的名词复数 );寿衣;遮蔽物;覆盖物v.隐瞒( shroud的第三人称单数 );保密 | |
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47 pallidness | |
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48 enchanted | |
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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49 constellation | |
n.星座n.灿烂的一群 | |
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50 loomed | |
v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近 | |
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51 stature | |
n.(高度)水平,(高度)境界,身高,身材 | |
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52 tattooing | |
n.刺字,文身v.刺青,文身( tattoo的现在分词 );连续有节奏地敲击;作连续有节奏的敲击 | |
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53 tableau | |
n.画面,活人画(舞台上活人扮的静态画面) | |
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54 waned | |
v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 );(月)亏;变小;变暗淡 | |
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55 bowels | |
n.肠,内脏,内部;肠( bowel的名词复数 );内部,最深处 | |
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56 sperm | |
n.精子,精液 | |
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57 glimmer | |
v.发出闪烁的微光;n.微光,微弱的闪光 | |
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58 upwards | |
adv.向上,在更高处...以上 | |
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59 beheld | |
v.看,注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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60 seamen | |
n.海员 | |
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61 cohered | |
v.黏合( cohere的过去式和过去分词 );联合;结合;(指看法、推理等)前后一致 | |
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62 pendulous | |
adj.下垂的;摆动的 | |
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63 numbed | |
v.使麻木,使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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64 wasps | |
黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 ); 胡蜂; 易动怒的人; 刻毒的人 | |
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65 drooping | |
adj. 下垂的,无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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66 orchard | |
n.果园,果园里的全部果树,(美俚)棒球场 | |
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67 twig | |
n.小树枝,嫩枝;v.理解 | |
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68 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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69 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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70 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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71 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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72 gasp | |
n.喘息,气喘;v.喘息;气吁吁他说 | |
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73 unconditional | |
adj.无条件的,无限制的,绝对的 | |
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74 impersonal | |
adj.无个人感情的,与个人无关的,非人称的 | |
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75 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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76 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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77 supernal | |
adj.天堂的,天上的;崇高的 | |
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78 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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79 wrung | |
绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 ); 握紧(尤指别人的手); 把(湿衣服)拧干; 绞掉(水) | |
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80 homage | |
n.尊敬,敬意,崇敬 | |
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81 skull | |
n.头骨;颅骨 | |
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82 stunning | |
adj.极好的;使人晕倒的 | |
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83 blindfold | |
vt.蒙住…的眼睛;adj.盲目的;adv.盲目地;n.蒙眼的绷带[布等]; 障眼物,蒙蔽人的事物 | |
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84 javelins | |
n.标枪( javelin的名词复数 ) | |
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85 genealogy | |
n.家系,宗谱 | |
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86 fiery | |
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的 | |
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87 omnipotent | |
adj.全能的,万能的 | |
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88 eternity | |
n.不朽,来世;永恒,无穷 | |
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89 scorched | |
烧焦,烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 ); 使(植物)枯萎,把…晒枯; 高速行驶; 枯焦 | |
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90 hermit | |
n.隐士,修道者;隐居 | |
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91 riddle | |
n.谜,谜语,粗筛;vt.解谜,给…出谜,筛,检查,鉴定,非难,充满于;vi.出谜 | |
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92 haughty | |
adj.傲慢的,高傲的 | |
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93 harpoon | |
n.鱼叉;vt.用鱼叉叉,用鱼叉捕获 | |
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94 lashed | |
adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 );煽动;紧系;怒斥 | |
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95 conspicuous | |
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的 | |
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96 barb | |
n.(鱼钩等的)倒钩,倒刺 | |
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97 mutinous | |
adj.叛变的,反抗的;adv.反抗地,叛变地;n.反抗,叛变 | |
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98 rattling | |
adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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99 petrified | |
adj.惊呆的;目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆,使惊呆;变僵硬;使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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100 binding | |
有约束力的,有效的,应遵守的 | |
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101 tune | |
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整 | |
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102 lone | |
adj.孤寂的,单独的;唯一的 | |
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103 mariners | |
海员,水手(mariner的复数形式) | |
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