It came vividly1 to Selden on the Casino steps that Monte Carlo had, more than any other place he knew, the gift of accommodating itself to each man's humour. His own, at the moment, lent it a festive2 readiness of welcome that might well, in a disenchanted eye, have turned to paint and facility. So frank an appeal for participation--so outspoken3 a recognition of the holiday vein4 in human nature--struck refreshingly5 on a mind jaded6 by prolonged hard work in surroundings made for the discipline of the senses. As he surveyed the white square set in an exotic coquetry of architecture, the studied tropicality of the gardens, the groups loitering in the foreground against mauve mountains which suggested a sublime7 stage-setting forgotten in a hurried shifting of scenes--as he took in the whole outspread effect of light and leisure, he felt a movement of revulsion from the last few months of his life.
The New York winter had presented an interminable perspective of snow-burdened days, reaching toward a spring of raw sunshine and furious air, when the ugliness of things rasped the eye as the gritty wind ground into the skin. Selden, immersed in his work, had told himself that external conditions did not matter to a man in his state, and that cold and ugliness were a good tonic8 for relaxed sensibilities. When an urgent case summoned him abroad to confer with a client in Paris, he broke reluctantly with the routine of the office; and it was only now that, having despatched his business, and slipped away for a week in the south, he began to feel the renewed zest9 of spectatorship that is the solace10 of those who take an objective interest in life.
The multiplicity of its appeals--the perpetual surprise of its contrasts and resemblances! All these tricks and turns of the show were upon him with a spring as he descended11 the Casino steps and paused on the pavement at its doors. He had not been abroad for seven years--and what changes the renewed contact produced! If the central depths were untouched, hardly a pin-point of surface remained the same. And this was the very place to bring out the completeness of the renewal12. The sublimities, the perpetuities, might have left him as he was: but this tent pitched for a day's revelry spread a roof of oblivion between himself and his fixed13 sky.
It was mid-April, and one felt that the revelry had reached its climax14 and that the desultory15 groups in the square and gardens would soon dissolve and re-form in other scenes. Meanwhile the last moments of the performance seemed to gain an added brightness from the hovering16 threat of the curtain. The quality of the air, the exuberance18 of the flowers, the blue intensity19 of sea and sky, produced the effect of a closing TABLEAU20, when all the lights are turned on at once. This impression was presently heightened by the way in which a consciously conspicuous21 group of people advanced to the middle front, and stood before Selden with the air of the chief performers gathered together by the exigencies22 of the final effect. Their appearance confirmed the impression that the show had been staged regardless of expense, and emphasized its resemblance to one of those "costume-plays" in which the protagonists23 walk through the passions without displacing a drapery. The ladies stood in unrelated attitudes calculated to isolate24 their effects, and the men hung about them as irrelevantly25 as stage heroes whose tailors are named in the programme. It was Selden himself who unwittingly fused the group by arresting the attention of one of its members.
"Why, Mr. Selden!" Mrs. Fisher exclaimed in surprise; and with a gesture toward Mrs. Jack26 Stepney and Mrs. Wellington Bry, she added plaintively27: "We're starving to death because we can't decide where to lunch."
Welcomed into their group, and made the confidant of their difficulty, Selden learned with amusement that there were several places where one might miss something by not lunching, or forfeit28 something by lunching; so that eating actually became a minor29 consideration on the very spot consecrated30 to its rites31.
"Of course one gets the best things at the TERRASSE--but that looks as if one hadn't any other reason for being there: the Americans who don't know any one always rush for the best food. And the Duchess of Beltshire has taken up Becassin's lately," Mrs. Bry earnestly summed up.
Mrs. Bry, to Mrs. Fisher's despair, had not progressed beyond the point of weighing her social alternatives in public. She could not acquire the air of doing things because she wanted to, and making her choice the final seal of their fitness.
Mr. Bry, a short pale man, with a business face and leisure clothes, met the dilemma32 hilariously33.
"I guess the Duchess goes where it's cheapest, unless she can get her meal paid for. If you offered to blow her off at the TERRASSE she'd turn up fast enough."
But Mrs. Jack Stepney interposed. "The Grand Dukes go to that little place at the Condamine. Lord Hubert says it's the only restaurant in Europe where they can cook peas."
Lord Hubert Dacey, a slender shabby-looking man, with a charming worn smile, and the air of having spent his best years in piloting the wealthy to the right restaurant, assented34 with gentle emphasis: "It's quite that."
"PEAS?" said Mr. Bry contemptuously. "Can they cook terrapin35? It just shows," he continued, "what these European markets are, when a fellow can make a reputation cooking peas!"
Jack Stepney intervened with authority. "I don't know that I quite agree with Dacey: there's a little hole in Paris, off the Quai Voltaire--but in any case, I can't advise the Condamine GARGOTE; at least not with ladies."
Stepney, since his marriage, had thickened and grown prudish36, as the Van Osburgh husbands were apt to do; but his wife, to his surprise and discomfiture37, had developed an earth-shaking fastness of gait which left him trailing breathlessly in her wake.
"That's where we'll go then!" she declared, with a heavy toss of her plumage. "I'm so tired of the TERRASSE: it's as dull as one of mother's dinners. And Lord Hubert has promised to tell us who all the awful people are at the other place--hasn't he, Carry? Now, Jack, don't look so solemn!"
"Well," said Mrs. Bry, "all I want to know is who their dress-makers are."
"No doubt Dacey can tell you that too," remarked Stepney, with an ironic38 intention which the other received with the light murmur39, "I can at least FIND OUT, my dear fellow"; and Mrs. Bry having declared that she couldn't walk another step, the party hailed two or three of the light phaetons which hover17 attentively40 on the confines of the gardens, and rattled41 off in procession toward the Condamine.
Their destination was one of the little restaurants overhanging the boulevard which dips steeply down from Monte Carlo to the low intermediate quarter along the quay42. From the window in which they presently found themselves installed, they overlooked the intense blue curve of the harbour, set between the verdure of twin promontories43: to the right, the cliff of Monaco, topped by the mediaeval silhouette44 of its church and castle, to the left the terraces and pinnacles45 of the gambling-house. Between the two, the waters of the bay were furrowed46 by a light coming and going of pleasure-craft, through which, just at the culminating moment of luncheon47, the majestic48 advance of a great steam-yacht drew the company's attention from the peas.
"By Jove, I believe that's the Dorsets back!" Stepney exclaimed; and Lord Hubert, dropping his single eye-glass, corroborated49: "It's the Sabrina--yes."
"So soon? They were to spend a month in Sicily," Mrs. Fisher observed.
"I guess they feel as if they had: there's only one up-to-date hotel in the whole place," said Mr. Bry disparagingly50.
"It was Ned Silverton's idea--but poor Dorset and Lily Bart must have been horribly bored." Mrs. Fisher added in an undertone to Selden: "I do hope there hasn't been a row."
"It's most awfully51 jolly having Miss Bart back," said Lord Hubert, in his mild deliberate voice; and Mrs. Bry added ingenuously52: "I daresay the Duchess will dine with us, now that Lily's here."
"The Duchess admires her immensely: I'm sure she'd be charmed to have it arranged," Lord Hubert agreed, with the professional promptness of the man accustomed to draw his profit from facilitating social contacts: Selden was struck by the businesslike change in his manner.
"Lily has been a tremendous success here," Mrs. Fisher continued, still addressing herself confidentially53 to Selden. "She looks ten years younger--I never saw her so handsome. Lady Skiddaw took her everywhere in Cannes, and the Crown Princess of Macedonia had her to stop for a week at Cimiez. People say that was one reason why Bertha whisked the yacht off to Sicily: the Crown Princess didn't take much notice of her, and she couldn't bear to look on at Lily's triumph."
Selden made no reply. He was vaguely54 aware that Miss Bart was cruising in the Mediterranean55 with the Dorsets, but it had not occurred to him that there was any chance of running across her on the Riviera, where the season was virtually at an end. As he leaned back, silently contemplating56 his filigree57 cup of Turkish coffee, he was trying to put some order in his thoughts, to tell himself how the news of her nearness was really affecting him. He had a personal detachment enabling him, even in moments of emotional high-pressure, to get a fairly clear view of his feelings, and he was sincerely surprised by the disturbance58 which the sight of the Sabrina had produced in him. He had reason to think that his three months of engrossing59 professional work, following on the sharp shock of his disillusionment, had cleared his mind of its sentimental60 vapours. The feeling he had nourished and given prominence61 to was one of thankfulness for his escape: he was like a traveller so grateful for rescue from a dangerous accident that at first he is hardly conscious of his bruises62. Now he suddenly felt the latent ache, and realized that after all he had not come off unhurt.
An hour later, at Mrs. Fisher's side in the Casino gardens, he was trying to find fresh reasons for forgetting the injury received in the contemplation of the peril63 avoided. The party had dispersed64 with the loitering indecision characteristic of social movements at Monte Carlo, where the whole place, and the long gilded65 hours of the day, seem to offer an infinity66 of ways of being idle. Lord Hubert Dacey had finally gone off in quest of the Duchess of Beltshire, charged by Mrs. Bry with the delicate negotiation67 of securing that lady's presence at dinner, the Stepneys had left for Nice in their motor-car, and Mr. Bry had departed to take his place in the pigeon shooting match which was at the moment engaging his highest faculties68.
Mrs. Bry, who had a tendency to grow red and stertorous69 after luncheon, had been judiciously70 prevailed upon by Carry Fisher to withdraw to her hotel for an hour's repose71; and Selden and his companion were thus left to a stroll propitious72 to confidences. The stroll soon resolved itself into a tranquil73 session on a bench overhung with laurel and Banksian roses, from which they caught a dazzle of blue sea between marble balusters, and the fiery74 shafts76 of cactus-blossoms shooting meteor-like from the rock. The soft shade of their niche77, and the adjacent glitter of the air, were conducive78 to an easy lounging mood, and to the smoking of many cigarettes; and Selden, yielding to these influences, suffered Mrs. Fisher to unfold to him the history of her recent experiences. She had come abroad with the Welly Brys at the moment when fashion flees the inclemency79 of the New York spring. The Brys, intoxicated80 by their first success, already thirsted for new kingdoms, and Mrs. Fisher, viewing the Riviera as an easy introduction to London society, had guided their course thither81. She had affiliations82 of her own in every capital, and a facility for picking them up again after long absences; and the carefully disseminated83 rumour84 of the Brys' wealth had at once gathered about them a group of cosmopolitan85 pleasure-seekers.
"But things are not going as well as I expected," Mrs. Fisher frankly86 admitted. "It's all very well to say that every body with money can get into society; but it would be truer to say that NEARLY everybody can. And the London market is so glutted87 with new Americans that, to succeed there now, they must be either very clever or awfully queer. The Brys are neither. HE would get on well enough if she'd let him alone; they like his slang and his brag88 and his blunders. But Louisa spoils it all by trying to repress him and put herself forward. If she'd be natural herself--fat and vulgar and bouncing--it would be all right; but as soon as she meets anybody smart she tries to be slender and queenly. She tried it with the Duchess of Beltshire and Lady Skiddaw, and they fled. I've done my best to make her see her mistake--I've said to her again and again: 'Just let yourself go, Louisa'; but she keeps up the humbug89 even with me--I believe she keeps on being queenly in her own room, with the door shut.
"The worst of it is," Mrs. Fisher went on, "that she thinks it's all MY fault. When the Dorsets turned up here six weeks ago, and everybody began to make a fuss about Lily Bart, I could see Louisa thought that if she'd had Lily in tow instead of me she would have been hob-nobbing with all the royalties90 by this time. She doesn't realize that it's Lily's beauty that does it: Lord Hubert tells me Lily is thought even handsomer than when he knew her at Aix ten years ago. It seems she was tremendously admired there. An Italian Prince, rich and the real thing, wanted to marry her; but just at the critical moment a good-looking step-son turned up, and Lily was silly enough to flirt91 with him while her marriage-settlements with the step-father were being drawn92 up. Some people said the young man did it on purpose. You can fancy the scandal: there was an awful row between the men, and people began to look at Lily so queerly that Mrs. Peniston had to pack up and finish her cure elsewhere. Not that SHE ever understood: to this day she thinks that Aix didn't suit her, and mentions her having been sent there as proof of the incompetence93 of French doctors. That's Lily all over, you know: she works like a slave preparing the ground and sowing her seed; but the day she ought to be reaping the harvest she over-sleeps herself or goes off on a picnic."
Mrs. Fisher paused and looked reflectively at the deep shimmer95 of sea between the cactus-flowers. "Sometimes," she added, "I think it's just flightiness--and sometimes I think it's because, at heart, she despises the things she's trying for. And it's the difficulty of deciding that makes her such an interesting study." She glanced tentatively at Selden's motionless profile, and resumed with a slight sigh: "Well, all I can say is, I wish she'd give ME some of her discarded opportunities. I wish we could change places now, for instance. She could make a very good thing out of the Brys if she managed them properly, and I should know just how to look after George Dorset while Bertha is reading Verlaine with Neddy Silverton."
She met Selden's sound of protest with a sharp derisive96 glance. "Well, what's the use of mincing97 matters? We all know that's what Bertha brought her abroad for. When Bertha wants to have a good time she has to provide occupation for George. At first I thought Lily was going to play her cards well THIS time, but there are rumours98 that Bertha is jealous of her success here and at Cannes, and I shouldn't be surprised if there were a break any day. Lily's only safeguard is that Bertha needs her badly--oh, very badly. The Silverton affair is in the acute stage: it's necessary that George's attention should be pretty continuously distracted. And I'm bound to say Lily DOES distract it: I believe he'd marry her tomorrow if he found out there was anything wrong with Bertha. But you know him--he's as blind as he's jealous; and of course Lily's present business is to keep him blind. A clever woman might know just the right moment to tear off the bandage: but Lily isn't clever in that way, and when George does open his eyes she'll probably contrive99 not to be in his line of vision."
Selden tossed away his cigarette. "By Jove--it's time for my train," he exclaimed, with a glance at his watch; adding, in reply to Mrs. Fisher's surprised comment--"Why, I thought of course you were at Monte!"--a murmured word to the effect that he was making Nice his head-quarters.
"The worst of it is, she snubs the Brys now," he heard irrelevantly flung after him.
Ten minutes later, in the high-perched bedroom of an hotel overlooking the Casino, he was tossing his effects into a couple of gaping101 portmanteaux, while the porter waited outside to transport them to the cab at the door. It took but a brief plunge102 down the steep white road to the station to land him safely in the afternoon express for Nice; and not till he was installed in the corner of an empty carriage, did he exclaim to himself, with a reaction of self-contempt: "What the deuce am I running away from?"
The pertinence103 of the question checked Selden's fugitive104 impulse before the train had started. It was ridiculous to be flying like an emotional coward from an infatuation his reason had conquered. He had instructed his bankers to forward some important business letters to Nice, and at Nice he would quietly await them. He was already annoyed with himself for having left Monte Carlo, where he had intended to pass the week which remained to him before sailing; but it would now be difficult to return on his steps without an appearance of inconsistency from which his pride recoiled105. In his inmost heart he was not sorry to put himself beyond the probability of meeting Miss Bart. Completely as he had detached himself from her, he could not yet regard her merely as a social instance; and viewed in a more personal wayshe was not likely to be a reassuring106 object of study. Chance encounters, or even the repeated mention of her name, would send his thoughts back into grooves107 from which he had resolutely108 detached them; whereas, if she could be entirely109 excluded from his life, the pressure of new and varied110 impressions, with which no thought of her was connected, would soon complete the work of separation. Mrs. Fisher's conversation had, indeed, operated to that end; but the treatment was too painful to be voluntarily chosen while milder remedies were untried; and Selden thought he could trust himself to return gradually to a reasonable view of Miss Bart, if only he did not see her.
Having reached the station early, he had arrived at this point in his reflections before the increasing throng111 on the platform warned him that he could not hope to preserve his privacy; the next moment there was a hand on the door, and he turned to confront the very face he was fleeing.
Miss Bart, glowing with the haste of a precipitate112 descent upon the train, headed a group composed of the Dorsets, young Silverton and Lord Hubert Dacey, who had barely time to spring into the carriage, and envelop113 Selden in ejaculations of surprise and welcome, before the whistle of departure sounded. The party, it appeared, were hastening to Nice in response to a sudden summons to dine with the Duchess of Beltshire and to see the water-fete in the bay; a plan evidently improvised--in spite of Lord Hubert's protesting "Oh, I say, you know,"--for the express purpose of defeating Mrs. Bry's endeavour to capture the Duchess.
During the laughing relation of this manoeuvre114, Selden had time for a rapid impression of Miss Bart, who had seated herself opposite to him in the golden afternoon light. Scarcely three months had elapsed since he had parted from her on the threshold of the Brys' conservatory115; but a subtle change had passed over the quality of her beauty. Then it had had a transparency through which the fluctuations116 of the spirit were sometimes tragically117 visible; now its impenetrable surface suggested a process of crystallization which had fused her whole being into one hard brilliant substance. The change had struck Mrs. Fisher as a rejuvenation118: to Selden it seemed like that moment of pause and arrest when the warm fluidity of youth is chilled into its final shape.
He felt it in the way she smiled on him, and in the readiness and competence94 with which, flung unexpectedly into his presence, she took up the thread of their intercourse119 as though that thread had not been snapped with a violence from which he still reeled. Such facility sickened him--but he told himself that it was with the pang120 which precedes recovery. Now he would really get well--would eject the last drop of poison from his blood. Already he felt himself calmer in her presence than he had learned to be in the thought of her. Her assumptions and elisions, her short-cuts and long DETOURS121, the skill with which she contrived122 to meet him at a point from which no inconvenient123 glimpses of the past were visible, suggested what opportunities she had had for practising such arts since their last meeting. He felt that she had at last arrived at an understanding with herself: had made a pact124 with her rebellious125 impulses, and achieved a uniform system of self-government, under which all vagrant126 tendencies were either held captive or forced into the service of the state.
And he saw other things too in her manner: saw how it had adjusted itself to the hidden intricacies of a situation in which, even after Mrs. Fisher's elucidating127 flashes, he still felt himself agrope. Surely Mrs. Fisher could no longer charge Miss Bart with neglecting her opportunities! To Selden's exasperated128 observation she was only too completely alive to them. She was "perfect" to every one: subservient129 to Bertha's anxious predominance, good-naturedly watchful130 of Dorset's moods, brightly companionable to Silverton and Dacey, the latter of whom met her on an evident footing of old admiration131, while young Silverton, portentously132 self-absorbed, seemed conscious of her only as of something vaguely obstructive. And suddenly, as Selden noted133 the fine shades of manner by which she harmonized herself with her surroundings, it flashed on him that, to need such adroit134 handling, the situation must indeed be desperate. She was on the edge of something--that was the impression left with him. He seemed to see her poised135 on the brink136 of a chasm137, with one graceful138 foot advanced to assert her unconsciousness that the ground was failing her.
On the Promenade139 des Anglais, where Ned Silverton hung on him for the half hour before dinner, he received a deeper impression of the general insecurity. Silverton was in a mood of Titanic140 pessimism141. How any one could come to such a damned hole as the Riviera--any one with a grain of imagination--with the whole Mediterranean to choose from: but then, if one's estimate of a place depended on the way they broiled142 a spring chicken! Gad143! what a study might be made of the tyranny of the stomach--the way a sluggish144 liver or insufficient145 gastric146 juices might affect the whole course of the universe, overshadow everything in reach--chronic dyspepsia ought to be among the "statutory causes"; a woman's life might be ruined by a man's inability to digest fresh bread. Grotesque147? Yes--and tragic--like most absurdities148. There's nothing grimmer than the tragedy that wears a comic mask.... Where was he? Oh--the reason they chucked Sicily and rushed back? Well--partly, no doubt, Miss Bart's desire to get back to bridge and smartness. Dead as a stone to art and poetry--the light never WAS on sea or land for her! And of course she persuaded Dorset that the Italian food was bad for him. Oh, she could make him believe anything--ANYTHING! Mrs. Dorset was aware of it--oh, perfectly149: nothing SHE didn't see! But she could hold her tongue--she'd had to, often enough. Miss Bart was an intimate friend--she wouldn't hear a word against her. Only it hurts a woman's pride--there are some things one doesn't get used to . . . All this in confidence, of course? Ah--and there were the ladies signalling from the balcony of the hotel.... He plunged150 across the Promenade, leaving Selden to a meditative151 cigar.
The conclusions it led him to were fortified152, later in the evening, by some of those faint corroborative153 hints that generate a light of their own in the dusk of a doubting mind. Selden, stumbling on a chance acquaintance, had dined with him, and adjourned154, still in his company, to the brightly lit Promenade, where a line of crowded stands commanded the glittering darkness of the waters. The night was soft and persuasive155. Overhead hung a summer sky furrowed with the rush of rockets; and from the east a late moon, pushing up beyond the lofty bend of the coast, sent across the bay a shaft75 of brightness which paled to ashes in the red glitter of the illuminated156 boats. Down the lantern-hung Promenade, snatches of band-music floated above the hum of the crowd and the soft tossing of boughs157 in dusky gardens; and between these gardens and the backs of the stands there flowed a stream of people in whom the vociferous158 carnival159 mood seemed tempered by the growing languor160 of the season.
Selden and his companion, unable to get seats on one of the stands facing the bay, had wandered for a while with the throng, and then found a point of vantage on a high garden-parapet above the Promenade. Thence they caught but a triangular161 glimpse of the water, and of the flashing play of boats across its surface; but the crowd in the street was under their immediate162 view, and seemed to Selden, on the whole, of more interest than the show itself. After a while, however, he wearied of his perch100 and, dropping alone to the pavement, pushed his way to the first corner and turned into the moonlit silence of a side street. Long garden-walls overhung by trees made a dark boundary to the pavement; an empty cab trailed along the deserted163 thoroughfare, and presently Selden saw two persons emerge from the opposite shadows, signal to the cab, and drive off in it toward the centre of the town. The moonlight touched them as they paused to enter the carriage, and he recognized Mrs. Dorset and young Silverton.
Beneath the nearest lamp-post he glanced at his watch and saw that the time was close on eleven. He took another cross street, and without breasting the throng on the Promenade, made his way to the fashionable club which overlooks that thoroughfare. Here, amid the blaze of crowded baccarat tables, he caught sight of Lord Hubert Dacey, seated with his habitual164 worn smile behind a rapidly dwindling165 heap of gold. The heap being in due course wiped out, Lord Hubert rose with a shrug166, and joining Selden, adjourned with him to the deserted terrace of the club. It was now past midnight, and the throng on the stands was dispersing167, while the long trails of red-lit boats scattered168 and faded beneath a sky repossessed by the tranquil splendour of the moon.
Lord Hubert looked at his watch. "By Jove, I promised to join the Duchess for supper at the LONDON HOUSE; but it's past twelve, and I suppose they've all scattered. The fact is, I lost them in the crowd soon after dinner, and took refuge here, for my sins. They had seats on one of the stands, but of course they couldn't stop quiet: the Duchess never can. She and Miss Bart went off in quest of what they call adventures--gad, it ain't their fault if they don't have some queer ones!" He added tentatively, after pausing to grope for a cigarette: "Miss Bart's an old friend of yours, I believe? So she told me.--Ah, thanks--I don't seem to have one left." He lit Selden's proffered169 cigarette, and continued, in his high-pitched drawling tone: "None of my business, of course, but I didn't introduce her to the Duchess. Charming woman, the Duchess, you understand; and a very good friend of mine; but RATHER a liberal education."
Selden received this in silence, and after a few puffs170 Lord Hubert broke out again: "Sort of thing one can't communicate to the young lady--though young ladies nowadays are so competent to judge for themselves; but in this case--I'm an old friend too, you know . . . and there seemed no one else to speak to. The whole situation's a little mixed, as I see it--but there used to be an aunt somewhere, a diffuse171 and innocent person, who was great at bridging over chasms172 she didn't see . . . Ah, in New York, is she? Pity New York's such a long way off!"
收听单词发音 |
1
vividly
|
|
| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
festive
|
|
| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
outspoken
|
|
| adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
vein
|
|
| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
refreshingly
|
|
| adv.清爽地，有精神地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
jaded
|
|
| adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
sublime
|
|
| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
tonic
|
|
| n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
zest
|
|
| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
solace
|
|
| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
renewal
|
|
| adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
climax
|
|
| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
desultory
|
|
| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
hovering
|
|
| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
hover
|
|
| vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
exuberance
|
|
| n.丰富；繁荣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
intensity
|
|
| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
tableau
|
|
| n.画面，活人画（舞台上活人扮的静态画面） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
conspicuous
|
|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
exigencies
|
|
| n.急切需要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
protagonists
|
|
| n.（戏剧的）主角( protagonist的名词复数 )；（故事的）主人公；现实事件（尤指冲突和争端的）主要参与者；领导者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
isolate
|
|
| vt.使孤立，隔离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
irrelevantly
|
|
| adv.不恰当地，不合适地；不相关地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
jack
|
|
| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
plaintively
|
|
| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
forfeit
|
|
| vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
minor
|
|
| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
consecrated
|
|
| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
rites
|
|
| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
dilemma
|
|
| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
hilariously
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
assented
|
|
| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
terrapin
|
|
| n.泥龟；鳖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
prudish
|
|
| adj.装淑女样子的，装规矩的，过分规矩的；adv.过分拘谨地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
discomfiture
|
|
| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
ironic
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
murmur
|
|
| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
attentively
|
|
| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
rattled
|
|
| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
quay
|
|
| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
promontories
|
|
| n.岬，隆起，海角( promontory的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
44
silhouette
|
|
| n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
pinnacles
|
|
| 顶峰( pinnacle的名词复数 )； 顶点； 尖顶； 小尖塔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
furrowed
|
|
| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
luncheon
|
|
| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
majestic
|
|
| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
corroborated
|
|
| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
disparagingly
|
|
| adv.以贬抑的口吻，以轻视的态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
awfully
|
|
| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
ingenuously
|
|
| adv.率直地，正直地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
confidentially
|
|
| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
Mediterranean
|
|
| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
contemplating
|
|
| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
filigree
|
|
| n.金银丝做的工艺品；v.用金银细丝饰品装饰；用华而不实的饰品装饰；adj.金银细丝工艺的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
disturbance
|
|
| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
engrossing
|
|
| adj.使人全神贯注的，引人入胜的v.使全神贯注( engross的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
sentimental
|
|
| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
prominence
|
|
| n.突出；显著；杰出；重要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
bruises
|
|
| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
peril
|
|
| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
dispersed
|
|
| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
gilded
|
|
| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
infinity
|
|
| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
negotiation
|
|
| n.谈判，协商 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
faculties
|
|
| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
stertorous
|
|
| adj.打鼾的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
judiciously
|
|
| adv.明断地，明智而审慎地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
repose
|
|
| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
propitious
|
|
| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
tranquil
|
|
| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
fiery
|
|
| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
shaft
|
|
| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
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） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
niche
|
|
| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
conducive
|
|
| adj.有益的，有助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
inclemency
|
|
| n.险恶，严酷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
intoxicated
|
|
| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
thither
|
|
| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
affiliations
|
|
| n.联系( affiliation的名词复数 )；附属机构；亲和性；接纳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
disseminated
|
|
| 散布，传播( disseminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
rumour
|
|
| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
cosmopolitan
|
|
| adj.世界性的，全世界的，四海为家的，全球的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
frankly
|
|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
glutted
|
|
| v.吃得过多( glut的过去式和过去分词 )；（对胃口、欲望等）纵情满足；使厌腻；塞满 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
brag
|
|
| v./n.吹牛，自夸；adj.第一流的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
humbug
|
|
| n.花招，谎话，欺骗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
royalties
|
|
| 特许权使用费 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
flirt
|
|
| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
incompetence
|
|
| n.不胜任，不称职 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
competence
|
|
| n.能力，胜任，称职 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
shimmer
|
|
| v./n.发微光，发闪光；微光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
derisive
|
|
| adj.嘲弄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
mincing
|
|
| adj.矫饰的；v.切碎；切碎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
rumours
|
|
| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
contrive
|
|
| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
perch
|
|
| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
gaping
|
|
| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
plunge
|
|
| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
pertinence
|
|
| n.中肯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
fugitive
|
|
| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
recoiled
|
|
| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
reassuring
|
|
| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
grooves
|
|
| n.沟( groove的名词复数 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏v.沟( groove的第三人称单数 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
resolutely
|
|
| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
varied
|
|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
throng
|
|
| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
precipitate
|
|
| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
envelop
|
|
| vt.包，封，遮盖；包围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
manoeuvre
|
|
| n.策略，调动；v.用策略，调动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
conservatory
|
|
| n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
fluctuations
|
|
| 波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
tragically
|
|
| adv. 悲剧地，悲惨地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
rejuvenation
|
|
| n. 复原，再生, 更新, 嫩化, 恢复 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
intercourse
|
|
| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
pang
|
|
| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
detours
|
|
| 绕行的路( detour的名词复数 )； 绕道，兜圈子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
contrived
|
|
| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
inconvenient
|
|
| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
pact
|
|
| n.合同，条约，公约，协定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
rebellious
|
|
| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
vagrant
|
|
| n.流浪者，游民；adj.流浪的，漂泊不定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
elucidating
|
|
| v.阐明，解释( elucidate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
exasperated
|
|
| adj.恼怒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
subservient
|
|
| adj.卑屈的，阿谀的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
watchful
|
|
| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
portentously
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
adroit
|
|
| adj.熟练的，灵巧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
poised
|
|
| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
brink
|
|
| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
chasm
|
|
| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
graceful
|
|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
promenade
|
|
| n./v.散步 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
titanic
|
|
| adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
pessimism
|
|
| n.悲观者，悲观主义者，厌世者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
broiled
|
|
| a.烤过的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
gad
|
|
| n.闲逛；v.闲逛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
sluggish
|
|
| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
insufficient
|
|
| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
gastric
|
|
| adj.胃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
grotesque
|
|
| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
absurdities
|
|
| n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 )；荒谬；谬论；荒谬的行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
plunged
|
|
| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
meditative
|
|
| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
fortified
|
|
| adj. 加强的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
corroborative
|
|
| adj.确证（性）的，确凿的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
adjourned
|
|
| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
persuasive
|
|
| adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
illuminated
|
|
| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
boughs
|
|
| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
vociferous
|
|
| adj.喧哗的，大叫大嚷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
carnival
|
|
| n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
languor
|
|
| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
triangular
|
|
| adj.三角（形）的，三者间的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
habitual
|
|
| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
dwindling
|
|
| adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
shrug
|
|
| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
dispersing
|
|
| adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
proffered
|
|
| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
puffs
|
|
| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
diffuse
|
|
| v.扩散；传播；adj.冗长的；四散的，弥漫的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
chasms
|
|
| 裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |