In the bar of The George, what should he find, as the Topick of vehement1 Conversation, but Bradley again.
"I don't care how much glory he's brought England, he'll still have to pay for his Pints4 in here."
"Not likely now, is it? Poor Bugger."
"Howbeit,— he was in, don't forget, with Macclesfield and that gang, that stole the Eleven Days right off the Calendar. God may wait, for the living God's a Beast of Prey5, Who waits, and may wait for years.. .yet at last, when least expected, He springs."
"Thank you, Rev,— now when do I get to sell Ale in your Chapel6? Sunday be all right?"
"Nay7, attend him,— the Battle-fields we know, situated8 in Earth's three Dimensions, have also their counterparts in Time,— and if the Popish gain advantage in Time's Reckoning, they may easily carry the Day."
"Why, that they've had, the Day and the Night as well, since 'fifty-two, when we were all taken over onto Roman Whore's Time, and lost eleven days' worth of our own."
Mason pretends to examine his shoe-buckle, trying not to sigh too heavily. Of the many Classics of Idiocy9, this Idiocy of the Eleven Days has join'd the select handful that may never be escap'd. Some have held this Grudge10 for ten years,— not so long, as Grudges11 go. Now that misfor?tune12 has overtaken Bradley's life, do they feel aveng'd at last? He listens to the weary Hymn13 once more, as he has from his father, at this moment but walking-miles distant, still asleep, soon to wake—
"So what the D——l is yerr dear Friend Dr. Bradley up t', he and his
Protectors? Stealing eleven Days? Can that be done?" It seem'd his Father had really been asking.
"No, Pa,— by Act of Parliament, September second next shall be call'd, as ever, September second,— but the day after will be known as 'September fourteenth,' and then all will go on consecutive14, as before."
"But,— 'twill really be September third."
"The third by the Old Style, aye. But ev'ryone will be using the New."
"Then what of the days between? Macclesfield takes them away, and declares they never were?" With a baffled Truculence15 in his Phiz that made Mason equally as anxious to comfort the distress16 it too clearly sig-nal'd, as to avoid the shouting it too often promis'd.
"We can call Days whatever we like. Give them names,— Georgeday, Charlesday,— or Numbers, so long as ev'ryone's clear what they're to be call'd."
"Aye Son, but,— what's become of the Eleven Days? and do you even know? you're telling me they're just.. .gone?" Would he not give this up? The shins of both men began to prickle with unmediated memories of violent collisions between Leather and Bone.
"Cheer ye, Pa, for there's a bright side,— we'll arrive instantly at the fourteenth, gaining eleven days that we didn't have to live through, nor be mark'd by, nor age at all in the course of,— we'll be eleven days younger than we would've been."
"Are you daft? Won't it make my next Birthday be here that much sooner? That's eleven Days older, idiot,— older."
"No," said Mason. "Or...wait a moment,—
"I've people asking me, what Macclesfield will do with the days he is stealing, and why is Dr. Bradley helping17 him, and I tell them, my son will know. And I did hope you'd know."
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking." He now began to quiz himself insomniac18 with this, wond'ring if his father had struggl'd thus with Mason's own ear?lier questions about the World. He invested Precious Sleep in the Ques?tion, and saw not a Farthing's Dividend19.
Mr. Swivett, approaching a facial lividity that would alarm a Physi?cian, were one present, now proclaims, "Not only did they insult the God-given structure of the Year, they also put us on Catholic Time. French Time. We've been fighting France all our Lives, all our Fathers' Lives, France is the Enemy eternal,— why be rul'd by their Calendar?"
"Because their Philosophers and ours," explains Mr. Hailstone, "are all in League, with those in other States of Europe, and the Jesuits too, among them possessing Machines, Powders, Rays, Elixirs20 and such, none less than remarkable,— one, now and then, so daunting21 that even the Agents of Kings must stay their Hands."
"Time, ye see," says the Landlord, "is the money of Science, isn't it. The Philosophers need a Time, common to all, as Traders do a common Coinage."
"Suggesting as well an Interest, in those Events which would occur in several Parts of the Globe at the same Instant."
"Like in the Book of Revelations?"
"Like the Transit22 of Venus, eh Mr. Mason?"
"Yahh!" Mason jumping in surprise. "Thankee, Sir, I never heard that one before."
"Mr. Mason," appeals Mr. Swivett, "you work'd beside Dr. Bradley, at Greenwich,— did the Doctor never bring the matter up? Weren't you personally curious?"
The George is clearly the wrong place to be tonight,— no easier than at Bradley's Bed-Side,— so remains23 he stunn'd at having been sent away, and with such unspeakable Coldness. Yet the spirited expedition into the Deserts of Idiocy Mr. Swivett now proposes, may be just the way for Mason to evade24 for a bit the whole subject of Bradley's dying without ever resolving what yet lies between them. A Gleam more malicious25 than merry creeps into his eyes. "Years before my time, tho' of course one was bound to hear things...," producing his Pipe, pouring Claret into his Cup, and reclining in his Chair. "Aye, the infamous26 conspiracy27 'gainst th' Eleven Days,— hum,— kept sequester'd, as they say, by the younger Macclesfield,— intern'd not as to space, but rather.. .Time."
'Twas in that Schizochronick year of '52, that Macclesfield became President of the Royal Society, continuing so for twelve more Years, till his unfortunate passing. Among the Mobility28, the Post was seen as a
shameless political reward from the Walpole-Gang, for his Theft of the People's Time, and certain proof of his guilt29.
"My Father required but four years as Earl of Macclesfield to bring the Name down," he complain'd to Bradley, around the time the Bill was in Committee, "descending30 thro' Impeachment31, thro' Confinement32 in the Tower, into a kind of popular Attainder,— for the People are now all too ready to believe me a Thief as well. Would that I might restore to them their Days, and be done! Throw them open the Gates of Shirburn Castle, lay on the Barrels of Ale, and Sides of Beef, appear upon a Battlement with mystickal Machines, solemnly set back two hundred sixty-four Hours the hands of the Castle Clock, and declare again the Day its ancient Numbering, to general Huzzahs,— alas33, with all that, who in G-d's Name among them could want eleven more Days? of what? the fur?ther chance that something else dreadful will happen, in a Life of already unbearable34 misfortune?"
"Yet we are mortal," whisper'd Bradley. "Would you spit, my Lord, truly, upon eleven more Days?" He laugh'd carefully. His eyes, ordinar?ily protuberant35, were lately shadow'd and cowl'd. Macclesfield regarded his Employee,— for they were master and servant in this as in all else,— briefly36, before resuming.
"My people are from Leek37, in Staffordshire. For a while, during the summer, the sun sets behind one edge of Cloud Hill, reappears upon the other side, and sets again. I grew up knowing the Sun might set twice,— what are eleven missing days to me?"
Bradley, distracted, forgot to laugh at this pretty Excursion. "What happen'd when you discover'd the rest of the World accustom'd to seeing it set but once, Milord?"
Macclesfield star'd vacantly, his face gone in the Instant to its own Commission'd Portrait,— a response to unwelcome speech perfected by the Class to which he yet aspir'd. Bradley might never have spoken.
Below them the lamps were coming on in the Taverns38, the wind was shaking the Plantations40 of bare Trees, the River ceasing to reflect, as it began to absorb, the last light of the Day. They were out in Greenwich Park, walking near Lord Chesterfield's House,— the Autumn was well advanced, the trees gone to Pen-Strokes and Shadows in crippl'd Plexity, bath'd in the declining light. A keen Wind flow'd about them. Down the
Hill-side, light in colors of the Hearth41 was transmitted by window-panes more and less optickally true. Hounds bark'd in the Forest.
Bradley was fifty-nine that year, Macclesfield four years younger, calling him James this, James that. The older man was in perpetual bad health, did not hunt, ride, nor even fish, had married foolishly, had been entirely42 purchas'd long ago, Aberration43, Nutation, Star Catalogue, and all, tho' he'd denied it successfully to himself.... "Ev'ryone lies, James, each appropriate to his place in the Chain.... We who rule must tell great Lies, whilst ye lower down need only lie a little bit. This is yet another thankless sacrifice we make for you, so that you may not have to feel as much Remorse44 as we do,— as we must. Part of noblesse oblige, as you might say.. .is it so strange that the son of a lawyer who bought and then destroy'd in shame a once-honorable Title, should seek refuge in star?gazing? They betray us not, nor ever do they lie,— they are pure Mathe-sis. Unless they be Moons or Planets, possessing Diameter, each exists as but a dimensionless Point,— a simple pair of Numbers, Right Ascen?sion and Declination....Numbers that you Men of Science are actually
paid, out of the Purses of Kings, to find."
"Fret45 not, Milord," replied Bradley, as if he were being paid to soothe46 the Patron, "— among Brother Lenses, all are welcome."
"Can you warrant me, that you did just now not insult me, James?"
Bradley imagin'd he caught a certain playfulness of Tone, but was unsure how much to wager47 upon that. "I have listen'd to my Lord insult himself for this last Hour,— why should I wish to join in, especially con2?sidering the respect I hold him in?"
"As a Lensman only, of course."
"You make it difficult."
They trudg'd thro' fallen Oak Leaves that sail'd and stirr'd about their Calves48. They smell'd Chimney-Smoke. Blasted Autumn, invader49 of old Bones.
"Here," Mason explains to a small Audience at The George, "purely50, as who might say, dangerously, was Time that must be denied its freedom to elapse. As if, for as long as The Days lay frozen, Mortality itself might present no claims. The Folk for miles around could sense a Presence,— something altogether too frightening for any of the regular servants at Shirburn Castle to go near. Macclesfield had to hire Strangers from far, far to the east."
"The Indies?"
"China?"
"Stepney!"
His Lordship, as Mason relates, requir'd a People who liv'd in quite another relation to Time,— one that did not, like our own, hold at its heart the terror of Time's passage,— far more preferably, Indifference51 to it, pure and transparent52 as possible. The Verbs of their language no more possessing tenses, than their Nouns Case-Endings,— for these People remain'd as careless of Sequences in Time as disengaged from Subjects, Objects, Possession, or indeed anything which might among Englishmen require a Preposition.
"As to Gender,— well, Dear me but that's something else again entirely, isn't it, aye and damme if it isn't— Howbeit,— thro' the good Offices of an Hungarian Intermediary,—
Protest from all in the Company.
"Hey? Genders53? Very well,— of Genders they have three,— Male, Female, and the Third Sex no one talks about,— Dead. What, then, you may be curious to know, are the emotional relations between Male and Dead, Female and Dead, Dead and Dead? Eh? Just so. What of love tri?angles? Do they automatically become Quadrilaterals? With Death no longer in as simple a way parting us, no longer the Barrier nor Sanction that it was, what becomes of Marriage Vows,— how must we redefine Being Faithful... ?" By which he means (so the Revd, who was there in but a representational sense, ghostly as an imperfect narrative54 to be told in futurity, would have guess'd) that Rebekah's visits at St. Helena, if sexual, were profoundly like nothing he knew,— whilst she assum'd that he well understood her obligations among the Dead, and would respond ever as she wish'd. Yet how would he? being allow'd no access to any of those mil?lion'd dramas among the Dead. They were like the Stars to him,— unable to project himself among their enigmatic Gatherings55, he could but observe thro' a mediating56 Instrument. The many-Lens'd Rebekah.
"Thro' the Efforts of Count Paradicsom, in any Case, a Band of these Aliens the Size of a Regiment57, were presently arriv'd in Gloucestershire.
Bless us. Nothing like it since the Druids. They march'd in through the Castle gates playing upon enormous Chimes of Crystal Antimony, and trumpets58 fashion'd from the Bones of ancient Species found lying upon the great unbroken Plain where they dwell, their Music proceeding59, not straight-ahead like an English marching-tune, but rather wandering unpredictably, with no clear beginning, nor end."
"Uniforms?"
"A sturdy sort of Armor head to toe, woven of the low Desert Shrubs60 of their Land."
"Ah, military chaps,— imposing61, as you'd say?"
"Asiatick Pygmies," Mason says, "actually. Yet despite their stature62, any Mob would have thought twice about challenging their right to colo?nize th' Eleven Days.
"Their Commission, that is, their Charter if you like, directed them to inhabit the Days, yet not to allow the Time to elapse. They were expected to set up Households, Farms, Villages, Mills,— an entire Plantation39 in Time."
"And say, do they live there yet? or, rather, 'then'? and have any of the days elaps'd, despite these enigmatick Gaolers?"
"Now and then, a traveler's report.... Geographickally, they're by now diffus'd ev'rywhere obedient to the New-Style Act,— some to America, some out to India,— vacant India! return'd unto wild Dogs and Ser?pents... the breeze off the Hoogli, blowing past the empty door-way of a certain...Black Hole?— and wherever they are, temporally, eleven days to the Tick behind us. Tis all an Eden there, Lads, and only they inhabit it, they and their Generations. 'Tis their great Saga,— the Pygmies' Dis?covery of Great Britain. Arriv'd they cannot say how, nor care, they sleep in our beds, live in our Rooms, eat from our Dishes what we have left in the Larders63, finish our Bottles, play with our Cards and upon our Instru?ments, squat64 upon our Necessaries,— the more curious of them ever pursuing us, as might Historians of Times not yet come, by way of the clues to our lives that they find in Objects we have surrender'd to the Day, or been willing to leave behind at its End,— to them a mystery Nation, relentlessly65 being 'British,' a vast Hive of Ghosts not quite van-ish'd into Futurity...."
"Then...”
"Aye and recall," Mason's Phiz but precariously66 earnest, "where you were, eleven days ago,— saw you anyone really foreign about? Very short, perhaps? Even...Oriental in Aspect?"
"Well,— well yes, now that you,— " recalls Mr. Hailstone, "right out in Parliament-Street, it was, a strange little fellow, head shaved ev'ry-where, red damask robes with gold embellishments, what could in the right circs be call'd a fashionable Hat, a sort of squat Obelisk,— and as cryptickally inscrib'd. Not that I paid all that much Attention, of course, tho' a good number of Citizens, themselves by way of Brims and Cock?ades displaying Headgear Messages a-plenty, were loitering about, try?ing to decipher this Stranger's Hat.. .the odd thing was, he didn't pay any of us the least heed67. Imagine. Stroud Macaronis pok'd at him with their Sticks, Irish servants pass'd Leprechaun remarks, respectable Matrons of the town ventur'd to chuck him under the Chin. All reported a sur?prizing transparency, some a many-color'd Twinkling about the Fringes of his Figure."
"Of course,— for you saw him as he was, in the relative Vacuum of his Plantation,— whilst he, for his Part, believ'd you all to be prankish68 Ghosts he must not acknowledge, fearing who knows what mental harm. You haunted each other."
"Thus, from the Cargo69 of Days, having broken Eleven, precious, untranspir'd, for his Masters to use as they will, having withal conspir'd to deliver our Land unto these strange alien Pygmies, stands Bradley tonight, before the Lord's Assizes, his Soul in the gravest Peril70, let us pray," and Revd Cromorne proceeds to what we in the Trade call Drop the Transom, voice falling to a whisper, Eyelids71 fluttering over Eyeballs of increas'd Albedo, Do excuse me, I'm talking to God here, be with ye as soon as we're done,—
Is Mason going to get angry and into a fight? Will he stand and announce, "This is none of God's judgment,— to be offended as gravely by Calendar Reform as by Mortal Sin, requires a meanness of spirit quite out of the reach of any known Deity,— tho' well within the resources of Stroud, it seems." And walk out thro' their stunn'd ranks to the Embrace of the Night, and never enter the place again? No.— He buys ev'ryone another Pint3, instead, and resigns himself to seeking out his Family tomorrow,— tho' sure Agents of Melancholy72, they sooner or later feel regretful for it, whilst Regret is just the sort of Sentiment that regular life at The George depends on having no part of. The Landlord is kind and forthright73, the Ale as good as any in Britain, the Defenestration of the Clothiers in '56 has inscrib'd the place forever in Legend, and Good Eggs far outnumber Bad Hats,— yet so dismal74 have these late Hours in it been for Mason, as to make him actually look forward to meeting his Relations again.
1 vehement | |
adj.感情强烈的;热烈的;(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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2 con | |
n.反对的观点,反对者,反对票,肺病;vt.精读,学习,默记;adv.反对地,从反面;adj.欺诈的 | |
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3 pint | |
n.品脱 | |
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4 pints | |
n.品脱( pint的名词复数 );一品脱啤酒 | |
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5 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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6 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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7 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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8 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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9 idiocy | |
n.愚蠢 | |
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10 grudge | |
n.不满,怨恨,妒嫉;vt.勉强给,不情愿做 | |
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11 grudges | |
不满,怨恨,妒忌( grudge的名词复数 ) | |
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12 tune | |
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整 | |
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13 hymn | |
n.赞美诗,圣歌,颂歌 | |
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14 consecutive | |
adj.连续的,联贯的,始终一贯的 | |
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15 truculence | |
n.凶猛,粗暴 | |
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16 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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17 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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18 insomniac | |
n.失眠症患者 | |
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19 dividend | |
n.红利,股息;回报,效益 | |
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20 elixirs | |
n.炼金药,长生不老药( elixir的名词复数 );酏剂 | |
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21 daunting | |
adj.使人畏缩的 | |
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22 transit | |
n.经过,运输;vt.穿越,旋转;vi.越过 | |
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23 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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24 evade | |
vt.逃避,回避;避开,躲避 | |
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25 malicious | |
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26 infamous | |
adj.声名狼藉的,臭名昭著的,邪恶的 | |
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27 conspiracy | |
n.阴谋,密谋,共谋 | |
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28 mobility | |
n.可动性,变动性,情感不定 | |
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29 guilt | |
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
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30 descending | |
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31 impeachment | |
n.弹劾;控告;怀疑 | |
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32 confinement | |
n.幽禁,拘留,监禁;分娩;限制,局限 | |
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33 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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34 unbearable | |
adj.不能容忍的;忍受不住的 | |
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35 protuberant | |
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36 briefly | |
adv.简单地,简短地 | |
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37 leek | |
n.韭葱 | |
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38 taverns | |
n.小旅馆,客栈,酒馆( tavern的名词复数 ) | |
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39 plantation | |
n.种植园,大农场 | |
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40 plantations | |
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41 hearth | |
n.壁炉炉床,壁炉地面 | |
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42 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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43 aberration | |
n.离开正路,脱离常规,色差 | |
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44 remorse | |
n.痛恨,悔恨,自责 | |
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45 fret | |
v.(使)烦恼;(使)焦急;(使)腐蚀,(使)磨损 | |
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46 soothe | |
v.安慰;使平静;使减轻;缓和;奉承 | |
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47 wager | |
n.赌注;vt.押注,打赌 | |
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48 calves | |
n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子,腓;腿肚子( calf的名词复数 );牛犊;腓;小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 );(冰川)崩解;生(小牛等),产(犊);使(冰川)崩解 | |
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49 invader | |
n.侵略者,侵犯者,入侵者 | |
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50 purely | |
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51 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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52 transparent | |
adj.明显的,无疑的;透明的 | |
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53 genders | |
n.性某些语言的(阳性、阴性和中性,不同的性有不同的词尾等)( gender的名词复数 );性别;某些语言的(名词、代词和形容词)性的区分 | |
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54 narrative | |
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
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55 gatherings | |
聚集( gathering的名词复数 ); 收集; 采集; 搜集 | |
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56 mediating | |
调停,调解,斡旋( mediate的现在分词 ); 居间促成; 影响…的发生; 使…可能发生 | |
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57 regiment | |
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制 | |
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58 trumpets | |
喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 ); 小号; 喇叭形物; (尤指)绽开的水仙花 | |
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59 proceeding | |
n.行动,进行,(pl.)会议录,学报 | |
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60 shrubs | |
灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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61 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
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62 stature | |
n.(高度)水平,(高度)境界,身高,身材 | |
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63 larders | |
n.(家中的)食物贮藏室,食物橱( larder的名词复数 ) | |
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64 squat | |
v.蹲坐,蹲下;n.蹲下;adj.矮胖的,粗矮的 | |
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65 relentlessly | |
adv.不屈不挠地;残酷地;不间断 | |
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66 precariously | |
adv.不安全地;危险地;碰机会地;不稳定地 | |
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67 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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68 prankish | |
adj.爱开玩笑的,恶作剧的;开玩笑性质的 | |
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69 cargo | |
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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70 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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71 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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72 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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73 forthright | |
adj.直率的,直截了当的 [同]frank | |
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74 dismal | |
adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的 | |
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