WHEREAS GRENOUILLE had needed seven years for the first stage of his journey through France, he put the second behind him in less than seven days. He no longer avoided busy roads and cities, he made no detours1. He had an odor, he had money, he had self-confidence, and he had no time to lose.
By evening of the day he left Montpellier, he had arrived at Le Grau-du-Roi, a small harbor town southwest of Aigues-Mortes, where he boarded a merchant ship for Marseille. In Marseille he did not even leave the harbor, but immediately sought out a ship that brought him farther along the coast to the east. Two days later he was in Toulon, in three more in Cannes. The rest of the way he traveled on foot. He followed a back road that led up into the hills, northward2 into the interior.
Two hours later he was standing3 on a rise and before him was spread a valley several miles wide, a kind of basin in the landscape-its surrounding rim5 made up of gently rising hills and a ridge6 of steep mountains, its broad bowl covered with fields, gardens, and olive groves7. The basin had its own special, intimate climate. Although the sea was so near that one could see it from the tops of the hills, there was nothing maritime8, nothing salty and sandy, nothing expansive about this climate; instead, it possessed9 a secluded10 tranquillity11 as if you were many days’ journey distant from the coast. And although to the north the high mountains were covered with snow that would remain for a good while yet, it was not in the least raw or barren and no cold wind blew. Spring was further advanced than in Montpellier. A mild haze12 lay like a glass bell over the fields. Apricot and almond trees were in bloom, and the warm air was infused with the scent13 of jonquils.
At the other end of the wide basin, perhaps two miles off, a town lay among-or better, clung to-the rising mountains. From a distance it did not make a particularly grand impression. There was no mighty14 cathedral towering above the houses, just a little stump15 of a church steeple, no commanding fortress16, no magnificent edifice17 of note. The walls appeared anything but defiant-here and there the houses spilled out from their limits, especially in the direction of the plain, lending the outskirts18 a somewhat disheveled look. It was as if the place had been overrun and then retaken so often that it was weary of offering serious resistance to any future intruders- not out of weakness, but out of indolence, or maybe even out of a sense of its own strength. It looked as if it had no need to flaunt19 itself. It reigned20 above the fragrant21 basin at its feet, and that seemed to suffice.
This equally homely22 and self-confident place was the town of Grasse, for decades now the uncontested center for production of and commerce in scents23, perfumes, soaps, and oils. Giuseppe Baldini had always uttered the name with enraptured24 delight. The town was the Rome of scents, the promised land of perfumes, and the man who had not earned his spurs here did not rightfully bear the title of perfumer.
Grenouille gazed very coolly at the town of Grasse. He was not seeking the promised land of perfumers, and his heart did not leap at the sight of this small town clinging to the far slopes. He had come because he knew that he could learn about several techniques for production of scent there better than elsewhere. And he wanted to acquire them, for he needed them for his own purposes. He pulled the flacon with his perfume from his pocket, dabbed26 himself lightly, and continued on his way. An hour and a half later, around noon, he was in Grasse.
He ate at an inn near the top of the town, on the place aux Aires, The square was divided lengthwise by a brook27 where tanners washed their hides and afterwards spread them out to dry. The odor was so pungent28 that many a guest lost his appetite for his meal. But not Grenouille. It was a familiar odor to him; it gave him a sense of security. In every city he always sought out the tanning district first. And then, emerging from that region of stench to explore the other parts of the place, he no longer felt a stranger.
He spent all that afternoon wandering about the town. It was unbelievably filthy29, despite-or perhaps directly because of-all the water that gushed30 from springs and wells, gurgling down through the town in unchanneled rivulets31 and brooks32, undermining the streets or flooding them with muck. In some neighborhoods the houses stood so close together that only a yard-wide space was left for passageways and stairs, forcing pedestrians33 to jostle one another as they waded34 through the mire35. And even in the squares and along the few broader streets, vehicles could hardly get out of each other’s way.
Nevertheless, however filthy, cramped36, and slovenly38, the town was bursting with the bustle39 of commerce. During his tour, Grenouille spotted40 no less than seven soapworks, a dozen master perfumers and glovers, countless41 small distilleries, pomade studios, and spice shops, and finally some seven wholesalers in scents.
These were in fact merchants who completely controlled the wholesale42 supply of scent. One would hardly know it by their houses. The facades43 to the street looked modestly middle class. But what was stored behind them, in warehouses45 and in gigantic cellars, in kegs of oil, in stacks of finest lavender soaps, in demijohns of floral colognes, wines, alcohols, in bales of scented46 leather, in sacks and chests and crates47 stuffed with spices-GrenouilSe smelled out every detail through the thickest walls-these were riches beyond those of princes. And when he smelled his way more penetratingly through the prosaic48 shops and storerooms fronting the streets, he discovered that at the rear of these provincial49 family homes were buildings of the most luxurious50 sort. Around small but exquisite51 gardens, where oleander and palm trees flourished and fountains bordered by ornamental52 flowers leapt, extended the actual residential53 wings, usually built in a U-shape toward the south: on the upper floors, bedchambers drenched54 in sunlight, the walls covered with silk; on the ground floor wainscoted salons55 and dining rooms, sometimes with terraces built out into the open air, where, just as Baldini had said, people ate from porcelain56 with golden cutlery. The gentlemen who lived behind these modest sham57 facades reeked58 of gold and power, of carefully secured riches, and they reeked of it more strongly than anything Grenouille had smelled thus far on his journey through the provinces.
He stopped and stood for a good while in front of one of these camouflaged59 palazzi. The house was at the beginning of the rue60 Droite, a main artery61 that traversed the whole length of the city, from west to east. It was nothing extraordinary to look at, perhaps the front was a little wider and ampler than its neighbors’, but certainly not imposing62. At the gateway63 stood a wagon64 from which kegs were being unloaded down a ramp37. A second vehicle stood waiting. A man with some papers went into the office, came back out with another man, both of them disappeared through the gateway. Grenouille stood on the opposite side of the street and watched the comings and goings. He was not interested in what was happening. And yet he stood there. Something else was holding him fast.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on the odors that came floating to him from the building across the way. There were the odors of the kegs, vinegar and wine, then the hundredfold heavy odors of the warehouse44, then the odors of wealth that the walls exuded65 like a fine golden sweat, and finally the odors of a garden that had to lie on the far side of the building. It was not easy to catch the delicate scents of the garden, for they came only in thin ribbons from over the house’s gables and down into the street. Grenouille discerned magnolia, hyacinth, daphne, and rhododendron... but there seemed to be something else besides, something in the garden that gave off a fatally wonderful scent, a scent so exquisite that in all his life his nose had never before encountered one like it-or, indeed, only once before... He had to get closer to that scent.
He considered whether he ought simply to force his way through the gate and onto the premises66. But meanwhile so many people had become involved in unloading and inventorying67 the kegs that he was sure to be noticed. He decided68 to walk back down the street and find an alley4 or passageway that would perhaps lead him along the far side of the house. Within a few yards he had reached the town gate at the start of the rue Droite. He walked through it, took a sharp left, and followed the town wall downhill. He had not gone far before he smelled the garden, faintly at first, blended with the air from the fields, but then ever more strongly. Finally he knew that he was very close. The garden bordered on the town wall. It was directly beside him. If he moved back a bit, he could see the top branches of the orange trees just over the wall.
Again he closed his eyes. The scents of the garden descended69 upon him, their contours as precise and clear as the colored bands of a rainbow. And that one, that precious one, that one that mattered above all else, was among them. Grenouille turned hot with rapture25 and cold with fear. Blood rushed to his head as if he were a little boy caught red-handed, and then it retreated to his solar plexus, and then rushed up again and retreated again, and he could do nothing to stop it. This attack of scent had come on too suddenly. For a moment, for a breath, for an eternity70 it seemed to him, time was doubled or had disappeared completely, for he no longer knew whether now was now and here was here, or whether now was not in fact then and here there-that is, the rue des Marais in Paris, September 1753. The scent floating out of the garden was the scent of the redheaded girl he had murdered that night. To have found that scent in this world once again brought tears of bliss71 to his eyes- and to know that it could not possibly be true frightened him to death.
He was dizzy, he tottered72 a little and had to support himself against the wall, sinking slowly down against it in a crouch73. Collecting himself and gaining control of his senses, he began to inhale74 the fatal scent in short, less dangerous breaths. And he established that, while the scent from behind the wall bore an extreme resemblance to the scent of the redheaded girl, it was not completely the same. To be sure, it also came from a redheaded girl, there was no doubt of that. In his olfactory75 imagination, Grenouille saw this girl as if in a picture: she was not sitting still, she was jumping about, warming up and then cooling off, apparently76 playing some game in which she had to move quickly and then just as quickly stand still-with a second person, by the way, someone with a totally insignificant77 odor. She had dazzlingly white skin. She had green eyes. She had freckles78 on her face, neck, and breasts... that is-and Grenouille’s breath stopped for a moment, then he sniffed79 more vigorously and tried to suppress the memory of the scent of the girl from the rue des Marais-that is, this girl did not even have breasts in the true sense of the word! She barely had the rudimentary start of breasts. Infinitely80 tender and with hardly any fragrance81, sprinkled with freckles, just beginning to expand, perhaps only in the last few days, perhaps in the last few hours, perhaps only just at this moment-such were the little cupped breasts of this girl. In a word: the girl was still a child. But what a child!
The sweat stood out on Grenouille’s forehead. He knew that children did not have an exceptional scent, any more than green buds of flowers before they blossom. This child behind the wall, however, this bud still almost closed tight, which only just now was sending out its first fragrant tips, unnoticed by anyone except by him, Grenouille-this child already had a scent so terrifyingly celestial82 that once it had unfolded its total glory, it would unleash83 a perfume such as the world had never smelled before. She already smells better now, Grenouille thought, than that girl did back then in the rue des Marais-not as robust84, not as voluminous, but more refined, more richly nuanced, and at the same time more natural. In a year or two this scent will be ripened85 and take on a gravity that no one, man or woman, will be able to escape. People will be overwhelmed, disarmed86, helpless before the magic of this girl, and they will not know why. And because people are stupid and use their noses only for blowing, but believe absolutely anything they see with their eyes, they will say it is because this is a girl with beauty and grace and charm. In their obtuseness87, they will praise the evenness of her features, her slender figure, her faultless breasts. And her eyes, they will say, are like emeralds and her teeth like pearls and her limbs smooth as ivory-and all those other idiotic88 comparisons. And they will elect her Queen of the Jasmine, and she will be painted by stupid portraitists, her picture will be ogled89, and people will say that she is the most beautiful woman in France. And to the strains of mandolins, youths will howl the nights away sitting beneath her window... rich, fat old men will skid90 about on their knees begging her father for her hand... and women of every age will sigh at the sight of her and in their sleep dream of looking as alluring91 as she for just one day. And none of them will know that it is truly not how she looks that has captured them, not her reputed unblemished external beauty, but solely92 her incomparable, splendid scent! Only he would know that, only Grenouille, he alone. He knew it already in fact.
Ah! He wanted to have that scent! Not in the useless, clumsy fashion by which he had had the scent of the girl in the rue des Marais. For he had merely sucked that into himself and destroyed it in the process. No, he wanted truly to possess the scent of this girl behind the wall; to peel it from her like skin and to make her scent his own. How that was to be done, he did not know yet. But he had two years in which to learn. Ultimately it ought to be no more difficult than robbing a rare flower of its perfume.
He stood up, almost reverently93, as if leaving behind something sacred or someone in deep sleep. He moved on, softly, hunched94 over, so that no one might see him, no one might hear him, no one might be made aware of his precious discovery. And so he fled along the wall to the opposite end of the town, where he finally lost the girl’s scent and reentered by way of the Porte des Feneants. He stood in the shadow of the buildings. The stinking95 vapors96 of the streets made him feel secure and helped him to tame the passions that had overcome him. Within fifteen minutes he had grown perfectly97 calm again. To start with, he thought, he would not again approach the vicinity of the garden behind the wall. That was not necessary. It excited him too much. The flower would flourish there without his aid, and he knew already in what manner it would flourish. He dared not intoxicate98 himself with that scent prematurely99. He had to throw himself into his work. He had to broaden his knowledge and perfect the techniques of his craft in order to be equipped for the time of harvest. He had a good two years.
1 detours | |
绕行的路( detour的名词复数 ); 绕道,兜圈子 | |
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2 northward | |
adv.向北;n.北方的地区 | |
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3 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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4 alley | |
n.小巷,胡同;小径,小路 | |
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5 rim | |
n.(圆物的)边,轮缘;边界 | |
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6 ridge | |
n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭 | |
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7 groves | |
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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8 maritime | |
adj.海的,海事的,航海的,近海的,沿海的 | |
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9 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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10 secluded | |
adj.与世隔绝的;隐退的;偏僻的v.使隔开,使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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11 tranquillity | |
n. 平静, 安静 | |
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12 haze | |
n.霾,烟雾;懵懂,迷糊;vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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13 scent | |
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉 | |
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14 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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15 stump | |
n.残株,烟蒂,讲演台;v.砍断,蹒跚而走 | |
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16 fortress | |
n.堡垒,防御工事 | |
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17 edifice | |
n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿,教室) | |
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18 outskirts | |
n.郊外,郊区 | |
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19 flaunt | |
vt.夸耀,夸饰 | |
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20 reigned | |
vi.当政,统治(reign的过去式形式) | |
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21 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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22 homely | |
adj.家常的,简朴的;不漂亮的 | |
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23 scents | |
n.香水( scent的名词复数 );气味;(动物的)臭迹;(尤指狗的)嗅觉 | |
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24 enraptured | |
v.使狂喜( enrapture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25 rapture | |
n.狂喜;全神贯注;着迷;v.使狂喜 | |
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26 dabbed | |
(用某物)轻触( dab的过去式和过去分词 ); 轻而快地擦掉(或抹掉); 快速擦拭; (用某物)轻而快地涂上(或点上)… | |
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27 brook | |
n.小河,溪;v.忍受,容让 | |
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28 pungent | |
adj.(气味、味道)刺激性的,辛辣的;尖锐的 | |
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29 filthy | |
adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的 | |
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30 gushed | |
v.喷,涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 );滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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31 rivulets | |
n.小河,小溪( rivulet的名词复数 ) | |
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32 brooks | |
n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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33 pedestrians | |
n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 ) | |
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34 waded | |
(从水、泥等)蹚,走过,跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35 mire | |
n.泥沼,泥泞;v.使...陷于泥泞,使...陷入困境 | |
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36 cramped | |
a.狭窄的 | |
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37 ramp | |
n.暴怒,斜坡,坡道;vi.作恐吓姿势,暴怒,加速;vt.加速 | |
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38 slovenly | |
adj.懒散的,不整齐的,邋遢的 | |
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39 bustle | |
v.喧扰地忙乱,匆忙,奔忙;n.忙碌;喧闹 | |
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40 spotted | |
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的 | |
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41 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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42 wholesale | |
n.批发;adv.以批发方式;vt.批发,成批出售 | |
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43 facades | |
n.(房屋的)正面( facade的名词复数 );假象,外观 | |
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44 warehouse | |
n.仓库;vt.存入仓库 | |
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45 warehouses | |
仓库,货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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46 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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47 crates | |
n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱 | |
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48 prosaic | |
adj.单调的,无趣的 | |
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49 provincial | |
adj.省的,地方的;n.外省人,乡下人 | |
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50 luxurious | |
adj.精美而昂贵的;豪华的 | |
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51 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
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52 ornamental | |
adj.装饰的;作装饰用的;n.装饰品;观赏植物 | |
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53 residential | |
adj.提供住宿的;居住的;住宅的 | |
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54 drenched | |
adj.湿透的;充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 );在某人(某物)上大量使用(某液体) | |
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55 salons | |
n.(营业性质的)店( salon的名词复数 );厅;沙龙(旧时在上流社会女主人家的例行聚会或聚会场所);(大宅中的)客厅 | |
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56 porcelain | |
n.瓷;adj.瓷的,瓷制的 | |
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57 sham | |
n./adj.假冒(的),虚伪(的) | |
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58 reeked | |
v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的过去式和过去分词 );散发臭气;发出难闻的气味 (of sth);明显带有(令人不快或生疑的跡象) | |
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59 camouflaged | |
v.隐蔽( camouflage的过去式和过去分词 );掩盖;伪装,掩饰 | |
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60 rue | |
n.懊悔,芸香,后悔;v.后悔,悲伤,懊悔 | |
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61 artery | |
n.干线,要道;动脉 | |
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62 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
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63 gateway | |
n.大门口,出入口,途径,方法 | |
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64 wagon | |
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车 | |
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65 exuded | |
v.缓慢流出,渗出,分泌出( exude的过去式和过去分词 );流露出对(某物)的神态或感情 | |
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66 premises | |
n.建筑物,房屋 | |
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67 inventorying | |
vt.编制…的目录(inventory的现在分词形式) | |
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68 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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69 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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70 eternity | |
n.不朽,来世;永恒,无穷 | |
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71 bliss | |
n.狂喜,福佑,天赐的福 | |
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72 tottered | |
v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 );踉跄;蹒跚;摇摇欲坠 | |
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73 crouch | |
v.蹲伏,蜷缩,低头弯腰;n.蹲伏 | |
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74 inhale | |
v.吸入(气体等),吸(烟) | |
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75 olfactory | |
adj.嗅觉的 | |
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76 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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77 insignificant | |
adj.无关紧要的,可忽略的,无意义的 | |
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78 freckles | |
n.雀斑,斑点( freckle的名词复数 ) | |
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79 sniffed | |
v.以鼻吸气,嗅,闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 );抽鼻子(尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气);抱怨,不以为然地说 | |
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80 infinitely | |
adv.无限地,无穷地 | |
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81 fragrance | |
n.芬芳,香味,香气 | |
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82 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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83 unleash | |
vt.发泄,发出;解带子放开 | |
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84 robust | |
adj.强壮的,强健的,粗野的,需要体力的,浓的 | |
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85 ripened | |
v.成熟,使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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86 disarmed | |
v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 );使息怒 | |
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87 obtuseness | |
感觉迟钝 | |
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88 idiotic | |
adj.白痴的 | |
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89 ogled | |
v.(向…)抛媚眼,送秋波( ogle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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90 skid | |
v.打滑 n.滑向一侧;滑道 ,滑轨 | |
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91 alluring | |
adj.吸引人的,迷人的 | |
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92 solely | |
adv.仅仅,唯一地 | |
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93 reverently | |
adv.虔诚地 | |
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94 hunched | |
(常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦)耸肩弓身的,伏首前倾的 | |
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95 stinking | |
adj.臭的,烂醉的,讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 );发臭味;名声臭;糟透 | |
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96 vapors | |
n.水汽,水蒸气,无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 );自夸者;幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁(症)v.自夸,(使)蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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97 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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98 intoxicate | |
vt.使喝醉,使陶醉,使欣喜若狂 | |
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99 prematurely | |
adv.过早地,贸然地 | |
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