It's hot as hell in Martirio, but the papers on the porch are icy with the news. Don't even try to guess who stood all Tuesday night in the road. Clue: snotty ole Mrs Lechuga. Hard to tell if she quivered, or if moths1 and porchlight through the willows2 ruffled3 her skin like funeral satin in a gale4. Either way, dawn showed a puddle5 between her feet. It tells you normal times just ran howling from town. Probably forever. God knows I tried my best to learn the ways of this world, even had inklings we could be glorious; but after all that's happened, the inkles ain't easy anymore. I mean - what kind of fucken life is this?
Now it's Friday at the sheriff's office. Feels like a Friday at school or something. School - don't even fucken mention it.
I sit waiting between shafts6 of light from a row of doorways7, naked except for my shoes and Thursday's underwear. Looks like I'm the first one they rounded up so far. I ain't in trouble, don't get me wrong. I didn't have anything to do with Tuesday. Still, you wouldn't want to be here today. You'd remember Clarence Somebody, that ole black guy who was on the news last winter. He was the psycho who dozed9 in this same wooden hall, right on camera. The news said that's how little he cared about the effects of his crimes. By 'effects' I think they meant axe-wounds. Ole Clarence Whoever was shaved clean like an animal, and dressed in the kind of hospital suit that psychos get, with jelly-jar glasses and all, the type of glasses worn by people with mostly gums and no teeth. They built him a zoo cage in court. Then they sentenced him to death.
I just stare at my Nikes. Jordan New Jacks11, boy. I'd perk12 them up with a spit-wipe, but it seems kind of pointless when I'm naked. Anyway, my fingers are sticky. This ink would survive Armageddon, I swear. Cockroaches13, and this fucken fingerprint14 ink.
A giant shadow melts into the dark end of the corridor. Then comes its owner, a lady. As she approaches, light from a doorway8 snags a Bar-B-Chew Barn box in her arms, along with a bag of my clothes, and a phone that she tries to speak into. She's slow, she's sweaty, her features huddle15 in the middle of her face. Even in uniform you know she's a Gurie. Another officer follows her into the corridor, but she waves him away.
'Let me do the preliminaries - I'll call you for the statement.' She slides the phone back to her mouth and clears her throat. Her voice sharpens up to a squeak16. 'Gh-hrrr, I am not calling you a moron17, I'm explaining that, stuss-tistically, Special Weapons And Tactics can limit the toll18.' She squeaks19 so high that her Barn box falls to the floor. 'Lunch,' she grunts20, bending. 'Only salad, poo - I swear to God.' The call ends when she sees me.
I sit up to hear if my mother came to collect me; but she didn't. I knew she wouldn't, that's how smart I am. I still wait for it though, what a fucken genius. Vernon Genius Little.
The officer dumps the clothes in my lap. 'Walk this way.'
So much for Mom. She'll be pumping the town for sympathy, like she does. 'Well Vern's just devastated,' she'll say. She only calls me Vern around her coffee-morning buddies21, to show how fucken tight we are, instead of all laughably fucked up. If my ole lady came with a user's guide it'd tell you to fuck her off in the end, I guarantee it. Everybody knows Jesus is ultimately to blame for Tuesday; but see Mom? Just the fact I'm helping22 the investigation23 is enough to give her fucken Tourette's Syndrome24, or whatever they call the thing where your arms fly around at random25.
The officer shows me into a room with a table and two chairs. No window, just a picture of my friend Jesus taped to the inside of the door. I get the stained chair. Pulling on my clothes, I try to imagine it's last weekend; just regular, rusty26 moments dripping into town via air-conditioners with missing dials; spaniels trying to drink from sprinklers but getting hit in the nose instead.
'Vernon Gregory Little?' The lady offers me a barbecued rib27. She offers half-heartedly, though, and frankly28 you'd feel sorry to even take the thing when you see the way her chins vibrate over it.
She returns my rib to the box, and picks another for herself. 'Gh-rr, let's start at the beginning. Your habitual29 place of residence is seventeen Beulah Drive?'
'Yes ma'am.'
'Who else resides there?'
'Nobody, just my mom.'
'Doris Eleanor Little …' Barbecue sauce drips onto her name badge. Deputy Vaine Curie it says underneath30. 'And you're fifteen years old? Awkward age.'
Is she fucken kidding or what? My New Jacks rub together for moral support. 'Ma'am - will this take long?'
Her eyes widen for a moment. Then narrow to a squint31. 'Vernon - we're talking accessory to murder here. It'll take as long as it takes.'
'So, but …'
'Don't tell me you weren't close to the Meskin boy. Don't tell me you weren't just about his only friend, don't you tell me that for one second.'
'Ma'am, but I mean, there must be plenty of witnesses who saw more than I did.'
'Is that right?' She looks around the room. 'Well I don't see anyone else here - do you?' Like an asshole I look around. Duh. She catches my eyes and settles them back. 'Mr Little - you do understand why you're here?'
'Sure, I guess.'
'Uh-huh. Let me explain that my job is to uncover the truth. Before you think that's a hard thing to do, I'll remind you that, stuss-tistically, only two major forces govern life in this world. Can you name the two forces underlying32 all life in this world?'
'Uh - wealth and poverty?'
'Not wealth and poverty.'
'Good and evil?'
'No - cause and effect. And before we start I want you to name the two categories of people that inhabit our world. Can you name the two proven categories of people?'
'Causers and effecters?'
'No. Citizens - and liars33. Are you with me, Mister Little? Are you here?'
Like, duh. I want to say, 'No, I'm at the lake with your fucken daughters,' but I don't. For all I know she doesn't even have daughters. Now I'll spend the whole day thinking what I should've said. It's really fucked.
Deputy Gurie tears a strip of meat from a bone; it flaps through her lips like a shit taken backwards35. 'I take it you know what a liar34 is? A liar is a psychopath - someone who paints gray areas between black and white. It's my duty to advise you there are no gray areas. Facts are facts. Or they're lies. Are you here?'
'Yes ma'am.'
'I truly hope so. Can you account for yourself at a quarter after ten Tuesday morning?'
'I was in school.'
'I mean what period.'
'Uh - math.'
Gurie lowers her bone to stare at me. 'What important facts have I only now finished outlining to you, about black and white?'
'I didn't say I was in class …'
A knock at the door saves my Nikes from fusing. A wooden hairdo pokes36 into the room. 'Vernon Little in here? His ma's on the phone.'
'All right, Eileena.' Gurie shoots me a stare that says 'Don't relax' and points her bone at the door. I follow the wooden lady to reception.
I'd be fucken grateful, if it wasn't my ole lady calling. Between you and me, it's like she planted a knife in my back when I was born, and now every fucken noise she makes just gives it a turn. It cuts even deeper now that my daddy ain't around to share the pain. My shoulders round up when I see the phone, my mouth drops open like, duh. Here's exactly what she'll say, in her fuck-me-to-a-cross whimper, she'll say, 'Vernon, are you all right?' I guarantee it.
'Vernon, are you okay?' Feel the blade chop and dice37.
'I'm fine, Ma,' now my voice goes all small and stupid. It's a subliminal38 plea for her not to be pathetic, but it works like pussy39 to a fucken dog.
'Did you use the bathroom today?'
'Hell, Momma …'
'Well you know you get that - inconvenience.'
She ain't so much called to turn the knife, as to replace it with a fucken javelin40 or something. You didn't need to know this, but when I was a kid I used to be kind of unpredictable, for 'Number Twos' anyway. Never mind the slimy details, my ole lady just added the whole affair to my knife, so she could give it a turn every now and then. Once she even wrote about it to my teacher, who had her own stabbing agenda with me, and this bitch mentioned it in class. Can you believe it? I could've bought the farm right there. My knife's like a fucken skewer41 these days, with all the shit that's been added on.
'Well you didn't have time this morning,' she says, 'so I worried that maybe - you know …'
'I'm fine, really.' I stay polite, before she plants the whole fucken Ginzu Knife Set. It's a hostage situation.
'What're you doing?'
'Listening to Deputy Gurie.'
'LuDell Gurie? Well, tell her I know her sister Reyna from Weight Watchers.'
'It ain't LuDell, Ma.'
'If it's Barry you know Pam sees him every other Friday …'
'It ain't Barry. I have to go now.'
'Well, the car still isn't ready and I'm minding an ovenful of joy cakes for the Lechugas, so Parn'll have to pick you up. And Vernon …'
'Uh?'
'Sit up straight in the car - town's crawling with cameras.'
Velcro spiders seize my spine42. You know gray areas are invisible on video. You don't want to be here the day shit gets figured out in black and white. I ain't saying I'm to blame, don't get me wrong. I'm calm about that, see? Under my grief glows a serenity43 that comes from knowing the truth always wins in the end. Why do movies end happy? Because they imitate life. You know it, I know it. But my ole lady lacks that fucken knowledge, big-time.
I shuffle44 up the hall to my pre-stained chair. 'Mister Little,' says Gurie, 'I'm going to start over - that means loosen up some facts, young man. Sheriff Porkorney has firm notions about Tuesday, you should be thankful you only have to talk to me.' She goes to touch her snatch, but diverts to her gun at the last second.
'Ma'am, I was behind the gym, I didn't even see it happen.'
'You said you were in math.'
'I said it was our math period.'
She looks at me sideways. 'You take math behind the gym?'
'No.'
'So why weren't you in class?'
'I ran an errand for Mr Nuckles, and got kind of - held up.'
'Mr Nuckles?'
'Our physics teacher.'
'He teaches math?'
'No.'
'G-hrrr. This area's looking real gray, Mister Little. Damn gray.'
You don't know how bad I want to be Jean-Claude Van Damme. Ram45 her fucken gun up her ass10, and run away with a panty model. But just look at me: clump46 of lawless brown hair, the eyelashes of a camel. Big ole puppy-dog features like God made me through a fucken magnifying glass. You know right away my movie's the one where I puke on my legs, and they send a nurse to interview me instead.
'Ma'am, I have witnesses.'
'Is that right.'
'Mr Nuckles saw me.'
'And who else?' She prods48 the dry bones in her box.
'A bunch of people.'
'Is that right. And where are those people now?'
I try to think where those people are. But the memory doesn't come to my brain, it comes to my eye as a tear that shoots from my lash47 like a soggy bullet. I sit stunned49.
'Exactly,' says Gurie. 'Not real gregarious50, are they? So Vernon - let me ask you two simple questions. One: are you involved with drugs?'
'Uh - no.'
She chases the pupils of my eyes across the wall, then herds51 them back to hers. 'Two: do you possess a firearm?'
'No.'
Her lips tighten52. She pulls her phone from a holster on her belt, and suspends one finger over a key, eyeing me all the while. Then she jabs the key. The theme from Mission: Impossible chirps53 on a phone up the hall. 'Sheriff?' she says. 'You might want to attend the interview room.'
This wouldn't happen if she had more meat in her box. The dismay of no more meat made her seek other comforts, that's something I just learned. Now I'm the fucken meat.
After a minute, the door opens. A strip of buffalo54 leather scrapes into the room, tacked55 around the soul of Sheriff Porkorney. 'This the boy?' he asks. Like, fucken no, it's Dolly Parton. 'Cooperational, Vaine, is he?'
'Can't say he is, sir.'
'Give me a moment with him.' He closes the door behind him.
Gurie retracts56 her tit-fat across the table, turning to the corner like it makes her absent. The sheriff breathes a rod of decay at my face.
'Bothered folk, son, outside. Bothered folk are quick to judge.'
'I wasn't even there, sir - I have witnesses.'
He raises an eyebrow57 to Curie's corner. One of her eyes flicks58 back, 'We're following it up, Sheriff.'
Pulling a clean bone from the Bar-B-Chew Barn box, Porkorney moves to the picture on the door, and traces a line around Jesus' face, his bangs of blood, his forsaken59 eyes. Then he curls a gaze at me. 'He talked to you - didn't he.'
'Not about this, sir.'
'You were close, though, you admit that.'
'I didn't know he was going to kill anybody.'
The sheriff turns to Gurie. 'Examine Little's clothes, did you?'
'My partner did,' she says.
'Undergarments ?'
'Regular Y-fronts.'
Porkorney thinks a moment, chews his lip. 'Check the back of 'em, did you, Vaine? You know certain type of practices can loosen a man's pitoota.'
'They seemed clean, Sheriff.'
I know where this is fucken headed. Typical of where I live that nobody will come right out and say it. I try to muster60 some control. 'Sir, I ain't gay, if that's what you mean. We were friends since childhood, I didn't know how he'd turn out …'
A no-brand smile grows under the sheriff's moustache. 'Regular boy then, are you, son? You like your cars, and your guns? And your - girls?'
'Sure.'
'Okay, all right - let's see if it's true. How many offices does a girl have that you can get more'n one finger into?'
'Offices?'
'Cavities - holes.'
'Uh - two?'
'Wrong.' The sheriff puffs61 up like he just discovered fucken relativity.
Fuck. I mean, how am I supposed to know? I got my fingertip into a hole once, don't ask me which one. It left memories of the Mini-Mart loading-bay after a storm; tangs of soggy cardboard and curdled62 milk. Somehow I don't think that's what your porn industry is talking about. Not like this other girl I know called Taylor Figueroa.
Sheriff Porkorney tosses his bone into the box, nodding to Gurie. 'Get it on record, then hold him.' He creaks out of the room.
'Vaine?' calls an officer through the door. 'Fibers63.'
Gurie re-forms into limbs. 'You heard the sheriff. I'll be back with another officer to take your statement.'
When the rubbing of her thighs64 has faded, I crane my nostrils65 for any vague comfort; a whiff of warm toast, a spearmint breath. But all I whiff, over the sweat and the barbecue sauce, is school - the kind of pulse bullyboys give off when they spot a quiet one, a wordsmith, in a corner. The scent66 of lumber67 being cut for a fucken cross.
收听单词发音 |
1
moths
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| n.蛾( moth的名词复数 ) | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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puddle
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| n.(雨)水坑，泥潭 | |
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shafts
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| 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） | |
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doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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dozed
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| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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jacks
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| n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃 | |
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perk
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| n.额外津贴；赏钱；小费； | |
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cockroaches
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| n.蟑螂( cockroach的名词复数 ) | |
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fingerprint
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| n.指纹；vt.取...的指纹 | |
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huddle
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| vi.挤作一团；蜷缩；vt.聚集；n.挤在一起的人 | |
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squeak
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| n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密 | |
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moron
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| n.极蠢之人，低能儿 | |
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toll
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| n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟) | |
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squeaks
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| n.短促的尖叫声，吱吱声( squeak的名词复数 )v.短促地尖叫( squeak的第三人称单数 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
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grunts
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的第三人称单数 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说； 石鲈 | |
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buddies
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| n.密友( buddy的名词复数 )；同伴；弟兄；（用于称呼男子，常带怒气）家伙v.（如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般）交往( buddy的第三人称单数 )；做朋友；亲近（…）；伴护艾滋病人 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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syndrome
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| n.综合病症；并存特性 | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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rib
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| n.肋骨，肋状物 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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squint
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| v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
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underlying
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| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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liars
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| 说谎者( liar的名词复数 ) | |
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liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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pokes
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| v.伸出( poke的第三人称单数 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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dice
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| n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险 | |
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subliminal
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| adj.下意识的，潜意识的；太弱或太快以至于难以觉察的 | |
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pussy
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| n.(儿语)小猫，猫咪 | |
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javelin
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| n.标枪，投枪 | |
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skewer
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| n.（烤肉用的）串肉杆；v.用杆串好 | |
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spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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shuffle
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| n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走 | |
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ram
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| (random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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prods
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| n.刺，戳( prod的名词复数 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳v.刺，戳( prod的第三人称单数 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳 | |
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49
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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gregarious
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| adj.群居的，喜好群居的 | |
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51
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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tighten
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| v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧 | |
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53
chirps
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| 鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的第三人称单数 )； 啾； 啾啾 | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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55
tacked
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| 用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝 | |
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retracts
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| v.撤回或撤消( retract的第三人称单数 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回 | |
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eyebrow
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| n.眉毛，眉 | |
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flicks
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的第三人称单数 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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59
Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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60
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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61
puffs
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| 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 | |
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62
curdled
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| v.（使）凝结( curdle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
fibers
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| 光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质 | |
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64
thighs
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| n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿 | |
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65
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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66
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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67
lumber
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| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
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