Constantine, Palaeologos Dragozes, besieged4 by three hundred thousand Turks, after having appealed in vain for aid to the whole of Christendom, had not been willing to survive the loss of his empire, and had been found in the midst of the dead, close to the Tophana Gate; and on the 30th of May, 1453, Mahomet II had made his entry into Constantinople, where, after a reign5 which had earned for him the surname of 'Fatile', or the Conqueror6, he had died leaving two sons, the elder of whom had ascended7 the throne under the name of Bajazet II.
The accession of the new sultan, however, had not taken place with the tranquillity8 which his right as elder brother and his father's choice of him should have promised. His younger brother, D'jem, better known under the name of Zizimeh, had argued that whereas he was born in the purple—that is, born during the reign of Mahomet—Bajazet was born prior to his epoch9, and was therefore the son of a private individual. This was rather a poor trick; but where force is all and right is naught10, it was good enough to stir up a war. The two brothers, each at the head of an army, met accordingly in Asia in 1482. D'jem was defeated after a seven hours' fight, and pursued by his brother, who gave him no time to rally his army: he was obliged to embark11 from Cilicia, and took refuge in Rhodes, where he implored12 the protection of the Knights13 of St. John. They, not daring to give him an asylum14 in their island so near to Asia, sent him to France, where they had him carefully guarded in one of their commanderies, in spite of the urgency of Cait Bey, Sultan of Egypt, who, having revolted against Bajazet, desired to have the young prince in his army to give his rebellion the appearance of legitimate15 warfare16. The same demand, moreover, with the same political object, had been made successively by Mathias Corvinus, King of Hungary, by Ferdinand, King of Aragon and Sicily, and by Ferdinand, King of Naples.
On his side Bajazet, who knew all the importance of such a rival, if he once allied17 himself with any one of the princes with whom he was at war, had sent ambassadors to Charles VIII, offering, if he would consent to keep D'jem with him, to give him a considerable pension, and to give to France the sovereignty of the Holy Land, so soon as Jerusalem should be conquered by the Sultan of Egypt. The King of France had accepted these terms.
But then Innocent VIII had intervened, and in his turn had claimed D'jem, ostensibly to give support by the claims of the refugee to a crusade which he was preaching against the Turks, but in reality to appropriate the pension of 40,000 ducats to be given by Bajazet to any one of the Christian18 princes who would undertake to be his brother's gaoler. Charles VIII had not dared to refuse to the spiritual head of Christendom a request supported by such holy reasons; and therefore D'jem had quitted France, accompanied by the Grand Master d'Aubusson, under whose direct charge he was; but his guardian19 had consented, for the sake of a cardinal20's hat, to yield up his prisoner. Thus, on the 13th of March, 1489, the unhappy young man, cynosure21 of so many interested eyes, made his solemn entry into Rome, mounted on a superb horse, clothed in a magnificent oriental costume, between the Prior of Auvergne, nephew of the Grand Master d'Aubusson, and Francesco Cibo, the son of the pope.
After this he had remained there, and Bajazet, faithful to promises which it was so much his interest to fulfil, had punctually paid to the sovereign pontiff a pension of 40,000 ducats.
So much for Turkey.
Ferdinand and Isabella were reigning22 in Spain, and were laying the foundations of that vast power which was destined, five-and-twenty years later, to make Charles V declare that the sun never set on his dominions23. In fact, these two sovereigns, on whom history has bestowed24 the name of Catholic, had reconquered in succession nearly all Spain, and driven the Moors25 out of Granada, their last entrenchment26; while two men of genius, Bartolome Diaz and Christopher Columbus, had succeeded, much to the profit of Spain, the one in recovering a lost world, the other in conquering a world yet unknown. They had accordingly, thanks to their victories in the ancient world and their discoveries in the new, acquired an influence at the court of Rome which had never been enjoyed by any of their predecessors27.
So much for Spain.
In France, Charles VIII had succeeded his father, Louis XI, on the 30th of August, 1483. Louis by dint28 of executions, had tranquillised his kingdom and smoothed the way for a child who ascended the throne under the regency of a woman. And the regency had been a glorious one, and had put down the pretensions29 of princes of the blood, put an end to civil wars, and united to the crown all that yet remained of the great independent fiefs. The result was that at the epoch where we now are, here was Charles VIII, about twenty-two years of age, a prince (if we are to believe La Tremouille) little of body but great of heart; a child (if we are to believe Commines) only now making his first flight from the nest, destitute31 of both sense and money, feeble in person, full of self-will, and consorting32 rather with fools than with the wise; lastly, if we are to believe Guicciardini, who was an Italian, might well have brought a somewhat partial judgment33 to bear upon the subject, a young man of little wit concerning the actions of men, but carried away by an ardent34 desire for rule and the acquisition of glory, a desire based far more on his shallow character and impetuosity than on any consciousness of genius: he was an enemy to all fatigue35 and all business, and when he tried to give his attention to it he showed himself always totally wanting in prudence36 and judgment. If anything in him appeared at first sight to be worthy37 of praise, on a closer inspection38 it was found to be something nearer akin30 to vice39 than to virtue40. He was liberal, it is true, but without thought, with no measure and no discrimination. He was sometimes inflexible41 in will; but this was through obstinacy42 rather than a constant mind; and what his flatterers called goodness deserved far more the name of insensibility to injuries or poverty of spirit.
As to his physical appearance, if we are to believe the same author, it was still less admirable, and answered marvellously to his weakness of mind and character. He was small, with a large head, a short thick neck, broad chest, and high shoulders; his thighs43 and legs were long and thin; and as his face also was ugly—and was only redeemed44 by the dignity and force of his glance—and all his limbs were disproportionate with one another, he had rather the appearance of a monster than a man. Such was he whom Fortune was destined to make a conqueror, for whom Heaven was reserving more glory than he had power to carry.
So much for France.
The Imperial throne was occupied by Frederic III, who had been rightly named the Peaceful, not for the reason that he had always maintained peace, but because, having constantly been beaten, he had always been forced to make it. The first proof he had given of this very philosophical45 forbearance was during his journey to Rome, whither he betook himself to be consecrated46. In crossing the Apennines he was attacked by brigands47. They robbed him, but he made no pursuit. And so, encouraged by example and by the impunity48 of lesser49 thieves, the greater ones soon took part in the robberies. Amurath seized part of Hungary. Mathias Corvinus took Lower Austria, and Frederic consoled himself for these usurpations by repeating the maxim50, Forgetfulness is the best cure for the losses we suffer. At the time we have now reached, he had just, after a reign of fifty-three years, affianced his son Maximilian to Marie of Burgundy and had put under the ban of the Empire his son-in-law, Albert of Bavaria, who laid claim to the ownership of the Tyrol. He was therefore too full of his family affairs to be troubled about Italy. Besides, he was busy looking for a motto for the house of Austria, an occupation of the highest importance for a man of the character of Frederic III. This motto, which Charles V was destined almost to render true, was at last discovered, to the great joy of the old emperor, who, judging that he had nothing more to do on earth after he had given this last proof of sagacity, died on the 19th of August, 1493; leaving the empire to his son Maximilian.
This motto was simply founded on the five vowels51, a, e, i, o, u, the initial letters of these five words
"AUSTRIAE EST IMPERARE ORBI UNIVERSO."
This means
"It is the destiny of Austria to rule over the whole world."
So much for Germany.
Now that we have cast a glance over the four nations which were on the way, as we said before, to become European Powers, let us turn our attention to those secondary States which formed a circle more contiguous to Rome, and whose business it was to serve as armour52, so to speak, to the spiritual queen of the world, should it please any of these political giants whom we have described to make encroachments with a view to an attack, on the seas or the mountains, the Adriatic Gulf53 or the Alps, the Mediterranean54 or the Apennines.
These were the kingdom of Naples, the duchy of Milan, the magnificent republic of Florence, and the most serene55 republic of Venice.
The kingdom of Naples was in the hands of the old Ferdinand, whose birth was not only illegitimate, but probably also well within the prohibited degrees. His father, Alfonso of Aragon, received his crown from Giovanna of Naples, who had adopted him as her successor. But since, in the fear of having no heir, the queen on her deathbed had named two instead of one, Alfonso had to sustain his rights against Rene. The two aspirants56 for some time disputed the crown. At last the house of Aragon carried the day over the house of Anjou, and in the course of the year 1442, Alfonso definitely secured his seat on the throne. Of this sort were the claims of the defeated rival which we shall see Charles VIII maintaining later on. Ferdinand had neither the courage nor the genius of his father, and yet he triumphed over his enemies, one after another he had two rivals, both far superior in merit to him self. The one was his nephew, the Count of Viana, who, basing his claim on his uncle's shameful57 birth, commanded the whole Aragonese party; the other was Duke John of Calabria, who commanded the whole Angevin party. Still he managed to hold the two apart, and to keep himself on the throne by dint of his prudence, which often verged58 upon duplicity. He had a cultivated mind, and had studied the sciences—above all, law. He was of middle height, with a large handsome head, his brow open and admirably framed in beautiful white hair, which fell nearly down to his shoulders. Moreover, though he had rarely exercised his physical strength in arms, this strength was so great that one day, when he happened to be on the square of the Mercato Nuovo at Naples, he seized by the horns a bull that had escaped and stopped him short, in spite of all the efforts the animal made to escape from his hands. Now the election of Alexander had caused him great uneasiness, and in spite of his usual prudence he had not been able to restrain himself from saying before the bearer of the news that not only did he fail to rejoice in this election, but also that he did not think that any Christian could rejoice in it, seeing that Borgia, having always been a bad man, would certainly make a bad pope. To this he added that, even were the choice an excellent one and such as would please everybody else, it would be none the less fatal to the house of Aragon, although Roderigo was born her subject and owed to her the origin and progress of his fortunes; for wherever reasons of state come in, the ties of blood and parentage are soon forgotten, and, 'a fortiori', relations arising from the obligations of nationality.
Thus, one may see that Ferdinand judged Alexander VI with his usual perspicacity59; this, however, did not hinder him, as we shall soon perceive, from being the first to contract an alliance with him.
The duchy of Milan belonged nominally60 to John Galeazzo, grandson of Francesco Sforza, who had seized it by violence on the 26th of February, 1450, and bequeathed it to his son, Galeazzo Maria, father of the young prince now reigning; we say nominally, because the real master of the Milanese was at this period not the legitimate heir who was supposed to possess it, but his uncle Ludovico, surnamed 'il Moro', because of the mulberry tree which he bore in his arms. After being exiled with his two brothers, Philip who died of poison in 1479, and Ascanio who became the cardinal, he returned to Milan some days after the assassination61 of Galeazzo Maria, which took place on the 26th of December 1476, in St. Stephen's Church, and assumed the regency for the young duke, who at that time was only eight years old. From now onward62, even after his nephew had reached the age of two-and-twenty, Ludovico continued to rule, and according to all probabilities was destined to rule a long time yet; for, some days after the poor young man had shown a desire to take the reins63 himself, he had fallen sick, and it was said, and not in a whisper, that he had taken one of those slow but mortal poisons of which princes made so frequent a use at this period, that, even when a malady64 was natural, a cause was always sought connected with some great man's interests. However it may have been, Ludovico had relegated65 his nephew, now too weak to busy himself henceforward with the affairs of his duchy, to the castle of Pavia, where he lay and languished66 under the eyes of his wife Isabella, daughter of King Ferdinand of Naples.
As to Ludovico, he was an ambitious man, full of courage and astuteness67, familiar with the sword and with poison, which he used alternately, according to the occasion, without feeling any repugnance68 or any predilection69 for either of them; but quite decided70 to be his nephew's heir whether he died or lived.
Florence, although she had preserved the name of a republic, had little by little lost all her liberties, and belonged in fact, if not by right, to Piero dei Medici, to whom she had been bequeathed as a paternal71 legacy72 by Lorenzo, as we have seen, at the risk of his soul's salvation73.
The son, unfortunately, was far from having the genius of his father: he was handsome, it is true, whereas Lorenzo, on the contrary, was remarkably74 ugly; he had an agreeable, musical voice, whereas Lorenzo had always spoken through his nose; he was instructed in Latin and Greek, his conversation was pleasant and easy, and he improvised75 verses almost as well as the so-called Magnificent; but he was both ignorant of political affairs and haughtily76 insolent77 in his behaviour to those who had made them their study. Added to this, he was an ardent lover of pleasure, passionately78 addicted79 to women, incessantly80 occupied with bodily exercises that should make him shine in their eyes, above all with tennis, a game at which he very highly excelled: he promised himself that, when the period of mourning was fast, he would occupy the attention not only of Florence but of the whole of Italy, by the splendour of his courts and the renown81 of his fetes. Piero dei Medici had at any rate formed this plan; but Heaven decreed otherwise.
As to the most serene republic of Venice, whose doge was Agostino Barbarigo, she had attained82, at the time we have reached, to her highest degree of power and splendour. From Cadiz to the Palus Maeotis, there was no port that was not open to her thousand ships; she possessed83 in Italy, beyond the coastline of the canals and the ancient duchy of Venice, the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia, Crema, Verona, Vicenza, and Padua; she owned the marches of Treviso, which comprehend the districts of Feltre, Belluno, Cadore, Polesella of Rovigo, and the principality of Ravenna; she also owned the Friuli, except Aquileia; Istria, except Trieste; she owned, on the east side of the Gulf, Zara, Spalatra, and the shore of Albania; in the Ionian Sea, the islands of Zante and Corfu; in Greece, Lepanto and Patras; in the Morea, Morone, Corone, Neapolis, and Argos; lastly, in the Archipelago, besides several little towns and stations on the coast, she owned Candia and the kingdom of Cyprus.
Thus from the mouth of the Po to the eastern extremity84 of the Mediterranean, the most serene republic was mistress of the whole coastline, and Italy and Greece seemed to be mere85 suburbs of Venice.
In the intervals86 of space left free between Naples, Milan, Florence, and Venice, petty tyrants87 had arisen who exercised an absolute sovereignty over their territories: thus the Colonnas were at Ostia and at Nettuna, the Montefeltri at Urbino, the Manfredi at Faenza, the Bentivogli at Bologna, the Malatesta family at Rimini, the Vitelli at Citta di Castello, the Baglioni at Perugia, the Orsini at Vicovaro, and the princes of Este at Ferrara.
Finally, in the centre of this immense circle, composed of great Powers, of secondary States, and of little tyrannies, Rome was set on high, the most exalted88, yet the weakest of all, without influence, without lands, without an army, without gold. It was the concern of the new pope to secure all this: let us see, therefore, what manner of man was this Alexander VI, for undertaking89 and accomplishing such a project.
点击收听单词发音
1 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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2 destined | |
adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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3 coveted | |
adj.令人垂涎的;垂涎的,梦寐以求的v.贪求,觊觎(covet的过去分词);垂涎;贪图 | |
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4 besieged | |
包围,围困,围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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6 conqueror | |
n.征服者,胜利者 | |
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7 ascended | |
v.上升,攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8 tranquillity | |
n. 平静, 安静 | |
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9 epoch | |
n.(新)时代;历元 | |
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10 naught | |
n.无,零 [=nought] | |
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11 embark | |
vi.乘船,着手,从事,上飞机 | |
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12 implored | |
恳求或乞求(某人)( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13 knights | |
骑士; (中古时代的)武士( knight的名词复数 ); 骑士; 爵士; (国际象棋中)马 | |
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14 asylum | |
n.避难所,庇护所,避难 | |
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15 legitimate | |
adj.合法的,合理的,合乎逻辑的;v.使合法 | |
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16 warfare | |
n.战争(状态);斗争;冲突 | |
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17 allied | |
adj.协约国的;同盟国的 | |
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18 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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19 guardian | |
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者 | |
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20 cardinal | |
n.(天主教的)红衣主教;adj.首要的,基本的 | |
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21 cynosure | |
n.焦点 | |
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22 reigning | |
adj.统治的,起支配作用的 | |
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23 dominions | |
统治权( dominion的名词复数 ); 领土; 疆土; 版图 | |
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24 bestowed | |
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25 moors | |
v.停泊,系泊(船只)( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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26 entrenchment | |
n.壕沟,防御设施 | |
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27 predecessors | |
n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 );前辈;(被取代的)原有事物;前身 | |
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28 dint | |
n.由于,靠;凹坑 | |
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29 pretensions | |
自称( pretension的名词复数 ); 自命不凡; 要求; 权力 | |
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30 akin | |
adj.同族的,类似的 | |
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31 destitute | |
adj.缺乏的;穷困的 | |
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32 consorting | |
v.结伴( consort的现在分词 );交往;相称;调和 | |
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33 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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34 ardent | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的 | |
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35 fatigue | |
n.疲劳,劳累 | |
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36 prudence | |
n.谨慎,精明,节俭 | |
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37 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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38 inspection | |
n.检查,审查,检阅 | |
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39 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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40 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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41 inflexible | |
adj.不可改变的,不受影响的,不屈服的 | |
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42 obstinacy | |
n.顽固;(病痛等)难治 | |
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43 thighs | |
n.股,大腿( thigh的名词复数 );食用的鸡(等的)腿 | |
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44 redeemed | |
adj. 可赎回的,可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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45 philosophical | |
adj.哲学家的,哲学上的,达观的 | |
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46 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 | |
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47 brigands | |
n.土匪,强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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48 impunity | |
n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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49 lesser | |
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地 | |
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50 maxim | |
n.格言,箴言 | |
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51 vowels | |
n.元音,元音字母( vowel的名词复数 ) | |
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52 armour | |
(=armor)n.盔甲;装甲部队 | |
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53 gulf | |
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂 | |
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54 Mediterranean | |
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的 | |
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55 serene | |
adj. 安详的,宁静的,平静的 | |
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56 aspirants | |
n.有志向或渴望获得…的人( aspirant的名词复数 )v.渴望的,有抱负的,追求名誉或地位的( aspirant的第三人称单数 );有志向或渴望获得…的人 | |
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57 shameful | |
adj.可耻的,不道德的 | |
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58 verged | |
接近,逼近(verge的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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59 perspicacity | |
n. 敏锐, 聪明, 洞察力 | |
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60 nominally | |
在名义上,表面地; 应名儿 | |
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61 assassination | |
n.暗杀;暗杀事件 | |
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62 onward | |
adj.向前的,前进的;adv.向前,前进,在先 | |
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63 reins | |
感情,激情; 缰( rein的名词复数 ); 控制手段; 掌管; (成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的)保护带 | |
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64 malady | |
n.病,疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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65 relegated | |
v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 );使降职;转移;把…归类 | |
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66 languished | |
长期受苦( languish的过去式和过去分词 ); 受折磨; 变得(越来越)衰弱; 因渴望而变得憔悴或闷闷不乐 | |
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67 astuteness | |
n.敏锐;精明;机敏 | |
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68 repugnance | |
n.嫌恶 | |
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69 predilection | |
n.偏好 | |
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70 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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71 paternal | |
adj.父亲的,像父亲的,父系的,父方的 | |
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72 legacy | |
n.遗产,遗赠;先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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73 salvation | |
n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困 | |
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74 remarkably | |
ad.不同寻常地,相当地 | |
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75 improvised | |
a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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76 haughtily | |
adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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77 insolent | |
adj.傲慢的,无理的 | |
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78 passionately | |
ad.热烈地,激烈地 | |
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79 addicted | |
adj.沉溺于....的,对...上瘾的 | |
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80 incessantly | |
ad.不停地 | |
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81 renown | |
n.声誉,名望 | |
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82 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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83 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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84 extremity | |
n.末端,尽头;尽力;终极;极度 | |
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85 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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86 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
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87 tyrants | |
专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 ); 暴君似的人; (古希腊的)僭主; 严酷的事物 | |
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88 exalted | |
adj.(地位等)高的,崇高的;尊贵的,高尚的 | |
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89 undertaking | |
n.保证,许诺,事业 | |
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