What next? Banneker put the query1 to himself with more seriousness than he had hitherto given to estimating the future. Money, as he told Betty Raleigh, had never concerned him much. His start at fifteen dollars a week had been more than he expected; and though his one weekly evening of mild sybaritism ate up all his margin2, and his successful sartorial3 experiments consumed his private surplus, he had no cause for worry, since his salary had been shortly increased to twenty, and even more shortly thereafter to twenty-five. Now it was a poor week in which he did not exceed the hundred. All of it went, rather more fluently than had the original fifteen. Frugal4 though he could be in normal expenditures5, the rental6 of his little but fashionably situated7 apartment, his new club expenses, his polo outfit8, and his occasional associations with the after-theater clique9, which centered at The Avon, caused the debit10 column to mount with astonishing facility. Furthermore, through his Western associations he had an opportunity to pick up two half-broken polo ponies11 at bargain prices. He had practically decided12 to buy them. Their keep would be a serious item. He must have more money. How to get it? Harder work was the obvious answer. Labor13 had no terrors for Banneker. Mentally he was a hardened athlete, always in training. Being wise and self-protective, he did no writing on his day off. But except for this period of complete relaxation15, he gave himself no respite16. Any morning which did not find him writing in his den14, after a light, working breakfast, he put in at the Library near by, insatiably reading economics, sociology, politics, science, the more serious magazines, and always the news and comments of the day. He was possessed17 of an assertive18 and sane19 curiosity to know what was going on in the world, an exigence which pressed upon him like a healthy appetite, the stimulus20 of his hard-trained mental condition. The satisfaction of this demand did not pay an immediate21 return; he obtained little or no actual material to be transmuted22 into the coin of so-much-per-column, except as he came upon suggestions for editorial use; and, since his earlier experience of The Ledger23's editorial method with contributions (which he considered light-fingered), he had forsworn this medium. Notwithstanding this, he wrote or sketched25 out many an editorial which would have astonished, and some which would have benefited, the Inside Room where the presiding genius, malicious26 and scholarly, dipped his pen alternately into luminous27 ether and undiluted venom28. Some day, Banneker was sure, he himself was going to say things editorially.
His opinion of the editorial output in general was unflattering. It seemed to him bound by formalism and incredibly blind to the immense and vivid interest of the news whereby it was surrounded, as if a man, set down in a meadow full of deep and clear springs, should elect to drink from a shallow, torpid29, and muddy trickle30. Legislation, taxes, transportation problems, the Greatness of Our City, our National Duty (whatever it might be at the time--and according to opinion), the drink question, the race problem, labor and capital; these were the reiterated31 topics, dealt with informatively32 often, sometimes wittily33, seldom impartially34. But, at best, this was but the creaking mechanism35 of the artificial structure of society, and it was varied36 only by an occasional literary or artistic37 sally, or a preachment in the terms of a convinced moralization upon the unvarying text that the wages of sin is death. Why not a touch of humanism, now and again, thought Banneker, following the inevitable38 parallels in paper after paper; a ray of light striking through into the life-texture beneath?
By way of experiment he watched the tide of readers, flowing through the newspaper room of the Public Library, to ascertain39 what they read. Not one in thirty paid any attention to the editorial pages. Essaying farther afield, he attended church on several occasions. His suspicions were confirmed; from the pulpit he heard, addressed to scanty40 congregations, the same carefully phrased, strictly41 correct comments, now dealing42, however, with the mechanism of another world. The chief point of difference was that the newspaper editorials were, on the whole, more felicitously43 worded and more compactly thought out. Essentially45, however, the two ran parallel.
Banneker wondered whether the editorial rostrum, too, was fated to deliver its would-be authoritative46 message to an audience which threatened to dwindle47 to the vanishing point. Who read those carefully wrought48 columns in The Ledger? Pot-bellied chair-warmers in clubs; hastening business men appreciative49 of the daily assurance that stability is the primal50 and final blessing51, discontent the cardinal52 sin, the extant system perfect and holy, and any change a wile53 of the forces of destruction--as if the human race had evoluted by the power of standing24 still! For the man in the street they held no message. No; nor for the woman in the home. Banneker thought of young Smith of the yacht and the coming millions, with a newspaper waiting to drop into his hands. He wished he could have that newspaper--any newspaper, for a year. He'd make the man in the street sit up and read his editorials. Yes, and the woman in the home. Why not the boy and the girl in school, also? Any writer, really master of his pen, ought to be able to make even a problem in algebra54 editorially interesting!
And if he could make it interesting, he could make it pay.... But how was he to profit by all this hard work, this conscientious55 technical training to which he was devoting himself? True, it was improving his style. But for the purposes of Ledger reporting, he wrote quite well enough. Betterment here might be artistically56 satisfactory; financially it would be fruitless. Already his space bills were the largest, consistently, on the staff, due chiefly to his indefatigable57 industry in devoting every spare office hour to writing his "Eban" sketches58, now paid at sixteen dollars a column, and Sunday "specials." He might push this up a little, but not much.
From the magazine field, expectations were meager59 in the immediate sense. True, The Bon Vivant had accepted the story which The Era rejected; but it had paid only seventy-five dollars. Banneker did not care to go farther on that path. Aside from the unsatisfactory return, his fastidiousness revolted from being identified with the output of a third-class and flashy publication. Whatever The Ledger's shortcomings, it at least stood first in its field. But was there any future for him there, other than as a conspicuously61 well-paid reporter? In spite of the critical situation which his story of the Sippiac riots had brought about, he knew that he was safe as long as he wished to stay.
"You're too valuable to lose," said Tommy Burt, swinging his pudgy legs over Banneker's desk, having finished one of his mirthful stories of a row between a wine agent and a theatrical62 manager over a doubly reserved table in a conspicuous60 restaurant. "Otherwise--phutt! But they'll be very careful what kind of assignments they hand over to your reckless hands in future. You mustn't throw expensive and brittle63 conventions at the editor's head. They smash."
"And the fragments come back and cut. I know. But what does it all lead to, Tommy?"
"Depends on which way you're going."
"To the top, naturally."
"From anybody else that would sound blatant64, Ban," returned Tommy admiringly. "Somehow you get away with it. Are you as sincere as you act?"
"In so far as my intentions go. Of course, I may trip up and break myself in two."
"No. You'll always fall light. There's a buoyancy about you.... But what about coming to the end of the path and finding nowhere else to proceed?"
"Paragon65 of wisdom, you have stated the situation. Now produce the answer."
"More money?" inquired Tommy.
"More money. More opportunity."
"Then you've got to aim at the executive end. Begin by taking a copy-desk."
"At forty a week?"
"It isn't so long ago that twenty-five looked pretty big to you, Ban."
"A couple of centuries ago," stated Banneker positively66. "Forty a week wouldn't keep me alive now."
"You could write a lot of specials. Or do outside work."
"Perhaps. But what would a desk lead to?
"City editor. Night city editor. Night editor. Managing editor at fifteen thou."
"After ten years. If one has the patience. I haven't. Besides, what chance would _I_ have?'
"None, with the present lot in the Inside Room. You're a heretic. You're unsound. You've got dangerous ideas--accent on the dangerous. I doubt if they'd even trust you with a blue pencil. You might inject something radical67 into a thirty-head."
"Tommy," said Banneker, "I'm still new at this game. What becomes of star reporters?"
"Drink," replied Tommy brusquely.
"Rats!" retorted Banneker. "That's guff. There aren't three heavy drinkers in this office."
"A lot of the best men go that way," persisted Burt. "It's the late hours and the irregular life, I suppose. Some drift out into other lines. This office has trained a lot of playwrights68 and authors and ad-men."
"But some must stick."
"They play out early. The game is too hard. They get to be hacks69. _Or_ permanent desk-men. D'you know Philander70 Akely?"
"Who is he?"
"Ask me who he _was_ and I'll tell you. He was the brilliant youngster, the coruscating71 firework, the--the Banneker of ten years ago. Come into the den and meet him."
In one of the inner rooms Banneker was introduced to a fragile, desiccated-looking man languidly engaged in scissoring newspaper after newspaper which he took from a pile and cast upon the floor after operation. The clippings he filed in envelopes. A checkerboard lay on the table beside him.
"Do you play draughts72, Mr. Banneker?" he asked in a rumbling73 bass74.
"Very little and very poorly."
The other sighed. "It is pure logic75, in the form of contest. Far more so than chess, which is merely sustained effort of concentration. Are you interested in emblemology?"
"I'm afraid I know almost nothing of it," confessed Banneker.
Akely sighed again, gave Banneker a glance which proclaimed an utter lack of interest, and plunged76 his shears77 into the editorial vitals of the Springfield Republican. Tommy Burt led the surprised Banneker away.
"Dried up, played out, and given a measly thirty-five a week as hopper-feeder for the editorial room," he announced. "And he was the star man of his time."
"That's pretty rotten treatment for him, then," said Banneker indignantly.
"Not a bit of it. He isn't worth what he gets. Most offices would have chucked him out on the street."
"What was his trouble?"
"Nothing in particular. Just wore his machine out. Everything going out, nothing coming in. He spun78 out enough high-class copy to keep the ordinary reporter going for a life-time; but he spun it out too fast. Nothing left. The tragedy of it is that he's quite happy."
"Then it isn't a tragedy at all."
"Depends on whether you take the Christian79 or the Buddhist80 point of view. He's found his Nirvana in checker problems and collecting literature about insignia. Write? I don't suppose he'd want to if he could. 'There but for the grace of God goes'--you or I. _I_ think the _facilis descensus_ to the gutter81 is almost preferable."
"So you've shown him to me as a dreadful warning, have you, Tommy?" mused82 Banneker aloud.
"Get out of it, Ban; get out of it."
"Why don't you get out of it yourself?"
"Inertia83. Or cowardice84. And then, I haven't come to the turning-point yet. When I do reach it, perhaps it'll be too late."
"What do you reckon the turning-point?"
"As long as you feel the excitement of the game," explained this veteran of thirty, "you're all right. That will keep you going; the sense of adventure, of change, of being in the thick of things. But there's an underlying85 monotony, so they tell me: the monotony of seeing things by glimpses, of never really completing a job, of being inside important things, but never of them. That gets into your veins86 like a clogging87 poison. Then you're through. Quit it, Ban, before it's too late."
"No. I'm not going to quit the game. It's my game. I'm going to beat it."
"Maybe. You've got the brains. But I think you're too stiff in the backbone88. Go-to-hell-if-you-don't-like-the-way-I-do-it may be all right for a hundred-dollar-a-week job; but it doesn't get you a managing editorship at fifteen to twenty thousand. Even if it did, you'd give up the go-to-hell attitude as soon as you landed, for fear it would cost you your job and be too dear a luxury."
"All right, Mr. Walpole," laughed Banneker. "When I find what my price is, I'll let you know. Meantime I'll think over your well-meant advice."
If the normal way of advancement89 were closed to him in The Ledger office because of his unsound and rebellious90 attitude on social and labor questions, there might be better opportunities in other offices, Banneker reflected.
Before taking any step he decided to talk over the general situation with that experienced campaigner, Russell Edmonds. Him and his diminutive91 pipe he found at Katie's, after most of the diners had left. The veteran nodded when Banneker told him of his having reached what appeared to be a _cul-de-sac_.
"It's about time you quit," said Edmonds vigorously.
"You've changed your mind?"
The elder nodded between two spirals of smoke which gave him the appearance of an important godling delivering oracles92 through incense93. "That was a dam' bad story you wrote of the Sippiac killings94."
"I didn't write it."
"Didn't uh? You were there."
"My story went to the office cat."
"What was the stuff they printed? Amalgamated95 Wire Association?"
"No. Machine-made rewrite in the office."
"It wasn't dishonest. The Ledger's too clever for that. It was unhonest. You can't be both neutral and fair on cold-blooded murder."
"You weren't precisely96 neutral in The Courier."
Edmonds chuckled97. "I did rather put it over on the paper. But that was easy. Simply a matter of lining98 up the facts in logical sequence."
"Horace Vanney says you're an anarchist99."
"It's mutual100. I think he's one. To hell with all laws and rights that discommode101 _Me_ and _My_ interests. That's the Vanney platform."
"He thinks he ought to have advertised."
"Wise guy! So he ought."
It required six long, hard puffs103 to elicit44 from Edmonds the opinion: "He'd have got it. Partly. Not all he paid for."
"Not from The Ledger," said Banneker jealously. "We're independent in that respect."
Edmonds laughed. "You don't have to bribe104 your own heeler. The Ledger believes in Vanney's kind of anarchism, as in a religion."
"Could he have bought off The Courier?"
"Nothing as raw as that. But it's quite possible that if the Sippiac Mills had been a heavy advertiser, the paper wouldn't have sent me to the riots. Some one more sympathetic, maybe."
"Didn't they kick on your story?"
"Who? The mill people? Howled!"
"But it didn't get them anything?"
"Didn't it! You know how difficult it is to get anything for publication out of old Rockface Enderby. Well, I had a brilliant idea that this was something he'd talk about. Law Enforcement stuff, you know. And he did. Gave me a hummer of an interview. Tore the guts105 out of the mill-owners for violating all sorts of laws, and put it up that the mill-guards were themselves a lawless organization. There's nothing timid about Enderby. Why, we'd have started a controversy106 that would be going yet."
"Well, why didn't you?"
"Interview was killed," replied Edmonds, grinning ruefully. "For the best interests of the paper. That's what the Vanney crowd's kick got them."
"Pop, what do you make of Willis Enderby?"
"Oh, he's plodding107 along only a couple of decades behind his time."
"A reactionary108?"
"Didn't I say he was plodding along? A reactionary is immovable except in the wrong direction. Enderby's a conservative."
"As a socialist109 you're against any one who isn't as radical as you are."
"I'm not against Willis Enderby. I'm for him," grunted110 the veteran.
"Why; if he's a conservative?"
"Oh, as for that, I can bring a long indictment111 against him. He's a firm believer in the capitalistic system. He's enslaved to the old economic theories, supply and demand, and all that rubbish from the ruins of ancient Rome. He believes that gold is the only sound material for pillars of society. The aristocratic idea is in his bones." Edmonds, by a feat112 of virtuosity113, sent a thin, straight column of smoke, as it might have been an allegorical and sardonic114 pillar itself, almost to the ceiling. "But he believes in fair play. Free speech. Open field. The rigor115 of the game. He's a sportsman in life and affairs. That's why he's dangerous."
"Dangerous? To whom?"
"To the established order. To the present system. Why, son, all we Socialists116 ask is fair play. Give us an even chance for labor, for the proletariat; an even show before the courts, an open forum117 in the newspapers, the right to organize as capital organizes, and we'll win. If we can't win, we deserve to lose. I say that men like Willis Enderby are our strongest supporters."
"Probably he thinks his side will win, under the strict rules of the game."
"Of course. But if he didn't, he'd still be for fair play, to the last inch."
"That's a pretty fine thing to say of a man, Pop."
"It's a pretty fine man," said Edmonds.
"What does Enderby want? What is he after?"
"For himself? Nothing. It's something to be known as the ablest honest lawyer in New York. Or, you can turn it around and say he's the honestest able lawyer in New York. I think, myself, you wouldn't be far astray if you said the ablest and honestest. No; he doesn't want anything more than what he's got: his position, his money, his reputation. Why should he? But it's going to be forced on him one of these days."
"Politically?"
"Yes. Whatever there is of leadership in the reform element here centers in him. It's only a question of time when he'll have to carry the standard."
"I'd like to be able to fall in behind him when the time comes."
"On The Ledger?" grunted Edmonds.
"But I shan't be on The Ledger when the time comes. Not if I can find any other place to go."
"Plenty of places," affirmed Edmonds positively.
"Yes; but will they give me the chance I want?"
"Not unless you make it for yourself. But let's canvass118 'em. You want a morning paper."
"Yes. Not enough salary in the evening field."
"Well: you've thought of The Sphere first, I suppose."
"Naturally. I like their editorial policy. Their news policy makes me seasick119."
"I'm not so strong for the editorials. They're always for reform and never for progress."
"Ah, but that's epigram."
"It's true, nevertheless. The Sphere is always tiptoeing up to the edge of some decisive policy, and then running back in alarm. What of The Observer? They're looking for new blood."
"The Observer! O Lord! Preaches the eternal banalities and believes them the eternal verities120."
"Epigram, yourself," grinned Edmonds. "Well, The Monitor?"
"The three-card Monitor, and marked cards at that."
"Yes; you'd have to watch the play. The Graphic121 then?"
"Nothing but an ornamental122 ghost. The ghost of a once handsomely kept lady. I don't aspire123 to write daily epitaphs."
"And The Messenger I suppose you wouldn't even call a kept lady. Too common. Babylonian stuff. But The Express is respectable enough for anybody."
"And conscious of it in every issue. One long and pious124 scold, after a high-minded, bad-tempered125 formula of its own."
"Then I'll give you a motto for your Ledger." Edmonds puffed126 it out enjoyably,--decorated with bluish and delicate whorls. "'_Meliora video proboque, deleriora sequor_.'"
"No; I won't have that. The last part will do; we do follow the worser way; but if we see the better, we don't approve it. We don't even recognize it as the better. We're honestly convinced in our advocacy of the devil."
"I don't know that we're honestly convinced of anything on The Courier, except of the desirability of keeping friendly with everybody. But such as we are, we'd grab at you."
"No; thanks, Pop. You yourself are enough in the troubled-water duckling line for one old hen like The Courier."
"Then there remains127 only The Patriot128, friend of the Pee-pul."
"Skimmed scum," was Banneker's prompt definition. "And nothing in the soup underneath129."
Ernst, the waiter, scuttled130 across the floor below, and disappeared back of the L-angle a few feet away.
"Somebody's dining there," remarked Edmonds, "while we've been stripping the character off every paper in the field."
"May it be all the editors and owners in a lump!" said Banneker. "I'm sorry I didn't talk louder. I'm feeling reckless."
"Bad frame of mind for a man seeking a job. By the way, what _are_ you out after, exactly? Aiming at the editorial page, aren't you?"
Banneker leaned over the table, his face earnest to the point of somberness. "Pop," he said, "you know I can write."
"You can write like the devil," Edmonds offered up on twin supports of vapor131.
"Yes, and I can do more than that. I can think."
"For self, or others?" propounded132 the veteran.
"I take you. I can think for myself and make it profitable to others, if I can find the chance. Why, Pop, this editorial game is child's play!"
"You've tried it?"
"Experimentally. The opportunities are limitless. I could make people read editorials as eagerly as they read scandal or baseball."
"How?"
"By making them as simple and interesting as scandal or baseball."
"Oh! As easy as that," observed Edmonds scornfully. "High art, son! Nobody's found the way yet. Perhaps, if--"
He stopped, took his pipe from his lips and let his raised eyes level themselves toward the corner of the L where appeared a figure.
"Would you gentlemen mind if I took my coffee with you?" said the newcomer smoothly133.
Banneker looked with questioning eyebrows134 toward Edmonds, who nodded. "Come up and sit down, Mr. Marrineal," invited Banneker, moving his chair to leave a vacancy135 between himself and his companion.
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query
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margin
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sartorial
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frugal
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| adj.节俭的，节约的，少量的，微量的 | |
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expenditures
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| n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费 | |
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rental
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| n.租赁，出租，出租业 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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outfit
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clique
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| n.朋党派系，小集团 | |
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debit
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| n.借方，借项，记人借方的款项 | |
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ponies
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| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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assertive
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| adj.果断的，自信的，有冲劲的 | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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transmuted
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| v.使变形，使变质，把…变成…( transmute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ledger
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standing
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sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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venom
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| n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨 | |
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torpid
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| adj.麻痹的，麻木的，迟钝的 | |
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trickle
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| vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散 | |
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reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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informatively
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| adv.提供信息地 | |
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wittily
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| 机智地，机敏地 | |
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impartially
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| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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41
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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42
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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43
felicitously
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| adv.恰当地，适切地 | |
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44
elicit
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| v.引出,抽出,引起 | |
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45
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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46
authoritative
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| adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的 | |
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47
dwindle
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| v.逐渐变小（或减少） | |
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48
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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49
appreciative
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| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
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50
primal
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| adj.原始的；最重要的 | |
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51
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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52
cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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53
wile
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| v.诡计，引诱；n.欺骗，欺诈 | |
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54
algebra
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| n.代数学 | |
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55
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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56
artistically
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| adv.艺术性地 | |
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57
indefatigable
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| adj.不知疲倦的，不屈不挠的 | |
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58
sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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59
meager
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| adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的 | |
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60
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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61
conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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62
theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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63
brittle
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| adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的 | |
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64
blatant
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| adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的 | |
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65
paragon
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| n.模范，典型 | |
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66
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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67
radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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68
playwrights
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| n.剧作家( playwright的名词复数 ) | |
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69
hacks
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| 黑客 | |
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70
philander
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| v.不真诚地恋爱，调戏 | |
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71
coruscating
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| v.闪光，闪烁( coruscate的现在分词 ) | |
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72
draughts
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| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
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73
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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74
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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75
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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76
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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77
shears
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| n.大剪刀 | |
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78
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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79
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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80
Buddhist
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| adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒 | |
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81
gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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82
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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83
inertia
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| adj.惰性，惯性，懒惰，迟钝 | |
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84
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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85
underlying
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| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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86
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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87
clogging
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| 堵塞，闭合 | |
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88
backbone
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| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
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89
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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90
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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91
diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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92
oracles
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| 神示所( oracle的名词复数 )； 神谕； 圣贤； 哲人 | |
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93
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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94
killings
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| 谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发 | |
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amalgamated
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| v.（使）（金属）汞齐化( amalgamate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）合并；联合；结合 | |
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96
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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97
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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98
lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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99
anarchist
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| n.无政府主义者 | |
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100
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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101
discommode
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| v.使失态，使为难 | |
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102
immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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103
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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104
bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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105
guts
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| v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠 | |
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106
controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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107
plodding
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| a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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108
reactionary
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| n.反动者，反动主义者；adj.反动的，反动主义的，反对改革的 | |
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109
socialist
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| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
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110
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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111
indictment
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| n.起诉；诉状 | |
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112
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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113
virtuosity
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| n.精湛技巧 | |
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114
sardonic
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| adj.嘲笑的，冷笑的，讥讽的 | |
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115
rigor
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| n.严酷，严格，严厉 | |
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116
socialists
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| 社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 ) | |
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117
forum
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| n.论坛，讨论会 | |
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118
canvass
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| v.招徕顾客，兜售；游说；详细检查，讨论 | |
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119
seasick
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| adj.晕船的 | |
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120
verities
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| n.真实( verity的名词复数 )；事实；真理；真实的陈述 | |
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121
graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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122
ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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123
aspire
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| vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于 | |
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124
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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125
bad-tempered
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| adj.脾气坏的 | |
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126
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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127
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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128
patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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129
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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130
scuttled
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| v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走 | |
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131
vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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132
propounded
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| v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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133
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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134
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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135
vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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