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首页 » 经典英文小说 » Chronicles of Avonlea安妮的友情 » XII. The End of a Quarrel
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XII. The End of a Quarrel
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 Nancy Rogerson sat down on Louisa Shaw’s front doorstep and looked about her, drawing a long breath of delight that seemed tinged1 with pain. Everything was very much the same; the square garden was a charming hodge-podge of fruit and flowers, and goose-berry bushes and tiger lilies, a gnarled old apple tree sticking up here and there, and a thick cherry copse at the foot. Behind was a row of pointed3 firs, coming out darkly against the swimming pink sunset sky, not looking a day older than they had looked twenty years ago, when Nancy had been a young girl walking and dreaming in their shadows. The old willow4 to the left was as big and sweeping5 and, Nancy thought with a little shudder6, probably as caterpillary, as ever. Nancy had learned many things in her twenty years of exile from Avonlea, but she had never learned to conquer her dread7 of caterpillars8.
 
“Nothing is much changed, Louisa,” she said, propping9 her chin on her plump white hands, and sniffing10 at the delectable11 odour of the bruised12 mint upon which Louisa was trampling13. “I’m glad; I was afraid to come back for fear you would have improved the old garden out of existence, or else into some prim14, orderly lawn, which would have been worse. It’s as magnificently untidy as ever, and the fence still wobbles. It CAN’T be the same fence, but it looks exactly like it. No, nothing is much changed. Thank you, Louisa.”
 
Louisa had not the faintest idea what Nancy was thanking her for, but then she had never been able to fathom15 Nancy, much as she had always liked her in the old girlhood days that now seemed much further away to Louisa than they did to Nancy. Louisa was separated from them by the fulness of wifehood and motherhood, while Nancy looked back only over the narrow gap that empty years make.
 
“You haven’t changed much yourself, Nancy,” she said, looking admiringly at Nancy’s trim figure, in the nurse’s uniform she had donned to show Louisa what it was like, her firm, pink-and-white face and the the glossy16 waves of her golden brown hair. “You’ve held your own wonderfully well.”
 
“Haven’t I?” said Nancy complacently17. “Modern methods of massage18 and cold cream have kept away the crowsfeet, and fortunately I had the Rogerson complexion19 to start with. You wouldn’t think I was really thirty-eight, would you? Thirty-eight! Twenty years ago I thought anybody who was thirty-eight was a perfect female Methuselah. And now I feel so horribly, ridiculously young, Louisa. Every morning when I get up I have to say solemnly to myself three times, ‘You’re an old maid, Nancy Rogerson,’ to tone myself down to anything like a becoming attitude for the day.”
 
“I guess you don’t mind being an old maid much,” said Louisa, shrugging her shoulders. She would not have been an old maid herself for anything; yet she inconsistently envied Nancy her freedom, her wide life in the world, her unlined brow, and care-free lightness of spirit.
 
“Oh, but I do mind,” said Nancy frankly20. “I hate being an old maid.”
 
“Why don’t you get married, then?” asked Louisa, paying an unconscious tribute to Nancy’s perennial21 chance by her use of the present tense.
 
Nancy shook her head.
 
“No, that wouldn’t suit me either. I don’t want to be married. Do you remember that story Anne Shirley used to tell long ago of the pupil who wanted to be a widow because ‘if you were married your husband bossed you and if you weren’t married people called you an old maid?’ Well, that is precisely22 my opinion. I’d like to be a widow. Then I’d have the freedom of the unmarried, with the kudos23 of the married. I could eat my cake and have it, too. Oh, to be a widow!”
 
“Nancy!” said Louisa in a shocked tone.
 
Nancy laughed, a mellow24 gurgle that rippled25 through the garden like a brook26.
 
“Oh, Louisa, I can shock you yet. That was just how you used to say ‘Nancy’ long ago, as if I’d broken all the commandments at once.”
 
“You do say such queer things,” protested Louisa, “and half the time I don’t know what you mean.”
 
“Bless you, dear coz, half the time I don’t myself. Perhaps the joy of coming back to the old spot has slightly turned my brain, I’ve found my lost girlhood here. I’m NOT thirty-eight in this garden—it is a flat impossibility. I’m sweet eighteen, with a waist line two inches smaller. Look, the sun is just setting. I see he has still his old trick of throwing his last beams over the Wright farmhouse27. By the way, Louisa, is Peter Wright still living there?”
 
“Yes.” Louisa threw a sudden interested glance at the apparently28 placid29 Nancy.
 
“Married, I suppose, with half a dozen children?” said Nancy indifferently, pulling up some more sprigs of mint and pinning them on her breast. Perhaps the exertion30 of leaning over to do it flushed her face. There was more than the Rogerson colour in it, anyhow, and Louisa, slow though her mental processes might be in some respects, thought she understood the meaning of a blush as well as the next one. All the instinct of the matchmaker flamed up in her.
 
“Indeed he isn’t,” she said promptly31. “Peter Wright has never married. He has been faithful to your memory, Nancy.”
 
“Ugh! You make me feel as if I were buried up there in the Avonlea cemetery32 and had a monument over me with a weeping willow carved on it,” shivered Nancy. “When it is said that a man has been faithful to a woman’s memory it generally means that he couldn’t get anyone else to take him.”
 
“That isn’t the case with Peter,” protested Louisa. “He is a good match, and many a woman would have been glad to take him, and would yet. He’s only forty-three. But he’s never taken the slightest interest in anyone since you threw him over, Nancy.”
 
“But I didn’t. He threw me over,” said Nancy, plaintively33, looking afar over the low-lying fields and a feathery young spruce valley to the white buildings of the Wright farm, glowing rosily34 in the sunset light when all the rest of Avonlea was scarfing itself in shadows. There was laughter in her eyes. Louisa could not pierce beneath that laughter to find if there were anything under it.
 
“Fudge!” said Louisa. “What on earth did you and Peter quarrel about?” she added, curiously35.
 
“I’ve often wondered,” parried Nancy.
 
“And you’ve never seen him since?” reflected Louisa.
 
“No. Has he changed much?”
 
“Well, some. He is gray and kind of tired-looking. But it isn’t to be wondered at—living the life he does. He hasn’t had a housekeeper36 for two years—not since his old aunt died. He just lives there alone and cooks his own meals. I’ve never been in the house, but folks say the disorder37 is something awful.”
 
“Yes, I shouldn’t think Peter was cut out for a tidy housekeeper,” said Nancy lightly, dragging up more mint. “Just think, Louisa, if it hadn’t been for that old quarrel I might be Mrs. Peter Wright at this very moment, mother to the aforesaid supposed half dozen, and vexing38 my soul over Peter’s meals and socks and cows.”
 
“I guess you are better off as you are,” said Louisa.
 
“Oh, I don’t know.” Nancy looked up at the white house on the hill again. “I have an awfully39 good time out of life, but it doesn’t seem to satisfy, somehow. To be candid—and oh, Louisa, candour is a rare thing among women when it comes to talking of the men—I believe I’d rather be cooking Peter’s meals and dusting his house. I wouldn’t mind his bad grammar now. I’ve learned one or two valuable little things out yonder, and one is that it doesn’t matter if a man’s grammar is askew40, so long as he doesn’t swear at you. By the way, is Peter as ungrammatical as ever?”
 
“I—I don’t know,” said Louisa helplessly. “I never knew he WAS ungrammatical.”
 
“Does he still say, ‘I seen,’ and ‘them things’?” demanded Nancy.
 
“I never noticed,” confessed Louisa.
 
“Enviable Louisa! Would that I had been born with that blessed faculty41 of never noticing! It stands a woman in better stead than beauty or brains. I used to notice Peter’s mistakes. When he said ‘I seen,’ it jarred on me in my salad days. I tried, oh, so tactfully, to reform him in that respect. Peter didn’t like being reformed—the Wrights always had a fairly good opinion of themselves, you know. It was really over a question of syntax we quarrelled. Peter told me I’d have to take him as he was, grammar and all, or go without him. I went without him—and ever since I’ve been wondering if I were really sorry, or if it were merely a pleasantly sentimental42 regret I was hugging to my heart. I daresay it’s the latter. Now, Louisa, I see the beginning of the plot far down in those placid eyes of yours. Strangle it at birth, dear Louisa. There is no use in your trying to make up a match between Peter and me now—no, nor in slyly inviting43 him up here to tea some evening, as you are even this moment thinking of doing.”
 
“Well, I must go and milk the cows,” gasped44 Louisa, rather glad to make her escape. Nancy’s power of thought-reading struck her as uncanny. She felt afraid to remain with her cousin any longer, lest Nancy should drag to light all the secrets of her being.
 
Nancy sat long on the steps after Louisa had gone—sat until the night came down, darkly and sweetly, over the garden, and the stars twinkled out above the firs. This had been her home in girlhood. Here she had lived and kept house for her father. When he died, Curtis Shaw, newly married to her cousin Louisa, bought the farm from her and moved in. Nancy stayed on with them, expecting soon to go to a home of her own. She and Peter Wright were engaged.
 
Then came their mysterious quarrel, concerning the cause of which kith and kin2 on both sides were left in annoying ignorance. Of the results they were not ignorant. Nancy promptly packed up and left Avonlea seven hundred miles behind her. She went to a hospital in Montreal and studied nursing. In the twenty years that followed she had never even revisited Avonlea. Her sudden descent on it this summer was a whim45 born of a moment’s homesick longing46 for this same old garden. She had not thought about Peter. In very truth, she had thought little about Peter for the last fifteen years. She supposed that she had forgotten him. But now, sitting on the old doorstep, where she had often sat in her courting days, with Peter lounging on a broad stone at her feet, something tugged47 at her heartstrings. She looked over the valley to the light in the kitchen of the Wright farmhouse, and pictured Peter sitting there, lonely and uncared for, with naught48 but the cold comfort of his own providing.
 
“Well, he should have got married,” she said snappishly. “I am not going to worry because he is a lonely old bachelor when all these years I have supposed him a comfy Benedict. Why doesn’t he hire him a housekeeper, at least? He can afford it; the place looks prosperous. Ugh! I’ve a fat bank account, and I’ve seen almost everything in the world worth seeing; but I’ve got several carefully hidden gray hairs and a horrible conviction that grammar isn’t one of the essential things in life after all. Well, I’m not going to moon out here in the dew any longer. I’m going in to read the smartest, frilliest, frothiest society novel in my trunk.”
 
In the week that followed Nancy enjoyed herself after her own fashion. She read and swung in the garden, having a hammock hung under the firs. She went far afield, in rambles49 to woods and lonely uplands.
 
“I like it much better than meeting people,” she said, when Louisa suggested going to see this one and that one, “especially the Avonlea people. All my old chums are gone, or hopelessly married and changed, and the young set who have come up know not Joseph, and make me feel uncomfortably middle-aged50. It’s far worse to feel middle-aged than old, you know. Away there in the woods I feel as eternally young as Nature herself. And oh, it’s so nice not having to fuss with thermometers and temperatures and other people’s whims51. Let me indulge my own whims, Louisa dear, and punish me with a cold bite when I come in late for meals. I’m not even going to church again. It was horrible there yesterday. The church is so offensively spick-and-span brand new and modern.”
 
“It’s thought to be the prettiest church in these parts,” protested Louisa, a little sorely.
 
“Churches shouldn’t be pretty—they should at least be fifty years old and mellowed52 into beauty. New churches are an abomination.”
 
“Did you see Peter Wright in church?” asked Louisa. She had been bursting to ask it.
 
Nancy nodded.
 
“Verily, yes. He sat right across from me in the corner pew. I didn’t think him painfully changed. Iron-gray hair becomes him. But I was horribly disappointed in myself. I had expected to feel at least a romantic thrill, but all I felt was a comfortable interest, such as I might have taken in any old friend. Do my utmost, Louisa, I couldn’t compass a thrill.”
 
“Did he come to speak to you?” asked Louisa, who hadn’t any idea what Nancy meant by her thrills.
 
“Alas, no. It wasn’t my fault. I stood at the door outside with the most amiable53 expression I could assume, but Peter merely sauntered away without a glance in my direction. It would be some comfort to my vanity if I could believe it was on account of rankling54 spite or pride. But the honest truth, dear Weezy, is that it looked to me exactly as if he never thought of it. He was more interested in talking about the hay crop with Oliver Sloane—who, by the way, is more Oliver Sloaneish than ever.”
 
“If you feel as you said you did the other night, why didn’t you go and speak to him?” Louisa wanted to know.
 
“But I don’t feel that way now. That was just a mood. You don’t know anything about moods, dearie. You don’t know what it is to yearn55 desperately56 one hour for something you wouldn’t take if it were offered you the next.”
 
“But that is foolishness,” protested Louisa.
 
“To be sure it is—rank foolishness. But oh, it is so delightful57 to be foolish after being compelled to be unbrokenly sensible for twenty years. Well, I’m going picking strawberries this afternoon, Lou. Don’t wait tea for me. I probably won’t be back till dark. I’ve only four more days to stay and I want to make the most of them.”
 
Nancy wandered far and wide in her rambles that afternoon. When she had filled her jug58 she still roamed about with delicious aimlessness. Once she found herself in a wood lane skirting a field wherein a man was mowing59 hay. The man was Peter Wright. Nancy walked faster when she discovered this, with never a roving glance, and presently the green, ferny depths of the maple60 woods swallowed her up.
 
From old recollections, she knew that she was on Peter Morrison’s land, and calculated that if she kept straight on she would come out where the old Morrison house used to be. Her calculations proved correct, with a trifling61 variation. She came out fifty yards south of the old deserted62 Morrison house, and found herself in the yard of the Wright farm!
 
Passing the house—the house where she had once dreamed of reigning63 as mistress—Nancy’s curiosity overcame her. The place was not in view of any other near house. She deliberately64 went up to it intending—low be it spoken—to peep in at the kitchen window. But, seeing the door wide open, she went to it instead and halted on the step, looking about her keenly.
 
The kitchen was certainly pitiful in its disorder. The floor had apparently not been swept for a fortnight. On the bare deal table were the remnants of Peter’s dinner, a meal that could not have been very tempting65 at its best.
 
“What a miserable66 place for a human being to live in!” groaned67 Nancy. “Look at the ashes on that stove! And that table! Is it any wonder that Peter has got gray? He’ll work hard haymaking all the afternoon—and then come home to THIS!”
 
An idea suddenly darted68 into Nancy’s brain. At first she looked aghast. Then she laughed and glanced at her watch.
 
“I’ll do it—just for fun and a little pity. It’s half-past two, and Peter won’t be home till four at the earliest. I’ll have a good hour to do it in, and still make my escape in good time. Nobody will ever know; nobody can see me here.”
 
Nancy went in, threw off her hat, and seized a broom. The first thing she did was to give the kitchen a thorough sweeping. Then she kindled69 a fire, put a kettle full of water on to heat, and attacked the dishes. From the number of them she rightly concluded that Peter hadn’t washed any for at least a week.
 
“I suppose he just uses the clean ones as long as they hold out, and then has a grand wash-up,” she laughed. “I wonder where he keeps his dish-towels, if he has any.”
 
Evidently Peter hadn’t any. At least, Nancy couldn’t find any. She marched boldly into the dusty sitting-room70 and explored the drawers of an old-fashioned sideboard, confiscating71 a towel she found there. As she worked, she hummed a song; her steps were light and her eyes bright with excitement. Nancy was enjoying herself thoroughly72, there was no doubt of that. The spice of mischief73 in the adventure pleased her mightily74.
 
The dishes washed, she hunted up a clean, but yellow and evidently long unused tablecloth75 out of the sideboard, and proceeded to set the table and get Peter’s tea. She found bread and butter in the pantry, a trip to the cellar furnished a pitcher76 of cream, and Nancy recklessly heaped the contents of her strawberry jug on Peter’s plate. The tea was made and set back to keep warm. And, as a finishing touch, Nancy ravaged77 the old neglected garden and set a huge bowl of crimson78 roses in the centre of the table.
 
“Now I must go,” she said aloud. “Wouldn’t it be fun to see Peter’s face when he comes in, though? Ha-hum! I’ve enjoyed doing this—but why? Nancy Rogerson, don’t be asking yourself conundrums79. Put on your hat and proceed homeward, constructing on your way some reliable fib to account to Louisa for the absence of your strawberries.”
 
Nancy paused a moment and looked around wistfully. She had made the place look cheery and neat and homelike. She felt that queer tugging80 at her heart-strings again. Suppose she belonged here, and was waiting for Peter to come home to tea. Suppose—Nancy whirled around with a sudden horrible prescience of what she was going to see! Peter Wright was standing81 in the doorway82.
 
Nancy’s face went crimson. For the first time in her life she had not a word to say for herself. Peter looked at her and then at the table, with its fruit and flowers.
 
“Thank you,” he said politely.
 
Nancy recovered herself. With a shame-faced laugh, she held out her hand.
 
“Don’t have me arrested for trespass83, Peter. I came and looked in at your kitchen out of impertinent curiosity, and just for fun I thought I’d come in and get your tea. I thought you’d be so surprised—and I meant to go before you came home, of course.”
 
“I wouldn’t have been surprised,” said Peter, shaking hands. “I saw you go past the field and I tied the horses and followed you down through the woods. I’ve been sitting on the fence back yonder, watching your comings and goings.” “Why didn’t you come and speak to me at church yesterday, Peter?” demanded Nancy boldly.
 
“I was afraid I would say something ungrammatical,” answered Peter drily.
 
The crimson flamed over Nancy’s face again. She pulled her hand away.
 
“That’s cruel of you, Peter.”
 
Peter suddenly laughed. There was a note of boyishness in the laughter.
 
“So it is,” he said, “but I had to get rid of the accumulated malice84 and spite of twenty years somehow. It’s all gone now, and I’ll be as amiable as I know how. But since you have gone to the trouble of getting my supper for me, Nancy, you must stay and help me eat it. Them strawberries look good. I haven’t had any this summer—been too busy to pick them.”
 
Nancy stayed. She sat at the head of Peter’s table and poured his tea for him. She talked to him wittily85 of the Avonlea people and the changes in their old set. Peter followed her lead with an apparent absence of self-consciousness, eating his supper like a man whose heart and mind were alike on good terms with him. Nancy felt wretched—and, at the same time, ridiculously happy. It seemed the most grotesque86 thing in the world that she should be presiding there at Peter’s table, and yet the most natural. There were moments when she felt like crying—other moments when her laughter was as ready and spontaneous as a girl’s. Sentiment and humour had always waged an equal contest in Nancy’s nature.
 
When Peter had finished his strawberries he folded his arms on the table and looked admiringly at Nancy.
 
“You look well at the head of a table, Nancy,” he said critically. “How is it that you haven’t been presiding at one of your own long before this? I thought you’d meet a lots of men out in the world that you’d like—men who talked good grammar.”
 
“Peter, don’t!” said Nancy, wincing87. “I was a goose.”
 
“No, you were quite right. I was a tetchy fool. If I’d had any sense, I’d have felt thankful you thought enough of me to want to improve me, and I’d have tried to kerrect my mistakes instead of getting mad. It’s too late now, I suppose.”
 
“Too late for what?” said Nancy, plucking up heart of grace at something in Peter’s tone and look.
 
“For—kerrecting mistakes.”
 
“Grammatical ones?”
 
“Not exactly. I guess them mistakes are past kerrecting in an old fellow like me. Worse mistakes, Nancy. I wonder what you would say if I asked you to forgive me, and have me after all.”
 
“I’d snap you up before you’d have time to change your mind,” said Nancy brazenly88. She tried to look Peter in the face, but her blue eyes, where tears and mirth were blending, faltered89 down before his gray ones.
 
Peter stood up, knocking over his chair, and strode around the table to her.
 
“Nancy, my girl!” he said.
 

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 tinged f86e33b7d6b6ca3dd39eda835027fc59     
v.(使)发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • memories tinged with sadness 略带悲伤的往事
  • white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
2 kin 22Zxv     
n.家族,亲属,血缘关系;adj.亲属关系的,同类的
参考例句:
  • He comes of good kin.他出身好。
  • She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。
3 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
4 willow bMFz6     
n.柳树
参考例句:
  • The river was sparsely lined with willow trees.河边疏疏落落有几棵柳树。
  • The willow's shadow falls on the lake.垂柳的影子倒映在湖面上。
5 sweeping ihCzZ4     
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的
参考例句:
  • The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
  • Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗?
6 shudder JEqy8     
v.战粟,震动,剧烈地摇晃;n.战粟,抖动
参考例句:
  • The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材,他浑身一阵战栗。
  • We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。
7 dread Ekpz8     
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧
参考例句:
  • We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
  • Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。
8 caterpillars 7673bc2d84c4c7cba4a0eaec866310f4     
n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 );履带
参考例句:
  • Caterpillars eat the young leaves of this plant. 毛毛虫吃这种植物的嫩叶。
  • Caterpillars change into butterflies or moths. 毛虫能变成蝴蝶或蛾子。 来自辞典例句
9 propping 548f07f69caff3c98b65a959401073ee     
支撑
参考例句:
  • You can usually find Jack propping up the bar at his local. 你常常可以看见杰克频繁出没于他居住的那家酒店。
  • The government was accused of propping up declining industries. 政府被指责支持日益衰败的产业。
10 sniffing 50b6416c50a7d3793e6172a8514a0576     
n.探查法v.以鼻吸气,嗅,闻( sniff的现在分词 );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
参考例句:
  • We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了,一个劲地抽鼻子,打喷嚏。
  • They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了,呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
11 delectable gxGxP     
adj.使人愉快的;美味的
参考例句:
  • What delectable food you cook!你做的食品真好吃!
  • But today the delectable seafood is no longer available in abundance.但是今天这种可口的海味已不再大量存在。
12 bruised 5xKz2P     
[医]青肿的,瘀紫的
参考例句:
  • his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
  • She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤,摔得鼻青脸肿。
13 trampling 7aa68e356548d4d30fa83dc97298265a     
踩( trample的现在分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯
参考例句:
  • Diplomats denounced the leaders for trampling their citizens' civil rights. 外交官谴责这些领导人践踏其公民的公民权。
  • They don't want people trampling the grass, pitching tents or building fires. 他们不希望人们踩踏草坪、支帐篷或生火。
14 prim SSIz3     
adj.拘泥形式的,一本正经的;n.循规蹈矩,整洁;adv.循规蹈矩地,整洁地
参考例句:
  • She's too prim to enjoy rude jokes!她太古板,不喜欢听粗野的笑话!
  • He is prim and precise in manner.他的态度一本正经而严谨
15 fathom w7wy3     
v.领悟,彻底了解
参考例句:
  • I really couldn't fathom what he was talking about.我真搞不懂他在说些什么。
  • What these people hoped to achieve is hard to fathom.这些人希望实现些什么目标难以揣测。
16 glossy nfvxx     
adj.平滑的;有光泽的
参考例句:
  • I like these glossy spots.我喜欢这些闪闪发光的花点。
  • She had glossy black hair.她长着乌黑发亮的头发。
17 complacently complacently     
adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地
参考例句:
  • He complacently lived out his life as a village school teacher. 他满足于一个乡村教师的生活。
  • "That was just something for evening wear," returned his wife complacently. “那套衣服是晚装,"他妻子心安理得地说道。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
18 massage 6ouz43     
n.按摩,揉;vt.按摩,揉,美化,奉承,篡改数据
参考例句:
  • He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
  • Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。
19 complexion IOsz4     
n.肤色;情况,局面;气质,性格
参考例句:
  • Red does not suit with her complexion.红色与她的肤色不协调。
  • Her resignation puts a different complexion on things.她一辞职局面就全变了。
20 frankly fsXzcf     
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
参考例句:
  • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
  • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说,我不反对改革。
21 perennial i3bz7     
adj.终年的;长久的
参考例句:
  • I wonder at her perennial youthfulness.我对她青春常驻感到惊讶。
  • There's a perennial shortage of teachers with science qualifications.有理科教学资格的老师一直都很短缺。
22 precisely zlWzUb     
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地
参考例句:
  • It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
  • The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。
23 kudos U9Uzv     
n.荣誉,名声
参考例句:
  • He received kudos from everyone on his performance.他的表演受到大家的称赞。
  • It will acquire no kudos for translating its inner doubts into hesitation.如果由于内心疑虑不安而在行动上举棋不定,是得不到荣誉的。
24 mellow F2iyP     
adj.柔和的;熟透的;v.变柔和;(使)成熟
参考例句:
  • These apples are mellow at this time of year.每年这时节,苹果就熟透了。
  • The colours become mellow as the sun went down.当太阳落山时,色彩变得柔和了。
25 rippled 70d8043cc816594c4563aec11217f70d     
使泛起涟漪(ripple的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • The lake rippled gently. 湖面轻轻地泛起涟漪。
  • The wind rippled the surface of the cornfield. 微风吹过麦田,泛起一片麦浪。
26 brook PSIyg     
n.小河,溪;v.忍受,容让
参考例句:
  • In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
  • The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。
27 farmhouse kt1zIk     
n.农场住宅(尤指主要住房)
参考例句:
  • We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
  • We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。
28 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
29 placid 7A1yV     
adj.安静的,平和的
参考例句:
  • He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
  • You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。
30 exertion F7Fyi     
n.尽力,努力
参考例句:
  • We were sweating profusely from the exertion of moving the furniture.我们搬动家具大费气力,累得大汗淋漓。
  • She was hot and breathless from the exertion of cycling uphill.由于用力骑车爬坡,她浑身发热。
31 promptly LRMxm     
adv.及时地,敏捷地
参考例句:
  • He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
  • She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。
32 cemetery ur9z7     
n.坟墓,墓地,坟场
参考例句:
  • He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
  • His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。
33 plaintively 46a8d419c0b5a38a2bee07501e57df53     
adv.悲哀地,哀怨地
参考例句:
  • The last note of the song rang out plaintively. 歌曲最后道出了离别的哀怨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Birds cry plaintively before they die, men speak kindly in the presence of death. 鸟之将死,其鸣也哀;人之将死,其言也善。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
34 rosily 1e7c9911491c398083c323cc2c9f767b     
adv.带玫瑰色地,乐观地
参考例句:
35 curiously 3v0zIc     
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地
参考例句:
  • He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
  • He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。
36 housekeeper 6q2zxl     
n.管理家务的主妇,女管家
参考例句:
  • A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
  • She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家,一家人吃得很省。
37 disorder Et1x4     
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调
参考例句:
  • When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后,他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
  • It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。
38 vexing 9331d950e0681c1f12e634b03fd3428b     
adj.使人烦恼的,使人恼火的v.使烦恼( vex的现在分词 );使苦恼;使生气;详细讨论
参考例句:
  • It is vexing to have to wait a long time for him. 长时间地等他真使人厌烦。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Lately a vexing problem had grown infuriatingly worse. 最近发生了一个讨厌的问题,而且严重到令人发指的地步。 来自辞典例句
39 awfully MPkym     
adv.可怕地,非常地,极端地
参考例句:
  • Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
  • I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。
40 askew rvczG     
adv.斜地;adj.歪斜的
参考例句:
  • His glasses had been knocked askew by the blow.他的眼镜一下子被打歪了。
  • Her hat was slightly askew.她的帽子戴得有点斜。
41 faculty HhkzK     
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员
参考例句:
  • He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
  • He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。
42 sentimental dDuzS     
adj.多愁善感的,感伤的
参考例句:
  • She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人,她相信姻缘命中注定。
  • We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。
43 inviting CqIzNp     
adj.诱人的,引人注目的
参考例句:
  • An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
  • The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人,使人感到亲切温馨。
44 gasped e6af294d8a7477229d6749fa9e8f5b80     
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要
参考例句:
  • She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
  • People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
45 whim 2gywE     
n.一时的兴致,突然的念头;奇想,幻想
参考例句:
  • I bought the encyclopedia on a whim.我凭一时的兴致买了这本百科全书。
  • He had a sudden whim to go sailing today.今天他突然想要去航海。
46 longing 98bzd     
n.(for)渴望
参考例句:
  • Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
  • His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。
47 tugged 8a37eb349f3c6615c56706726966d38e     
v.用力拉,使劲拉,猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. 她拽了拽他的袖子引起他的注意。
  • A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 他的嘴角带一丝苦笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
48 naught wGLxx     
n.无,零 [=nought]
参考例句:
  • He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。
  • I hope that all your efforts won't go for naught.我希望你的努力不会毫无结果。
49 rambles 5bfd3e73a09d7553bf08ae72fa2fbf45     
(无目的地)漫游( ramble的第三人称单数 ); (喻)漫谈; 扯淡; 长篇大论
参考例句:
  • He rambles in his talk. 他谈话时漫无中心。
  • You will have such nice rambles on the moors. 你可以在旷野里好好地溜达溜达。
50 middle-aged UopzSS     
adj.中年的
参考例句:
  • I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
  • The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。
51 WHIMS ecf1f9fe569e0760fc10bec24b97c043     
虚妄,禅病
参考例句:
  • The mate observed regretfully that he could not account for that young fellow's whims. 那位伙伴很遗憾地说他不能说出那年轻人产生怪念头的原因。
  • The rest she had for food and her own whims. 剩下的钱她用来吃饭和买一些自己喜欢的东西。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
52 mellowed 35508a1d6e45828f79a04d41a5d7bf83     
(使)成熟( mellow的过去式和过去分词 ); 使色彩更加柔和,使酒更加醇香
参考例句:
  • She's mellowed over the years. 这些年来他变得成熟了。
  • The colours mellowed as the sun went down. 随着太阳的落去,色泽变得柔和了。
53 amiable hxAzZ     
adj.和蔼可亲的,友善的,亲切的
参考例句:
  • She was a very kind and amiable old woman.她是个善良和气的老太太。
  • We have a very amiable companionship.我们之间存在一种友好的关系。
54 rankling 8cbfa8b9f5516c093f42c116712f049b     
v.(使)痛苦不已,(使)怨恨不已( rankle的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Yet the knowledge imparted to him by the chambermaid was rankling in his mind. 可是女仆告诉他的消息刺痛着他的心。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
55 yearn nMjzN     
v.想念;怀念;渴望
参考例句:
  • We yearn to surrender our entire being.我们渴望着放纵我们整个的生命。
  • Many people living in big cities yearn for an idyllic country life.现在的很多都市人向往那种田园化的生活。
56 desperately cu7znp     
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地
参考例句:
  • He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
  • He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。
57 delightful 6xzxT     
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的
参考例句:
  • We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
  • Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。
58 jug QaNzK     
n.(有柄,小口,可盛水等的)大壶,罐,盂
参考例句:
  • He walked along with a jug poised on his head.他头上顶着一个水罐,保持着平衡往前走。
  • She filled the jug with fresh water.她将水壶注满了清水。
59 mowing 2624de577751cbaf6c6d7c6a554512ef     
n.割草,一次收割量,牧草地v.刈,割( mow的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The lawn needs mowing. 这草坪的草该割了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • "Do you use it for mowing?" “你是用它割草么?” 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
60 maple BBpxj     
n.槭树,枫树,槭木
参考例句:
  • Maple sugar is made from the sap of maple trees.枫糖是由枫树的树液制成的。
  • The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。
61 trifling SJwzX     
adj.微不足道的;没什么价值的
参考例句:
  • They quarreled over a trifling matter.他们为这种微不足道的事情争吵。
  • So far Europe has no doubt, gained a real conveniency,though surely a very trifling one.直到现在为止,欧洲无疑地已经获得了实在的便利,不过那确是一种微不足道的便利。
62 deserted GukzoL     
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的
参考例句:
  • The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
  • The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。
63 reigning nkLzRp     
adj.统治的,起支配作用的
参考例句:
  • The sky was dark, stars were twinkling high above, night was reigning, and everything was sunk in silken silence. 天很黑,星很繁,夜阑人静。
  • Led by Huang Chao, they brought down the reigning house after 300 years' rule. 在黄巢的带领下,他们推翻了统治了三百年的王朝。
64 deliberately Gulzvq     
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地
参考例句:
  • The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
  • They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。
65 tempting wgAzd4     
a.诱人的, 吸引人的
参考例句:
  • It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
  • It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。
66 miserable g18yk     
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的
参考例句:
  • It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他,这是可耻的。
  • Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。
67 groaned 1a076da0ddbd778a674301b2b29dff71     
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦
参考例句:
  • He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
  • The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
68 darted d83f9716cd75da6af48046d29f4dd248     
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔
参考例句:
  • The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect. 蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了,瞪了我一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
69 kindled d35b7382b991feaaaa3e8ddbbcca9c46     
(使某物)燃烧,着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 ); 激起(感情等); 发亮,放光
参考例句:
  • We watched as the fire slowly kindled. 我们看着火慢慢地燃烧起来。
  • The teacher's praise kindled a spark of hope inside her. 老师的赞扬激起了她内心的希望。
70 sitting-room sitting-room     
n.(BrE)客厅,起居室
参考例句:
  • The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
  • Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。
71 confiscating 47cc2d3927999f90a74354110e4aca8d     
没收(confiscate的现在分词形式)
参考例句:
  • There was Mame by my side confiscating my intellects and attention. 有玛米坐在我身边,害得我心不在焉。
  • Intimidate book sellers by confiscating books deemed unfavourable to the Barisan government. 充公被视为对国阵不利的书籍,威胁书商。
72 thoroughly sgmz0J     
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地
参考例句:
  • The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
  • The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。
73 mischief jDgxH     
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹
参考例句:
  • Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
  • He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。
74 mightily ZoXzT6     
ad.强烈地;非常地
参考例句:
  • He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet. 他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。
  • This seemed mightily to relieve him. 干完这件事后,他似乎轻松了许多。
75 tablecloth lqSwh     
n.桌布,台布
参考例句:
  • He sat there ruminating and picking at the tablecloth.他坐在那儿沉思,轻轻地抚弄着桌布。
  • She smoothed down a wrinkled tablecloth.她把起皱的桌布熨平了。
76 pitcher S2Gz7     
n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐;(棒球)投手
参考例句:
  • He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
  • Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。
77 ravaged 0e2e6833d453fc0fa95986bdf06ea0e2     
毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 ); 蹂躏; 劫掠; 抢劫
参考例句:
  • a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
  • The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。
78 crimson AYwzH     
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色
参考例句:
  • She went crimson with embarrassment.她羞得满脸通红。
  • Maple leaves have turned crimson.枫叶已经红了。
79 conundrums a46e5f8b66d51238c7a4a31d910cc653     
n.谜,猜不透的难题,难答的问题( conundrum的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • After all the conundrums of Hungary, the second Turkish Grand Prix promises much. 继匈牙利站所有猜不透的事之后,第二届土耳其大奖赛许诺了太多。 来自互联网
  • I see conundrums, dilemmas, quandaries, impasses, gnarly thickets of fateful possibility with no obvious way out. 眼看问题经纬万端,进退两难、入困境,死路一条,盘根错节的命定可能性,但找不到明显的出路。 来自互联网
80 tugging 1b03c4e07db34ec7462f2931af418753     
n.牵引感v.用力拉,使劲拉,猛扯( tug的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Tom was tugging at a button-hole and looking sheepish. 汤姆捏住一个钮扣眼使劲地拉,样子显得很害羞。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
  • She kicked him, tugging his thick hair. 她一边踢他,一边扯着他那浓密的头发。 来自辞典例句
81 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
82 doorway 2s0xK     
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径
参考例句:
  • They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
  • Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。
83 trespass xpOyw     
n./v.侵犯,闯入私人领地
参考例句:
  • The fishing boat was seized for its trespass into restricted waters.渔船因非法侵入受限制水域而被扣押。
  • The court sentenced him to a fine for trespass.法庭以侵害罪对他判以罚款。
84 malice P8LzW     
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋
参考例句:
  • I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks.我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
  • There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits.他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。
85 wittily 3dbe075039cedb01944b28ef686a8ce3     
机智地,机敏地
参考例句:
  • They have just been pulling our legs very wittily. 他们不过是跟我们开个非常诙谐的玩笑罢了。
  • The tale wittily explores the interaction and tension between reality and imagination. 这篇故事机智地探讨了现实和想象之间的联系和对立。
86 grotesque O6ryZ     
adj.怪诞的,丑陋的;n.怪诞的图案,怪人(物)
参考例句:
  • His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
  • Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。
87 wincing 377203086ce3e7442c3f6574a3b9c0c7     
赶紧避开,畏缩( wince的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • She switched on the light, wincing at the sudden brightness. 她打开了灯,突如其来的强烈光线刺得她不敢睜眼。
  • "I will take anything," he said, relieved, and wincing under reproof. “我什么事都愿意做,"他说,松了一口气,缩着头等着挨骂。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
88 brazenly 050b0303ab1c4b948fddde2c176e6101     
adv.厚颜无耻地;厚脸皮地肆无忌惮地
参考例句:
  • How dare he distort the facts so brazenly! 他怎么敢如此肆无忌惮地歪曲事实! 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • "I don't know," he answered, looking her brazenly over. “我也不知道,"他厚颜无耻地打量着她。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
89 faltered d034d50ce5a8004ff403ab402f79ec8d     
(嗓音)颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 ); 支吾其词; 蹒跚; 摇晃
参考例句:
  • He faltered out a few words. 他支吾地说出了几句。
  • "Er - but he has such a longhead!" the man faltered. 他不好意思似的嚅嗫着:“这孩子脑袋真长。”


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