"Let us call it Rainbow Valley," said Walter delightedly, and
Rainbow Valley thenceforth it was.
Outside of Rainbow Valley the wind might be rollicking and boisterous6. Here it always went gently. Little, winding7, fairy paths ran here and there over spruce roots cushioned with moss8. Wild cherry trees, that in blossom time would be misty9 white, were scattered10 all over the valley, mingling11 with the dark spruces. A little brook12 with amber13 waters ran through it from the Glen village. The houses of the village were comfortably far away; only at the upper end of the valley was a little tumble-down, deserted14 cottage, referred to as "the old Bailey house." It had not been occupied for many years, but a grass-grown dyke15 surrounded it and inside was an ancient garden where the Ingleside children could find violets and daisies and June lilies still blooming in season. For the rest, the garden was overgrown with caraway that swayed and foamed16 in the moonshine of summer eves like seas of silver.
To the sought lay the pond and beyond it the ripened17 distance lost itself in purple woods, save where, on a high hill, a solitary18 old gray homestead looked down on glen and harbour. There was a certain wild woodsiness and solitude19 about Rainbow Valley, in spite of its nearness to the village, which endeared it to the children of Ingleside.
The valley was full of dear, friendly hollows and the largest of these was their favourite stamping ground. Here they were assembled on this particular evening. There was a grove of young spruces in this hollow, with a tiny, grassy20 glade21 in its heart, opening on the bank of the brook. By the brook grew a silver birch-tree, a young, incredibly straight thing which Walter had named the "White Lady." In this glade, too, were the "Tree Lovers," as Walter called a spruce and maple which grew so closely together that their boughs22 were inextricably intertwined. Jem had hung an old string of sleigh-bells, given him by the Glen blacksmith, on the Tree Lovers, and every visitant breeze called out sudden fairy tinkles23 from it.
"How nice it is to be back!" said Nan. "After all, none of the
Avonlea places are quite as nice as Rainbow Valley."
But they were very fond of the Avonlea places for all that. A visit to Green Gables was always considered a great treat. Aunt Marilla was very good to them, and so was Mrs. Rachel Lynde, who was spending the leisure of her old age in knitting cotton-warp quilts against the day when Anne's daughters should need a "setting-out." There were jolly playmates there, too—"Uncle" Davy's children and "Aunt" Diana's children. They knew all the spots their mother had loved so well in her girlhood at old Green Gables—the long Lover's Lane, that was pink-hedged in wild-rose time, the always neat yard, with its willows25 and poplars, the Dryad's Bubble, lucent and lovely as of yore, the Lake of Shining Waters, and Willowmere. The twins had their mother's old porch-gable room, and Aunt Marilla used to come in at night, when she thought they were asleep, to gloat over them. But they all knew she loved Jem the best.
Jem was at present busily occupied in frying a mess of small trout26 which he had just caught in the pond. His stove consisted of a circle of red stones, with a fire kindled27 in it, and his culinary utensils28 were an old tin can, hammered out flat, and a fork with only one tine left. Nevertheless, ripping good meals had before now been thus prepared.
Jem was the child of the House of Dreams. All the others had been born at Ingleside. He had curly red hair, like his mother's, and frank hazel eyes, like his father's; he had his mother's fine nose and his father's steady, humorous mouth. And he was the only one of the family who had ears nice enough to please Susan. But he had a standing30 feud31 with Susan because she would not give up calling him Little Jem. It was outrageous32, thought thirteen-year-old Jem. Mother had more sense.
"I'm NOT little any more, Mother," he had cried indignantly, on his eighth birthday. "I'm AWFUL big."
Mother had sighed and laughed and sighed again; and she never called him Little Jem again—in his hearing at least.
He was and always had been a sturdy, reliable little chap. He never broke a promise. He was not a great talker. His teachers did not think him brilliant, but he was a good, all-round student. He never took things on faith; he always liked to investigate the truth of a statement for himself. Once Susan had told him that if he touched his tongue to a frosty latch33 all the skin would tear off it. Jem had promptly34 done it, "just to see if it was so." He found it was "so," at the cost of a very sore tongue for several days. But Jem did not grudge35 suffering in the interests of science. By constant experiment and observation he learned a great deal and his brothers and sisters thought his extensive knowledge of their little world quite wonderful. Jem always knew where the first and ripest berries grew, where the first pale violets shyly wakened from their winter's sleep, and how many blue eggs were in a given robin's nest in the maple grove. He could tell fortunes from daisy petals36 and suck honey from red clovers, and grub up all sorts of edible37 roots on the banks of the pond, while Susan went in daily fear that they would all be poisoned. He knew where the finest spruce-gum was to be found, in pale amber knots on the lichened38 bark, he knew where the nuts grew thickest in the beechwoods around the Harbour Head, and where the best trouting places up the brooks39 were. He could mimic40 the call of any wild bird or beast in Four Winds and he knew the haunt of every wild flower from spring to autumn.
Walter Blythe was sitting under the White Lady, with a volume of poems lying beside him, but he was not reading. He was gazing now at the emerald-misted willows by the pond, and now at a flock of clouds, like little silver sheep, herded41 by the wind, that were drifting over Rainbow Valley, with rapture43 in his wide splendid eyes. Walter's eyes were very wonderful. All the joy and sorrow and laughter and loyalty44 and aspiration45 of many generations lying under the sod looked out of their dark gray depths.
Walter was a "hop46 out of kin," as far as looks went. He did not resemble any known relative. He was quite the handsomest of the Ingleside children, with straight black hair and finely modelled features. But he had all his mother's vivid imagination and passionate47 love of beauty. Frost of winter, invitation of spring, dream of summer and glamour48 of autumn, all meant much to Walter.
In school, where Jem was a chieftain, Walter was not thought highly of. He was supposed to be "girly" and milk-soppish, because he never fought and seldom joined in the school sports, preferring to herd42 by himself in out of the way corners and read books—especially "po'try books." Walter loved the poets and pored over their pages from the time he could first read. Their music was woven into his growing soul—the music of the immortals49. Walter cherished the ambition to be a poet himself some day. The thing could be done. A certain Uncle Paul—so called out of courtesy—who lived now in that mysterious realm called "the States," was Walter's model. Uncle Paul had once been a little school boy in Avonlea and now his poetry was read everywhere. But the Glen schoolboys did not know of Walter's dreams and would not have been greatly impressed if they had. In spite of his lack of physical prowess, however, he commanded a certain unwilling50 respect because of his power of "talking book talk." Nobody in Glen St. Mary school could talk like him. He "sounded like a preacher," one boy said; and for this reason he was generally left alone and not persecuted51, as most boys were who were suspected of disliking or fearing fisticuffs.
The ten year old Ingleside twins violated twin tradition by not looking in the least alike. Anne, who was always called Nan, was very pretty, with velvety52 nut-brown eyes and silky nut-brown hair. She was a very blithe53 and dainty little maiden—Blythe by name and blithe by nature, one of her teachers had said. Her complexion54 was quite faultless, much to her mother's satisfaction.
Diana Blythe, known as Di, was very like her mother, with gray-green eyes that always shone with a peculiar56 lustre57 and brilliancy in the dusk, and red hair. Perhaps this was why she was her father's favourite. She and Walter were especial chums; Di was the only one to whom he would ever read the verses he wrote himself—the only one who knew that he was secretly hard at work on an epic58, strikingly resembling "Marmion" in some things, if not in others. She kept all his secrets, even from Nan, and told him all hers.
"Won't you soon have those fish ready, Jem?" said Nan, sniffing59 with her dainty nose. "The smell makes me awfully60 hungry."
"Get out the bread and the plates, girls. Walter, wake up."
"How the air shines to-night," said Walter dreamily. Not that he despised fried trout either, by any means; but with Walter food for the soul always took first place. "The flower angel has been walking over the world to-day, calling to the flowers. I can see his blue wings on that hill by the woods."
"Any angels' wings I ever saw were white," said Nan.
"The flower angel's aren't. They are a pale misty blue, just like the haze29 in the valley. Oh, how I wish I could fly. It must be glorious."
"One does fly in dreams sometimes," said Di.
"I never dream that I'm flying exactly," said Walter. "But I often dream that I just rise up from the ground and float over the fences and the trees. It's delightful—and I always think, 'This ISN'T a dream like it's always been before. THIS is real'—and then I wake up after all, and it's heart-breaking."
"Hurry up, Nan," ordered Jem.
Nan had produced the banquet-board—a board literally62 as well as figuratively—from which many a feast, seasoned as no viands63 were elsewhere, had been eaten in Rainbow Valley. It was converted into a table by propping64 it on two large, mossy stones. Newspapers served as tablecloth65, and broken plates and handleless cups from Susan's discard furnished the dishes. From a tin box secreted66 at the root of a spruce tree Nan brought forth5 bread and salt. The brook gave Adam's ale of unsurpassed crystal. For the rest, there was a certain sauce, compounded of fresh air and appetite of youth, which gave to everything a divine flavour. To sit in Rainbow Valley, steeped in a twilight67 half gold, half amethyst68, rife69 with the odours of balsam-fir and woodsy growing things in their springtime prime, with the pale stars of wild strawberry blossoms all around you, and with the sough of the wind and tinkle24 of bells in the shaking tree tops, and eat fried trout and dry bread, was something which the mighty70 of earth might have envied them.
"Sit in," invited Nan, as Jem placed his sizzling tin platter of trout on the table. "It's your turn to say grace, Jem."
"I've done my part frying the trout," protested Jem, who hated saying grace. "Let Walter say it. He LIKES saying grace. And cut it short, too, Walt. I'm starving."
But Walter said no grace, short or long, just then. An interruption occurred.
"Who's coming down from the manse hill?" said Di.
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1
maple
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| n.槭树，枫树，槭木 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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revels
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| n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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8
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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10
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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14
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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dyke
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| n.堤，水坝，排水沟 | |
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foamed
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| 泡沫的 | |
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17
ripened
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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23
tinkles
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| 丁当声，铃铃声( tinkle的名词复数 )； 一次电话 | |
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tinkle
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| vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声 | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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trout
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| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
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kindled
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| （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 | |
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utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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30
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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feud
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| n.长期不和；世仇；v.长期争斗；世代结仇 | |
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32
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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33
latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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edible
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| n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的 | |
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lichened
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| adj.长满地衣的，长青苔的 | |
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brooks
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| n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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40
mimic
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| v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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41
herded
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| 群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动 | |
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42
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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43
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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44
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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45
aspiration
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| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
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46
hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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47
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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48
glamour
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| n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住 | |
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49
immortals
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| 不朽的人物( immortal的名词复数 )； 永生不朽者 | |
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50
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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51
persecuted
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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52
velvety
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| adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
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53
blithe
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| adj.快乐的，无忧无虑的 | |
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54
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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55
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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56
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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57
lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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58
epic
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| n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的 | |
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59
sniffing
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| 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 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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dexterous
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| adj.灵敏的；灵巧的 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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viands
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| n.食品，食物 | |
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propping
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| 支撑 | |
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tablecloth
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| n.桌布，台布 | |
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66
secreted
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| v.（尤指动物或植物器官）分泌( secrete的过去式和过去分词 )；隐匿，隐藏 | |
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67
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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68
amethyst
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| n.紫水晶 | |
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69
rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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