For myself, I cared not a groat. I had wished to be successful in the sermon contest, and felt sore whenever I thought of my failure. But I had no burning desire to eat sour apples without grimacing4, and I did not sympathize over and above with my brother. When, however, he took to praying about it, I realized how deeply he felt on the subject, and hoped he would be successful.
Felix prayed earnestly that he might be enabled to eat a bitter apple without making a face. And when he had prayed three nights after this manner, he contrived5 to eat a bitter apple without a grimace6 until he came to the last bite, which proved too much for him. But Felix was vastly encouraged.
"Another prayer or two, and I'll be able to eat a whole one," he said jubilantly.
But this devoutly7 desired consummation did not come to pass. In spite of prayers and heroic attempts, Felix could never get beyond that last bite. Not even faith and works in combination could avail. For a time he could not understand this. But he thought the mystery was solved when Cecily came to him one day and told him that Peter was praying against him.
"He's praying that you'll never be able to eat a bitter apple without making a face," she said. "He told Felicity and Felicity told me. She said she thought it was real cute of him. I think that is a dreadful way to talk about praying and I told her so. She wanted me to promise not to tell you, but I wouldn't promise, because I think it's fair for you to know what is going on."
"I don't see why God should answer Peter's prayers instead of mine," he said bitterly. "I've gone to church and Sunday School all my life, and Peter never went till this summer. It isn't fair."
"Oh, Felix, don't talk like that," said Cecily, shocked. "God MUST be fair. I'll tell you what I believe is the reason. Peter prays three times a day regular—in the morning and at dinner time and at night—and besides that, any time through the day when he happens to think of it, he just prays, standing10 up. Did you ever hear of such goings-on?"
"Well, he's got to stop praying against me, anyhow," said Felix resolutely11. "I won't put up with it, and I'll go and tell him so right off."
Felix marched over to Uncle Roger's, and we trailed after, scenting12 a scene. We found Peter shelling beans in the granary, and whistling cheerily, as with a conscience void of offence towards all men.
"Look here, Peter," said Felix ominously13, "they tell me that you've been praying right along that I couldn't eat a bitter apple. Now, I tell you—"
"I never did!" exclaimed Peter indignantly. "I never mentioned your name. I never prayed that you couldn't eat a bitter apple. I just prayed that I'd be the only one that could."
"Well, that's the same thing," cried Felix. "You've just been praying for the opposite to me out of spite. And you've got to stop it, Peter Craig."
"Well, I just guess I won't," said Peter angrily. "I've just as good a right to pray for what I want as you, Felix King, even if you was brought up in Toronto. I s'pose you think a hired boy hasn't any business to pray for particular things, but I'll show you. I'll just pray for what I please, and I'd like to see you try and stop me."
"You'll have to fight me, if you keep on praying against me," said Felix.
"All right. I can fight as well as pray."
"Oh, don't fight," implored15 Cecily. "I think it would be dreadful. Surely you can arrange it some other way. Let's all give up the Ordeal, anyway. There isn't much fun in it. And then neither of you need pray about it."
"I don't want to give up the Ordeal," said Felix, "and I won't."
"Oh, well, surely you can settle it some way without fighting," persisted Cecily.
"I'm not wanting to fight," said Peter. "It's Felix. If he don't interfere16 with my prayers there's no need of fighting. But if he does there's no other way to settle it."
"But how will that settle it?" asked Cecily.
"Oh, whoever's licked will have to give in about the praying," said Peter. "That's fair enough. If I'm licked I won't pray for that particular thing any more."
"It's dreadful to fight about anything so religious as praying," sighed poor Cecily.
"Why, they were always fighting about religion in old times," said Felix. "The more religious anything was the more fighting there was about it."
"A fellow's got a right to pray as he pleases," said Peter, "and if anybody tries to stop him he's bound to fight. That's my way of looking at it."
"What would Miss Marwood say if she knew you were going to fight?" asked Felicity.
Miss Marwood was Felix' Sunday School teacher and he was very fond of her. But by this time Felix was quite reckless.
"I don't care what she would say," he retorted.
"You'll be sure to get whipped if you fight with Peter," she said. "You're too fat to fight."
After that, no moral force on earth could have prevented Felix from fighting. He would have faced an army with banners.
"You might settle it by drawing lots," said Cecily desperately18.
"What would Aunt Jane say if she knew you were going to fight?"
Cecily demanded of Peter.
"Don't you drag my Aunt Jane into this affair," said Peter darkly.
"You said you were going to be a Presbyterian," persisted Cecily.
"Good Presbyterians don't fight."
"Oh, don't they! I heard your Uncle Roger say that Presbyterians were the best for fighting in the world—or the worst, I forget which he said, but it means the same thing."
"I thought you said in your sermon, Master Peter, that people shouldn't fight."
"I said they oughtn't to fight for fun, or for bad temper," retorted Peter. "This is different. I know what I'm fighting for but I can't think of the word."
"I guess you mean principle," I suggested.
"Yes, that's it," agreed Peter. "It's all right to fight for principle. It's kind of praying with your fists."
"Oh, can't you do something to prevent them from fighting, Sara?" pleaded Cecily, turning to the Story Girl, who was sitting on a bin8, swinging her shapely bare feet to and fro.
I may be mistaken, but I do not believe the Story Girl wanted that fight stopped. And I am far from being sure that Felicity did either.
It was ultimately arranged that the combat should take place in the fir wood behind Uncle Roger's granary. It was a nice, remote, bosky place where no prowling grown-up would be likely to intrude23. And thither24 we all resorted at sunset.
"I hope Felix will beat," said the Story Girl to me, "not only for the family honour, but because that was a mean, mean prayer of Peter's. Do you think he will?"
"I don't know," I confessed dubiously25. "Felix is too fat. He'll get out of breath in no time. And Peter is such a cool customer, and he's a year older than Felix. But then Felix has had some practice. He has fought boys in Toronto. And this is Peter's first fight."
"Did you ever fight?" asked the Story Girl.
"Who beat?"
It is sometimes a bitter thing to tell the truth, especially to a young lady for whom you have a great admiration29. I had a struggle with temptation in which I frankly30 confess I might have been worsted had it not been for a saving and timely remembrance of a certain resolution made on the day preceding Judgment31 Sunday.
"The other fellow," I said with reluctant honesty.
"Well," said the Story Girl, "I think it doesn't matter whether you get whipped or not so long as you fight a good, square fight."
Her potent32 voice made me feel that I was quite a hero after all, and the sting went out of my recollection of that old fight.
When we arrived behind the granary the others were all there. Cecily was very pale, and Felix and Peter were taking off their coats. There was a pure yellow sunset that evening, and the aisles33 of the fir wood were flooded with its radiance. A cool, autumnal wind was whistling among the dark boughs34 and scattering35 blood red leaves from the maple36 at the end of the granary.
"Now," said Dan, "I'll count, and when I say three you pitch in, and hammer each other until one of you has had enough. Cecily, keep quiet. Now, one—two—three!"
Peter and Felix "pitched in," with more zeal37 than discretion38 on both sides. As a result, Peter got what later developed into a black eye, and Felix's nose began to bleed. Cecily gave a shriek39 and ran out of the wood. We thought she had fled because she could not endure the sight of blood, and we were not sorry, for her manifest disapproval40 and anxiety were damping the excitement of the occasion.
Felix and Peter drew apart after that first onset41, and circled about one another warily42. Then, just as they had come to grips again, Uncle Alec walked around the corner of the granary, with Cecily behind him.
He was not angry. There was a quizzical look in his eyes. But he took the combatants by their shirt collars and dragged them apart.
"This stops right here, boys," he said. "You know I don't allow fighting."
"Oh, but Uncle Alec, it was this way," began Felix eagerly.
"Peter—"
"No, I don't want to hear about it," said Uncle Alec sternly. "I don't care what you were fighting about, but you must settle your quarrels in a different fashion. Remember my commands, Felix. Peter, Roger is looking for you to wash his buggy. Be off."
Peter went off rather sullenly43, and Felix, also sullenly, sat down and began to nurse his nose. He turned his back on Cecily.
Cecily "caught it" after Uncle Alec had gone. Dan called her a tell-tale and a baby, and sneered44 at her until Cecily began to cry.
"I couldn't stand by and watch Felix and Peter pound each other all to pieces," she sobbed45. "They've been such friends, and it was dreadful to see them fighting."
"Uncle Roger would have let them fight it out," said the Story Girl discontentedly. "Uncle Roger believes in boys fighting. He says it's as harmless a way as any of working off their original sin. Peter and Felix wouldn't have been any worse friends after it. They'd have been better friends because the praying question would have been settled. And now it can't be—unless Felicity can coax46 Peter to give up praying against Felix."
For once in her life the Story Girl was not as tactful as her wont47. Or—is it possible that she said it out of malice48 prepense? At all events, Felicity resented the imputation49 that she had more influence with Peter than any one else.
"It was all nonsense fighting about such prayers, anyhow," said Dan, who probably thought that since all chance of a fight was over, he might as well avow51 his real sentiments as to its folly52. "Just as much nonsense as praying about the bitter apples in the first place."
"Oh, Dan, don't you believe there is some good in praying?" said
Cecily reproachfully.
"Yes, I believe there's some good in some kinds of praying, but not in that kind," said Dan sturdily. "I don't believe God cares whether anybody can eat an apple without making a face or not."
"I don't believe it's right to talk of God as if you were well acquainted with Him," said Felicity, who felt that it was a good chance to snub Dan.
"There's something wrong somewhere," said Cecily perplexedly. "We ought to pray for what we want, of that I'm sure—and Peter wanted to be the only one who could pass the Ordeal. It seems as if he must be right—and yet it doesn't seem so. I wish I could understand it."
"Peter's prayer was wrong because it was a selfish prayer, I guess," said the Story Girl thoughtfully. "Felix's prayer was all right, because it wouldn't have hurt any one else; but it was selfish of Peter to want to be the only one. We mustn't pray selfish prayers."
"Yes, but," said Dan triumphantly54, "if you believe God answers prayers about particular things, it was Peter's prayer He answered. What do you make of that?"
"Oh!" the Story Girl shook her head impatiently. "There's no use trying to make such things out. We only get more mixed up all the time. Let's leave it alone and I'll tell you a story. Aunt Olivia had a letter today from a friend in Nova Scotia, who lives in Shubenacadie. When I said I thought it a funny name, she told me to go and look in her scrap55 book, and I would find a story about the origin of the name. And I did. Don't you want to hear it?"
Of course we did. We all sat down at the roots of the firs. Felix, having finally squared matters with his nose, turned around and listened also. He would not look at Cecily, but every one else had forgiven her.
The Story Girl leaned that brown head of hers against the fir trunk behind her, and looked up at the apple-green sky through the dark boughs above us. She wore, I remember, a dress of warm crimson56, and she had wound around her head a string of waxberries, that looked like a fillet of pearls. Her cheeks were still flushed with the excitement of the evening. In the dim light she was beautiful, with a wild, mystic loveliness, a compelling charm that would not be denied.
"Many, many moons ago, an Indian tribe lived on the banks of a river in Nova Scotia. One of the young braves was named Accadee. He was the tallest and bravest and handsomest young man in the tribe—"
"Why is it they're always so handsome in stories?" asked Dan.
"Why are there never no stories about ugly people?"
"Perhaps ugly people never have stories happen to them," suggested Felicity.
"I think they're just as interesting as the handsome people," retorted Dan.
"Well, maybe they are in real life," said Cecily, "but in stories it's just as easy to make them handsome as not. I like them best that way. I just love to read a story where the heroine is beautiful as a dream."
"Pretty people are always conceited," said Felix, who was getting tired of holding his tongue.
"The heroes in stories are always nice," said Felicity, with apparent irrelevance57. "They're always so tall and slender. Wouldn't it be awful funny if any one wrote a story about a fat hero—or about one with too big a mouth?"
"It doesn't matter what a man LOOKS like," I said, feeling that Felix and Dan were catching58 it rather too hotly. "He must be a good sort of chap and DO heaps of things. That's all that's necessary."
"Do any of you happen to want to hear the rest of my story?" asked the Story Girl in an ominously polite voice that recalled us to a sense of our bad manners. We apologized and promised to behave better; she went on, appeased59:
"Accadee was all these things that I have mentioned, and he was the best hunter in the tribe besides. Never an arrow of his that did not go straight to the mark. Many and many a snow white moose he shot, and gave the beautiful skin to his sweetheart. Her name was Shuben and she was as lovely as the moon when it rises from the sea, and as pleasant as a summer twilight60. Her eyes were dark and soft, her foot was as light as a breeze, and her voice sounded like a brook61 in the woods, or the wind that comes over the hills at night. She and Accadee were very much in love with each other, and often they hunted together, for Shuben was almost as skilful62 with her bow and arrow as Accadee himself. They had loved each other ever since they were small pappooses, and they had vowed63 to love each other as long as the river ran.
"One twilight, when Accadee was out hunting in the woods, he shot a snow white moose; and he took off its skin and wrapped it around him. Then he went on through the woods in the starlight; and he felt so happy and light of heart that he sometimes frisked and capered64 about just as a real moose would do. And he was doing this when Shuben, who was also out hunting, saw him from afar and thought he was a real moose. She stole cautiously through the woods until she came to the brink65 of a little valley. Below her stood the snow white moose. She drew her arrow to her eye—alas, she knew the art only too well!—and took careful aim. The next moment Accadee fell dead with her arrow in his heart."
The Story Girl paused—a dramatic pause. It was quite dark in the fir wood. We could see her face and eyes but dimly through the gloom. A silvery moon was looking down on us over the granary. The stars twinkled through the softly waving boughs. Beyond the wood we caught a glimpse of a moonlit world lying in the sharp frost of the October evening. The sky above it was chill and ethereal and mystical.
But all about us were shadows; and the weird66 little tale, told in a voice fraught67 with mystery and pathos68, had peopled them for us with furtive69 folk in belt and wampum, and dark-tressed Indian maidens70.
"What did Shuben do when she found out she had killed Accadee?" asked Felicity.
"She died of a broken heart before the spring, and she and Accadee were buried side by side on the bank of the river which has ever since borne their names—the river Shubenacadie," said the Story Girl.
The sharp wind blew around the granary and Cecily shivered. We heard Aunt Janet's voice calling "Children, children." Shaking off the spell of firs and moonlight and romantic tale, we scrambled71 to our feet and went homeward.
"I kind of wish I'd been born an Injun," said Dan. "It must have been a jolly life—nothing to do but hunt and fight."
"It wouldn't be so nice if they caught you and tortured you at the stake," said Felicity.
"No," said Dan reluctantly. "I suppose there'd be some drawback to everything, even being an Injun."
"Isn't it cold?" said Cecily, shivering again. "It will soon be winter. I wish summer could last forever. Felicity likes the winter, and so does the Story Girl, but I don't. It always seems so long till spring."
"Never mind, we've had a splendid summer," I said, slipping my arm about her to comfort some childish sorrow that breathed in her plaintive72 voice.
Truly, we had had a delectable73 summer; and, having had it, it was ours forever. "The gods themselves cannot recall their gifts." They may rob us of our future and embitter74 our present, but our past they may not touch. With all its laughter and delight and glamour75 it is our eternal possession.
Nevertheless, we all felt a little of the sadness of the waning76 year. There was a distinct weight on our spirits until Felicity took us into the pantry and stayed us with apple tarts77 and comforted us with cream. Then we brightened up. It was really a very decent world after all.
点击收听单词发音
1 ordeal | |
n.苦难经历,(尤指对品格、耐力的)严峻考验 | |
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2 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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3 obsessed | |
adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的 | |
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4 grimacing | |
v.扮鬼相,做鬼脸( grimace的现在分词 ) | |
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5 contrived | |
adj.不自然的,做作的;虚构的 | |
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6 grimace | |
v.做鬼脸,面部歪扭 | |
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7 devoutly | |
adv.虔诚地,虔敬地,衷心地 | |
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8 bin | |
n.箱柜;vt.放入箱内;[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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9 aggrieved | |
adj.愤愤不平的,受委屈的;悲痛的;(在合法权利方面)受侵害的v.令委屈,令苦恼,侵害( aggrieve的过去式);令委屈,令苦恼,侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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10 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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11 resolutely | |
adj.坚决地,果断地 | |
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12 scenting | |
vt.闻到(scent的现在分词形式) | |
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13 ominously | |
adv.恶兆地,不吉利地;预示地 | |
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14 gasped | |
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要 | |
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15 implored | |
恳求或乞求(某人)( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16 interfere | |
v.(in)干涉,干预;(with)妨碍,打扰 | |
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17 tack | |
n.大头钉;假缝,粗缝 | |
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18 desperately | |
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地 | |
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19 gambling | |
n.赌博;投机 | |
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20 locker | |
n.更衣箱,储物柜,冷藏室,上锁的人 | |
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21 meddle | |
v.干预,干涉,插手 | |
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22 sagely | |
adv. 贤能地,贤明地 | |
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23 intrude | |
vi.闯入;侵入;打扰,侵扰 | |
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24 thither | |
adv.向那里;adj.在那边的,对岸的 | |
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25 dubiously | |
adv.可疑地,怀疑地 | |
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26 briefly | |
adv.简单地,简短地 | |
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27 dreading | |
v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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28 promptly | |
adv.及时地,敏捷地 | |
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29 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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30 frankly | |
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
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31 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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32 potent | |
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 | |
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33 aisles | |
n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
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34 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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35 scattering | |
n.[物]散射;散乱,分散;在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的;分散在不同范围的;广泛扩散的;(选票)数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式);散布;驱散 | |
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36 maple | |
n.槭树,枫树,槭木 | |
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37 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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38 discretion | |
n.谨慎;随意处理 | |
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39 shriek | |
v./n.尖叫,叫喊 | |
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40 disapproval | |
n.反对,不赞成 | |
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41 onset | |
n.进攻,袭击,开始,突然开始 | |
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42 warily | |
adv.留心地 | |
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43 sullenly | |
不高兴地,绷着脸,忧郁地 | |
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44 sneered | |
讥笑,冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45 sobbed | |
哭泣,啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 ); 哭诉,呜咽地说 | |
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46 coax | |
v.哄诱,劝诱,用诱哄得到,诱取 | |
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47 wont | |
adj.习惯于;v.习惯;n.习惯 | |
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48 malice | |
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
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49 imputation | |
n.归罪,责难 | |
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50 haughtily | |
adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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51 avow | |
v.承认,公开宣称 | |
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52 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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53 joyfully | |
adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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54 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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55 scrap | |
n.碎片;废料;v.废弃,报废 | |
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56 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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57 irrelevance | |
n.无关紧要;不相关;不相关的事物 | |
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58 catching | |
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住 | |
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59 appeased | |
安抚,抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 ); 绥靖(满足另一国的要求以避免战争) | |
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60 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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61 brook | |
n.小河,溪;v.忍受,容让 | |
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62 skilful | |
(=skillful)adj.灵巧的,熟练的 | |
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63 vowed | |
起誓,发誓(vow的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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64 capered | |
v.跳跃,雀跃( caper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65 brink | |
n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘,边沿 | |
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66 weird | |
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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67 fraught | |
adj.充满…的,伴有(危险等)的;忧虑的 | |
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68 pathos | |
n.哀婉,悲怆 | |
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69 furtive | |
adj.鬼鬼崇崇的,偷偷摸摸的 | |
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70 maidens | |
处女( maiden的名词复数 ); 少女; 未婚女子; (板球运动)未得分的一轮投球 | |
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71 scrambled | |
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
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72 plaintive | |
adj.可怜的,伤心的 | |
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73 delectable | |
adj.使人愉快的;美味的 | |
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74 embitter | |
v.使苦;激怒 | |
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75 glamour | |
n.魔力,魅力;vt.迷住 | |
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76 waning | |
adj.(月亮)渐亏的,逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 );(月)亏;变小;变暗淡 | |
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77 tarts | |
n.果馅饼( tart的名词复数 );轻佻的女人;妓女;小妞 | |
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