All business was stopped, and the criers took their breath as soon as the discordant6 concert commenced.
The King of Kazounde, Moini Loungga, had come to honor the great "lakoni" with a visit. A numerous train of women, officers, soldiers and slaves followed him. Alvez and some other traders went to meet him, and naturally exaggerated the attention which this crowned brute7 particularly enjoyed.
Moini Loungga was carried in an old palanquin, and descended8, not without the aid of a dozen arms, in the center of the large square.
This king was fifty years old, but he looked eighty. Imagine a frightful9 monkey who had reached extreme old age; on his head a sort of crown, ornamented10 with leopard's claws, dyed red, and enlarged by tufts of whitish hair; this was the crown of the sovereigns of Kazounde. From his waist hung two petticoats made of leather, embroidered11 with pearls, and harder than a blacksmith's apron12. He had on his breast a quantity of tattooing13 which bore witness to the ancient nobility of the king; and, to believe him, the genealogy14 of Moini Loungga was lost in the night of time. On the ankles, wrists and arms of his majesty15, bracelets16 of leather were rolled, and he wore a pair of domestic shoes with yellow tops, which Alvez had presented him with about twenty years before.
His majesty carried in his left hand a large stick with a plated knob, and in his right a small broom to drive away flies, the handle of which was enriched with pearls.
Over his head was carried one of those old patched umbrellas, which seemed to have been cut out of a harlequin's dress.
On the monarch17's neck and on his nose were the magnifying glass and the spectacles which had caused Cousin Benedict so much trouble. They had been hidden in Bat's pocket.
Such is the portrait of his negro majesty, who made the country tremble in a circumference18 of a hundred miles.
Moini Loungga, from the fact of occupying a throne, pretended to be of celestial19 origin, and had any of his subjects doubted the fact, he would have sent them into another world to discover it. He said that, being of a divine essence, he was not subject to terrestrial laws. If he ate, it was because he wished to do so; if he drank, it was because it gave him pleasure. It was impossible for him to drink any more. His ministers and his officers, all incurable20 drunkards, would have passed before him for sober men.
The court was alcoholized to the last chief, and incessantly21 imbibed22 strong beer, cider, and, above all, a certain drink which Alvez furnished in profusion23.
Moini Loungga counted in his harem wives of all ages and of all kinds.
The larger part of them accompanied him in this visit to the "lakoni."
Moini, the first, according to date, was a vixen of forty years, of royal blood, like her colleagues. She wore a bright tartan, a straw petticoat embroidered with pearls, and necklaces wherever she could put them. Her hair was dressed so as to make an enormous framework on her little head. She was, in fact, a monster.
The other wives, who were either the cousins or the sisters of the king, were less richly dressed, but much younger. They walked behind her, ready to fulfil, at a sign from their master, their duties as human furniture. These unfortunate beings were really nothing else. If the king wished to sit down, two of these women bent24 toward the earth and served him for a chair, while his feet rested on the bodies of some others, as if on an ebony carpet.
A remarkable26 thing about these savages27, who staggered like their master, was that each lacked a part of his body—one an ear, another an eye, this one the nose, that one the hand. Not one was whole. That is because they apply only two kinds of punishment in Kazounde—mutilation or death—all at the caprice of the king. For the least fault, some amputation28, and the most cruelly punished are those whose ears are cut off, because they can no longer wear rings in their ears.
The captains of the kilolos, governors of districts, hereditary29 or named for four years, wore hats of zebra skin and red vests for their whole uniform. Their hands brandished30 long palm canes31, steeped at one end with charmed drugs.
As to the soldiers, they had for offensive and defensive32 weapons, bows, of which the wood, twined with the cord, was ornamented with fringes; knives, whetted33 with a serpent's tongue; broad and long lances; shields of palm wood, decorated in arabesque34 style. For what there was of uniform, properly so called, it cost his majesty's treasury35 absolutely nothing.
Finally, the kind's cortege comprised, in the last place, the court magicians and the instrumentalists.
The sorcerers, the "mganngas," are the doctors of the country. These savages attach an absolute faith to divinatory36 services, to incantations, to the fetiches, clay figures stained with white and red, representing fantastic animals or figures of men and women cut out of whole wood. For the rest, those magicians were not less mutilated than the other courtiers, and doubtless the monarch paid them in this way for the cures that did not succeed.
The instrumentalists, men or women, made sharp rattles37 whizz, noisy drums sound or shudder38 under small sticks terminated by a caoutchouc ball, "marimehas," kinds of dulcimers formed of two rows of gourds39 of various dimensions—the whole very deafening40 for any one who does not possess a pair of African ears.
Above this crowd, which composed the royal cortege, waved some flags and standards, then at the ends of spears the bleached41 skulls42 of the rival chiefs whom Moini Loungga had vanquished43.
When the king had quitted his palanquin, acclamations burst forth44 from all sides. The soldiers of the caravan45 discharged their old guns, the low detonations46 of which were but little louder than the vociferations of the crowd. The overseers, after rubbing their black noses with cinnabar powder, which they carried in a sack, bowed to the ground. Then Alvez, advancing in his turn, handed the king a supply of fresh tobacco—"soothing herb," as they call it in the country. Moini Loungga had great need of being soothed48, for he was, they did not know why, in a very bad humor.
At the same time Alvez, Coimbra, Ibn Hamis, and the Arab traders, or mongrels, came to pay their court to the powerful sovereign of Kazounde. "Marhaba," said the Arabs, which is their word of welcome in the language of Central Africa. Others clapped their hands and bowed to the ground. Some daubed themselves with mud, and gave signs of the greatest servility to this hideous49 majesty.
Moini Loungga hardly looked at all these people, and walked, keeping his limbs apart, as if the ground were rolling and pitching. He walked in this manner, or rather he rolled in the midst of waves of slaves, and if the traders feared that he might take a notion to apportion50 some of the prisoners to himself, the latter would no less dread51 falling into the power of such a brute.
Negoro had not left Alvez for a moment, and in his company presented his homage52 to the king. Both conversed54 in the native language, if, however, that word "converse53" can be used of a conversation in which Moini Loungga only took part by monosyllables that hardly found a passage through his drunken lips. And still, did he not ask his friend, Alvez, to renew his supply of brandy just exhausted55 by large libations?
"King Loungga is welcome to the market of Kazounde," said the trader.
"I am thirsty," replied the monarch.
"He will take his part in the business of the great 'lakoni,'" added
Alvez.
"Drink!" replied Moini Loungga.
"My friend Negoro is happy to see the King of Kazounde again, after such a long absence."
"Drink!" repeated the drunkard, whose whole person gave forth a disgusting odor of alcohol.
"Well, some 'pombe'! some mead56!" exclaimed Jose-Antonio Alvez, like a man who well knew what Moini Loungga wanted.
"No, no!" replied the king; "my friend Alvez's brandy, and for each drop of his fire-water I shall give him——"
"A drop of blood from a white man!" exclaimed Negoro, after making a sign to Alvez, which the latter understood and approved.
"A white man! Put a white man to death!" repeated Moini Loungga, whose ferocious57 instincts were aroused by the Portuguese's proposition.
"One of Alvez's agents has been killed by this white man," returned
Negoro.
"Send that white man to King Massongo, on the Upper Zaire, among the Assonas. They will cut him in pieces. They will eat him alive. They have not forgotten the taste of human flesh!" exclaimed Moini Loungga.
He was, in fact, the king of a tribe of man-eaters, that Massongo. It is only too true that in certain provinces of Central Africa cannibalism59 is still openly practised. Livingstone states it in his "Notes of Travel." On the borders of the Loualaba the Manyemas not only eat the men killed in the wars, but they buy slaves to devour60 them, saying that "human flesh is easily salted, and needs little seasoning61." Those cannibals Cameron has found again among the Moene-Bongga, where they only feast on dead bodies after steeping them for several days in a running stream. Stanley has also encountered those customs of cannibalism among the inhabitants of the Oukonson. Cannibalism is evidently well spread among the tribes of the center.
But, cruel as was the kind of death proposed by the king for Dick
Sand, it did not suit Negoro, who did not care to give up his victim.
"It was here," said he, "that the white man killed our comrade
Harris."
"It is here that he ought to die!" added Alvez.
"Where you please, Alvez," replied Moini Loungga; "but a drop of fire-water for a drop of blood!"
"Yes," replied the trader, "fire-water, and you will see that it well merits that name! We shall make it blaze, this water! Jose-Antonio Alvez will offer a punch to the King Moini Loungga."
The drunkard shook his friend Alvez's hands. He could not contain his joy. His wives, his courtiers shared his ecstasy62. They had never seen brandy blaze, and doubtless they counted on drinking it all blazing. Then, after the thirst for alcohol, the thirst for blood, so imperious among these savages, would be satisfied also.
Poor Dick Sand! What a horrible punishment awaited him. When we think of the terrible or grotesque63 effects of intoxication64 in civilized65 countries, we understand how far it can urge barbarous beings.
We will readily believe that the thought of torturing a white could displease66 none of the natives, neither Jose-Antonio Alvez, a negro like themselves, nor Coimbra, a mongrel of black blood, nor Negoro either, animated67 with a ferocious hatred68 against the whites.
The evening had come, an evening without twilight69, that was going to make day change tonight almost at once, a propitious70 hour for the blazing of the brandy.
It was truly a triumphant71 idea of Alvez's, to offer a punch to this negro majesty, and to make him love brandy under a new form. Moini Loungga began to find that fire-water did not sufficiently72 justify73 its name. Perhaps, blazing and burning, it would tickle74 more agreeably the blunted papillas of his tongue.
The evening's program then comprised a punch first, a punishment afterwards.
Dick Sand, closely shut up in his dark prison, would only come out to go to his death. The other slaves, sold or not, had been put back in the barracks. There only remained at the "tchitoka," the traders, the overseers and the soldiers ready to take their part of the punch, if the king and his court allowed them.
Jose-Antonio Alvez, advised by Negoro, did the thing well. They brought a vast copper75 basin, capable of containing at least two hundred pints76, which was placed in the middle of the great place. Barrels holding alcohol of inferior quality, but well refined, were emptied into the basin. They spared neither the cinnamon, nor the allspice, nor any of the ingredients that might improve this punch for savages.
All had made a circle around the king. Moini Loungga advanced staggering to the basin. One would say that this vat77 of brandy fascinated him, and that he was going to throw himself into it.
Alvez generously held him back and put a lighted match into his hand.
What a flare80 and what an effect, when the bluish flames played on the surface of the basin. Alvez, doubtless to render that alcohol still sharper, had mingled81 with it a few handfuls of sea salt. The assistants' faces were then given that spectral82 lividness that the imagination ascribes to phantoms83.
Those negroes, drunk in advance, began to cry out, to gesticulate, and, taking each other by the hand, formed an immense circle around the King of Kazounde.
Alvez, furnished with an enormous metal spoon, stirred the liquid, which threw a great white glare over those delirious84 monkeys.
Moini Loungga advanced. He seized the spoon from the trader's hands, plunged85 it into the basin, then, drawing it out full of punch in flames, he brought it to his lips.
What a cry the King of Kazounde then gave!
An act of spontaneous combustion86 had just taken place. The king had taken fire like a petroleum87 bonbon88. This fire developed little heat, but it devoured89 none the less.
At this spectacle the natives' dance was suddenly stopped.
One of Moini Loungga's ministers threw himself on his sovereign to extinguish him; but, not less alcoholized than his master, he took fire in his turn.
Alvez and Negoro did not know how to help his majesty. The women, frightened, had taken flight. As to Coimbra, he took his departure rapidly, well knowing his inflammable nature.
The king and the minister, who had fallen on the ground, were burning up, a prey91 to frightful sufferings.
In bodies so thoroughly92 alcoholized, combustion only produces a light and bluish flame, that water cannot extinguish. Even stifled93 outside, it would still continue to burn inwardly. When liquor has penetrated94 all the tissues, there exists no means of arresting the combustion.
A few minutes after, Moini Loungga and his minister had succumbed95, but they still burned. Soon, in the place where they had fallen, there was nothing left but a few light coals, one or two pieces of the vertebral column, fingers, toes, that the fire does not consume, in cases of spontaneous combustion, but which it covers with an infectious and penetrating96 soot47.
It was all that was left of the King of Kazounde and of his minister.
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1
cymbals
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| pl.铙钹 | |
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resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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4
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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8
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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9
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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10
ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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13
tattooing
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| n.刺字，文身v.刺青，文身( tattoo的现在分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击 | |
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14
genealogy
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| n.家系，宗谱 | |
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15
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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16
bracelets
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| n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
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17
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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18
circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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19
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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incurable
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| adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人 | |
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21
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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22
imbibed
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| v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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23
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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24
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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25
suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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26
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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27
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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28
amputation
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| n.截肢 | |
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29
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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30
brandished
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| v.挥舞( brandish的过去式和过去分词 )；炫耀 | |
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31
canes
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| n.（某些植物，如竹或甘蔗的）茎( cane的名词复数 )；（用于制作家具等的）竹竿；竹杖 | |
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32
defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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33
whetted
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| v.（在石头上）磨（刀、斧等）( whet的过去式和过去分词 )；引起，刺激（食欲、欲望、兴趣等） | |
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34
arabesque
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| n.阿拉伯式花饰；adj.阿拉伯式图案的 | |
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35
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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36
divinatory
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| adj.占卦的 | |
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37
rattles
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| （使）发出格格的响声， （使）作嘎嘎声( rattle的第三人称单数 )； 喋喋不休地说话； 迅速而嘎嘎作响地移动，堕下或走动； 使紧张，使恐惧 | |
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38
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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39
gourds
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| n.葫芦( gourd的名词复数 ) | |
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40
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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41
bleached
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| 漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的 | |
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42
skulls
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| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
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43
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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44
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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45
caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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46
detonations
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| n.爆炸 （声）( detonation的名词复数 ) | |
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47
soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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48
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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49
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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50
apportion
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| vt.（按比例或计划）分配 | |
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51
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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52
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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53
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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54
conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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55
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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56
mead
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| n.蜂蜜酒 | |
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57
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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58
avenged
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| v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复 | |
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59
cannibalism
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| n.同类相食；吃人肉 | |
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60
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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61
seasoning
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| n.调味；调味料；增添趣味之物 | |
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62
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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63
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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64
intoxication
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| n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning | |
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65
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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66
displease
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| vt.使不高兴，惹怒；n.不悦，不满，生气 | |
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67
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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68
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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69
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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70
propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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71
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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72
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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74
tickle
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| v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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pints
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| n.品脱( pint的名词复数 )；一品脱啤酒 | |
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vat
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| n.(=value added tax)增值税，大桶 | |
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78
grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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79
lashing
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| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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80
flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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81
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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82
spectral
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| adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的 | |
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83
phantoms
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| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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84
delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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85
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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86
combustion
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| n.燃烧；氧化；骚动 | |
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87
petroleum
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| n.原油，石油 | |
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88
bonbon
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| n.棒棒糖；夹心糖 | |
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89
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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90
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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93
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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94
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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95
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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96
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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