The Sokolovaya Mountain towers high above the Volga and the plains, making a dark, precipitous descent to the pirate river below.
Across the Volga lies an ancient town. By the Glebychev Ravine, close to the old Cathedral guarded by one of Pugachev's guns, stands a mansion2 with a facade3 of ochre-coloured-columns. In olden days, when it was the residence of the princely Rastorovs' balls were held there, but decay had set in during the last twenty years, and Kseniya Davydovna—the mistress—old, ill, a spinster, was drawing to the end of her days.
They had been scattered6 over the face of Russia, had spent their lives in Petersburg, Moscow and Paris; for twenty years the house had stood vacant and moribund7. Then the Revolution came! The instinctive8 fury of the masses burst forth—and the remnants of the Rastorov family gathered in their old nest—to be hidden from the Revolution and famine.
Snow-storms—galloping snowy chargers—howled over the Steppe, the
Volga, and the town. Elemental, all-devastating, as in the days of
Stenka Razin—thundered the Revolution.
The rooms in the ancient mansion were damp, dark and chilly9. The old cathedral could be seen from the window, and down below lay the Volga, seven miles wide, wrapt in a dazzling sheet of snow, its steamers moored10 to their wharves11.
The family lived as a community at first, but their communism was nominal12, for each barricaded13 and entrenched14 himself in his own room, with his own pot and samovar. They lived tedious, mean, malignant15, worthless lives, execrating16 existence and the Revolution; they lived utterly17 apart from the turmoil18 that now replaced the placid19 even flow of the old regime: they were outside current events, and their thoughts for ever turned back to the past, awaiting its return.
General Kirill Lvovich awoke at seven o'clock. Everything was crowded closely together in the room, which was bedroom, drawing-room and dining-room combined. The blue dusk of morning was visible through the heavy blinds of the low window. The general put on his tasselled Bukhara dressing-gown and went outside, then returned coughing hoarsely20.
"Anna," he snarled21, "ask your kinsfolk which of them left the place in such a state. Don't they know we have no servants? It is your turn to set the samovar to-day. Are there no cigarette boxes?" he walked about the room, his hands behind his back, diamond rings glittering on his fingers.
"That will do, I know it. There are four families living in the house and they cannot organise24 themselves so as to go in turn for the rations. Give me a sheet of paper and some ink."
The general sat down at the table and wrote out a notice:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have no servants;
We must see to things ourselves. We can't
I beg you to be more careful.
Kirill L. Lezhner."
Kirill Lvovich was not one of the heirs, it was his wife who came of the Rastorov family, and he had merely accompanied her to the ancestral mansion. Lvovich took his notice and hung it on the lavatory26 door. Then again he paced the floor, his jewels sparkling brilliantly.
"Why the devil do Sergius and his family occupy three rooms, and we only one?" he grumbled27. "I shall leave this den4. They don't behave like relatives! Are there no cigarettes?"
Anna Andreevna, a quiet, weary, feeble woman, replied tonelessly: "You know there are none. But I will look for some butt-ends in a moment. Lina sometimes throws away the unused cigarette wraps."
The dark twining corridor was strewn with rubbish, for no one had the will or wish to keep it neat. Anna Andreevna rummaged30 by the stove of Sergius Andreevich, Lina's husband, looking among the papers and sweepings31. She peered into the stove and discovered that Leontyevna, the maid—a one-eyed Cyclop—had filled it with birch-wood, whereas it had been agreed that the rotting timber from the summer-house should be used as fuel first.
After enjoying a cigarette of his "own" tobacco, the general went out to the courtyard for firewood, returning with a bundle of sticks from the summer-house. The samovar was now ready and he sat down to his tea, leisurely32 drinking glass after glass, while Anna Andreevna heated her stove in the corridor.
A dim, wintry dawn was gradually breaking. The family of Sergius—the former head of a ministerial department—could be heard rousing themselves behind the wall.
"You have had sufficient albumen; take hydrates now," rose Lina's voice, calling to her children.
"Potatoes?"
"Yes."
"And fat?"
"You have had enough fat."
"That is not eating, that is scientific alimentation." He cut himself a piece of bacon, ate it with some white bread, and drank more tea with sweet root and candied melon.
Gradually the occupants of the house roused themselves and half- dressed, sleepy—carrying their towels, empty samovars, and tooth brushes—they began to pass along the corridor in front of the general's open door.
Kirill Lvovich eyed them maliciously34 as he sat drinking his tea and inwardly cursed them all.
The Cyclop, Leontyevna, Sergius Andreevich's servant, tramped in heavily with her man's boots from the Labour Exchange; her solitary35 eye peered searchingly into Anna Andreevna's stove.
"I'll see she's not deceiving us over the firewood," she shouted aggressively: "Oh, what a store she's got!"
"But you have used the birch-wood," the general hit back from his room.
"What?" Leontyevna cried, "I am not trusted, I am being spied on!
Lina Fedorovna, I am going to complain to the Exchange."
Lina Fedorovna joined in from behind her door.
"She isn't trusted, she is being spied on," she echoed, "there must be spies in this house! And they call themselves intellectual people!"
"But you took the birch-wood!" protested Lvovich.
"And they call themselves intellectual!" screamed Lina.
"It is not for us to judge, Lina Fedorovna. We are not the heirs here. But it seems strange to me that Sergius should occupy three rooms, and Anna only one—yes, very strange indeed."
The quarrel became more violent. Satisfied, the general put on his overcoat and went out to take his place in the ration22 queue. Lina ran to her husband; he went to get an explanation of the scene, but Lvovich was not to be found, however; he remonstrated38 with his sister, Anna Andreevna.
"This spying is impossible, it must stop," he insisted.
"But, can't you understand, it all began with searching for the butt- end of a cigarette?" Anna pleaded in deep distress39.
Lina had gone upstairs and was telling the whole story to Ekaterina. Anna appealed to her younger brother, Constantine, a Lyceum student, but he told her he was busy, immediately sitting down at his desk to write. Soon after, however, he rose and went to Sergius.
"Busy?" he asked.
"What? Yes, I am busy."
"Have a smoke."
They began to smoke an inferior brand of tobacco known as "Kepsten."
They were silent.
"Will you have a game of chess?" Constantine asked after a while.
"Yes…But no, I think not," Sergius replied.
"Just one game?"
"Just one? Well, only one!"
Lyceum uniform; he wore rings on his fingers, like the general and
Sergius, and an antique gold chain hung round his neck.
Being in constant dread41 of requisitioners and robbers they had divided all the jewellery between them, and wore it for safety.
The brothers played one game, then a second, a fourth, a sixth— smoking and quarrelling, disagreeing over the moves and trying to re- arrange them. The general returned from the ration queue in the market and came along the passage. He peeped in at the two players through the open door, and after some hesitation42 decided43 to enter.
"Greenhorns, you don't know how to play!" he said.
"What do you mean? Don't know how to play?"
"Now, now, don't fly into a rage. If I am wrong—excuse an old man … I sent Kirka for the newspaper, I gave him a twenty copeck piece for a tip."
"I am not in a rage!"
"Very well, then that's all right. But throw over your chess. Let us play a game of chance."
They sat down and played it for the entire day, only interrupting the game to go to their rooms for dinner.
Whenever Sergius had to pay a fine he would say:
"Anyhow, Kirill Lvovich, you have an objectionable manner."
"Now, now, greenhorn!" the general would reply.
They had not a penny between them. Katerina Andreevna had been appointed guardian44 of their possessions. The men refused to recognise her authority and called it merely a "femocracy." Only Sergius still had some capital, the proceeds of an estate he had sold before the Revolution. Therefore he could well afford to keep a servant.
Upstairs with Katerina were two girls who had thrown up their careers on principle—the one her college studies, the other her Conservatoire courses. They kept up a desultory45 conversation while helping46 to clean potatoes. Presently Anna and Lina joined them, and they all went down to the storeroom and began rummaging47 through their grandparents' old wardrobes. They turned over a variety of crinolines, farthingales, bustles49 and wigs50, laying on one side the articles of silver, bronze and porcelain—for the Tartars were coming after dinner. The storeroom smelt51 of rats. Packed along its walls were boxes, coffers, trunks, and a huge pair of rusty52 scales.
They all gathered together on the arrival of the Tartars, who greeted them with handshakes. The general snorted. One of the Tartars, an old man wearing new goloshes over felt boots, spoke53 to Katerina:
"How d'ye do, Barina?"
The general leisurely swung one leg over the other, and said stiffly:
"Be good enough to state your price."
The two Tartars looked over the old-fashioned articles, criticised them, none too well, and fixed54 the most ridiculous prices. The general burst out laughing and tried to be witty55. Katerina grew angrier and angrier, until at last she could no longer contain herself:
"Kirill Lvovich," she shouted, "you are impossible!" "Very well," came the infuriated reply; "I am not one of the heirs, I can go!"
They calmed him, however, and then began bargaining with the Tartars, who slung56 the old-fashioned articles carelessly over their arms— laces worked by serfs, antique, hand made candle-sticks, a field- glass and an acetylene lamp.
The twilight57 spread gently over the town, and through its dusky, star-spangled veil, loomed58 the old Cathedral—reminiscent of Stenka Razin; now and then came the chime of its deep-toned bells.
The Tartars at length succeeding in striking a bargain, rolled the goods up into neat little packs with their customary promptitude, paid out Kerensky notes from their bulging59 purses and left.
Then the heirs divided the proceeds. They were sitting in the drawing-room. Blinds covered the low windows; some portraits hung on the walls, a chandelier was shrouded60 in a muslin wrapper that had not been changed for years. A yellow oaken piano was covered with dust, and the furniture's velvet61 covering was tarnished62 and threadbare. The house struck cold.
The heirs were dressed fantastically; the general in a dressing-gown with gold embroideries63 and tassels64; Sergius wore a black hooded65 coat; Lina a warm hare-skin jacket, and Katerina, the eldest—the moustached guardian—a man's thick overcoat, a petticoat and felt shoes. On all were jewels—rings, ear-rings, bracelets66 and necklaces.
Sergius remarked ungallantly:
"This is a trying time for us all, and I propose that we divide the proceeds among us according to the number of consumers."
"I am not one of the heirs," the general hastily interposed.
"I don't share your socialistic views." Constantine informed Sergius with a cold smile; "I think they should be divided according to the number of heirs."
A heated argument followed, above which rang the Cathedral bells. At last, with great difficulty, they came to an agreement. Then Katerina brought in the samovar. All fetched their own bread and sweet roots and drank the tea, thankful not to have to prepare it for themselves.
Suddenly—with unexpected sadness and, therefore, unusually well—the general began to speak:
"When I—a lieutenant-bridegroom—met our Aunt Kseniya for the first time, she was wearing that bustle48 that you sold just now. Ah, will things ever be the same again? If I were told the Bolshevik tyranny would endure for another year, I should shoot myself! For, good Lord, what I suffer! How my heart is wrung67! And I am an old man…. Life is simply not worth living."
All burst into tears; the general wept as old men weep, the moustached Katerina cried in a sobbing68 bass69. Neither could Anna Andreevna, nor the two girls who stood clasping each other in the corner, refrain from shedding tears, the girls for their youth and the sparkling joys of their maidenhood70 of which they had been deprived.
"I would shoot them all if I could!" Katerina declared.
Then Sergius' children, Kira and Lira, came in and Lina told them they might take some albumen. Kira put butter on his.
The moon rose…. The stars shone brilliantly. The snow was dead- white. The river Volga was deserted71. It was dark and still by the old Cathedral. The frost was hard and crisp, crackling underfoot. The two young girls, Kseniya and Lena, with Sergius and the general, were returning to the mansion to fetch their handsleighs and toboggan down the slope to the river.
Constantine had gone into town, to a club of cocaine-eaters, to drug himself, utter vulgar platitudes72, and kiss the hands of loose women. Leontyevna, the Cyclop maid from the Exchange, lay down on a bench in the kitchen to rest from the day's work, said her prayers, and fell into a sound sleep.
The general stood on the door-steps. Sergius drew up the sleighs, and they took their seats—three abreast—Kseniya, Elena and himself, and whirled along over the crackling snow, down to the ice-covered Volga. The sleighs flew wildly down the slope, and in this impetuous flight, in the sprinkling and crackling snow, and bitter, numbing73 frost, Kseniya dreamed of a wondrous74 bliss75: she felt a desire to embrace the world! Life suddenly seemed so joyous76.
The frost was harsh, cruel and penetrating77. On regaining78 the house the general bristled79 up like a sparrow—he was frozen—and called out from the door-step:
"Sergius! There is a frost to-day that will certainly burst the water-pipes. We will have to place a guard for the night."
Perhaps Sergius, and even the old man, had had a glimpse of wonderful happiness in the sleigh's swift flight over the snow. The former called back:
"Never mind!"—and again whirled wildly down from the old Cathedral to the Volga, where the boats and steamers plied28 amid the deep-blue, massive ice-floes, so sparkling and luminous80 in their snowy raiment.
But the general had now worked himself up to a state of great excitement. He rushed indoors and roused everyone:
"I tell you, it will freeze and the pipes will burst unless you let the water run a little. There are 27 degrees of frost!"
"But the tap is in the kitchen and Leontyevna is sleeping there," objected Lina.
"Well, waken her!"
"Impossible!"
"Damn rot!" snarled the general and went into the kitchen and shook
Leontyevna, explaining to her about the pipes.
"I will go to the Exchange and complain! Not even letting one rest!…Stealing in to an undressed woman!…"
"Leave off, please," he begged. "It is I who am responsible. Let
Leontyevna sleep."
The night and the frost swept over the Volga, the Steppe, and Saratov. The general was unable to sleep. Kseniya and Lena were crying in the attic83. Constantine arrived home late, and noiselessly crept in to Leontyevna.
Bluish patches of moonlight fell in through the windows.
The water pipes froze in the night and burst.
点击收听单词发音
1 falcons | |
n.猎鹰( falcon的名词复数 ) | |
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2 mansion | |
n.大厦,大楼;宅第 | |
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3 facade | |
n.(建筑物的)正面,临街正面;外表 | |
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4 den | |
n.兽穴;秘密地方;安静的小房间,私室 | |
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5 plundered | |
掠夺,抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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7 moribund | |
adj.即将结束的,垂死的 | |
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8 instinctive | |
adj.(出于)本能的;直觉的;(出于)天性的 | |
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9 chilly | |
adj.凉快的,寒冷的 | |
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10 moored | |
adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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11 wharves | |
n.码头,停泊处( wharf的名词复数 ) | |
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12 nominal | |
adj.名义上的;(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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13 barricaded | |
设路障于,以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 ); 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
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14 entrenched | |
adj.确立的,不容易改的(风俗习惯) | |
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15 malignant | |
adj.恶性的,致命的;恶意的,恶毒的 | |
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16 execrating | |
v.憎恶( execrate的现在分词 );厌恶;诅咒;咒骂 | |
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17 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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18 turmoil | |
n.骚乱,混乱,动乱 | |
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19 placid | |
adj.安静的,平和的 | |
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20 hoarsely | |
adv.嘶哑地 | |
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21 snarled | |
v.(指狗)吠,嗥叫, (人)咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 );咆哮着说,厉声地说 | |
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22 ration | |
n.定量(pl.)给养,口粮;vt.定量供应 | |
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23 rations | |
定量( ration的名词复数 ); 配给量; 正常量; 合理的量 | |
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24 organise | |
vt.组织,安排,筹办 | |
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25 perch | |
n.栖木,高位,杆;v.栖息,就位,位于 | |
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26 lavatory | |
n.盥洗室,厕所 | |
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27 grumbled | |
抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 发牢骚; 咕哝; 发哼声 | |
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28 plied | |
v.使用(工具)( ply的过去式和过去分词 );经常供应(食物、饮料);固定往来;经营生意 | |
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29 bourgeois | |
adj./n.追求物质享受的(人);中产阶级分子 | |
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30 rummaged | |
翻找,搜寻( rummage的过去式和过去分词 ); 已经海关检查 | |
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31 sweepings | |
n.笼统的( sweeping的名词复数 );(在投票等中的)大胜;影响广泛的;包罗万象的 | |
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32 leisurely | |
adj.悠闲的;从容的,慢慢的 | |
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33 craftily | |
狡猾地,狡诈地 | |
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34 maliciously | |
adv.有敌意地 | |
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35 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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36 thighs | |
n.股,大腿( thigh的名词复数 );食用的鸡(等的)腿 | |
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37 severely | |
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
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38 remonstrated | |
v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 );告诫 | |
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39 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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40 rumpled | |
v.弄皱,使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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42 hesitation | |
n.犹豫,踌躇 | |
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43 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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44 guardian | |
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者 | |
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45 desultory | |
adj.散漫的,无方法的 | |
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46 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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47 rummaging | |
翻找,搜寻( rummage的现在分词 ); 海关检查 | |
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48 bustle | |
v.喧扰地忙乱,匆忙,奔忙;n.忙碌;喧闹 | |
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49 bustles | |
热闹( bustle的名词复数 ); (女裙后部的)衬垫; 撑架 | |
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50 wigs | |
n.假发,法官帽( wig的名词复数 ) | |
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51 smelt | |
v.熔解,熔炼;n.银白鱼,胡瓜鱼 | |
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52 rusty | |
adj.生锈的;锈色的;荒废了的 | |
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53 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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54 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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55 witty | |
adj.机智的,风趣的 | |
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56 slung | |
抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往 | |
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57 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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58 loomed | |
v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近 | |
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59 bulging | |
膨胀; 凸出(部); 打气; 折皱 | |
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60 shrouded | |
v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 );保密 | |
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61 velvet | |
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的 | |
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62 tarnished | |
(通常指金属)(使)失去光泽,(使)变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 ); 玷污,败坏 | |
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63 embroideries | |
刺绣( embroidery的名词复数 ); 刺绣品; 刺绣法 | |
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64 tassels | |
n.穗( tassel的名词复数 );流苏状物;(植物的)穗;玉蜀黍的穗状雄花v.抽穗, (玉米)长穗须( tassel的第三人称单数 );使抽穗, (为了使作物茁壮生长)摘去穗状雄花;用流苏装饰 | |
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65 hooded | |
adj.戴头巾的;有罩盖的;颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的 | |
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66 bracelets | |
n.手镯,臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
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67 wrung | |
绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 ); 握紧(尤指别人的手); 把(湿衣服)拧干; 绞掉(水) | |
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68 sobbing | |
<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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69 bass | |
n.男低音(歌手);低音乐器;低音大提琴 | |
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70 maidenhood | |
n. 处女性, 处女时代 | |
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71 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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72 platitudes | |
n.平常的话,老生常谈,陈词滥调( platitude的名词复数 );滥套子 | |
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73 numbing | |
adj.使麻木的,使失去感觉的v.使麻木,使麻痹( numb的现在分词 ) | |
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74 wondrous | |
adj.令人惊奇的,奇妙的;adv.惊人地;异乎寻常地;令人惊叹地 | |
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75 bliss | |
n.狂喜,福佑,天赐的福 | |
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76 joyous | |
adj.充满快乐的;令人高兴的 | |
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77 penetrating | |
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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78 regaining | |
复得( regain的现在分词 ); 赢回; 重回; 复至某地 | |
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79 bristled | |
adj. 直立的,多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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80 luminous | |
adj.发光的,发亮的;光明的;明白易懂的;有启发的 | |
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81 jabbered | |
v.急切而含混不清地说( jabber的过去式和过去分词 );急促兴奋地说话 | |
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82 smoothly | |
adv.平滑地,顺利地,流利地,流畅地 | |
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83 attic | |
n.顶楼,屋顶室 | |
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