So time fled along in rapid fashion, for now I never had a moment to spare. And still further to curtail9 the time at my disposal, I, finding the burden of the rent in the west of London too grievous to be borne, to say nothing of the cruel anxiety of letting lodgings10 unfurnished, decided11 to migrate to the far east of London, between Upton Park and East Ham. There I had heard that a neat five-roomed house with a long garden could be hired for seven and six a week inclusive of all rates and taxes. (I believe the same house would fetch nearly if not quite double now.) That was a rental12 I felt able to pay, and even if the great distance from my employment did mean extra expense, it was well worth a struggle to have a home to ourselves freed from the incubi of lodgers13 or sub landlord.
So with great hopes of making the last move for a long time, I commenced the big business. It must be confessed that the auspices14 were not very bright, my wife being too ill to stand upon her feet, my eldest15 child a toddler of five, and my next one quite a baby. But in those days such details hardly fretted16 me, I was so used to them. And consequently it was with a stout17 heart that, having succeeded in hiring a big van and horse and man, at one and sixpence an hour, I commenced the long day's labour at seven in the morning. I carried my wife and little ones into a good Samaritan next door, who looked after them, while my helper and I dismantled18 the home and carefully stowed it in the van. For once I had found a man who was willing to work as hard as I could, and who did not seize every opportunity to suggest rest and refreshment20. So we got on very well indeed.
By nine o'clock all was ready, my wife was comfortably secured upon a sofa lashed21 to the tailboard of the van, the baby was accommodated with an impromptu22 cot on the keyboard of the piano, and the five-year-old also had a place for her little chair. So we started off for our new home facing the twelve miles between us and that distant suburb without misgivings23, though it was certainly anything but a picnic for the horse. I do not recall how many times we halted, only I know that but few of them involved the spending of money, that being as usual a very limited quantity with me. But at five o'clock the weary trudge24 was over, and with fresh energy we tackled the task of getting the chattels25 indoors. With such good will did we both work that by six all was over, and the hard-working carman, apparently26 satisfied with my moderate tip of a shilling, and sixteen and six for the hire of the vehicle, departed and left me to the tackling of my biggest task of the day.
I felt as if I would much rather lie down and rest, but it is astonishing what you can do when you must, and finding fresh energy somewhere I soon had the helpless wife and children fairly comfortable, with a bit of fire in a bedroom. While thus engaged I was drawn27 to the window by a tremendous crash of thunder and flash of lightning, and there, outside one of the opposite houses, was ranged on the pavement nearly the whole of a family's furniture exposed to the full fury of a torrent28 of rain. Indeed it was pitiful, and my discontent at the heavy task before me was changed[Pg 96] into great gratitude29 when I realised what I had escaped from by only a few minutes.
I went back to my work with a good heart, and before midnight, when dead beat, I crawled into bed and fell at once into a sleep so sound that even the heavenly artillery30 failed to disturb me, I had reduced my new abode31 to something like order. I was up again at 5.30, having ever been able, no matter how weary, to rise at any time necessary, and after another hour's work at straightening things out, sallied forth32 to find someone who would come and help my helpless ones during my absence. This I fortunately succeeded in doing in time, and at 7.30 I was on my way to the office looking forward to a good rest for my muscles all day, even if my brain would certainly be superlatively active.
Now I am quite well aware that in chronicling the above I am laying myself open to the charge of being jejune33, trivial, etc., and I know too, that to many men of my own class such details as I have given above will be so familiar that they will wonder why ever I should have written about them. But somehow I have felt that, as in the subjects of my other books, a little plain and simple truth amidst the flood of invention by writers who have merely looked on, might not be out of place, might indeed be of use. For I hold that it is impossible, even for those who are most interested but do not live the life, however keen they may be, to portray34 faithfully all the day and night doings of the people they write about. They may and do try hard and honestly to fulfil their self-imposed task, but as long as they can retire to their comfortably furnished homes and nicely served meals whenever they like, they will never be able to describe truly, however much they wish to do so.
For a little while the novelty of setting my house in order and the delight of having a garden for the first time in my life prevented me from dwelling35 upon the obvious disadvantages of the change of abode I had made. But when I came to realise that in order to live at a low rent and have a little house to myself I had to put in nearly four hours a day travelling, I began to wonder whether I had not been foolish after all. This was long before the days of the extension of the District Railway to East Ham, and I could only keep my travelling expenses within possible limits by taking a workman's ticket, not available after 7 A.M., to Fenchurch Street, and walking thence to Victoria. This long journey, during which I was perforce idle, played havoc36 with my business of picture-framing, yet still I managed to keep my hand in, and indeed improved a little in that I had a small workshop to myself now, and no longer made frames on the kitchen table.
And I should be ungrateful indeed if I did not remember most affectionately the delights of Wanstead Park and Epping Forest. Many and many a pilgrimage I made in the summer with the children packed[Pg 98] in a big perambulator and a bag containing all the materials for a homely37 picnic slung38 on the handles to those sylvan39 glades40, and here, at no other expense save the muscular effort, enjoyed a delightful41 holiday, the best perhaps I have ever known, because purely42 unconventional and costless. I had the satisfaction of feeling too that, in spite of the rapidity with which streets of small houses like the one I was living in were springing up all around me, the grand forest would never be built on any more, would always be available for such poor workers as myself.
Nevertheless I confess I did mightily43 begrudge44 the great waste of time involved in my much travelling. In the summer it was not so bad, but in winter I and many more in like case, who for motives45 of economy got to our respective places of employment long before we could get in, suffered much from lack of shelter from cold and wet. Just one of the many unconsidered evils of living in a vast and over-crowded city. My extra work of picture framing suffered also, not merely because customers in my new neighbourhood were exceedingly scarce, everybody being so poor, but because of the long, long distance I had to fetch materials, especially glass, which in the crowded trains at night was a most ticklish46 and brittle47 load. I cannot now realise definitely the sudden rushes I used to make through the heart of the city at the busiest hour of the evening, my struggle with the clambering crowds up the steep stairs in Fenchurch Street Station, and the journey homewards in the close-packed, reeking48 compartment49, dreading50 every moment lest a lurch51 of the train should damage my precious burden. It is all like some hideous52 nightmare, those wet and foggy nights when my lungs seemed fit to burst with coughing, and all my senses warned me to go slow, while my needs spurred me, and many times I had to stop and remember how many were in far more evil case than myself, or I should have indeed fallen by the wayside.
Yet this life too I endured for three years, at the end of which time I was fully19 convinced that living so far away from my daily work was for me at anyrate a profound mistake. Also I had another child and was in consequence driven harder than ever, was more desirous than ever to have some steady auxiliary53 to my exiguous54 income, some means of getting clear of that furniture incubus55 which kept my nose to the grindstone. Besides all these things I had often in winter, despite my early leaving home, to spend several hours on the way to the city by reasons of floods, to which our neighbourhood then seemed particularly liable, and had been curtly56 warned by the Powers above me that I would do well to move nearer to my work if I wished to retain it. Which warnings gave me a cold chill at the heart, for although I was in age not much past thirty, I was already beginning to feel old from the strain of living, and I knew how scanty57 were the chances of getting another such berth58 as mine should I lose the one I had now got.
But I doubt whether even these powerful incentives59 to a change would have been sufficient to make me move, but for an event which changed the whole course of my life. For one thing, where was I to go and enjoy better conditions than those under which I now lived? Even apartments were now not to be thought of, for I had three children, and except in such neighbourhoods as I dared not descend60 to, no one would let apartments to people with a family. This again is one of the factors governing the lives of the workers which those comfortable souls who wail61 about the declining birth-rate do not think of. God knows it is hard enough for any poor worker in England to maintain a growing family in decency62, without being treated worse than a beggar or a criminal in seeking to find lodgment for them which he is ready to pay for. Thousands of men have been driven to pauperism63 or practical socialism by the accursed system of oppression—no children wanted.
So that every enquiry I made about lodgings nearer my work threw me back to the grim fact that in some respects, I was better off now than any change could make me. And then came the event, the impulse from without, which drove me against my own better judgment64 into the thorny65 and difficult ways of the small shopkeeper. My wife received a small legacy66, one that had been left contingent67 upon the death of a woman who enjoyed the income of the bequest68 for life. She died, and the capital was divided among a very large number of expectant folk, none of whom received, according to their ideas, much more than a tithe69 of what was really due to them. My wife's share was well under £200, but even that was a fortune to our entirely70 restricted vision. Of course the first and most important question to be decided was how to dispose of this money to the best advantage so that we might feel the benefit of it? But underlying71 this there was a feeling upon my part that as it was not mine in any sense my wife should have the disposal of it, so long as she did not insist upon, as I once heard a County Court Registrar72 pithily73 remark, frittering it away upon paying my outstanding liabilities. No, I do not exactly mean debts, but in clearing up those burdens which demanded regular instalments of so much a month.
I am glad to say, however, that nothing was farther from her ideas than that, for as she put it, the furniture was all worn out long before it was paid for, being such utter rubbish, and therefore the longer its vendors75 could legitimately76 be kept waiting for their ill-gotten gains the better. Alas, to be wise after the event is futile77, yet I am now sadly inclined to think that had such a proposal been made by her and accepted by me it would have been better for all of us. At anyrate this book would not have been written, nor, I feel certain, any other of the small library that I have written during the last ten years.
Her suggestion, no, it was more than that, it was a demand, was that this money should be laid out in taking a shop. A double-fronted shop whereof one side should be devoted78 to art pictorial79 in the shape of its accessories, engravings, frames, artistic80 materials, etc., and the other to what is rather pompously81 called art needlework, and fancy goods, the latter being an enormously elastic82 term.
To say that I was alarmed would be putting matters much too mildly. I was appalled83. I dreaded84 beyond expression increasing my already heavy liabilities. I doubted with a scepticism of the blackest my ability to run a shop for myself, however well I might be able to do it for another—in fact, I saw nothing in the proposal but disaster. But my wife, confident in her powers as a shopkeeper (having had no experience) and fired with a laudable desire to help in the collection of the family income, insisted, even at the length of declaring that if I would not take a shop she would without my help. And that I saw would be avoiding an imaginary Scylla for the terrors of a real Charybdis. So I yielded, ungracefully, but completely, and thenceforward until the time which shall complete this narrative85 never did I know a care-free hour.
The first thing was to find the shop, and if I were able in Mr Pett Ridge's delightful manner to detail our experiences in those pilgrimages I doubt not that the recital86 would make several readable columns. The lies we were told would fill several volumes. The fortunes we were sure to make were so vast that they were unspendable. Every miserable87, little, obviously hopeless shop was lauded88 so that I began to fear a complete obsession89, and at last I declared that I would not take any advertised business at all, I would build up a business of our own. Yes, I used those memorable90 words, and, to my shame be it said, without even the excuse that I believed them myself. Miserable man that I was, I felt certain that this enterprise of ours was foredoomed. I knew, none better, that there was nothing of the Napoleon about me, that I was far too prone91 to take no for an answer for anything of that kind to be possible.
Presently I began to feel that this quest of a shop was destined92 to bring me prematurely93 to my grave. East, west, north, and south I sought, and now I felt no nearer than at the outset to the object of my search. At last I found what apparently was exactly the thing, a double-fronted shop with a sufficient number of living rooms above, in a business thoroughfare within easy reach of town, and at the fairly reasonable rent of £40 a year. I knew no one who could tell me anything about the character of the neighbourhood, so I had to form my own conclusions as to the prospects94 of business there. And in any case I was so weary of[Pg 104] searching for the apparently unattainable that I was willing to be deceived had anybody tried to persuade me. But that I think was the determining factor. Nobody did try to influence me. The man who owned the shop and carried on the business of a grocer next door did not seem at all anxious to have me for a tenant95, in fact he was most reticent96 and retiring when approached, which may have been genius on his part, although I never saw cause to suspect him of anything of the kind.
At anyrate I persuaded myself that I should never find any better shop than this for my purpose and I closed the bargain by paying handsel, and fixing the date for coming in. Then I had to turn my attention to the fitting up of this shop, for it was absolutely bare, just three match-boarded walls which by the way were covered with some messy alleged97 varnish98 which never dried, and the double front as aforesaid. I procured99 several price-lists from firms whose speciality was the fitting up of shops, and after a prolonged study of them came to the conclusion that to fit up this shop in even the most economical way, according to their specifications100, would absorb our entire capital and necessitate101 our procuring102 stock entirely on credit. Which was absurd; for we had no credit, at least in my innocence103 of business I knew of none. Later, I learned to my sorrow that the obtaining of credit was easy in almost an exactly inverse104 ratio to the difficulty of meeting the bills when they came in.
In this difficulty of fitting the shop, however, as in so many others that I have encountered, I had not the privilege of retreat. I had burned my bridges and had perforce to advance in what at first appeared to be a hopeless task. But I am getting on too fast, for of course, before I could begin shop-fitting it was necessary that I should move in, this operation being in itself, with my limited resources, a sufficiently105 formidable one. But here again, I met with a powerful coadjutor in the man that used to serve us with vegetables and coals at Upton Park, a burly costermonger who had risen to the dignity of a little shop and a horse and van from the humble106 beginnings of a hand-barrow. It was his proud boast that he would rather at any time go hungry himself than refuse a poor customer half a hundred of coals or a few pounds of potatoes because she had no money. He and I often had a yarn107 and had become great friends, so that when I enlisted108 his aid in moving the long distance from Upton Park to Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, I felt that relief which only comes from implicit109 reliance upon someone whom you feel is stronger than yourself. I know all about self-help and have been compelled to practice it all my life, but the joy of having a friend, how great and how pleasant it is!
With his powerful aid the moving out was got over with comparative ease, but even so, it was dark before we arrived at our destination, the children being cold, tired, and hungry. And then a difficulty occurred[Pg 106] which almost daunted110 me. I had the key of the shop, but my landlord had bolted up inside so that I could not get in. And when I went to him he offered me my handsel money back, mumbling111 something about "matters not being satisfactory." What he meant I do not even now know but that was what he said, and there was I in the street with all my belongings112, ten miles from the home I had left at 8 A.M. and with three small children. My friend and ally here arose to the occasion. He literally113 bullied114 the landlord into letting us in, a thing I could never have done, and presently I found relief from my anxiety in the feverish115 activity of getting our chattels indoors. I never heard, and so I can never tell, why my landlord desired to evade116 his bargain regardless of my sufferings, nor, although I even now feel curious, shall I ever know.
Oh, that good fellow, how he did work as if he had just begun his day instead of having been at it since about 4 A.M. He helped me set up the beds, straighten up a living room, lit a fire, fetched some supper from a local pork butcher's, and at last with an earnest enquiry as to whether he couldn't do anything more for me, supposed he'd better be getting towards home as he had to be up at three the next morning. Falteringly117 I assured him that he had done far more than I could ever have expected and what was I in his debt? he said brusquely, "Oh, I ain't got no time to bother abart that nar. You get strite an' I'll pop over an' see yer in a few dyes. Good night missus, good night guvnor," and he was gone. It was two months before I saw him again, and then only because I sought him out in my first leisure. And he would not take a penny more than ten shillings. I paid him that, but I have never discharged, because I cannot, the heavy debt of gratitude he laid upon me, more especially for the knowledge of how good and kind one poor man can be to another. I have had many such experiences, but each one has been peculiarly fragrant118, especially sweet in itself, a standing74 rebuke119 to me for once holding a doctrine120 of the innate121 depravity of mankind.
As soon as he had gone I realised that I was so tired that I could hardly stand, and so I made haste to put things in readiness for the morning and get to bed. But once there my life-long habit asserted itself, and I had to find a book for a little read before sleep. And to my great content I found Mark Twain's "Innocents at Home," and read for perhaps the hundredth time the touching122 story of Scotty Briggs and the callow minister. In it I forgot my troubles, my weariness of body and mind and apprehensions123 for the future, and with a happy sigh I laid the book down, blew out the candle, and went to sleep. Years after, dining with Mark Twain at the Devonshire Club, I told him of the incident and saw his deep tender eyes fill with tears. He silently put out his hand and said "shake." Now can there be any higher reward for a writer than this,[Pg 108] that he has been able by his books to make his fellow-creatures forget for a while the burden that has been crushing them, and has lifted them into new hope and energy for the coming unknown day? I think not.
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1 confession | |
n.自白,供认,承认 | |
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2 incompetence | |
n.不胜任,不称职 | |
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3 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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4 incessant | |
adj.不停的,连续的 | |
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5 tinged | |
v.(使)发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6 strictly | |
adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
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7 stationary | |
adj.固定的,静止不动的 | |
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8 allusions | |
暗指,间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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9 curtail | |
vt.截短,缩短;削减 | |
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10 lodgings | |
n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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11 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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12 rental | |
n.租赁,出租,出租业 | |
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13 lodgers | |
n.房客,租住者( lodger的名词复数 ) | |
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14 auspices | |
n.资助,赞助 | |
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15 eldest | |
adj.最年长的,最年老的 | |
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16 fretted | |
焦躁的,附有弦马的,腐蚀的 | |
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18 dismantled | |
拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 ); 拆卸; 废除; 取消 | |
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19 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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20 refreshment | |
n.恢复,精神爽快,提神之事物;(复数)refreshments:点心,茶点 | |
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21 lashed | |
adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 );煽动;紧系;怒斥 | |
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22 impromptu | |
adj.即席的,即兴的;adv.即兴的(地),无准备的(地) | |
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23 misgivings | |
n.疑虑,担忧,害怕;疑虑,担心,恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 );疑惧 | |
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24 trudge | |
v.步履艰难地走;n.跋涉,费力艰难的步行 | |
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25 chattels | |
n.动产,奴隶( chattel的名词复数 ) | |
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26 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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27 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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28 torrent | |
n.激流,洪流;爆发,(话语等的)连发 | |
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29 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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30 artillery | |
n.(军)火炮,大炮;炮兵(部队) | |
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31 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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32 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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33 jejune | |
adj.枯燥无味的,贫瘠的 | |
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34 portray | |
v.描写,描述;画(人物、景象等) | |
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35 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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36 havoc | |
n.大破坏,浩劫,大混乱,大杂乱 | |
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37 homely | |
adj.家常的,简朴的;不漂亮的 | |
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38 slung | |
抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往 | |
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39 sylvan | |
adj.森林的 | |
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40 glades | |
n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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41 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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42 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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43 mightily | |
ad.强烈地;非常地 | |
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44 begrudge | |
vt.吝啬,羡慕 | |
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45 motives | |
n.动机,目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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46 ticklish | |
adj.怕痒的;问题棘手的;adv.怕痒地;n.怕痒,小心处理 | |
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47 brittle | |
adj.易碎的;脆弱的;冷淡的;(声音)尖利的 | |
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48 reeking | |
v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 );散发臭气;发出难闻的气味 (of sth);明显带有(令人不快或生疑的跡象) | |
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49 compartment | |
n.卧车包房,隔间;分隔的空间 | |
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50 dreading | |
v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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51 lurch | |
n.突然向前或旁边倒;v.蹒跚而行 | |
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52 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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53 auxiliary | |
adj.辅助的,备用的 | |
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54 exiguous | |
adj.不足的,太少的 | |
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55 incubus | |
n.负担;恶梦 | |
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56 curtly | |
adv.简短地 | |
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57 scanty | |
adj.缺乏的,仅有的,节省的,狭小的,不够的 | |
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58 berth | |
n.卧铺,停泊地,锚位;v.使停泊 | |
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59 incentives | |
激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 ); 刺激; 诱因; 动机 | |
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60 descend | |
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
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61 wail | |
vt./vi.大声哀号,恸哭;呼啸,尖啸 | |
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62 decency | |
n.体面,得体,合宜,正派,庄重 | |
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63 pauperism | |
n.有被救济的资格,贫困 | |
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64 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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65 thorny | |
adj.多刺的,棘手的 | |
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66 legacy | |
n.遗产,遗赠;先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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67 contingent | |
adj.视条件而定的;n.一组,代表团,分遣队 | |
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68 bequest | |
n.遗赠;遗产,遗物 | |
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69 tithe | |
n.十分之一税;v.课什一税,缴什一税 | |
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70 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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71 underlying | |
adj.在下面的,含蓄的,潜在的 | |
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72 registrar | |
n.记录员,登记员;(大学的)注册主任 | |
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73 pithily | |
adv.有力地,简洁地 | |
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74 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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75 vendors | |
n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 );小贩;(房屋等的)卖主;卖方 | |
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76 legitimately | |
ad.合法地;正当地,合理地 | |
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77 futile | |
adj.无效的,无用的,无希望的 | |
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78 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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79 pictorial | |
adj.绘画的;图片的;n.画报 | |
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80 artistic | |
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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81 pompously | |
adv.傲慢地,盛大壮观地;大模大样 | |
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82 elastic | |
n.橡皮圈,松紧带;adj.有弹性的;灵活的 | |
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83 appalled | |
v.使惊骇,使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的;丧胆的 | |
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84 dreaded | |
adj.令人畏惧的;害怕的v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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85 narrative | |
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
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86 recital | |
n.朗诵,独奏会,独唱会 | |
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87 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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88 lauded | |
v.称赞,赞美( laud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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89 obsession | |
n.困扰,无法摆脱的思想(或情感) | |
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90 memorable | |
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的 | |
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91 prone | |
adj.(to)易于…的,很可能…的;俯卧的 | |
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92 destined | |
adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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93 prematurely | |
adv.过早地,贸然地 | |
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94 prospects | |
n.希望,前途(恒为复数) | |
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95 tenant | |
n.承租人;房客;佃户;v.租借,租用 | |
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96 reticent | |
adj.沉默寡言的;言不如意的 | |
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97 alleged | |
a.被指控的,嫌疑的 | |
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98 varnish | |
n.清漆;v.上清漆;粉饰 | |
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99 procured | |
v.(努力)取得, (设法)获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 );拉皮条 | |
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100 specifications | |
n.规格;载明;详述;(产品等的)说明书;说明书( specification的名词复数 );详细的计划书;载明;详述 | |
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101 necessitate | |
v.使成为必要,需要 | |
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102 procuring | |
v.(努力)取得, (设法)获得( procure的现在分词 );拉皮条 | |
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103 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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104 inverse | |
adj.相反的,倒转的,反转的;n.相反之物;v.倒转 | |
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105 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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106 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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107 yarn | |
n.纱,纱线,纺线;奇闻漫谈,旅行轶事 | |
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108 enlisted | |
adj.应募入伍的v.(使)入伍, (使)参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 );获得(帮助或支持) | |
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109 implicit | |
a.暗示的,含蓄的,不明晰的,绝对的 | |
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110 daunted | |
使(某人)气馁,威吓( daunt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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111 mumbling | |
含糊地说某事,叽咕,咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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112 belongings | |
n.私人物品,私人财物 | |
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113 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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114 bullied | |
adj.被欺负了v.恐吓,威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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115 feverish | |
adj.发烧的,狂热的,兴奋的 | |
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116 evade | |
vt.逃避,回避;避开,躲避 | |
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117 falteringly | |
口吃地,支吾地 | |
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118 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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119 rebuke | |
v.指责,非难,斥责 [反]praise | |
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120 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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121 innate | |
adj.天生的,固有的,天赋的 | |
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122 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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123 apprehensions | |
疑惧 | |
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