Many people would have paid money to avoid exile in these damp waste lands, which, as it were, fringed civilization, but their loneliness and desolation suited the Professor exactly. He required ample room for his Egyptian collection, with plenty of time to decipher hieroglyphics15 and study perished dynasties of the Nile Valley. The world of the present day did not interest Braddock in the least. He lived almost continuously on that portion of the mental plane which had to do with the far-distant past, and only concerned himself with physical existence, when it consisted of mummies and mystic beetles16, sepulchral18 ornaments19, pictured documents, hawk-headed deities20 and suchlike things of almost inconceivable antiquity21. He rarely walked abroad and was invariably late for meals, save when he missed any particular one altogether, which happened frequently. Absent-minded in conversation, untidy in dress, unpractical in business, dreamy in manner, Professor Braddock lived solely22 for archaeology23. That such a man should have taken to himself a wife was mystery.
Yet he had been married fifteen years before to a widow, who possessed24 a limited income and one small child. It was the opportunity of securing the use of a steady income which had decoyed Braddock into the matrimonial snare25 of Mrs. Kendal. To put it plainly, he had married the agreeable widow for her money, although he could scarcely be called a fortune-hunter. Like Eugene Aram, he desired cash to assist learning, and as that scholar had committed murder to secure what he wanted, so did the Professor marry to obtain his ends. These were to have someone to manage the house, and to be set free from the necessity of earning his bread, so that he might indulge in pursuits more pleasurable than money-making. Mrs. Kendal was a placid26, phlegmatic27 lady, who liked rather than loved the Professor, and who desired him more as a companion than as a husband. With Braddock she did not arrange a romantic marriage so much as enter into a congenial partnership28. She wanted a man in the house, and he desired freedom from pecuniary29 embarrassment30. On these lines the prosaic31 bargain was struck, and Mrs. Kendal became the Professor's wife with entirely32 successful results. She gave her husband a home, and her child a father, who became fond of Lucy, and who—considering he was merely an amateur parent—acted admirably.
But this sensible partnership lasted only for five years. Mrs. Braddock died of a chill on the liver and left her five hundred a year to the Professor for life, with remainder to Lucy, then a small girl of ten. It was at this critical moment that Braddock became a practical man for the first and last time in his dreamy life. He buried his wife with unfeigned regret—for he had been sincerely attached to her in his absent-minded way—and sent Lucy to a Hampstead boarding school. After an interview with his late wife's lawyer to see that the income was safe, he sought for a house in the country, and quickly discovered Gartley Grange, which no one would take because of its isolation34. Within three months from the burial of Mrs. Braddock, the widower35 had removed himself and his collection to Gartley, and had renamed his new abode the Pyramids. Here he dwelt quietly and enjoyably—from his dry-as-dust point of view—for ten years, and here Lucy Kendal had come when her education was completed. The arrival of a marriageable young lady made no difference in the Professor's habits, and he hailed her thankfully as the successor to her mother in managing the small establishment. It is to be feared that Braddock was somewhat selfish in his views, but the fixed37 idea of archaeological research made him egotistical.
The mansion was three-story, flat-roofed, extremely ugly and unexpectedly comfortable. Built of mellow38 red brick with dingy39 white stone facings, it stood a few yards back from the roadway which ran from Gartley Fort through the village, and, at the precise point where the Pyramids was situated, curved abruptly40 through woodlands to terminate a mile away, at Jessum, the local station of the Thames Railway Line. An iron railing, embedded41 in moldering stone work, divided the narrow front garden from the road, and on either side of the door—which could be reached by five shallow steps—grew two small yew43 trees, smartly clipped and trimmed into cones44 of dull green. These yews45 possessed some magical significance, which Professor Braddock would occasionally explain to chance visitors interested in occult matters; for, amongst other things Egyptian, the archaeologist searched into the magic of the Sons of Khem, and insisted that there was more truth than superstition46 in their enchantments47.
Braddock used all the vast rooms of the ground floor to house his collection of antiquities48, which he had acquired through many laborious49 years. He dwelt entirely in this museum, as his bedroom adjoined his study, and he frequently devoured50 his hurried meals amongst the brilliantly tinted51 mummy cases. The embalmed52 dead populated his world, and only now and then, when Lucy insisted, did he ascend53 to the first floor, which was her particular abode. Here was the drawing-room, the dining-room and Lucy's boudoir; here also were sundry54 bedrooms, furnished and unfurnished, in one of which Miss Kendal slept, while the others remained vacant for chance visitors, principally from the scientific world. The third story was devoted55 to the cook, her husband—who acted as gardener—and to the house parlor56 maid, a composite domestic, who worked from morning until night in keeping the great house clean. During the day these servants attended to their business in a comfortable basement, where the cook ruled supreme57. At the back of the mansion stretched a fairly large kitchen garden, to which the cook's husband devoted his attention. This was the entire domain58 belonging to the tenant59, as, of course, the Professor did not rent the arable60 acres and comfortable farms which had belonged to the dispossessed family.
Everything in the house went smoothly61, as Lucy was a methodical young person, who went by the clock and the almanac. Braddock little knew how much of his undeniable comfort he owed to her fostering care; for, prior to her return from school, he had been robbed right and left by unscrupulous domestics. When his step-daughter arrived he simply handed over the keys and the housekeeping money—a fixed sum—and gave her strict instructions not to bother him. Miss Kendal faithfully observed this injunction, as she enjoyed being undisputed mistress, and knew that, so long as her step-father had his meals, his bed, his bath and his clothes, he required nothing save the constant society of his beloved mummies, of which no one wished to deprive him. These he dusted and cleansed62 and rearranged himself. Not even Lucy dared to invade the museum, and the mere33 mention of spring cleaning drove the Professor into displaying frantic63 rage, in which he used bad language.
On returning from her walk with Archie, the girl had lured64 her step-father into assuming a rusty65 dress suit, which had done service for many years, and had coaxed66 him into a promise to be present at dinner. Mrs. Jasher, the lively widow of the district, was coming, and Braddock approved of a woman who looked up to him as the one wise man in the world. Even science is susceptible67 to judicious68 flattery, and Mrs. Jasher was never backward in putting her admiration69 into words. Female gossip declared that the widow wished to become the second Mrs. Braddock, but if this was really the case, she had but small chance of gaining her end. The Professor had once sacrificed his liberty to secure a competence70, and, having acquired five hundred a year, was not inclined for a second matrimonial venture. Had the widow been a dollar heiress with a million at her back he would not have troubled to place a ring on her finger. And certainly Mrs. Jasher had little to gain from such a dreary71 marriage, beyond a collection of rubbish—as she said—and a dull country house situated in a district inhabited solely by peasants belonging to Saxon times.
Archie Hope left Lucy at the door of the Pyramids and repaired to his village lodgings72, for the purpose of assuming evening dress. Lucy, being her own housekeeper73, assisted the overworked parlor maid to lay and decorate the table before receiving the guests. Thus Mrs. Jasher found no one in the drawing-room to welcome her, and, taking the privilege of old friendship, descended74 to beard Braddock in his den42. The Professor raised his eyes from a newly bought scarabeus to behold75 a stout76 little lady smiling on him from the doorway77. He did not appear to be grateful for the interruption, but Mrs. Jasher was not at all dismayed, being a man-hunter by profession. Besides, she saw that Braddock was in the clouds as usual, and would have received the King himself in the same absent-minded manner.
“Pouf! what an abominal smell!” exclaimed the widow, holding a flimsy lace handkerchief to her nose. “Kind of camphor-sandal-wood charnel-house smell. I wonder you are not asphyxiated78. Pouf! Ugh! Bur-r-r
“Oh, dear me, yes, and you don't even ask me to take a chair. If I were a nasty stuffy80 mummy, now, you would be embracing me by, this time. Don't you know that I have come to dinner, you silly man?” and she tapped him playfully with her closed fan.
“I have had dinner,” said Braddock, egotistic as usual.
“No, you have not.” Mrs. Jasher spoke81 positively82, and pointed83 to a small tray of untouched food on the side table. “You have not even had luncheon84. You must live on air, like a chameleon—or on love, perhaps,” she ended in a significantly tender tone.
But she might as well have spoken to the granite85 image of Horus in the corner. Braddock merely rubbed his chin and stared harder than ever at the glittering visitor.
“Dear me!” he said innocently. “I must have forgotten to eat. Lamplight!” he looked round vaguely86. “Of course, I remember lighting87 the lamps. Time has gone by very rapidly. I am really hungry.” He paused to make sure, then repeated his remark in a more positive manner. “Yes, I am very hungry, Mrs. Jasher.” He looked at her as though she had just entered. “Of course, Mrs. Jasher. Do you wish to see me about anything particular?”
The widow frowned at his inattention, and then laughed. It was impossible to be angry with this dreamer.
“I have come to dinner, Professor. Do try and wake up; you are half asleep and half starved, too, I expect.”
“I certainly feel unaccountably hungry,” admitted Braddock cautiously.
“Unaccountably, when you have eaten nothing since breakfast. You weird88 man, I believe you are a mummy yourself.”
But the Professor had again returned to examine the scarabeus, this time with a powerful magnifying glass.
“It certainly belongs to the twentieth dynasty,” he murmured, wrinkling his brows.
Mrs. Jasher stamped and flirted89 her fan pettishly90. The creature's soul, she decided91, was certainly not in his body, and until it came back he would continue to ignore her. With the annoyance92 of a woman who is not getting her own way, she leaned back in Braddock's one comfortable chair—which she had unerringly selected—and examined him intently. Perhaps the gossips were correct, and she was trying to imagine what kind of a husband he would make. But whatever might be her thoughts, she eyed Braddock as earnestly as Braddock eyed the scarabeus.
Outwardly the Professor did not appear like the savant he was reported to be. He was small of stature93, plump of body, rosy94 as a little Cupid, and extraordinarily95 youthful, considering his fifty-odd years of scientific wear and tear. With a smooth, clean-shaven face, plentiful96 white hair like spun97 silk, and neat feet and hands, he did not look his age. The dreamy look in his small blue eyes was rather belied98 by the hardness of his thin-lipped mouth, and by the pugnacious99 push of his jaw100. The eyes and the dome-like forehead hinted that brain without much originality101; but the lower part of this contradictory102 countenance103 might have belonged to a prize-fighter. Nevertheless, Braddock's plumpness did away to a considerable extent with his aggressive look. It was certainly latent, but only came to the surface when he fought with a brother savant over some tomb-dweller from Thebes. In the soft lamplight he looked like a fighting cherub104, and it was a pity—in the interests of art—that the hairless pink and white face did not surmount105 a pair of wings rather than a rusty and ill-fitting dress suit.
“He's nane sa dafty as he looks,” thought Mrs. Jasher, who was Scotch106, although she claimed to be cosmopolitan107. “With his mummies he is all right, but outside those he might be difficult to manage. And these things,” she glanced round the shadowy room, crowded with the dead and their earthly belongings108. “I don't think I would care to marry the British Museum. Too much like hard work, and I am not so young as I was.”
The near mirror—a polished silver one, which had belonged, ages ago, to some coquette of Memphis—denied this uncomplimentary thought, for Mrs. Jasher did not look a day over thirty, although her birth certificate set her down as forty-five. In the lamplight she might have passed for even younger, so carefully had she preserved what remained to her of youth. She assuredly was somewhat stout, and never had been so tall as she desired to be. But the lines of her plump figure were still discernible in the cunningly cut gown, and she carried her little self with such mighty109 dignity that people overlooked the mortifying110 height of a trifle over five feet. Her features were small and neat, but her large blue eyes were so noticeable and melting that those on whom she turned them ignored the lack of boldness in chin and nose. Her hair was brown and arranged in the latest fashion, while her complexion111 was so fresh and pink that, if she did paint—as jealous women averred—she must have been quite an artist with the hare's foot and the rouge112 pot and the necessary powder puff113.
Mrs. Jasher's clothes repaid the thought she expended114 upon them, and she was artistic115 in this as in other things. Dressed in a crocus-yellow gown, with short sleeves to reveal her beautiful arms, and cut low to display her splendid bust116, she looked perfectly117 dressed. A woman would have declared the wide-netted black lace with which the dress was draped to be cheap, and would have hinted that the widow wore too many jewels in her hair, on her corsage, round her arms, and ridiculously gaudy118 rings on her fingers. This might have been true, for Mrs. Jasher sparkled like the Milky119 Way at every movement; but the gleam of gold and the flash of gems120 seemed to suit her opulent beauty. Her slightest movement wafted121 around her a strange Chinese perfume, which she obtained—so she said—from a friend of her late husband's who was in the British Embassy at Pekin. No one possessed this especial perfume but Mrs. Jasher, and anyone who had previously met her, meeting her in the darkness, could have guessed at her identity. With a smile to show her white teeth, with her golden-hued dress and glittering jewels, the pretty widow glowed in that glimmering122 room like a tropical bird.
The Professor raised his dreamy eyes and laid the beetle17 on one side, when his brain fully36 grasped that this charming vision was waiting to be entertained. She was better to look upon even than the beloved scarabeus, and he advanced to shake hands as though she had just entered the room. Mrs. Jasher—knowing his ways—rose to extend her hand, and the two small, stout figures looked absurdly like a pair of chubby123 Dresden ornaments which had stepped from the mantelshelf.
“Dear lady, I am glad to see you. You have—you have”—the Professor reflected, and then came back with a rush to the present century—“you have come to dinner, if I mistake not.”
“Lucy asked me a week ago,” she replied tartly124, for no woman likes to be neglected for a mere beetle, however ancient.
“Then you will certainly get a good dinner,” said Braddock, waving his plump white hands. “Lucy is an excellent housekeeper. I have no fault to find with her—no fault at all. But she is obstinate125—oh, very obstinate, as her mother was. Do you know, dear lady, that in a papyrus126 scroll127 which I lately acquired I found the recipe for a genuine Egyptian dish, which Amenemha—the last Pharaoh of the eleventh dynasty, you know—might have eaten, and probably did eat. I desired Lucy to serve it to-night, but she refused, much to my annoyance. The ingredients, which had to do with roasted gazelle, were oil and coriander seed and—if my memory serves me—asafoetida.”
“Ugh!” Mrs. Jasher's handkerchief went again to her mouth. “Say no more, Professor; your dish sounds horrid128. I don't wish to eat it, and be turned into a mummy before my time.”
“You would make a really beautiful mummy,” said Braddock, paying what he conceived was a compliment; “and, should you die, I shall certainly attend to your embalming129, if you prefer that to cremation130.”
“You dreadful man!” cried the widow, turning pale and shrinking. “Why, I really believe that you would like to see me packed away in one of those disgusting coffins131.”
“Disgusting!” cried the outraged132 Professor, striking one of the brilliantly tinted cases. “Can you call so beautiful a specimen133 of sepulchral art disgusting? Look at the colors, at the regularity134 of the hieroglyphics—why, the history of the dead is set out in this magnificent series of pictures.” He adjusted his pince-nez and began to read, “The Osirian, Scemiophis that is a female name, Mrs. Jasher—who—”
“I don't want to have my history written on my coffin,” interrupted the widow hysterically135, for this funereal136 talk frightened her. “It would take much more space than a mummy case upon which to write it. My life has been volcanic137, I can tell you. By the way,” she added hurriedly, seeing that Braddock was on the eve of resuming the reading, “tell me about your Inca mummy. Has it arrived?”
The Professor immediately followed the false trail. “Not yet,” he said briskly, rubbing his smooth hands, “but in three days I expect The Diver will be at Pierside, and Sidney will bring the mummy on here. I shall unpack138 it at once and learn exactly how the ancient Peruvians embalmed their dead. Doubtless they learned the art from—”
“The Egyptians,” ventured Mrs. Jasher rashly.
Braddock glared. “Nothing of the sort, dear lady,” he snorted angrily. “Absurd, ridiculous! I am inclined to believe that Egypt was merely a colony of that vast island of Atlantis mentioned by Plato. There—if my theory is correct—civilization begun, and the kings of Atlantis—doubtless the gods of historical tribes—governed the whole world, including that portion which we now term South America.”
“Do you mean to say that there were Yankees in those days?” inquired Mrs. Jasher frivolously139.
The Professor tucked his hands under his shabby coattails and strode up and down the room warming his rage, which was provoked by such ignorance.
“Good heavens, madam, where have you lived?” he exclaimed explosively—“are you a fool, or merely an ignorant woman? I am talking of prehistoric140 times, thousands of years ago, when you were probably a stray atom embedded in the slime.”
“Oh, you horrid creature!” cried Mrs. Jasher indignantly, and was about to give Braddock her opinion, if only to show him that she could hold her own, when the door opened.
“How are you, Mrs. Jasher?” said Lucy, advancing.
“Here am I and here is Archie. Dinner is ready. And you—”
“I am very hungry,” said Mrs. Jasher. “I have been called an atom of the slime,” then she laughed and took possession of young Hope.
Lucy wrinkled her brow; she did not approve of the widow's man-annexing instinct.
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1 palatial | |
adj.宫殿般的,宏伟的 | |
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2 mansion | |
n.大厦,大楼;宅第 | |
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3 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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4 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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5 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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6 manor | |
n.庄园,领地 | |
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7 squire | |
n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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8 impecunious | |
adj.不名一文的,贫穷的 | |
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9 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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10 isolated | |
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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11 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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12 marshy | |
adj.沼泽的 | |
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13 disastrous | |
adj.灾难性的,造成灾害的;极坏的,很糟的 | |
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14 rental | |
n.租赁,出租,出租业 | |
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15 hieroglyphics | |
n.pl.象形文字 | |
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16 beetles | |
n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 ) | |
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17 beetle | |
n.甲虫,近视眼的人 | |
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18 sepulchral | |
adj.坟墓的,阴深的 | |
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19 ornaments | |
n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 );点缀;装饰品;首饰v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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20 deities | |
n.神,女神( deity的名词复数 );神祗;神灵;神明 | |
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21 antiquity | |
n.古老;高龄;古物,古迹 | |
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22 solely | |
adv.仅仅,唯一地 | |
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23 archaeology | |
n.考古学 | |
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24 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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25 snare | |
n.陷阱,诱惑,圈套;(去除息肉或者肿瘤的)勒除器;响弦,小军鼓;vt.以陷阱捕获,诱惑 | |
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26 placid | |
adj.安静的,平和的 | |
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27 phlegmatic | |
adj.冷静的,冷淡的,冷漠的,无活力的 | |
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28 partnership | |
n.合作关系,伙伴关系 | |
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29 pecuniary | |
adj.金钱的;金钱上的 | |
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30 embarrassment | |
n.尴尬;使人为难的人(事物);障碍;窘迫 | |
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31 prosaic | |
adj.单调的,无趣的 | |
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32 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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33 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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34 isolation | |
n.隔离,孤立,分解,分离 | |
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35 widower | |
n.鳏夫 | |
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36 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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37 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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38 mellow | |
adj.柔和的;熟透的;v.变柔和;(使)成熟 | |
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39 dingy | |
adj.昏暗的,肮脏的 | |
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40 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
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41 embedded | |
a.扎牢的 | |
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42 den | |
n.兽穴;秘密地方;安静的小房间,私室 | |
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43 yew | |
n.紫杉属树木 | |
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44 cones | |
n.(人眼)圆锥细胞;圆锥体( cone的名词复数 );球果;圆锥形东西;(盛冰淇淋的)锥形蛋卷筒 | |
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45 yews | |
n.紫杉( yew的名词复数 ) | |
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46 superstition | |
n.迷信,迷信行为 | |
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47 enchantments | |
n.魅力( enchantment的名词复数 );迷人之处;施魔法;着魔 | |
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48 antiquities | |
n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 );古迹;古人们;古代的风俗习惯 | |
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49 laborious | |
adj.吃力的,努力的,不流畅 | |
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50 devoured | |
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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51 tinted | |
adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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52 embalmed | |
adj.用防腐药物保存(尸体)的v.保存(尸体)不腐( embalm的过去式和过去分词 );使不被遗忘;使充满香气 | |
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53 ascend | |
vi.渐渐上升,升高;vt.攀登,登上 | |
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54 sundry | |
adj.各式各样的,种种的 | |
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55 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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56 parlor | |
n.店铺,营业室;会客室,客厅 | |
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57 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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58 domain | |
n.(活动等)领域,范围;领地,势力范围 | |
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59 tenant | |
n.承租人;房客;佃户;v.租借,租用 | |
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60 arable | |
adj.可耕的,适合种植的 | |
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61 smoothly | |
adv.平滑地,顺利地,流利地,流畅地 | |
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62 cleansed | |
弄干净,清洗( cleanse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63 frantic | |
adj.狂乱的,错乱的,激昂的 | |
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64 lured | |
吸引,引诱(lure的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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65 rusty | |
adj.生锈的;锈色的;荒废了的 | |
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66 coaxed | |
v.哄,用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 );巧言骗取;哄劝,劝诱 | |
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67 susceptible | |
adj.过敏的,敏感的;易动感情的,易受感动的 | |
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68 judicious | |
adj.明智的,明断的,能作出明智决定的 | |
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69 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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70 competence | |
n.能力,胜任,称职 | |
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71 dreary | |
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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72 lodgings | |
n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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73 housekeeper | |
n.管理家务的主妇,女管家 | |
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74 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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75 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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77 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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78 asphyxiated | |
v.渴望的,有抱负的,追求名誉或地位的( aspirant的过去式和过去分词 );有志向或渴望获得…的人 | |
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79 fishy | |
adj. 值得怀疑的 | |
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80 stuffy | |
adj.不透气的,闷热的 | |
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81 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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82 positively | |
adv.明确地,断然,坚决地;实在,确实 | |
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83 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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84 luncheon | |
n.午宴,午餐,便宴 | |
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85 granite | |
adj.花岗岩,花岗石 | |
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86 vaguely | |
adv.含糊地,暖昧地 | |
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87 lighting | |
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光 | |
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88 weird | |
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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89 flirted | |
v.调情,打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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90 pettishly | |
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91 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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92 annoyance | |
n.恼怒,生气,烦恼 | |
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93 stature | |
n.(高度)水平,(高度)境界,身高,身材 | |
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94 rosy | |
adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的 | |
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95 extraordinarily | |
adv.格外地;极端地 | |
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96 plentiful | |
adj.富裕的,丰富的 | |
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97 spun | |
v.纺,杜撰,急转身 | |
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98 belied | |
v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 );证明(或显示)…为虚假;辜负;就…扯谎 | |
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99 pugnacious | |
adj.好斗的 | |
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100 jaw | |
n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训 | |
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101 originality | |
n.创造力,独创性;新颖 | |
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102 contradictory | |
adj.反驳的,反对的,抗辩的;n.正反对,矛盾对立 | |
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103 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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104 cherub | |
n.小天使,胖娃娃 | |
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105 surmount | |
vt.克服;置于…顶上 | |
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106 scotch | |
n.伤口,刻痕;苏格兰威士忌酒;v.粉碎,消灭,阻止;adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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107 cosmopolitan | |
adj.世界性的,全世界的,四海为家的,全球的 | |
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108 belongings | |
n.私人物品,私人财物 | |
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109 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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110 mortifying | |
adj.抑制的,苦修的v.使受辱( mortify的现在分词 );伤害(人的感情);克制;抑制(肉体、情感等) | |
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111 complexion | |
n.肤色;情况,局面;气质,性格 | |
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112 rouge | |
n.胭脂,口红唇膏;v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
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113 puff | |
n.一口(气);一阵(风);v.喷气,喘气 | |
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114 expended | |
v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 );使用(钱等)做某事;用光;耗尽 | |
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115 artistic | |
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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116 bust | |
vt.打破;vi.爆裂;n.半身像;胸部 | |
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117 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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118 gaudy | |
adj.华而不实的;俗丽的 | |
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119 milky | |
adj.牛奶的,多奶的;乳白色的 | |
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120 gems | |
growth; economy; management; and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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121 wafted | |
v.吹送,飘送,(使)浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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122 glimmering | |
n.微光,隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光,发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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123 chubby | |
adj.丰满的,圆胖的 | |
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124 tartly | |
adv.辛辣地,刻薄地 | |
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125 obstinate | |
adj.顽固的,倔强的,不易屈服的,较难治愈的 | |
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126 papyrus | |
n.古以纸草制成之纸 | |
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127 scroll | |
n.卷轴,纸卷;(石刻上的)漩涡 | |
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128 horrid | |
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的 | |
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129 embalming | |
v.保存(尸体)不腐( embalm的现在分词 );使不被遗忘;使充满香气 | |
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130 cremation | |
n.火葬,火化 | |
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131 coffins | |
n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 );使某人早亡[死,完蛋,垮台等]之物 | |
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132 outraged | |
a.震惊的,义愤填膺的 | |
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133 specimen | |
n.样本,标本 | |
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134 regularity | |
n.规律性,规则性;匀称,整齐 | |
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135 hysterically | |
ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
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136 funereal | |
adj.悲哀的;送葬的 | |
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137 volcanic | |
adj.火山的;象火山的;由火山引起的 | |
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138 unpack | |
vt.打开包裹(或行李),卸货 | |
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139 frivolously | |
adv.轻浮地,愚昧地 | |
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140 prehistoric | |
adj.(有记载的)历史以前的,史前的,古老的 | |
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