“It peters out altogether farther down,” Billy said. “From there on it's only horse trails. But I don't see much signs of timber, an' this soil's none so good. It's only used for pasture—no farmin' to speak of.”
The hills were bare and grassy1. Only the canyons2 were wooded, while the higher and more distant hills were furry3 with chaparral. Once they saw a coyote slide into the brush, and once Billy wished for a gun when a large wildcat stared at them malignantly4 and declined to run until routed by a clod of earth that burst about its ears like shrapnel.
Several miles along Saxon complained of thirst. Where the road dipped nearly at sea level to cross a small gulch5 Billy looked for water. The bed of the gulch was damp with hill-drip, and he left her to rest while he sought a spring.
“Say,” he hailed a few minutes afterward6. “Come on down. You just gotta see this. It'll 'most take your breath away.”
Saxon followed the faint path that led steeply down through the thicket7. Midway along, where a barbed wire fence was strung high across the mouth of the gulch and weighted down with big rocks, she caught her first glimpse of the tiny beach. Only from the sea could one guess its existence, so completely was it tucked away on three precipitous sides by the land, and screened by the thicket. Furthermore, the beach was the head of a narrow rock cove8, a quarter of a mile long, up which pent way the sea roared and was subdued9 at the last to a gentle pulse of surf. Beyond the mouth many detached rocks, meeting the full force of the breakers, spouted10 foam11 and spray high in the air. The knees of these rocks, seen between the surges, were black with mussels. On their tops sprawled12 huge sea-lions tawny-wet and roaring in the sun, while overhead, uttering shrill13 cries, darted14 and wheeled a multitude of sea birds.
The last of the descent, from the barbed wire fence, was a sliding fall of a dozen feet, and Saxon arrived on the soft dry sand in a sitting posture15.
“Oh, I tell you it's just great,” Billy bubbled. “Look at it for a camping spot. In among the trees there is the prettiest spring you ever saw. An' look at all the good firewood, an'...” He gazed about and seaward with eyes that saw what no rush of words could compass. “... An', an' everything. We could live here. Look at the mussels out there. An' I bet you we could catch fish. What d'ye say we stop a few days?—It's vacation anyway—an' I could go back to Carmel for hooks an' lines.”
Saxon, keenly appraising16 his glowing face, realized that he was indeed being won from the city.
“An' there ain't no wind here,” he was recommending. “Not a breath. An' look how wild it is. Just as if we was a thousand miles from anywhere.”
The wind, which had been fresh and raw across the bare hills, gained no entrance to the cove; and the beach was warm and balmy, the air sweetly pungent17 with the thicket odors. Here and there, in the midst of the thicket, severe small oak trees and other small trees of which Saxon did not know the names. Her enthusiasm now vied with Billy's, and, hand in hand, they started to explore.
“Here's where we can play real Robinson Crusoe,” Billy cried, as they crossed the hard sand from highwater mark to the edge of the water. “Come on, Robinson. Let's stop over. Of course, I'm your Man Friday, an' what you say goes.”
“But what shall we do with Man Saturday!” She pointed18 in mock consternation19 to a fresh footprint in the sand. “He may be a savage20 cannibal, you know.”
“No chance. It's not a bare foot but a tennis shoe.”
“But a savage could get a tennis shoe from a drowned or eaten sailor, couldn't he?” she contended.
“But sailors don't wear tennis shoes,” was Billy's prompt refutation.
“You know too much for Man Friday,” she chided; “but, just the same; if you'll fetch the packs we'll make camp. Besides, it mightn't have been a sailor that was eaten. It might have been a passenger.”
By the end of an hour a snug21 camp was completed. The blankets were spread, a supply of firewood was chopped from the seasoned driftwood, and over a fire the coffee pot had begun to sing. Saxon called to Billy, who was improvising22 a table from a wave-washed plank23. She pointed seaward. On the far point of rocks, naked except for swimming trunks, stood a man. He was gazing toward them, and they could see his long mop of dark hair blown by the wind. As he started to climb the rocks landward Billy called Saxon's attention to the fact that the stranger wore tennis shoes. In a few minutes he dropped down from the rock to the beach and walked up to them.
“Gosh!” Billy whispered to Saxon. “He's lean enough, but look at his muscles. Everybody down here seems to go in for physical culture.”
As the newcomer approached, Saxon glimpsed sufficient of his face to be reminded of the old pioneers and of a certain type of face seen frequently among the old soldiers: Young though he was—not more than thirty, she decided—this man had the same long and narrow face, with the high cheekbones, high and slender forehead, and nose high, lean, and almost beaked24. The lips were thin and sensitive; but the eyes were different from any she had ever seen in pioneer or veteran or any man. They were so dark a gray that they seemed brown, and there were a farness and alertness of vision in them as of bright questing through profounds of space. In a misty25 way Saxon felt that she had seen him before.
“Hello,” he greeted. “You ought to be comfortable here.” He threw down a partly filled sack. “Mussels. All I could get. The tide's not low enough yet.”
Saxon heard Billy muffle26 an ejaculation, and saw painted on his face the extremest astonishment27.
“Well, honest to God, it does me proud to meet you,” he blurted28 out. “Shake hands. I always said if I laid eyes on you I'd shake.—Say!”
But Billy's feelings mastered him, and, beginning with a choking giggle29, he roared into helpless mirth.
The stranger looked at him curiously30 across their clasped hands, and glanced inquiringly to Saxon.
“You gotta excuse me,” Billy gurgled, pumping the other's hand up and down. “But I just gotta laugh. Why, honest to God, I've woke up nights an' laughed an' gone to sleep again. Don't you recognize 'm, Saxon? He's the same identical dude -- say, friend, you're some punkins at a hundred yards dash, ain't you?”
And then, in a sudden rush, Saxon placed him. He it was who had stood with Roy Blanchard alongside the automobile31 on the day she had wandered, sick and unwitting, into strange neighborhoods. Nor had that day been the first time she had seen him.
“Remember the Bricklayers' Picnic at Weasel Park?” Billy was asking. “An' the foot race? Why, I'd know that nose of yours anywhere among a million. You was the guy that stuck your cane32 between Timothy McManus's legs an' started the grandest roughhouse Weasel Park or any other park ever seen.”
The visitor now commenced to laugh. He stood on one leg as he laughed harder, then stood on the other leg. Finally he sat down on a log of driftwood.
“And you were there,” he managed to gasp33 to Billy at last. “You saw it. You saw it.” He turned to Saxon. “—And you?”
She nodded.
“Say,” Billy began again, as their laughter eased down, “what I wanta know is what'd you wanta do it for. Say, what'd you wanta do it for? I've been askin' that to myself ever since.”
“So have I,” was the answer.
“You didn't know Timothy McManus, did you?”
“No; I'd never seen him before, and I've never seen him since.”
“But what'd you wanta do it for?” Billy persisted.
The young man laughed, then controlled himself.
“To save my life, I don't know. I have one friend, a most intelligent chap that writes sober, scientific books, and he's always aching to throw an egg into an electric fan to see what will happen. Perhaps that's the way it was with me, except that there was no aching. When I saw those legs flying past, I merely stuck my stick in between. I didn't know I was going to do it. I just did it. Timothy McManus was no more surprised than I was.”
“Did they catch you?” Billy asked.
“Do I look as if they did? I was never so scared in my life. Timothy McManus himself couldn't have caught me that day. But what happened afterward? I heard they had a fearful roughhouse, but I couldn't stop to see.”
It was not until a quarter of an hour had passed, during which Billy described the fight, that introductions took place. Mark Hall was their visitor's name, and he lived in a bungalow35 among the Carmel pines.
“But how did you ever find your way to Bierce's Cove?” he was curious to know. “Nobody ever dreams of it from the road.”
“So that's its name?” Saxon said.
“It's the name we gave it. One of our crowd camped here one summer, and we named it after him. I'll take a cup of that coffee, if you don't mind.”—This to Saxon. “And then I'll show your husband around. We're pretty proud of this cove. Nobody ever comes here but ourselves.”
“You didn't get all that muscle from bein' chased by McManus,” Billy observed over the coffee.
“Yes,” Billy said, pondering vacantly. “Do you eat it with a spoon?”
Hall laughed.
“I'll show you. Take any muscle you want, tense it, then manipulate it with your fingers, so, and so.”
“An' that done all that?” Billy asked skeptically.
“All that!” the other scorned proudly. “For one muscle you see, there's five tucked away but under command. Touch your finger to any part of me and see.”
Billy grinned triumphantly40, then, to his amazement41, saw a muscle grow up under his finger. He prodded42 it, and found it hard and honest.
And anywhere and everywhere Billy touched, muscles large and small rose up, quivered, and sank down, till the whole body was a ripple44 of willed quick.
“Never saw anything like it,” Billy marveled at the end; “an' I've seen some few good men stripped in my time. Why, you're all living silk.”
“Massage under tension did it, my friend. The doctors gave me up. My friends called me the sick rat, and the mangy poet, and all that. Then I quit the city, came down to Carmel, and went in for the open air—and massage under tension.”
“Jim Hazard didn't get his muscles that way,” Billy challenged.
“Certainly not, the lucky skunk45; he was born with them. Mine's made. That's the difference. I'm a work of art. He's a cave bear. Come along. I'll show you around now. You'd better get your clothes off. Keep on only your shoes and pants, unless you've got a pair of trunks.”
“My mother was a poet,” Saxon said, while Billy was getting himself ready in the thicket. She had noted46 Hall's reference to himself.
He seemed incurious, and she ventured further.
“Some of it was printed.”
“What was her name?” he asked idly.
“Dayelle Wiley Brown. She wrote: 'The Viking's Quest'; 'Days of Gold'; 'Constancy'; 'The Caballero'; 'Graves at Little Meadow'; and a lot more. Ten of them are in 'The Story of the Files.'”
“I've the book at home,” he remarked, for the first time showing real interest. “She was a pioneer, of course—before my time. I'll look her up when I get back to the house. My people were pioneers. They came by Panama, in the Fifties, from Long Island. My father was a doctor, but he went into business in San Francisco and robbed his fellow men out of enough to keep me and the rest of a large family going ever since.—Say, where are you and your husband bound?”
When Saxon had told him of their attempt to get away from Oakland and of their quest for land, he sympathized with the first and shook his head over the second.
“It's beautiful down beyond the Sur,” he told her. “I've been all over those redwood canyons, and the place is alive with game. The government land is there, too. But you'd be foolish to settle. It's too remote. And it isn't good farming land, except in patches in the canyons. I know a Mexican there who is wild to sell his five hundred acres for fifteen hundred dollars. Three dollars an acre! And what does that mean? That it isn't worth more. That it isn't worth so much; because he can find no takers. Land, you know, is worth what they buy and sell it for.”
Billy, emerging from the thicket, only in shoes and in pants rolled to the knees, put an end to the conversation; and Saxon watched the two men, physically47 so dissimilar, climb the rocks and start out the south side of the cove. At first her eyes followed them lazily, but soon she grew interested and worried. Hall was leading Billy up what seemed a perpendicular48 wall in order to gain the backbone49 of the rock. Billy went slowly, displaying extreme caution; but twice she saw him slip, the weather-eaten stone crumbling50 away in his hand and rattling51 beneath him into the cove. When Hall reached the top, a hundred feet above the sea, she saw him stand upright and sway easily on the knife-edge which she knew fell away as abruptly52 on the other side. Billy, once on top, contented53 himself with crouching54 on hands and knees. The leader went on, upright, walking as easily as on a level floor. Billy abandoned the hands and knees position, but crouched55 closely and often helped himself with his hands.
The knife-edge backbone was deeply serrated, and into one of the notches56 both men disappeared. Saxon could not keep down her anxiety, and climbed out on the north side of the cove, which was less rugged57 and far less difficult to travel. Even so, the unaccustomed height, the crumbling surface, and the fierce buffets58 of the wind tried her nerve. Soon she was opposite the men. They had leaped a narrow chasm59 and were scaling another tooth. Already Billy was going more nimbly, but his leader often paused and waited for him. The way grew severer, and several times the clefts60 they essayed extended down to the ocean level and spouted spray from the growling61 breakers that burst through. At other times, standing62 erect63, they would fall forward across deep and narrow clefts until their palms met the opposing side; then, clinging with their fingers, their bodies would be drawn64 across and up.
Near the end, Hall and Billy went out of sight over the south side of the backbone, and when Saxon saw them again they were rounding the extreme point of rock and coming back on the cove side. Here the way seemed barred. A wide fissure65, with hopelessly vertical66 sides, yawned skywards from a foam-white vortex where the mad waters shot their level a dozen feet upward and dropped it as abruptly to the black depths of battered67 rock and writhing68 weed.
Clinging precariously69, the men descended70 their side till the spray was flying about them. Here they paused. Saxon could see Hall pointing down across the fissure and imagined he was showing some curious thing to Billy. She was not prepared for what followed. The surf-level sucked and sank away, and across and down Hall jumped to a narrow foothold where the wash had roared yards deep the moment before. Without pause, as the returning sea rushed up, he was around the sharp corner and clawing upward hand and foot to escape being caught. Billy was now left alone. He could not even see Hall, much less be further advised by him, and so tensely did Saxon watch, that the pain in her finger-tips, crushed to the rock by which she held, warned her to relax. Billy waited his chance, twice made tentative preparations to leap and sank back, then leaped across and down to the momentarily exposed foothold, doubled the corner, and as he clawed up to join Hall was washed to the waist but not torn away.
Saxon did not breathe easily till they rejoined her at the fire. One glance at Billy told her that he was exceedingly disgusted with himself.
“You'll do, for a beginner,” Hall cried, slapping him jovially72 on the bare shoulder. “That climb is a stunt73 of mine. Many's the brave lad that's started with me and broken down before we were half way out. I've had a dozen balk74 at that big jump. Only the athletes make it.”
“I ain't ashamed of admittin' I was scairt,” Billy growled75. “You're a regular goat, an' you sure got my goat half a dozen times. But I'm mad now. It's mostly trainin', an' I'm goin' to camp right here an' train till I can challenge you to a race out an' around an' back to the beach.”
“Done,” said Hall, putting out his hand in ratification76. “And some time, when we get together in San Francisco, I'll lead you up against Bierce—the one this cove is named after. His favorite stunt, when he isn't collecting rattlesnakes, is to wait for a forty-mile-an-hour breeze, and then get up and walk on the parapet of a skyscraper—on the lee side, mind you, so that if he blows off there's nothing to fetch him up but the street. He sprang that on me once.”
“Did you do it?” Billy asked eagerly.
“I wouldn't have if I hadn't been on. I'd been practicing it secretly for a week. And I got twenty dollars out of him on the bet.”
The tide was now low enough for mussel gathering78 and Saxon accompanied the men out the north wall. Hall had several sacks to fill. A rig was coming for him in the afternoon, he explained, to cart the mussels back to Carmel. When the sacks were full they ventured further among the rock crevices79 and were rewarded with three abalones, among the shells of which Saxon found one coveted80 blister-pearl. Hall initiated81 them into the mysteries of pounding and preparing the abalone meat for cooking.
By this time it seemed to Saxon that they had known him a long time. It reminded her of the old times when Bert had been with them, singing his songs or ranting82 about the last of the Mohicans.
“Now, listen; I'm going to teach you something,” Hall commanded, a large round rock poised83 in his hand above the abalone meat. “You must never, never pound abalone without singing this song. Nor must you sing this song at any other time. It would be the rankest sacrilege. Abalone is the food of the gods. Its preparation is a religious function. Now listen, and follow, and remember that it is a very solemn occasion.”
The stone came down with a thump84 on the white meat, and thereafter arose and fell in a sort of tom-tom accompaniment to the poet's song:
“Oh! some folks boast of quail85 on toast, Because they think it's tony; But I'm content to owe my rent And live on abalone.
“Oh! Mission Point's a friendly joint86 Where every crab's a crony, And true and kind you'll ever find The clinging abalone.
“He wanders free beside the sea Where 'er the coast is stony87; He flaps his wings and madly sings—The plaintive88 abalone.
“Some stick to biz, some flirt89 with Liz Down on the sands of Coney; But we, by hell, stay in Carmel, And whang the abalone.”
He paused with his mouth open and stone upraised. There was a rattle77 of wheels and a voice calling from above where the sacks of mussels had been carried. He brought the stone down with a final thump and stood up.
“There's a thousand more verses like those,” he said. “Sorry I hadn't time to teach you them.” He held out his hand, palm downward. “And now, children, bless you, you are now members of the clan90 of Abalone Eaters, and I solemnly enjoin91 you, never, no matter what the circumstances, pound abalone meat without chanting the sacred words I have revealed unto you.”
“But we can't remember the words from only one hearing,” Saxon expostulated.
“That shall be attended to. Next Sunday the Tribe of Abalone Eaters will descend71 upon you here in Bierce's Cove, and you will be able to see the rites34, the writers and writeresses, down even to the Iron Man with the basilisk eyes, vulgarly known as the King of the Sacerdotal Lizards92.”
“Will Jim Hazard come?” Billy called, as Hall disappeared into the thicket.
“He will certainly come. Is he not the Cave-Bear Pot-Walloper and Gridironer, the most fearsome, and, next to me, the most exalted93, of all the Abalone Eaters?”
Saxon and Billy could only look at each other till they heard the wheels rattle away.
“Well, I'll be doggoned,” Billy let out. “He's some boy, that. Nothing stuck up about him. Just like Jim Hazard, comes along and makes himself at home, you're as good as he is an' he's as good as you, an' we're all friends together, just like that, right off the bat.”
“He's old stock, too,” Saxon said. “He told me while you were undressing. His folks came by Panama before the railroad was built, and from what he said I guess he's got plenty of money.”
“He sure don't act like it.”
“And isn't he full of fun!” Saxon cried.
“A regular josher. An' HIM!—a POET!”
“Oh, I don't know, Billy. I've heard that plenty of poets are odd.”
“That's right, come to think of it. There's Joaquin Miller94, lives out in the hills back of Fruitvale. He's certainly odd. It's right near his place where I proposed to you. Just the same I thought poets wore whiskers and eyeglasses, an' never tripped up foot-racers at Sunday picnics, nor run around with as few clothes on as the law allows, gatherin' mussels an' climbin' like goats.”
That night, under the blankets, Saxon lay awake, looking at the stars, pleasuring in the balmy thicket-scents, and listening to the dull rumble95 of the outer surf and the whispering ripples96 on the sheltered beach a few feet away. Billy stirred, and she knew he was not yet asleep.
“Glad you left Oakland, Billy?” she snuggled.
点击收听单词发音
1 grassy | |
adj.盖满草的;长满草的 | |
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2 canyons | |
n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 ) | |
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3 furry | |
adj.毛皮的;似毛皮的;毛皮制的 | |
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4 malignantly | |
怀恶意地; 恶毒地; 有害地; 恶性地 | |
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5 gulch | |
n.深谷,峡谷 | |
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6 afterward | |
adv.后来;以后 | |
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7 thicket | |
n.灌木丛,树林 | |
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8 cove | |
n.小海湾,小峡谷 | |
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9 subdued | |
adj. 屈服的,柔和的,减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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10 spouted | |
adj.装有嘴的v.(指液体)喷出( spout的过去式和过去分词 );滔滔不绝地讲;喋喋不休地说;喷水 | |
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11 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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12 sprawled | |
v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词);蔓延;杂乱无序地拓展;四肢伸展坐着(或躺着) | |
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13 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
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14 darted | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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15 posture | |
n.姿势,姿态,心态,态度;v.作出某种姿势 | |
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16 appraising | |
v.估价( appraise的现在分词 );估计;估量;评价 | |
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17 pungent | |
adj.(气味、味道)刺激性的,辛辣的;尖锐的 | |
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18 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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19 consternation | |
n.大为吃惊,惊骇 | |
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20 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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21 snug | |
adj.温暖舒适的,合身的,安全的;v.使整洁干净,舒适地依靠,紧贴;n.(英)酒吧里的私房 | |
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22 improvising | |
即兴创作(improvise的现在分词形式) | |
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23 plank | |
n.板条,木板,政策要点,政纲条目 | |
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24 beaked | |
adj.有喙的,鸟嘴状的 | |
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25 misty | |
adj.雾蒙蒙的,有雾的 | |
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26 muffle | |
v.围裹;抑制;发低沉的声音 | |
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27 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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28 blurted | |
v.突然说出,脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29 giggle | |
n.痴笑,咯咯地笑;v.咯咯地笑着说 | |
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30 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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31 automobile | |
n.汽车,机动车 | |
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32 cane | |
n.手杖,细长的茎,藤条;v.以杖击,以藤编制的 | |
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33 gasp | |
n.喘息,气喘;v.喘息;气吁吁他说 | |
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34 rites | |
仪式,典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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35 bungalow | |
n.平房,周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
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36 massage | |
n.按摩,揉;vt.按摩,揉,美化,奉承,篡改数据 | |
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37 cryptic | |
adj.秘密的,神秘的,含义模糊的 | |
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38 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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39 anatomy | |
n.解剖学,解剖;功能,结构,组织 | |
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40 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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41 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
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42 prodded | |
v.刺,戳( prod的过去式和过去分词 );刺激;促使;(用手指或尖物)戳 | |
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43 exulted | |
狂喜,欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44 ripple | |
n.涟波,涟漪,波纹,粗钢梳;vt.使...起涟漪,使起波纹; vi.呈波浪状,起伏前进 | |
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45 skunk | |
n.臭鼬,黄鼠狼;v.使惨败,使得零分;烂醉如泥 | |
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46 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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47 physically | |
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律 | |
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48 perpendicular | |
adj.垂直的,直立的;n.垂直线,垂直的位置 | |
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49 backbone | |
n.脊骨,脊柱,骨干;刚毅,骨气 | |
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50 crumbling | |
adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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51 rattling | |
adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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52 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
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53 contented | |
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的 | |
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54 crouching | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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55 crouched | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56 notches | |
n.(边缘或表面上的)V型痕迹( notch的名词复数 );刻痕;水平;等级 | |
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57 rugged | |
adj.高低不平的,粗糙的,粗壮的,强健的 | |
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58 buffets | |
(火车站的)饮食柜台( buffet的名词复数 ); (火车的)餐车; 自助餐 | |
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59 chasm | |
n.深坑,断层,裂口,大分岐,利害冲突 | |
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60 clefts | |
n.裂缝( cleft的名词复数 );裂口;cleave的过去式和过去分词;进退维谷 | |
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61 growling | |
n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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62 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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63 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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64 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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65 fissure | |
n.裂缝;裂伤 | |
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66 vertical | |
adj.垂直的,顶点的,纵向的;n.垂直物,垂直的位置 | |
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67 battered | |
adj.磨损的;v.连续猛击;磨损 | |
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68 writhing | |
(因极度痛苦而)扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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69 precariously | |
adv.不安全地;危险地;碰机会地;不稳定地 | |
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70 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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71 descend | |
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
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72 jovially | |
adv.愉快地,高兴地 | |
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73 stunt | |
n.惊人表演,绝技,特技;vt.阻碍...发育,妨碍...生长 | |
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74 balk | |
n.大方木料;v.妨碍;不愿前进或从事某事 | |
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75 growled | |
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说 | |
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76 ratification | |
n.批准,认可 | |
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77 rattle | |
v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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78 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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79 crevices | |
n.(尤指岩石的)裂缝,缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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80 coveted | |
adj.令人垂涎的;垂涎的,梦寐以求的v.贪求,觊觎(covet的过去分词);垂涎;贪图 | |
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81 initiated | |
n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始,创始,启蒙,介绍加入 | |
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82 ranting | |
v.夸夸其谈( rant的现在分词 );大叫大嚷地以…说教;气愤地)大叫大嚷;不停地大声抱怨 | |
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83 poised | |
a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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84 thump | |
v.重击,砰然地响;n.重击,重击声 | |
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85 quail | |
n.鹌鹑;vi.畏惧,颤抖 | |
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86 joint | |
adj.联合的,共同的;n.关节,接合处;v.连接,贴合 | |
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87 stony | |
adj.石头的,多石头的,冷酷的,无情的 | |
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88 plaintive | |
adj.可怜的,伤心的 | |
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89 flirt | |
v.调情,挑逗,调戏;n.调情者,卖俏者 | |
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90 clan | |
n.氏族,部落,宗族,家族,宗派 | |
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91 enjoin | |
v.命令;吩咐;禁止 | |
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92 lizards | |
n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 ) | |
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93 exalted | |
adj.(地位等)高的,崇高的;尊贵的,高尚的 | |
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94 miller | |
n.磨坊主 | |
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95 rumble | |
n.隆隆声;吵嚷;v.隆隆响;低沉地说 | |
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96 ripples | |
逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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97 clam | |
n.蛤,蛤肉 | |
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