“Yes, Leonard,” he said patiently. “It’s very interesting, and doubtless an important discovery, but I can’t see why you’re making such a production of it. Are you afraid I’ll blame you for letting non-Company people beat you to it? Or do you merely suspect that anything Bennett Rainsford’s mixed up in is necessarily a diabolical2 plot against the Company and, by consequence, human civilization?”
Leonard Kellogg looked pained. “What I was about to say, Victor, is that both Rainsford and this man Holloway seem convinced that these things they call Fuzzies aren’t animals at all. They believe them to be sapient3 beings.”
“Well, that’s—” He bit that off short as the significance of what Kellogg had just said hit him. “Good God, Leonard! I beg your pardon abjectly4; I don’t blame you for taking it seriously. Why, that would make Zarathustra a Class-IV inhabited planet.”
“For which the Company holds a Class-III charter,” Kellogg added. “For an uninhabited planet.”
Automatically void if any race of sapient beings were discovered on Zarathustra.
“You know what will happen if this is true?”
“Well, I should imagine the charter would have to be renegotiated, and now that the Colonial Office knows what sort of a planet this is, they’ll be anything but generous with the Company….”
“They won’t renegotiate anything, Leonard. The Federation6 government will simply take the position that the Company has already made an adequate return on the original investments, and they’ll award us what we can show as in our actual possession—I hope—and throw the rest into the public domain7.”
The vast plains on Beta and Delta8 continents, with their herds9 of veldbeest—all open range, and every ’beest that didn’t carry a Company brand a maverick10. And all the untapped mineral wealth, and the untilled arable11 land; it would take years of litigation even to make the Company’s claim to Big Blackwater stick. And Terra-Baldur-Marduk Spacelines would lose their monopolistic franchise12 and get sticky about it in the courts, and in any case, the Company’s import-export monopoly would go out the airlock. And the squatters rushing in and swamping everything—
“Why, we won’t be any better off than the Yggdrasil Company, squatting13 on a guano heap on one continent!” he burst out. “Five years from now, they’ll be making more money out of bat dung than we’ll be making out of this whole world!”
And the Company’s good friend and substantial stockholder, Nick Emmert, would be out, too, and a Colonial Governor General would move in, with regular army troops and a complicated bureaucracy. Elections, and a representative parliament, and every Tom, Dick and Harry14 with a grudge15 against the Company would be trying to get laws passed—And, of course, a Native Affairs Commission, with its nose in everything.
“But they couldn’t just leave us without any kind of a charter,” Kellogg insisted. Who was he trying to kid—besides himself? “It wouldn’t be fair!” As though that clinched16 it. “It isn’t our fault!”
He forced more patience into his voice. “Leonard, please try to realize that the Terran Federation government doesn’t give one shrill17 soprano hoot18 on Nifflheim whether it’s fair or not, or whose fault what is. The Federation government’s been repenting19 that charter they gave the Company ever since they found out what they’d chartered away. Why, this planet is a better world than Terra ever was, even before the Atomic Wars. Now, if they have a chance to get it back, with improvements, you think they won’t take it? And what will stop them? If those creatures over on Beta Continent are sapient beings, our charter isn’t worth the parchment it’s engrossed20 on, and that’s an end of it.” He was silent for a moment. “You heard that tape Rainsford transmitted to Jimenez. Did either he or Holloway actually claim, in so many words, that these things really are sapient beings?”
“Well, no; not in so many words. Holloway consistently alluded21 to them as people, but he’s just an ignorant old prospector22. Rainsford wouldn’t come out and commit himself one way or another, but he left the door wide open for anybody else to.”
“Accepting their account, could these Fuzzies be sapient?”
They probably were, if Leonard Kellogg couldn’t wish the evidence out of existence.
“Then they’ll look sapient to these people of yours who went over to Beta this morning, and they’ll treat it purely24 as a scientific question and never consider the legal aspects. Leonard, you’ll have to take charge of the investigation25, before they make any reports everybody’ll be sorry for.”
Kellogg didn’t seem to like that. It would mean having to exercise authority and getting tough with people, and he hated anything like that. He nodded very reluctantly.
“Yes. I suppose I will. Let me think about it for a moment, Victor.”
One thing about Leonard; you handed him something he couldn’t delegate or dodge26 and he’d go to work on it. Maybe not cheerfully, but conscientiously27.
“I’ll take Ernst Mallin along,” he said at length. “This man Rainsford has no grounding whatever in any of the psychosciences. He may be able to impose on Ruth Ortheris, but not on Ernst Mallin. Not after I’ve talked to Mallin first.” He thought some more. “We’ll have to get these Fuzzies away from this man Holloway. Then we’ll issue a report of discovery, being careful to give full credit to both Rainsford and Holloway—we’ll even accept the designation they’ve coined for them—but we’ll make it very clear that while highly intelligent, the Fuzzies are not a race of sapient beings. If Rainsford persists in making any such claim, we will brand it as a deliberate hoax28.”
“Do you think he’s gotten any report off to the Institute of Xeno-Sciences yet?”
Kellogg shook his head. “I think he wants to trick some of our people into supporting his sapience29 claims; at least, corroborating30 his and Holloway’s alleged31 observations. That’s why I’ll have to get over to Beta as soon as possible.”
By now, Kellogg had managed to convince himself that going over to Beta had been his idea all along. Probably also convincing himself that Rainsford’s report was nothing but a pack of lies. Well, if he could work better that way, that was his business.
“He will, before long, if he isn’t stopped. And a year from now, there’ll be a small army of investigators32 here from Terra. By that time, you should have both Rainsford and Holloway thoroughly33 discredited34. Leonard, you get those Fuzzies away from Holloway and I’ll personally guarantee they won’t be available for investigation by then. Fuzzies,” he said reflectively. “Fur-bearing animals, I take it?”
“Good. Emphasize that in your report. As soon as it’s published, the Company will offer two thousand sols apiece for Fuzzy pelts36. By the time Rainsford’s report brings anybody here from Terra, we may have them all trapped out.”
Kellogg began to look worried.
“But, Victor, that’s genocide!”
“Nonsense! Genocide is defined as the extermination37 of a race of sapient beings. These are fur-bearing animals. It’s up to you and Ernst Mallin to prove that.”
The Fuzzies, playing on the lawn in front of the camp, froze into immobility, their faces turned to the west. Then they all ran to the bench by the kitchen door and scrambled39 up onto it.
“They hear the airboat,” Rainsford told him. “That’s the way they acted yesterday when you were coming in with your machine.” He looked at the picnic table they had been spreading under the featherleaf trees. “Everything ready?”
“Everything but lunch; that won’t be cooked for an hour yet. I see them now.”
“You have better eyes than I do, Jack. Oh, I see it. I hope the kids put on a good show for them,” he said anxiously.
He’d been jittery41 ever since he arrived, shortly after breakfast. It wasn’t that these people from Mallorysport were so important themselves; Ben had a bigger name in scientific circles than any of this Company crowd. He was just excited about the Fuzzies.
The airboat grew from a barely visible speck42, and came spiraling down to land in the clearing. When it was grounded and off contragravity, they started across the grass toward it, and the Fuzzies all jumped down from the bench and ran along with them.
The three visitors climbed down. Ruth Ortheris wore slacks and a sweater, but the slacks were bloused over a pair of ankle boots. Gerd van Riebeek had evidently done a lot of field work: his boots were stout43, and he wore old, faded khakis and a serviceable-looking sidearm that showed he knew what to expect up here in the Piedmont. Juan Jimenez was in the same sports casuals in which he had appeared on screen last evening. All of them carried photographic equipment. They shook hands all around and exchanged greetings, and then the Fuzzies began clamoring to be noticed. Finally all of them, Fuzzies and other people, drifted over to the table under the trees.
Ruth Ortheris sat down on the grass with Mamma and Baby. Immediately Baby became interested in a silver charm which she wore on a chain around her neck which tinkled44 fascinatingly. Then he tried to sit on her head. She spent some time gently but firmly discouraging this. Juan Jimenez was squatting between Mike and Mitzi, examining them alternately and talking into a miniature recorder phone on his breast, mostly in Latin. Gerd van Riebeek dropped himself into a folding chair and took Little Fuzzy on his lap.
“You know, this is kind of surprising,” he said. “Not only finding something like this, after twenty-five years, but finding something as unique as this. Look, he doesn’t have the least vestige45 of a tail, and there isn’t another tailless mammal on the planet. Fact, there isn’t another mammal on this planet that has the slightest kinship to him. Take ourselves; we belong to a pretty big family, about fifty-odd genera of primates46. But this little fellow hasn’t any relatives at all.”
“Yeek?”
“And he couldn’t care less, could he?” Van Riebeek pummeled Little Fuzzy gently. “One thing, you have the smallest humanoid known; that’s one record you can claim. Oh-oh, what goes on?”
Ko-Ko, who had climbed upon Rainsford’s lap, jumped suddenly to the ground, grabbed the chopper-digger he had left beside the chair and started across the grass. Everybody got to their feet, the visitors getting cameras out. The Fuzzies seemed perplexed47 by all the excitement. It was only another land-prawn, wasn’t it?
Ko-Ko got in front of it, poked48 it on the nose to stop it and then struck a dramatic pose, flourishing his weapon and bringing it down on the prawn’s neck. Then, after flopping50 it over, he looked at it almost in sorrow and hit it a couple of whacks51 with the flat. He began pulling it apart and eating it.
“I see why you call him Ko-Ko,” Ruth said, aiming her camera, “Don’t the others do it that way?”
“Well, Little Fuzzy runs along beside them and pivots52 and gives them a quick chop. Mike and Mitzi flop49 theirs over first and behead them on their backs. And Mamma takes a swipe at their legs first. But beheading and breaking the undershell, they all do that.”
“Uh-huh; that’s basic,” she said. “Instinctive. The technique is either self-learned or copied. When Baby begins killing53 his own prawns54, see if he doesn’t do it the way Mamma does!”
Through lunch, they talked exclusively about Fuzzies. The subjects of the discussion nibbled56 things that were given to them, and yeeked among themselves. Gerd van Riebeek suggested that they were discussing the odd habits of human-type people. Juan Jimenez looked at him, slightly disturbed, as though wondering just how seriously he meant it.
“You know, what impressed me most in the taped account was the incident of the damnthing,” said Ruth Ortheris. “Any animal associating with man will try to attract attention if something’s wrong, but I never heard of one, not even a Freyan kholph or a Terran chimpanzee, that would use descriptive pantomime. Little Fuzzy was actually making a symbolic57 representation, by abstracting the distinguishing characteristic of the damnthing.”
“Think that stiff-arm gesture and bark might have been intended to represent a rifle?” Gerd van Riebeek asked. “He’d seen you shooting before, hadn’t he?”
“I don’t think it was anything else. He was telling me, ‘Big nasty damnthing outside; shoot it like you did the harpy.’ And if he hadn’t run past me and pointed58 back, that damnthing would have killed me.”
Jimenez, hesitantly, said, “I know I’m speaking from ignorance. You’re the Fuzzy expert. But isn’t it possible that you’re overanthropomorphizing? Endowing them with your own characteristics and mental traits?”
“Juan, I’m not going to answer that right now. I don’t think I’ll answer at all. You wait till you’ve been around these Fuzzies a little longer, and then ask it again, only ask yourself.”
“So you see, Ernst, that’s the problem.”
Leonard Kellogg laid the words like a paperweight on the other words he had been saying, and waited. Ernst Mallin sat motionless, his elbows on the desk and his chin in his hands. A little pair of wrinkles, like parentheses59, appeared at the corners of his mouth.
“Yes. I’m not a lawyer, of course, but….”
“It’s not a legal question. It’s a question for a psychologist.”
That left it back with Ernst Mallin, and he knew it.
“I’d have to see them myself before I could express an opinion. You have that tape of Holloway’s with you?” When Kellogg nodded, Mallin continued: “Did either of them make any actual, overt60 claim of sapience?”
He answered it as he had when Victor Grego had asked the same question, adding:
“The account consists almost entirely61 of Holloway’s uncorroborated statements concerning things to which he claims to have been the sole witness.”
“Ah.” Mallin permitted himself a tight little smile. “And he’s not a qualified62 observer. Neither, for that matter, is Rainsford. Regardless of his position as a xeno-naturalist, he is a complete layman63 in the psychosciences. He’s just taken this other man’s statements uncritically. As for what he claims to have observed for himself, how do we know he isn’t including a lot of erroneous inferences with his descriptive statements?”
“How do we know he’s not perpetrating a deliberate hoax?”
“But, Leonard, that’s a pretty serious accusation64.”
“It’s happened before. That fellow who carved a Late Upland Martian inscription65 in that cave in Kenya, for instance. Or Hellermann’s claim to have cross-bred Terran mice with Thoran tilbras. Or the Piltdown Man, back in the first century Pre-Atomic?”
Mallin nodded. “None of us like to think of a thing like that, but, as you say, it’s happened. You know, this man Rainsford is just the type to do something like that, too. Fundamentally an individualistic egoist; badly adjusted personality type. Say he wants to make some sensational66 discovery which will assure him the position in the scientific world to which he believes himself entitled. He finds this lonely old prospector, into whose isolated67 camp some little animals have strayed. The old man has made pets of them, taught them a few tricks, finally so projected his own personality onto them that he has convinced himself that they are people like himself. This is Rainsford’s great opportunity; he will present himself as the discoverer of a new sapient race and bring the whole learned world to his feet.” Mallin smiled again. “Yes, Leonard, it is altogether possible.”
“Then it’s our plain duty to stop this thing before it develops into another major scientific scandal like Hellermann’s hybrids68.”
“First we must go over this tape recording69 and see what we have on our hands. Then we must make a thorough, unbiased study of these animals, and show Rainsford and his accomplice70 that they cannot hope to foist71 these ridiculous claims on the scientific world with impunity72. If we can’t convince them privately73, there’ll be nothing to do but expose them publicly.”
“I’ve heard the tape already, but let’s play if off now. We want to analyze74 these tricks this man Holloway has taught these animals, and see what they show.”
“Yes, of course. We must do that at once,” Mallin said. “Then we’ll have to consider what sort of statement we must issue, and what sort of evidence we will need to support it.”
After dinner was romptime for Fuzzies on the lawn, but when the dusk came creeping into the ravine, they all went inside and were given one of their new toys from Mallorysport—a big box of many-colored balls and short sticks of transparent75 plastic. They didn’t know that it was a molecule-model kit38, but they soon found that the sticks would go into holes in the balls, and that they could be built into three-dimensional designs.
This was much more fun than the colored stones. They made a few experimental shapes, then dismantled76 them and began on a single large design. Several times they tore it down, entirely or in part, and began over again, usually with considerable yeeking and gesticulation.
“They have artistic77 sense,” Van Riebeek said. “I’ve seen lots of abstract sculpture that wasn’t half as good as that job they’re doing.”
“Good engineering, too,” Jack said. “They understand balance and center-of-gravity. They’re bracing78 it well, and not making it top-heavy.”
“Jack, I’ve been thinking about that question I was supposed to ask myself,” Jimenez said. “You know, I came out here loaded with suspicion. Not that I doubted your honesty; I just thought you’d let your obvious affection for the Fuzzies lead you into giving them credit for more intelligence than they possess. Now I think you’ve consistently understated it. Short of actual sapience, I’ve never seen anything like them.”
“Why short of it?” van Riebeek asked. “Ruth, you’ve been pretty quiet this evening. What do you think?”
Ruth Ortheris looked uncomfortable. “Gerd, it’s too early to form opinions like that. I know the way they’re working together looks like cooperation on an agreed-upon purpose, but I simply can’t make speech out of that yeek-yeek-yeek.”
“Let’s keep the talk-and-build-a-fire rule out of it,” van Riebeek said. “If they’re working together on a common project, they must be communicating somehow.”
“It isn’t communication, it’s symbolization79. You simply can’t think sapiently80 except in verbal symbols. Try it. Not something like changing the spools81 on a recorder or field-stripping a pistol; they’re just learned tricks. I mean ideas.”
“How about Helen Keller?” Rainsford asked. “Mean to say she only started thinking sapiently after Anna Sullivan taught her what words were?”
“No, of course not. She thought sapiently—And she only thought in sense-imagery limited to feeling.” She looked at Rainsford reproachfully; he’d knocked a breach82 in one of her fundamental postulates83. “Of course, she had inherited the cerebroneural equipment for sapient thinking.” She let that trail off, before somebody asked her how she knew that the Fuzzies hadn’t.
“I’ll suggest, just to keep the argument going, that speech couldn’t have been invented without pre-existing sapience,” Jack said.
Ruth laughed. “Now you’re taking me back to college. That used to be one of the burning questions in first-year psych students’ bull sessions. By the time we got to be sophomores84, we’d realized that it was only an egg-and-chicken argument and dropped it.”
“That’s a pity,” Ben Rainsford said. “It’s a good question.”
“It would be if it could be answered.”
“Maybe it can be,” Gerd said. “There’s a clue to it, right there. I’ll say that those fellows are on the edge of sapience, and it’s an even-money bet which side.”
“I’ll bet every sunstone in my bag they’re over.”
“Well, maybe they’re just slightly sapient,” Jimenez suggested.
Ruth Ortheris hooted85 at that. “That’s like talking about being just slightly dead or just slightly pregnant,” she said. “You either are or you aren’t.”
Gerd van Riebeek was talking at the same time. “This sapience question is just as important in my field as yours, Ruth. Sapience is the result of evolution by natural selection, just as much as a physical characteristic, and it’s the most important step in the evolution of any species, our own included.”
“Wait a minute, Gerd,” Rainsford said. “Ruth, what do you mean by that? Aren’t there degrees of sapience?”
“No. There are degrees of mentation—intelligence, if you prefer—just as there are degrees of temperature. When psychology86 becomes an exact science like physics, we’ll be able to calibrate87 mentation like temperature. But sapience is qualitatively88 different from nonsapience. It’s more than just a higher degree of mental temperature. You might call it a sort of mental boiling point.”
“I think that’s a damn good analogy,” Rainsford said. “But what happens when the boiling point is reached?”
“That’s what we have to find out,” van Riebeek told him. “That’s what I was talking about a moment ago. We don’t know any more about how sapience appeared today than we did in the year zero, or in the year 654 Pre-Atomic for that matter.”
“Wait a minute,” Jack interrupted. “Before we go any deeper, let’s agree on a definition of sapience.”
Van Riebeek laughed. “Ever try to get a definition of life from a biologist?” he asked. “Or a definition of number from a mathematician89?”
“That’s about it.” Ruth looked at the Fuzzies, who were looking at their colored-ball construction as though wondering if they could add anything more without spoiling the design. “I’d say: a level of mentation qualitatively different from nonsapience in that it includes ability to symbolize90 ideas and store and transmit them, ability to generalize and ability to form abstract ideas. There; I didn’t say a word about talk-and-build-a-fire, did I?”
“Little Fuzzy symbolizes91 and generalizes,” Jack said. “He symbolizes a damnthing by three horns, and he symbolizes a rifle by a long thing that points and makes noises. Rifles kill animals. Harpies and damnthings are both animals. If a rifle will kill a harpy, it’ll kill a damnthing too.”
Juan Jimenez had been frowning in thought; he looked up and asked, “What’s the lowest known sapient race?”
“I saw a man shot once on Mimir, for calling another man a son of a Khooghra,” Jack said. “The man who shot him had been on Yggdrasil and knew what he was being called.”
“I spent a couple of years among them,” Gerd said. “They do build fires; I’ll give them that. They char5 points on sticks to make spears. And they talk. I learned their language, all eighty-two words of it. I taught a few of the intelligentsia how to use machetes without maiming themselves, and there was one mental giant I could trust to carry some of my equipment, if I kept an eye on him, but I never let him touch my rifle or my camera.”
“Can they generalize?” Ruth asked.
“Honey, they can’t do nothin’ else but! Every word in their language is a high-order generalization93. Hroosha, live-thing. Noosha, bad-thing. Dhishta, thing-to-eat. Want me to go on? There are only seventy-nine more of them.”
Before anybody could stop him, the communication screen got itself into an uproar94. The Fuzzies all ran over in front of it, and Jack switched it on. The caller was a man in gray semiformals; he had wavy95 gray hair and a face that looked like Juan Jimenez’s twenty years from now.
“Good evening; Holloway here.”
“Oh, Mr. Holloway, good evening.” The caller shook hands with himself, turning on a dazzling smile. “I’m Leonard Kellogg, chief of the Company’s science division. I just heard the tape you made about the—the Fuzzies?” He looked down at the floor. “Are these some of the animals?”
“These are the Fuzzies.” He hoped it sounded like the correction it was intended to be. “Dr. Bennett Rainsford’s here with me now, and so are Dr. Jimenez, Dr. van Riebeek and Dr. Ortheris.” Out of the corner of his eye he could see Jimenez squirming as though afflicted96 with ants, van Riebeek getting his poker97 face battened down and Ben Rainsford suppressing a grin. “Some of us are out of screen range, and I’m sure you’ll want to ask a lot of questions. Pardon us a moment, while we close in.”
He ignored Kellogg’s genial98 protest that that wouldn’t be necessary until the chairs were placed facing the screen. As an afterthought, he handed Fuzzies around, giving Little Fuzzy to Ben, Ko-Ko to Gerd, Mitzi to Ruth, Mike to Jimenez and taking Mamma and Baby on his own lap.
Baby immediately started to climb up onto his head, as expected. It seemed to disconcert Kellogg, also as expected. He decided99 to teach Baby to thumb his nose when given some unobtrusive signal.
“Now, about that tape I recorded last evening,” he began.
“Yes, Mr. Holloway.” Kellogg’s smile was getting more mechanical every minute. He was having trouble keeping his eyes off Baby. “I must say, I was simply astounded100 at the high order of intelligence claimed for these creatures.”
“And you wanted to see how big a liar101 I was. I don’t blame you; I had trouble believing it myself at first.”
“Oh, no. Mr. Holloway; please don’t misunderstand me. I never thought anything like that.”
“I hope not,” Ben Rainsford said, not too pleasantly. “I vouched103 for Mr. Holloway’s statements, if you’ll recall.”
“Of course, Bennett; that goes without saying. Permit me to congratulate you upon a most remarkable104 scientific discovery. An entirely new order of mammals—”
“Which may be the ninth extrasolar sapient race,” Rainsford added.
“Good heavens, Bennett!” Kellogg jettisoned105 his smile and slid on a look of shocked surprise. “You surely can’t be serious?” He looked again at the Fuzzies, pulled the smile back on and gave a light laugh.
“I thought you’d heard that tape,” Rainsford said.
“Of course, and the things reported were most remarkable. But sapiences! Just because they’ve been taught a few tricks, and use sticks and stones for weapons—” He got rid of the smile again, and quick-changed to seriousness. “Such an extreme claim must only be made after careful study.”
“Well, I won’t claim they’re sapient,” Ruth Ortheris told him. “Not till day after tomorrow, at the earliest. But they very easily could be. They have learning and reasoning capacity equal to that of any eight-year-old Terran Human child, and well above that of the adults of some recognizedly sapient races. And they have not been taught tricks; they have learned by observation and reasoning.”
“Well, Dr. Kellogg, mentation levels isn’t my subject,” Jimenez took it up, “but they do have all the physical characteristics shared by other sapient races—lower limbs specialized106 for locomotion107 and upper limbs for manipulation, erect108 posture109, stereoscopic vision, color perception, hand with opposing thumb—all the characteristics we consider as prerequisite110 to the development of sapience.”
“I think they’re sapient, myself,” Gerd van Riebeek said, “but that’s not as important as the fact that they’re on the very threshold of sapience. This is the first race of this mental level anybody’s ever seen. I believe that study of the Fuzzies will help us solve the problem of how sapience developed in any race.”
“But this is amazing! This will make scientific history! Now, of course, you all realize how pricelessly valuable these Fuzzies are. They must be brought at once to Mallorysport, where they can be studied under laboratory conditions by qualified psychologists, and—”
“No.”
Jack lifted Baby Fuzzy off his head and handed him to Mamma, and set Mamma on the floor. That was reflex; the thinking part of his brain knew he didn’t need to clear for action when arguing with the electronic image of a man twenty-five hundred miles away.
“Just forget that part of it and start over,” he advised.
Kellogg ignored him. “Gerd, you have your airboat; fix up some nice comfortable cages—”
“Kellogg!”
The man in the screen stopped talking and stared in amazed indignation. It was the first time in years he had been addressed by his naked patronymic, and possibly the first time in his life he had been shouted at.
“Didn’t you hear me the first time Kellogg? Then stop gibbering about cages. These Fuzzies aren’t being taken anywhere.”
“But Mr. Holloway! Don’t you realize that these little beings must be carefully studied? Don’t you want them given their rightful place in the hierarchy112 of nature?”
“If you want to study them, come out here and do it. That’s so long as you don’t annoy them, or me. As far as study’s concerned, they’re being studied now. Dr. Rainsford’s studying them, and so are three of your people, and when it comes to that, I’m studying them myself.”
“And I’d like you to clarify that remark about qualified psychologists,” Ruth Ortheris added, in a voice approaching zero-Kelvin. “You wouldn’t be challenging my professional qualifications, would you?”
“Oh, Ruth, you know I didn’t mean anything like that. Please don’t misunderstand me,” Kellogg begged. “But this is highly specialized work—”
“Yes; how many Fuzzy specialists have you at Science Center, Leonard?” Rainsford wanted to know. “The only one I can think of is Jack Holloway, here.”
“Well, I’d thought of Dr. Mallin, the Company’s head psychologist.”
“He can come too, just as long as he understands that he’ll have to have my permission for anything he wants to do with the Fuzzies,” Jack said. “When can we expect you?”
Kellogg thought some time late the next afternoon. He didn’t have to ask how to get to the camp. He made a few efforts to restore the conversation to its original note of cordiality, gave that up as a bad job and blanked out. There was a brief silence in the living room. Then Jimenez said reproachfully:
“You certainly weren’t very gracious to Dr. Kellogg, Jack. Maybe you don’t realize it, but he is a very important man.”
“He isn’t important to me, and I wasn’t gracious to him at all. It doesn’t pay to be gracious to people like that. If you are, they always try to take advantage of it.”
“Why, I didn’t know you knew Len,” van Riebeek said.
“I never saw the individual before. The species is very common and widely distributed.” He turned to Rainsford. “You think he and this Mallin will be out tomorrow?”
“Of course they will. This is a little too big for underlings and non-Company people to be allowed to monkey with. You know, we’ll have to watch out or in a year we’ll be hearing from Terra about the discovery of a sapient race on Zarathustra; Fuzzy fuzzy Kellogg. As Juan says, Dr. Kellogg is a very important man. That’s how he got important.”
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federation
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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delta
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| n.（流的）角洲 | |
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9
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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maverick
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| adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者 | |
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arable
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| adj.可耕的，适合种植的 | |
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franchise
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| n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权 | |
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13
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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15
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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clinched
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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18
hoot
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| n.鸟叫声，汽车的喇叭声； v.使汽车鸣喇叭 | |
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19
repenting
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的现在分词 ) | |
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engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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21
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
prospector
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| n.探矿者 | |
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23
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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24
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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25
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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26
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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conscientiously
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| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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28
hoax
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| v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧 | |
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29
sapience
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| n.贤明，睿智 | |
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30
corroborating
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的现在分词 ) | |
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31
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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32
investigators
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| n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 ) | |
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33
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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34
discredited
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| 不足信的，不名誉的 | |
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35
spoke
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| 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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36
pelts
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| n. 皮毛，投掷, 疾行 vt. 剥去皮毛，（连续）投掷 vi. 猛击，大步走 | |
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37
extermination
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| n.消灭，根绝 | |
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38
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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39
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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40
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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41
jittery
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| adj. 神经过敏的, 战战兢兢的 | |
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42
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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44
tinkled
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| （使）发出丁当声，（使）发铃铃声( tinkle的过去式和过去分词 )； 叮当响着发出，铃铃响着报出 | |
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45
vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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46
primates
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| primate的复数 | |
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47
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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48
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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49
flop
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| n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下 | |
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50
flopping
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| n.贬调v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的现在分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅 | |
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51
whacks
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| n.重击声( whack的名词复数 )；不正常；有毛病v.重击，使劲打( whack的第三人称单数 ) | |
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52
pivots
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| n.枢( pivot的名词复数 )；最重要的人（或事物）；中心；核心v.（似）在枢轴上转动( pivot的第三人称单数 )；把…放在枢轴上；以…为核心，围绕（主旨）展开 | |
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53
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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54
prawns
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| n.对虾，明虾( prawn的名词复数 ) | |
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55
lobster
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| n.龙虾，龙虾肉 | |
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56
nibbled
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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57
symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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58
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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59
parentheses
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| n.圆括号，插入语，插曲（ parenthesis的名词复数 ） | |
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60
overt
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| adj.公开的，明显的，公然的 | |
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61
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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62
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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63
layman
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| n.俗人，门外汉，凡人 | |
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64
accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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65
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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66
sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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67
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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68
hybrids
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| n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 )；杂交植物（或动物）；杂种；（不同事物的）混合物 | |
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69
recording
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| n.录音，记录 | |
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70
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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71
foist
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| vt.把…强塞给，骗卖给 | |
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72
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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73
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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74
analyze
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| vt.分析，解析 (=analyse) | |
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75
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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76
dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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78
bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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79
symbolization
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| n.象征，符号表现 | |
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80
sapiently
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81
spools
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| n.（绕线、铁线、照相软片等的）管( spool的名词复数 )；络纱；纺纱机；绕圈轴工人v.把…绕到线轴上（或从线轴上绕下来）( spool的第三人称单数 )；假脱机（输出或输入） | |
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82
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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83
postulates
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| v.假定，假设( postulate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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84
sophomores
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| n.（中等、专科学校或大学的）二年级学生( sophomore的名词复数 ) | |
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85
hooted
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| （使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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86
psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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87
calibrate
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| 校准；使合标准；测量（枪的）口径 | |
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88
qualitatively
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| 质量上 | |
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89
mathematician
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| n.数学家 | |
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90
symbolize
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| vt.作为...的象征，用符号代表 | |
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91
symbolizes
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| v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的第三人称单数 ) | |
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92
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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93
generalization
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| n.普遍性，一般性，概括 | |
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94
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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95
wavy
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| adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的 | |
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96
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97
poker
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| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
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98
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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99
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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100
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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101
liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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102
blithe
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| adj.快乐的，无忧无虑的 | |
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103
vouched
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| v.保证( vouch的过去式和过去分词 )；担保；确定；确定地说 | |
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104
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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105
jettisoned
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| v.抛弃，丢弃( jettison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106
specialized
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| adj.专门的，专业化的 | |
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107
locomotion
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| n.运动，移动 | |
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108
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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109
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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110
prerequisite
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| n.先决条件；adj.作为前提的，必备的 | |
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111
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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112
hierarchy
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| n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层 | |
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