'Well, young lady?'
She looked round with a jump, and blushed, smiling and screwing up her little shoulders, when she recognised the two men who were coming towards her from the door of the lecture-hall. The one who had called out was Henry Mynors, morning superintendent21 of the Sunday-school and conductor of the men's Bible-class held in the lecture-hall on Sunday afternoons. The other was William Price, usually styled Willie Price, secretary of the same Bible-class, and son of Titus Price, the afternoon superintendent.
'I'm sure you don't deserve that prize. Let me see if it isn't too good for you.' Mynors smiled playfully down upon Agnes Tellwright as he idly turned the leaves of the book which she handed to him. 'Now, do you deserve it? Tell me honestly.'
She scrutinised those sparkling and vehement22 black eyes with the fearless calm of infancy23. 'Yes, I do,' she answered in her high, thin voice, having at length decided24 within herself that Mr. Mynors was joking.
'Then I suppose you must have it,' he admitted, with a fine air of giving way.
As Agnes took the volume from him she thought how perfect a man Mr. Mynors was. His eyes, so kind and sincere, and that mysterious, delicious, inexpressible something which dwelt behind his eyes: these constituted an ideal for her.
Willie Price stood somewhat apart, grinning, and pulling a thin honey-coloured moustache. He was at the uncouth25, disjointed age, twenty-one, and nine years younger than Henry Mynors. Despite a continual effort after ease of manner, he was often sheepish and self-conscious, even, as now, when he could discover no reason for such a condition of mind. But Agnes liked him too. His simple, pale blue eyes had a wistfulness which made her feel towards him as she felt towards her doll when she happened to find it lying neglected on the floor.
'Your big sister isn't out of school yet?' Mynors remarked.
Agnes shook her head. 'I've been waiting ever so long,' she said plaintively26.
At that moment a grey-haired woman with a benevolent27 but rather pinched face emerged with much briskness28 from the girls' door. This was Mrs. Sutton, a distant relative of Mynors'—his mother had been her second cousin. The men raised their hats.
'I've just been down to make sure of some of you slippery folks for the sewing-meeting,' she said, shaking hands with Mynors, and including both him and Willie Price in an embracing maternal29 smile. She was short-sighted and did not perceive Agnes, who had fallen back.
'Had a good class this afternoon, Henry?' Mrs. Sutton's breathing was short and quick.
'Oh, yes,' he said, 'very good indeed.'
'You're doing a grand work.'
'We had over seventy present,' he added.
'Eh!' she said, 'I make nothing of numbers. Henry. I meant a good class. Doesn't it say—Where two or three are gathered together...? But I must be getting on. The horse will be restless. I've to go up to Hillport before tea. Mrs. Clayton Vernon is ill.'
Scarcely having stopped in her active course, Mrs. Sutton drew the men along with her down the yard, she and Mynors in rapid talk: Willie Price fell a little to the rear, his big hands half-way into his pockets and his eyes diffidently roving. It appeared as though he could not find courage to take a share in the conversation, yet was anxious to convince himself of his right to do so.
Mynors helped Mrs. Sutton into her carriage, which had been drawn30 up outside the gate of the school yard. Only two families of the Bursley Wesleyan Methodists kept a carriage, the Suttons and the Clayton Vernons. The latter, boasting lineage and a large house in the aristocratic suburb of Hillport, gave to the society monetary31 aid and a gracious condescension32. But though indubitably above the operation of any unwritten sumptuary law, even the Clayton Vernons ventured only in wet weather to bring their carriage to chapel. Yet Mrs. Sutton, who was a plain woman, might with impunity33 use her equipage on Sundays. This license34 granted by Connexional opinion was due to the fact that she so obviously regarded her carriage, not as a carriage, but as a contrivance on four wheels for enabling an infirm creature to move rapidly from place to place. When she got into it she had exactly the air of a doctor on his rounds. Mrs. Sutton's bodily frame had long ago proved inadequate35 to the ceaseless demands of a spirit indefatigably36 altruistic37, and her continuance in activity was a notable illustration of the dominion38 of mind over matter. Her husband, a potter's valuer and commission agent, made money with facility in that lucrative39 vocation40, and his wife's charities were famous, notwithstanding her attempts to hide them. Neither husband nor wife had allowed riches to put a factitious gloss41 upon their primal42 simplicity43. They were as they were, save that Mr. Sutton had joined the Five Towns Field Club and acquired some of the habits of an archaeologist. The influence of wealth on manners was to be observed only in their daughter Beatrice, who, while favouring her mother, dressed at considerable expense, and at intervals44 gave much time to the arts of music and painting. Agnes watched the carriage drive away, and then turned to look up the stairs within the school doorway. She sighed, scowled45, and sighed again, murmured something to herself, and finally began to read her book.
'Not come out yet?' Mynors was at her side once more, alone this time.
'No, not yet,' said Agnes, wearied. 'Yes. Here she is. Anna, what ages you've been!'
Anna Tellwright stood motionless for a second in the shadow of the doorway. She was tall, but not unusually so, and sturdily built up. Her figure, though the bust46 was a little flat, had the lenient47 curves of absolute maturity48. Anna had been a woman since seventeen, and she was now on the eve of her twenty-first birthday. She wore a plain, home-made light frock checked with brown and edged with brown velvet49, thin cotton gloves of cream colour, and a broad straw hat like her sister's. Her grave face, owing to the prominence50 of the cheekbones and the width of the jaw51, had a slight angularity; the lips were thin, the brown eyes rather large, the eyebrows52 level, the nose fine and delicate; the ears could scarcely be seen for the dark brown hair which was brushed diagonally across the temples, leaving of the forehead only a pale triangle. It seemed a face for the cloister53, austere54 in contour, fervent55 in expression, the severity of it mollified by that resigned and spiritual melancholy56 peculiar57 to women who through the error of destiny have been born into a wrong environment.
As if charmed forward by Mynors' compelling eyes, Anna stepped into the sunlight, at the same time putting up her parasol. 'How calm and stately she is,' he thought, as she gave him her cool hand and murmured a reply to his salutation. But even his aquiline58 gaze could not surprise the secrets of that concealing59 breast: this was one of the three great tumultuous moments of her life—she realised for the first time that she was loved.
'You are late this afternoon, Miss Tellwright,' Mynors began, with the easy inflections of a man well accustomed to prominence in the society of women. Little Agnes seized Anna's left arm, silently holding up the prize, and Anna nodded appreciation60.
'Yes,' she said as they walked across the yard, 'one of my girls has been doing wrong. She stole a Bible from another girl, so of course I had to mention it to the superintendent. Mr. Price gave her a long lecture, and now she is waiting upstairs till he is ready to go with her to her home and talk to her parents. He says she must be dismissed.'
'Dismissed!'
Anna's look flashed a grateful response to him. By the least possible emphasis he had expressed a complete disagreement with his senior colleague which etiquette61 forbade him to utter in words.
'I think it's a very great pity,' Anna said firmly. 'I rather like the girl,' she ventured in haste; 'you might speak to Mr. Price about it.'
'If he mentions it to me.'
'Yes, I meant that. Mr. Price said—if it had been anything else but a Bible——'
'Um!' he murmured very low, but she caught the significance of his intonation62. They did not glance at each other: it was unnecessary. Anna felt that comfortable easement of the spirit which springs from the recognition of another spirit capable of understanding without explanations and of sympathising without a phrase. Under that calm mask a strange and sweet satisfaction thrilled through her as her precious instinct of common sense—rarest of good qualities, and pining always for fellowship—found a companion in his own. She had dreaded63 the overtures64 which for a fortnight past she had foreseen were inevitably65 to come from Mynors: he was a stranger, whom she merely respected. Now in a sudden disclosure she knew him and liked him. The dire67 apprehension68 of those formal 'advances' which she had watched other men make to other women faded away. It was at once a release and a reassurance69.
They were passing through the gate, Agnes skipping round her sister's skirts, when Willie Price reappeared front the direction of the chapel.
'Ye-es,' he stammered71, clumsily raising his hat to Anna. She thought of him exactly as Agnes had done. He hesitated for a fraction of time, and then went up the yard towards the lecture-hall.
'Agnes has been showing me her prize,' said Mynors, as the three stood together outside the gate. 'I ask her if she thinks she really deserves it, and she says she does. What do you think, Miss Big Sister?'
Anna gave the little girl an affectionate smile of comprehension. 'What is it called, dear?'
'"Janey's Sacrifice or the Spool72 of Cotton, and other stories for children,"' Agnes read out in a monotone: then she clutched Anna's elbow and aimed a whisper at her ear.
'Very well, dear,' Anna answered aloud, 'but we must be back by a quarter-past four.' And turning to Mynors: 'Agnes wants to go up to the Park to hear the band play.'
'I'm going up there, too,' he said. 'Come along, Agnes, take my arm and show me the way.' Shyly Agnes left her sister's side and put a pink finger into Mynors' hand.
Moor73 Road, which climbs over the ridge74 to the mining village of Moorthorne and passes the new Park on its way, was crowded with people going up to criticise75 and enjoy this latest outcome of municipal enterprise in Bursley: sedate76 elders of the borough77 who smiled grimly to see one another on Sunday afternoon in that undignified, idly curious throng; white-skinned potters, and miners with the swarthy pallor of subterranean78 toil79; untidy Sabbath loafers whom neither church nor chapel could entice80, and the primly-clad respectable who had not only clothes but a separate deportment for the seventh day; house-wives whose pale faces, as of prisoners free only for a while, showed a naïve and timorous81 pleasure in the unusual diversion; young women made glorious by richly-coloured stuffs and carrying themselves with the defiant83 independence of good wages earned in warehouse84 or painting-shop; youths oppressed by stiff new clothes bought at Whitsuntide, in which the bright necktie and the nosegay revealed a thousand secret aspirations85; young children running and yelling with the marvellous energy of their years; here and there a small well-dressed group whose studious repudiation86 of the crowd betrayed a conscious eminence87 of rank; louts, drunkards, idiots, beggars, waifs, outcasts, and every oddity of the town: all were more or less under the influence of a new excitement, and all with the same face of pleased expectancy88 looked towards the spot where, half-way up the hill, a denser89 mass of sightseers indicated the grand entrance to the Park.
'What stacks of folks!' Agnes exclaimed. 'It's like going to a football match.'
Anna was relieved when these two began to chatter91. She had at once, by a firm natural impulse, subdued92 the agitation93 which seized her when she found Mynors waiting with such an obvious intention at the school door; she had conversed94 with him in tones of quiet ease; his attitude had even enabled her in a few moments to establish a pleasant familiarity with him. Nevertheless, as they joined the stream of people in Moor Road, she longed to be at home, in her kitchen, in order to examine herself and the new situation thus created by Mynors. And yet also she was glad that she must remain at his side, but it was a fluttered joy that his presence gave her, too strange for immediate95 appreciation. As her eye, without directly looking at him, embraced the suave96 and admirable male creature within its field of vision, she became aware that he was quite inscrutable to her. What were his inmost thoughts, his ideals, the histories of his heart? Surely it was impossible that she should ever know these secrets! He—and she: they were utterly97 foreign to each other. So the primary dissonances of sex vibrated within her, and her own feelings puzzled her. Still, there was an instant pleasure, delightful98, if disturbing and inexplicable99. And also there was a sensation of triumph, which, though she tried to scorn it, she could not banish100. That a man and a woman should saunter together on that road was nothing; but the circumstance acquired tremendous importance when the man happened to be Henry Mynors and the woman Anna Tellwright. Mynors—handsome, dark, accomplished, exemplary and prosperous—had walked for ten years circumspect102 and unscathed amid the glances of a whole legion of maids. As for Anna, the peculiarity103 of her position had always marked her for special attention: ever since her father settled in Bursley, she had felt herself to be the object of an interest in which awe104 and pity were equally mingled2. She guessed that the fact of her going to the Park with Mynors that afternoon would pass swiftly from mouth to mouth like the rumour105 of a decisive event. She had no friends; her innate106 reserve had been misinterpreted, and she was not popular among the Wesleyan community. Many people would say, and more would think, that it was her money which was drawing Mynors from the narrow path of his celibate107 discretion108. She could imagine all the innuendoes109, the expressive110 nods, the pursing of lips, the lifting of shoulders and of eyebrows. 'Money 'll do owt': that was the proverb. But she cared not. She had the just and unshakable self-esteem which is fundamental in all strong and righteous natures; and she knew beyond the possibility of doubt that, though Mynors might have no incurable111 aversion to a fortune, she herself, the spirit and body of her, had been the sole awakener of his desire.
By a common instinct, Mynors and Anna made little Agnes the centre of attraction. Mynors continued to tease her, and Agnes growing courageous112, began to retort. She was now walking between them, and the other two smiled to each other at the child's sayings over her head, interchanging thus messages too subtle and delicate for the coarse medium of words.
As they approached the Park the bandstand came into sight over the railway cutting, and they could hear the music of 'The Emperor's Hymn113.' The crude, brazen114 sounds were tempered in their passage through the warm, still air, and fell gently on the ear in soft waves, quickening every heart to unaccustomed emotions. Children leaped forward, and old people unconsciously assumed a lightsome vigour115.
The Park rose in terraces from the railway station to a street of small villas116 almost on the ridge of the hill. From its gilded117 gates to its smallest geranium-slips it was brand-new, and most of it was red. The keeper's house, the bandstand, the kiosks, the balustrades, the shelters—all these assailed118 the eye with a uniform redness of brick and tile which nullified the pallid119 greens of the turf and the frail120 trees. The immense crowd, in order to circulate, moved along in tight processions, inspecting one after another the various features of which they had read full descriptions in the 'Staffordshire Signal'—waterfall, grotto121, lake, swans, boat, seats, faïence, statues—and scanning with interest the names of the donors122 so clearly inscribed123 on such objects of art and craft as from divers82 motives124 had been presented to the town by its citizens. Mynors, as he manoeuvred a way for the two girls through the main avenue up to the topmost terrace, gravely judged each thing upon its merits, approving this, condemning125 that. In deciding that under all the circumstances the Park made a very creditable appearance he only reflected the best local opinion. The town was proud of its achievement, and it had the right to be; for, though this narrow pleasaunce was in itself unlovely, it symbolised the first faint renascence of the longing126 for beauty in a district long given up to unredeemed ugliness.
At length, Mynors having encountered many acquaintances, they got past the bandstand and stood on the highest terrace, which was almost deserted127. Beneath them, in front, stretched a maze128 of roofs, dominated by the gold angel of the Town Hall spire129. Bursley, the ancient home of the potter, has an antiquity130 of a thousand years. It lies towards the north end of an extensive valley, which must have been one of the fairest spots in Alfred's England, but which is now defaced by the activities of a quarter of a million of people. Five contiguous towns—Turnhill, Bursley, Hanbridge, Knype, and Longshaw—united by a single winding131 thoroughfare some eight miles in length, have inundated132 the valley like a succession of great lakes. Of these five Bursley is the mother, but Hanbridge is the largest. They are mean and forbidding of aspect—sombre, hard-featured, uncouth; and the vaporous poison of their ovens and chimneys has soiled and shrivelled the surrounding country till there is no village lane within a league but what offers a gaunt and ludicrous travesty133 of rural charms. Nothing could be more prosaic134 than the huddled135, red-brown streets; nothing more seemingly remote from romance. Yet be it said that romance is even here—the romance which, for those who have an eye to perceive it, ever dwells amid the seats of industrial manufacture, softening136 the coarseness, transfiguring the squalor, of these mighty137 alchemic operations. Look down into the valley from this terrace-height where love is kindling138, embrace the whole smoke-girt amphitheatre in a glance, and it may be that you will suddenly comprehend the secret and superb significance of the vast Doing which goes forward below. Because they seldom think, the townsmen take shame when indicted139 for having disfigured half a county in order to live. They have not understood that this disfigurement is merely an episode in the unending warfare140 of man and nature, and calls for no contrition141. Here, indeed, is nature repaid for some of her notorious cruelties. She imperiously bids man sustain and reproduce himself, and this is one of the places where in the very act of obedience142 he wounds and maltreats her. Out beyond the municipal confines, where the subsidiary industries of coal and iron prosper101 amid a wreck143 of verdure, the struggle is grim, appalling144, heroic—so ruthless is his havoc145 of her, so indomitable her ceaseless recuperation. On the one side is a wresting146 from nature's own bowels147 of the means to waste her; on the other, an undismayed, enduring fortitude148. The grass grows; though it is not green, it grows. In the very heart of the valley, hedged about with furnaces, a farm still stands, and at harvest-time the sooty sheaves are gathered in.
The band stopped playing. A whole population was idle in the Park, and it seemed, in the fierce calm of the sunlight, that of all the strenuous149 weekday vitality150 of the district only a murmurous151 hush152 remained. But everywhere on the horizon, and nearer, furnaces cast their heavy smoke across the borders of the sky: the Doing was never suspended.
'Mr. Mynors,' said Agnes, still holding his hand, when they had been silent a moment, 'when do those furnaces go out?'
'They don't go out,' he answered, 'unless there is a strike. It costs hundreds and hundreds of pounds to light them again.'
'Does it?' she said vaguely153. 'Father says it's the smoke that stops my gilliflowers from growing.'
Mynors turned to Anna. 'Your father seems the picture of health. I saw him out this morning at a quarter to seven, as brisk as a boy. What a constitution!'
'Yes,' Anna replied, 'he is always up at six.'
'But you aren't, I suppose?'
'Yes, I too.'
'And me too,' Agnes interjected.
'And how does Bursley compare with Hanbridge?' Mynors continued. Anna paused before replying.
'I like it better,' she said. 'At first—last year—I thought I shouldn't.'
'By the way, your father used to preach in Hanbridge circuit——-'
'That was years ago,' she said quickly.
'But why won't he preach here? I dare say you know that we are rather short of local preachers—good ones, that is.'
'I can't say why father doesn't preach now:' Anna flushed as she spoke154. 'You had better ask him that.'
'Well, I will do,' he laughed. 'I am coming to see him soon—perhaps one night next week.'
Anna looked at Henry Mynors as he uttered the astonishing words. The Tellwrights had been in Bursley a year, but no visitor had crossed their doorsteps except the minister, once, and such poor defaulters as came, full of excuse and obsequious155 conciliation156, to pay rent overdue157.
'Business, I suppose?' she said, and prayed that he might not be intending to make a mere66 call of ceremony.
'Yes, business,' he answered lightly. 'But you will be in?'
'I am always in,' she said. She wondered what the business could be, and felt relieved to know that his visit would have at least some assigned pretext158; but already her heart beat with apprehensive159 perturbation at the thought of his presence in their household.
'See!' said Agnes, whose eyes were everywhere, 'There's Miss Sutton.'
Both Mynors and Anna looked sharply round. Beatrice Sutton was coming towards them along the terrace. Stylishly160 clad in a dress of pink muslin, with harmonious161 hat, gloves, and sunshade, she made an agreeable and rather effective picture, despite her plain, round face and stoutish163 figure. She had the air of being a leader. Grafted164 on to the original simple honesty of her eyes there was the unconsciously-acquired arrogance165 of one who had always been accustomed to deference166. Socially, Beatrice had no peer among the young women who were active in the Wesleyan Sunday-school. Beatrice had been used to teach in the afternoon school, but she had recently advanced her labours from the afternoon to the morning in response to a hint that if she did so the force of her influence and example might lessen167 the chronic168 dearth169 of morning teachers.
'Good afternoon, Miss Tellwright,' Beatrice said as she came up. 'So you have come to look at the Park.'
'Yes,' said Anna, and then stopped awkwardly. In the tone of each there was an obscure constraint170, and something in Mynors' smile of salute171 to Beatrice showed that he too shared it.
'Seen you before,' Beatrice said to him familiarly, without taking his hand; then she bent172 down and kissed Agnes.
'What are you doing here, mademoiselle?' Mynors asked her.
'Father's just down below, near the lake. He caught sight of you, and sent me up to say that you were to be sure to come in to supper to-night. You will, won't you?'
'Yes, thanks. I had meant to.'
Anna knew that they were related, and also that Mynors was constantly at the Suttons' house, but the close intimacy173 between these two came nevertheless like a shock to her. She could not conquer a certain resentment174 of it, however absurd such a feeling might seem to her intelligence. And this attitude extended not only to the intimacy, but to Beatrice's handsome clothes and facile urbanity, which by contrast emphasised her own poor little frock and tongue-tied manner. The mere existence of Beatrice so near to Mynors was like an affront175 to her. Yet at heart, and even while admiring this shining daughter of success, she was conscious within herself of a fundamental superiority. The soul of her condescended176 to the soul of the other one.
They began to discuss the Park.
'Papa says it will send up the value of that land over there enormously,' said Beatrice, pointing with her ribboned sunshade to some building plots which lay to the north, high up the hill. 'Mr. Tellwright owns most of that, doesn't he?' she added to Anna.
'I dare say he does,' said Anna. It was torture to her to refer to her father's possessions.
'Of course it will be covered with streets in a few months. Will he build himself, or will he sell it?'
'I haven't the least idea,' Anna answered, with an effort after gaiety of tone, and then turned aside to look at the crowd. There, close against the bandstand, stood her father, a short, stout162, ruddy, middle-aged177 man in a shabby brown suit. He recognised her, stared fixedly178, and nodded with his grotesque179 and ambiguous grin. Then he sidled off towards the entrance of the Park. None of the others had seen him. 'Agnes dear,' she said abruptly180, 'we must go now, or we shall be late for tea.'
As the two women said good-bye their eyes met, and in the brief second of that encounter each tried to wring181 from the other the true answer to a question which lay unuttered in her heart. Then, having bidden adieu to Mynors, whose parting glance sang its own song to her, Anna took Agnes by the hand and left him and Beatrice together.
该作者的其它作品
《How to Live on 24 Hours a Day》
《Hilda Lessways》
《老妇人的故事 The Old Wives' Tale》
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mingled
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tints
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condescending
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throng
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doorway
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chapel
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accomplished
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vivacious
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instinctive
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solitary
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| adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的 | |
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32
condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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33
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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34
license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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35
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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36
indefatigably
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| adv.不厌倦地，不屈不挠地 | |
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37
altruistic
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| adj.无私的，为他人着想的 | |
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38
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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39
lucrative
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| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
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40
vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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41
gloss
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| n.光泽，光滑；虚饰；注释；vt.加光泽于；掩饰 | |
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42
primal
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| adj.原始的；最重要的 | |
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43
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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44
intervals
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|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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45
scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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47
lenient
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| adj.宽大的，仁慈的 | |
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48
maturity
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|
| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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49
velvet
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|
| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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50
prominence
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|
| n.突出；显著；杰出；重要 | |
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51
jaw
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|
| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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52
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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53
cloister
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|
| n.修道院；v.隐退，使与世隔绝 | |
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54
austere
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|
| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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55
fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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56
melancholy
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|
| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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57
peculiar
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|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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58
aquiline
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|
| adj.钩状的，鹰的 | |
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59
concealing
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|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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60
appreciation
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|
| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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61
etiquette
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|
| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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62
intonation
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|
| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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63
dreaded
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|
| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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64
overtures
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| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
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65
inevitably
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|
| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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66
mere
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|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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67
dire
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|
| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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68
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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69
reassurance
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|
| n.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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70
blandly
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|
| adv.温和地，殷勤地 | |
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71
stammered
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|
| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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72
spool
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|
| n.（缠录音带等的）卷盘（轴）；v.把…绕在卷轴上 | |
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73
moor
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|
| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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74
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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75
criticise
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|
| v.批评，评论；非难 | |
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76
sedate
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|
| adj.沉着的，镇静的，安静的 | |
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77
borough
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| n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇 | |
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78
subterranean
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|
| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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79
toil
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|
| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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80
entice
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| v.诱骗，引诱，怂恿 | |
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81
timorous
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|
| adj.胆怯的，胆小的 | |
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82
divers
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|
| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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83
defiant
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|
| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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84
warehouse
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|
| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
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85
aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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86
repudiation
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|
| n.拒绝；否认；断绝关系；抛弃 | |
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87
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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88
expectancy
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| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
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89
denser
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| adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的 | |
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90
giggle
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|
| n.痴笑，咯咯地笑；v.咯咯地笑着说 | |
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91
chatter
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|
| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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92
subdued
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|
| 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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93
agitation
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|
| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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94
conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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95
immediate
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|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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96
suave
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|
| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
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97
utterly
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|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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98
delightful
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|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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99
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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100
banish
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| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
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101
prosper
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|
| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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102
circumspect
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|
| adj.慎重的，谨慎的 | |
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103
peculiarity
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|
| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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104
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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105
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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106
innate
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|
| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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107
celibate
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|
| adj.独身的，独身主义的；n.独身者 | |
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108
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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109
innuendoes
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|
| n.影射的话( innuendo的名词复数 )；讽刺的话；含沙射影；暗讽 | |
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110
expressive
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|
| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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111
incurable
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|
| adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人 | |
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112
courageous
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|
| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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113
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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114
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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115
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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116
villas
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| 别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅 | |
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117
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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118
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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119
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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120
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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121
grotto
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| n.洞穴 | |
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122
donors
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| n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者 | |
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123
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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124
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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125
condemning
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|
| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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126
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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127
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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128
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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129
spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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130
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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131
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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132
inundated
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| v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付 | |
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133
travesty
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| n.歪曲，嘲弄，滑稽化 | |
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134
prosaic
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| adj.单调的，无趣的 | |
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135
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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136
softening
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| 变软，软化 | |
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137
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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138
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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139
indicted
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| 控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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140
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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141
contrition
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| n.悔罪，痛悔 | |
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142
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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143
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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144
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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145
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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146
wresting
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| 动词wrest的现在进行式 | |
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147
bowels
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|
| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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148
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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149
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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150
vitality
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|
| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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151
murmurous
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| adj.低声的 | |
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152
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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153
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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154
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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155
obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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156
conciliation
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| n.调解，调停 | |
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157
overdue
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| adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的 | |
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158
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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159
apprehensive
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|
| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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160
stylishly
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| adv.时髦地，新式地 | |
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161
harmonious
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| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
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163
stoutish
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| 略胖的 | |
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164
grafted
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| 移植( graft的过去式和过去分词 )； 嫁接； 使（思想、制度等）成为（…的一部份）； 植根 | |
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165
arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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166
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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167
lessen
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| vt.减少，减轻；缩小 | |
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168
chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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169
dearth
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| n.缺乏，粮食不足，饥谨 | |
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170
constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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171
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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172
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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173
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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174
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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175
affront
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| n./v.侮辱，触怒 | |
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176
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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177
middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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178
fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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179
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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180
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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181
wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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