Esther Ansell did not welcome Levi Jacobs warmly. She had just cleared away the breakfast things and was looking forward to a glorious day's reading, and the advent1 of a visitor did not gratify her. And yet Levi Jacobs was a good-looking boy with brown hair and eyes, a dark glowing complexion2 and ruddy lips--a sort of reduced masculine edition of Hannah.
"I've come to play I-spy-I, Solomon," he said when he entered "My, don't you live high up!"
"I thought you had to go to school," Solomon observed with a stare.
"Ours isn't a board school," Levi explained. "You might introduce a fellow to your sister."
"Garn! You know Esther right enough," said Solomon and began to whistle carelessly.
"How are you, Esther?" said Levi awkwardly.
"I'm very well, thank you," said Esther, looking up from a little brown-covered book and looking down at it again.
She was crouching3 on the fender trying to get some warmth at the little fire extracted from Reb Shemuel's half-crown. December continued gray; the room was dim and a spurt4 of flame played on her pale earnest face. It was a face that never lost a certain ardency5 of color even at its palest: the hair was dark and abundant, the eyes were large and thoughtful, the nose slightly aquiline6 and the whole cast of the features betrayed the Polish origin. The forehead was rather low. Esther had nice teeth which accident had preserved white. It was an arrestive rather than a beautiful face, though charming enough when she smiled. If the grace and candor8 of childhood could have been disengaged from the face, it would have been easier to say whether it was absolutely pretty. It came nearer being so on Sabbaths and holidays when scholastic9 supervision10 was removed and the hair was free to fall loosely about the shoulders instead of being screwed up into the pendulous11 plait so dear to the educational eye. Esther could have earned a penny quite easily by sacrificing her tresses and going about with close-cropped head like a boy, for her teacher never failed thus to reward the shorn, but in the darkest hours of hunger she held on to her hair as her mother had done before her. The prospects12 of Esther's post-nuptial wig14 were not brilliant. She was not tall for a girl who is getting on for twelve; but some little girls shoot up suddenly and there was considerable room for hope.
Sarah and Isaac were romping15 noisily about and under the beds; Rachel was at the table, knitting a scarf for Solomon; the grandmother pored over a bulky enchiridion for pious16 women, written in jargon17. Moses was out in search of work. No one took any notice of the visitor.
"What's that you're reading?" he asked Esther politely.
"Oh nothing," said Esther with a start, closing the book as if fearful he might want to look over her shoulder.
"I don't see the fun of reading books out of school," said Levi.
"Oh, but we don't read school books," said Solomon defensively.
"I don't care. It's stupid."
"At that rate you could never read books when you're grown up," said Esther contemptuously.
"No, of course not," admitted Levi. "Otherwise where would be the fun of being grown up? After I leave school I don't intend to open a book."
"No? Perhaps you'll open a shop," said Solomon.
"What will you do when it rains?" asked Esther crushingly.
"I shall smoke," replied Levi loftily.
"Yes, but suppose it's _Shabbos_," swiftly rejoined Esther.
Levi was nonplussed18. "Well, it can't rain all day and there are only fifty-two _Shabbosim_ in the year," he said lamely19. "A man can always do something."
"I think there's more pleasure in reading than in doing something," remarked Esther.
"Yes, you're a girl," Levi reminded her, "and girls are expected to stay indoors. Look at my sister Hannah. She reads, too. But a man can be out doing what he pleases, eh, Solomon?"
"Yes, of course we've got the best of it," said Solomon. "The Prayer-book shows that. Don't I say every morning 'Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, who hast not made me a woman'?"
"I don't know whether you do say it. You certainly have got to," said Esther witheringly.
"It doesn't matter," said Esther calmly. "She can't understand what I'm saying."
"And then, _you_ catch more than you bargain for," said Rachel, looking up roguishly from her knitting.
"Be quiet, Ikey!" cried Esther. "If you don't behave better I shan't sleep in your new bed."
"Oh yeth, you mutht, Ethty," lisped Ikey, his elfish face growing grave. He went about depressed25 for some seconds.
"Kids are a beastly nuisance," said Levi, "don't you think so, Esther?"
"Oh no, not always," said the little girl. "Besides we were all kids once."
"That's what I complain of," said Levi. "We ought to be all born grown-up."
"But that's impossible!" put in Rachel.
"It isn't impossible at all," said Esther. "Look at Adam and Eve!"
Levi looked at Esther gratefully instead. He felt nearer to her and thought of persuading her into playing Kiss-in-the-Ring. But he found it difficult to back out of his undertaking26 to play I-spy-I with Solomon; and in the end he had to leave Esther to her book.
She had little in common with her brother Solomon, least of all humor and animal spirits. Even before the responsibilities of headship had come upon her she was a preternaturally thoughtful little girl who had strange intuitions about things and was doomed27 to work out her own salvation28 as a metaphysician. When she asked her mother who made God, a slap in the face demonstrated to her the limits of human inquiry30. The natural instinct of the child over-rode the long travail31 of the race to conceive an abstract Deity32, and Esther pictured God as a mammoth33 cloud. In early years Esther imagined that the "body" that was buried when a person died was the corpse34 decapitated and she often puzzled herself to think what was done with the isolated35 head. When her mother was being tied up in grave-clothes, Esther hovered36 about with a real thirst for knowledge while the thoughts of all the other children were sensuously38 concentrated on the funeral and the glory of seeing a vehicle drive away from their own door. Esther was also disappointed at not seeing her mother's soul fly up to heaven though she watched vigilantly39 at the death-bed for the ascent40 of the long yellow hook-shaped thing. The genesis of this conception of the soul was probably to be sought in the pictorial41 representations of ghosts in the story-papers brought home by her eldest42 brother Benjamin. Strange shadowy conceptions of things more corporeal43 floated up from her solitary44 reading. Theatres she came across often, and a theatre was a kind of Babel plain or Vanity Fair in which performers and spectators were promiscuously45 mingled46 and wherein the richer folk clad in evening dress sat in thin deal boxes--the cases in Spitalfields market being Esther's main association with boxes. One of her day-dreams of the future was going to the theatre in a night-gown and being accommodated with an orange-box. Little rectification47 of such distorted views of life was to be expected from Moses Ansell, who went down to his grave without seeing even a circus, and had no interest in art apart from the "Police News" and his "Mizrach" and the synagogue decorations. Even when Esther's sceptical instinct drove her to inquire of her father how people knew that Moses got the Law on Mount Sinai, he could only repeat in horror that the Books of Moses said so, and could never be brought to see that his arguments travelled on roundabouts. She sometimes regretted that her brilliant brother Benjamin had been swallowed up by the orphan48 asylum49, for she imagined she could have discussed many a knotty50 point with him. Solomon was both flippant and incompetent51. But in spite of her theoretical latitudinarianism, in practice she was pious to the point of fanaticism52 and could scarce conceive the depths of degradation53 of which she heard vague horror-struck talk. There were Jews about--grown-up men and women, not insane--who struck lucifer matches on the Sabbath and housewives who carelessly mixed their butter-plates with their meat-plates even when they did not actually eat butter with meat. Esther promised herself that, please God, she would never do anything so wicked when she grew up. She at least would never fail to light the Sabbath candles nor to _kasher_ the meat. Never was child more alive to the beauty of duty, more open to the appeal of virtue54, self-control, abnegation. She fasted till two o'clock on the Great White Fast when she was seven years old and accomplished55 the perfect feat7 at nine. When she read a simple little story in a prize-book, inculcating the homely56 moralities at which the cynic sneers57, her eyes filled with tears and her breast with unselfish and dutiful determinations. She had something of the temperament58 of the stoic59, fortified60 by that spiritual pride which does not look for equal goodness in others; and though she disapproved61 of Solomon's dodgings of duty, she did not sneak62 or preach, even gave him surreptitious crusts of bread before he had said his prayers, especially on Saturdays and Festivals when the praying took place in _Shool_ and was liable to be prolonged till mid-day.
Esther often went to synagogue and sat in the ladies' compartment63. The drone of the "Sons of the Covenant64" downstairs was part of her consciousness of home, like the musty smell of the stairs, or Becky's young men through whom she had to plough her way when she went for the morning milk, or the odors of Mr. Belcovitch's rum or the whirr of his machines, or the bent65, snuffy personality of the Hebrew scholar in the adjoining garret, or the dread66 of Dutch Debby's dog that was ultimately transformed to friendly expectation. Esther led a double life, just as she spoke67 two tongues. The knowledge that she was a Jewish child, whose people had had a special history, was always at the back of her consciousness; sometimes it was brought to the front by the scoffing68 rhymes of Christian69 children, who informed her that they had stuck a piece of pork upon a fork and given it to a member of her race.
But far more vividly70 did she realize that she was an English girl; far keener than her pride in Judas Maccabaeus was her pride in Nelson and Wellington; she rejoiced to find that her ancestors had always beaten the French from the days of Cressy and Poictiers to the days of Waterloo, that Alfred the Great was the wisest of kings, and that Englishmen dominated the world and had planted colonies in every corner of it, that the English language was the noblest in the world and men speaking it had invented railway trains, steamships71, telegraphs, and everything worth inventing. Esther absorbed these ideas from the school reading books. The experience of a month will overlay the hereditary72 bequest73 of a century. And yet, beneath all, the prepared plate remains74 most sensitive to the old impressions.
Sarah and Isaac had developed as distinct individualities as was possible in the time at their disposal. Isaac was just five and Sarah--who had never known her mother--just four. The thoughts of both ran strongly in the direction of sensuous37 enjoyment75, and they preferred baked potatoes, especially potatoes touched with gravy76, to all the joys of the kindergarten. Isaac's ambition ran in the direction of eider-down beds such as he had once felt at Malka's and Moses soothed77 him by the horizon-like prospect13 of such a new bed. Places of honor had already been conceded by the generous little chap to his father and brother. Heaven alone knows how he had come to conceive their common bed as his own peculiar78 property in which the other three resided at night on sufferance. He could not even plead it was his by right of birth in it. But Isaac was not after all wholly given over to worldly thoughts, for an intellectual problem often occupied his thoughts and led him to slap little Sarah's arms. He had been born on the 4th of December while Sarah had been born a year later on the 3d.
"It ain't, it can't be," he would say. "Your birfday can't be afore mine."
"'Tis, Esty thays so," Sarah would reply.
"Esty's a liar," Isaac responded imperturbably79.
"Ask _Tatah_."
"_Tatah_ dunno. Ain't I five?"
"Yeth."
"And ain't you four?"
"Yeth."
"And ain't I older than you?"
"Courth."
"And wasn't I born afore you?"
"Yeth, Ikey."
"Then 'ow can your birfday come afore mine?"
"'Cos it doth."
"Stoopid!"
"It doth, arx Esty," Sarah would insist.
"Than't teep in my new bed," Ikey would threaten.
"Thall if I like."
"Than't!"
Here Sarah would generally break down in tears and Isaac with premature80 economic instinct, feeling it wicked to waste a cry, would proceed to justify81 it by hitting her. Thereupon little Sarah would hit him back and develop a terrible howl.
"Hi, woe82 is unto me," she would wail83 in jargon, throwing herself on the ground in a corner and rocking herself to and fro like her far-away ancestresses remembering Zion by the waters of Babylon.
Little Sarah's lamentations never ceased till she had been avenged84 by a higher hand. There were several great powers but Esther was the most trusty instrument of reprisal85. If Esther was out little Sarah's sobs86 ceased speedily, for she, too, felt the folly87 of fruitless tears. Though she nursed in her breast the sense of injury, she would even resume her amicable88 romps89 with Isaac. But the moment the step of the avenger90 was heard on the stairs, little Sarah would betake herself to the corner and howl with the pain of Isaac's pummellings. She had a strong love of abstract justice and felt that if the wrongdoer were to go unpunished, there was no security for the constitution of things.
To-day's holiday did not pass without an outbreak of this sort. It occurred about tea-time. Perhaps the infants were fractious because there was no tea. Esther had to economize91 her resources and a repast at seven would serve for both tea and supper. Among the poor, combination meals are as common as combination beds and chests. Esther had quieted Sarah by slapping Isaac, but as this made Isaac howl the gain was dubious21. She had to put a fresh piece of coal on the fire and sing to them while their shadows contorted themselves grotesquely93 on the beds and then upwards94 along the sloping walls, terminating with twisted necks on the ceiling.
Esther usually sang melancholy95 things in minor96 keys. They seemed most attuned97 to the dim straggling room. There was a song her mother used to sing. It was taken from a _Purim-Spiel_, itself based upon a Midrash, one of the endless legends with which the People of One Book have broidered it, amplifying98 every minute detail with all the exuberance99 of oriental imagination and justifying100 their fancies with all the ingenuity101 of a race of lawyers. After his brethren sold Joseph to the Midianite merchants, the lad escaped from the caravan102 and wandered foot-sore and hungry to Bethlehem, to the grave of his mother, Rachel. And he threw himself upon the ground and wept aloud and sang to a heart-breaking melody in Yiddish.
Und hei weh ist mir,
Wie schlecht ist doch mir,
Junger held voon dir.
Whereof the English runs:
How wretched to be
Yet so young, from thee.
Thereupon the voice of his beloved mother Rachel was heard from the grave, comforting him and bidding him be of good cheer, for that his future should be great and glorious.
Esther could not sing this without the tears trickling105 down her cheeks. Was it that she thought of her own dead mother and applied106 the lines to herself? Isaac's ill-humor scarcely ever survived the anodyne107 of these mournful cadences108. There was another melodious109 wail which Alte Belcovitch had brought from Poland. The chorus ran:
Man nemt awek die chasanim voon die callohs
Hi, hi, did-a-rid-a-ree!
Hi, hi, did-a-rid-a-ree!
The air mingled the melancholy of Polish music with the sadness of Jewish and the words hinted of God knew what.
"Old unhappy far-off things
And battles long ago."
And so over all the songs and stories was the trail of tragedy, under all the heart-ache of a hunted race. There are few more plaintive111 chants in the world than the recitation of the Psalms112 by the "Sons of the Covenant" on Sabbath afternoons amid the gathering113 shadows of twilight114. Esther often stood in the passage to hear it, morbidly115 fascinated, tears of pensive116 pleasure in her eyes. Even the little jargon story-book which Moses Ansell read out that night to his _Kinder_, after tea-supper, by the light of the one candle, was prefaced with a note of pathos117. "These stories have we gathered together from the Gemorah and the Midrash, wonderful stories, and we have translated the beautiful stories, using the Hebrew alphabet so that every one, little or big, shall be able to read them, and shall know that there is a God in the world who forsaketh not His people Israel and who even for us will likewise work miracles and wonders and will send us the righteous Redeemer speedily in our days, Amen." Of this same Messiah the children heard endless tales. Oriental fancy had been exhausted118 in picturing him for the consolation119 of exiled and suffering Israel. Before his days there would be a wicked Messiah of the House of Joseph; later, a king with one ear deaf to hear good but acute to hear evil; there would be a scar on his forehead, one of his hands would be an inch long and the other three miles, apparently120 a subtle symbol of the persecutor121. The jargon story-book among its "stories, wonderful stories," had also extracts from the famous romance, or diary, of Eldad the Danite, who professed122 to have discovered the lost Ten Tribes. Eldad's book appeared towards the end of the ninth century and became the Arabian Nights of the Jews, and it had filtered down through the ages into the Ansell garret, in common with many other tales from the rich storehouse of mediaeval folk-lore in the diffusion123 of which the wandering few has played so great a part.
Sometimes Moses read to his charmed hearers the description of Heaven and Hell by Immanuel, the friend and contemporary of Dante, sometimes a jargon version of Robinson Crusoe. To-night he chose Eldad's account of the tribe of Moses dwelling124 beyond the wonderful river, Sambatyon, which never flows on the Sabbath.
"There is also the tribe of Moses, our just master, which is called the tribe that flees, because it fled from idol125 worship and clung to the fear of God. A river flows round their land for a distance of four days' journey on every side. They dwell in beautiful houses provided with handsome towers, which they have built themselves. There is nothing unclean among them, neither in the case of birds, venison nor domesticated126 animals; there are no wild animals, no flies, no foxes, no vermin, no serpents, no dogs, and in general, nothing which does harm; they have only sheep and cattle, which bear twice a year. They sow and reap; there are all sorts of gardens, with all kinds of fruits and cereals, viz.: beans, melons, gourds127, onions, garlic, wheat and barley128, and the seed grows a hundred fold. They have faith; they know the Law, the Mishnah, the Talmud and the Agadah; but their Talmud is in Hebrew. They introduce their sayings in the name of the fathers, the wise men, who heard them from the mouth of Joshua, who himself heard them from the mouth of God. They have no knowledge of the Tanaim (doctors of the Mishnah) and Amoraim (doctors of the Talmud), who flourished during the time of the second Temple, which was, of course, not known to these tribes. They speak only Hebrew, and are very strict as regards the use of wine made by others than themselves, as well as the rules of slaughtering130 animals; in this respect the Law of Moses is much more rigorous than that of the Tribes. They do not swear by the name of God, for fear that their breath may leave them, and they become angry with those who swear; they reprimand them, saying, 'Woe, ye poor, why do you swear with the mention of the name of God upon your lips? Use your mouth for eating bread and drinking water. Do you not know that for the sin of swearing your children die young?' And in this way they exhort131 every one to serve God with fear and integrity of heart. Therefore, the children of Moses, the servant of God, live long, to the age of 100 or 120 years. No child, be it son or daughter, dies during the lifetime of its parent, but they reach a third and a fourth generation, and see grandchildren and great-grandchildren with their offspring. They do all field work themselves, having no male or female servants; there are also merchants among them. They do not close their houses at night, for there is no thief nor any wicked man among them. Thus a little lad might go for days with his flock without fear of robbers, demons29 or danger of any other kind; they are, indeed, all holy and clean. These Levites busy themselves with the Law and with the commandments, and they still live in the holiness of our master, Moses; therefore, God has given them all this good. Moreover, they see nobody and nobody sees them, except the four tribes who dwell on the other side of the rivers of Cush; they see them, and speak to them, but the river Sambatyon is between them, as it is said: 'That thou mayest say to prisoners, Go forth132' (Isaiah xlix., 9). They have plenty of gold and silver; they sow flax and cultivate the crimson133 worm, and make beautiful garments. Their number is double or four times the number that went out from Egypt.
"The river Sambatyon is 200 yards broad--'about as far as a bowshot' (Gen. xxi., 16), full of sand and stones, but without water; the stones make a great noise like the waves of the sea and a stormy wind, so that in the night the noise is heard at a distance of half a day's journey. There are sources of water which collect themselves in one pool, out of which they water the fields. There are fish in it, and all kinds of clean birds fly round it. And this river of stone and sand rolls during the six working days and rests on the Sabbath day. As soon as the Sabbath begins fire surrounds the river and the flames remain till the next evening, when the Sabbath ends. Thus no human being can reach the river for a distance of half a mile on either side; the fire consumes all that grows there. The four tribes, Dan, Naphtali, Gad129 and Asher, stand on the borders of the river. When shearing134 their flocks here, for the land is flat and clean without any thorns, if the children of Moses see them gathered together on the border they shout, saying, 'Brethren, tribes of Jeshurun, show us your camels, dogs and asses,' and they make their remarks about the length of the camel's neck and the shortness of the tail. Then they greet one another and go their way."
When this was done, Solomon called for Hell. He liked to hear about the punishment of the sinners; it gave a zest135 to life. Moses hardly needed a book to tell them about Hell. It had no secrets for him. The Old Testament136 has no reference to a future existence, but the poor Jew has no more been able to live without the hope of Hell than the poor Christian. When the wicked man has waxed fat and kicked the righteous skinny man, shall the two lie down in the same dust and the game be over? Perish the thought! One of the Hells was that in which the sinner was condemned137 to do over and over again the sins he had done in life.
"Why, that must be jolly!" said Solomon.
"No, that is frightful," maintained Moses Ansell. He spoke Yiddish, the children English.
"Of course, it is," said Esther. "Just fancy, Solomon, having to eat toffy all day."
"It's better than eating nothing all day," replied Solomon.
"But to eat it every day for ever and ever!" said Moses. "There's no rest for the wicked."
"What! Not even on the Sabbath?" said Esther.
"Oh, yes: of course, then. Like the river Sambatyon, even the flames of Hell rest on _Shabbos_."
"Haven't they got no fire-_goyas_?"; inquired Ikey, and everybody laughed.
"_Shabbos_ is a holiday in Hell," Moses explained to the little one. "So thou seest the result of thy making out Sabbath too early on Saturday night, thou sendest the poor souls back to their tortures before the proper time."
Moses never lost an opportunity of enforcing the claims of the ceremonial law. Esther had a vivid picture flashed upon her of poor, yellow hook-shaped souls floating sullenly138 back towards the flames.
Solomon's chief respect for his father sprang from the halo of military service encircling Moses ever since it leaked out through the lips of the _Bube_, that he had been a conscript in Russia and been brutally139 treated by the sergeant140. But Moses could not be got to speak of his exploits. Solomon pressed him to do so, especially when his father gave symptoms of inviting141 him to the study of Rashi's Commentary. To-night Moses brought out a Hebrew tome, and said, "Come, Solomon. Enough of stories. We must learn a little."
"It is never a holiday for the study of the Law."
Moses weakly yielded. Draughts was his sole relaxation145 and when Solomon acquired a draught144 board by barter146 his father taught him the game. Moses played the Polish variety, in which the men are like English kings that leap backwards147 and forwards and the kings shoot diagonally across like bishops148 at chess. Solomon could not withstand these gigantic grasshoppers149, whose stopping places he could never anticipate. Moses won every game to-night and was full of glee and told the _Kinder_ another story. It was about the Emperor Nicholas and is not to be found in the official histories of Russia.
"Nicholas, was a wicked king, who oppressed the Jews and made their lives sore and bitter. And one day he made it known to the Jews that if a million roubles were not raised for him in a month's time they should be driven from their homes. Then the Jews prayed unto God and besought150 him to help them for the merits of the forefathers151, but no help came. Then they tried to bribe152 the officials, but the officials pocketed their gold and the Emperor still demanded his tax. Then they went to the great Masters of Cabalah, who, by pondering day and night on the name and its transmutations, had won the control of all things, and they said, 'Can ye do naught153 for us?' Then the Masters of Cabalah took counsel together and at midnight they called up the spirits of Abraham our father, and Isaac and Jacob, and Elijah the prophet, who wept to hear of their children's sorrows. And Abraham our father, and Isaac and Jacob, and Elijah the prophet took the bed whereon Nicholas the Emperor slept and transported it to a wild place. And they took Nicholas the Emperor out of his warm bed and whipped him soundly so that he yelled for mercy. Then they asked: 'Wilt154 thou rescind155 the edict against the Jews?' And he said 'I will.' But in the morning Nicholas the Emperor woke up and called for the chief of the bed-chamber and said, 'How darest thou allow my bed to be carried out in the middle of the night into the forest?' And the chief of the bed-chamber grew pale and said that the Emperor's guards had watched all night outside the door, neither was there space for the bed to pass out. And Nicholas the Emperor, thinking he had dreamed, let the man go unhung. But the next night lo! the bed was transported again to the wild place and Abraham our father, and Isaac and Jacob, and Elijah the prophet drubbed him doubly and again he promised to remit156 the tax. So in the morning the chief of the bed-chamber was hanged and at night the guards were doubled. But the bed sailed away to the wild place and Nicholas the Emperor was trebly whipped. Then Nicholas the Emperor annulled157 the edict and the Jews rejoiced and fell at the knees of the Masters of Cabalah."
"Oh," said Moses mysteriously. "Cabalah is a great force and must not be abused. The Holy Name must not be made common. Moreover one might lose one's life."
"Could the Masters make men?" inquired Esther, who had recently come across Frankenstein.
"Certainly," said Moses. "And what is more, it stands written that Reb Chanina and Reb Osheya fashioned a fine fat calf159 on Friday and enjoyed it on the Sabbath."
"Oh, father!" said Solomon, piteously, "don't you know Cabalah?"
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advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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spurt
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| v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆 | |
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ardency
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| n.热心，热烈 | |
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aquiline
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| adj.钩状的，鹰的 | |
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feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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candor
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| n.坦白，率真 | |
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scholastic
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| adj.学校的，学院的，学术上的 | |
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supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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pendulous
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| adj.下垂的；摆动的 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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wig
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romping
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| adj.嬉戏喧闹的，乱蹦乱闹的v.嬉笑玩闹( romp的现在分词 )；（尤指在赛跑或竞选等中）轻易获胜 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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jargon
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nonplussed
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| adj.不知所措的，陷于窘境的v.使迷惑( nonplus的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lamely
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winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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23
grimaced
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| v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
toddled
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| v.（幼儿等）东倒西歪地走( toddle的过去式和过去分词 )；蹒跚行走；溜达；散步 | |
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25
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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26
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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27
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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28
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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29
demons
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| n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念 | |
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30
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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31
travail
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| n.阵痛；努力 | |
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32
deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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33
mammoth
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| n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的 | |
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34
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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35
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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36
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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37
sensuous
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| adj.激发美感的；感官的，感觉上的 | |
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38
sensuously
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| adv.感觉上 | |
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39
vigilantly
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| adv.警觉地，警惕地 | |
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40
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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41
pictorial
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| adj.绘画的；图片的；n．画报 | |
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42
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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43
corporeal
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| adj.肉体的，身体的；物质的 | |
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44
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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45
promiscuously
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| adv.杂乱地，混杂地 | |
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46
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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47
rectification
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| n. 改正, 改订, 矫正 | |
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48
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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49
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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50
knotty
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| adj.有结的，多节的，多瘤的，棘手的 | |
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51
incompetent
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| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
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52
fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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53
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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54
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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55
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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56
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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57
sneers
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| 讥笑的表情（言语）( sneer的名词复数 ) | |
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58
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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59
stoic
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| n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者 | |
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60
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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61
disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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63
compartment
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| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
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64
covenant
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| n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约 | |
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65
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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66
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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67
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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68
scoffing
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| n. 嘲笑, 笑柄, 愚弄 v. 嘲笑, 嘲弄, 愚弄, 狼吞虎咽 | |
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69
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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70
vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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71
steamships
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| n.汽船，大轮船( steamship的名词复数 ) | |
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72
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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73
bequest
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| n.遗赠；遗产，遗物 | |
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74
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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75
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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76
gravy
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| n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快 | |
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77
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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78
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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79
imperturbably
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| adv.泰然地，镇静地，平静地 | |
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80
premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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81
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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82
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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83
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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84
avenged
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| v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复 | |
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85
reprisal
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| n.报复，报仇，报复性劫掠 | |
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86
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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87
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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88
amicable
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| adj.和平的，友好的；友善的 | |
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89
romps
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| n.无忧无虑，快活( romp的名词复数 )v.嬉笑玩闹( romp的第三人称单数 )；（尤指在赛跑或竞选等中）轻易获胜 | |
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90
avenger
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| n. 复仇者 | |
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91
economize
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| v.节约，节省 | |
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92
bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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93
grotesquely
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| adv. 奇异地,荒诞地 | |
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94
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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95
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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96
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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97
attuned
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| v.使协调( attune的过去式和过去分词 )；调音 | |
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98
amplifying
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| 放大，扩大( amplify的现在分词 )； 增强； 详述 | |
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99
exuberance
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| n.丰富；繁荣 | |
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100
justifying
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| 证明…有理( justify的现在分词 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护） | |
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101
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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102
caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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103
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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104
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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105
trickling
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| n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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106
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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107
anodyne
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| n.解除痛苦的东西，止痛剂 | |
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108
cadences
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| n.（声音的）抑扬顿挫( cadence的名词复数 )；节奏；韵律；调子 | |
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109
melodious
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| adj.旋律美妙的，调子优美的，音乐性的 | |
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110
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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111
plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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112
psalms
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| n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 )；圣诗；圣歌；(中的) | |
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113
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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114
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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115
morbidly
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| adv.病态地 | |
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116
pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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117
pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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118
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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119
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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120
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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121
persecutor
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| n. 迫害者 | |
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122
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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123
diffusion
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| n.流布；普及；散漫 | |
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124
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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125
idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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126
domesticated
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| adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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127
gourds
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| n.葫芦( gourd的名词复数 ) | |
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128
barley
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| n.大麦，大麦粒 | |
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129
gad
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| n.闲逛；v.闲逛 | |
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130
slaughtering
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 ) | |
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131
exhort
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| v.规劝，告诫 | |
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132
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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133
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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134
shearing
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| n.剪羊毛，剪取的羊毛v.剪羊毛( shear的现在分词 )；切断；剪切 | |
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135
zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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136
testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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137
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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138
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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139
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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140
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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141
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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142
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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143
draughts
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| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
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144
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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145
relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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146
barter
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| n.物物交换，以货易货，实物交易 | |
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147
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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148
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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149
grasshoppers
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| n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 )；蝗虫；蚂蚱；（孩子）矮小的 | |
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150
besought
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| v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的过去式和过去分词 )；(beseech的过去式与过去分词) | |
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151
forefathers
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| n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人 | |
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152
bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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153
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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154
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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155
rescind
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| v.废除，取消 | |
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156
remit
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| v.汇款，汇寄；豁免（债务），免除（处罚等） | |
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157
annulled
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| v.宣告无效( annul的过去式和过去分词 )；取消；使消失；抹去 | |
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158
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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159
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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