Then the vicar said: “There is a good deal to be said for the point of view of Wiggins, Mrs. Dangerfield. After all, Captain Baster was the original aggressor.”
“Nevertheless I must apologize for my son’s exploding such an uncommonly4 violent bomb at a quiet garden party,” said the higher mathematician6. “I suspect he underrated its effect.”
His tone was apologetic, but there was no excess of contrition7 in it.
“What I think is that Captain Baster’s notion of humor is catching8; and that it affected9 Erebus and Wiggins,” said Sir Maurice amiably10. “And if we start apologizing, there will be no end to it. I should have to come in myself as the maker12 of the bomb who carelessly left it lying about.”
“It was certainly a happy effort,” said the vicar, smiling. Then he changed the subject firmly, saying: “We’re going to London next week; perhaps you could recommend a play to us to go to, Sir Maurice.”
A faint ripple13 of grateful relaxation14 ran round the circle and presently it was clear that in taking himself off Captain Baster had lifted a wet blanket of quite uncommon5 thickness from the party. They were talking easily and freely; and Mrs. Dangerfield and Sir Maurice were seeing to it that every one, even Mrs. Blenkinsop and Mrs. Morton, were getting their little chances of shining. The Twins and Wiggins slipped away; and their elders talked the more at their ease for their going. In the end the little gathering15 which Captain Baster had so nearly crushed, broke up in the best of spirits, all the guests in a state of amiable16 satisfaction with Mrs. Dangerfield, themselves and one another.
After they had gone Sir Maurice and Mrs. Dangerfield discussed the exploits of Erebus; and he did his best to abate17 her distress1 at the two onslaughts his violent niece had made on a guest. The Terror was also doing his best in the matter: with unbending firmness he prevented Erebus, eager to enjoy her uncle’s society, from returning to the house till it was time to dress for dinner. He wished to give his mother time to get over the worst of her annoyance18.
Thanks to their efforts Mrs. Dangerfield did not rebuke19 her violent daughter with any great severity. But even so, Erebus did not receive these milder rebukes20 in the proper meek21 spirit. Unlike the philosophic22 Terror, who for the most part accepted his mother’s just rebukes, after a doubtful exploit, with a disarming23 sorrowful air, Erebus must always make out a case for herself; and she did so now.
Displaying an injured air, she took the ground that Captain Baster was not really a guest on the previous evening, since he was making a descent on the house uninvited, and therefore he did not come within the sphere of the laws of hospitality.
“Besides he never behaved like a guest,” she went on in a bitterly aggrieved24 tone. “He was always making himself objectionable to every one—especially to me. And if he was always trying to score off me, I’d a perfect right to score off him. And anyhow, I wasn’t going to let him marry you without doing everything I could to stop it. He’d be a perfectly25 beastly stepfather—you know he would.”
This was an aspect of the matter Mrs. Dangerfield had no desire to discuss; and flushing a little, she contented26 herself with closing the discussion by telling Erebus not to do it again. She knew that however bitterly Erebus might protest against a just rebuke, she would take it sufficiently27 to heart. She was sure that she would not stone another guest.
With the departure of Captain Baster peace settled on Colet House; and Sir Maurice enjoyed very much his three days’ stay. The Twins, though they were in that condition of subdued28 vivacity29 into which they always fell after a signal exploit that came to their mother’s notice, were very pleasant companions; and the peaceful life and early hours of Little Deeping were grateful after the London whirl. Also he had many talks with his sister on the matter of settling down in life, a course of action she frequently urged on him.
When he went the Twins felt a certain dulness. It was not acute boredom30; they were preserved from that by the fact that the Terror went every morning to study the classics with the vicar, and Erebus learned English and French with her mother. Their afternoon leisure, therefore, rarely palled31 on them.
One afternoon, as they came out of the house after lunch, Erebus suggested that they should begin by ambushing32 Wiggins. They went, therefore, toward Mr. Carrington’s house which stood nearly a mile away on the outskirts33 of Little Deeping, and watched it from the edge of the common. They saw their prey34 in the garden; and he tried their patience by staying there for nearly a quarter of an hour.
Then he came briskly up the road to the common. Their eyes began to shine with the expectation of immediate35 triumph, when, thirty yards from the common’s edge, in a sudden access of caution, he bolted for covert36 and disappeared in the gorse sixty yards away on their left. They fell noiselessly back, going as quickly as concealment37 permitted, to cut him off. They were successful. They caught him crossing an open space, yelled “Bang!” together; and in accordance with the rules of the game Wiggins fell to the ground.
They scalped him with yells of such a piercing triumph that the immemorial oaks for a quarter of a mile round emptied themselves hastily of the wood-pigeons feeding on their acorns38.
Wiggins rose gloomily, gloomily took from his knickerbockers pocket his tattered39 and grimy notebook, gloomily made an entry in it, and gloomily said: “That makes you two games ahead.” Then he spurned40 the earth and added: “I’m going to have a bicycle.”
The Twins looked at each other darkly; Erebus scowled41, and a faint frown broke the ineffable42 serenity43 of the Terror’s face.
“There’ll be no living with Wiggins now, he’ll be so cocky,” said Erebus bitterly.
“Oh, no; he won’t,” said the Terror. “But we ought to have bicycles, too. We want them badly. We never get really far from the village. We always get stopped on the way—rats, or something.” And his guileless, dreamy blue eyes swept the distant autumn hills with a look of yearning44.
“We must have bicycles. I’ve been thinking so for a long time,” said the Terror.
“We must have the moon!” said Erebus with cold scorn.
They moved swiftly across the common. Erebus poured forth48 a long monotonous49 complaint about the lack of bicycles, which, for them, made this Cosmic All a mere50 time-honored cheat. With ears impervious51 to his sister’s vain lament52, the Terror strode on serenely53 thoughtful, pondering this pressing problem. Now and again, for obscure but profound reasons, Wiggins spurned the earth and proceeded by leaps and bounds.
Possibly it was the monotonous plaint of his sister which caused the Terror to say: “I’ve got a penny. We’ll go and get some bull’s-eyes.”
At any rate the monotonous plaint ceased.
They had returned on their steps across the common, and were nearing the village, when they met three small boys. One of them carried a kitten.
Erebus stopped short. “What are you going to do with that kitten, Billy Beck?” she said.
“We be goin’ to drown ’im in the pond,” said Billy Beck in the important tones of an executioner.
Erebus sprang; and the kitten was in her hands. “You’re not going to do anything of the sort, you little beast!” she said.
The round red face of Billy Beck flushed redder with rage and disappointment, and he howled:
“Gimme my kitty! Mother says she won’t ’ave ’im about the ’ouse, an’ I could drown ’im.”
“You won’t have him,” said Erebus.
Billy Beck and his little brothers, robbed of their simple joy, burst into blubbering roar of “It’s ourn! It ain’t yourn! It’s ourn!”
“It isn’t! A kitten isn’t any one’s to drown!” cried Erebus.
The Terror gazed at Erebus and Billy Beck with judicial54 eyes, the cold personification of human justice. Erebus edged away from him ready to fly, should human justice intervene actively55. The Terror put his hand in his pocket and fumbled56. He drew out a penny, and looked at it earnestly. He was weighing the respective merits of justice and bull’s-eyes.
“Here’s a penny for your kitten. You can buy bull’s-eyes with it,” he said with a sigh, and held out the coin.
A sudden greed sparkled in Billy Beck’s tearful eyes. “’E’s worth more’n a penny—a kitty like ’im!” he blubbered.
“Not to drown. It’s all you’ll get,” said the Terror curtly57. He tossed the penny to Billy’s feet, turned on his heel and went back across the common away from the village. Some of the brightness faded out of the faces of Erebus and Wiggins.
“I wouldn’t have given him a penny. He was only going to drown the kitten,” said Erebus in a grudging58 tone.
“It was his kitten. We couldn’t take it without paying for it,” said the Terror coldly.
Erebus followed him, cuddling the kitten and talking to it as she went.
Presently Wiggins spurned the earth and said, “There ought to be a home for kittens nobody wants—and puppies.”
The Terror stopped short, and said: “By Jove! There’s Aunt Amelia!”
Erebus burst into a bitter complaint of the stinginess of Aunt Amelia, who had more money than all the rest of the family put together, and yet never rained postal59 orders on deserving nieces and nephews, but spent it all on horrid60 cats’ homes.
“That’s just it,” said the Terror in a tone of considerable animation61. “Come along; I want you to write a letter.”
“I’m not going to write any disgusting letter!” cried Erebus hotly.
“Then you’re not going to get any bicycle. Come on. I’ll look out the words in the dictionary, and Wiggins can help because, seeing so much of his father, he’s got into the way of using grammar. It’ll be useful. Come on!”
They came on, Wiggins, as always, deeply impressed by the importance of being a helper of the Twins, for they were in their fourteenth year, and only ten brief wet summers had passed over his own tousled head, Erebus clamoring to have her suddenly aroused curiosity gratified. Practise had made the Terror’s ears impervious at will to his sister’s questions, which were frequent and innumerable. Without a word of explanation he led the way home; without a word he set her down at the dining-room table with paper and ink before her, and sat down himself on the opposite side of it, a dictionary in his hand and Wiggins by his side.
“I never make blots! It’s you that makes blots!” cried Erebus, ruffled63. “Mr. Etheridge says I write ever so much better than you do. Ever so much better.”
“That’s why you’re writing the letter and not me,” said the Terror coldly. “Fire away: ‘My dear Aunt Amelia’—I say, Wiggins, what’s the proper words for ‘awfully64 keen’?”
“‘Keen’ is ‘interested’—I don’t know how many ‘r’s’ there are in ‘interested’—and ‘awfully’ is an awfully difficult word,” said Wiggins, pondering.
The Terror looked up “interested” in the dictionary with a laborious65 painfulness, and announced triumphantly66 that there was but a single “r” in it; then he said, “What’s the right word for ‘awfully,’ Wiggins? Buck68 up!”
“‘Tremendously,’” said Wiggins with the air of a successful Columbus.
“That’s it,” said the Terror. “‘My dear Aunt Amelia: I have often heard that you are tremendously interested in cats’ homes’”—
“I should think you had!” said Erebus.
“Now don’t jabber69, please; just stick to the writing,” said the Terror. “I’ve got to make this letter a corker; and how can I think if you jabber?”
“‘Little Deeping wants a cats’ home awfully’—no: ‘tremendously.’ I like that word ‘tremendously’; it means something,” said the Terror.
Ruffling74 his fair hair in the agony of composition, the Terror continued: “‘The quantity of kittens that are drowned is horrible’—that ought to fetch her; kittens are so much nicer than cats—‘and I have been thinking’—Oughtn’t you to put in some stops?”
“I’m putting in stops—lots,” said Erebus contemptuously.
“‘I have been thinking—that if you wanted to have a cats’ home here’—What’s the right word for ‘running a thing,’ Wiggins?”
“There is a word ‘overseer’—slaves have them,” he said cautiously.
The Terror sought that word painfully in the dictionary, spelled it out, and continued: “‘I could overseer it for you. I have got my eye on a building which would suit us tremendously well. But these things cost money, and it would not be any use starting with less than thirty pounds’—
“Thirty pounds! My goodness!” cried Erebus; and her eyes opened wide.
“We may as well go the whole hog,” said the Terror philosophically76. “Go on: ‘Or else just as the cats get to be happy and feel it was a real home—’ What’s the word for ‘bust up,’ Wiggins?”
“Burst up,” said Wiggins without hesitation77.
“No, no; not the grammar—the right word! Oh, I know; ‘go bankrupt’—‘it might go bankrupt. So it you would like to have a cats’ home here and send me some money, I will start it at once. Your affectionate nephew, Hyacinth Wolfram Dangerfield.’ There!” said the Terror with a sigh of relief.
“But you’ve left me out altogether,” said Erebus in a suddenly aggrieved tone.
“I should jolly well think I had! You know that ever since you stayed with Aunt Amelia, and taught her parrot to say ‘Dam,’ she won’t have anything to do with you,” said the Terror firmly.
“There’s no pleasing some people,” said Erebus mournfully. “When I went there the silly old parrot couldn’t say a thing; and when I came away, he could say ‘Dam! Dam! Dam!’ from morning till night without making a mistake.”
“It’s a word people don’t like,” said the Terror.
“Well, I and the parrot meant a dam in a river. I told Aunt Amelia so,” said Erebus firmly.
“She might not believe you; she doesn’t know how truthfully we’ve been brought up,” said the Terror. “Go on; sign my name to the letter.”
“No; you write my name better than I do; and it will go better with the rest of the letter. Sign away,” said the Terror firmly.
Erebus signed away, and then she said: “But what good’s the money going to be to us, if we’ve got to spend it on a silly old cats’ home? It only means a lot of trouble.”
The guilelessness deepened and deepened on the Terror’s face. “Well, you see, there aren’t many cats in Little Deeping—not enough to fill a cats’ home decently,” he said slowly. “We should have to have bicycles to collect them—from Great Deeping, and Muttle Deeping, and farther off.”
Erebus gasped79; and the light of understanding illumined her charming face, as she cried in a tone of awe80 not untinctured with admiration81: “Well, you do think of things!”
“I have to,” said the Terror. “If I didn’t we should never have a single thing.”
The Terror procured82 a stamp from Mrs. Dangerfield. He did not tell her of the splendid scheme he was promoting; he only said that he had thought he would write to Aunt Amelia. Mrs. Dangerfield was pleased with him for his thought: she wished him to stand well with his great-aunt, since she was a rich woman without children of her own. She did not, indeed, suggest that the letter should be shown to her, though she suspected that it contained some artless request. She thought it better that the Terror should write to his great-aunt to make requests rather than not write at all.
The letter posted, the Twins resumed the somewhat jerky tenor83 of their lives. Erebus was full of speculations84 about the changes in their lives those bicycles would bring about; she would pause in the very middle of some important enterprise to discuss the rides they would take on them, the orchards that those machines would bring within their reach. But the Terror would have none of it; his calm philosophic mind forbade him to discuss his chickens before they were hatched.
Since her philanthropy was confined entirely85 to cats, it is not remarkable86 that philanthropy, and not intelligence, was the chief characteristic of Lady Ryehampton. As the purport87 of her great-nephew’s letter slowly penetrated88 her mind, a broad and beaming smile of gratification spread slowly over her large round face; and as she handed the letter to Miss Hendersyde, her companion, she cried in unctuous89 tones: “The dear boy! So young, but already enthusiastic about great things!”
Miss Hendersyde looked at her employer patiently; she foresaw that she was going to have to struggle with her to save her from being once more victimized. She had come to suspect anything that stirred Lady Ryehampton to a noble phrase. Her eyes brightened with humorous appreciation90 as she read the letter of Erebus; and when she came to the end of it she opened her mouth to point out that Little Deeping was one of the last places in England to need a cats’ home. Then she bethought herself of the whole situation, shut her mouth with a little click, and her face went blank.
Then she breathed a short silent prayer for forgiveness, smiled and said warmly: “It’s really wonderful. You must have inspired him with that enthusiasm yourself.”
“I suppose I must,” said Lady Ryehampton with an air of satisfaction. “And I must be careful not to discourage him.”
Miss Hendersyde thought of the Terror’s face, his charming sympathetic manners, and his darned knickerbockers. It was only right that some of Lady Ryehampton’s money should go to him; indeed that money ought to be educating him at a good school. It was monstrous91 that the great bulk of it should be spent on cats; cats were all very well but human beings came first. And the Terror was such an attractive human being.
“Yes, it is a dreadful thing to discourage enthusiasm,” she said gravely.
Lady Ryehampton proceeded to discuss the question whether a cats’ home could be properly started with thirty pounds, whether she had not better send fifty. Miss Hendersyde made her conscience quite comfortable by compromising: she said that she thought thirty was enough to begin with; that if more were needful, Lady Ryehampton could give it later. Lady Ryehampton accepted the suggestion.
Having set her employer’s hand to the plow92, Miss Hendersyde saw to it that she did not draw it back. Lady Ryehampton would spend money on cats, but she could not be hurried in the spending of it. But Miss Hendersyde kept referring to the Terror’s enterprise all that day and the next morning, with the result that on the next afternoon Lady Ryehampton signed the check for thirty pounds. At Miss Hendersyde’s suggestion she drew the money in cash; and Miss Hendersyde turned it into postal orders, for there is no bank at Little Deeping.
On the third morning the registered letter reached Colet House. The excited Erebus, who had been watching for the postman, received it from him, signed the receipt with trembling fingers, and dashed off with the precious packet to the Terror in the orchard46.
The Terror took it from her with flawless serenity and opened it slowly.
But as he counted the postal orders, a faint flush covered his face; and he said in a somewhat breathless tone: “Thirty pounds—well!”
Erebus executed a short but Bacchic dance which she invented on the spur of that marvelous moment.
“It’s splendid—splendid!” she cried. “It’s the best thing you ever thought of!”
The Terror put the postal orders back into the envelope, and put the envelope into the breast pocket of his coat. A frown of the most thoughtful consideration furrowed93 his brow. Then he said firmly: “The first thing, to do is to get the bicycles. If once we’ve got them, no one will take them away from us.”
“Of course they won’t,” said Erebus, with eager acceptance of his idea.
The breakfast-bell rang; and they went into the house, Erebus spurning94 the earth as she went, in the very manner of Wiggins.
In the middle of breakfast the Terror said in a casual tone and with a casual air, as if he was not greatly eager for the boon95: “May we have the cow-house for our very own, Mum?”
“Oh, Terror! Surely you don’t want to keep ferrets!” cried Mrs. Dangerfield, who lived in fear of the Terror’s developing that inevitable96 boyish taste.
“Oh, no; but if we had the cow-house to do what we liked with, I think we could make a little pocket-money out of it.”
“I am afraid you’re growing terribly mercenary,” said his mother; then she added with a sigh: “But I don’t wonder at it, seeing how hard up you always are. You can have the cow-house. It’s right at the end of the paddock—well away from the house—so that I don’t see that you can do any harm with it whatever you do. But how are you going to make pocket-money out of it?”
“Oh, I haven’t got it all worked out yet,” said the Terror quickly. “But we’ll tell you all about it when we have. Thanks ever so much for the cow-house.”
For the rest of breakfast he left the conversation to Erebus.
The Terror was blessed with a masterly prudence97 uncommon indeed in a boy of his years. He changed but one of the six postal orders at Little Deeping—that would make talk enough—and then, having begged a holiday from the vicar, he took the train to Rowington, their market town, ten miles away, taking Erebus with him. There he changed three more postal orders; and then the Twins took their way to the bicycle shop, with hearts that beat high.
The Terror set about the purchase in a very careful leisurely98 way which, in any one else, would have exasperated99 the highly strung Erebus to the very limits of endurance; but where the Terror was concerned she had long ago learned the futility100 of exasperation101. He began by an exhaustive examination of every make of bicycle in the shop; and he made it with a thoroughness that worried the eager bicycle-seller, one of those smart young men who pamper102 a chin’s passion for receding103 by letting a straggly beard try to cover it, till his nerves were all on edge. Then the Terror, drawing a handful of sovereigns out of his pocket and gazing at them lovingly, seemed unable to make up his mind whether to buy two bicycles or one; and the bearded but chinless young man perspired104 with his eloquent105 efforts to demonstrate the advantage of buying two. He was quite weary when the persuaded Terror proceeded to develop the point that there must be a considerable reduction in price to the buyer of two bicycles. Then he made his offer: he would give fourteen pounds for two eight-pound-ten bicycles. His serenity was quite unruffled by the seller’s furious protests. Then the real struggle began. The Terror came out of it with two bicycles, two lamps, two bells and two baskets of a size to hold a cat; the seller came out of it with fifteen pounds; and the triumphant67 Twins wheeled their machines out of the shop.
The Terror stood still and looked thoughtfully up and down High Street. Then he said: “We’ve saved the cats’ home quite two pounds.”
“Yes,” said Erebus.
“And it’s made me awfully hungry and thirsty doing it,” said the Terror.
“It must have—arguing like that,” said Erebus quickly; and her eyes brightened as she caught his drift.
“Well, I think the home ought to pay for refreshment106. It’s a long ride home,” said the Terror.
“Of course it ought,” said Erebus with decision.
Without more ado they wheeled their bicycles down the street to a confectioner’s shop, propped107 them up carefully against the curb108, and entered the shop with an important moneyed air.
“Of course they do,” said Erebus.
“That settles the matter of pocket-money,” said the Terror. “We’ll have sixpence a week each.”
“Only sixpence?” said Erebus in a tone of the liveliest surprise.
“Well, you see, there are the bicycles. I don’t think we can make it more than sixpence. And I tell you what: we shall have to keep accounts. I’ll buy an account-book. You’re very good at arithmetic—you’ll like keeping accounts,” said the Terror suavely109.
Since her mouth was full of luscious110 jam tart, Erebus did not feel that it would be delicate at that moment to protest. Therefore on leaving the shop the Terror bought an account-book. His distrust of literature prevented him from paying more than a penny for it. From the stationer’s he went to an ironmonger’s and bought a saw, a brace111, a gimlet, a screw-driver and two gross of screws—his tool-box had long needed refilling. Then they mounted their machines proudly (they had learned to ride on the machines of acquaintances) and rode home. After their visit to the confectioner’s they rode rather sluggishly112.
They were not hungry, far from it, at the moment; but half-way home the Terror turned out of the main road into the lanes, and they paused at a quiet orchard, in a lovely unguarded spot, and filled the cat-basket on Erebus’ bicycle with excellent apples. The tools had been packed into the Terror’s basket. They did not disturb the farmer’s wife at the busy dinner-hour; the Terror threw the apples over the orchard hedge to Erebus.
As he remembered his bicycle he said dreamily: “I shouldn’t wonder if these bicycles didn’t pay for themselves in time.”
“I said there were orchards out here where they didn’t know us,” said Erebus, biting into a Ribston pippin.
They reached home in time for lunch and locked away their bicycles in the cow-house. At lunch they were reticent113 about their triumphs of the morning.
After lunch they went to the cow-house and took measurements. It had long been unoccupied by cows and needed little cleaning. It was quite suitable to their purpose, a brick building with a slate114 roof and of a size to hold two cows. The measurements made, they went, with an important moneyed air, down to the village carpenter, the only timber merchant in the neighborhood, and bought planks115 from him. There was some discussion before his idea about the price of planks and that of the Terror were in exact accord; and as he took the money he said, with some ruefulness, that he was a believer in small profits and quick returns. Since immediate delivery was part of the bargain, he forthwith put the planks on a hand-cart and wheeled them up to Colet House. The Twins, eager to be at work, helped him.
For the rest of the day the Terror applied116 his indisputable constructive117 genius to the creation of cat-hutches. That evening Erebus wrote his warm letter of thanks to Lady Ryehampton.
The next morning, with a womanly disregard of obligation, Erebus proposed that they should forthwith mount their bicycles and sally forth on a splendid foray. The Terror would not hear of it.
“No,” he said firmly. “We’re going to get the cats’ home finished before we use those bicycles at all. Then nobody can complain.”
He lost no time setting to work on it, and worked till it was time to go down to the vicarage for his morning’s lessons with the vicar. He set to work again as soon as he returned; he worked all the afternoon; and he saw to it that Erebus worked, too.
In the middle of the afternoon Wiggins came. He had spent a fruitless hour lying in wait on the common to scalp the Twins as they sallied forth into the world, and then had come to see what had kept them within their borders. He was deeply impressed by the sight of the bicycles, but not greatly surprised: his estimation of the powers of his friends was too high for any of their exploits to surprise him greatly. But he was somewhat aggrieved that they should have obtained their bicycles before he had obtained his. None the less he helped them construct the cats’ home with enthusiasm.
For three strenuous118 days they persisted in their untiring effort. So much sustained carpentering was hard on their hands; many small pieces were chipped out of them. But their spirits never flagged; and by sunset on the third day they had constructed accommodation for thirty cats. It may be that the wooden bars of the hutches were not all of the same breadth, but at any rate they were all of the same thickness: and it would be a slim cat, indeed, that would squirm through them.
At sunset on the third day the exultant119 trio gazed round the transformed cow-house with shining triumphant eyes; then Erebus said firmly: “What we want now is cats.”
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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mathematician
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| n.数学家 | |
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contrition
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| n.悔罪，痛悔 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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tart
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| adj.酸的；尖酸的，刻薄的；n.果馅饼；淫妇 | |
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maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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abate
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| vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退 | |
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annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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rebukes
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的第三人称单数 ) | |
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21
meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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disarming
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| adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒 | |
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aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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28
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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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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30
boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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31
palled
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| v.（因过多或过久而）生厌，感到乏味，厌烦( pall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
ambushing
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| v.埋伏( ambush的现在分词 )；埋伏着 | |
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33
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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34
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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35
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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36
covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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37
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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38
acorns
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| n.橡子，栎实( acorn的名词复数 ) | |
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39
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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40
spurned
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
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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42
ineffable
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| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
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43
serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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45
orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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46
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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47
sagely
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| adv. 贤能地，贤明地 | |
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48
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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49
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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50
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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51
impervious
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| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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54
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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56
fumbled
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| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
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57
curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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58
grudging
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| adj.勉强的，吝啬的 | |
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59
postal
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| adj.邮政的，邮局的 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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62
blots
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| 污渍( blot的名词复数 )； 墨水渍； 错事； 污点 | |
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ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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64
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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65
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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66
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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67
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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68
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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69
jabber
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| v.快而不清楚地说；n.吱吱喳喳 | |
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70
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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71
grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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72
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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73
jabbering
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| v.急切而含混不清地说( jabber的现在分词 )；急促兴奋地说话；结结巴巴 | |
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74
ruffling
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| 弄皱( ruffle的现在分词 )； 弄乱； 激怒； 扰乱 | |
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75
freckles
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| n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 ) | |
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76
philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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77
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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78
forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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79
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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80
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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81
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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82
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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83
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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84
speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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85
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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86
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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87
purport
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| n.意义，要旨，大要；v.意味著，做为...要旨，要领是... | |
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88
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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89
unctuous
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| adj.油腔滑调的，大胆的 | |
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90
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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91
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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92
plow
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| n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough | |
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93
furrowed
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| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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94
spurning
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的现在分词 ) | |
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95
boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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96
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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97
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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98
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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99
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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100
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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101
exasperation
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| n.愤慨 | |
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102
pamper
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| v.纵容，过分关怀 | |
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103
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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104
perspired
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| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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105
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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106
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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107
propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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108
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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109
suavely
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110
luscious
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| adj.美味的；芬芳的；肉感的，引与性欲的 | |
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111
brace
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| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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112
sluggishly
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| adv.懒惰地；缓慢地 | |
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113
reticent
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| adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的 | |
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114
slate
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| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
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115
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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116
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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117
constructive
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| adj.建设的，建设性的 | |
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118
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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119
exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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