Even his human affiliations22 were descending23. Playing a lone24 hand, contemptuous of most of the men with whom he played, lacking in sympathy or understanding of them, and certainly independent of them, he found little in common with those to be encountered, say at the Alta-Pacific. In point of fact, when the battle with the steamship25 companies was at its height and his raid was inflicting26 incalculable damage on all business interests, he had been asked to resign from the Alta-Pacific. The idea had been rather to his liking27, and he had found new quarters in clubs like the Riverside, organized and practically maintained by the city bosses. He found that he really liked such men better. They were more primitive28 and simple, and they did not put on airs. They were honest buccaneers, frankly29 in the game for what they could get out of it, on the surface more raw and savage30, but at least not glossed31 over with oily or graceful32 hypocrisy33. The Alta-Pacific had suggested that his resignation be kept a private matter, and then had privily34 informed the newspapers. The latter had made great capital out of the forced resignation, but Daylight had grinned and silently gone his way, though registering a black mark against more than one club member who was destined35 to feel, in the days to come, the crushing weight of the Klondiker's financial paw.
The storm-centre of a combined newspaper attack lasting36 for months, Daylight's character had been torn to shreds37. There was no fact in his history that had not been distorted into a criminality or a vice38. This public making of him over into an iniquitous39 monster had pretty well crushed any lingering hope he had of getting acquainted with Dede Mason. He felt that there was no chance for her ever to look kindly on a man of his caliber40, and, beyond increasing her salary to seventy-five dollars a month, he proceeded gradually to forget about her. The increase was made known to her through Morrison, and later she thanked Daylight, and that was the end of it.
One week-end, feeling heavy and depressed41 and tired of the city and its ways, he obeyed the impulse of a whim42 that was later to play an important part in his life. The desire to get out of the city for a whiff of country air and for a change of scene was the cause. Yet, to himself, he made the excuse of going to Glen Ellen for the purpose of inspecting the brickyard with which Holdsworthy had goldbricked him.
He spent the night in the little country hotel, and on Sunday morning, astride a saddle-horse rented from the Glen Ellen butcher, rode out of the village. The brickyard was close at hand on the flat beside the Sonoma Creek43. The kilns44 were visible among the trees, when he glanced to the left and caught sight of a cluster of wooded knolls46 half a mile away, perched on the rolling slopes of Sonoma Mountain. The mountain, itself wooded, towered behind. The trees on the knolls seemed to beckon47 to him.
The dry, early-summer air, shot through with sunshine, was wine to him. Unconsciously he drank it in deep breaths. The prospect48 of the brickyard was uninviting. He was jaded49 with all things business, and the wooded knolls were calling to him. A horse was between his legs—a good horse, he decided50; one that sent him back to the cayuses he had ridden during his eastern Oregon boyhood. He had been somewhat of a rider in those early days, and the champ of bit and creak of saddle-leather sounded good to him now.
Resolving to have his fun first, and to look over the brickyard afterward51, he rode on up the hill, prospecting52 for a way across country to get to the knolls. He left the country road at the first gate he came to and cantered through a hayfield. The grain was waist-high on either side the wagon53 road, and he sniffed54 the warm aroma55 of it with delighted nostrils56. Larks57 flew up before him, and from everywhere came mellow58 notes. From the appearance of the road it was patent that it had been used for hauling clay to the now idle brickyard. Salving his conscience with the idea that this was part of the inspection59, he rode on to the clay-pit—a huge scar in a hillside. But he did not linger long, swinging off again to the left and leaving the road. Not a farm-house was in sight, and the change from the city crowding was essentially60 satisfying. He rode now through open woods, across little flower-scattered glades61, till he came upon a spring. Flat on the ground, he drank deeply of the clear water, and, looking about him, felt with a shock the beauty of the world. It came to him like a discovery; he had never realized it before, he concluded, and also, he had forgotten much. One could not sit in at high finance and keep track of such things. As he drank in the air, the scene, and the distant song of larks, he felt like a poker-player rising from a night-long table and coming forth62 from the pent atmosphere to taste the freshness of the morn.
At the base of the knolls he encountered a tumble-down stake-and-rider fence. From the look of it he judged it must be forty years old at least—the work of some first pioneer who had taken up the land when the days of gold had ended. The woods were very thick here, yet fairly clear of underbrush, so that, while the blue sky was screened by the arched branches, he was able to ride beneath. He now found himself in a nook of several acres, where the oak and manzanita and madrono gave way to clusters of stately redwoods. Against the foot of a steep-sloped knoll45 he came upon a magnificent group of redwoods that seemed to have gathered about a tiny gurgling spring.
He halted his horse, for beside the spring uprose a wild California lily. It was a wonderful flower, growing there in the cathedral nave65 of lofty trees. At least eight feet in height, its stem rose straight and slender, green and bare for two-thirds its length, and then burst into a shower of snow-white waxen bells. There were hundreds of these blossoms, all from the one stem, delicately poised66 and ethereally frail67. Daylight had never seen anything like it. Slowly his gaze wandered from it to all that was about him. He took off his hat, with almost a vague religious feeling. This was different. No room for contempt and evil here. This was clean and fresh and beautiful-something he could respect. It was like a church. The atmosphere was one of holy calm. Here man felt the prompting of nobler things. Much of this and more was in Daylight's heart as he looked about him. But it was not a concept of his mind. He merely felt it without thinking about it at all.
On the steep incline above the spring grew tiny maidenhair ferns, while higher up were larger ferns and brakes. Great, moss68-covered trunks of fallen trees lay here and there, slowly sinking back and merging69 into the level of the forest mould. Beyond, in a slightly clearer space, wild grape and honeysuckle swung in green riot from gnarled old oak trees. A gray Douglas squirrel crept out on a branch and watched him. From somewhere came the distant knocking of a woodpecker. This sound did not disturb the hush70 and awe71 of the place. Quiet woods, noises belonged there and made the solitude72 complete. The tiny bubbling ripple73 of the spring and the gray flash of tree-squirrel were as yardsticks74 with which to measure the silence and motionless repose75.
"Might be a million miles from anywhere," Daylight whispered to himself.
But ever his gaze returned to the wonderful lily beside the bubbling spring.
He tethered the horse and wandered on foot among the knolls. Their tops were crowned with century-old spruce trees, and their sides clothed with oaks and madronos and native holly76. But to the perfect redwoods belonged the small but deep canon that threaded its way among the knolls. Here he found no passage out for his horse, and he returned to the lily beside the spring. On foot, tripping, stumbling, leading the animal, he forced his way up the hillside. And ever the ferns carpeted the way of his feet, ever the forest climbed with him and arched overhead, and ever the clean joy and sweetness stole in upon his senses.
On the crest77 he came through an amazing thicket78 of velvet-trunked young madronos, and emerged on an open hillside that led down into a tiny valley. The sunshine was at first dazzling in its brightness, and he paused and rested, for he was panting from the exertion79. Not of old had he known shortness of breath such as this, and muscles that so easily tired at a stiff climb. A tiny stream ran down the tiny valley through a tiny meadow that was carpeted knee-high with grass and blue and white nemophila. The hillside was covered with Mariposa lilies and wild hyacinth, down through which his horse dropped slowly, with circumspect80 feet and reluctant gait.
Crossing the stream, Daylight followed a faint cattle trail over a low, rocky hill and through a wine-wooded forest of manzanita, and emerged upon another tiny valley, down which filtered another spring-fed, meadow-bordered streamlet. A jack-rabbit bounded from a bush under his horse's nose, leaped the stream, and vanished up the opposite hillside of scrub-oak. Daylight watched it admiringly as he rode on to the head of the meadow. Here he startled up a many-pronged buck81, that seemed to soar across the meadow, and to soar over the stake-and-rider fence, and, still soaring, disappeared in a friendly copse beyond.
Daylight's delight was unbounded. It seemed to him that he had never been so happy. His old woods' training was aroused, and he was keenly interested in everything in the moss on the trees and branches; in the bunches of mistletoe hanging in the oaks; in the nest of a wood-rat; in the water-cress growing in the sheltered eddies82 of the little stream; in the butterflies drifting through the rifted sunshine and shadow; in the blue jays that flashed in splashes of gorgeous color across the forest aisles83; in the tiny birds, like wrens84, that hopped85 among the bushes and imitated certain minor86 quail87-calls; and in the crimson-crested woodpecker that ceased its knocking and cocked its head on one side to survey him. Crossing the stream, he struck faint vestiges88 of a wood-road, used, evidently, a generation back, when the meadow had been cleared of its oaks. He found a hawk's nest on the lightning-shattered tipmost top of a six-foot redwood. And to complete it all his horse stumbled upon several large broods of half-grown quail, and the air was filled with the thrum of their flight. He halted and watched the young ones "petrifying89" and disappearing on the ground before his eyes, and listening to the anxious calls of the old ones hidden in the thickets90.
"It sure beats country places and bungalows91 at Menlo Park," he communed aloud; "and if ever I get the hankering for country life, it's me for this every time."
The old wood-road led him to a clearing, where a dozen acres of grapes grew on wine-red soil. A cow-path, more trees and thickets, and he dropped down a hillside to the southeast exposure. Here, poised above a big forested canon, and looking out upon Sonoma Valley, was a small farm-house. With its barn and outhouses it snuggled into a nook in the hillside, which protected it from west and north. It was the erosion from this hillside, he judged, that had formed the little level stretch of vegetable garden. The soil was fat and black, and there was water in plenty, for he saw several faucets92 running wide open.
Forgotten was the brickyard. Nobody was at home, but Daylight dismounted and ranged the vegetable garden, eating strawberries and green peas, inspecting the old adobe93 barn and the rusty94 plough and harrow, and rolling and smoking cigarettes while he watched the antics of several broods of young chickens and the mother hens. A foottrail that led down the wall of the big canyon95 invited him, and he proceeded to follow it. A water-pipe, usually above ground, paralleled the trail, which he concluded led upstream to the bed of the creek. The wall of the canon was several hundred feet from top to bottom, and magnificent were the untouched trees that the place was plunged96 in perpetual shade. He measured with his eye spruces five and six feet in diameter and redwoods even larger. One such he passed, a twister that was at least ten or eleven feet through. The trail led straight to a small dam where was the intake97 for the pipe that watered the vegetable garden. Here, beside the stream, were alders98 and laurel trees, and he walked through fern-brakes higher than his head. Velvety99 moss was everywhere, out of which grew maiden-hair and gold-back ferns.
Save for the dam, it was a virgin100 wild. No ax had invaded, and the trees died only of old age and stress of winter storm. The huge trunks of those that had fallen lay moss-covered, slowly resolving back into the soil from which they sprang. Some had lain so long that they were quite gone, though their faint outlines, level with the mould, could still be seen. Others bridged the stream, and from beneath the bulk of one monster half a dozen younger trees, overthrown101 and crushed by the fall, growing out along the ground, still lived and prospered102, their roots bathed by the stream, their upshooting branches catching103 the sunlight through the gap that had been made in the forest roof.
Back at the farm-house, Daylight mounted and rode on away from the ranch64 and into the wilder canons and steeper steeps beyond. Nothing could satisfy his holiday spirit now but the ascent104 of Sonoma Mountain. And here on the crest, three hours afterward, he emerged, tired and sweaty, garments torn and face and hands scratched, but with sparkling eyes and an unwonted zestfulness105 of expression. He felt the illicit106 pleasure of a schoolboy playing truant107. The big gambling108 table of San Francisco seemed very far away. But there was more than illicit pleasure in his mood. It was as though he were going through a sort of cleansing109 bath. No room here for all the sordidness110, meanness, and viciousness that filled the dirty pool of city existence. Without pondering in detail upon the matter at all, his sensations were of purification and uplift. Had he been asked to state how he felt, he would merely have said that he was having a good time; for he was unaware111 in his self-consciousness of the potent112 charm of nature that was percolating113 through his city-rotted body and brain—potent, in that he came of an abysmal114 past of wilderness115 dwellers116, while he was himself coated with but the thinnest rind of crowded civilization.
There were no houses in the summit of Sonoma Mountain, and, all alone under the azure117 California sky, he reined118 in on the southern edge of the peak. He saw open pasture country, intersected with wooded canons, descending to the south and west from his feet, crease on crease and roll on roll, from lower level to lower level, to the floor of Petaluma Valley, flat as a billiard-table, a cardboard affair, all patches and squares of geometrical regularity119 where the fat freeholds were farmed. Beyond, to the west, rose range on range of mountains cuddling purple mists of atmosphere in their valleys; and still beyond, over the last range of all, he saw the silver sheen of the Pacific. Swinging his horse, he surveyed the west and north, from Santa Rosa to St. Helena, and on to the east, across Sonoma to the chaparral-covered range that shut off the view of Napa Valley. Here, part way up the eastern wall of Sonoma Valley, in range of a line intersecting the little village of Glen Ellen, he made out a scar upon a hillside. His first thought was that it was the dump of a mine tunnel, but remembering that he was not in gold-bearing country, he dismissed the scar from his mind and continued the circle of his survey to the southeast, where, across the waters of San Pablo Bay, he could see, sharp and distant, the twin peaks of Mount Diablo. To the south was Mount Tamalpais, and, yes, he was right, fifty miles away, where the draughty winds of the Pacific blew in the Golden Gate, the smoke of San Francisco made a low-lying haze120 against the sky.
"I ain't seen so much country all at once in many a day," he thought aloud.
He was loath121 to depart, and it was not for an hour that he was able to tear himself away and take the descent of the mountain. Working out a new route just for the fun of it, late afternoon was upon him when he arrived back at the wooded knolls. Here, on the top of one of them, his keen eyes caught a glimpse of a shade of green sharply differentiated122 from any he had seen all day. Studying it for a minute, he concluded that it was composed of three cypress123 trees, and he knew that nothing else than the hand of man could have planted them there. Impelled124 by curiosity purely125 boyish, he made up his mind to investigate. So densely126 wooded was the knoll, and so steep, that he had to dismount and go up on foot, at times even on hands and knees struggling hard to force a way through the thicker underbrush. He came out abruptly127 upon the cypresses128. They were enclosed in a small square of ancient fence; the pickets129 he could plainly see had been hewn and sharpened by hand. Inside were the mounds130 of two children's graves. Two wooden headboards, likewise hand-hewn, told the state Little David, born 1855, died 1859; and Little Roy, born 1853, died 1860.
"The poor little kids," Daylight muttered. The graves showed signs of recent care. Withered131 bouquets132 of wild flowers were on the mounds, and the lettering on the headboards was freshly painted. Guided by these clews, Daylight cast about for a trail, and found one leading down the side opposite to his ascent. Circling the base of the knoll, he picked up with his horse and rode on to the farm-house. Smoke was rising from the chimney and he was quickly in conversation with a nervous, slender young man, who, he learned, was only a tenant133 on the ranch. How large was it? A matter of one hundred and eighty acres, though it seemed much larger. This was because it was so irregularly shaped. Yes, it included the clay-pit and all the knolls, and its boundary that ran along the big canon was over a mile long.
"You see," the young man said, "it was so rough and broken that when they began to farm this country the farmers bought in the good land to the edge of it. That's why its boundaries are all gouged134 and jagged.
"Oh, yes, he and his wife managed to scratch a living without working too hard. They didn't have to pay much rent. Hillard, the owner, depended on the income from the clay-pit. Hillard was well off, and had big ranches63 and vineyards down on the flat of the valley. The brickyard paid ten cents a cubic yard for the clay. As for the rest of the ranch, the land was good in patches, where it was cleared, like the vegetable garden and the vineyard, but the rest of it was too much up-and-down."
"You're not a farmer," Daylight said. The young man laughed and shook his head. "No; I'm a telegraph operator. But the wife and I decided to take a two years' vacation, and ... here we are. But the time's about up. I'm going back into the office this fall after I get the grapes off."
Yes, there were about eleven acres in the vineyard—wine grapes. The price was usually good. He grew most of what they ate. If he owned the place, he'd clear a patch of land on the side-hill above the vineyard and plant a small home orchard135. The soil was good. There was plenty of pasturage all over the ranch, and there were several cleared patches, amounting to about fifteen acres in all, where he grew as much mountain hay as could be found. It sold for three to five dollars more a ton than the rank-stalked valley hay.
Daylight listened, there came to him a sudden envy of this young fellow living right in the midst of all this which Daylight had travelled through the last few hours.
"What in thunder are you going back to the telegraph office for?" he demanded.
The young man smiled with a certain wistfulness. "Because we can't get ahead here..." (he hesitated an instant), "and because there are added expenses coming. The rent, small as it is, counts; and besides, I'm not strong enough to effectually farm the place. If I owned it, or if I were a real husky like you, I'd ask nothing better. Nor would the wife." Again the wistful smile hovered136 on his face. "You see, we're country born, and after bucking137 with cities for a few years, we kind of feel we like the country best. We've planned to get ahead, though, and then some day we'll buy a patch of land and stay with it."
The graves of the children? Yes, he had relettered them and hoed the weeds out. It had become the custom. Whoever lived on the ranch did that. For years, the story ran, the father and mother had returned each summer to the graves. But there had come a time when they came no more, and then old Hillard started the custom. The scar across the valley? An old mine. It had never paid. The men had worked on it, off and on, for years, for the indications had been good. But that was years and years ago. No paying mine had ever been struck in the valley, though there had been no end of prospect-holes put down and there had been a sort of rush there thirty years back.
A frail-looking young woman came to the door to call the young man to supper. Daylight's first thought was that city living had not agreed with her. And then he noted138 the slight tan and healthy glow that seemed added to her face, and he decided that the country was the place for her. Declining an invitation to supper, he rode on for Glen Ellen sitting slack-kneed in the saddle and softly humming forgotten songs. He dropped down the rough, winding139 road through covered pasture, with here and there thickets of manzanita and vistas140 of open glades. He listened greedily to the quail calling, and laughed outright141, once, in sheer joy, at a tiny chipmunk142 that fled scolding up a bank, slipping on the crumbly surface and falling down, then dashing across the road under his horse's nose and, still scolding, scrabbling up a protecting oak.
Daylight could not persuade himself to keep to the travelled roads that day, and another cut across country to Glen Ellen brought him upon a canon that so blocked his way that he was glad to follow a friendly cow-path. This led him to a small frame cabin. The doors and windows were open, and a cat was nursing a litter of kittens in the doorway143, but no one seemed at home. He descended144 the trail that evidently crossed the canon. Part way down, he met an old man coming up through the sunset. In his hand he carried a pail of foamy145 milk. He wore no hat, and in his face, framed with snow-white hair and beard, was the ruddy glow and content of the passing summer day. Daylight thought that he had never seen so contented-looking a being.
"Eighty-four," was the reply. "Yes, sirree, eighty-four, and spryer than most."
"You must a' taken good care of yourself," Daylight suggested.
"I don't know about that. I ain't loafed none. I walked across the Plains with an ox-team and fit Injuns in '51, and I was a family man then with seven youngsters. I reckon I was as old then as you are now, or pretty nigh on to it."
"Don't you find it lonely here?"
The old man shifted the pail of milk and reflected. "That all depends," he said oracularly. "I ain't never been lonely except when the old wife died. Some fellers are lonely in a crowd, and I'm one of them. That's the only time I'm lonely, is when I go to 'Frisco. But I don't go no more, thank you 'most to death. This is good enough for me. I've ben right here in this valley since '54—one of the first settlers after the Spaniards."
Daylight started his horse, saying:—
"Well, good night, daddy. Stick with it. You got all the young bloods skinned, and I guess you've sure buried a mighty147 sight of them."
The old man chuckled148, and Daylight rode on, singularly at peace with himself and all the world. It seemed that the old contentment of trail and camp he had known on the Yukon had come back to him. He could not shake from his eyes the picture of the old pioneer coming up the trail through the sunset light. He was certainly going some for eighty-four. The thought of following his example entered Daylight's mind, but the big game of San Francisco vetoed the idea.
"Well, anyway," he decided, "when I get old and quit the game, I'll settle down in a place something like this, and the city can go to hell."
该作者的其它作品
《The Sea-Wolf海狼》
《白牙 White Fang》
《The Son of the Wolf狼孩儿》
该作者的其它作品
《The Sea-Wolf海狼》
《白牙 White Fang》
《The Son of the Wolf狼孩儿》
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1
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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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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3
whetted
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| v.（在石头上）磨（刀、斧等）( whet的过去式和过去分词 )；引起，刺激（食欲、欲望、兴趣等） | |
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4
geniality
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| n.和蔼，诚恳；愉快 | |
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5
refinements
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| n.（生活）风雅；精炼( refinement的名词复数 )；改良品；细微的改良；优雅或高贵的动作 | |
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cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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10
ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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12
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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deterioration
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| n.退化；恶化；变坏 | |
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crease
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| n.折缝，褶痕，皱褶；v.(使)起皱 | |
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asceticism
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| n.禁欲主义 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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advertising
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| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
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brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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affiliations
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| n.联系( affiliation的名词复数 )；附属机构；亲和性；接纳 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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steamship
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| n.汽船，轮船 | |
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inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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31
glossed
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| v.注解( gloss的过去式和过去分词 )；掩饰（错误）；粉饰；把…搪塞过去 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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privily
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| adv.暗中，秘密地 | |
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35
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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36
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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37
shreds
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| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
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38
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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39
iniquitous
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| adj.不公正的；邪恶的；高得出奇的 | |
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40
caliber
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| n.能力；水准 | |
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41
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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42
whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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43
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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44
kilns
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| n.窑( kiln的名词复数 )；烧窑工人 | |
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45
knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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46
knolls
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| n.小圆丘，小土墩( knoll的名词复数 ) | |
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47
beckon
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| v.(以点头或打手势)向...示意，召唤 | |
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48
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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49
jaded
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| adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的 | |
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50
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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51
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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52
prospecting
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| n.探矿 | |
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53
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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54
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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55
aroma
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| n.香气，芬芳，芳香 | |
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56
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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57
larks
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| n.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的名词复数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了v.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的第三人称单数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了 | |
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58
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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59
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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60
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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61
glades
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| n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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62
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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63
ranches
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| 大农场， （兼种果树，养鸡等的）大牧场( ranch的名词复数 ) | |
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64
ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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65
nave
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| n.教堂的中部；本堂 | |
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66
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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67
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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68
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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69
merging
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| 合并（分类） | |
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70
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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71
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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72
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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73
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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74
yardsticks
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| 比较或衡量的标准，尺度( yardstick的名词复数 ) | |
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75
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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76
holly
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| n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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77
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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78
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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79
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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80
circumspect
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| adj.慎重的，谨慎的 | |
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81
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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82
eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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83
aisles
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| n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
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84
wrens
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| n.鹪鹩( wren的名词复数 ) | |
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85
hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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86
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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87
quail
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| n.鹌鹑；vi.畏惧，颤抖 | |
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88
vestiges
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| 残余部分( vestige的名词复数 )； 遗迹； 痕迹； 毫不 | |
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89
petrifying
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| v.吓呆，使麻木( petrify的现在分词 )；使吓呆，使惊呆；僵化 | |
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90
thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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91
bungalows
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| n.平房( bungalow的名词复数 )；单层小屋，多于一层的小屋 | |
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92
faucets
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| n.水龙头( faucet的名词复数 ) | |
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93
adobe
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| n.泥砖，土坯，美国Adobe公司 | |
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94
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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95
canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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96
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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97
intake
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| n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口 | |
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98
alders
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| n.桤木( alder的名词复数 ) | |
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99
velvety
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| adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
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100
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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101
overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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102
prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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103
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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104
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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105
zestfulness
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| adj.有辛辣味的； 有风趣的； 有风味的； 有滋味的 | |
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106
illicit
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| adj.非法的，禁止的，不正当的 | |
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107
truant
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| n.懒惰鬼，旷课者；adj.偷懒的，旷课的，游荡的；v.偷懒，旷课 | |
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108
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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109
cleansing
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| n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词 | |
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110
sordidness
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| n.肮脏；污秽；卑鄙；可耻 | |
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111
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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112
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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113
percolating
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| n.渗透v.滤( percolate的现在分词 )；渗透；（思想等）渗透；渗入 | |
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114
abysmal
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| adj.无底的，深不可测的，极深的；糟透的，极坏的；完全的 | |
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115
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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116
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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117
azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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118
reined
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| 勒缰绳使（马）停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 )； 驾驭； 严格控制； 加强管理 | |
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119
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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120
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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121
loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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122
differentiated
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| 区分，区别，辨别( differentiate的过去式和过去分词 )； 区别对待； 表明…间的差别，构成…间差别的特征 | |
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123
cypress
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| n.柏树 | |
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124
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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125
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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126
densely
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| ad.密集地；浓厚地 | |
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127
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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128
cypresses
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| n.柏属植物，柏树( cypress的名词复数 ) | |
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129
pickets
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| 罢工纠察员( picket的名词复数 ) | |
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130
mounds
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| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
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131
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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132
bouquets
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| n.花束( bouquet的名词复数 )；（酒的）芳香 | |
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133
tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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134
gouged
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| v.凿( gouge的过去式和过去分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出… | |
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135
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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136
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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137
bucking
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| v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的现在分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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138
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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139
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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140
vistas
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| 长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景 | |
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141
outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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142
chipmunk
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| n.花栗鼠 | |
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143
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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144
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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145
foamy
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| adj.全是泡沫的，泡沫的，起泡沫的 | |
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146
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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147
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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148
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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