Rachel thought she understood all Louis' mental processes. With the tragic1 self-confidence of the inexperienced wife, she was convinced that she had nothing to learn about the secret soul of the stranger to whom she had utterly2 surrendered herself, reserving from him naught3 of the maiden4. Each fresh revelation of him she imagined to be final, completing her studies. In fact, it would have taken at least ten years of marriage to prove to her that a perception of ignorance is the summit of knowledge. She had not even realized that human nature is chiefly made up of illogical and absurd contradictions. Thus she left the house that Saturday morning gloomy, perhaps hopeless, certainly quite undecided as to the future, but serene6, sure of her immediate7 position, and sure that Louis would act like Louis. She knew that she had the upper hand, both physically8 and morally. The doctor had called and done his work, and given a very reassuring9 report. She left Louis to Mrs. Tams, as was entirely10 justifiable11, merely informing him that she had necessary errands, and even this information she gave through her veil, a demure13 contrivance which she had adapted for the first time on her honeymoon14. It was his role to accept her august decisions.
The forenoon was better than the dawn. The sun had emerged; the moisture had nearly disappeared, except in the road; and the impulse of spring was moving in the trees and in the bodies of young women; the sky showed a virginal blue; the wandering clouds were milky15 and rounded, the breeze infinitely16 soft. It seemed to be in an earlier age that the dark colliers had silently climbed the steep of Bycars Lane amid the dankness and that the first column of smoke had risen forlornly from the chimney.
In spite of her desolated17 heart, and of her primness19, Rachel stepped forward airily. She was going forth20 to an enormous event, namely, her first apparition21 in the shopping streets of the town on a Saturday morning as Mrs. Louis Fores, married woman. She might have postponed22 it, but into what future? Moreover, she was ashamed of being diffident about it. And, in the peculiar23 condition of her mind, she would have been ashamed to let a spiritual crisis, however appalling24, interfere25 with the natural, obvious course of her duties. So far as the world was concerned, she was a happy married woman, who had to make her debut26 as a shopping housewife, and hence she was determined27 that her debut should be made.... And yet, possibly she might not have ventured away from the house at all, had she not felt that if she did not escape for a time from its unbreathable atmosphere into the liberty of the streets, she would stifle28 and expire. Wherever she put herself in the house she could not feel alone. In the streets she felt alone, even when saluting29 new acquaintances and being examined and probed by their critical stare. The sight of these acquaintances reminded her that she had a long list of calls to repay. And then the system of paying calls and repaying, and the whole system of society, seemed monstrously30 fanciful and unreal to her. There was only one reality. The solid bricks of the pavement suddenly trembled under her feet as though she were passing over a suspension-bridge. The enterprise of shopping became idiotic33, humorous, incredibly silly in the face of that reality.
Nevertheless, the social system of Bursley, as exemplified in Wedgwood Street and the market-place, its principal shopping thoroughfares, was extremely alluring34, bright, and invigorating that morning. It almost intoxicated35, and had, indeed, a similar effect to that of a sparkling drink. Rachel had never shopped at large with her own money before. She had executed commissions for Mrs. Maldon. She had been an unpaid36 housekeeper37 to her father and brother. Now she was shopping as mistress of a house and of money. She owed an account of her outlay38 to nobody, not even to Louis. She recalled the humble39 and fantastic Saturday night when she had shopped with Louis as reticule-carrier ... centuries since. The swiftness and unforeseeableness of events frightened the girl masquerading as a wise, perfected woman. Her heart lay like a weight in her corsage for an instant, and the next instant she was in the bright system again, because she was so young.
Here and there in the streets, and in small groups in the chief shops, you saw prim18 ladies of every age, each with a gloved hand clasped over a purse. (But sometimes the purse lay safe under the coverlet of a perambulator.) These purses made all the ladies equal, for their contents were absolutely secret from all save the owners. All the ladies were spending, and the delight of spending was theirs. And in theory every purse was inexhaustible. At any rate, it was impossible to conceive a purse empty. The system wore the face of the ideal. Manners were proper to the utmost degree; they neatly40 marked the equality of the shoppers and the profound difference between the shoppers and the shopkeepers. All ladies were agreeable, all babies in perambulators were darlings. The homes thus represented by ladies and babies were clearly polite homes, where reigned41 suavity42, tranquillity43, affection, and plenty. Civilization was justified44 in Wedgwood Street and the market-place—and also, to some extent, in St. Luke's Square.... And Rachel was one of these ladies. Her gloved hand closed over a purse exactly in the style of the others. And her purse, regard being had to the inheritance of her husband, was supposed to hide vast sums; so much so that ladies who had descended45 from distant heights in pony-carts gazed upon her with the respect due to a rival. All welcomed her into the exclusive, correct little world—not only the shopkeepers but the buyers therein. She represented youthful love. Her life must be, and was, an idyll! True, she had no perambulator, but aged47" target="_blank">middle-aged46 ladies greeted her with wistfulness in their voices and in their eyes.
She smiled often as she told and retold the story of Louis' accident, and gave positive assurances that he was in no danger, and would not bear a scar. She blushed often. She was shyly happy in her unhappiness. The experience alternated between the unreal and the real. The extraordinary complexity48 of life was beginning to put its spell on her. She could not determine the relative values of the various facets49 of the experience.
When she had done the important parts of her business, she thought she would go into the covered market, which, having one entrance in the market-place and another in Wedgwood Street, connects the two thoroughfares. She had never been into the covered market because Mrs. Maldon had a prejudice against its wares50. She went out of mere12 curiosity, just to enlarge her knowledge of her adopted town. The huge interior, with its glazed51 roof, was full of clatter52, shouting, and the smell of innumerable varieties of cheese. She passed a second-hand53 bookstall without seeing it, and then discerned admirable potatoes at three-halfpence a peck less than she had been paying—and Mrs. Maldon was once more set down as an old lady with peculiarities54. However, by the time Rachel had made a critical round of the entire place, with its birds in cages, popular songs at a penny, sweetstuffs, cheap cottons and woollens, bright tinware, colonial fleshmeat, sausage displays, and particularly its cheeses, Mrs. Maldon was already recovering her reputation as a woman whose death was an irreparable loss to the town.
As Rachel passed the negligible second-hand bookstall again, it was made visible to her by the fact that Councillor Thomas Batchgrew was just emerging from the shop behind it, with a large volume in his black-gloved hands. Thomas Batchgrew came out of the dark bookshop as a famous old actor, accustomed to decades of crude public worship, comes out of a fashionable restaurant into a fashionable thoroughfare. His satisfied and self-conscious countenance55 showed that he knew that nearly everybody in sight was or ought to be acquainted with his identity and his renown56, and showed also that his pretence57 of being unaware58 of this tremendous and luscious59 fact was playful and not seriously meant to deceive a world of admirers. He was wearing a light tweed suit, with a fancy waistcoat and a hard, pale-grey hat. As he aged, his tendency to striking pale attire60 was becoming accentuated61; at any rate, it had the advantage of harmonizing with his unique whiskers—those whiskers which differentiated62 him from all the rest of the human race in the Five Towns.
Rachel blushed, partly because he was suddenly so close to her, partly because she disapproved63 of the cunning expression on his red, seamed face and was afraid he might divine her thoughts, and partly because she recalled the violent things she had said against him to Louis. But as soon as Thomas Batchgrew caught sight of her the expression of his faced changed in an instant to one of benevolence64 and artless joy; the change in it was indeed dramatic.
And Rachel, pleased and flattered, said to herself, almost startled—
"He really admires me. And I do believe he always did."
And since admiration65 is a sweet drug, whether offered by a rascal66 or by the pure in heart, she forgot momentarily the horror of her domestic dilemma67.
II
"Eh, lass!" Thomas Batchgrew was saying familiarly, after he had inquired about Louis, "I'm rare glad for thy sake it was no worse." His frank implication that he was glad only for her sake gratified and did not wound her as a wife.
The next moment he had dismissed the case of Louis and was displaying to her the volume which he carried. It was a folio Bible, printed by the Cornishman Tregorthy in the town of Bursley, within two hundred yards of where they were standing68, in the earliest years of the nineteenth century—a bibliographical69 curiosity, as Thomas Batchgrew vaguely70 knew, for he wet his gloved thumb and, resting the book on one raised knee, roughly turned over several pages till he came to the title-page containing the word "Bursley," which he showed with pride to Rachel. Rachel, however, not being in the slightest degree a bibliophile71, discerned no interest whatever in the title-page. She merely murmured with politeness, "Oh, yes! Bursley," while animadverting privately72 on the old man's odious73 trick of wetting his gloved thumb and leaving marks on the pages.
"The good old Book!" he said. "I've been after that volume for six months and more. I knew I should get it, but he's a stiff un—yon is," jerking his shoulder in the direction of the second-hand bookseller. Then he put the folio under his arm, delighted at the souvenir of having worsted somebody in a bargain, and repeated, "The good old Book!"
Rachel reflected—
"You unspeakable old sinner!"
Still, she liked his attitude towards herself. In addition to the book he insisted on carrying a small white parcel of hers which she had not put into the reticule. They climbed the steps out of the covered market and walked along the market-place together. And Rachel unmistakably did find pleasure in being seen thus with the great and powerful, if much criticized, Thomas Batchgrew, him to whom several times, less than a year earlier, she had scathingly referred as that man. His escort in the thoroughfare, and especially his demeanour towards herself, gave her a standing which she could otherwise scarcely have attained74. Moreover, people might execrate75 him in private, but that he had conquered the esteem76 of their secret souls was well proved by their genuine eagerness to salute77 him as he walked sniffing78 along. He counted himself one of the seven prides of the district, and perhaps he was not far out.
"Come in a minute, lass," he said in a low, confidential79 voice, as they reached his branch shop, just beyond Malkin's. "I'll—" He paused.
A motor, apparently80 enormous, was buzzing motion-less in the wide entry by the side of the shop. It very slowly moved forward, crossed the footpath81 and half the street opposite the Town Hall, impeding82 a tram-car, and then curved backward into a position by the kerbstone. John's Ernest was at the steering-wheel. Councillor Batchgrew stood still with his mouth open to watch the manoeuvre83.
"This is John's Ernest—my son John's eldest84. Happen ye know him?" said Batchgrew to Rachel. "He's a good lad."
John's Ernest, a pleasant-featured young man of twenty-five, blushed and raised his hat. And Rachel also blushed as she nodded. It was astonishing that old Batchgrew could have a grandson with so honest a look on his face, but she had heard that son John, too, was very different from his father.
"Dunna go till I've seen thee," said Mr. Batchgrew to John's Ernest, and to Rachel, "Come in, Mrs. Fores."
John's Ernest silenced the car, and extricated85 himself with practised rapidity from the driver's seat.
"Where are ye going?" asked his grandfather.
"I'm going to lock the garage doors," said John's Ernest, with a humorous smile which seemed to add, "Unless you'd like them to be left open all Saturday afternoon." Rachel vividly86 remembered the playful, boyish voice which she had heard one night when the motor-car had called to take Mr. Batchgrew to Red Cow.
The councillor nodded.
In the small, untidy, disagreeable, malodorous shop, which in about half a century had scarcely altered its aspect, Thomas Batchgrew directed Rachel to a corner behind the counter and behind a partition, with a view of a fragment of the window. As she passed she saw one of the Batchgrew women (the wife of another grandson) and three little girls of various sizes flash in succession across an open doorway87 at the back. The granddaughter-in-law, who had an abode88 full of costly89 wedding-presents over the shop, had been one of her callers, but when they flashed across that doorway the Batchgrew women made a point of ignoring all phenomena90 in the shop.
"Has Louis decided5 about them debentures91?" Thomas Batchgrew asked, still in a very low and confidential tone, as the two stood together in the corner. He had put the Book and the parcel down on a very ragged92 blotting-pad that lay on a chipped and ink-stained deal desk, and began to finger a yellow penholder. There was nobody else in the shop.
Rachel had foreseen his question.
She answered calmly: "Yes. He's quite decided that on the whole it'll be better if he doesn't put his money into debentures."
There was no foundation whatever for this statement; yet, in uttering the lie, she was clearly conscious of a feeling of lofty righteousness. She faced Thomas Batchgrew, though not with a tranquillity perfectly93 maintained, and she still enjoyed his appreciation94 of her, but she did not seem to care whether he guessed that she was lying or not.
"I'm sorry, lass!" he said simply, sniffing. "The lad's a fool. It isn't as if I've got to go hawking95 seven per cent. debentures to get rid of 'em—and in a concern like that, too! They'd never ha' been seven per cent if it hadna been for me. But it was you as I was thinking of when I offered 'em to Louis. I thought I should be doing ye a good turn."
The old man smiled amid his loud sniffs96. He was too old to have retained any save an artistic97 interest in women. But an artistic interest in them he certainly had; and at an earlier period he had acquainted himself with life, as his eye showed. Rachel blushed a third time that morning, and more deeply than before. He was seriously nattering her now. Endearing qualities that had expired in him long ago seemed to be resuscitated98 and to animate99 his ruined features. Rachel dimly understood how it was that some woman had once married him and borne him a lot of children, and how it was that he had been so intimate and valued a friend of the revered100 husband of such a woman as Mrs. Maldon. She was, in the Five Towns phrase, "flustered101." She almost believed what Thomas Batchgrew had said. She did believe it. She had misjudged him on the Thursday night when he spread the lure102 of the seven per cent. in front of Louis. At any rate, he assuredly did not care, personally, whether Louis accepted the debentures or not.
"However," the councillor went on, "he's got to know his own business best. And I don't know as it's any affair o' mine. But I was just thinking of you. When the husband has a good investment, th' wife generally comes in for something.... And what's more, it 'ud ha' stopped him from doing anything silly with his brass103! You know."
"Yes," she murmured.
"I'm talking to ye because I've taken a fancy to ye," said the councillor. "I knew what you were the first time I set eyes on ye. Oh, I don't mind telling ye now—what harm is there in it? I'd a sort of a fancy as one day you and John's Ernest might ha' hit it off. I had it in my mind like."
A crude compliment, possibly in bad taste, possibly offensive; but Rachel was singularly moved by the revelation thus made. Before she could find a reply John's Ernest came into the shop, followed by an aproned assistant.
III
Then she was sitting by John's Ernest's side in the big motor-car, with her possessions at her feet. The enthronement had happened in a few moments. John's Ernest was going to Hanbridge.
"Ye can run Mrs. Fores up home on yer way," Thomas Batchgrew had suggested.
"But Bycars Lane is miles out of your way!" Rachel had cried.
Both men had smiled. "Won't make a couple of minutes' difference in the car," John's Ernest had modestly murmured.
She had been afraid to get into the automobile104—afraid with a sort of stage-fright; afraid, as she might have been had she been called upon to sing at a concert in the Town Hall. She had imagined that all Bursley was gazing at her as she climbed into the car. Over the face of England automobiles105 are far more common than cuckoos, and yet for the majority, even of the proud and solvent106 middle class, they still remain as unattainable, as glitteringly wondrous107, as a title. Rachel had never been in an automobile before; she had never hoped to be in an automobile. A few days earlier, and she had been regarding a bicycle as rather romantic! Louis had once mentioned a motor-cycle and side-carriage for herself, but she had rebuffed the idea with a shudder108.
The whole town slid away behind her. The car was out of the market-place and crossing the top of Duck Bank, the scene of Louis' accident, before she had settled her skirts. She understood why the men had smiled at her; it was no more trouble for the car to go to Bycars than it would be for her to run upstairs. The swift movement of the car, silent and arrogant109, and the occasional deep bass110 mysterious menace of its horn, and the grace of John's Ernest's gestures on the wheel as he curved the huge vehicle like a phantom111 round lumbering112 obstacles—these things fascinated and exalted113 her.
In spite of the horrible secret she carried all the time in her heart, she was somehow filled with an instinctive114 joy. And she began to perceive changes in her own perspective. The fine Louis, whom she had regarded as the summit of mankind, could never offer her an automobile; he existed entirely in a humbler world; he was, after all, a young man in a very small way of affairs. Batchgrew's automobile would swallow up, week by week, more than the whole of Louis' income. And further, John's Ernest by her side was invested with the mighty115 charm of one who easily and skilfully116 governs a vast and dangerous organism. All the glory of the inventors and perfecters of automobiles, and of manufacturing engineers, and of capitalists who could pay for their luxurious118 caprices, was centred in John's Ernest, merely because he directed and subjugated119 the energy of the miraculous120 machine.
And John's Ernest was so exquisitely121 modest and diffident, and yet had an almost permanent humorous smile. But the paramount122 expression on his face was honesty. She had never hitherto missed the expression of honesty on Louis' face, but she realized now that it was not there.... And she had been adjudged worthy123 of John's Ernest! The powerful of the world had had their eyes on her! Not Louis alone had noted124 her! Had Fate chosen, and had she herself chosen, that very motor-car might have been hers, and she at that instant riding in it as the mistress thereof! Strange thoughts, which intensely flattered and fostered her self-esteem. But she still had the horrible secret to carry with her.
When the car stopped in front of her gate, she forced open the door and jumped down with almost hysterical125 speed, said "Good-bye" and "Thank you" to John's Ernest, who becomingly blushed, and ran round the back of the car with her purchases. The car went on up the lane, the intention of John's Ernest being evident to proceed along Park Road and the Moorthorne ridge32 to Hanbridge rather than turn the car in the somewhat narrow lane. Rachel, instead of entering the house, thrust her parcels frantically126 on to the top step against the front door, and rushed down the steps again and down the lane. In a minute she was overtaking a man.
"Louis!" she cried.
From the car she had seen the incredible vision of Louis walking down the lane from the house. He and John's Ernest had not noticed each other, nor had Louis noticed that his wife was in the car.
Louis stopped now and looked back, hesitant.
There he was, with his plastered, pale face all streaked127 with greyish-white lines! Really Rachel had difficulty in believing her eyes. She had left him in bed, weak, broken; and he was there in the road fully117 dressed for the town and making for the town—a dreadful sight, but indubitably moving unaided on his own legs. It was simply monstrous31! Fury leaped up in her. She had never heard of anything more monstrous. The thing was an absolute outrage128 on her nursing of him.
He stood weakly regarding her. It was clear that he was already very enfeebled by his fantastic exertions130.
"I wonder how much farther you would have gone without falling!" she said. "I'll thank you to come back this very instant!... This very instant!"
He had no strength to withstand her impetuous anger. His lower lip fell. He obeyed with some inarticulate words.
"And I should like to know what Mrs. Tams was doing!" said Rachel.
She neither guessed nor cared what was the intention of Louis' shocking, impossible escapade. She grasped his arm firmly. In ten minutes he was in bed again, under control, and Rachel was venting131 herself on Mrs. Tams, who took oath that she had been utterly unaware of the master's departure from the house.
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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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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reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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justifiable
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| adj.有理由的，无可非议的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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demure
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| adj.严肃的；端庄的 | |
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honeymoon
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| n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月 | |
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milky
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| adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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desolated
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| adj.荒凉的，荒废的 | |
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prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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primness
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| n.循规蹈矩，整洁 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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interfere
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debut
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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stifle
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| vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止 | |
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saluting
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monstrously
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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unpaid
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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outlay
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| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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suavity
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| n.温和；殷勤 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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complexity
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| n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物 | |
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facets
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| n.（宝石或首饰的）小平面( facet的名词复数 )；（事物的）面；方面 | |
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50
wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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51
glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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52
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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53
second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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54
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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55
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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56
renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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57
pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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58
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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59
luscious
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| adj.美味的；芬芳的；肉感的，引与性欲的 | |
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60
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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61
accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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62
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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63
disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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64
benevolence
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| n.慈悲，捐助 | |
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65
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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66
rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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67
dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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68
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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69
bibliographical
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| 书籍解题的，著书目录的 | |
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70
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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71
bibliophile
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| n.爱书者；藏书家 | |
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72
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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73
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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74
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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75
execrate
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| v.憎恶；厌恶；诅咒 | |
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76
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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78
sniffing
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| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；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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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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81
footpath
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| n.小路，人行道 | |
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82
impeding
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| a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的 | |
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83
manoeuvre
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| n.策略，调动；v.用策略，调动 | |
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84
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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85
extricated
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| v.使摆脱困难，脱身( extricate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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87
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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88
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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91
debentures
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| n.公司债券( debenture的名词复数 ) | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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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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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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95
hawking
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| 利用鹰行猎 | |
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96
sniffs
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的第三人称单数 )；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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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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resuscitated
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| v.使（某人或某物）恢复知觉，苏醒( resuscitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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animate
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| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
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revered
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| v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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101
flustered
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| adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词) | |
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102
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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103
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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104
automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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105
automobiles
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| n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 ) | |
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106
solvent
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| n.溶剂；adj.有偿付能力的 | |
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107
wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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108
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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109
arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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110
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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111
phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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112
lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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113
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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114
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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115
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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116
skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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117
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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118
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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119
subjugated
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| v.征服，降伏( subjugate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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120
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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121
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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122
paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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123
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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124
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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125
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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126
frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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127
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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128
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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129
stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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130
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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131
venting
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| 消除； 泄去； 排去； 通风 | |
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