He was home just as the clocks were striking six. He was pale and upset, but otherwise looked strong and alert. The old man summed up his appearance and manner thus: “Braced up for battle.”
“Now!” said Sir Nathaniel, and settled down to listen, looking at Adam steadily1 and listening attentively2 that he might miss nothing—even the inflection of a word.
“I found Lilla and Mimi at home. Watford had been detained by business on the farm. Miss Watford received me as kindly3 as before; Mimi, too, seemed glad to see me. Mr. Caswall came so soon after I arrived, that he, or someone on his behalf, must have been watching for me. He was followed closely by the negro, who was puffing4 hard as if he had been running—so it was probably he who watched. Mr. Caswall was very cool and collected, but there was a more than usually iron look about his face that I did not like. However, we got on very well. He talked pleasantly on all sorts of questions. The nigger waited a while and then disappeared as on the other occasion. Mr. Caswall’s eyes were as usual fixed5 on Lilla. True, they seemed to be very deep and earnest, but there was no offence in them. Had it not been for the drawing down of the brows and the stern set of the jaws6, I should not at first have noticed anything. But the stare, when presently it began, increased in intensity7. I could see that Lilla began to suffer from nervousness, as on the first occasion; but she carried herself bravely. However, the more nervous she grew, the harder Mr. Caswall stared. It was evident to me that he had come prepared for some sort of mesmeric or hypnotic battle. After a while he began to throw glances round him and then raised his hand, without letting either Lilla or Mimi see the action. It was evidently intended to give some sign to the negro, for he came, in his usual stealthy way, quietly in by the hall door, which was open. Then Mr. Caswall’s efforts at staring became intensified8, and poor Lilla’s nervousness grew greater. Mimi, seeing that her cousin was distressed9, came close to her, as if to comfort or strengthen her with the consciousness of her presence. This evidently made a difficulty for Mr. Caswall, for his efforts, without appearing to get feebler, seemed less effective. This continued for a little while, to the gain of both Lilla and Mimi. Then there was a diversion. Without word or apology the door opened, and Lady Arabella March entered the room. I had seen her coming through the great window. Without a word she crossed the room and stood beside Mr. Caswall. It really was very like a fight of a peculiar10 kind; and the longer it was sustained the more earnest—the fiercer—it grew. That combination of forces—the over-lord, the white woman, and the black man—would have cost some—probably all of them—their lives in the Southern States of America. To us it was simply horrible. But all that you can understand. This time, to go on in sporting phrase, it was understood by all to be a ‘fight to a finish,’ and the mixed group did not slacken a moment or relax their efforts. On Lilla the strain began to tell disastrously11. She grew pale—a patchy pallor, which meant that her nerves were out of order. She trembled like an aspen, and though she struggled bravely, I noticed that her legs would hardly support her. A dozen times she seemed about to collapse12 in a faint, but each time, on catching13 sight of Mimi’s eyes, she made a fresh struggle and pulled through.
“By now Mr. Caswall’s face had lost its appearance of passivity. His eyes glowed with a fiery14 light. He was still the old Roman in inflexibility15 of purpose; but grafted16 on to the Roman was a new Berserker fury. His companions in the baleful work seemed to have taken on something of his feeling. Lady Arabella looked like a soulless, pitiless being, not human, unless it revived old legends of transformed human beings who had lost their humanity in some transformation17 or in the sweep of natural savagery18. As for the negro—well, I can only say that it was solely19 due to the self-restraint which you impressed on me that I did not wipe him out as he stood—without warning, without fair play—without a single one of the graces of life and death. Lilla was silent in the helpless concentration of deadly fear; Mimi was all resolve and self-forgetfulness, so intent on the soul-struggle in which she was engaged that there was no possibility of any other thought. As for myself, the bonds of will which held me inactive seemed like bands of steel which numbed20 all my faculties21, except sight and hearing. We seemed fixed in an impasse22. Something must happen, though the power of guessing was inactive. As in a dream, I saw Mimi’s hand move restlessly, as if groping for something. Mechanically it touched that of Lilla, and in that instant she was transformed. It was as if youth and strength entered afresh into something already dead to sensibility and intention. As if by inspiration, she grasped the other’s band with a force which blenched23 the knuckles24. Her face suddenly flamed, as if some divine light shone through it. Her form expanded till it stood out majestically25. Lifting her right hand, she stepped forward towards Caswall, and with a bold sweep of her arm seemed to drive some strange force towards him. Again and again was the gesture repeated, the man falling back from her at each movement. Towards the door he retreated, she following. There was a sound as of the cooing sob26 of doves, which seemed to multiply and intensify27 with each second. The sound from the unseen source rose and rose as he retreated, till finally it swelled28 out in a triumphant29 peal30, as she with a fierce sweep of her arm, seemed to hurl31 something at her foe32, and he, moving his hands blindly before his face, appeared to be swept through the doorway33 and out into the open sunlight.
“All at once my own faculties were fully34 restored; I could see and hear everything, and be fully conscious of what was going on. Even the figures of the baleful group were there, though dimly seen as through a veil—a shadowy veil. I saw Lilla sink down in a swoon, and Mimi throw up her arms in a gesture of triumph. As I saw her through the great window, the sunshine flooded the landscape, which, however, was momentarily becoming eclipsed by an onrush of a myriad35 birds.”
By the next morning, daylight showed the actual danger which threatened. From every part of the eastern counties reports were received concerning the enormous immigration of birds. Experts were sending—on their own account, on behalf of learned societies, and through local and imperial governing bodies—reports dealing36 with the matter, and suggesting remedies.
The reports closer to home were even more disturbing. All day long it would seem that the birds were coming thicker from all quarters. Doubtless many were going as well as coming, but the mass seemed never to get less. Each bird seemed to sound some note of fear or anger or seeking, and the whirring of wings never ceased nor lessened37. The air was full of a muttered throb38. No window or barrier could shut out the sound, till the ears of any listener became dulled by the ceaseless murmur39. So monotonous40 it was, so cheerless, so disheartening, so melancholy41, that all longed, but in vain, for any variety, no matter how terrible it might be.
The second morning the reports from all the districts round were more alarming than ever. Farmers began to dread42 the coming of winter as they saw the dwindling43 of the timely fruitfulness of the earth. And as yet it was only a warning of evil, not the evil accomplished44; the ground began to look bare whenever some passing sound temporarily frightened the birds.
Edgar Caswall tortured his brain for a long time unavailingly, to think of some means of getting rid of what he, as well as his neighbours, had come to regard as a plague of birds. At last he recalled a circumstance which promised a solution of the difficulty. The experience was of some years ago in China, far up-country, towards the head-waters of the Yang-tze-kiang, where the smaller tributaries45 spread out in a sort of natural irrigation scheme to supply the wilderness46 of paddy-fields. It was at the time of the ripening47 rice, and the myriads48 of birds which came to feed on the coming crop was a serious menace, not only to the district, but to the country at large. The farmers, who were more or less afflicted49 with the same trouble every season, knew how to deal with it. They made a vast kite, which they caused to be flown over the centre spot of the incursion. The kite was shaped like a great hawk50; and the moment it rose into the air the birds began to cower51 and seek protection—and then to disappear. So long as that kite was flying overhead the birds lay low and the crop was saved. Accordingly Caswall ordered his men to construct an immense kite, adhering as well as they could to the lines of a hawk. Then he and his men, with a sufficiency of cord, began to fly it high overhead. The experience of China was repeated. The moment the kite rose, the birds hid or sought shelter. The following morning, the kite was still flying high, no bird was to be seen as far as the eye could reach from Castra Regis. But there followed in turn what proved even a worse evil. All the birds were cowed; their sounds stopped. Neither song nor chirp52 was heard—silence seemed to have taken the place of the normal voices of bird life. But that was not all. The silence spread to all animals.
The fear and restraint which brooded amongst the denizens53 of the air began to affect all life. Not only did the birds cease song or chirp, but the lowing of the cattle ceased in the fields and the varied54 sounds of life died away. In place of these things was only a soundless gloom, more dreadful, more disheartening, more soul-killing than any concourse of sounds, no matter how full of fear and dread. Pious55 individuals put up constant prayers for relief from the intolerable solitude56. After a little there were signs of universal depression which those who ran might read. One and all, the faces of men and women seemed bereft57 of vitality58, of interest, of thought, and, most of all, of hope. Men seemed to have lost the power of expression of their thoughts. The soundless air seemed to have the same effect as the universal darkness when men gnawed59 their tongues with pain.
From this infliction60 of silence there was no relief. Everything was affected61; gloom was the predominant note. Joy appeared to have passed away as a factor of life, and this creative impulse had nothing to take its place. That giant spot in high air was a plague of evil influence. It seemed like a new misanthropic62 belief which had fallen on human beings, carrying with it the negation63 of all hope.
After a few days, men began to grow desperate; their very words as well as their senses seemed to be in chains. Edgar Caswall again tortured his brain to find any antidote64 or palliative of this greater evil than before. He would gladly have destroyed the kite, or caused its flying to cease; but the instant it was pulled down, the birds rose up in even greater numbers; all those who depended in any way on agriculture sent pitiful protests to Castra Regis.
It was strange indeed what influence that weird65 kite seemed to exercise. Even human beings were affected by it, as if both it and they were realities. As for the people at Mercy Farm, it was like a taste of actual death. Lilla felt it most. If she had been indeed a real dove, with a real kite hanging over her in the air, she could not have been more frightened or more affected by the terror this created.
Of course, some of those already drawn66 into the vortex noticed the effect on individuals. Those who were interested took care to compare their information. Strangely enough, as it seemed to the others, the person who took the ghastly silence least to heart was the negro. By nature he was not sensitive to, or afflicted by, nerves. This alone would not have produced the seeming indifference67, so they set their minds to discover the real cause. Adam came quickly to the conclusion that there was for him some compensation that the others did not share; and he soon believed that that compensation was in one form or another the enjoyment68 of the sufferings of others. Thus the black had a never-failing source of amusement.
Lady Arabella’s cold nature rendered her immune to anything in the way of pain or trouble concerning others. Edgar Caswall was far too haughty69 a person, and too stern of nature, to concern himself about poor or helpless people, much less the lower order of mere70 animals. Mr. Watford, Mr. Salton, and Sir Nathaniel were all concerned in the issue, partly from kindness of heart—for none of them could see suffering, even of wild birds, unmoved—and partly on account of their property, which had to be protected, or ruin would stare them in the face before long.
Lilla suffered acutely. As time went on, her face became pinched, and her eyes dull with watching and crying. Mimi suffered too on account of her cousin’s suffering. But as she could do nothing, she resolutely71 made up her mind to self-restraint and patience. Adam’s frequent visits comforted her.
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1
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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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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puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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10
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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disastrously
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| ad.灾难性地 | |
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12
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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13
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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inflexibility
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| n.不屈性，顽固，不变性；不可弯曲；非挠性；刚性 | |
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grafted
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| 移植( graft的过去式和过去分词 )； 嫁接； 使（思想、制度等）成为（…的一部份）； 植根 | |
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transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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numbed
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| v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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impasse
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| n.僵局；死路 | |
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blenched
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| v.（因惊吓而）退缩，惊悸( blench的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）变白，（使）变苍白 | |
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24
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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25
majestically
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| 雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地 | |
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26
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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intensify
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| vt.加强；变强；加剧 | |
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28
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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29
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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31
hurl
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| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
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32
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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34
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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35
myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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37
lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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38
throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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39
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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40
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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41
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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42
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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43
dwindling
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| adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 ) | |
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44
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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45
tributaries
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| n. 支流 | |
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46
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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47
ripening
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成 | |
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48
myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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49
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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51
cower
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| v.畏缩，退缩，抖缩 | |
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52
chirp
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| v.(尤指鸟)唧唧喳喳的叫 | |
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53
denizens
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| n.居民，住户( denizen的名词复数 ) | |
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54
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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55
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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56
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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57
bereft
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| adj.被剥夺的 | |
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58
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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59
gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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60
infliction
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| n.（强加于人身的）痛苦，刑罚 | |
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61
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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62
misanthropic
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| adj.厌恶人类的，憎恶（或蔑视）世人的；愤世嫉俗 | |
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63
negation
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| n.否定；否认 | |
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64
antidote
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| n.解毒药，解毒剂 | |
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65
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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66
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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67
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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68
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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69
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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70
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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