小说搜索     点击排行榜   最新入库
首页 » 经典英文小说 » The Sea Lady » CHAPTER THE FIRST.
选择底色: 选择字号:【大】【中】【小】
CHAPTER THE FIRST.
关注小说网官方公众号(noveltingroom),原版名著免费领。
 THE COMING OF THE SEA LADY
I
Such previous landings of mermaids1 as have left a record, have all a flavour of doubt. Even the very circumstantial account of that Bruges Sea Lady, who was so clever at fancy work, gives occasion to the sceptic. I must confess that I was absolutely incredulous of such things until a year ago. But now, face to face with indisputable facts in my own immediate3 neighbourhood, and with my own second cousin Melville (of Seaton Carew) as the chief witness to the story, I see these old legends in a very different light. Yet so[2] many people concerned themselves with the hushing up of this affair, that, but for my sedulous4 enquiries, I am certain it would have become as doubtful as those older legends in a couple of score of years. Even now to many minds——
 
The difficulties in the way of the hushing-up process were no doubt exceptionally great in this case, and that they did contrive5 to do so much, seems to show just how strong are the motives6 for secrecy7 in all such cases. There is certainly no remoteness nor obscurity about the scene of these events. They began upon the beach just east of Sandgate Castle, towards Folkestone, and they ended on the beach near Folkestone pier8 not two miles away. The beginning was in broad daylight on a bright blue day in August and in full sight of the windows of half a dozen houses. At first sight this alone is sufficient to make the popular want of information[3] almost incredible. But of that you may think differently later.
 
Mrs. Randolph Bunting’s two charming daughters were bathing at the time in company with their guest, Miss Mabel Glendower. It is from the latter lady chiefly, and from Mrs. Bunting, that I have pieced together the precise circumstances of the Sea Lady’s arrival. From Miss Glendower, the elder of two Glendower girls, for all that she is a principal in almost all that follows, I have obtained, and have sought to obtain, no information whatever. There is the question of the lady’s feelings—and in this case I gather they are of a peculiarly complex sort. Quite naturally they would be. At any rate, the natural ruthlessness of the literary calling has failed me. I have not ventured to touch them.…
 
The villa9 residences to the east of Sandgate Castle, you must understand, are[4] particularly lucky in having gardens that run right down to the beach. There is no intervening esplanade or road or path such as cuts off ninety-nine out of the hundred of houses that face the sea. As you look down on them from the western end of the Leas, you see them crowding the very margin10. And as a great number of high groins stand out from the shore along this piece of coast, the beach is practically cut off and made private except at very low water, when people can get around the ends of the groins. These houses are consequently highly desirable during the bathing season, and it is the custom of many of their occupiers to let them furnished during the summer to persons of fashion and affluence11.
 
The Randolph Buntings were such persons—indisputably. It is true of course that they were not Aristocrats12, or indeed what an unpaid13 herald14 would freely call[5] “gentle.” They had no right to any sort of arms. But then, as Mrs. Bunting would sometimes remark, they made no pretence15 of that sort; they were quite free (as indeed everybody is nowadays) from snobbery16. They were simple homely17 Buntings—Randolph Buntings—“good people” as the saying is—of a widely diffused18 Hampshire stock addicted19 to brewing20, and whether a suitably remunerated herald could or could not have proved them “gentle” there can be no doubt that Mrs. Bunting was quite justified21 in taking in the Gentlewoman, and that Mr. Bunting and Fred were sedulous gentlemen, and that all their ways and thoughts were delicate and nice. And they had staying with them the two Miss Glendowers, to whom Mrs. Bunting had been something of a mother, ever since Mrs. Glendower’s death.
 
The two Miss Glendowers were half[6] sisters, and gentle beyond dispute, a county family race that had only for a generation stooped to trade, and risen at once Antæus-like, refreshed and enriched. The elder, Adeline, was the rich one—the heiress, with the commercial blood in her veins22. She was really very rich, and she had dark hair and grey eyes and serious views, and when her father died, which he did a little before her step-mother, she had only the later portion of her later youth left to her. She was nearly seven-and-twenty. She had sacrificed her earlier youth to her father’s infirmity of temper in a way that had always reminded her of the girlhood of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. But after his departure for a sphere where his temper has no doubt a wider scope—for what is this world for if it is not for the Formation of Character?—she had come out strongly. It became evident she had always had a mind, and a very[7] active and capable one, an accumulated fund of energy and much ambition. She had bloomed into a clear and critical socialism, and she had blossomed at public meetings; and now she was engaged to that really very brilliant and promising23 but rather extravagant24 and romantic person, Harry25 Chatteris, the nephew of an earl and the hero of a scandal, and quite a possible Liberal candidate for the Hythe division of Kent. At least this last matter was under discussion and he was about, and Miss Glendower liked to feel she was supporting him by being about too, and that was chiefly why the Buntings had taken a house in Sandgate for the summer. Sometimes he would come and stay a night or so with them, sometimes he would be off upon affairs, for he was known to be a very versatile26, brilliant, first-class political young man—and Hythe very lucky to have a bid for him, all[8] things considered. And Fred Bunting was engaged to Miss Glendower’s less distinguished27, much less wealthy, seventeen-year old and possibly altogether more ordinary half-sister, Mabel Glendower, who had discerned long since when they were at school together that it wasn’t any good trying to be clear when Adeline was about.
 
The Buntings did not bathe “mixed,” a thing indeed that was still only very doubtfully decent in 1898, but Mr. Randolph Bunting and his son Fred came down to the beach with them frankly28 instead of hiding away or going for a walk according to the older fashion. (This, notwithstanding that Miss Mabel Glendower, Fred’s fiancée to boot, was of the bathing party.) They formed a little procession down under the evergreen29 oaks in the garden and down the ladder and so to the sea’s margin.
 
Mrs. Bunting went first, looking as it[9] were for Peeping Tom with her glasses, and Miss Glendower, who never bathed because it made her feel undignified, went with her—wearing one of those simple, costly30 “art” morning costumes Socialists31 affect. Behind this protecting van came, one by one, the three girls, in their beautiful Parisian bathing dresses and headdresses—though these were of course completely muffled32 up in huge hooded33 gowns of towelling—and wearing of course stockings and shoes—they bathed in stockings and shoes. Then came Mrs. Bunting’s maid and the second housemaid and the maid the Glendower girls had brought, carrying towels, and then at a little interval34 the two men carrying ropes and things. (Mrs. Bunting always put a rope around each of her daughters before ever they put a foot in the water and held it until they were safely out again. But Mabel Glendower would not have a rope.)[10]
 
Where the garden ends and the beach begins Miss Glendower turned aside and sat down on the green iron seat under the evergreen oak, and having found her place in “Sir George Tressady”—a book of which she was naturally enough at that time inordinately35 fond—sat watching the others go on down the beach. There they were a very bright and very pleasant group of prosperous animated36 people upon the sunlit beach, and beyond them in streaks37 of grey and purple, and altogether calm save for a pattern of dainty little wavelets, was that ancient mother of surprises, the Sea.
 
As soon as they reached the high-water mark where it is no longer indecent to be clad merely in a bathing dress, each of the young ladies handed her attendant her wrap, and after a little fun and laughter Mrs. Bunting looked carefully to see if there were any jelly fish, and then they[11] went in. And after a minute or so, it seems Betty, the elder Miss Bunting, stopped splashing and looked, and then they all looked, and there, about thirty yards away was the Sea Lady’s head, as if she were swimming back to land.
 
Naturally they concluded that she must be a neighbour from one of the adjacent houses. They were a little surprised not to have noticed her going down into the water, but beyond that her apparition38 had no shadow of wonder for them. They made the furtive39 penetrating40 observations usual in such cases. They could see that she was swimming very gracefully41 and that she had a lovely face and very beautiful arms, but they could not see her wonderful golden hair because all that was hidden in a fashionable Phrygian bathing cap, picked up—as she afterwards admitted to my second cousin—some nights before upon a Norman plage. Nor could[12] they see her lovely shoulders because of the red costume she wore.
 
They were just on the point of feeling their inspection42 had reached the limit of really nice manners and Mabel was pretending to go on splashing again and saying to Betty, “She’s wearing a red dress. I wish I could see—” when something very terrible happened.
 
The swimmer gave a queer sort of flop43 in the water, threw up her arms and—vanished!
 
It was the sort of thing that seems for an instant to freeze everybody, just one of those things that everyone has read of and imagined and very few people have seen.
 
For a space no one did anything. One, two, three seconds passed and then for an instant a bare arm flashed in the air and vanished again.
 
Mabel tells me she was quite paralysed[13] with horror, she did nothing all the time, but the two Miss Buntings, recovering a little, screamed out, “Oh, she’s drowning!” and hastened to get out of the sea at once, a proceeding44 accelerated by Mrs. Bunting, who with great presence of mind pulled at the ropes with all her weight and turned about and continued to pull long after they were many yards from the water’s edge and indeed cowering45 in a heap at the foot of the sea wall. Miss Glendower became aware of a crisis and descended46 the steps, “Sir George Tressady” in one hand and the other shading her eyes, crying in her clear resolute47 voice, “She must be saved!” The maids of course were screaming—as became them—but the two men appear to have acted with the greatest presence of mind. “Fred, Nexdoors ledder!” said Mr. Randolph Bunting—for the next-door neighbour instead of having convenient stone[14] steps had a high wall and a long wooden ladder, and it had often been pointed48 out by Mr. Bunting if ever an accident should happen to anyone there was that! In a moment it seems they had both flung off jacket and vest, collar, tie and shoes, and were running the neighbour’s ladder out into the water.
 
“Where did she go, Ded?” said Fred.
 
“Right out hea!” said Mr. Bunting, and to confirm his word there flashed again an arm and “something dark”—something which in the light of all that subsequently happened I am inclined to suppose was an unintentional exposure of the Lady’s tail.
 
Neither of the two gentlemen are expert swimmers—indeed so far as I can gather, Mr. Bunting in the excitement of the occasion forgot almost everything he had ever known of swimming—but they waded49 out valiantly50 one on each[15] side of the ladder, thrust it out before them and committed themselves to the deep, in a manner casting no discredit51 upon our nation and race.
 
Yet on the whole I think it is a matter for general congratulation that they were not engaged in the rescue of a genuinely drowning person. At the time of my enquiries whatever soreness of argument that may once have obtained between them had passed, and it is fairly clear that while Fred Bunting was engaged in swimming hard against the long side of the ladder and so causing it to rotate slowly on its axis52, Mr. Bunting had already swallowed a very considerable amount of sea-water and was kicking Fred in the chest with aimless vigour53. This he did, as he explains, “to get my legs down, you know. Something about that ladder, you know, and they would go up!”
 
And then quite unexpectedly the Sea[16] Lady appeared beside them. One lovely arm supported Mr. Bunting about the waist and the other was over the ladder. She did not appear at all pale or frightened or out of breath, Fred told me when I cross-examined him, though at the time he was too violently excited to note a detail of that sort. Indeed she smiled and spoke54 in an easy pleasant voice.
 
Cramp55,” she said, “I have cramp.” Both the men were convinced of that.
 
Mr. Bunting was on the point of telling her to hold tight and she would be quite safe, when a little wave went almost entirely56 into his mouth and reduced him to wild splutterings.
 
“We’ll get you in,” said Fred, or something of that sort, and so they all hung, bobbing in the water to the tune57 of Mr. Bunting’s trouble.
 
They seem to have rocked so for some time. Fred says the Sea Lady looked[17] calm but a little puzzled and that she seemed to measure the distance shoreward. “You mean to save me?” she asked him.
 
He was trying to think what could be done before his father drowned. “We’re saving you now,” he said.
 
“You’ll take me ashore58?”
 
As she seemed so cool he thought he would explain his plan of operations, “Trying to get—end of ladder—kick with my legs. Only a few yards out of our depth—if we could only——”
 
“Minute—get my breath—moufu’ sea-water,” said Mr. Bunting. Splash! wuff!…
 
And then it seemed to Fred that a little miracle happened. There was a swirl59 of the water like the swirl about a screw propeller60, and he gripped the Sea Lady and the ladder just in time, as it seemed to him, to prevent his being washed[18] far out into the Channel. His father vanished from his sight with an expression of astonishment61 just forming on his face and reappeared beside him, so far as back and legs are concerned, holding on to the ladder with a sort of death grip. And then behold62! They had shifted a dozen yards inshore, and they were in less than five feet of water and Fred could feel the ground.
 
At its touch his amazement63 and dismay immediately gave way to the purest heroism64. He thrust ladder and Sea Lady before him, abandoned the ladder and his now quite disordered parent, caught her tightly in his arms, and bore her up out of the water. The young ladies cried “Saved!” the maids cried “Saved!” Distant voices echoed “Saved, Hooray!” Everybody in fact cried “Saved!” except Mrs. Bunting, who was, she says, under the impression that Mr. Bunting was in a[19] fit, and Mr. Bunting, who seems to have been under an impression that all those laws of nature by which, under Providence65, we are permitted to float and swim, were in suspense66 and that the best thing to do was to kick very hard and fast until the end should come. But in a dozen seconds or so his head was up again and his feet were on the ground and he was making whale and walrus67 noises, and noises like a horse and like an angry cat and like sawing, and was wiping the water from his eyes; and Mrs. Bunting (except that now and then she really had to turn and say “Randolph!”) could give her attention to the beautiful burthen that clung about her son.
 
And it is a curious thing that the Sea Lady was at least a minute out of the water before anyone discovered that she was in any way different from—other ladies. I suppose they were all crowding[20] close to her and looking at her beautiful face, or perhaps they imagined that she was wearing some indiscreet but novel form of dark riding habit or something of that sort. Anyhow not one of them noticed it, although it must have been before their eyes as plain as day. Certainly it must have blended with the costume. And there they stood, imagining that Fred had rescued a lovely lady of indisputable fashion, who had been bathing from some neighbouring house, and wondering why on earth there was nobody on the beach to claim her. And she clung to Fred and, as Miss Mabel Glendower subsequently remarked in the course of conversation with him, Fred clung to her.
 
“I had cramp,” said the Sea Lady, with her lips against Fred’s cheek and one eye on Mrs. Bunting. “I am sure it was cramp.… I’ve got it still.”[21]
 
“I don’t see anybody—” began Mrs. Bunting.
 
“Please carry me in,” said the Sea Lady, closing her eyes as if she were ill—though her cheek was flushed and warm. “Carry me in.”
 
“Where?” gasped68 Fred.
 
“Carry me into the house,” she whispered to him.
 
“Which house?”
 
Mrs. Bunting came nearer.
 
“Your house,” said the Sea Lady, and shut her eyes for good and became oblivious69 to all further remarks.
 
“She— But I don’t understand—” said Mrs. Bunting, addressing everybody.…
 
And then it was they saw it. Nettie, the younger Miss Bunting, saw it first. She pointed, she says, before she could find words to speak. Then they all saw it! Miss Glendower, I believe, was the[22] person who was last to see it. At any rate it would have been like her if she had been.
 
“Mother,” said Nettie, giving words to the general horror. “Mother! She has a tail!”
 
And then the three maids and Mabel Glendower screamed one after the other. “Look!” they cried. “A tail!”
 
“Of all—” said Mrs. Bunting, and words failed her.
 
“Oh!” said Miss Glendower, and put her hand to her heart.
 
And then one of the maids gave it a name. “It’s a mermaid2!” screamed the maid, and then everyone screamed, “It’s a mermaid.”
 
Except the mermaid herself; she remained quite passive, pretending to be insensible partly on Fred’s shoulder and altogether in his arms.[23]
 
II
That, you know, is the tableau71 so far as I have been able to piece it together again. You must imagine this little knot of people upon the beach, and Mr. Bunting, I figure, a little apart, just wading72 out of the water and very wet and incredulous and half drowned. And the neighbour’s ladder was drifting quietly out to sea.
 
Of course it was one of those positions that have an air of being conspicuous73.
 
Indeed it was conspicuous. It was some way below high water and the group stood out perhaps thirty yards down the beach. Nobody, as Mrs. Bunting told my cousin Melville, knew a bit what to do and they all had even an exaggerated share of the national hatred74 of being seen in a puzzle. The mermaid seemed content to remain a beautiful problem clinging to Fred, and by all accounts[24] she was a reasonable burthen for a man. It seems that the very large family of people who were stopping at the house called Koot Hoomi had appeared in force, and they were all staring and gesticulating. They were just the sort of people the Buntings did not want to know—tradespeople very probably. Presently one of the men—the particularly vulgar man who used to shoot at the gulls—began putting down their ladder as if he intended to offer advice, and Mrs. Bunting also became aware of the black glare of the field glasses of a still more horrid75 man to the west.
 
Moreover the popular author who lived next door, an irascible dark square-headed little man in spectacles, suddenly turned up and began bawling76 from his inaccessible77 wall top something foolish about his ladder. Nobody thought of his silly ladder or took any trouble about it, naturally.[25] He was quite stupidly excited. To judge by his tone and gestures he was using dreadful language and seemed disposed every moment to jump down to the beach and come to them.
 
And then to crown the situation, over the westward78 groin appeared Low Excursionists!
 
First of all their heads came, and then their remarks. Then they began to clamber the breakwater with joyful79 shouts.
 
“Pip, Pip,” said the Low Excursionists as they climbed—it was the year of “pip, pip”—and, “What HO she bumps!” and then less generally, “What’s up ’ere?”
 
And the voices of other Low Excursionists still invisible answered, “Pip, Pip.”
 
It was evidently a large party.
 
“Anything wrong?” shouted one of the Low Excursionists at a venture.
 
“My dear!” said Mrs. Bunting to Mabel, “what are we to do?” And in[26] her description of the affair to my cousin Melville she used always to make that the clou of the story. “My DEAR! What ARE we to do?”
 
I believe that in her desperation she even glanced at the water. But of course to have put the mermaid back then would have involved the most terrible explanations.…
 
It was evident there was only one thing to be done. Mrs. Bunting said as much. “The only thing,” said she, “is to carry her indoors.”
 
And carry her indoors they did!…
 
One can figure the little procession. In front Fred, wet and astonished but still clinging and clung to, and altogether too out of breath for words. And in his arms the Sea Lady. She had a beautiful figure, I understand, until that horrible tail began (and the fin70 of it, Mrs. Bunting told my cousin in a whispered confidence, went up[27] and down and with pointed corners for all the world like a mackerel’s). It flopped80 and dripped along the path—I imagine. She was wearing a very nice and very long-skirted dress of red material trimmed with coarse white lace, and she had, Mabel told me, a gilet, though that would scarcely show as they went up the garden. And that Phrygian cap hid all her golden hair and showed the white, low, level forehead over her sea-blue eyes. From all that followed, I imagine her at the moment scanning the veranda81 and windows of the house with a certain eagerness of scrutiny82.
 
Behind this staggering group of two I believe Mrs. Bunting came. Then Mr. Bunting. Dreadfully wet and broken down Mr. Bunting must have been by then, and from one or two things I have noticed since, I can’t help imagining him as pursuing his wife with, “Of course, my dear, I couldn’t tell, you know!”[28]
 
And then, in a dismayed yet curious bunch, the girls in their wraps of towelling and the maids carrying the ropes and things and, as if inadvertently, as became them, most of Mr. and Fred Bunting’s clothes.
 
And then Miss Glendower, for once at least in no sort of pose whatever, clutching “Sir George Tressady” and perplexed83 and disturbed beyond measure.
 
And then, as it were pursuing them all, “Pip, pip,” and the hat and raised eyebrows84 of a Low Excursionist still anxious to know “What’s up?” from the garden end.
 
So it was, or at least in some such way, and to the accompaniment of the wildest ravings about some ladder or other heard all too distinctly over the garden wall—(“Overdressed Snobbs take my rare old English adjective ladder…!”)—that they carried the Sea Lady (who appeared[29] serenely85 insensible to everything) up through the house and laid her down upon the couch in Mrs. Bunting’s room.
 
And just as Miss Glendower was suggesting that the very best thing they could do would be to send for a doctor, the Sea Lady with a beautiful naturalness sighed and came to.

该作者的其它作品
摩洛博士岛 The Island of Doctor Moreau
The Passionate Friends深情的朋友

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 mermaids b00bb04c7ae7aa2a22172d2bf61ca849     
n.(传说中的)美人鱼( mermaid的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The high stern castle was a riot or carved gods, demons, knights, kings, warriors, mermaids, cherubs. 其尾部高耸的船楼上雕满了神仙、妖魔鬼怪、骑士、国王、勇士、美人鱼、天使。 来自辞典例句
  • This is why mermaids should never come on land. 这就是为什么人鱼不应该上岸的原因。 来自电影对白
2 mermaid pCbxH     
n.美人鱼
参考例句:
  • How popular would that girl be with the only mermaid mom!和人鱼妈妈在一起,那个女孩会有多受欢迎!
  • The little mermaid wasn't happy because she didn't want to wait.小美人鱼不太高兴,因为她等不及了。
3 immediate aapxh     
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
参考例句:
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
4 sedulous eZaxO     
adj.勤勉的,努力的
参考例句:
  • She is as gifted as sedulous.她不但有天赋,而且勤奋。
  • The young woman was so sedulous that she received a commendation for her hard work.年轻女性是如此孜孜不倦,她收到了表扬她的辛勤工作。
5 contrive GpqzY     
vt.谋划,策划;设法做到;设计,想出
参考例句:
  • Can you contrive to be here a little earlier?你能不能早一点来?
  • How could you contrive to make such a mess of things?你怎么把事情弄得一团糟呢?
6 motives 6c25d038886898b20441190abe240957     
n.动机,目的( motive的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
  • His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。
7 secrecy NZbxH     
n.秘密,保密,隐蔽
参考例句:
  • All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
  • Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。
8 pier U22zk     
n.码头;桥墩,桥柱;[建]窗间壁,支柱
参考例句:
  • The pier of the bridge has been so badly damaged that experts worry it is unable to bear weight.这座桥的桥桩破损厉害,专家担心它已不能负重。
  • The ship was making towards the pier.船正驶向码头。
9 villa xHayI     
n.别墅,城郊小屋
参考例句:
  • We rented a villa in France for the summer holidays.我们在法国租了一幢别墅消夏。
  • We are quartered in a beautiful villa.我们住在一栋漂亮的别墅里。
10 margin 67Mzp     
n.页边空白;差额;余地,余裕;边,边缘
参考例句:
  • We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
  • The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
11 affluence lx4zf     
n.充裕,富足
参考例句:
  • Their affluence is more apparent than real.他们的富有是虚有其表。
  • There is a lot of affluence in this part of the state because it has many businesses.这个州的这一部分相当富有,因为它有很多商行。
12 aristocrats 45f57328b4cffd28a78c031f142ec347     
n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Many aristocrats were killed in the French Revolution. 许多贵族在法国大革命中被处死。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • To the Guillotine all aristocrats! 把全部贵族都送上断头台! 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
13 unpaid fjEwu     
adj.未付款的,无报酬的
参考例句:
  • Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
  • He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。
14 herald qdCzd     
vt.预示...的来临,预告,宣布,欢迎
参考例句:
  • In England, the cuckoo is the herald of spring.在英国杜鹃鸟是报春的使者。
  • Dawn is the herald of day.曙光是白昼的先驱。
15 pretence pretence     
n.假装,作假;借口,口实;虚伪;虚饰
参考例句:
  • The government abandoned any pretence of reform. 政府不再装模作样地进行改革。
  • He made a pretence of being happy at the party.晚会上他假装很高兴。
16 snobbery bh6yE     
n. 充绅士气派, 俗不可耐的性格
参考例句:
  • Jocelyn accused Dexter of snobbery. 乔斯琳指责德克斯特势力。
  • Snobbery is not so common in English today as it was said fifty years ago. 如今"Snobbery"在英语中已不象50年前那么普遍使用。
17 homely Ecdxo     
adj.家常的,简朴的;不漂亮的
参考例句:
  • We had a homely meal of bread and cheese.我们吃了一顿面包加乳酪的家常便餐。
  • Come and have a homely meal with us,will you?来和我们一起吃顿家常便饭,好吗?
18 diffused 5aa05ed088f24537ef05f482af006de0     
散布的,普及的,扩散的
参考例句:
  • A drop of milk diffused in the water. 一滴牛奶在水中扩散开来。
  • Gases and liquids diffused. 气体和液体慢慢混合了。
19 addicted dzizmY     
adj.沉溺于....的,对...上瘾的
参考例句:
  • He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
  • She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。
20 brewing eaabd83324a59add9a6769131bdf81b5     
n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式
参考例句:
  • It was obvious that a big storm was brewing up. 很显然,一场暴风雨正在酝酿中。
  • She set about brewing some herb tea. 她动手泡一些药茶。
21 justified 7pSzrk     
a.正当的,有理的
参考例句:
  • She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
  • The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。
22 veins 65827206226d9e2d78ea2bfe697c6329     
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理
参考例句:
  • The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的,感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》
23 promising BkQzsk     
adj.有希望的,有前途的
参考例句:
  • The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
  • We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。
24 extravagant M7zya     
adj.奢侈的;过分的;(言行等)放肆的
参考例句:
  • They tried to please him with fulsome compliments and extravagant gifts.他们想用溢美之词和奢华的礼品来取悦他。
  • He is extravagant in behaviour.他行为放肆。
25 harry heBxS     
vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼
参考例句:
  • Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天,人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
  • Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。
26 versatile 4Lbzl     
adj.通用的,万用的;多才多艺的,多方面的
参考例句:
  • A versatile person is often good at a number of different things.多才多艺的人通常擅长许多种不同的事情。
  • He had been one of the game's most versatile athletes.他是这项运动中技术最全面的运动员之一。
27 distinguished wu9z3v     
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的
参考例句:
  • Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
  • A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。
28 frankly fsXzcf     
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
参考例句:
  • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
  • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说,我不反对改革。
29 evergreen mtFz78     
n.常青树;adj.四季常青的
参考例句:
  • Some trees are evergreen;they are called evergreen.有的树是常青的,被叫做常青树。
  • There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。
30 costly 7zXxh     
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的
参考例句:
  • It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
  • This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用,左不过贵了些。
31 socialists df381365b9fb326ee141e1afbdbf6e6c     
社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The socialists saw themselves as true heirs of the Enlightenment. 社会主义者认为自己是启蒙运动的真正继承者。
  • The Socialists junked dogma when they came to office in 1982. 社会党人1982年上台执政后,就把其政治信条弃之不顾。
32 muffled fnmzel     
adj.(声音)被隔的;听不太清的;(衣服)裹严的;蒙住的v.压抑,捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 );用厚厚的衣帽包着(自己)
参考例句:
  • muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
  • There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
33 hooded hooded     
adj.戴头巾的;有罩盖的;颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的
参考例句:
  • A hooded figure waited in the doorway. 一个戴兜帽的人在门口等候。
  • Black-eyed gipsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to tell fortunes. 黑眼睛的吉卜赛姑娘,用华丽的手巾包着头,突然地闯了进来替人算命。 来自辞典例句
34 interval 85kxY     
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息
参考例句:
  • The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
  • There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。
35 inordinately 272444323467c5583592cff7e97a03df     
adv.无度地,非常地
参考例句:
  • But if you are determined to accumulate wealth, it isn't inordinately difficult. 不过,如果你下决心要积累财富,事情也不是太难。 来自互联网
  • She was inordinately smart. 她非常聪明。 来自互联网
36 animated Cz7zMa     
adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的
参考例句:
  • His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
  • We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。
37 streaks a961fa635c402b4952940a0218464c02     
n.(与周围有所不同的)条纹( streak的名词复数 );(通常指不好的)特征(倾向);(不断经历成功或失败的)一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 );使布满条纹
参考例句:
  • streaks of grey in her hair 她头上的绺绺白发
  • Bacon has streaks of fat and streaks of lean. 咸肉中有几层肥的和几层瘦的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
38 apparition rM3yR     
n.幽灵,神奇的现象
参考例句:
  • He saw the apparition of his dead wife.他看见了他亡妻的幽灵。
  • But the terror of this new apparition brought me to a stand.这新出现的幽灵吓得我站在那里一动也不敢动。
39 furtive kz9yJ     
adj.鬼鬼崇崇的,偷偷摸摸的
参考例句:
  • The teacher was suspicious of the student's furtive behaviour during the exam.老师怀疑这个学生在考试时有偷偷摸摸的行为。
  • His furtive behaviour aroused our suspicion.他鬼鬼祟祟的行为引起了我们的怀疑。
40 penetrating ImTzZS     
adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的
参考例句:
  • He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
  • He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。
41 gracefully KfYxd     
ad.大大方方地;优美地
参考例句:
  • She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
  • The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。
42 inspection y6TxG     
n.检查,审查,检阅
参考例句:
  • On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查,发现肉变质了。
  • The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。
43 flop sjsx2     
n.失败(者),扑通一声;vi.笨重地行动,沉重地落下
参考例句:
  • The fish gave a flop and landed back in the water.鱼扑通一声又跳回水里。
  • The marketing campaign was a flop.The product didn't sell.市场宣传彻底失败,产品卖不出去。
44 proceeding Vktzvu     
n.行动,进行,(pl.)会议录,学报
参考例句:
  • This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
  • The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。
45 cowering 48e9ec459e33cd232bc581fbd6a3f22d     
v.畏缩,抖缩( cower的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • He turned his baleful glare on the cowering suspect. 他恶毒地盯着那个蜷缩成一团的嫌疑犯。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He stood over the cowering Herb with fists of fury. 他紧握着两个拳头怒气冲天地站在惊魂未定的赫伯面前。 来自辞典例句
46 descended guQzoy     
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的
参考例句:
  • A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
  • The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。
47 resolute 2sCyu     
adj.坚决的,果敢的
参考例句:
  • He was resolute in carrying out his plan.他坚决地实行他的计划。
  • The Egyptians offered resolute resistance to the aggressors.埃及人对侵略者作出坚决的反抗。
48 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
49 waded e8d8bc55cdc9612ad0bc65820a4ceac6     
(从水、泥等)蹚,走过,跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She tucked up her skirt and waded into the river. 她撩起裙子蹚水走进河里。
  • He waded into the water to push the boat out. 他蹚进水里把船推出来。
50 valiantly valiantly     
adv.勇敢地,英勇地;雄赳赳
参考例句:
  • He faced the enemy valiantly, shuned no difficulties and dangers and would not hesitate to lay down his life if need be. 他英勇对敌,不避艰险,赴汤蹈火在所不计。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Murcertach strove valiantly to meet the new order of things. 面对这个新事态,默克塔克英勇奋斗。 来自辞典例句
51 discredit fu3xX     
vt.使不可置信;n.丧失信义;不信,怀疑
参考例句:
  • Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
  • They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。
52 axis sdXyz     
n.轴,轴线,中心线;坐标轴,基准线
参考例句:
  • The earth's axis is the line between the North and South Poles.地轴是南北极之间的线。
  • The axis of a circle is its diameter.圆的轴线是其直径。
53 vigour lhtwr     
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力
参考例句:
  • She is full of vigour and enthusiasm.她有热情,有朝气。
  • At 40,he was in his prime and full of vigour.他40岁时正年富力强。
54 spoke XryyC     
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
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
55 cramp UoczE     
n.痉挛;[pl.](腹)绞痛;vt.限制,束缚
参考例句:
  • Winston stopped writing,partly because he was suffering from cramp.温斯顿驻了笔,手指也写麻了。
  • The swimmer was seized with a cramp and had to be helped out of the water.那个在游泳的人突然抽起筋来,让别人帮着上了岸。
56 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
57 tune NmnwW     
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整
参考例句:
  • He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子,并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
  • The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。
58 ashore tNQyT     
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸
参考例句:
  • The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前,孩子们就上岸了。
  • He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。
59 swirl cgcyu     
v.(使)打漩,(使)涡卷;n.漩涡,螺旋形
参考例句:
  • The car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust.汽车在一股粉红色尘土的漩涡中颠簸着快速前进。
  • You could lie up there,watching the flakes swirl past.你可以躺在那儿,看着雪花飘飘。
60 propeller tRVxe     
n.螺旋桨,推进器
参考例句:
  • The propeller started to spin around.螺旋桨开始飞快地旋转起来。
  • A rope jammed the boat's propeller.一根绳子卡住了船的螺旋桨。
61 astonishment VvjzR     
n.惊奇,惊异
参考例句:
  • They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
  • I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。
62 behold jQKy9     
v.看,注视,看到
参考例句:
  • The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
  • The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。
63 amazement 7zlzBK     
n.惊奇,惊讶
参考例句:
  • All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
  • He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。
64 heroism 5dyx0     
n.大无畏精神,英勇
参考例句:
  • He received a medal for his heroism.他由于英勇而获得一枚奖章。
  • Stories of his heroism resounded through the country.他的英雄故事传遍全国。
65 providence 8tdyh     
n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝
参考例句:
  • It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
  • To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事,是违背上帝的意志的。
66 suspense 9rJw3     
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑
参考例句:
  • The suspense was unbearable.这样提心吊胆的状况实在叫人受不了。
  • The director used ingenious devices to keep the audience in suspense.导演用巧妙手法引起观众的悬念。
67 walrus hMSzp     
n.海象
参考例句:
  • He is the queer old duck with the knee-length gaiters and walrus mustache.他穿着高及膝盖的皮护腿,留着海象般的八字胡,真是个古怪的老家伙。
  • He seemed hardly to notice the big walrus.他几乎没有注意到那只大海象。
68 gasped e6af294d8a7477229d6749fa9e8f5b80     
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要
参考例句:
  • She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
  • People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
69 oblivious Y0Byc     
adj.易忘的,遗忘的,忘却的,健忘的
参考例句:
  • Mother has become quite oblivious after the illness.这次病后,妈妈变得特别健忘。
  • He was quite oblivious of the danger.他完全没有察觉到危险。
70 fin qkexO     
n.鳍;(飞机的)安定翼
参考例句:
  • They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
  • The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。
71 tableau nq0wi     
n.画面,活人画(舞台上活人扮的静态画面)
参考例句:
  • The movie was a tableau of a soldier's life.这部电影的画面生动地描绘了军人的生活。
  • History is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.历史不过是由罪恶和灾难构成的静止舞台造型罢了。
72 wading 0fd83283f7380e84316a66c449c69658     
(从水、泥等)蹚,走过,跋( wade的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The man tucked up his trousers for wading. 那人卷起裤子,准备涉水。
  • The children were wading in the sea. 孩子们在海水中走着。
73 conspicuous spszE     
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的
参考例句:
  • It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显,抽烟对健康有害。
  • Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。
74 hatred T5Gyg     
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨
参考例句:
  • He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
  • The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。
75 horrid arozZj     
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的
参考例句:
  • I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
  • The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃,她咽不下去。
76 bawling e2721b3f95f01146f848648232396282     
v.大叫,大喊( bawl的现在分词 );放声大哭;大声叫出;叫卖(货物)
参考例句:
  • We heard the dulcet tones of the sergeant, bawling at us to get on parade. 我们听到中士用“悦耳”的声音向我们大喊,让我们跟上队伍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • "Why are you bawling at me? “你向我们吼啥子? 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
77 inaccessible 49Nx8     
adj.达不到的,难接近的
参考例句:
  • This novel seems to me among the most inaccessible.这本书对我来说是最难懂的小说之一。
  • The top of Mount Everest is the most inaccessible place in the world.珠穆朗玛峰是世界上最难到达的地方。
78 westward XIvyz     
n.西方,西部;adj.西方的,向西的;adv.向西
参考例句:
  • We live on the westward slope of the hill.我们住在这座山的西山坡。
  • Explore westward or wherever.向西或到什么别的地方去勘探。
79 joyful N3Fx0     
adj.欢乐的,令人欢欣的
参考例句:
  • She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
  • They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。
80 flopped e5b342a0b376036c32e5cd7aa560c15e     
v.(指书、戏剧等)彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 );(因疲惫而)猛然坐下;(笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地)移动或落下;砸锅
参考例句:
  • Exhausted, he flopped down into a chair. 他筋疲力尽,一屁股坐到椅子上。
  • It was a surprise to us when his play flopped. 他那出戏一败涂地,出乎我们的预料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
81 veranda XfczWG     
n.走廊;阳台
参考例句:
  • She sat in the shade on the veranda.她坐在阳台上的遮荫处。
  • They were strolling up and down the veranda.他们在走廊上来回徜徉。
82 scrutiny ZDgz6     
n.详细检查,仔细观察
参考例句:
  • His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好,但是经不起仔细检查。
  • Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。
83 perplexed A3Rz0     
adj.不知所措的
参考例句:
  • The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛,走了又回来,犹豫不决,总怕上当受骗。
  • The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。
84 eyebrows a0e6fb1330e9cfecfd1c7a4d00030ed5     
眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
  • His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。
85 serenely Bi5zpo     
adv.安详地,宁静地,平静地
参考例句:
  • The boat sailed serenely on towards the horizon.小船平稳地向着天水交接处驶去。
  • It was a serenely beautiful night.那是一个宁静美丽的夜晚。


欢迎访问英文小说网

©英文小说网 2005-2010

有任何问题,请给我们留言,管理员邮箱:[email protected]  站长QQ :点击发送消息和我们联系56065533