“I have already told you with what care they look after their sick, so that nothing is left undone7 that can contribute either to their ease or health; and for those who are taken with fixed8 and incurable9 diseases, they use all possible ways to cherish them and to make their lives as comfortable as possible. They visit them often and take great pains to make their time pass off easily; but when any is taken with a torturing and lingering pain, so that there is no hope either of recovery or ease, the priests and magistrates10 come and exhort11 them, that, since they are now unable to go on with the business of life, are become a burden to themselves and to all about them, and they have really out-lived themselves, they should no longer nourish such a rooted distemper, but choose rather to die since they cannot live but in much misery12; being assured that if they thus deliver themselves from torture, or are willing that others should do it, they shall be happy after death: since, by their acting13 thus, they lose none of the pleasures, but only the troubles of life, they think they behave not only reasonably but in a manner consistent with religion and piety14; because they follow the advice given them by their priests, who are the expounders of the will of God. Such as are wrought15 on by these persuasions16 either starve themselves of their own accord, or take opium17, and by that means die without pain. But no man is forced on this way of ending his life; and if they cannot be persuaded to it, this does not induce them to fail in their attendance and care of them: but as they believe that a voluntary death, when it is chosen upon such an authority, is very honourable18, so if any man takes away his own life without the approbation19 of the priests and the senate, they give him none of the honours of a decent funeral, but throw his body into a ditch.
“Their women are not married before eighteen nor their men before two-and-twenty, and if any of them run into forbidden embraces before marriage they are severely20 punished, and the privilege of marriage is denied them unless they can obtain a special warrant from the Prince. Such disorders21 cast a great reproach upon the master and mistress of the family in which they happen, for it is supposed that they have failed in their duty. The reason of punishing this so severely is, because they think that if they were not strictly22 restrained from all vagrant23 appetites, very few would engage in a state in which they venture the quiet of their whole lives, by being confined to one person, and are obliged to endure all the inconveniences with which it is accompanied. In choosing their wives they use a method that would appear to us very absurd and ridiculous, but it is constantly observed among them, and is accounted perfectly24 consistent with wisdom. Before marriage some grave matron presents the bride, naked, whether she is a virgin25 or a widow, to the bridegroom, and after that some grave man presents the bridegroom, naked, to the bride. We, indeed, both laughed at this, and condemned it as very indecent. But they, on the other hand, wondered at the folly26 of the men of all other nations, who, if they are but to buy a horse of a small value, are so cautious that they will see every part of him, and take off both his saddle and all his other tackle, that there may be no secret ulcer27 hid under any of them, and that yet in the choice of a wife, on which depends the happiness or unhappiness of the rest of his life, a man should venture upon trust, and only see about a handsbreadth of the face, all the rest of the body being covered, under which may lie hid what may be contagious28 as well as loathsome29. All men are not so wise as to choose a woman only for her good qualities, and even wise men consider the body as that which adds not a little to the mind, and it is certain there may be some such deformity covered with clothes as may totally alienate30 a man from his wife, when it is too late to part with her; if such a thing is discovered after marriage a man has no remedy but patience; they, therefore, think it is reasonable that there should be good provision made against such mischievous31 frauds.
“There was so much the more reason for them to make a regulation in this matter, because they are the only people of those parts that neither allow of polygamy nor of divorces, except in the case of adultery or insufferable perverseness32, for in these cases the Senate dissolves the marriage and grants the injured person leave to marry again; but the guilty are made infamous33 and are never allowed the privilege of a second marriage. None are suffered to put away their wives against their wills, from any great calamity34 that may have fallen on their persons, for they look on it as the height of cruelty and treachery to abandon either of the married persons when they need most the tender care of their consort35, and that chiefly in the case of old age, which, as it carries many diseases along with it, so it is a disease of itself. But it frequently falls out that when a married couple do not well agree, they, by mutual36 consent, separate, and find out other persons with whom they hope they may live more happily; yet this is not done without obtaining leave of the Senate, which never admits of a divorce but upon a strict inquiry37 made, both by the senators and their wives, into the grounds upon which it is desired, and even when they are satisfied concerning the reasons of it they go on but slowly, for they imagine that too great easiness in granting leave for new marriages would very much shake the kindness of married people. They punish severely those that defile38 the marriage bed; if both parties are married they are divorced, and the injured persons may marry one another, or whom they please, but the adulterer and the adulteress are condemned to slavery, yet if either of the injured persons cannot shake off the love of the married person they may live with them still in that state, but they must follow them to that labour to which the slaves are condemned, and sometimes the repentance39 of the condemned, together with the unshaken kindness of the innocent and injured person, has prevailed so far with the Prince that he has taken off the sentence; but those that relapse after they are once pardoned are punished with death.
“Their law does not determine the punishment for other crimes, but that is left to the Senate, to temper it according to the circumstances of the fact. Husbands have power to correct their wives and parents to chastise40 their children, unless the fault is so great that a public punishment is thought necessary for striking terror into others. For the most part slavery is the punishment even of the greatest crimes, for as that is no less terrible to the criminals themselves than death, so they think the preserving them in a state of servitude is more for the interest of the commonwealth41 than killing42 them, since, as their labour is a greater benefit to the public than their death could be, so the sight of their misery is a more lasting43 terror to other men than that which would be given by their death. If their slaves rebel, and will not bear their yoke44 and submit to the labour that is enjoined45 them, they are treated as wild beasts that cannot be kept in order, neither by a prison nor by their chains, and are at last put to death. But those who bear their punishment patiently, and are so much wrought on by that pressure that lies so hard on them, that it appears they are really more troubled for the crimes they have committed than for the miseries46 they suffer, are not out of hope, but that, at last, either the Prince will, by his prerogative47, or the people, by their intercession, restore them again to their liberty, or, at least, very much mitigate48 their slavery. He that tempts49 a married woman to adultery is no less severely punished than he that commits it, for they believe that a deliberate design to commit a crime is equal to the fact itself, since its not taking effect does not make the person that miscarried in his attempt at all the less guilty.
“They take great pleasure in fools, and as it is thought a base and unbecoming thing to use them ill, so they do not think it amiss for people to divert themselves with their folly; and, in their opinion, this is a great advantage to the fools themselves; for if men were so sullen50 and severe as not at all to please themselves with their ridiculous behaviour and foolish sayings, which is all that they can do to recommend themselves to others, it could not be expected that they would be so well provided for nor so tenderly used as they must otherwise be. If any man should reproach another for his being misshaped or imperfect in any part of his body, it would not at all be thought a reflection on the person so treated, but it would be accounted scandalous in him that had upbraided51 another with what he could not help. It is thought a sign of a sluggish52 and sordid53 mind not to preserve carefully one’s natural beauty; but it is likewise infamous among them to use paint. They all see that no beauty recommends a wife so much to her husband as the probity54 of her life and her obedience55; for as some few are caught and held only by beauty, so all are attracted by the other excellences56 which charm all the world.
“As they fright men from committing crimes by punishments, so they invite them to the love of virtue57 by public honours; therefore they erect58 statues to the memories of such worthy men as have deserved well of their country, and set these in their market-places, both to perpetuate59 the remembrance of their actions and to be an incitement60 to their posterity61 to follow their example.
“If any man aspires62 to any office he is sure never to compass it. They all live easily together, for none of the magistrates are either insolent63 or cruel to the people; they affect rather to be called fathers, and, by being really so, they well deserve the name; and the people pay them all the marks of honour the more freely because none are exacted from them. The Prince himself has no distinction, either of garments or of a crown; but is only distinguished64 by a sheaf of corn carried before him; as the High Priest is also known by his being preceded by a person carrying a wax light.
“They have but few laws, and such is their constitution that they need not many. They very much condemn2 other nations whose laws, together with the commentaries on them, swell65 up to so many volumes; for they think it an unreasonable66 thing to oblige men to obey a body of laws that are both of such a bulk, and so dark as not to be read and understood by every one of the subjects.
“They have no lawyers among them, for they consider them as a sort of people whose profession it is to disguise matters and to wrest67 the laws, and, therefore, they think it is much better that every man should plead his own cause, and trust it to the judge, as in other places the client trusts it to a counsellor; by this means they both cut off many delays and find out truth more certainly; for after the parties have laid open the merits of the cause, without those artifices68 which lawyers are apt to suggest, the judge examines the whole matter, and supports the simplicity69 of such well-meaning persons, whom otherwise crafty70 men would be sure to run down; and thus they avoid those evils which appear very remarkably71 among all those nations that labour under a vast load of laws. Every one of them is skilled in their law; for, as it is a very short study, so the plainest meaning of which words are capable is always the sense of their laws; and they argue thus: all laws are promulgated72 for this end, that every man may know his duty; and, therefore, the plainest and most obvious sense of the words is that which ought to be put upon them, since a more refined exposition cannot be easily comprehended, and would only serve to make the laws become useless to the greater part of mankind, and especially to those who need most the direction of them; for it is all one not to make a law at all or to couch it in such terms that, without a quick apprehension73 and much study, a man cannot find out the true meaning of it, since the generality of mankind are both so dull, and so much employed in their several trades, that they have neither the leisure nor the capacity requisite74 for such an inquiry.
“Some of their neighbours, who are masters of their own liberties (having long ago, by the assistance of the Utopians, shaken off the yoke of tyranny, and being much taken with those virtues75 which they observe among them), have come to desire that they would send magistrates to govern them, some changing them every year, and others every five years; at the end of their government they bring them back to Utopia, with great expressions of honour and esteem76, and carry away others to govern in their stead. In this they seem to have fallen upon a very good expedient77 for their own happiness and safety; for since the good or ill condition of a nation depends so much upon their magistrates, they could not have made a better choice than by pitching on men whom no advantages can bias78; for wealth is of no use to them, since they must so soon go back to their own country, and they, being strangers among them, are not engaged in any of their heats or animosities; and it is certain that when public judicatories are swayed, either by avarice79 or partial affections, there must follow a dissolution of justice, the chief sinew of society.
“The Utopians call those nations that come and ask magistrates from them Neighbours; but those to whom they have been of more particular service, Friends; and as all other nations are perpetually either making leagues or breaking them, they never enter into an alliance with any state. They think leagues are useless things, and believe that if the common ties of humanity do not knit men together, the faith of promises will have no great effect; and they are the more confirmed in this by what they see among the nations round about them, who are no strict observers of leagues and treaties. We know how religiously they are observed in Europe, more particularly where the Christian80 doctrine81 is received, among whom they are sacred and inviolable! which is partly owing to the justice and goodness of the princes themselves, and partly to the reverence82 they pay to the popes, who, as they are the most religious observers of their own promises, so they exhort all other princes to perform theirs, and, when fainter methods do not prevail, they compel them to it by the severity of the pastoral censure83, and think that it would be the most indecent thing possible if men who are particularly distinguished by the title of ‘The Faithful’ should not religiously keep the faith of their treaties. But in that new-found world, which is not more distant from us in situation than the people are in their manners and course of life, there is no trusting to leagues, even though they were made with all the pomp of the most sacred ceremonies; on the contrary, they are on this account the sooner broken, some slight pretence84 being found in the words of the treaties, which are purposely couched in such ambiguous terms that they can never be so strictly bound but they will always find some loophole to escape at, and thus they break both their leagues and their faith; and this is done with such impudence85, that those very men who value themselves on having suggested these expedients86 to their princes would, with a haughty87 scorn, declaim against such craft; or, to speak plainer, such fraud and deceit, if they found private men make use of it in their bargains, and would readily say that they deserved to be hanged.
“By this means it is that all sort of justice passes in the world for a low-spirited and vulgar virtue, far below the dignity of royal greatness—or at least there are set up two sorts of justice; the one is mean and creeps on the ground, and, therefore, becomes none but the lower part of mankind, and so must be kept in severely by many restraints, that it may not break out beyond the bounds that are set to it; the other is the peculiar88 virtue of princes, which, as it is more majestic89 than that which becomes the rabble90, so takes a freer compass, and thus lawful91 and unlawful are only measured by pleasure and interest. These practices of the princes that lie about Utopia, who make so little account of their faith, seem to be the reasons that determine them to engage in no confederacy. Perhaps they would change their mind if they lived among us; but yet, though treaties were more religiously observed, they would still dislike the custom of making them, since the world has taken up a false maxim92 upon it, as if there were no tie of nature uniting one nation to another, only separated perhaps by a mountain or a river, and that all were born in a state of hostility93, and so might lawfully94 do all that mischief95 to their neighbours against which there is no provision made by treaties; and that when treaties are made they do not cut off the enmity or restrain the licence of preying96 upon each other, if, by the unskilfulness of wording them, there are not effectual provisoes made against them; they, on the other hand, judge that no man is to be esteemed97 our enemy that has never injured us, and that the partnership98 of human nature is instead of a league; and that kindness and good nature unite men more effectually and with greater strength than any agreements whatsoever99, since thereby100 the engagements of men’s hearts become stronger than the bond and obligation of words.
点击收听单词发音
1 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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2 condemn | |
vt.谴责,指责;宣判(罪犯),判刑 | |
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3 redeem | |
v.买回,赎回,挽回,恢复,履行(诺言等) | |
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4 profligate | |
adj.行为不检的;n.放荡的人,浪子,肆意挥霍者 | |
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5 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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6 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
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7 undone | |
a.未做完的,未完成的 | |
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8 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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9 incurable | |
adj.不能医治的,不能矫正的,无救的;n.不治的病人,无救的人 | |
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10 magistrates | |
地方法官,治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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11 exhort | |
v.规劝,告诫 | |
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12 misery | |
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦 | |
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13 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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14 piety | |
n.虔诚,虔敬 | |
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15 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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16 persuasions | |
n.劝说,说服(力)( persuasion的名词复数 );信仰 | |
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17 opium | |
n.鸦片;adj.鸦片的 | |
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18 honourable | |
adj.可敬的;荣誉的,光荣的 | |
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19 approbation | |
n.称赞;认可 | |
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20 severely | |
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
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21 disorders | |
n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 );凌乱;骚乱;(身心、机能)失调 | |
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22 strictly | |
adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
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23 vagrant | |
n.流浪者,游民;adj.流浪的,漂泊不定的 | |
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24 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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25 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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26 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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27 ulcer | |
n.溃疡,腐坏物 | |
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28 contagious | |
adj.传染性的,有感染力的 | |
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29 loathsome | |
adj.讨厌的,令人厌恶的 | |
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30 alienate | |
vt.使疏远,离间;转让(财产等) | |
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31 mischievous | |
adj.调皮的,恶作剧的,有害的,伤人的 | |
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32 perverseness | |
n. 乖张, 倔强, 顽固 | |
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33 infamous | |
adj.声名狼藉的,臭名昭著的,邪恶的 | |
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34 calamity | |
n.灾害,祸患,不幸事件 | |
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35 consort | |
v.相伴;结交 | |
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36 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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37 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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38 defile | |
v.弄污,弄脏;n.(山间)小道 | |
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39 repentance | |
n.懊悔 | |
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40 chastise | |
vt.责骂,严惩 | |
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41 commonwealth | |
n.共和国,联邦,共同体 | |
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42 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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43 lasting | |
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持 | |
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44 yoke | |
n.轭;支配;v.给...上轭,连接,使成配偶 | |
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45 enjoined | |
v.命令( enjoin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46 miseries | |
n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 );痛苦的事;穷困;常发牢骚的人 | |
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47 prerogative | |
n.特权 | |
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48 mitigate | |
vt.(使)减轻,(使)缓和 | |
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49 tempts | |
v.引诱或怂恿(某人)干不正当的事( tempt的第三人称单数 );使想要 | |
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50 sullen | |
adj.愠怒的,闷闷不乐的,(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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51 upbraided | |
v.责备,申斥,谴责( upbraid的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52 sluggish | |
adj.懒惰的,迟钝的,无精打采的 | |
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53 sordid | |
adj.肮脏的,不干净的,卑鄙的,暗淡的 | |
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54 probity | |
n.刚直;廉洁,正直 | |
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55 obedience | |
n.服从,顺从 | |
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56 excellences | |
n.卓越( excellence的名词复数 );(只用于所修饰的名词后)杰出的;卓越的;出类拔萃的 | |
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57 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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58 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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59 perpetuate | |
v.使永存,使永记不忘 | |
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60 incitement | |
激励; 刺激; 煽动; 激励物 | |
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61 posterity | |
n.后裔,子孙,后代 | |
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62 aspires | |
v.渴望,追求( aspire的第三人称单数 ) | |
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63 insolent | |
adj.傲慢的,无理的 | |
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64 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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65 swell | |
vi.膨胀,肿胀;增长,增强 | |
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66 unreasonable | |
adj.不讲道理的,不合情理的,过度的 | |
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67 wrest | |
n.扭,拧,猛夺;v.夺取,猛扭,歪曲 | |
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68 artifices | |
n.灵巧( artifice的名词复数 );诡计;巧妙办法;虚伪行为 | |
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69 simplicity | |
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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70 crafty | |
adj.狡猾的,诡诈的 | |
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71 remarkably | |
ad.不同寻常地,相当地 | |
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72 promulgated | |
v.宣扬(某事物)( promulgate的过去式和过去分词 );传播;公布;颁布(法令、新法律等) | |
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73 apprehension | |
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑 | |
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74 requisite | |
adj.需要的,必不可少的;n.必需品 | |
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75 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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76 esteem | |
n.尊敬,尊重;vt.尊重,敬重;把…看作 | |
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77 expedient | |
adj.有用的,有利的;n.紧急的办法,权宜之计 | |
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78 bias | |
n.偏见,偏心,偏袒;vt.使有偏见 | |
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79 avarice | |
n.贪婪;贪心 | |
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80 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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81 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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82 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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83 censure | |
v./n.责备;非难;责难 | |
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84 pretence | |
n.假装,作假;借口,口实;虚伪;虚饰 | |
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85 impudence | |
n.厚颜无耻;冒失;无礼 | |
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86 expedients | |
n.应急有效的,权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 ) | |
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87 haughty | |
adj.傲慢的,高傲的 | |
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88 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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89 majestic | |
adj.雄伟的,壮丽的,庄严的,威严的,崇高的 | |
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90 rabble | |
n.乌合之众,暴民;下等人 | |
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91 lawful | |
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的 | |
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92 maxim | |
n.格言,箴言 | |
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93 hostility | |
n.敌对,敌意;抵制[pl.]交战,战争 | |
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94 lawfully | |
adv.守法地,合法地;合理地 | |
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95 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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96 preying | |
v.掠食( prey的现在分词 );掠食;折磨;(人)靠欺诈为生 | |
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97 esteemed | |
adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 );敬重;认为;以为 | |
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98 partnership | |
n.合作关系,伙伴关系 | |
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99 whatsoever | |
adv.(用于否定句中以加强语气)任何;pron.无论什么 | |
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100 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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