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CHAPTER VI
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 It is a great mistake to suppose that assertiveness1 is the only mannish trait taken on by successful women, nor is pliability2 the only feminine mark they lose. By what insensible degrees it came about I do not know, but I found myself on the peak of popularity, very much of the male propensity3 to be beguiled4. I was willing to be played upon, and so it was skilfully5 done, to concede to it more than the situation had a right to claim for itself. I pulled myself up afterward6, or was pulled up by the sharp rein7 of destiny, but for the time, while my success was new, I was aware not only of the possibility of my being handled, but of my luxuriating in it, of demanding it as the price of my favour, and in particular, of valuing Polatkin for the way in which, by my own moods, my drops and exaltations he brought me to his hand.
 
How much of the fact of my private life he was really acquainted with, I never knew, but he understood enough of its reaction to make even my resistences serve to push me on to the assured position of a theatre and a clientele of my own. It stood out for me as he described it, not so much as a means of dividing me from my beloved, but as a new and completer way of loving. I wanted more ways for that, space and opportunity. I wished to lay my gift down, a royal carpet for Helmeth Garrett to walk on; I would have done anything for him with it except surrender it. Not the least thing that came of my condition was the extraordinary florescence of my art.
 
Every night as I drew its rich and shining fabric8 about me I was aware of all forms and passions, the mere9 masquerade of our delight in one another. Every night I embroidered10 it anew, I adored and caressed11 him with my skill. Polatkin went about wringing12 his hands over it.
 
"You are a Wonder, a Wonder! And you are wasting it on them swine." That was his opinion of my support. "And to think you could have a theatre of your own, and what you like——"
 
"A theatre like me—Me spread over it, expressed, exemplified, carried out to the least detail?"
 
"You shall have it even in the box office!" he responded magnificently.
 
"How soon?"
 
"I will bring the plans this afternoon; I got 'em ready in case you came around." But he was much too intelligent to undertake to bind13 me to them at that juncture14.
 
Things went on like this until the last week in November, then I had a telegram from Helmeth saying that he would be detained still longer. Every pulse of me had so been set to his coming on the twenty-seventh that I thought I should not be able to go on after that, I should go out like a light when the current is stopped. I had so little of him, not even a photograph, nothing but my ring and a few trinkets he had bought me in Italy. If I could have had a garment he had worn, a chair in which he had sat ... I went round and looked at the Astor House, because he told me that he had stopped there once, years ago.
 
I stood that for three days and then I went down to New Rochelle where he had written me earlier, his girls were at school; not on my own account, you understand, but as a possible patron of the school on behalf of my niece, who was, if the truth must be told, less than two years old. While I was being shown about, I had Helmeth's children pointed15 out to me. They looked, as I had surmised16, like their mother. If they had in the least resembled their father I should have snatched them to me. Everything might have turned out quite differently. They were, the principal said, nice girls and studious, but they did not look in the least like their father.
 
It was one of those dark, gusty17 days that come at the end of November, damp without rain, and of a penetrating18 cold. There had been a great storm at sea lately and you could hear the wash of its disturbances19 all along the Sound. There was no steady wind, but now and then the damp air gave a flap like an idle wing. It was like the stir in me of a formless, cold desire, not equal to the demand Life was about to make on it. As I turned into the station road after a formal inspection20 of the premises21, I met the girls coming back from their afternoon walk with the teachers, two and two. The Garrett girls were next to the last, they were very near of an age; I waited half hidden by a tree to watch them as they passed.
 
They were well covered up from the weather in large blue coats with capes22, and blue felt hats with butterfly bows to match at the ends of their flaxen braids. They looked like their mother ... I couldn't see them growing up to anything that would fit with Sarah and Jerry and Polatkin. The wing of the wind shook out some gathered drops of moisture as they passed, the branches of the trees clashed softly together, and as they turned into the grounds I noticed that the older one had something in her walk that reminded me of her father.
 
I was pierced through with a formless jealousy23 of the woman who had borne them in her body. I was moved, but not with the impulse to draw them to my bosom24. I felt back in the place where my boy had been, for the connecting link of motherliness and failed to find it. I had had it once, that knowledge of what is good to be done for small children and the wish to do it, but it was gone from me. It was as though I might have had a hand or a claw, any prehensile25 organ by which such things are apprehended26, and when I reached it out after Helmeth's children it was withered27.
 
What I found in myself was the familiar attitude of the stage. I could have acted what swept through me then, I could have brought you to tears by it, but there was nothing I could do about it but act. I wrote Helmeth that night that I had seen the children and then I burned the letter.
 
He came at last. He was greatly concerned about his enterprise which was not yet established on that footing which he would like to have for it, and I think it was a relief to him to have me without the conventions and readjustments of marriage. It was tacitly understood between us that things were better as they were until that business was settled. I think he could not have had a great deal of money at the time; all that racing28 to and fro between London and Mexico must have cost something. His anxiety about the girls, which occasioned his sending them to the most expensive schools, and his affection for them, which led to their being carted about by their aunt to meet him occasionally at far-called places, was an additional drain.
 
We were very happy; there is nothing whatever to tell about it. We met in brief intervals29 snatched from our work and did as other lovers do. Sometimes he would come for me at the theatre—the freshness of my acting30 never palled31 on him. Other times I would find him waiting for me in the little flat I had expressly chosen and furnished to be loved in. The pricking32 warmth of his presence would meet me as I came up the stair. Not long ago I found myself unexpectedly in a part of the city where we used to walk because we were certain not to meet any of our friends there. There was a tiny café where we used often to dine, and the memory of it swept over me terrifyingly fresh and strong.
 
With all this, it was plain that we got on best when we were most alone. It was not that I did not every way like and was interested in the friends he introduced to me, outdoor men most of them, and their large-minded, capable wives. I got on with them tremendously, and found them as good for me as green food in the spring, sated as I was on the combined product of professionalism and temperament33. It was chiefly that the simplicity34 and openness of their lives brought out for him the duplicity that lay at the bottom of ours. For it was plain that they wouldn't have understood, wouldn't have thought it necessary. They could have faced, those women, strange lands and untoward35 happenings, had many of them faced sterner things for the sake of their husbands, with the same courage and selflessness with which they would in my circumstances, have faced renunciation.
 
It was the realization36 of this, so much sharper in him who had seen and known, that checked and harassed37 Helmeth; he wished to be at one with them, to be felicitated on my success and my charm, to include me if only by implication, in that community of adventure with which these mining and engineering folk had ringed the earth. And the necessity of holding our relation down to the outward forms of friendship established on the supposition of our having grown up together, fretted38 him.
 
"It isn't honest," he broke out once after he had tried to persuade me to let him tell his friends that we were engaged. "It's all right between us; you are my wife in the sight of whatever gods there are, but that isn't what other people would call you."
 
"Somehow, Helmeth, so long as it is with you, I don't care much what they call me."
 
"Well, I care; I care a lot. You don't seem to remember you are going to be my girls' mother—sons' too, I hope. We ought to have some more children; Sanderson's got four." Sanderson had been our host at luncheon39 that day.
 
Helmeth was knocking out the ashes of his pipe on my hearthstone; he paused in the occupation of refilling it to look down at me in a moody40 kind of impatience41 that was the worst I knew of him. There was the suggestion of a cleft42 in his strong, square chin which came out whenever he bit hard on a difficult proposition. The play of it now was like the tiny shadow of disaster.
 
"I was down in old Brownlow's office the other day," he went on, "talking this Mexican scheme to him, and he had to break off in the middle of it to telephone to some chorus girl he had a date with. God! it made me hot to think of it!"
 
"Because I'm in the same——" He cut me off with a sound of vexation.
 
"Don't say it; don't even think of it! How long does this contract of yours last?"
 
"To the end of the season," I told him.
 
"Well, you chuck it just as soon as you can. I'll put this thing through somehow. We'll clear out of here." He had his pipe alight by now and began puffing43 more contentedly44. "I don't think much of this burg anyway," he laughed as he settled himself in one of my chairs. "A man doesn't have a chance to get his feet on the ground."
 
There were times when he almost made me share in his distaste for it. That was when I had drawn45 him into the circle of my professional acquaintances which somehow shrivelled at his touch like spiders in the heat. Understand that I hold by my art, that I have poured myself a libation on that altar, that I value it above all other means of expressing the drama of man's relation to the Invisible, and that I do not think you do enough for it, prize it enough, or use it rightly. But I suppose there is a yellow streak46 in me, or I wouldn't sicken so as I do at what it brings to pass in the personalities47 by which it is most forwarded. For since it must be that art cannot be served to the world, except by a cup emptied of much that is most desirable in the recipients48, it ill becomes them as long as they fatten49 their souls at it, to take exception to the vessel50 from which it is drunk. Nevertheless I used to find myself, when Helmeth was with me, sniffing51 at the spiritual garments of my friends for the smell of burning. I resented Mr. Lawrence the most; it was not altogether for the incongruity52 of his possessing Sarah, her fine smudgeless personality and her lovely body, delicate and shapely as a pearl, but for the incontestable evidence he offered me of how low I had stooped. From the peak of my present prosperity, my troubles in Chicago, showed the merest accident, and the distance I had sprung away from them seemed somehow expressive53 of the strength with which I had sprung from all that Lawrence represented. Not all the care Sarah bestowed54 on him—and I think the best he could do for her was to provide her in his impaired55 health with an occasion for mothering—could quite distract the attention from the ineradicable mark of his cheapness.
 
He was as much out of key with the society in which Sarah's success and mine had placed him, as he was flattered to find himself there. It had brought out in him in the way privation had not, that touch of theatricality56 which intrigued57 Sarah's unsophisticated fancy in the first place. He let his hair grow into curls and made a mysterious and incurable58 pain of his broken health. And though he offered it as the best he had to offer, with humility59, he suffered an accession of that devoted60 manner which had won his way among women of his own class, but which among the sort he met at my rooms was ridiculous. Jerry too, with his married life in dissolution, for what looked to Helmeth, and in the light of his strong sense, was beginning to look to me like an aimless folly61; out of all these blew a wind witheringly on the fine bloom of my happiness. We did best when we shut it out in a profound, exalted62 intimacy63 of passion.
 
What leads me to think that Polatkin must have watched me rather closely all this time, is the fact that he waited until Mr. Garrett was gone to London again in the latter part of February, to put it to me that if I really meant to leave the stage permanently64, and it was a contingency65 which, in speaking to me of it, he had the wit to speak seriously, I could do no better for myself than to take flight from it from the roof of my own theatre. He put it to me in his own dialect, mixed of the green room and Jewry, that I had torn a large hole in the surrounding professional atmosphere by the vitality66 of my acting that winter, and that it would be a great shame to go out into the obscurity of marriage without this final pyrotechnic burst.
 
I could have, by his calculation, a short season to open with, and a whole year of brilliant success before—well before anything happened. I think by this time I must have known subconsciously67 that nothing would happen. It must be because no man naturally can imagine any more compelling business for a woman than being interested in him, that Helmeth failed to understand that he could as well have torn himself from the enterprise for which he had starved and sweated, as separate me from the final banquet of success. I had paid for it and I must eat.
 
We opened in May, not the best time of year for such an adventure; but I suppose Polatkin was afraid to trust me to the distractions68 of another vacation. It occurs to me now, though at the time I didn't suspect him, that we couldn't have opened even then if he had not been much more forward with the plan than at any time he had permitted me to guess. At the last I came near, in his estimation, to jeopardizing69 the whole business by opening with "The Winter's Tale" with Sarah in the part of Hermione and myself as Perdita. Jerry was writing me a new play, but in the process of breaking off a marriage that ought never to have been begun, he had found no time to complete it; but why, urged Polatkin, if we must fall back on Shakespeare, choose a part that did not introduce me to the audience until the play was half done? He stood out at least for Juliet or Cleopatra. "Why, indeed," I retorted, "have a theatre of my own if it is not to do as I please in it?" I knew however that what I could put into Perdita of Willesden Lake and the woods aflame, would have sustained even a more inconsiderable part.
 
Effie and her husband came on to my opening night. I want to say here, if I have not explicitly70 said it, that my sister is a wonderful, an indispensable woman. When I think of her, the mystery of how she came out of Taylorville, full-fledged to her time, is greater than the mystery of how I came to be at all. For Effie is absolutely contemporaneous. She lives squarely not only in her century, but in the particular quarter of it now going. No clutch of tradition topples her toward the generation of women past. Most women of my acquaintance are either sodden71 with left-over conventions, or blowsy with racing after the to-be, but Effie is compacted, tucked in, detached from but distinctly related to her background of Montecito. She was president of the Woman's Club, chairman of the book committee of the circulating library, and though she had a letter every morning and a telegram every night from the woman with whom she had left her two babies, it didn't prevent her in the week she spent with me, from getting into touch with more Forward Movements than I was aware were in operation in New York.
 
"But, good heavens, Effie, how can you find time for them? It's as much as I can do to attend to my own job."
 
"Oh, you! You're a forward movement yourself. All I am doing is herding72 the others up to keep step with you. You know, Olivia, I've wondered if you didn't feel lonely at times, so far ahead that you don't find anybody to line up with. Every time I see a woman step out of the ranks in some achievement of her own, I think, 'Now, Olivia will have company.'"
 
"But, heavens!" I said again. "I'm not thinking of the others at all. I don't even know that there are others, or at least who they are. I'm a squirrel in a cage. I go round because I must. I don't know what comes of it."
 
"I'll tell you what comes—women everywhere getting courage to live lives of their own. Do you remember what you went through in Higgleston? Well, the more women there are like you, the less there will be of that for any of them. It is the conscious movement of us all toward liberty that's going round with you." I was dashed by the breadth and brightness of her view.
 
"Effie," I said, "is this a new kind of toy to dangle73 before your intelligence to keep it from realizing it isn't getting anywhere?"
 
"Like the love affairs of your friends?" she came back at me promptly74. "No, it isn't; it's—well, I guess it's a religion."
 
I believed as I dressed at the theatre that night, that it was the contagion75 of Effie's enthusiasm that keyed me up to a pitch that I thought I shouldn't have reached without Helmeth. I had counted so on his being there for the first night, but he was still in London, and for a week I hadn't heard from him.
 
I needed something then to account, as I proceeded with my part, for the extraordinary richness of power, the delicacy76 and precision with which I put it over line by line to my audience. I played, oh, I played! I felt the audience breathing in the pauses like the silent wood; the lights went gold and crimson77 and the young dreams were singing. So vivid was the mood that, when from time to time I was swept out on billows of applause before the curtain, I fancied I saw him there, leaning to me, now from a balcony, or standing78 unobserved in a box behind the Sandersons' and some friends of his who had pleased, on his introduction, to take a great interest in me. It was a wonderful night, flooded with the certainty of success as by a full moon; we danced under it in spirit—I believe that Polatkin kissed me; two of my young men I saw with their hands on one another's shoulders, capering79 in the wings as I was being drawn before the curtain again and again to bob and smile like a cuckoo out of a clock, striking the perfect hour. And through it all was the sense of my beloved, the leaf-light touch of his kiss on my cheek, the pressure of his arm, so poignant80 that as I came out of the theatre late with Effie and her husband, I thought I could not bear it to go back to my room and find it empty.
 
"Willis," I said to my brother-in-law, "you must lend me my sister to-night." I was sitting between them in the carriage, each of them holding a hand. I do not know what they were able to get of my acting, but nothing could have kept from them the knowledge of my tremendous success. I could see though, that in his excited state it wasn't going to be easy for him to spare his young wife, and that made it easier for me as we drew up in front of my door to change my mind suddenly and send her back with him. What really influenced me was the certainty that I could not bear even for Effie to disturb the sense of my lover's presence which I seemed to feel brooding over the room. I went up the steps warm with it.
 
I had a moment of thinking as I opened the door and found the lights turned on, that my maid had left them so in anticipation81 of my return, and then I saw him. He was sitting by the dying fire; he had not heard me come up the stair, for his head was in his hands. He turned then at my exclamation82, and I had time, before we crossed the width of the room to one another, to think that the attitude in which I had found him and the new writing of anxiety in his face, as he turned it to me, had its source in his finding me in what looked like a permanent relation to a theatre of my own. For a moment I thought that, and then my apprehension83 was buried on his breast.
 
"Oh, my love, my love!" He held me off from him to let his eyes rove tenderly over my face, my breast, my hair. I do not know if he remembered the words he had spoken to me so long ago, or if they came spontaneously to the command of the old desire: "Oh, you beauty—you wonder...."
 
Presently we moved to sit down, and stumbled over his bag upon the floor beside his chair. It brought me back to the miracle of his being there and to the certainty that he must have come to me direct from the steamer.
 
"On the Cunarder," he admitted, "six days and a half. O Lord!" His gesture was expressive of the extreme weariness of impatience. "I came ashore84 with the quarantine officers. I couldn't cable. I left at two hours' notice."
 
It occurred to me that he must have at least come ashore before sunset, and in that case he couldn't have come straight to me. I began to feel something ominous85 in the presence there of his bag. His overcoat, though the evening was so warm, lay beyond him on another chair. It flashed over me in a wild way that he had come to some sudden determination—he had been at the theatre that night—he had taken my being there in that circumstance as final—perhaps he meant to abandon me to my art, to surrender me at least to its more importunate86 claim. He followed my thought dully from far off.
 
"I was at the theatre in time for your part," he said. "There wasn't a seat, but they knew me at the box office and let me in."
 
"Then it was you that I saw in the balcony, and in Sanderson's box? I thought it was a vision."
 
"I had business with Sanderson." He turned back to what was beginning to make itself felt through his profound preoccupation, the charm of my presence. "There was that in your acting to-night that would have evoked87 visions," he smiled. "I had them myself." I knelt down on the floor beside his knees.
 
"Helmeth, tell me," I begged. He began to stroke my face with his hand.
 
"It doesn't seem so bad as it did a few moments ago, and yet it is bad enough. I must leave for Mexico in an hour."
 
"Leave me?" I was still, in my mind, occupied with what now began to seem a monstrous88 disloyalty to him, my obligation to Polatkin. There had been a great deal about our new venture on the programme, even if he hadn't seen the papers, he must have learned it as soon as he came into the theatre.
 
"Unless you can go with me in an hour ... yes, my dear, I know it is impossible...." He was silent a while, clasping and unclasping my hand on his knee, knitting his brows and staring into the fire with the expression of a man so long occupied with anxiety that his mind, in any moment of release, goes back to it automatically. I stirred presently when I saw that his perplexity had nothing to do with me. "I had a cable in London," he said. "Heaven only knows how long they were getting it down to the coast where they could send it; they have struck water in the mines." I failed to get the force of the announcement except that from the manner of his telling it, it was a great disaster. "I must leave on the twelve twenty-three," he warned me. I did understand that.
 
"Oh, no, no! Helmeth!" I cried out. "Not now ... not so soon!" I clung to him crying. "Stay with me to-night ... just for to-night!" We rocked in one another's arms. I remember little broken snatches of explanation.
 
"I've worked so, Olivia ... I've worked and sweated ... and now...." Presently he broke out again. "To have worked, and know that your work is sound, and to be played a trick, to lose by a ghastly trick! If there is a God, Olivia, why does He play tricks on a man like that?"
 
"Hush89, my dear! Oh, my dear ..."
 
"Do you know what I've been doing since I came ashore? I've been buying pumps, Olivia, pumps, and machinery90 to work them. Think of the delay; and I'll have to ask Shane for more money ... more ... and I meant to be paying dividends91." He held me off from him fiercely with both hands. "Olivia, suppose to-night instead of applause you had heard hisses92, and people going out, turning their backs on you in your best lines ... oh ..." He broke off and covered his face with his hands. I crept up to him.
 
"If they had, I should have come back to you, beloved. And I shouldn't have remembered it. Oh, beloved, what are all things worth except that they give us this?" I was on his knee now, and my hair was still in its maiden93 snood as it had been in the play. I drew it softly about his face.
 
"Oh, my dear, to be this to me, what does it matter about the mines? They will come straight again in a little time. But this ... this is now." I could feel the yielding in his frame. He was my man and I did what I would with him.
 

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 assertiveness tyJzon     
n.过分自信
参考例句:
  • Her assertiveness was starting to be seen as arrogance. 她的自信已开始被认为是自负了。
  • Role playing is an important element in assertiveness training. 在果敢自信训练班上,角色扮演是个重要内容。
2 pliability 7b1d8303b6d24dee63c8b84fc2399db5     
n.柔韧性;可弯性
参考例句:
  • I accorded it, deeming that I did well in showing pliability on the point. 我同意了,认为自己在这一点上表示通融是做得对的。 来自辞典例句
  • Laotse' s management thoughts have the distinctive feature of pliability. 老子管理思想具有鲜明的柔性化特征。 来自互联网
3 propensity mtIyk     
n.倾向;习性
参考例句:
  • He has a propensity for drinking too much alcohol.他有酗酒的倾向。
  • She hasn't reckoned on his propensity for violence.她不曾料到他有暴力倾向。
4 beguiled f25585f8de5e119077c49118f769e600     
v.欺骗( beguile的过去式和过去分词 );使陶醉;使高兴;消磨(时间等)
参考例句:
  • She beguiled them into believing her version of events. 她哄骗他们相信了她叙述的事情。
  • He beguiled me into signing this contract. 他诱骗我签订了这项合同。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
5 skilfully 5a560b70e7a5ad739d1e69a929fed271     
adv. (美skillfully)熟练地
参考例句:
  • Hall skilfully weaves the historical research into a gripping narrative. 霍尔巧妙地把历史研究揉进了扣人心弦的故事叙述。
  • Enthusiasm alone won't do. You've got to work skilfully. 不能光靠傻劲儿,得找窍门。
6 afterward fK6y3     
adv.后来;以后
参考例句:
  • Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏,然后吃饭。
  • Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来,这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。
7 rein xVsxs     
n.疆绳,统治,支配;vt.以僵绳控制,统治
参考例句:
  • The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
  • He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。
8 fabric 3hezG     
n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织
参考例句:
  • The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
  • I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。
9 mere rC1xE     
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
参考例句:
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
10 embroidered StqztZ     
adj.绣花的
参考例句:
  • She embroidered flowers on the cushion covers. 她在这些靠垫套上绣了花。
  • She embroidered flowers on the front of the dress. 她在连衣裙的正面绣花。
11 caressed de08c4fb4b79b775b2f897e6e8db9aad     
爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • His fingers caressed the back of her neck. 他的手指抚摩着她的后颈。
  • He caressed his wife lovingly. 他怜爱万分地抚摸着妻子。
12 wringing 70c74d76c2d55027ff25f12f2ab350a9     
淋湿的,湿透的
参考例句:
  • He was wringing wet after working in the field in the hot sun. 烈日下在田里干活使他汗流满面。
  • He is wringing out the water from his swimming trunks. 他正在把游泳裤中的水绞出来。
13 bind Vt8zi     
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬
参考例句:
  • I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
  • He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。
14 juncture e3exI     
n.时刻,关键时刻,紧要关头
参考例句:
  • The project is situated at the juncture of the new and old urban districts.该项目位于新老城区交界处。
  • It is very difficult at this juncture to predict the company's future.此时很难预料公司的前景。
15 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。
16 surmised b42dd4710fe89732a842341fc04537f6     
v.臆测,推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 );揣测;猜想
参考例句:
  • From the looks on their faces, I surmised that they had had an argument. 看他们的脸色,我猜想他们之间发生了争执。
  • From his letter I surmised that he was unhappy. 我从他的信中推测他并不快乐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
17 gusty B5uyu     
adj.起大风的
参考例句:
  • Weather forecasts predict more hot weather,gusty winds and lightning strikes.天气预报预测高温、大风和雷电天气将继续。
  • Why was Candlestick Park so windy and gusty? 埃德尔斯蒂克公园里为什么会有那么多的强劲阵风?
18 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。
19 disturbances a0726bd74d4516cd6fbe05e362bc74af     
n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 );打扰;困扰;障碍
参考例句:
  • The government has set up a commission of inquiry into the disturbances at the prison. 政府成立了一个委员会来调查监狱骚乱事件。
  • Extra police were called in to quell the disturbances. 已调集了增援警力来平定骚乱。
20 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。
21 premises 6l1zWN     
n.建筑物,房屋
参考例句:
  • According to the rules,no alcohol can be consumed on the premises.按照规定,场内不准饮酒。
  • All repairs are done on the premises and not put out.全部修缮都在家里进行,不用送到外面去做。
22 capes 2a2d1f6d8808b81a9484709d3db50053     
碎谷; 斗篷( cape的名词复数 ); 披肩; 海角; 岬
参考例句:
  • It was cool and they were putting on their capes. 夜里阴冷,他们都穿上了披风。
  • The pastor smiled to give son's two Capes five cents money. 牧师微笑着给了儿子二角五分钱。
23 jealousy WaRz6     
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌
参考例句:
  • Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
  • I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。
24 bosom Lt9zW     
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的
参考例句:
  • She drew a little book from her bosom.她从怀里取出一本小册子。
  • A dark jealousy stirred in his bosom.他内心生出一阵恶毒的嫉妒。
25 prehensile fiHy0     
adj.(足等)适于抓握的
参考例句:
  • Poets are those strangely prehensile men.诗人是那些具有深刻洞察力的人们。
  • A monkey has a prehensile tail.猴子有能盘卷住东西的尾巴。
26 apprehended a58714d8af72af24c9ef953885c38a66     
逮捕,拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 ); 理解
参考例句:
  • She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
  • The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。
27 withered 342a99154d999c47f1fc69d900097df9     
adj. 枯萎的,干瘪的,(人身体的部分器官)因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式
参考例句:
  • The grass had withered in the warm sun. 这些草在温暖的阳光下枯死了。
  • The leaves of this tree have become dry and withered. 这棵树下的叶子干枯了。
28 racing 1ksz3w     
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的
参考例句:
  • I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
  • The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。
29 intervals f46c9d8b430e8c86dea610ec56b7cbef     
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息
参考例句:
  • The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴,有阵雨。
  • Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。
30 acting czRzoc     
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
参考例句:
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
31 palled 984be633df413584fa60334756686b70     
v.(因过多或过久而)生厌,感到乏味,厌烦( pall的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • They palled up at college. 他们是在大学结识的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The long hot idle summer days palled on me. 我对这漫长、炎热、无所事事的夏天感到腻烦了。 来自辞典例句
32 pricking b0668ae926d80960b702acc7a89c84d6     
刺,刺痕,刺痛感
参考例句:
  • She felt a pricking on her scalp. 她感到头皮上被扎了一下。
  • Intercostal neuralgia causes paroxysmal burning pain or pricking pain. 肋间神经痛呈阵发性的灼痛或刺痛。
33 temperament 7INzf     
n.气质,性格,性情
参考例句:
  • The analysis of what kind of temperament you possess is vital.分析一下你有什么样的气质是十分重要的。
  • Success often depends on temperament.成功常常取决于一个人的性格。
34 simplicity Vryyv     
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯
参考例句:
  • She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
  • The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。
35 untoward Hjvw1     
adj.不利的,不幸的,困难重重的
参考例句:
  • Untoward circumstances prevent me from being with you on this festive occasion.有些不幸的事件使我不能在这欢庆的时刻和你在一起。
  • I'll come if nothing untoward happens.我要是没有特殊情况一定来。
36 realization nTwxS     
n.实现;认识到,深刻了解
参考例句:
  • We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
  • He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。
37 harassed 50b529f688471b862d0991a96b6a1e55     
adj. 疲倦的,厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
  • harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们
38 fretted 82ebd7663e04782d30d15d67e7c45965     
焦躁的,附有弦马的,腐蚀的
参考例句:
  • The wind whistled through the twigs and fretted the occasional, dirty-looking crocuses. 寒风穿过枯枝,有时把发脏的藏红花吹刮跑了。 来自英汉文学
  • The lady's fame for hitting the mark fretted him. 这位太太看问题深刻的名声在折磨着他。
39 luncheon V8az4     
n.午宴,午餐,便宴
参考例句:
  • We have luncheon at twelve o'clock.我们十二点钟用午餐。
  • I have a luncheon engagement.我午饭有约。
40 moody XEXxG     
adj.心情不稳的,易怒的,喜怒无常的
参考例句:
  • He relapsed into a moody silence.他又重新陷于忧郁的沉默中。
  • I'd never marry that girl.She's so moody.我决不会和那女孩结婚的。她太易怒了。
41 impatience OaOxC     
n.不耐烦,急躁
参考例句:
  • He expressed impatience at the slow rate of progress.进展缓慢,他显得不耐烦。
  • He gave a stamp of impatience.他不耐烦地跺脚。
42 cleft awEzGG     
n.裂缝;adj.裂开的
参考例句:
  • I hid the message in a cleft in the rock.我把情报藏在石块的裂缝里。
  • He was cleft from his brother during the war.在战争期间,他与他的哥哥分离。
43 puffing b3a737211571a681caa80669a39d25d3     
v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧
参考例句:
  • He was puffing hard when he jumped on to the bus. 他跳上公共汽车时喘息不已。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe. 父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
44 contentedly a0af12176ca79b27d4028fdbaf1b5f64     
adv.心满意足地
参考例句:
  • My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe.父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。
  • "This is brother John's writing,"said Sally,contentedly,as she opened the letter.
45 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
46 streak UGgzL     
n.条理,斑纹,倾向,少许,痕迹;v.加条纹,变成条纹,奔驰,快速移动
参考例句:
  • The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
  • Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹?
47 personalities ylOzsg     
n. 诽谤,(对某人容貌、性格等所进行的)人身攻击; 人身攻击;人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
  • Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。
48 recipients 972af69bf73f8ad23a446a346a6f0fff     
adj.接受的;受领的;容纳的;愿意接受的n.收件人;接受者;受领者;接受器
参考例句:
  • The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
49 fatten ClLxX     
v.使肥,变肥
参考例句:
  • The new feed can fatten the chicken up quickly enough for market.新饲料能使鸡长得更快,以适应市场需求。
  • We keep animals in pens to fatten them.我们把动物关在围栏里把它们养肥。
50 vessel 4L1zi     
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管
参考例句:
  • The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
  • You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。
51 sniffing 50b6416c50a7d3793e6172a8514a0576     
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
参考例句:
  • We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了,一个劲地抽鼻子,打喷嚏。
  • They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了,呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
52 incongruity R8Bxo     
n.不协调,不一致
参考例句:
  • She smiled at the incongruity of the question.面对这样突兀的问题,她笑了。
  • When the particular outstrips the general,we are faced with an incongruity.当特别是超过了总的来讲,我们正面临着一个不协调。
53 expressive shwz4     
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的
参考例句:
  • Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
  • He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的,富于表情的,生动活泼的脸。
54 bestowed 12e1d67c73811aa19bdfe3ae4a8c2c28     
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • It was a title bestowed upon him by the king. 那是国王赐给他的头衔。
  • He considered himself unworthy of the honour they had bestowed on him. 他认为自己不配得到大家赋予他的荣誉。
55 impaired sqtzdr     
adj.受损的;出毛病的;有(身体或智力)缺陷的v.损害,削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
56 theatricality b65c464339a1704680cd99d61d478dac     
n.戏剧风格,不自然
参考例句:
  • The scene breaks out before you with the theatricality of a curtain lifted from a stage. 景色立即如拉开了舞台的帷幕一般充满了戏剧性地出现在你面前。 来自辞典例句
57 intrigued 7acc2a75074482e2b408c60187e27c73     
adj.好奇的,被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式);激起…的兴趣或好奇心;“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧!
  • He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。
58 incurable 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
参考例句:
  • All three babies were born with an incurable heart condition.三个婴儿都有不可治瘉的先天性心脏病。
  • He has an incurable and widespread nepotism.他们有不可救药的,到处蔓延的裙带主义。
59 humility 8d6zX     
n.谦逊,谦恭
参考例句:
  • Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
  • His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和,甚至有点谦卑。
60 devoted xu9zka     
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的
参考例句:
  • He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
61 folly QgOzL     
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话
参考例句:
  • Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
  • Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。
62 exalted ztiz6f     
adj.(地位等)高的,崇高的;尊贵的,高尚的
参考例句:
  • Their loveliness and holiness in accordance with their exalted station.他们的美丽和圣洁也与他们的崇高地位相称。
  • He received respect because he was a person of exalted rank.他因为是个地位崇高的人而受到尊敬。
63 intimacy z4Vxx     
n.熟悉,亲密,密切关系,亲昵的言行
参考例句:
  • His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切,这有点言过其实。
  • I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。
64 permanently KluzuU     
adv.永恒地,永久地,固定不变地
参考例句:
  • The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
  • The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。
65 contingency vaGyi     
n.意外事件,可能性
参考例句:
  • We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
  • A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。
66 vitality lhAw8     
n.活力,生命力,效力
参考例句:
  • He came back from his holiday bursting with vitality and good health.他度假归来之后,身强体壮,充满活力。
  • He is an ambitious young man full of enthusiasm and vitality.他是个充满热情与活力的有远大抱负的青年。
67 subconsciously WhIzFD     
ad.下意识地,潜意识地
参考例句:
  • In choosing a partner we are subconsciously assessing their evolutionary fitness to be a mother of children or father provider and protector. 在选择伴侣的时候,我们会在潜意识里衡量对方将来是否会是称职的母亲或者父亲,是否会是合格的一家之主。
  • Lao Yang thought as he subconsciously tightened his grasp on the rifle. 他下意识地攥紧枪把想。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
68 distractions ff1d4018fe7ed703bc7b2e2e97ba2216     
n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 );娱乐,消遣;心烦意乱;精神错乱
参考例句:
  • I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难,因为使人分心的事太多。
  • There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多,使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》
69 jeopardizing 6ec88fcb3085928bbf8588a5c3ba3e65     
危及,损害( jeopardize的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Plans may also become inefficient in the attainment of objectives by jeopardizing group satisfactions. 用危及群体利益方法去达到目标的计划,也是无效率的。
  • That boosted government revenues in the short term, but is now jeopardizing them. Morales将天然气工业,电信业和部分采矿业收归国有的举措吓跑了投资者们。
70 explicitly JtZz2H     
ad.明确地,显然地
参考例句:
  • The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
  • SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条,清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
71 sodden FwPwm     
adj.浑身湿透的;v.使浸透;使呆头呆脑
参考例句:
  • We stripped off our sodden clothes.我们扒下了湿透的衣服。
  • The cardboard was sodden and fell apart in his hands.纸板潮得都发酥了,手一捏就碎。
72 herding herding     
中畜群
参考例句:
  • The little boy is herding the cattle. 这个小男孩在放牛。
  • They have been herding cattle on the tableland for generations. 他们世世代代在这高原上放牧。
73 dangle YaoyV     
v.(使)悬荡,(使)悬垂
参考例句:
  • At Christmas,we dangle colored lights around the room.圣诞节时,我们在房间里挂上彩灯。
  • He sits on the edge of the table and dangles his legs.他坐在桌子边上,摆动著双腿。
74 promptly LRMxm     
adv.及时地,敏捷地
参考例句:
  • He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
  • She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。
75 contagion 9ZNyl     
n.(通过接触的疾病)传染;蔓延
参考例句:
  • A contagion of fear swept through the crowd.一种恐惧感在人群中迅速蔓延开。
  • The product contagion effect has numerous implications for marketing managers and retailers.产品传染效应对市场营销管理者和零售商都有很多的启示。
76 delicacy mxuxS     
n.精致,细微,微妙,精良;美味,佳肴
参考例句:
  • We admired the delicacy of the craftsmanship.我们佩服工艺师精巧的手艺。
  • He sensed the delicacy of the situation.他感觉到了形势的微妙。
77 crimson AYwzH     
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色
参考例句:
  • She went crimson with embarrassment.她羞得满脸通红。
  • Maple leaves have turned crimson.枫叶已经红了。
78 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
79 capering d4ea412ac03a170b293139861cb3c627     
v.跳跃,雀跃( caper的现在分词 );蹦蹦跳跳
参考例句:
  • The lambs were capering in the fields. 羊羔在地里欢快地跳跃。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The boy was Capering dersively, with obscene unambiguous gestures, before a party of English tourists. 这个顽童在一群英国旅游客人面前用明显下流的动作可笑地蹦蹦跳跳着。 来自辞典例句
80 poignant FB1yu     
adj.令人痛苦的,辛酸的,惨痛的
参考例句:
  • His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
  • It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了,这尤其令人悲恸。
81 anticipation iMTyh     
n.预期,预料,期望
参考例句:
  • We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着,期待她的到来。
  • The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安,像是感到了地震即将发生。
82 exclamation onBxZ     
n.感叹号,惊呼,惊叹词
参考例句:
  • He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
  • The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号,以引起读者的注意。
83 apprehension bNayw     
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑
参考例句:
  • There were still areas of doubt and her apprehension grew.有些地方仍然存疑,于是她越来越担心。
  • She is a girl of weak apprehension.她是一个理解力很差的女孩。
84 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。
85 ominous Xv6y5     
adj.不祥的,不吉的,预兆的,预示的
参考例句:
  • Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
  • There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。
86 importunate 596xx     
adj.强求的;纠缠不休的
参考例句:
  • I would not have our gratitude become indiscreet or importunate.我不愿意让我们的感激变成失礼或勉强。
  • The importunate memory was kept before her by its ironic contrast to her present situation.萦绕在心头的这个回忆对当前的情景来说,是个具有讽刺性的对照。
87 evoked 0681b342def6d2a4206d965ff12603b2     
[医]诱发的
参考例句:
  • The music evoked memories of her youth. 这乐曲勾起了她对青年时代的回忆。
  • Her face, though sad, still evoked a feeling of serenity. 她的脸色虽然悲伤,但仍使人感觉安详。
88 monstrous vwFyM     
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的
参考例句:
  • The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升,形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
  • Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人!
89 hush ecMzv     
int.嘘,别出声;n.沉默,静寂;v.使安静
参考例句:
  • A hush fell over the onlookers.旁观者们突然静了下来。
  • Do hush up the scandal!不要把这丑事声张出去!
90 machinery CAdxb     
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构
参考例句:
  • Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗?
  • Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。
91 dividends 8d58231a4112c505163466a7fcf9d097     
红利( dividend的名词复数 ); 股息; 被除数; (足球彩票的)彩金
参考例句:
  • Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
  • Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。
92 hisses add19f26616fdd1582c885031e8f941d     
嘶嘶声( hiss的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The speaker was received with a mixture of applause and hisses. 那演说者同时得到喝彩声和嘘声。
  • A fire hisses if water is thrown on it. 把水浇到火上,火就发出嘶嘶声。
93 maiden yRpz7     
n.少女,处女;adj.未婚的,纯洁的,无经验的
参考例句:
  • The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
  • The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。


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