The lawyer’s son thought of the dark, gloomy streets through which he would be obliged to pass; then the idea of actually traveling with a circus appealed strongly to his imagination.
“No, Brownie,” he answered, decidedly.
“Joe,” said Dave, turning toward the circus boy, “I see the light of a drug store over yonder; guess they have a ’phone. I’m going to call up the hotel. Can you wait, Joe?”
“Sure, Dave. But if Whiffin ketches me busy at doin’ nothin’ it means a callin’ down—see?”
“All right, Joe; we’ll hurry,” said Dave, encouragingly.
“An’ while you’re gone I’ll help git the elephants ready,” announced Joe, with sudden[216] decision. “Them three old codgers goes ahead o’ us.”
Dave, followed by Victor, loped across the wet, soggy lot, or, rather, tried to. But, although the journey was attended by much discomfort1 and some risk of taking a header, they finally arrived at the drug store in safety.
Dave promptly2 called up the hotel and was soon speaking to the night clerk. The latter declined to open the telegram, but gave the stout3 boy full information about the ’phone message which Captain Bunderley had sent from Milwaukee.
“There, you big Indian, I knew it!” exclaimed the lawyer’s son, triumphantly6. “A nice trick they played on us, eh? Well, I’m liable to handle that Tom Clifton with awful carelessness when we meet again. Now, Brownie”—his tone became imperious—“you just call up Uncle Ralph on the long distance and tell him what’s what.”
With a broad smile, the stout boy obeyed.
“If it’s important we’ll get him right up for you,” came a faint voice over the wire.
Dave did some rapid thinking. “Poor Joe is most likely fretting8 and fuming9 about the delay,” he mused10. “Besides, if I wait any longer there may be another mix-up.”
“Thank you; I’m in too much of a hurry. Will you kindly12 take down a message and give it to the captain at once.”
The distant clerk assured him that he would. Dave quickly went over the few facts which he thought it was necessary for the captain to know, ending with: “He’ll hear from me in the morning.” “Good-bye” was trembling on his tongue when an afterthought prompted him to ask: “How many boys are in the party?”
“Three,” came the answer.
“One very tall?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Any of them about?”
“No; all went out together some time ago.”
[218]“Thank you. Good-bye.”
“What did he say?” demanded Victor.
“Yes; Tom is there, all right.” Dave smiled. “Come on,” he added, seeing the familiar expression of anger instantly flash into the other’s face. He grasped the lad’s arm and hurried him outside. “No time to lose, Vic,” he urged. “Look, the main tent is already down.”
Over on the lot, Joe Rodgers, standing14 at the head of a four-horse team, was impatiently awaiting their reappearance.
“Here, you fellers, climb aboard fast,” he roared, the moment his eyes lighted upon their figures. “We ought to been off long ago.”
It wasn’t an easy task for Victor to reach the high seat, but, with considerable assistance, he finally managed it. Then Joe, seeming to possess the nimbleness of a monkey, swung up beside him, while Dave, to Victor’s great surprise, also showing much agility15, immediately followed.
At any other time Victor Collins’ sense of[219] the proprieties16 might have prevented him from accepting a seat beside a boy whose estate was as lowly as that of “Mister” Joe Rodgers, but just now so many things engaged his attention that he forgot to draw fine distinctions. From his elevated perch17 he could look over a scene in which the weird18 and picturesque19 were combined with pleasing effect.
By the aid of a brilliant calcium20 light and lanterns men were busily engaged in loading the remaining wagons22. The workers hurried about, now out of the glare, then back again; the air was full of noise—of shouts, of heavy planks23 being piled in place, of commands to horses, of sledge-hammer blows. Lanterns bobbed from place to place, suggestive of huge fire-flies. It was all very interesting to Victor; but Joe gave him no further time to enjoy it.
Picking up the lines and raising his whip, he yelled lustily:
“Git ap!”
Victor glanced curiously25 at the driver. He wondered how it happened that a boy apparently26 no older than himself was entrusted[220] with the care of a great four-horse team, and being under such responsibility should show not the slightest trace of nervousness.
A man having three horses in tow was headed straight for the wagon.
“Whiffin says I’m to tie this here bunch o’ nags29 on the back o’ the next wagon out,” explained the man. “Is that you, Rodgers?”
“It sure ain’t nobody else,” growled30 Joe. “Fasten ’em up quick, Tracy. The elephants has went a’ready.”
Tracy performed his task with commendable31 celerity.
“All right, Joe,” he presently called. “Let ’er go!”
“Git ap!” roared the driver.
The dull thud of hoofs32 striking against the turf sounded; the leaders swung around, plunged33 and reared. Down came an iron shoe, splintering a stone and sending off a shower of sparks. Joe’s whip swished viciously, cracking like pistol shots.
It required an immense amount of vocal35 exercise, as well as tugging36 at the reins37 and many passes with the whip to get the huge bulk in motion. The wagon suddenly gave an alarming creak, then lurched forward. Joe yelled like a wild Indian. The horses stamped and strained with all their might, and in a few moments more the vehicle was bumping and jolting38 over the uneven39 ground.
“This here wagon’s chuck full o’ eats for the hosses,” remarked Joe, when the road was reached.
“Oh, I say, Brownie, it’s beginning to rain again,” broke in Victor, complainingly. “Isn’t that the meanest luck?”
“Here’s sumphin what’ll help keep it off them pretty duds o’ yourn, Buster,” grinned Joe. From the back of the seat he extracted an oilskin cover and a huge umbrella. “Sneak in clos’t, fellers,” he commanded when the latter had been opened. “Then none o’ youse won’t be drownded.”
Joe was handling the reins with remarkable[222] skill; the big wagon rumbled40 along the street at good speed; and, on looking back, Dave could see, barely perceptible in the gloom, several others following.
“Say, Joe,” he exclaimed, suddenly, “are you any relation to Mr. Whiffin?”
“I sure ain’t,” answered Joe.
“How does it happen that you’re working in the circus?”
“’Cause when I weren’t no more’n twelve years old I was left an orphan—understan’? So off I goes to me fadder’s sister; an’ I stays with her an’ her husban’ a spell.”
“Didn’t you like it?”
“Like it? I should say not!” snorted Joe. “I eats too much for ’em. One day me an’ him has some words ’bout it; an’ he up an’ says: ‘Git right out o’ here, ye young cub41.’ So I up an’ gits—see? I’m a purty good feller, I am; but don’t nobuddy rile me.”
“I understand,” said Dave, gravely. “What did you do next?”
“Oh, I gits a job in a village; but the feller I worked for corks42 me one over the ear, so I up an’ gits ag’in—understan’?”
[223]“Have a hard time finding another place?”
Joe grinned.
“Oh, no,” he answered. “drop me down in the middle of anywheres an’ I’ll land on me feet. I’ve newspapered it a bit.”
“How did you happen to meet Mr. Whiffin?”
Joe failed to respond immediately. The rain was beginning to beat hard against the umbrella, while the furious gusts43 of wind threatened every instant to tear it away.
Victor drew the oilskin as far up as he could; but the beating drops still found him, and began to trickle44 off his cap in tiny streams.
“If ye failed inter24 the lake it’d be a heap worse,” remarked Joe, cheerfully. “It were this way, Jumbo—I—I mean Dave—— Whoa there! Confound that off hoss! Whoa—gee46! Git over there!—Well, I was lookin’ for a meal ticket, when, of a suddent, I runs across—whoa, gee—Spudger’s Peerless. So I goes in an’ up an’ asks Whiffin for a job. ‘Git out o’ here,’ says Whiffin. ‘Sure—when I’m ready,’ says I. Then he kinder looks at me interested[224] like, an’ says, ‘Who chased yer away from your happy home, kid?’ An’ I up an’ tells him. So he gives me a job as water-carrier.”
“That’s interesting,” said Dave. “Go ahead.”
“Whoa—gee! Confound that off hoss,” resumed Joe. “Then, after while, he lets me drive wagons and keer for the hosses. There ain’t nuthin’ I don’t know about them animals, Dave.”
“Satisfied with circus life, Joe?”
The boy pondered a moment.
“No, I ain’t,” he confided47. “I’d like to git an eddication, an’ be sumphin. But I ain’t never had no chanc’t. I wonder if I ever will have a chanc’t!” he added, wistfully.
“What is your ambition?” pursued Dave.
“I dunno. Maybe I’d like to keep a peanut, pretzel and lemonade stand,” answered Joe. “I know’d a feller what follered the show with one. He did good, too—saved a hundred and fifty dollars in three years. He’s gittin’ old now—most twenty-five, I reckon.”
“Poor decrepit48 old gentleman,” sighed Dave. “Say, Joe,” he added, “does your uncle know where you are?”
[225]“Sure! Whiffin up an’ writes ’im; an’ what Uncle Jim writ49 back must have been hot stuff, ’cordin’ to Whiffin. But I kep’ me job, all right.”
“Say, Brandon, why did you ever drag me into a mess like this?” broke in a peevish50 voice. “It’s raining worse every minute.”
“Too bad, Vic.”
Dave, with his cap pulled well over his eyes, peered out.
The houses were becoming further and further apart. Here and there lights in windows shone dimly through the darkness. The line of trees on either side of the road rattled51 and snapped their myriads52 of branches, occasionally surrendering to the wildly eddying53 currents the quota54 of leaves demanded. Everything was dripping wet; water fell from the umbrella in streams; water slid ceaselessly down the sides of the big red wagon; water formed pools on top. From the nostrils55 and heaving bodies of the blanketed horses came clouds of steam.
Victor, though well protected, felt miserable56 and disgusted and, as it was his nature to always put the blame on others, he began to[226] harbor an additional grievance57 against Dave Brandon.
“But for the big Indian I wouldn’t be here,” he grumbled58 to himself. “And just listen to the way he’s chinning to this Rodgers kid! It certainly is enough to make a fellow tired for a whole week.”
“No, I ain’t never had no chanc’t,” Joe was repeating, dolefully. “I ain’t no good at readin’ or writin’.”
“Would you go to school?” asked Dave.
“Wouldn’t I, though,” said Joe; “eh, Buster?”
“Cut it out,” growled Victor.
“I can’t,” grinned Joe. “Ribs is ginerally cut out by surgeons. Whoa! Gee! It’s most time we ketched up to them elephants.”
With his eyes keenly scanning the road, he urged his team ahead by both voice and whip. Now on a slight down grade, the huge wagon rumbled along at considerable speed, occasionally jolting and jarring, as the wheels slipped into ruts or rolled through deep miry stretches.
Dave finally detected two faint spots of[227] light struggling into view some distance ahead.
“It’s Scotty an’ Robins60 leadin’ the elephants,” explained Joe. “Know’d I ketch up with ’em soon. Hi, hi! Git ap! Say, this here is sure some storm, ain’t it, fellers? Lightning now, by Jingo!”
A glare had suddenly illumined the landscape, and in the instantaneous flash the forms of three elephants at the crest61 of a rise showed as blurred62 masses of dark.
“By George! It’s enough to give a chap the creeps for fair,” thought Victor, with a shiver.
Conversing63 was difficult. The three, though huddling64 under the umbrella as far as possible, were still the target for beating rain. At each flash of lightning the huge, unwieldy forms of Nero, Titan and Colossus loomed65 up more clearly, and, at length, when the leading horses began to strike their iron-shod hoofs in the muddy road close behind them, the lanterns in the hands of Scott and Robins described a flashing circle in the air.
“We’re gittin’ there, fellers,” he added.
[228]“We’re most swimmin’ there,” answered Robins, gruffly.
“And’ll soon need a raft,” put in Scotty.
“I’ll throw ye a life-line when ye needs one,” roared Joe.
Then several miles fell grudgingly67 behind, with scarcely a word exchanged between men or boys. Dave, in spite of storm and discomfort, his eyes tightly closed, was almost nodding, while Victor, utterly68 miserable, sat staring straight ahead.
His eyes rested on a brilliant glare of light flooding the darkness. Then a big touring machine glided71 around a bend. Although the chauffeur72 handled his car skilfully73, the unexpected sight threw the elephants into a state of panic.
An instant later Dave and Victor saw the boy swinging from his seat to the ground.
[229]
点击收听单词发音
1 discomfort | |
n.不舒服,不安,难过,困难,不方便 | |
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2 promptly | |
adv.及时地,敏捷地 | |
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4 queried | |
v.质疑,对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 );询问 | |
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5 briefly | |
adv.简单地,简短地 | |
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6 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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7 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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8 fretting | |
n. 微振磨损 adj. 烦躁的, 焦虑的 | |
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9 fuming | |
愤怒( fume的现在分词 ); 大怒; 发怒; 冒烟 | |
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10 mused | |
v.沉思,冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 );沉思自语说(某事) | |
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11 spoke | |
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 | |
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12 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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13 savagely | |
adv. 野蛮地,残酷地 | |
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14 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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15 agility | |
n.敏捷,活泼 | |
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16 proprieties | |
n.礼仪,礼节;礼貌( propriety的名词复数 );规矩;正当;合适 | |
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17 perch | |
n.栖木,高位,杆;v.栖息,就位,位于 | |
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18 weird | |
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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19 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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20 calcium | |
n.钙(化学符号Ca) | |
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21 wagon | |
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车 | |
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22 wagons | |
n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 );铁路货车;小手推车 | |
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23 planks | |
(厚)木板( plank的名词复数 ); 政纲条目,政策要点 | |
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24 inter | |
v.埋葬 | |
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25 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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26 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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27 abrupt | |
adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的 | |
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28 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
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29 nags | |
n.不断地挑剔或批评(某人)( nag的名词复数 );不断地烦扰或伤害(某人);无休止地抱怨;不断指责v.不断地挑剔或批评(某人)( nag的第三人称单数 );不断地烦扰或伤害(某人);无休止地抱怨;不断指责 | |
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30 growled | |
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说 | |
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31 commendable | |
adj.值得称赞的 | |
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32 hoofs | |
n.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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33 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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34 brute | |
n.野兽,兽性 | |
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35 vocal | |
adj.直言不讳的;嗓音的;n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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36 tugging | |
n.牵引感v.用力拉,使劲拉,猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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37 reins | |
感情,激情; 缰( rein的名词复数 ); 控制手段; 掌管; (成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的)保护带 | |
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38 jolting | |
adj.令人震惊的 | |
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39 uneven | |
adj.不平坦的,不规则的,不均匀的 | |
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40 rumbled | |
发出隆隆声,发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 轰鸣着缓慢行进; 发现…的真相; 看穿(阴谋) | |
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41 cub | |
n.幼兽,年轻无经验的人 | |
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42 corks | |
n.脐梅衣;软木( cork的名词复数 );软木塞 | |
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43 gusts | |
一阵强风( gust的名词复数 ); (怒、笑等的)爆发; (感情的)迸发; 发作 | |
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44 trickle | |
vi.淌,滴,流出,慢慢移动,逐渐消散 | |
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45 groaned | |
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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46 gee | |
n.马;int.向右!前进!,惊讶时所发声音;v.向右转 | |
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47 confided | |
v.吐露(秘密,心事等)( confide的过去式和过去分词 );(向某人)吐露(隐私、秘密等) | |
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48 decrepit | |
adj.衰老的,破旧的 | |
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49 writ | |
n.命令状,书面命令 | |
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50 peevish | |
adj.易怒的,坏脾气的 | |
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51 rattled | |
慌乱的,恼火的 | |
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52 myriads | |
n.无数,极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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53 eddying | |
涡流,涡流的形成 | |
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54 quota | |
n.(生产、进出口等的)配额,(移民的)限额 | |
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55 nostrils | |
鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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56 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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57 grievance | |
n.怨愤,气恼,委屈 | |
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58 grumbled | |
抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 发牢骚; 咕哝; 发哼声 | |
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59 ribs | |
n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 );(船或屋顶等的)肋拱;肋骨状的东西;(织物的)凸条花纹 | |
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60 robins | |
n.知更鸟,鸫( robin的名词复数 );(签名者不分先后,以避免受责的)圆形签名抗议书(或请愿书) | |
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61 crest | |
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖 | |
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62 blurred | |
v.(使)变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 );(使)难以区分;模模糊糊;迷离 | |
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63 conversing | |
v.交谈,谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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64 huddling | |
n. 杂乱一团, 混乱, 拥挤 v. 推挤, 乱堆, 草率了事 | |
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65 loomed | |
v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近 | |
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66 salute | |
vi.行礼,致意,问候,放礼炮;vt.向…致意,迎接,赞扬;n.招呼,敬礼,礼炮 | |
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67 grudgingly | |
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68 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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69 weirdly | |
古怪地 | |
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70 gasped | |
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要 | |
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71 glided | |
v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 );掠过;(鸟或飞机 ) 滑翔 | |
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72 chauffeur | |
n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机;v.为…开车 | |
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73 skilfully | |
adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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74 brutes | |
兽( brute的名词复数 ); 畜生; 残酷无情的人; 兽性 | |
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75 rumbling | |
n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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