My personage was a hen, and she lived at the Sunk Creek1 Ranch2.
Judge Henry's ranch was notable for several luxuries. He had milk, for example. In those days his brother ranchmen had thousands of cattle very often, but not a drop of milk, save the condensed variety. Therefore they had no butter. The Judge had plenty. Next rarest to butter and milk in the cattle country were eggs. But my host had chickens. Whether this was because he had followed cock-fighting in his early days, or whether it was due to Mrs. Henry, I cannot say. I only know that when I took a meal elsewhere, I was likely to find nothing but the eternal "sowbelly," beans, and coffee; while at Sunk Creek the omelet and the custard were frequent. The passing traveller was glad to tie his horse to the fence here, and sit down to the Judge's table. For its fame was as wide as Wyoming. It was an oasis3 in the Territory's desolate4 bill-of-fare.
The long fences of Judge Henry's home ranch began upon Sunk Creek soon after that stream emerged from its canyon5 through the Bow Leg. It was a place always well cared for by the owner, even in the days of his bachelorhood. The placid6 regiments7 of cattle lay in the cool of the cottonwoods by the water, or slowly moved among the sage8-brush, feeding upon the grass that in those forever departed years was plentiful9 and tall. The steers10 came fat off his unenclosed range and fattened11 still more in his large pasture; while his small pasture, a field some eight miles square, was for several seasons given to the Judge's horses, and over this ample space there played and prospered12 the good colts which he raised from Paladin, his imported stallion. After he married, I have been assured that his wife's influence became visible in and about the house at once. Shade trees were planted, flowers attempted, and to the chickens was added the much more troublesome turkey. I, the visitor, was pressed into service when I arrived, green from the East. I took hold of the farmyard and began building a better chicken house, while the Judge was off creating meadow land in his gray and yellow wilderness14. When any cow-boy was unoccupied, he would lounge over to my neighborhood, and silently regard my carpentering.
Those cow-punchers bore names of various denominations15. There was Honey Wiggin; there was Nebrasky, and Dollar Bill, and Chalkeye. And they came from farms and cities, from Maine and from California. But the romance of American adventure had drawn16 them all alike to this great playground of young men, and in their courage, their generosity17, and their amusement at me they bore a close resemblance to each other. Each one would silently observe my achievements with the hammer and the chisel18. Then he would retire to the bunk-house, and presently I would over hear laughter. But this was only in the morning. In the afternoon on many days of the summer which I spent at the Sunk Creek Ranch I would go shooting, or ride up toward the entrance of the canyon and watch the men working on the irrigation ditches. Pleasant systems of water running in channels were being led through the soil, and there was a sound of rippling19 here and there among the yellow grain; the green thick alfalfa grass waved almost, it seemed, of its own accord, for the wind never blew; and when at evening the sun lay against the plain, the rift20 of the canyon was filled with a violet light, and the Bow Leg Mountains became transfigured with hues21 of floating and unimaginable color. The sun shone in a sky where never a cloud came, and noon was not too warm nor the dark too cool. And so for two months I went through these pleasant uneventful days, improving the chickens, an object of mirth, living in the open air, and basking22 in the perfection of content.
I was justly styled a tenderfoot. Mrs. Henry had in the beginning endeavored to shield me from this humiliation23; but when she found that I was inveterate24 in laying my inexperience of Western matters bare to all the world, begging to be enlightened upon rattlesnakes, prairie-dogs, owls25, blue and willow26 grouse27, sage-hens, how to rope a horse or tighten28 the front cinch of my saddle, and that my spirit soared into enthusiasm at the mere30 sight of so ordinary an animal as a white-tailed deer, she let me rush about with my firearms and made no further effort to stave off the ridicule31 that my blunders perpetually earned from the ranch hands, her own humorous husband, and any chance visitor who stopped for a meal or stayed the night.
I was not called by my name after the first feeble etiquette32 due to a stranger in his first few hours had died away. I was known simply as "the tenderfoot." I was introduced to the neighborhood (a circle of eighty miles) as "the tenderfoot." It was thus that Balaam, the maltreater of horses, learned to address me when he came a two days' journey to pay a visit. And it was this name and my notorious helplessness that bid fair to end what relations I had with the Virginian. For when Judge Henry ascertained33 that nothing could prevent me from losing myself, that it was not uncommon34 for me to saunter out after breakfast with a gun and in thirty minutes cease to know north from south, he arranged for my protection. He detailed35 an escort for me; and the escort was once more the trustworthy man! The poor Virginian was taken from his work and his comrades and set to playing nurse for me. And for a while this humiliation ate into his untamed soul. It was his lugubrious36 lot to accompany me in my rambles37, preside over my blunders, and save me from calamitously38 passing into the next world. He bore it in courteous39 silence, except when speaking was necessary. He would show me the lower ford40, which I could never find for myself, generally mistaking a quicksand for it. He would tie my horse properly. He would recommend me not to shoot my rifle at a white-tailed deer in the particular moment that the outfit41 wagon42 was passing behind the animal on the further side of the brush. There was seldom a day that he was not obliged to hasten and save me from sudden death or from ridicule, which is worse. Yet never once did he lose his patience and his gentle, slow voice, and apparently44 lazy manner remained the same, whether we were sitting at lunch together, or up in the mountain during a hunt, or whether he was bringing me back my horse, which had run away because I had again forgotten to throw the reins45 over his head and let them trail.
"He'll always stand if yu' do that," the Virginian would say. "See how my hawss stays right quiet yondeh."
After such admonition he would say no more to me. But this tame nursery business was assuredly gall46 to him. For though utterly47 a man in countenance48 and in his self-possession and incapacity to be put at a loss, he was still boyishly proud of his wild calling, and wore his leather straps49 and jingled50 his spurs with obvious pleasure. His tiger limberness and his beauty were rich with unabated youth; and that force which lurked51 beneath his surface must often have curbed52 his intolerance of me. In spite of what I knew must be his opinion of me, the tenderfoot, my liking53 for him grew, and I found his silent company more and more agreeable. That he had spells of talking, I had already learned at Medicine Bow. But his present taciturnity might almost have effaced54 this impression, had I not happened to pass by the bunk-house one evening after dark, when Honey Wiggin and the rest of the cow-boys were gathered inside it.
That afternoon the Virginian and I had gone duck shooting. We had found several in a beaver55 dam, and I had killed two as they sat close together; but they floated against the breastwork of sticks out in the water some four feet deep, where the escaping current might carry them down the stream. The Judge's red setter had not accompanied us, because she was expecting a family.
"We don't want her along anyways," the cowpuncher had explained to me. "She runs around mighty56 irresponsible, and she'll stand a prairie-dog 'bout13 as often as she'll stand a bird. She's a triflin' animal."
My anxiety to own the ducks caused me to pitch into the water with all my clothes on, and subsequently crawl out a slippery, triumphant57, weltering heap. The Virginian's serious eyes had rested upon this spectacle of mud; but he expressed nothing, as usual.
"They ain't overly good eatin'," he observed, tying the birds to his saddle. "They're divers58."
"Divers!" I exclaimed. "Why didn't they dive?"
"I reckon they was young ones and hadn't experience."
"Well," I said, crestfallen59, but attempting to be humorous, "I did the diving myself."
But the Virginian made no comment. He handed me my double-barrelled English gun, which I was about to leave deserted60 on the ground behind me, and we rode home in our usual silence, the mean little white-breasted, sharp-billed divers dangling61 from his saddle.
It was in the bunk-house that he took his revenge. As I passed I heard his gentle voice silently achieving some narrative62 to an attentive63 audience, and just as I came by the open window where he sat on his bed in shirt and drawers, his back to me, I heard his concluding words, "And the hat on his haid was the one mark showed yu' he weren't a snappin'-turtle."
The anecdote64 met with instantaneous success, and I hurried away into the dark. The next morning I was occupied with the chickens. Two hens were fighting to sit on some eggs that a third was daily laying, and which I did not want hatched, and for the third time I had kicked Em'ly off seven potatoes she had rolled together and was determined65 to raise I know not what sort of family from. She was shrieking66 about the hen-house as the Virginian came in to observe (I suspect) what I might be doing now that could be useful for him to mention in the bunk-house.
He stood awhile, and at length said, "We lost our best rooster when Mrs. Henry came to live hyeh."
I paid no attention.
"He was a right elegant Dominicker," he continued.
I felt a little riled about the snapping-turtle, and showed no interest in what he was saying, but continued my functions among the hens. This unusual silence of mine seemed to elicit67 unusual speech from him.
"Yu' see, that rooster he'd always lived round hyeh when the Judge was a bachelor, and he never seen no ladies or any persons wearing female gyarments. You ain't got rheumatism68, seh?"
"Me? No."
"I reckoned maybe them little odd divers yu' got damp goin' afteh--" He paused.
"Oh, no, not in the least, thank you."
"Yu' seemed sort o' grave this mawnin', and I'm cert'nly glad it ain't them divers."
"Well, the rooster?" I inquired finally.
"Oh, him! He weren't raised where he could see petticoats. Mrs. Henry she come hyeh from the railroad with the Judge afteh dark. Next mawnin' early she walked out to view her new home, and the rooster was a-feedin' by the door, and he seen her. Well, seh, he screeched69 that awful I run out of the bunk-house; and he jus' went over the fence and took down Sunk Creek shoutin' fire, right along. He has never come back."
"There's a hen over there now that has no judgment," I said, indicating Em'ly. She had got herself outside the house, and was on the bars of a corral, her vociferations reduced to an occasional squawk. I told him about the potatoes.
"I never knowed her name before," said he. "That runaway70 rooster, he hated her. And she hated him same as she hates 'em all."
"I named her myself," said I, "after I came to notice her particularly. There's an old maid at home who's charitable, and belongs to the Cruelty to Animals, and she never knows whether she had better cross in front of a street car or wait. I named the hen after her. Does she ever lay eggs?"
The Virginian had not "troubled his haid" over the poultry71.
"Well, I don't believe she knows how. I think she came near being a rooster."
"She's sure manly-lookin'," said the Virginian. We had walked toward the corral, and he was now scrutinizing72 Em'ly with interest.
She was an egregious73 fowl74. She was huge and gaunt, with great yellow beak75, and she stood straight and alert in the manner of responsible people. There was something wrong with her tail. It slanted76 far to one side, one feather in it twice as long as the rest. Feathers on her breast there were none. These had been worn entirely79 off by her habit of sitting upon potatoes and other rough abnormal objects. And this lent to her appearance an air of being decollete, singularly at variance80 with her otherwise prudish81 ensemble82. Her eye was remarkably83 bright, but somehow it had an outraged84 expression. It was as if she went about the world perpetually scandalized over the doings that fell beneath her notice. Her legs were blue, long, and remarkably stout86.
"She'd ought to wear knickerbockers," murmured the Virginian. "She'd look a heap better 'n some o' them college students. And she'll set on potatoes, yu' say?"
"She thinks she can hatch out anything. I've found her with onions, and last Tuesday I caught her on two balls of soap."
In the afternoon the tall cow-puncher and I rode out to get an antelope87.
After an hour, during which he was completely taciturn, he said: "I reckon maybe this hyeh lonesome country ain't been healthy for Em'ly to live in. It ain't for some humans. Them old trappers in the mountains gets skewed in the haid mighty often, an' talks out loud when nobody's nigher 'n a hundred miles."
"Em'ly has not been solitary," I replied. "There are forty chickens here."
"That's so," said he. "It don't explain her."
He fell silent again, riding beside me, easy and indolent in the saddle. His long figure looked so loose and inert88 that the swift, light spring he made to the ground seemed an impossible feat78. He had seen an antelope where I saw none.
"Take a shot yourself," I urged him, as he motioned me to be quick. "You never shoot when I'm with you."
"I ain't hyeh for that," he answered. "Now you've let him get away on yu'!"
The antelope had in truth departed.
"Why," he said to my protest, "I can hit them things any day. What's your notion as to Em'ly?"
"I can't account for her," I replied.
"Well," he said musingly89, and then his mind took one of those particular turns that made me love him, "Taylor ought to see her. She'd be just the schoolmarm for Bear Creek!"
"She's not much like the eating-house lady at Medicine Bow," I said.
He gave a hilarious90 chuckle91. "No, Em'ly knows nothing o' them joys. So yu' have no notion about her? Well, I've got one. I reckon maybe she was hatched after a big thunderstorm."
"In a big thunderstorm!" I exclaimed.
"Yes. Don't yu' know about them, and what they'll do to aiggs? A big case o' lightnin' and thunder will addle29 aiggs and keep 'em from hatchin'. And I expect one came along, and all the other aiggs of Em'ly's set didn't hatch out, but got plumb92 addled93, and she happened not to get addled that far, and so she just managed to make it through. But she cert'nly ain't got a strong haid."
"I fear she has not," said I.
"Mighty hon'ble intentions," he observed. "If she can't make out to lay anything, she wants to hatch somethin', and be a mother anyways."
"I wonder what relation the law considers that a hen is to the chicken she hatched but did not lay?" I inquired.
The Virginian made no reply to this frivolous94 suggestion. He was gazing over the wide landscape gravely and with apparent inattention. He invariably saw game before I did, and was off his horse and crouched95 among the sage while I was still getting my left foot clear of the stirrup. I succeeded in killing96 an antelope, and we rode home with the head and hind43 quarters.
"No," said he. "It's sure the thunder, and not the lonesomeness. How do yu' like the lonesomeness yourself?"
I told him that I liked it.
"I could not live without it now," he said. "This has got into my system." He swept his hand out at the vast space of world. "I went back home to see my folks onced. Mother was dyin' slow, and she wanted me. I stayed a year. But them Virginia mountains could please me no more. Afteh she was gone, I told my brothers and sisters good-by. We like each other well enough, but I reckon I'll not go back."
We found Em'ly seated upon a collection of green California peaches, which the Judge had brought from the railroad.
"I don't mind her any more," I said; "I'm sorry for her."
"I've been sorry for her right along," said the Virginian. "She does hate the roosters so." And he said that he was making a collection of every class of object which he found her treating as eggs.
But Em'ly's egg-industry was terminated abruptly97 one morning, and her unquestioned energies diverted to a new channel. A turkey which had been sitting in the root-house appeared with twelve children, and a family of bantams occurred almost simultaneously98. Em'ly was importantly scratching the soil inside Paladin's corral when the bantam tribe of newly born came by down the lane, and she caught sight of them through the bars. She crossed the corral at a run, and intercepted99 two of the chicks that were trailing somewhat behind their real mamma. These she undertook to appropriate, and assumed a high tone with the bantam, who was the smaller, and hence obliged to retreat with her still numerous family. I interfered100, and put matters straight; but the adjustment was only temporary. In an hour I saw Em'ly immensely busy with two more bantams, leading them about and taking a care of them which I must admit seemed perfectly101 efficient.
And now came the first incident that made me suspect her to be demented.
She had proceeded with her changelings behind the kitchen, where one of the irrigation ditches ran under the fence from the hay-field to supply the house with water. Some distance along this ditch inside the field were the twelve turkeys in the short, recently cut stubble. Again Em'ly set off instantly like a deer. She left the dismayed bantams behind her. She crossed the ditch with one jump of her stout blue legs, flew over the grass, and was at once among the turkeys, where, with an instinct of maternity102 as undiscriminating as it was reckless, she attempted to huddle103 some of them away. But this other mamma was not a bantam, and in a few moments Em'ly was entirely routed in her attempt to acquire a new variety of family.
This spectacle was witnessed by the Virginian and myself, and it overcame him. He went speechless across to the bunk-house, by himself, and sat on his bed, while I took the abandoned bantams back to their own circle.
I have often wondered what the other fowls104 thought of all this. Some impression it certainly did make upon them. The notion may seem out of reason to those who have never closely attended to other animals than man; but I am convinced that any community which shares some of our instincts will share some of the resulting feelings, and that birds and beasts have conventions, the breach105 of which startles them. If there be anything in evolution, this would seem inevitable106; At all events, the chicken-house was upset during the following several days. Em'ly disturbed now the bantams and now the turkeys, and several of these latter had died, though I will not go so far as to say that this was the result of her misplaced attentions. Nevertheless, I was seriously thinking of locking her up till the broods should be a little older, when another event happened, and all was suddenly at peace.
The Judge's setter came in one morning, wagging her tail. She had had her puppies, and she now took us to where they were housed, in between the floor of a building and the hollow ground. Em'ly was seated on the whole litter.
"No," I said to the Judge, "I am not surprised. She is capable of anything."
In her new choice of offspring, this hen had at length encountered an unworthy parent. The setter was bored by her own puppies. She found the hole under the house an obscure and monotonous107 residence compared with the dining room, and our company more stimulating108 and sympathetic than that of her children. A much-petted contact with our superior race had developed her dog intelligence above its natural level, and turned her into an unnatural109, neglectful mother, who was constantly forgetting her nursery for worldly pleasures.
At certain periods of the day she repaired to the puppies and fed them, but came away when this perfunctory ceremony was accomplished110; and she was glad enough to have a governess bring them up. She made no quarrel with Em'ly, and the two understood each other perfectly. I have never seen among animals any arrangement so civilized111 and so perverted112. It made Em'ly perfectly happy. To see her sitting all day jealously spreading her wings over some blind puppies was sufficiently113 curious; but when they became large enough to come out from under the house and toddle114 about in the proud hen's wake, I longed for some distinguished115 naturalist116. I felt that our ignorance made us inappropriate spectators of such a phenomenon. Em'ly scratched and clucked, and the puppies ran to her, pawed her with their fat limp little legs, and retreated beneath her feathers in their games of hide and seek. Conceive, if you can, what confusion must have reigned117 in their infant minds as to who the setter was!
"I reckon they think she's the wet-nurse," said the Virginian.
When the puppies grew to be boisterous118, I perceived that Em'ly's mission was approaching its end. They were too heavy for her, and their increasing scope of playfulness was not in her line. Once or twice they knocked her over, upon which she arose and pecked them severely119, and they retired120 to a safe distance, and sitting in a circle, yapped at her. I think they began to suspect that she was only a hen after all. So Em'ly resigned with an indifference121 which surprised me, until I remembered that if it had been chickens, she would have ceased to look after them by this time.
But here she was again "out of a job," as the Virginian said.
"She's raised them puppies for that triflin' setter, and now she'll be huntin' around for something else useful to do that ain't in her business."
Now there were other broods of chickens to arrive in the hen-house, and I did not desire any more bantam and turkey performances. So, to avoid confusion, I played a trick upon Em'ly. I went down to Sunk Creek and fetched some smooth, oval stones. She was quite satisfied with these, and passed a quiet day with them in a box. This was not fair, the Virginian asserted.
"You ain't going to jus' leave her fooled that a-way?"
I did not see why not.
"Why, she raised them puppies all right. Ain't she showed she knows how to be a mother anyways? Em'ly ain't going to get her time took up for nothing while I'm round hyeh," said the cowpuncher.
He laid a gentle hold of Em'ly and tossed her to the ground. She, of course, rushed out among the corrals in a great state of nerves.
"I don't see what good you do meddling," I protested.
To this he deigned122 no reply, but removed the unresponsive stones from the straw.
"Why, if they ain't right warm!" he exclaimed plaintively123. "The poor, deluded124 son-of-a-gun!" And with this unusual description of a lady, he sent the stones sailing like a line of birds. "I'm regular getting stuck on Em'ly," continued the Virginian. "Yu' needn't to laugh. Don't yu' see she's got sort o' human feelin's and desires? I always knowed hawsses was like people, and my collie, of course. It is kind of foolish, I expect, but that hen's goin' to have a real aigg di-rectly, right now, to set on." With this he removed one from beneath another hen. "We'll have Em'ly raise this hyeh," said he, "so she can put in her time profitable."
It was not accomplished at once; for Em'ly, singularly enough, would not consent to stay in the box whence she had been routed. At length we found another retreat for her, and in these new surroundings, with a new piece of work for her to do, Em'ly sat on the one egg which the Virginian had so carefully provided for her.
Thus, as in all genuine tragedies, was the stroke of Fate wrought125 by chance and the best intentions.
Em'ly began sitting on Friday afternoon near sundown. Early next morning my sleep was gradually dispersed126 by a sound unearthly and continuous. Now it dwindled127, receding128 to a distance; again it came near, took a turn, drifted to the other side of the house; then, evidently, whatever it was, passed my door close, and I jumped upright in my bed. The high, tense strain of vibration129, nearly, but not quite, a musical note, was like the threatening scream of machinery130, though weaker, and I bounded out of the house in my pajamas131.
There was Em'ly, dishevelled, walking wildly about, her one egg miraculously132 hatched within ten hours. The little lonely yellow ball of down went cheeping along behind, following its mother as best it could. What, then, had happened to the established period of incubation? For an instant the thing was like a portent133, and I was near joining Em'ly in her horrid134 surprise, when I saw how it all was. The Virginian had taken an egg from a hen which had already been sitting for three weeks.
I dressed in haste, hearing Em'ly's distracted outcry. It steadily135 sounded, without perceptible pause for breath, and marked her erratic136 journey back and forth137 through stables, lanes, and corrals. The shrill138 disturbance139 brought all of us out to see her, and in the hen-house I discovered the new brood making its appearance punctually.
But this natural explanation could not be made to the crazed hen. She continued to scour140 the premises141, her slant77 tail and its one preposterous142 feather waving as she aimlessly went, her stout legs stepping high with an unnatural motion, her head lifted nearly off her neck, and in her brilliant yellow eye an expression of more than outrage85 at this overturning of a natural law. Behind her, entirely ignored and neglected, trailed the little progeny143. She never looked at it. We went about our various affairs, and all through the clear, sunny day that unending metallic144 scream pervaded145 the premises. The Virginian put out food and water for her, but she tasted nothing. I am glad to say that the little chicken did. I do not think that the hen's eyes could see, except in the way that sleep-walkers' do.
The heat went out of the air, and in the canyon the violet light began to show. Many hours had gone, but Em'ly never ceased. Now she suddenly flew up in a tree and sat there with her noise still going; but it had risen lately several notes into a slim, acute level of terror, and was not like machinery any more, nor like any sound I ever heard before or since. Below the tree stood the bewildered little chicken, cheeping, and making tiny jumps to reach its mother.
"Yes," said the Virginian, "it's comical. Even her aigg acted different from anybody else's." He paused, and looked across the wide, mellowing146 plain with the expression of easy-going gravity so common with him. Then he looked at Em'ly in the tree and the yellow chicken.
"It ain't so damned funny," said he.
We went in to supper, and I came out to find the hen lying on the ground, dead. I took the chicken to the family in the hen-house.
No, it was not altogether funny any more. And I did not think less of the Virginian when I came upon him surreptitiously digging a little hole in the field for her.
"I have buried some citizens here and there," said he, "that I have respected less."
And when the time came for me to leave Sunk Creek, my last word to the Virginian was, "Don't forget Em'ly."
"I ain't likely to," responded the cow-puncher. "She is just one o' them parables147."
Save when he fell into his native idioms (which, they told me, his wanderings had well-nigh obliterated148 until that year's visit to his home again revived them in his speech), he had now for a long while dropped the "seh," and all other barriers between us. We were thorough friends, and had exchanged many confidences both of the flesh and of the spirit. He even went the length of saying that he would write me the Sunk Creek news if I would send him a line now and then. I have many letters from him now. Their spelling came to be faultless, and in the beginning was little worse than George Washington's.
The Judge himself drove me to the railroad by another way--across the Bow Leg Mountains, and south through Balaam's Ranch and Drybone to Rock Creek.
"I'll be very homesick," I told him.
"Come and pull the latch-string whenever you please," he bade me. I wished that I might! No lotus land ever cast its spell upon man's heart more than Wyoming had enchanted149 mine.
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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oasis
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| n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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canyon
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placid
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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steers
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| n.阉公牛，肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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fattened
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| v.喂肥( fatten的过去式和过去分词 )；养肥（牲畜）；使（钱）增多；使（公司）升值 | |
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prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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denominations
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| n.宗派( denomination的名词复数 )；教派；面额；名称 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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18
chisel
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| n.凿子；v.用凿子刻，雕，凿 | |
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19
rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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20
rift
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| n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入 | |
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21
hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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22
basking
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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23
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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24
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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25
owls
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| n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 ) | |
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26
willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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27
grouse
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| n.松鸡；v.牢骚，诉苦 | |
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28
tighten
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| v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧 | |
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29
addle
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| v.使腐坏，使昏乱 | |
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30
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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31
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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32
etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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33
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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35
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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36
lugubrious
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| adj.悲哀的，忧郁的 | |
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37
rambles
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的第三人称单数 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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38
calamitously
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| adv.灾难地，悲惨地 | |
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39
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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40
Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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41
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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42
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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43
hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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44
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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45
reins
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| 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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46
gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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47
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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48
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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49
straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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50
jingled
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| 喝醉的 | |
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51
lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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52
curbed
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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54
effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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55
beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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56
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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57
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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58
divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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59
crestfallen
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| adj. 挫败的，失望的，沮丧的 | |
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60
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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61
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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62
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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63
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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64
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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65
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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66
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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67
elicit
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| v.引出,抽出,引起 | |
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68
rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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69
screeched
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的过去式和过去分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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70
runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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71
poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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72
scrutinizing
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 ) | |
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73
egregious
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| adj.非常的，过分的 | |
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74
fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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75
beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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76
slanted
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| 有偏见的； 倾斜的 | |
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77
slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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78
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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79
entirely
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|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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80
variance
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| n.矛盾，不同 | |
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81
prudish
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|
| adj.装淑女样子的，装规矩的，过分规矩的；adv.过分拘谨地 | |
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82
ensemble
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| n.合奏(唱)组；全套服装；整体，总效果 | |
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83
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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84
outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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85
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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87
antelope
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| n.羚羊；羚羊皮 | |
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88
inert
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|
| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
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89
musingly
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| adv.沉思地，冥想地 | |
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90
hilarious
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| adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed | |
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91
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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92
plumb
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| adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深 | |
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93
addled
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| adj.（头脑）糊涂的，愚蠢的；（指蛋类）变坏v.使糊涂( addle的过去式和过去分词 )；使混乱；使腐臭；使变质 | |
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94
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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95
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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96
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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97
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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98
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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99
intercepted
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| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
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100
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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101
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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102
maternity
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| n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的 | |
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103
huddle
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| vi.挤作一团；蜷缩；vt.聚集；n.挤在一起的人 | |
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104
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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105
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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106
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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107
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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108
stimulating
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| adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的 | |
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109
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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110
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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111
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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112
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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113
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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114
toddle
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| v.（如小孩）蹒跚学步 | |
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115
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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116
naturalist
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| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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117
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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118
boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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119
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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120
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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121
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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122
deigned
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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123
plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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124
deluded
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| v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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125
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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126
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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127
dwindled
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| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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128
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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129
vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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130
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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131
pajamas
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| n.睡衣裤 | |
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132
miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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133
portent
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| n.预兆；恶兆；怪事 | |
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134
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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135
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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136
erratic
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| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
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137
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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138
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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139
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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140
scour
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| v.搜索；擦，洗，腹泻，冲刷 | |
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141
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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142
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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143
progeny
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| n.后代，子孙；结果 | |
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144
metallic
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|
| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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145
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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146
mellowing
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| 软化，醇化 | |
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147
parables
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| n.（圣经中的）寓言故事( parable的名词复数 ) | |
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148
obliterated
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|
| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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