This is not a history of my trading ventures, or I would tell at length the steps I took to found a new way of business. I went among the planters, offering to buy tobacco from the coming harvest, and to pay for it in bonds which could be exchanged for goods at my store. I also offered to provide shipment in the autumn for tobacco and other wares14, and I fixed15 the charge for freight—a very moderate one—in advance. My plan was to clear out my store before the return of the ships, and to have thereby16 a large quantity of tobacco mortgaged to me. I hoped that thus I would win the friendship and custom of the planters, since I offered them a more convenient way of sale and higher profits. I hoped by breaking down the English monopoly to induce a continual and wholesome17 commerce in the land. For this purpose it was necessary to get coin into the people's hands, so, using my uncle's credit, I had a parcel of English money from the New York goldsmiths.
In a week I found myself the most-talked-of man in the dominion18, and soon I saw the troubles that credit brings. I had picked up a very correct notion of the fortunes of most of the planters, and the men who were most eager to sell to me were just those I could least trust. Some fellow who was near bankrupt from dice19 and cock-fighting would offer me five hundred hogsheads, when I knew that his ill-guided estate could scarce produce half. I was not a merchant out of charity, and I had to decline many offers, and so made many foes20. Still, one way and another, I was not long in clearing out my store, and I found myself with some three times the amount of tobacco in prospect21 that I had sent home at the last harvest.
That was very well, but there was the devil to pay besides. Every wastrel22 I sent off empty-handed was my enemy; the agents of the Englishmen looked sourly at me; and many a man who was swindled grossly by the Bristol buyers saw me as a marauder instead of a benefactor23. For this I was prepared; but what staggered me was the way that some of the better sort of the gentry24 came to regard me. It was not that they did not give me their custom; that I did not expect, for gunpowder25 alone would change the habits of a Virginian Tory. But my new business seemed to them such a downcome that they passed me by with a cock of the chin. Before they had treated me hospitably26, and made me welcome at their houses. I had hunted the fox with them—very little to my credit; and shot wildfowl in their company with better success. I had dined with them, and danced in their halls at Christmas. Then I had been a gentleman; now I was a shopkeeper, a creature about the level of a redemptioner. The thing was so childish that it made me angry. It was right for one of them to sell his tobacco on his own wharf27 to a tarry skipper who cheated him grossly, but wrong for me to sell kebbucks and linsey-woolsey at an even bargain. I gave up the puzzle. Some folks' notions of gentility are beyond my wits.
I had taken to going to the church in James Town, first at Mr. Lambie's desire, and then because I liked the sermons. There on a Sunday you would see the fashion of the neighbourhood, for the planters' ladies rode in on pillions, and the planters themselves, in gold-embroidered waistcoats and plush breeches and new-powdered wigs28, leaned on the tombstones, and exchanged snuffmulls and gossip. In the old ramshackle graveyard29 you would see such a parade of satin bodices and tabby petticoats and lace headgear as made it blossom like the rose. I went to church one Sunday in my second summer, and, being late, went up the aisle30 looking for a place. The men at the seat-ends would not stir to accommodate me, and I had to find rest in the cock-loft. I thought nothing of it, but the close of the service was to enlighten me. As I went down the churchyard not a man or woman gave me greeting, and when I spoke32 to any I was not answered. These were men with whom I had been on the friendliest terms; women, too, who only a week before had chaffered with me at the store. It was clear that the little society had marooned33 me to an isle31 by myself. I was a leper, unfit for gentlefolks' company, because, forsooth, I had sold goods, which every one of them did also, and had tried to sell them fair.
The thing made me very bitter. I sat in my house during the hot noons when no one stirred, and black anger filled my heart. I grew as peevish34 as a slighted girl, and would no doubt have fretted35 myself into some signal folly36, had not an event occurred which braced37 my soul again. This was the arrival of the English convoy38.
When I heard that the ships were sighted, I made certain of trouble. I had meantime added to my staff two other young men, who, like Faulkner, lived with me at the store. Also I had got four stalwart negro slaves who slept in a hut in my garden. 'Twas a strong enough force to repel39 a drunken posse from the plantations40, and I had a fancy that it would be needed in the coming weeks.
Two days later, going down the street of James Town, I met one of the
English skippers, a redfaced, bottle-nosed old ruffian called
"What's this I hear, Sawney?" he cried. "You're setting up as a pedlar, and trying to cut in on our trade. Od twist me, but we'll put an end to that, my bully-boy. D'you think the King, God bless him, made the laws for a red-haired, flea-bitten Sawney to diddle true-born Englishmen? What'll the King's Bench say to that, think ye?"
He was very abusive, but very uncertain on his legs. I said good-humouredly that I welcomed process of law, and would defend my action. He shook his head, and said something about law not being everything, and England being a long road off. He had clearly some great threat to be delivered of, but just then he sat down so heavily that he had no breath for anything but curses.
But the drunkard had given me a notion. I hurried home and gave instructions to my men to keep a special guard on the store. Then I set off in a pinnace to find my three ships, which were now lading up and down among the creeks43.
That was the beginning of a fortnight's struggle, when every man's hand was against me, and I enjoyed myself surprisingly. I was never at rest by land or water. The ships were the least of the business, for the dour44 Scots seamen45 were a match for all comers. I made them anchor at twilight46 in mid-stream for safety's sake, for in that drouthy clime a firebrand might play havoc47 with them. The worst that happened was that one moonless night a band of rascals49, rigged out as Indian braves, came yelling down to the quay where some tobacco was waiting to be shipped, and before my men were warned had tipped a couple of hogsheads into the water. They got no further, for we fell upon them with marling-spikes and hatchets50, stripped them of their feathers, and sent them to cool their heads in the muddy river. The ring-leader I haled to James Town, and had the pleasure of seeing him grinning through a collar in the common stocks.
Then I hied me back to my store, which was my worst anxiety, I was followed by ill names as I went down the street, and one day in a tavern51, a young fool drew his shabble on me. But I would quarrel with no man, for that was a luxury beyond a trader. There had been an attack on my tobacco shed by some of the English seamen, and in the mellay one of my blacks got an ugly wound from a cutlass. It was only a foretaste, and I set my house in order.
One afternoon John Faulkner brought me word that mischief52 would be afoot at the darkening. I put each man to his station, and I had the sense to picket53 them a little distance from the house. The Englishmen were clumsy conspirators54. We watched them arrive, let them pass, and followed silently on their heels. Their business was wreckage55, and they fixed a charge of powder by the tobacco shed, laid and lit a fuse, and retired56 discreetly57 into the bushes to watch their handiwork.
Then we fell upon them, and the hindquarters of all bore witness to our greeting.
I caught the fellow who had laid the fuse, tied the whole thing round his neck, clapped a pistol to his ear, and marched him before me into the town. "If you are minded to bolt," I said, "remember you have a charge of gunpowder lobbing below your chin. I have but to flash my pistol into it, and they will be picking the bits of you off the high trees."
I took the rascal48, his knees knocking under him, straight to the ordinary where the English merchants chiefly forgathered. A dozen of them sat over a bowl of punch, when the door was opened and I kicked my Guy Fawkes inside. I may have misjudged them, but I thought every eye looked furtive58 as they saw my prisoner.
"Gentlemen," said I, "I restore you your property. This is a penitent59 thief who desires to make a confession60."
My pistol was at his temple, the powder was round his neck, and he must have seen a certain resolution in my face. Anyhow, sweating and quaking, he blurted61 out his story, and when he offered to halt I made rings with the barrel on the flesh of his neck.
"It is a damned lie," cried one of them, a handsome, over-dressed fellow who had been conspicuous62 for his public insolence63 towards me.
"Nay," said I, "our penitent's tale has the note of truth. One word to you, gentlemen. I am hospitably inclined, and if any one of you will so far honour me as to come himself instead of dispatching his servant, his welcome will be the warmer. I bid you good-night and leave you this fellow in proof of my goodwill64. Keep him away from the candle, I pray you, or you will all go to hell before your time."
That was the end of my worst troubles, and presently my lading was finished and my store replenished65. Then came the time for the return sailing, and the last enterprise of my friends was to go off without my three vessels68. But I got an order from the Governor, delivered readily but with much profanity, to the commander of the frigates69 to delay till the convoy was complete. I breathed more freely as I saw the last hulls70 grow small in the estuary71. For now, as I reasoned it out, the planters must begin to compare my prices with the Englishmen's, and must come to see where their advantage lay.
But I had counted my chickens too soon, and was to be woefully disappointed. At that time all the coast of America from New England to the Main was infested72 by pirate vessels. Some sailed under English letters of marque, and preyed73 only on the shipping74 of France, with whom we were at war. Some who had formed themselves into a company called the Brethren of the Coast robbed the Spanish treasure-ships and merchantmen in the south waters, and rarely came north to our parts save to careen or provision. They were mostly English and Welsh, with a few Frenchmen, and though I had little to say for their doings, they left British ships in the main unmolested, and were welcomed as a godsend by our coast dwellers75, since they smuggled76 goods to them which would have been twice the cost if bought at the convoy markets. Lastly, there were one or two horrid77 desperadoes who ravaged78 the seas like tigers. Such an one was the man Cosh, and that Teach, surnamed Blackbeard, of whom we hear too much to-day. But, on the whole, we of Virginia suffered not at all from these gentlemen of fortune, and piracy79, though the common peril80 of the seas, entered but little into the estimation of the merchants.
Judge, then, of my disgust when I got news a week later that one of my ships, the Ayr brig, had straggled from the convoy, and been seized, rifled, and burned to the water by pirates almost in sight of Cape81 Charles. The loss was grievous, but what angered me was the mystery of such a happening. I knew the brig was a slow sailer, but how in the name of honesty could she be suffered in broad daylight to fall into such a fate? I remembered the hostility82 of the Englishmen, and feared she had had foul83 play. Just after Christmas-tide I expected two ships to replenish66 the stock in my store. They arrived safe, but only by the skin of their teeth, for both had been chased from their first entrance into American waters, and only their big topsails and a favouring wind brought them off. I examined the captains closely on the matter, and they were positive that their assailant was not Cosh or any one of his kidney, but a ship of the Brethren, who ordinarily were on the best of terms with our merchantmen.
My suspicions now grew into a fever. I had long believed that there was some connivance84 between the pirates of the coast and the English traders, and small blame to them for it. 'Twas a sensible way to avoid trouble, and I for one would rather pay a modest blackmail85 every month or two than run the risk of losing a good ship and a twelve-month's cargo1. But when it came to using this connivance for private spite, the thing was not to be endured.
In March my doubts became certainties. I had a parcel of gold coin coming to me from New York in one of the coasting vessels—no great sum, but more than I cared to lose. Presently I had news that the ship was aground on a sandspit on Accomac, and had been plundered87 by a pirate brigantine. I got a sloop88 and went down the river, and, sure enough, I found the vessel67 newly refloated, and the captain, an old New Hampshire fellow, in a great taking. Piracy there had been, but of a queer kind, for not a farthing's worth had been touched except my packet of gold. The skipper was honesty itself, and it was plain that the pirate who had chased the ship aground and then come aboard to plunder86, had done it to do me hurt, and me alone.
All this made me feel pretty solemn. My uncle was a rich man, but no firm could afford these repeated losses. I was the most unpopular figure in Virginia, hated by many, despised by the genteel, whose only friends were my own servants and a few poverty-stricken landward folk. I had found out a good way of trade, but I had set a hornet's nest buzzing about my ears, and was on the fair way to be extinguished. This alliance between my rivals and the Free Companions was the last straw to my burden. If the sea was to be shut to him, then a merchant might as well put up his shutters89.
It made me solemn, but also most mightily90 angry. If the stars in their courses were going to fight against Andrew Garvald, they should find him ready. I went to the Governor, but he gave me no comfort. Indeed, he laughed at me, and bade me try the same weapon as my adversaries91. I left him, very wrathful, and after a night's sleep I began to see reason in his words. Clearly the law of Virginia or of England would give me no redress92. I was an alien from the genteel world; why should I not get the benefit of my ungentility? If my rivals went for their weapons into dark places, I could surely do likewise. A line of Virgil came into my head, which seemed to me to contain very good counsel: "Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo", which means that if you cannot get Heaven on your side, you had better try for the Devil.
But how was I to get into touch with the Devil? And then I remembered in a flash my meeting with the sea-captain on the Glasgow stairhead and his promise to help me, I had no notion who he was or how he could aid, but I had a vague memory of his power and briskness93. He had looked like the kind of lad who might conduct me into the wild world of the Free Companions.
I sought Mercer's tavern by the water-side, a melancholy94 place grown up with weeds, with a yard of dark trees at the back of it. Old Mercer was an elder in the little wooden Presbyterian kirk, which I had taken to attending since my quarrels with the gentry. He knew me and greeted me with his doleful smile, shaking his foolish old beard.
"What's your errand this e'en, Mr. Garvald?" he said in broad Scots. "Will you drink a rummer o' toddy, or try some fine auld95 usquebaugh I hae got frae my cousin in Buchan?"
I sat down on the settle outside the tavern door. "This is my errand. I want you to bring me to a man or bring that man to me. His name is Ninian Campbell."
Mercer looked at me dully.
"There was a lad o' that name was hanged at Inveraray i' '68 for stealin' twae hens and a wether."
"The man I mean is long and lean, and his head is as red as fire. He gave me your name, so you must know him."
His eyes showed no recognition. He repeated the name to himself, mumbling96 it toothlessly. "It sticks i' my memory," he said, "but when and where I canna tell. Certes, there's no man o' the name in Virginia."
I was beginning to think that my memory had played me false, when suddenly the whole scene in the Saltmarket leaped vividly97 to my brain. Then I remembered the something else I had been enjoined98 to say.
"Ninian Campbell," I went on, "bade me ask for him here, and I was to tell you that the lymphads are on the loch and the horn of Diarmaid has sounded."
In a twinkling his face changed from vacancy99 to shrewdness and from senility to purpose. He glanced uneasily round.
"For God's sake, speak soft," he whispered. "Come inside, man. We'll steek the door, and then I'll hear your business."
点击收听单词发音
1 cargo | |
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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2 cargoes | |
n.(船或飞机装载的)货物( cargo的名词复数 );大量,重负 | |
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3 plantation | |
n.种植园,大农场 | |
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4 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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5 relinquish | |
v.放弃,撤回,让与,放手 | |
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6 relinquished | |
交出,让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 ); 放弃 | |
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7 warehouse | |
n.仓库;vt.存入仓库 | |
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8 quay | |
n.码头,靠岸处 | |
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9 mooted | |
adj.未决定的,有争议的,有疑问的v.提出…供讨论( moot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10 implored | |
恳求或乞求(某人)( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11 precluded | |
v.阻止( preclude的过去式和过去分词 );排除;妨碍;使…行不通 | |
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12 steward | |
n.乘务员,服务员;看管人;膳食管理员 | |
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13 wanly | |
adv.虚弱地;苍白地,无血色地 | |
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14 wares | |
n. 货物, 商品 | |
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15 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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16 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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17 wholesome | |
adj.适合;卫生的;有益健康的;显示身心健康的 | |
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18 dominion | |
n.统治,管辖,支配权;领土,版图 | |
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19 dice | |
n.骰子;vt.把(食物)切成小方块,冒险 | |
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20 foes | |
敌人,仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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21 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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22 wastrel | |
n.浪费者;废物 | |
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23 benefactor | |
n. 恩人,行善的人,捐助人 | |
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24 gentry | |
n.绅士阶级,上层阶级 | |
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25 gunpowder | |
n.火药 | |
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26 hospitably | |
亲切地,招待周到地,善于款待地 | |
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27 wharf | |
n.码头,停泊处 | |
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28 wigs | |
n.假发,法官帽( wig的名词复数 ) | |
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29 graveyard | |
n.坟场 | |
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30 aisle | |
n.(教堂、教室、戏院等里的)过道,通道 | |
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31 isle | |
n.小岛,岛 | |
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32 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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33 marooned | |
adj.被围困的;孤立无援的;无法脱身的 | |
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34 peevish | |
adj.易怒的,坏脾气的 | |
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35 fretted | |
焦躁的,附有弦马的,腐蚀的 | |
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36 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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37 braced | |
adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 );撑牢;使自己站稳;振作起来 | |
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38 convoy | |
vt.护送,护卫,护航;n.护送;护送队 | |
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39 repel | |
v.击退,抵制,拒绝,排斥 | |
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40 plantations | |
n.种植园,大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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41 strutted | |
趾高气扬地走,高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42 accost | |
v.向人搭话,打招呼 | |
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43 creeks | |
n.小湾( creek的名词复数 );小港;小河;小溪 | |
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44 dour | |
adj.冷酷的,严厉的;(岩石)嶙峋的;顽强不屈 | |
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45 seamen | |
n.海员 | |
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46 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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47 havoc | |
n.大破坏,浩劫,大混乱,大杂乱 | |
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48 rascal | |
n.流氓;不诚实的人 | |
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49 rascals | |
流氓( rascal的名词复数 ); 无赖; (开玩笑说法)淘气的人(尤指小孩); 恶作剧的人 | |
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50 hatchets | |
n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 );恶毒攻击;诽谤;休战 | |
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51 tavern | |
n.小旅馆,客栈;小酒店 | |
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52 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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53 picket | |
n.纠察队;警戒哨;v.设置纠察线;布置警卫 | |
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54 conspirators | |
n.共谋者,阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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55 wreckage | |
n.(失事飞机等的)残骸,破坏,毁坏 | |
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56 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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57 discreetly | |
ad.(言行)审慎地,慎重地 | |
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58 furtive | |
adj.鬼鬼崇崇的,偷偷摸摸的 | |
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59 penitent | |
adj.后悔的;n.后悔者;忏悔者 | |
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60 confession | |
n.自白,供认,承认 | |
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61 blurted | |
v.突然说出,脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62 conspicuous | |
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的 | |
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63 insolence | |
n.傲慢;无礼;厚颜;傲慢的态度 | |
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64 goodwill | |
n.善意,亲善,信誉,声誉 | |
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65 replenished | |
补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 ); 重新装满 | |
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66 replenish | |
vt.补充;(把…)装满;(再)填满 | |
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67 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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68 vessels | |
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人 | |
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69 frigates | |
n.快速军舰( frigate的名词复数 ) | |
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70 hulls | |
船体( hull的名词复数 ); 船身; 外壳; 豆荚 | |
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71 estuary | |
n.河口,江口 | |
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72 infested | |
adj.为患的,大批滋生的(常与with搭配)v.害虫、野兽大批出没于( infest的过去式和过去分词 );遍布于 | |
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73 preyed | |
v.掠食( prey的过去式和过去分词 );掠食;折磨;(人)靠欺诈为生 | |
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74 shipping | |
n.船运(发货,运输,乘船) | |
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75 dwellers | |
n.居民,居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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76 smuggled | |
水货 | |
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77 horrid | |
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的 | |
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78 ravaged | |
毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 ); 蹂躏; 劫掠; 抢劫 | |
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79 piracy | |
n.海盗行为,剽窃,著作权侵害 | |
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80 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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81 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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82 hostility | |
n.敌对,敌意;抵制[pl.]交战,战争 | |
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83 foul | |
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规 | |
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84 connivance | |
n.纵容;默许 | |
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85 blackmail | |
n.讹诈,敲诈,勒索,胁迫,恫吓 | |
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86 plunder | |
vt.劫掠财物,掠夺;n.劫掠物,赃物;劫掠 | |
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87 plundered | |
掠夺,抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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88 sloop | |
n.单桅帆船 | |
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89 shutters | |
百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 ); (照相机的)快门 | |
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90 mightily | |
ad.强烈地;非常地 | |
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91 adversaries | |
n.对手,敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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92 redress | |
n.赔偿,救济,矫正;v.纠正,匡正,革除 | |
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93 briskness | |
n.敏捷,活泼 | |
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94 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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95 auld | |
adj.老的,旧的 | |
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96 mumbling | |
含糊地说某事,叽咕,咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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97 vividly | |
adv.清楚地,鲜明地,生动地 | |
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98 enjoined | |
v.命令( enjoin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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99 vacancy | |
n.(旅馆的)空位,空房,(职务的)空缺 | |
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