Remembering Jules Verne's enticing1 picture of life on the palatial2 Nautilus, I may as well admit that I was not prepared for a real submarine. My first impression, as I entered the hold, was that of discomfort3 and suffocation4. I felt, too, that I was too close to too much whirring machinery5. I gazed about curiously6. On all sides were electrical devices and machines to operate the craft and the torpedoes8. I thought, also, that the water outside was uncomfortably close; one could almost feel it. The Z99 was low roofed, damp, with an intricate system of rods, controls, engines, tanks, stop-cocks, compasses, gauges—more things than it seemed the human mind, to say nothing of wireless10, could possibly attend to at once.
"The policy of secrecy11 which governments keep in regard to submarines," remarked the captain, running his eye over everything at once, it seemed, "has led them to be looked upon as something mysterious. But whatever you may think of telautomatics, there is really no mystery about an ordinary submarine."
I did not agree with our "Captain Nemo," as, the examination completed, he threw in a switch. The motor started. The Z99 hummed and trembled. The fumes12 of gasoline were almost suffocating13 at first, in spite of the prompt ventilation to clear them off. There was no escape from the smell. I had heard of "gasoline heart," but the odour only made me sick and dizzy. Like most novices14, I suppose, I was suffering excruciating torture. Not so, Kennedy. He got used to it in no time; indeed, seemed to enjoy the very discomfort.
I felt that there was only one thing necessary to add to it, and that was the odour of cooking. Cooking, by the way, on a submarine is uncertain and disagreeable. There was a little electric heater, I found, which might possibly have heated enough water for one cup of coffee at a time.
In fact, space was economised to the utmost. Only the necessaries of life were there. Every inch that could be spared was given over to machinery. It was everywhere, compact, efficient—everything for running the boat under water, guiding it above and below, controlling its submersion, compressing air, firing torpedoes, and a thousand other things. It was wonderful as it was. But when one reflected that all could be done automatically, or rather telautomatically, it was simply astounding15.
"You see," observed Captain Shirley, "when she is working automatically neither the periscope16 nor the wireless-mast shows. The wireless impulses are carried down to her from an inconspicuous float which trails along the surface and carries a short aerial with a wire running down, like a mast, forming practically invisible antennae17."
As he was talking the boat was being "trimmed" by admitting water as ballast into the proper tanks.
"The Z99," he went on, "is a submersible, not a diving, submarine. That is to say, the rudder guides it and changes the angle of the boat. But the hydroplanes pull it up and down, two pairs of them set fore18 and aft of the centre of gravity. They lift or lower the boat bodily on an even keel, not by plunging19 and diving. I will now set the hydroplanes at ten degrees down and the horizontal rudder two degrees up, and the boat will submerge to a depth of thirty feet and run constant at that depth."
He had shut off the gasoline motor and started the storage-battery electric motor, which was used when running submerged. The great motors gave out a strange, humming sound. The crew conversed20 in low, constrained21 tones. There was a slightly perceptible jar, and the boat seemed to quiver just a bit from stem to stern. In front of Shirley was a gauge9 which showed the depth of submergence and a spirit-level which showed any inclination22.
I did not agree with those who have said there is no difference running submerged or on the surface. Under way on the surface was one thing. But when we dived it was most unpleasant. I had been reassured25 at the start when I heard that there were ten compressed-air tanks under a pressure of two thousand pounds to the square inch. But only once before had I breathed compressed air and that was when one of our cases once took us down into the tunnels below the rivers of New York. It was not a new sensation, but at fifty feet depth I felt a little tingling26 all over my body, a pounding of the ear-drums, and just a trace of nausea27.
Kennedy smiled as I moved about. "Never mind, Walter," he said. "I know how you feel on a first trip. One minute you are choking from lack of oxygen, then in another part of the boat you are exhilarated by too much of it. Still," he winked28, "don't forget that it is regulated."
"Well," I returned, "all I can say is that if war is hell, a submarine is war."
I had, however, been much interested in the things about me. Forward, the torpedo7-discharge tubes and other apparatus29 about the little doors in the vessel's nose made it look somewhat like the shield used in boring a tunnel under compressed air.
"Ordinary torpedo-boats use the regular automobile30 torpedo," remarked Captain Shirley, coming ubiquitously up behind me. "I improve on that. I can discharge the telautomobile torpedo, and guide it either from the boat, as we are now, or from the land station where we were last night, at will."
There was something more than pride in his manner. He was deadly in earnest about his invention.
We had come over to the periscope, the "eye" of the submarine when she is running just under the surface, but of no use that we were below. "Yes," he remarked, in answer to my half-spoken question, "that is the periscope. Usually there is one fixed31 to look ahead and another that is movable, in order to take in what is on the sides and in the rear. I have both of those. But, in addition, I have the universal periscope, the eye that sees all around, three hundred and sixty degrees—a very clever application of an annular32 prism with objectives, condenser33, and two eyepieces of low and high power."
A call from one of the crew took him into the stern to watch the operation of something, leaving me to myself, for Kennedy was roaming about on a still hunt for anything that might suggest itself. The safety devices, probably more than any other single thing, interested me, for I had read with peculiar34 fascination35 of the great disasters to the Lutin, the Pluviose, the Farfardet, the A8, the Foca, the Kambala, the Japanese No 6, the German U3, and others.
Below us I knew there was a keel that could be dropped, lightening the boat considerably36. Also, there was the submarine bell, immersed in a tank of water, with telephone receivers attached by which one could "listen in," for example, before rising, say, from sixty feet to twenty feet, and thus "hear" the hulls38 of other ships. The bell was struck by means of air pressure, and was the same as that used for submarine signalling on ships. Water, being dense, is an excellent conductor of sound. Even in the submarine itself, I could hear the muffled39 clang of the gong.
Then there were buoys40 which could be released and would fly to the surface, carrying within them a telephone, a light, and a whistle. I knew also something of the explosion dangers on a submarine, both from the fuel oil used when running on the surface, and from the storage batteries used when running submerged. Once in a while a sailor would take from a jar a piece of litmus paper and expose it, showing only a slight discolouration due to carbon dioxide. That was the least of my troubles. For a few moments, also, the white mice in a cage interested me. White mice were carried because they dislike the odour of gasoline and give warning of any leakage41 by loud squeals42.
The fact was that there was so much of interest that, the first discomfort over, I was, like Kennedy, beginning really to enjoy the trip.
I was startled suddenly to hear the motors stop. There was no more of that interminable buzzing. The Z99 responded promptly43 to the air pressure that was forcing the water out of the tanks. The gauge showed that we were gradually rising on an even keel. A man sprang up the narrow hatchway and opened the cover through which we could see a little patch of blue sky again. The gasoline motor was started, and we ran leisurely44 back to the dock. The trip was over—safely. As we landed I felt a sense of gladness to get away from that feeling of being cut off from the world. It was not fear of death or of the water, as nearly as I could analyse it, but merely that terrible sense of isolation45 from man and nature as we know it.
A message from Burke was waiting for Kennedy at the wharf46. He read it quickly, then handed it to Captain Shirley and myself.
Have just received a telegram from Washington. Great excitement at the embassy. Cipher47 telegram has been despatched to the Titan Iron Works. One of my men in Washington reports a queer experience. He had been following one of the members of the embassy staff, who saw he was being shadowed, turned suddenly on the man, and exclaimed, "Why are you hounding us still?" What do you make of it? No trace yet of Nordheim
BURKE.
The lines in Craig's face deepened in thought as he folded the message and remarked abstractedly, "She works all right when you are aboard." Then he recalled himself. "Let us try her again without a crew."
Five minutes later we had ascended48 to the aerial conning-tower, and all was in readiness to repeat the trial of the night before. Vicious and sly the Z99 looked in the daytime as she slipped off, under the unseen guidance of the wireless, with death hidden under her nose. Just as during the first trial we had witnessed, she began by fulfilling the highest expectations. Straight as an arrow she shot out of the harbour's mouth, half submerged, with her periscope sticking up and bearing the flag proudly flapping, leaving behind a wake of white foam49.
She turned and re-entered the harbour, obeying Captain Shirley's every whim50, twisting in and out of the shipping51 much to the amazement52 of the old salts, who had never become used to the weird53 sight. She cut a figure eight, stopped, started again.
Suddenly I could see by the look on Captain Shirley's face that something was wrong. Before either of us could speak, there was a spurt54 of water out in the harbour, a cloud of spray, and the Z99 sank in a mass of bubbles. She had heeled over and was resting on the mud and ooze55 of the harbour bottom. The water had closed over her, and she was gone.
Instantly all the terrible details of the sinking of the Lutin and other submarines flashed over me. I fancied I could see on the Z99 the overturned accumulators. I imagined the stifling56 fumes, the struggle for breath in the suddenly darkened hull37. Almost as if it had happened half an hour ago, I saw it.
"Thank God for telautomatics," I murmured, as the thought swept over me of what we had escaped. "No one was aboard her, at least."
Chlorine was escaping rapidly from the overturned storage batteries, for a grave danger lurks57 in the presence of sea water, in a submarine, in combination with any of the sulphuric acid. Salt water and sulphuric acid produce chlorine gas, and a pint58 of it inside a good-sized submarine would be sufficient to render unconscious the crew of a boat. I began to realise the risks we had run, which my confidence in Captain Shirley had minimised. I wondered whether hydrogen in dangerous quantities might not be given off, and with the short-circuiting of the batteries perhaps explode. Nothing more happened, however. All kinds of theories suggested themselves. Perhaps in some way the gasoline motor had been started while the boat was depressed59, the "gas" had escaped, combined with air, and a spark had caused an explosion. There were so many possibilities that it staggered me. Captain Shirley sat stunned60.
Yet here was the one great question, Whence had come the impulse that had sent the famous Z99 to her fate?
"Could it have been through something internal?" I asked. "Could a current from one of the batteries have influenced the receiving apparatus?"
"No," replied the captain mechanically. "I have a secret method of protecting my receiving instruments from such impulses within the hull."
"But not to impulses from outside the hull," he broke in.
Unobserved, he had been bending over one of the little instruments which had kept us up all night and bad cost a tedious trip to New York and back.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Outside the hull?" repeated Shirley, still dazed.
"Yes," cried Kennedy excitedly. "I got my first clue from that flickering63 Welsbach mantle64 last night. Of course it flickered65 from the wireless we were using, but it kept on. You know in the gas-mantle there is matter in a most mobile and tenuous66 state, very sensitive to heat and sound vibrations67.
"Now, the audion, as you see, consists of two platinum68 wings, parallel to the plane of a bowed filament69 of an incandescent70 light in a vacuum. It was invented by Dr. Lee DeForest to detect wireless. When the light is turned on and the little tantalum filament glows, it is ready for business.
"It can be used for all systems of wireless—singing spark, quenched71 spark, arc sets, telephone sets; in fact, it will detect a wireless wave from whatever source it is sent. It is so susceptible72 that a man with one attached to an ordinary steel-rod umbrella on a rainy night can pick up wireless messages that are being transmitted within some hundreds of miles radius73."
The audion buzzed.
"There—see? Our wireless is not working. But with the audion you can see that some wireless is, and a fairly near and powerful source it is, too."
Kennedy was absorbed in watching the audion.
Suddenly he turned and faced us. He had evidently reached a conclusion. "Captain," he cried, "can you send a wireless message? Yes? Well, this is to Burke. He is over there back of the hotel on the hill with some of his men. He has one there who understands wireless, and to whom I have given another audion. Quick, before this other wireless cuts in on us again. I want others to get the message as well as Burke. Send this: 'Have your men watch the railroad station and every road to it. Surround the Stamford cottage. There is some wireless interference from that direction.'"
As Shirley, with a half-insane light in his eyes, flashed the message mechanically through space, Craig rose and signalled to the house. Under the portecochere I saw a waiting automobile, which an instant later tore up the broken-stone path and whirled around almost on two wheels near the edge of the cliff. Glowing with health and excitement, Gladys Shirley was at the wheel herself. In spite of the tenseness of the situation, I could not help stopping to admire the change in the graceful75, girlish figure of the night before, which was now all lithe76 energy and alertness in her eager devotion to carrying out the minutest detail of Kennedy's plan to aid her father.
"Excellent, Miss Shirley," exclaimed Kennedy, "but when I asked Burke to have you keep a car in readiness, I had no idea you would drive it yourself."
"I like it," she remonstrated77, as he offered to take the wheel. "Please—please—let me drive. I shall go crazy if I'm not doing something. I saw the Z99 go down. What was it? Who—"
"Captain," called Craig. "Quick—into the car. We must hurry. To the Stamford house, Miss Shirley. No one can get away from it before we arrive. It is surrounded."
Everything was quiet, apparently78, about the house as our wild ride around the edge of the harbour ended under the deft79 guidance of Gladys Shirley. Here and there, behind a hedge or tree, I could see a lurking80 secret-service man. Burke joined us from behind a barn next door.
"Not a soul has gone in or out," he whispered. "There does not seem to be a sign of life there."
Craig and Burke had by this time reached the broad veranda81. They did not wait to ring the bell, but carried the door down literally82 off its hinges. We followed closely.
A scream from the drawing-room brought us to a halt. It was Mrs. Brainard, tall, almost imperial in her loose morning gown, her dark eyes snapping fire at the sudden intrusion. I could not tell whether she had really noticed that the house was watched or was acting83 a part.
"What does this mean?" she demanded. "What—Gladys—you—"
"Florence—tell them—it isn't so—is it? You don't know a thing about those plans of father's that were—stolen—that night."
"Where is Nordheim?" interjected Burke quickly, a little of his "third degree" training getting the upper hand.
"Nordheim?"
"Yes—you know. Tell me. Is he here?"
"Here? Isn't it bad enough to hound him, without hounding me, too? Will you merciless detectives drive us all from, place to place with your brutal84 suspicions?"
"You know very well what I mean," she repeated, drawing herself up to her full height and patting Gladys's hand to reassure24 her. "Read that message on the table."
Burke picked up a yellow telegram dated New York, two days before.
It was as I feared when I left you. The secret service must have rummaged86 my baggage both here and at the hotel. They have taken some very valuable papers of mine.
"Secret service—rummage baggage?" repeated Burke, himself now in perplexity. "That is news to me. We have rummaged no trunks or bags, least of all Nordheim's. In fact, we have never been able to find them at all."
"Upstairs, Burke—the servants' quarters," interrupted Craig impatiently. "We are wasting time here."
Mrs. Brainard offered no protest. I began to think that the whole thing was indeed a surprise to her, and that she had, in fact, been reading, instead of making a studied effort to appear surprised at our intrusion.
Room after room was flung open without finding any one, until we reached the attic87, which had been finished off into several rooms. One door was closed. Craig opened it cautiously. It was pitch dark in spite of the broad daylight outside. We entered gingerly.
On the floor lay two dark piles of something. My foot touched one of them. I drew back in horror at the feeling. It was the body of a man.
Kennedy struck a light, and as he bent88 over in its little circle of radiance, he disclosed a ghastly scene.
"Hari-kiri!" he ejaculated. "They must have got my message to Burke and have seen that the house was surrounded."
The two Japanese servants had committed suicide.
Burke's lip curled slightly and he was about to speak.
"It means," hastened Kennedy, "that you have been double crossed, Mrs. Brainard. Nordheim stole those plans of Captain Shirley's submarine for his Titan Iron Works. Then the Japs stole them from his baggage at the hotel. He thought the secret service had them. The Japs waited here just long enough to try the plans against the Z99 herself—to destroy Captain Shirley's work by his own method of destruction. It was clever, clever. It would make his labours seem like a failure and would discourage others from keeping up the experiments. They had planned to steal a march on the world. Every time the Z99 was out they worked up here with their improvised90 wireless until they found the wave-length Shirley was using. It took fifteen or twenty minutes, but they managed, finally, to interfere74 so that they sent the submarine to the bottom of the harbour. Instead of being the criminal, Burke, Mrs. Brainard is the victim, the victim both of Nordheim and of her servants."
Craig had thrown open a window and had dropped down on his knees before a little stove by which the room was heated. He was poking91 eagerly in a pile of charred92 paper and linen93.
"Shirley," he cried, "your secret is safe, even though the duplicate plans were stolen. There will be no more interference."
"Oh, thank you—thank you—thank you," cried Gladys, running up and almost dancing with joy at the change in her father. "I—I could almost—kiss you!"
"I could let you," twinkled Craig, promptly, as she blushed deeply. "Thank you, too, Mrs. Brainard," he added, turning to acknowledge her congratulations also. "I am glad I have been able to be of service to you."
"Won't you come back to the house for dinner?" urged the Captain.
Kennedy looked at me and smiled. "Walter," he said, "this is no place for two old bachelors like us."
Then turning, he added, "Many thanks, sir,—but, seriously, last night we slept principally in day coaches. Really I must turn the case over to Burke now and get back to the city to-night early."
They insisted on accompanying us to the station, and there the congratulations were done all over again.
"Why," exclaimed Kennedy, as we settled ourselves in the Pullman after waving a final good-bye, "I shall be afraid to go back to that town again. I—I almost did kiss her!"
Then his face settled into its usual stern lines, although softened95, I thought. I am sure that it was not the New England landscape, with its quaint96 stone fences, that he looked at out of the window, but the recollection of the bright dashing figure of Gladys Shirley.
It was seldom that a girl made so forcible an impression on Kennedy, I know, for on our return he fairly dived into work, like the Z99 herself, and I did not see him all the next day until just before dinner time. Then he came in and spent half an hour restoring his acid-stained fingers to something like human semblance97.
He said nothing about his research work of the day, and I was just about to remark that a day had passed without its usual fresh alarum and excursion, when a tap on the door buzzer98 was followed by the entrance of our old friend Andrews, head of the Great Eastern Life Insurance Company's own detective service.
"Kennedy," he began, "I have a startling case for you. Can you help me out with it?"
As he sat down heavily, he pulled from his immense black wallet some scraps99 of paper and newspaper cuttings.
"You recall, I suppose," he went on, unfolding the papers without waiting for an answer, "the recent death of young Montague Phelps, at Woodbine, just outside the city?"
Kennedy nodded. The death of Phelps, about ten days before, had attracted nation-wide attention because of the heroic fight for life he had made against what the doctors admitted had puzzled them—a new and baffling manifestation100 of coma101. They had laboured hard to keep him awake, but had not succeeded, and after several days of lying in a comatose102 state he had finally succumbed103. It was one of those strange but rather frequent cases of long sleeps reported in the newspapers, although it was by no means one which might be classed as record-breaking.
The interest in Phelps lay, a great deal, in the fact that the young man had married the popular dancer, Anginette Petrovska, a few months previously104. His honeymoon105 trip around the world had suddenly been interrupted, while the couple were crossing Siberia, by the news of the failure of the Phelps banking-house in Wall Street and the practical wiping-out of his fortune. He had returned, only to fall a victim to a greater misfortune.
"A few days before his death," continued Andrews, measuring his words carefully, "I, or rather the Great Eastern, which had been secretly investigating the case, received this letter. What do you think of it?"
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
You would do well to look Into the death of Montague Phelps, Jr. I accuse no one, assert nothing. But when a young man apparently in the best of health, drops off so mysteriously and even the physician in the case can give no very convincing information, that case warrants attention. I know what I know.
AN OUTSIDER.
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1 enticing | |
adj.迷人的;诱人的 | |
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2 palatial | |
adj.宫殿般的,宏伟的 | |
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3 discomfort | |
n.不舒服,不安,难过,困难,不方便 | |
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4 suffocation | |
n.窒息 | |
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5 machinery | |
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构 | |
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6 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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7 torpedo | |
n.水雷,地雷;v.用鱼雷破坏 | |
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8 torpedoes | |
鱼雷( torpedo的名词复数 ); 油井爆破筒; 刺客; 掼炮 | |
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9 gauge | |
v.精确计量;估计;n.标准度量;计量器 | |
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10 wireless | |
adj.无线的;n.无线电 | |
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11 secrecy | |
n.秘密,保密,隐蔽 | |
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12 fumes | |
n.(强烈而刺激的)气味,气体 | |
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13 suffocating | |
a.使人窒息的 | |
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14 novices | |
n.新手( novice的名词复数 );初学修士(或修女);(修会等的)初学生;尚未赢过大赛的赛马 | |
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15 astounding | |
adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊,使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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16 periscope | |
n. 潜望镜 | |
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17 antennae | |
n.天线;触角 | |
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18 fore | |
adv.在前面;adj.先前的;在前部的;n.前部 | |
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19 plunging | |
adj.跳进的,突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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20 conversed | |
v.交谈,谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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21 constrained | |
adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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22 inclination | |
n.倾斜;点头;弯腰;斜坡;倾度;倾向;爱好 | |
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23 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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24 reassure | |
v.使放心,使消除疑虑 | |
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25 reassured | |
adj.使消除疑虑的;使放心的v.再保证,恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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26 tingling | |
v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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27 nausea | |
n.作呕,恶心;极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
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28 winked | |
v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 );递眼色(表示友好或高兴等);(指光)闪烁;闪亮 | |
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29 apparatus | |
n.装置,器械;器具,设备 | |
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30 automobile | |
n.汽车,机动车 | |
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31 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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32 annular | |
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33 condenser | |
n.冷凝器;电容器 | |
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34 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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35 fascination | |
n.令人着迷的事物,魅力,迷恋 | |
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36 considerably | |
adv.极大地;相当大地;在很大程度上 | |
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37 hull | |
n.船身;(果、实等的)外壳;vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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38 hulls | |
船体( hull的名词复数 ); 船身; 外壳; 豆荚 | |
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39 muffled | |
adj.(声音)被隔的;听不太清的;(衣服)裹严的;蒙住的v.压抑,捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 );用厚厚的衣帽包着(自己) | |
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40 buoys | |
n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 );航标;救生圈;救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 );支持;为…设浮标;振奋…的精神 | |
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41 leakage | |
n.漏,泄漏;泄漏物;漏出量 | |
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42 squeals | |
n.长而尖锐的叫声( squeal的名词复数 )v.长声尖叫,用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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43 promptly | |
adv.及时地,敏捷地 | |
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44 leisurely | |
adj.悠闲的;从容的,慢慢的 | |
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45 isolation | |
n.隔离,孤立,分解,分离 | |
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46 wharf | |
n.码头,停泊处 | |
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47 cipher | |
n.零;无影响力的人;密码 | |
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48 ascended | |
v.上升,攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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50 whim | |
n.一时的兴致,突然的念头;奇想,幻想 | |
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51 shipping | |
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52 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
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53 weird | |
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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54 spurt | |
v.喷出;突然进发;突然兴隆 | |
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55 ooze | |
n.软泥,渗出物;vi.渗出,泄漏;vt.慢慢渗出,流露 | |
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56 stifling | |
a.令人窒息的 | |
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57 lurks | |
n.潜在,潜伏;(lurk的复数形式)vi.潜伏,埋伏(lurk的第三人称单数形式) | |
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58 pint | |
n.品脱 | |
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59 depressed | |
adj.沮丧的,抑郁的,不景气的,萧条的 | |
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60 stunned | |
adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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61 oblivious | |
adj.易忘的,遗忘的,忘却的,健忘的 | |
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62 detector | |
n.发觉者,探测器 | |
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63 flickering | |
adj.闪烁的,摇曳的,一闪一闪的 | |
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64 mantle | |
n.斗篷,覆罩之物,罩子;v.罩住,覆盖,脸红 | |
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65 flickered | |
(通常指灯光)闪烁,摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66 tenuous | |
adj.细薄的,稀薄的,空洞的 | |
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67 vibrations | |
n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 );震动;感受;(偏离平衡位置的)一次性往复振动 | |
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68 platinum | |
n.白金 | |
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69 filament | |
n.细丝;长丝;灯丝 | |
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70 incandescent | |
adj.遇热发光的, 白炽的,感情强烈的 | |
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71 quenched | |
解(渴)( quench的过去式和过去分词 ); 终止(某事物); (用水)扑灭(火焰等); 将(热物体)放入水中急速冷却 | |
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72 susceptible | |
adj.过敏的,敏感的;易动感情的,易受感动的 | |
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73 radius | |
n.半径,半径范围;有效航程,范围,界限 | |
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74 interfere | |
v.(in)干涉,干预;(with)妨碍,打扰 | |
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75 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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76 lithe | |
adj.(指人、身体)柔软的,易弯的 | |
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77 remonstrated | |
v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 );告诫 | |
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78 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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79 deft | |
adj.灵巧的,熟练的(a deft hand 能手) | |
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80 lurking | |
潜在 | |
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81 veranda | |
n.走廊;阳台 | |
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82 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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83 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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84 brutal | |
adj.残忍的,野蛮的,不讲理的 | |
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85 sarcasm | |
n.讥讽,讽刺,嘲弄,反话 (adj.sarcastic) | |
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86 rummaged | |
翻找,搜寻( rummage的过去式和过去分词 ); 已经海关检查 | |
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87 attic | |
n.顶楼,屋顶室 | |
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88 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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89 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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90 improvised | |
a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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91 poking | |
n. 刺,戳,袋 vt. 拨开,刺,戳 vi. 戳,刺,捅,搜索,伸出,行动散慢 | |
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92 charred | |
v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式);烧焦 | |
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93 linen | |
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的 | |
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94 wrung | |
绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 ); 握紧(尤指别人的手); 把(湿衣服)拧干; 绞掉(水) | |
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95 softened | |
(使)变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 ); 缓解打击; 缓和; 安慰 | |
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96 quaint | |
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的 | |
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97 semblance | |
n.外貌,外表 | |
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98 buzzer | |
n.蜂鸣器;汽笛 | |
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99 scraps | |
油渣 | |
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100 manifestation | |
n.表现形式;表明;现象 | |
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101 coma | |
n.昏迷,昏迷状态 | |
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102 comatose | |
adj.昏睡的,昏迷不醒的 | |
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103 succumbed | |
不再抵抗(诱惑、疾病、攻击等)( succumb的过去式和过去分词 ); 屈从; 被压垮; 死 | |
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104 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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105 honeymoon | |
n.蜜月(假期);vi.度蜜月 | |
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106 crumpled | |
adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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